Chapter 6 - Inferno

Before me and Aloe have any time to process what just happened, a crackling and popping noise starts to sound behind the bar, and a gently yet swiftly growing light creeps around the edge and top of the bar, shining a yellow glow on the bottles behind the bar. I gently shove Aloe to the side and run over to see what it is, a fire is starting to burn behind the bar, and a trail of gasoline leads to the front exit, in an instant the flames spread and engulf that exit and the flames start to over power mine and Aloe’s lungs as both simultaneously start to cough.

“Aloe! Is there another exit?!” I yell at her

Aloe is in a state of shock as she realizes that our nightmare isn’t over just yet, her eyes are focused on the fire, but she stopped crying. In a strange way, she looks as if she has given herself up to this fate. I can’t have her giving up before we get out of here though.

“Aloe! Snap out of it!” I say as I shake her.

A glint of realization shines in her eyes, maybe it was me shaking her, or something else. She blinks and looks towards the exit, and then she looks at me.

“What’s going on!?” She yells as the flames start to burn brighter and louder, drowning out our voices.

“Is there another way out of here?!” I ask as loud as I can.

“This is the first time I’ve been here! I have no Idea!” Aloe whines, as she starts to realize we are in an even tougher spot than we thought.

“Let’s just run through the front door!” Aloe screams

“You have no idea how hot the fire actually is, you’ll burn yourself!” I yell at Aloe.

Without taking a second more to listen to me, Aloe takes off running to the front exit and jumps through the flames. I can see her make it to the other side and her silhouette turns back to see where I am, and if I am gonna jump through the flames as she did.

“That fucking psycho! Oh well, fuck I-“ I am cut off by a familiar voice before I make my sprint through the front door.

“H-help m-m-“ The voice of Shira weakly pleads, before she succumbs to her injuries and falls unconscious.

It is bizarre that she even survived such an assault, but to even regain consciousness is something I’ve never seen from someone as injured as her. The people of Northal are said to have a stronger ability to survive injuries than most people, something about being in their genes and due to their harsh homeland, but before now I only thought of that as a rumor. I have seen plenty of them killed with one bullet or blown to smithereens during The War, to the point where me and any other soldier just thought their ability was simply made up. But it was called their “Survival Factor”.

I grab her and hold her in my arms, Aloe’s faint pleading and yelling is slightly audible through the sounds of the flames crackling and popping in my ears, but her words are incoherent, she is probably pleading for me to hurry, as I have spent an unnecessary amount of time waiting to escape, especially in her eyes. I start to charge out of the bar and before I can get to the front door, the frame of the door starts to collapse. I throw Shira out of the building and lunge as fast as I can through the door, the collapsing frame smashes against my back and a searing pain fills my whole back and neck.

“AH!” I let out a yell as I made it out of the building.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Aloe looks towards Shira’s body before her eyes dart towards me, shock and concern fills her eyes.

“Hold on!” Aloe yells as she runs towards me.

She starts patting my back and when I look to see, it seems like when the frame collapsed on me my shirt caught on fire. Aloe is patting the flames with her bare hands, and though it should hurt like hell, she is probably wired with adrenaline at this moment and hardly feels anything. Aside from a few grunts of pain, she only makes desperate sounds while beating the flames, and finally she gets the flame out. Before I can thank her, she falls to her knees in front of Shira on the floor. She starts to cry again, and I can understand it, even though we stand before a burning inferno, we are finally safe from any immediate threat. At least that's what mine and probably her instincts are saying.

“W-what the hell happened? God, why did this happen to us so suddenly?!” She screams while whimpering and looking at the dark sky, now illuminated by the glow of the inferno.

With the relief from danger, Aloe is starting to collapse under what has become our new reality. Right now I can only give her a single sliver of hope.

“Aloe, Shira is still alive.” I tell her calmly.

Aloe turns and looks at me with wide eyes, the tears start to flow faster as her face strains in a mixture of sadness and relief. She turns to look at Shiva who landed face down and her head facing me and Aloe. She’s breathing lightly but it’s strained, you wouldn’t be able to tell that she is breathing unless you really looked closely. Even though she survived the initial attack due to her survival factor, she is bleeding out through multiple stab wounds, she needs help, and fast.

Down the streets the brake lights of a car flashes and a humongous man runs towards the car, he turns to look at us, inadvertently revealing his identity to me. It is unmistakable, the bald head, the bushy mustache… the inconspicuous bartender. That can only mean that he was involved with the attack, and that the entire thing really was a set up. Aloe’s grunts cause me to lose my focus on the car, she is attempting to turn Shira to her back, she struggles due to Shira’s size and the car speeds away.

Aloe is able to get Shira turned over, but she covers her mouth with her hands after seeing the extent of Shira’s wounds. Six stab wounds all in her abdomen leaked blood and she had blood coming from her nose, either from falling in the bar or when I threw her out of it. Aloe lays her hand on Shira’s face that strains in pain despite her being unconscious.

“Oh You poor thing.” Aloe begins to cry more.

“We need to get her help quickly. She may be a Northal Native but she isn’t immortal.” I say as I lay my hand on Aloe’s shoulder.

Without a second to think sirens sound in the distance.

“Help is coming Shira!” Aloe shouts while letting out a slight laugh in a state of relief.

“Can you hear tha-” Aloe stops.

“H-hey!” Aloe yells at me as I sling Shira over my shoulder.

Aloe tries to grab Shira from me and I push her away.

“Stop! What do you think is gonna happen to us if we stay? That man in there told us that the Royals of not only Artenia, but Eccacia are responsible for this! We can’t remain in the open! We are loose ends!” I yell at her, trying to get her to understand the reality we now live in.

Aloe doesn’t say anything but her expression reflects an understanding, and she stops trying to grab Shira from me.

“Do you know anywhere we can get Shira help, where the Royals can’t find us?” I ask

“M-maybe, but I can’t be sure!” She says.

“Now's not the time to be unsure, Aloe!” I yell at her with urgency.

“O-ok, follow me!” She says as she sprints deeper into the alley way and I follow.

As we are running the once inconspicuous bar now burns brightly in the night, the fire spreads to the other businesses and houses and people start walking out into the street to see what is going on. Before we turn the corner into another alleyway that is void of this chaos, the fire fully engulfs the neighboring buildings and the firefighters arrive on the scene. Before they can even begin to put out the flames a man runs out of the building with a woman in his arms. She is fighting to run back into the building, the man holds her back as they both begin to break down in tears.

Aloe has not seen this all unfold as she tries to lead the way through the alley ways despite her injuries. I am just now realizing how sturdy this girl really is, from getting concussed to stabbed and nearly killed in one day, she is still taking the lead, with some push of course. Nevertheless I don’t think I could have asked for a better ally at this moment.

“Thank you. Aloe…” I say quietly, with no intention of her hearing it.

“W-what did you say? Is Shira okay!?” Aloe says while panting.

“N-no it’s nothing, she’s fine.”

She has quite good hearing.