Page 44 of Saving Wyatt

“You get Mr. Rogers. I’ve got him,” he said.

I froze.

“What?” I asked.

“Wyatt! Go. I’ve got it. I can do this,” he said and dragged himself and Donovan toward the exit before I could stop him.

I didn’t have to worry. To watch over him or help him. I needed to get to Rogers. I needed to get to him before it was too late.

I looked at his bedroom door up ahead. I closed the distance and stopped. My foot collided with the handle, and it swung open.

I braced myself. The waft of heat and fire threatened to knock me back, but I held on and pushed through until I was inside.

The smoke obstructed my view and made my breathing wheezy and heavy. I couldn’t see well beyond my own hand, but I knew where his bed was and that was where I ran to first.

“Gregory!” I called out.

There was a lump under the covers. I pulled it off and found the short old man. He looked peaceful. Normal. As if he was sleeping. As if he was…

No.

I don’t have time to think like this. Not when every second counted. I grabbed the man and hoisted him in my arms, my knees buckling under his small but sturdy weight. I had carried heavier things. I’d been in more dangerous situations. This was nothing. I could do this.

I ground my teeth, narrowed my eyes, and looked for the exit. Just as I found it, something collapsed behind me and I started running as another beam fell on the bed behind me and broke it in two.

One step. Two steps. Three steps.

My knees swayed. The further I went, the harder it was to keep upright. There wasn’t an inch of my skin that wasn’t sweating. Every part of me felt like it was being torn apart.

My lungs were harsh and stinging, and yet I pushed through. I had no other choice. I had to save him. I had to get Mr. Rogers out. I had to make it out of here if for no other reason than to make sure Mr. Rogers lived the rest of his life in peace.

But there was another reason. An equally vital reason.

Just so I could wring Salieri’s neck with my very own hands for what he had done. First me, then the bar, then this!

That was enough.

I had to make it out of here to make sure he paid for his crimes. All of them.

I ground my teeth so hard my gums hurt, breathed out through my nose, and ran the last few feet to the exit.

It was all a blur. Everything. How I jumped over the beam that had nearly killed me. How I managed to tumble my way out, and how I crossed the fire that had broken out in front of the threshold like a firewalker.

I only stopped when I felt grass under my feet, and I allowed my eyes to close just for a second.

When I opened them again, there were people all over me. Helmets, reflections, shouting. None of it made sense. I blinked. I breathed. I coughed.

My insides were on fire.

But I wasn’t concerned with myself. I could see pieces of blue sky above me, in between plumes of black. I had made it out. I was outside. There were firefighters all around me. Hoses. Water.

I blinked again and turned to the side.

There was a man over a sack of cloth.

No. Not a sack.

A man.