Page 23 of He Will Always Love Me

I rush to obey as he opens the door. More smoke pours into the room. I’m glad I have my face covered. He grabs my hand, and we quickly walk out of the room.

The fire is nearly all around us, eating up the hall to the left and coming through the floor on the right.

Karvex yanks me to the right as we try to dodge the flames lighting the floor. I glance behind us and nearly scream. The fire is quickly catching up to us. He notices it, too, and we pick up the pace.

We make it to the emergency stairs which are thankfully not on fire. As we approach the ground floor, I can feel the heat of the flames from below.

I let myself be dragged onto the ground floor. When we do, it’s worse than I imagined.

Fire has consumed almost everything, including the walls and ceiling. I look around desperately for some route of escape, my heart pounding wildly in my chest.

We’re not going to make it. We’re not going to make it! a voice inside my head screams.

I shake myself, trying to get it together.

Karvex tugs me forward. “This way!”

We start making our way to a side door not too far from us. Or it wouldn’t be too far from us if the fire didn’t stand in our way. We have to snake our way to the door, trying to avoid it.

There’s a loud crashing sound from behind us, and I turn to see the ceiling has given way in one place.

“Hurry, before the whole thing collapses!” he yells.

We’re almost to the door when the ceiling above us starts groaning.

Suddenly, Karvex throws me forward as the ceiling comes down behind me. I let out a scream.

“Karvex!”

“Go!” he yells back, trapped behind part of the collapsed ceiling and the raging fire.

The door is just a few feet away from me. But I won’t leave him to die.

I look around me, frantically trying to find a solution. Then I spy a coat rack by the door that has miraculously not caught on fire. I run and grab it, then take it back and start clearing away the flaming debris.

With my mouth and nose uncovered, I begin coughing and my eyes water.

“Are you mad? Get out!”

“Either we get out together or not at all!” I yell back. The rack has caught fire, but I continue to clear away the rubble.

Finally, it’s enough for him to jump over. I drop the rack before the fire reaches my hands, and I grab onto Karvex.

He swings me up in his arms and barrels for the door. Karvex slams into it, and we rush out into the night. I suck in the fresh air greedily, and Karvex does the same.

“How disappointing,” a new voice drawls.

Karvex pulls me tighter to his chest. From out of the night, three figures emerge. Without them even having to say it, I know they’re bounty hunters. And they already have their guns raised.

They effectively have us surrounded. Realization hits me. This was planned to lure us out.

“You’re a wanted man,” another one of the bounty hunters says snidely. “They said you would be a difficult one to catch, but I’m pretty disappointed. This was rather easy.”

Karvex growls and slowly sets me down before shoving me behind him. “Don’t think this is over just because you have me surrounded. I imagine whoever hired you wants me alive.”

“Actually,” the last bounty hunter chimes in. “The reward on you has gone up since that casino robbery you pulled. And they’re willing to pay for you, dead or alive.”

A shiver goes through me. Moments ago, I’d thought the fire would kill us. But here we are about to be shot down.

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