Page 27 of Sinner's Salvation

Before he could fire, a clump of burning debris fell next to them.

“Anna,” Brian shouted. A ragged line of burning debris now separating them.

“Go,” she shouted, waving at him and the soldier behind him. “We’ll get out another way.”

The soldier snagged her by the wrist, and pulled her backwards along with him just as more wreckage fell all around them.

She moved with him, but they weren’t moving fast enough. The bulge in the ceiling ruptured fully, disgorging insulation, building materials, cables, and electrical wires. All of it on fire. All of it melted into an oozing mass of plastics and metals.

The young soldier took a direct hit from one of those clumps, which knocked him sideways into the nearest wall. He slid down it to land in a heap on the floor, his clothing scorched and smoking.

Anna had to fight through a burning minefield of crap before she could reach him. Some of the stuff burned right through her clothing and onto her skin. She shook it off, ignored the pain, and focused on the soldier.

He was on the floor, unmoving, with smoke rising from various spots of his clothing and gear, but no flames yet. Luckily, the spot he landed in was relatively clear of debris.

One of the clumps had hit her left shoulder. It burned or melted her shirt on that side, and she’d received some significant burns before she managed to shrug it off.

It hurt, but she ignored the pain. She’d learned how to do that years ago.

Just as she reached him, the young soldier woke up, screaming. He’d dropped or thrown his weapon somewhere, so there was nothing to stop him from trying to put out what he thought were flames dancing on his uniform by rolling on the floor.

But he wasn’t on fire, at least, not yet.

The heat was so intense it could kill him and significantly damage her body, inside and out, if they didn’t get away from it quickly.

“Hey,” she yelled at him, stopping him from taking another roll on the floor.

He fought her, kicking, then pulled a knife from somewhere, and stabbed at her blindly.

He sliced her arms in a couple of places, but she managed to avoid any major injuries. This was wasting time they didn’t have.

She smacked her palm against one of his ears. Hard.

The strike disorientated and dazed him enough for her to take his knife away from him and throw it aside. Then his eyes rolled up, and he passed out.

At least he wouldn’t be fighting her for a while.

She repositioned his legs out straight and together, then wrapped one arm around them from under his knees and tugged. He slid a few inches, his arms extended in wide arcs as they dragged on the floor.

She crab crawled away from the fire, dragging the soldier with her. It would have been easier for her to throw him over her shoulder, but the air was only clear enough to breathe closer to the floor.

The smoke was thick, but the fire hadn’t invaded this part of the building yet. If she could find another unobstructed exit to outside before the fire found them, they’d be okay.

She hoped he’d be okay. The heat could cause a lot of harm to a human body, damage lung tissue and scar the skin. Her own lungs struggled to get enough oxygen to keep her moving. She coughed and hacked and fought through smoke that seemed to tug at her feet and added weight to the man she was trying to save.

It wasn’t his fault he’d been ordered to stand guard over her and Brian. It wasn’t his fault she’d been kidnapped by a lunatic. When she got her hands on that lunatic, he was going to wish he’d never shot her in the first place.

She reached an intersection of four corridors. Only one looked safe to take.

The soldier groaned, but seemed only partially conscious. There was much less smoke here, so she took the opportunity to yank him up and over her shoulder. He was tall enough his boots nearly scraped the floor, so she had to watch her feet as well as his.

As she headed down that hall, she noted more exit signs pointing in the direction she was going. Good. The further she went, the cooler the air became, and her breathing became easier.

She could see the exit now, about sixty feet away. It was a single door, not a large exit like the original one, with a small narrow window in it. Daylight shone through it, but she couldn’t make out any distinguishing features beyond the window.

The door suddenly opened, and a man came through it, a handgun in both hands.

The Homeland Security Agent who’d shot her. Agent Ledger.

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