A chainsaw.
Conviction hardened every muscle in our beings. An obstinacy seeping from us on overpowering waves.
Yeah, my cabin might have been fortified.
A stronghold.
But I doubted a thousand tanks could stop us right then.
We went running back for the cabin.
Blips of memories played on repeat.
The flames.
The smoke.
The pain.
“Are there any weaknesses?” River shouted over the roar that filled our ears.
I didn’t design it for weaknesses, and that desire to make it completely impenetrable had made it a trap.
But I knew there had to be. Somehow, someway, there had to be a way to the girls.
My mind calculated every entry point. Sifted through every gap and crevice and seam.
“The roof,” I rasped as it hit me. “We go through the roof.”
I started to run for where a ladder was stored on the side of the house while I hollered at Trevan, “Go to the back of the house where the flames are coming from and start soaking it with the hose.”
I didn’t take the time for him to respond. I tossed my sledgehammer to the ground so I could grab the ladder and lean it against the roofline.
River and Theo were up it before I even had it stabilized, Otto and Kane right behind them, me on their tail, the sledgehammer in both hands as I basically scaled it on two feet.
We piled out on top.
Eyes and hearts frantic.
From near the kitchen window on the backside of the house, flames licked up and climbed for the sky. Heat gusted with the wind, sparks snapping and twirling into the air.
“Here,” I shouted, going for the spot over the kitchen where there were two exposed exhaust pipes.
They all knew exactly what I was aiming for, and Otto drove the end of his crowbar into the joint where the roof and the metal pipe met. Grunting a wild sound, he pried up the first layer of roofing—shingles and tar.
The rest of us immediately dug into it.
I lifted my sledgehammer over my head and slammed it down with all the strength I possessed. It shook the structure beneath our feet.
I could almost feel the fracturing of spirits. Daisy’s on the inside calling out for me.
Her fear.
Her belief.
The trust she’d placed in me.
I lifted it and did it again.
