Death Alarm: A Ghostly Short Story

By Douglas R. Brown

What happens when pure evil battles the noblest of professions?

Ted just wants to be a good firefighter. As a rookie, all eyes are on him to prove himself on the job. But when a routine fire alarm is anything but routine, Ted's newly learned skills are put to the test.

Death Alarm is a ghostly short story pulled from the collection, A Firefighter Christmas Carol (and Other Stories) from Epertase Publishing due out in October, 2021. Available now for preorder.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Douglas R. Brown
• Release date: Jun 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781736882023

Douglas R. Brown

Douglas R. Brown is a fantasy and horror writer living in Pataskala, Ohio. He began writing as a cathartic way of dealing with the day-to-day stresses of life as a firefighter/paramedic for the Columbus Ohio Division of Fire. Now he focuses his writing on fantasy and horror where he can draw from his lifelong love of the genres. He has been married Since 1996 and has a son and a few dogs.

Book preview

Epertase Publishing

Smashwords Edition

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control and does not assume responsibility for author or third party Web sites or their content.

Copyright ©2021 by Douglas R. Brown

Cover art by Steve Murphy. Contact Steve by email at [e-mail] or visit his Web site at www.artiststevemurphy.com

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

Visit Douglas R. Brown at his author Web site Epertase Publishing Email Douglas R. Brown at [e-mail].

Follow Douglas R. Brown on Twitter using @Douglasrbrown22 or Facebook

Death Alarm

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." ~George Santayana

First Alarm

Engine 22’s air horn roared like a freight train. Though Ted couldn’t imagine a tornado’s rumble being louder, the sound hardly made an impact on the heavy rush hour traffic. Self-absorbed drivers cranked up their radios in their nearly soundproof Cadillacs and SUVs, failing to heed the warnings. Did they not hear, or did they just not care?

Hey, rookie, Lieutenant Sanders shouted over the sirens. You’re on the knob if this is a fire.

Ted’s heart beat faster than a frenetic heavy metal drum thrashing. This could be the one. My first fire, and I get the nozzle.

The dispatcher reported that the neighbor had heard the homeowner’s smoke detector going off, which could mean anything from an actual fire to a false alarm. There was a nervous part deep within Ted, past the excitement and desire to get his first fire, that prayed for a false alarm. Ted thought he was ready—nine months of drill school told him he was—but with a real fire potentially right around the corner, he was having second thoughts. His hand trembled as he reached for his radio and stuffed it into the front holder on his bulky turnout coat.

The unconfident part of him wished they could just turn the truck around and return to the station. Hell, that part kind of wished he could go back to being a loan officer at the bank like before he had gotten a wild hair about being a fireman. At least at the bank he couldn’t get burned. Robbed, maybe. But not burned. Of course, turning around wasn’t an option. He slung his air bottle’s awkward harness over his shoulders