Page 29 of Hearts on Fire

The lady thought for a second. “Beaches.”

“Helen, if we don't move. We are both going to die. But if we do this together right now, we get a chance to see another beach. Take my hand, I know the way.”

“Come on, we need to get out of here!” Charlie called already on her way crawling out the door.

Helen put a shaky hand in Scotti's. Scotti helped her stand and took off her helmet and shared her mask with Helen.

“Take some deep breaths,” she said.

There was still some time to get out through the door.

She let Helen go first. “Don't touch anything. Follow Charlie. Stay on the ground and crawl till you get to that window and I’ll help you down the ladder.” Scotti instructed, putting her gloves over Helen's hands. Perhaps something about it gave Helen the encouragement she needed and she began to move, suddenly eager to have her life saved.

“I’ve got you, Helen. Follow me,” Charlie called.

Scotti watched Helen until she was safely out the door and on the way to the ladder with Charlie. Scotti’s hands were bare now, so she had to be extra careful. She checked once more if there was anyone else in the room even though Helen had said it was just her.

But the second Scotti took a step toward the door, the rest of the beam and the door came crashing down, bringing the fire along with it.

Scotti swore. She was trapped inside the room, she had left the hose reel outside the door foolishly and as the seconds passed, the fire was beginning to take hold.

Her eyes darted around quickly.

The window!

She ran toward it, slightly missing being hit by a falling piece of the ceiling. The window was shut. Scotti pulled a crowbar from her belt and smashed it.

She swore. She didn’t have long and it was a bit of a drop. From the window, she could see Abraham, one of her colleagues. She cupped her mouth and called his name out at the top of her voice.

“Abraham! I'm gonna have to jump! Get the landing pad.”

There was a big soft pad they had on the fire truck specifically for this kind of situation to cushion a jump.

He was being too slow. More debris was falling around her.

Fuck. I have to get out of here.

Through the window, she saw Helen being attended to. For a moment, she felt relief that the young woman had made it. But the sound of something falling again brought her back to the reality she was up against.

She thought briefly of Naomi's question about risking her life to save people and her reply to it and wondered what it'd be like if Naomi heard that exact scenario is what truly caused her to die today. She shook her head as if to wave negative thoughts away.

Usually she wasn’t afraid of dying.

But now, now knowing for sure she was in love with Naomi, she suddenly feared death. Death would mean losing Naomi.

Fuck.

The fire was raging now in the room. It was too hot. She felt her hands burning- she had to get out. Her fire kit could only protect her for so long.

There was only one thing to do.

Scotti clambered up the window. It was a dangerous thing to do considering that the building was falling apart and the fire was going to engulf that place any minute, but it was her only choice.

The window wasn't made of wood. It was made of metal and the heat emanating from it was intense. The lintel was hot to touch as was every other part of it.

But Scotti remained right there as the ceiling came down in many pieces. She heard something shatter and she turned just in time to see the fire lick up the rest of the room— and nearly her too.

In that second, she jumped over the window and grabbed the lintel.

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