Their matching eyes locked together. A second, maybe two—that was all it took to seal their fate. He nodded. The decision was made. It was easy. Ana was the brains. Danny trusted her. Always.
“Go!”
They pushed away from the exit towards the locker-room door. Danny went in first, holding the door open for her. Ana was about to follow him when a scream stopped her in her tracks.
Maia Walsh was standing in front of the burning gym door. She must have followed them into the hallway.
She was rigid, her arms clinging to her backpack, her face locked in a grimace of fear, mouth open. Her curly dark hair was gone, replaced by a wild curtain of flames. She was on fire.
“MAIA!” Ana ran across the hallway, her hand reaching for Maia’s arm. But her fingers never reached her.
Maia staggered backwards, half-falling; her silhouette lit up inflames as she fell through the gym doorway. The fire surged around her, swallowing her whole.
Ana fell back. Horror cut through the fear. She almost dropped to the ground. Almost. The image of Maia was seared into her eyes. She couldn’t think.She couldn’t.
“Ana!” Danny’s voice cut through the noise. She had to get to the locker room. She turned, willing her limbs to work, to get her out of this, away from here. Danny was in the doorway, still waiting for her. The flames were everywhere. It was too much. She shook her head, desperate to clear her thoughts.
Move,she thought.Move.But her legs weren’t behaving.
“ANA!” Danny shouted. “Listen to my voice.You need to come now!”
His voice released her, unlocking her fear. Suddenly she was back. She started moving, started towards the locker room, towards Danny. Started.
But it was too late.
It happened so fast. The ceiling tiles near them caught fire, lighting up like a match. Flames ripped along the hallway ceiling. A wall of heat knocked Ana over. She fell to the ground, away from the locker-room door as the entire ceiling collapsed, crashing inches from her feet, blocking the doorway. Coughing, terrified, she crawled back, away from the flames, in the only direction left to her, back to the locked exit door.
Reaching out, she grabbed the panic bars desperately. The metal was burning hot now, and pain seared through her hands, her skin. She gasped, falling back into the corner of the door frame, holding her scorched hands protectively to her. Fire everywhere. Smoke everywhere. This was it. She was going to die here. She sank to the ground, curled up into a ball. She could smell her burned skin as the fire reached for her. Terror coursed through her.
She was going to die. She was going to die.
She didn’t hear when the exit door crashed open, pried apart by someone with a crowbar. She didn’t feel the hands dragging her outside. Just her. Alone. Into the cold, night air. Coughing and coughing.
Smoke followed her, pouring through the doorway behind her. There were voices, people. Everything was a blur. Nothing registered, except one thing, one desperate thought—Danny is still inside.
Pulling herself to her feet, Ana turned to go back, but hands stopped her. There was no door anymore, just a burning maw, tongues of flame licking out at them. Taunting them.
“Help my brother…locker room…have to go back…” She was coughing, spluttering, but too many hands held her back.
“Too late.” “Can’t go back.” “So sorry…”
“No, no, please!” She was begging—desperate.
The locker-room window.Where was it? She scanned the high gym wall, looking for the window, finally seeing it, almost hidden in the heavy smoke. There it was, high up. A small, narrow clerestory window. Too small. Too narrow.Too high.
There was no way someone could reach it, let alone escape through it. Why had she not remembered that?Why?
Thick, black smoke poured through the broken glass. It moved like an animal, light flickered at its edges. The fire was inside the locker room. There was no way out. No escape. Danny was trapped.
Ana writhed free of the hands holding her and, stumbling, ran to the wall. Her fingers clawed at the brickwork, at the one thing separating her from her brother, trying to climb up, to break through, anything.She tried.With every part of her. With everything she had.She tried.Her fingers bled, seizing in pain, her burned skin shredded on the wall.
“Danny…Danny…”
The hands were back, gloved now, firm. A voice was talking to her.
“It’s okay, kid. Come with me. I’ve got you.”
“My brother…”
