Bruno
We're screwed.
I open the door and a flames flare across the threshold trapping us in this tiny room. My first instinct is to push Sarah away from the fire, the second is to hold the child close to me to avoid any contact; he responds by holding on me tightly.
We have to get out of here,fast.
“Stay low and follow me!” I shout as I hold the child against my chest; he wraps his little arms around my neck. We run while dodging high flames, some fabrics are collapsing in front of us like fireballs forcing us to turn aside, damn it.
The smoke is too damn dense to handle without proper equipment.
“Cover your mouth and nose!” I command to the child, he does it but it's not enough, we are all in danger here. I hear Sarah coughing behind me. “Sarah! Cover your fucking mouth!” She signals me not to worry and keep running, but I can't stop worrying.
“This way!” I hear a voice in the distance. Razzag's daughter is waving at us from a doorway.
There are ruins everywhere, it's hard to get there. When we reach the threshold, a big chandelier on the roof falls and explodes into a thousand pieces, half blocking the door where Amira is.
Fuck!
“Hold on tight!” I shout to the boy.
He tries to wrap his legs around my waist, but they are too short.
I climb up the iron and wood that prevents me from reaching the door.
I catch Sarah scream, “Be careful!”
I hear Amira panting every time I take a wrong step and I sense the fire feeding on everything around us.
Shit, it all got a lot more complicated than I thought in a fucking second.
“Take the kid!” I shout, Amira stretches out her arms and I hand over the kid past the pile of rubble; the heat is already too much. I can't feel the air, that means there's only minutes left.
“Sarah! Come on!” She climbs up the pile, taking carful and precise steps, but she slips and falls back to the beginning, Dante helps her from the other side.
I’m watching her cough uncontrollably; she has all the symptoms; her eyes are blood red; her skin is turning in a bright red because of the carbon monoxide and her movements are getting slow.She is not going to make it.
I reach out my arm to catch her at the exact moment when her lungs collapse, making her fall suddenly.
“No!”Shit!I quickly go down through the rubble, some irons are already hot, my skin reacts to the burning, but my brain ignores it again and I know it’s going to hurt later. I stretch out my arms and Dante hands me a faint, dusty Sarah. Holding her tightly, I finish climbing and I set her on the safe side of the door.
“Sarah! Sarah!” I pat her face, but she doesn't answer, I turn around to see Dante landing near me.
“Take the kid and get us out of here!” I lift Sarah into my arms, and we start running.
Fuck! How the fuck did this place go to shit so fast?
Dante and Amira run down the hall. The kid looks at me from the safety of Dante's shoulder, his eyes are weak and red, we only have a few minutes until he collapses too. Finally, Dante arrives at a door, hits it with his shoulder several times until the wood bursts and allows us to get outside. We all take a big breath of air; the skin irritation is so advanced that I can barely move my muscles.
“This way,” my brother shouts.
We run behind several houses, people shouting, and crying are on the opposite side, fuck them. We keep running, nonstop. My eyes go from Sarah to the child as we get further away from the entry door.
“Dante! Where are you taking us?” I hiss.
“Follow me! It won't be long now.”
After running for a while, Dante enters a small wooden shed. He keeps the lights off and yet I can see it's a tool shed. As soon as we get in, I place Sarah gently on the floor, Dante uses his keys and locks the door.
