Prologue

Texas City was always a bustling city. Full of life its ports were always busy with traffic of large ships and barges that carried various cargos from place to place. Even though Texas City was an industrial town, the city itself was not rich. The people who live here and called this city home are just ordinary people struggling to keep their families together.

Jud MacCracken was a forty-five year old black man with a wife expecting their third child. He was a dock worker at the port for a warehouse that stored a large inventory of paints and paint thinners and various other chemicals. Though he had been quite content in his marriage with his wife of twenty-five years, recently he had begun to see trouble in the marriage as well as his relationships with his two children.

Since the unexpected pregnancy, Rachel had grown distant toward her husband and, if he were honest, she had slipped into a mild state of depression. Rachel was forty-three, had raised her family already. Samuel was seventeen, and Justin was fourteen. Though Rachel had been a good mother, she knew that having another child would cause financial difficulties. She would have to take on a part-time job to make ends meet. But it wasn’t the financial state of affairs that bothered her. It was the fact that she would be spending the next twenty years raising another child.

She had looked forward to sending her two children off to college and having time to herself for a change. Now that possibility was gone. She blamed Jud on everything. She was angry with him and rarely talked to him much anymore. He was barely able to keep his family together anymore. He didn’t know what to do. Everything was falling apart around him.

Marty Sanford was a thirty-nine year old single white male. He worked as a firefighter at a station near the port of Texas City. He had spent most of his life glad that he was single. Marriage had never seemed to interest him. He had casually dated from time to time, but the women he dated just didn’t seem to be the kind he want to marry and settle down with for the rest of his life. Only recently had he become restless and realized that his life was missing something vital, something momentous that would change him forever.

Marty was considered handsome by most. He was strong and tall, with a physique that most women found attractive. His face held high cheekbones under dark eyes that were the color of midnight blue. He was gentle in nature, friendly and outgoing. He had a heart of gold and a caring nature. Through the last ten years he had affected so many lives just with his presence. Outside of fighting fires, Marty volunteered at the local YMCA teaching young boys how to swim, play baseball, basketball, and other sports. The work was challenging but fulfilling.

Erica Rhinehold worked as a nurse at Parkview General Hospital. Most of the time she worked in the emergency room. She had been working their since her son Gabriel had been born over seven years ago. At thirty-five Erica had seen much tragedy. Not only on the job, but in her life as well.

Erica’s husband had died six years ago in a boating accident that took the lives of three other men. The accident had occured at night. Brad had been steering the boat he had been on. The boat had stalled out on the water and before they knew what was happening, another boat had quickly come upon them, slamming into them, killing everone instantly. It had been confirmed that the driver of the other boat had been drinking and his alcohol level had been well above the legal limits.

Erica had begun to rebuild her life almost at once. The grieving process was hard not only on her but their son as well. Brandon had been only an infant when his father died, he grew up knowing something wasn’t right. He missed having a father of his own. He wanted to be like other children his own age, to do things with his father like fish, play ball, and even go to the beach once in a while. It broke Erica’s heart to her son suffer so. But in her own mind she didn’t know how to change the circumstances.

Love was out of the question. She had dated only a few times after her husband’s death, but in the end, it held no appeal. The memories of her husband were still to fresh and they tended to interfer in any feelings she might develope for someone else.

She often wondered if she held on to the memory of her husband as a crutch, something to keep her from becoming emotionally involved with someone else. Erica was frightened, frightened of loving another man, only to lose heart in grief again. She wasn’t sure she was willing to take the risk.

Dylan Crane worked as a police officer, patroling Texas City with professional integrity and a cautious eye. He loved his job and he took it seriously. With a wife and a daughter, Ariella, he wanted the city to be as safe as possible. He’d been married to Jenna for over fifteen years. Ariella was four, a lively sprite that brought much joy and satisfaction to his heart.

Though he longed for another child, perhaps a son, it had not yet happened. They had been trying over the last year. Sometimes it brought friction between the two of them. Somtimes it was his job that brought on conflict. Dylan wondered if the presence of stress in the relationship prevented Jenna from conceiving.

Dylan knew his relationships with his wife and daughter were not perfect. Sometimes he was required to work at night and leave his two favorite girls at home alone. Jenna did not like his absence at night. It left her frightened and weary of danger. They argued about it often, but in reality, there was not much Dylan could do if he wanted to keep his job. And he did.

Dylan loved being a police officer. It gave him peace and satisfaction. He was doing something worthwhile in his life. Not that being a husband and father wasn’t worthwhile. It was. But he needed something more, something to make him proud.

Dylan had grown up in a home with a father that drank too much and couldn’t take care of his own family. With three other siblings in his house, his mother had been forced to work to take care of all of them. Her life had been difficult, burdened with so much responsibility for her family that she had to shoulder on her own. He did not want that kind of life for his own wife and child. He wanted to provide for them and take care of them a way a man should.

Texas City was a diverse city. Though they were all living separate lives, they all believed in the same thing. They were a community that stuck together. They took care of one another. They took pride in friendships. They honored one another. When something bad came upon them, it was nothing to rush out to aid them, to care for them, and to help them put their life back together again.

Many friendships had been formed in the face of disaster. Could the same ring true when a fire rages through a city and threatens the lives of everyone involved? When chaos strikes, what will happen? When the flames reign over a small town, who will survive? Who will perish? Will their lives ever be the same again?