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Chapter Twenty-four
Tyson
Istartledawake,theheavy smell of smoke in my nose. I blinked away the sleep, reaching for Ellie. I hadn’t realized I’d fallen asleep. She had been so warm and comforting by my side.
But as I searched for her, she wasn’t there.
I bolted upright, staring down at the space Ellie had filled on the quilt beside me. But there was nothing but an open notebook. Something was scrawled on an empty page and I picked it up, squinting to read the message in the dim light from the lantern.
Went back for a little while. I’ll be back soon.
It was Ellie’s handwriting. I glanced at my watch. It was almost four in the morning. Uneasiness squirmed in my gut as the smell of smoke thickened. It wasn’t unusual for someone to have a bonfire out around here in the middle of nowhere. But as my mind fully woke up, I knew something was wrong.
That smell wasn’t a bonfire.
I dropped the notebook on the quilt, jumping to my feet and sprinting up toward Ellie’s trailer. It seemed like hours, but had only been a few moments when I broke through the thick treeline surrounding the creek and saw the flames.
Holy shit.
I pushed my legs faster, but the field surrounding the trailer was overgrown. All the brush and bracken made it hard to navigate. My heart flew into my throat as the flames ate away the tiny trailer home.
Please, don’t be in there, Ellie. Please.
I prayed to whoever would listen that Ellie was somewhere else. But my gut knew. She had to be in there.
The heat of the flames hit me halfway across the property. They had gotten even higher in the short amount of time it took me to run from the creek. Beads of sweat slid down my forehead as pure panic seeped through my veins.
I screamed her name as I reached the trailer. The bright, orange flames licked up the sides, almost touching the roof. I rounded the blazing inferno, my hope dropping as I took in the front door. It was completely engulfed in fire. There was no way anyone was getting in or out from there.
I ran to the far end of the trailer where her bedroom was, screaming for her with no reply. There was one high, small window there. Black smoke rolled over the aluminum siding, billowing into the air. The flames on this side weren’t as high, thankfully, and when I looked into the window, I saw Buffy pawing frantically at the glass.
Shit. Shit.Shit.
My head whipped around, looking for something,anything, to get me closer to that window before the fire covered it too. A couple of large metal trash cans sat far enough away from the house that they hadn’t been surrounded by the flames and I ran to them, dumping out whatever was inside and pulling them over to the side of the trailer under the window.
The hairs on my skin singed, but I had to keep going. My lungs burned, my throat tightening against the smoke.
I climbed onto the trash cans; the bottoms of my shoes were so hot they were probably melting. I pulled on the window, trying to get it open. Buffy meowed from inside, her eyes wide and terrified.
I grunted trying to push the window, but it wouldn’t budge. Frustrated and losing time, I looked away and shielded my eyes as I rammed my elbow into the glass as hard as I could. My skin split as the window cracked and shattered. Buffy instinctively moved out of the way and once the window was gone, she came to me, mewing. Smoke poured from the inside of the trailer and my stomach knotted.
“I got you. I got you, girl.” I lifted the cat from the window frame and tossed her as gently as I could on the ground outside of the flames. She skittered away from the heat and I turned back to the window, hoisting myself inside.
My eyes stung and watered as I choked on smoke. Her room was completely filled with it. It was hard to see through the darkness. I climbed through the window, breaking off the shelf Buffy had been perched on and fell to the floor. I stayed low, crouching as I searched for Ellie. I put my shirt up over my mouth, but it did little to keep the smoke from my lungs. I yelled her name between coughs, certain she had to be in here.
The trailer creaked and popped as the fire raged.
Ellie wasn’t in her room as I made it to her closed door. Heat radiated from it, but I opened it anyway, burning my palms.
My heart stopped as I spotted her, sprawled out on the floor just outside her bedroom door.
“Ellie!” She didn’t stir at the sound of her name. I fell to my knees beside her. Her skin was warm, but when I touched her cheek, she moaned softly. A relief so intense washed over me that I almost cried. “It’s okay, baby. I’m going to get you out of here.”
I lifted her carefully in my arms. The whole other end of the trailer was already engulfed. There was nothing but a wall of flames. Holding her tight to my chest, I stayed as close to the floor as possible while I rushed back into her bedroom.
Getting her up and through the high window was difficult, and we both got cut by jagged glass shards, but it was better than burning to death. I pulled her through and we hit the trash cans, me holding her protectively against my body as we tumbled outside. The air was knocked from my lungs as I hit the ground hard. I rolled away from the flaming structure, Ellie limp in my arms.
We lay on the ground, far enough away that we weren’t going to burn, as I tried to slow my racing breaths. Slowly, I let Ellie go. She was breathing, but her breaths were labored and rattled in her lungs.
