We all ran to our left, where Eva had pointed, and down the street. We turned left again and on the next block were five houses facing a park. The fourth house was on fire. The house, like all the others on the block was two stories tall and had a long front lawn. Combined with the park across the street, it felt like the houses had their own quad. Flames were curling up out of a broken lower window at the front of the house and was spreading up and over to the rest of the house. I hoped that no one was in there. I could see a few people coming out of the surrounding houses to see what was going on and the people at the park were on their phones or talking to each other and pointing to the house. As we made our way to the front yard, a middle-aged man in a jogging outfit was leading a coughing younger man, probably a student, down the walkway from the house.
The jogger was asking the student if there was anyone else in the house. Between hacking coughs, the student said, “Mark’s still in there. I think that he was sleeping. I couldn’t get to him. The house filled up with smoke so quickly.”
I took off at a run for the front door and I heard Eva and James calling my name. I didn’t have time to talk to them and I hoped that they wouldn’t follow me. The house was old and made of bricks and wood. I could tell that it would be completely engulfed in flames in just a few minutes. I just needed to get inside before the way was blocked by the fire. I reached the front door; smoke poring out of it. The top of the doorframe was already burning but the sides of the frame and the floor were still free from flames. Pulling my shirt over my mouth and nose, I ducked and ran into the house.
As soon as I was a few feet in, I shifted to R1 and looked behind me to make sure that no one had followed me in. Through the haze of smoke, I could see Eva holding onto James and yelling at him. Satisfied that they’d be ok, I looked around. The fire was spreading quickly all over the first floor and most of the ceiling that I could see was in flames. I needed to hurry before the house collapsed.
The fire couldn’t touch me, but I was worried about the smoke. I didn’t know if it existed in R1. I’d been holding my breath since running into the house and now I took at tentative breath. My air was clean, and I lowered my shirt from my face, as my eyes scanned for the stairs. Finding them towards the back of the house, I raced through the greyed out fire and up to the second floor. The corridor carpet at the top of the stairs was smoldering and the corridor itself was filling with smoke.
Through the haze I could make out five doors, three of which were closed. The first door I came to was open. I looked inside to see a very messy, but empty bedroom. No one would need to clean it up ever again. The next door was closed, and I poked my head through it to see another bedroom, this one much neater, but just as empty. The next two doors let do a bathroom and a linen closet. I found Mark in the final room, at the end of the hallway. Luckily for him, he had collapsed on his bed and not on the floor. His head was near the end of the bed and I figured that he must have woken up from the smoke and succumbed to it shortly after. I reached his bed, covered him in a field and brought him into R1.
I’d never brought another person into R1 with me and my head started buzzing, but otherwise, it was no different than usual. No different, in that Mark fell through the bed and hit the floor. Shit! The house was on fire, Mark and I were going to die in here if the house collapsed, and I could feel the strain start to give me a headache. I didn’t have time for this. I leaned through the bed until I could see him and grabbed his arms to pull him out from under it. He was heavy. At 5’7”, I’m not small, but Mark had to be at least 6’2” and probably weighted over 190 pounds. It wasn’t going to be easy getting him out of this house. I was going to have to drag him most of the way out.
Mark had passed out from smoke inhalation and was about as animate as a rock. I checked his heartrate and saw that’d I’d need to hurry. He wasn’t doing well at all. From volunteering that the hospital, I knew that smoke inhalation killed more people than the actual fires did. I grabbed his wrists and dragged him to the stairs. Once there, I turned him over, walked down a few stairs and pulled him until I could get my shoulder under his stomach and lift him up fireman carry style. From years of Kung Fu, I had powerful legs muscles, and my arms and shoulders were strong from years of blacksmithing, but even so, I wouldn’t be able to carry him for long. Feeling his weight with each step I took, I made my way down the stairs and out the back door. I paused only long enough to be sure that no one was watching and then I brought us both back into reality.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
I felt the intense heat as soon as I was back in reality and I moved away from the house as quickly as I could, down the back-porch steps. With the fire having started in the front of the house, the back porch wasn’t fully engulfed in flames yet, but it was a close thing. Ignoring the pain in my shoulder, my back, and my legs, I turned left and made my way around the house towards the front, where I hoped an ambulance would be waiting. Mark needed to get on a respirator right away. My whole body hurt, and my skin was roasting. I’d purposely turned left so that I was able to keep as much of Mark I could manage as far away as possible from the fire. It didn't do much, but it was all I could do.
I came around the house from the side with barely any strength left to carry Mark. I was hunched over, watching my feet and forcing them to move just one more step when I heard Eva scream out my name and suddenly I didn’t have to move anymore. Firemen were rushing towards me and when they took Mark from me, I collapsed. I didn’t make it to the ground though. Another fireman caught me mid-fall and he lifted me up. He carried me to the street where an ambulance was just arriving. One firetruck was parked in front and another was arriving just after the ambulance. A few firefighters were putting a breathing mask over Mark’s face and I remembered that I was supposed to have been in the house as well so I coughed as deeply as I could and kept it up for a bit. I knew that I’d have enough trouble explaining not getting soot stained and singed from the fire. There was no way I as going to explain away not having inhaled any smoke.
Withing seconds there was a mask over my face, and I eased up on the coughing. I hated lying to them, but there really wasn’t any other choice. The fireman was checking my vitals, while I watched the ambulance load Mark up and race away with its lights strobing and its sirens screaming. Other firemen were already spraying water on the surrounding houses to make sure that the fire didn’t spread.
Once the fireman was sure that I was ok, he gave a hand signal and Eva and James were at my sides. I could tell that they’d both been crying. Eva hugged me tightly and didn’t let go. I hugged her back and I could feel that she was crying again. James stood there awkwardly for a second and then he hugged us both.
“What the hell did you think you were doing, Abby??!”, James yelled at me after a few moments. It’s kind of funny how many people would ask me that question in the next few days and in exactly those words. “You could have been killed!”.
“You’re one to talk, James. You almost ran in after her. I could have lost you both.” Eva looked pissed off at both of us, as she angrily wiped tears from her eyes. James had the decency to look abashed, but I didn’t. I knew I could get Mark out, as long as the house didn’t collapse before I could get to him. Eva and James didn’t know that though, so, muffled a little by the mask, I just said, “I’m fine, Eva. Not a scratch on me. I got in just before things got too bad in front. It wasn’t so bad in the back of the house.”
As if to put the lie to my words, a huge groan sounded from the house and the middle of the house fell in on itself. The influx of air to the newly opened areas of the house send the blaze roaring higher and causing the firefighters to move back from the intense heat.
“Holy shit! You were in there, Abby. Just a few minutes ago. You were in there.” Eva was starting to freak out, and I just held her and told her that I was fine until the second ambulance came and took me to the hospital. Eva was allowed to stay with me, while James raced off to find my dad in his workshop. I could have called him or asked James to call, but I asked James to go in person. I knew my dad. He’d already lost me once and this news would hit him hard. James telling him in person that I was fine was way better than hearing it on the phone. Besides, this way James could ride with him to the hospital and dad could ask him questions on the way. Maybe by the time he got there, he’s be calm enough not to kill me for running into a burning building. Maybe.