death.
Cole was silently praying and begging for God's help as he made one
final sweep under the bed. He was just pulling back when Caleb grabbed
hold of his hand. The baby let go just as quickly. Cole rolled his
shoulder under the frame, lifted up, and reached for him. Caleb had
squeezed himself up against the headboard. Cole found a leg and gently
pulled.
He could hear him whimpering and making loud, sucking sounds with his
thumb in his mouth, and Cole thought those were the most beautiful
noises he'd ever heard, for it meant that Caleb was unharmed.
He lifted the baby into his arms and rolled to his knees. Caleb threw
himself backward and grabbed his baby doll off the floor. A forked
flame of fire leapt up from between the floorboards as Cole pulled
Caleb back.
'Let's get out of here, ' he whispered to the baby, his voice hoarse
and raw from smoke.
He wanted to wrap Caleb in a blanket from the bed, but when he reached
for it, he saw the embers raining down from the ceiling on top of it.
The blanket ignited and rapidly burned. In desperation, Cole tucked
Caleb's head under his chin, wrapped his arms around him, and doubled
over, his hope that his own body would shield the baby's.
He figured he had only a couple of seconds left to get out. The
bedroom was closing in on him. Flames where shooting up from the
cracks in the floor and dropping down from the ceiling above.
And then the walls began to move as though they had suddenly come
alive. They bulged forward, hovered, then, with an eerie swooshing
sound, they slowly receded before throbbing forward once again. It was
the spookiest damned thing he had ever seen. He could hear the heart
of the fire beating behind those walls. It pulsated and throbbed as it
sucked every breath of air it could find.
Cole knelt near the floor, took a deep breath, rose to his feet, and
raced for the window. The monster chased him. He heard a snapping
sound behind him, felt the floor shift under his feet, and leapt
through the opening as the floor collapsed. The room's walls exploded
a heartbeat later. Shards of glass and fragments of burning embers
blew out the window. The force of the explosion slammed Cole forward,
but he turned in midair so he would land on his back and not crush the
baby in his arms. The heat pouring out from the hot roof burned his
skin, and he knew he had only seconds left before the whole house
collapsed. Staggering to his feet, he turned in one direction and then
