Katie looked but there were so many people, so much movement.
In her dream, the Ferris wheel lurched to a stop. The sound was loud, like the shattering of glass, and it seemed to signal a change. The carnival’s colors began to fade, the scene below dissolving into cloud banks that hadn’t been there a moment before. As if the world were slowly being erased, and then everything suddenly dimmed. She was surrounded by impenetrable darkness, broken only by an odd flickering at the periphery of her vision, and the sound of someone talking.
Katie heard Jo’s voice again, almost a whisper.
Katie sniffed, still lost in the haze. Her eyes fluttered open, stinging for some reason as she tried to clear her sight. The television was still on and she realized she must have fallen asleep. The dream was already fading away but she heard Jo’s words clearly in her head.
Katie took a deep breath as she pushed herself to a sitting position and immediately started coughing. It took only an instant to realize that the room was filled with smoke. She bolted off the couch.
Smoke meant fire, and now she could see the flames outside the window, dancing and twisting orange. The door was on fire, smoke billowing from the kitchen in thick clouds. She heard roaring, a sound like a train, heard cracks and pops and splintering, her mind taking it in at once.
She ran toward the hallway, panicked at the sight of heavy smoke billowing from both rooms. Josh’s room was closest and she rushed in, waving her arms against the stinging black fog.
She reached the bed and grabbed Josh’s arm, dragging him up.
“Josh! Get up! The house is on fire! We’ve got to get out!”
He was about to whine, but she pulled him up, cutting him off. “C’mon!” she screamed. He immediately began to cough, doubled over as she dragged him out. The hallway was an impenetrable wall of smoke, but she rushed forward nonetheless, pulling Josh behind her. Groping, she found the doorjamb to Kristen’s room across the hall.
It wasn’t as bad as Josh’s room, but she could feel the enormous heat building behind them. Josh continued to cough and wail, struggling to keep up, and she knew better than to let go. She raced to Kristen’s bedside and shook her, pulling her out of bed with her other hand.
The roaring of the fire was so loud, she could barely hear the sound of her own voice. Half-carrying, half- dragging the kids back out into the hallway, she saw an orange glow, barely visible through the smoke, where the entrance to the hallway was. The wall crawled with fire, flames on the ceiling, moving toward them. She didn’t have time to think, only had time to react. She turned and pushed the kids back down the hallway toward the master bedroom, where the smoke was less thick.
She rushed into the room, flicking on the light. Still working. Alex’s bed stood against one wall, a chest of drawers against another. Straight ahead was a rocking chair and windows, thankfully untouched as yet by fire. She slammed the door behind her.
Racked by coughing spasms, she stumbled forward, dragging Josh and Kristen. Both of them were wailing between hoarse bouts of coughing. She tried to free herself to raise the bedroom window, but Kristen and Josh clung to her.
“I need to open the window!” she screamed, shaking herself free. “This is the only way out!” In their panic, they didn’t understand, but Katie didn’t have time to explain. Frantically, she tore at the old-fashioned window lock and tried to heave the heavy pane up. It wouldn’t budge. Peering closer, Katie realized that the frame had been painted shut, probably years ago. She didn’t know what to do, but the sight of the two children staring at her in terror cleared her head. She looked around, frantic, finally seizing the rocking chair.
It was heavy, but somehow she lifted it above her shoulder and heaved it at the window with all her might. It cracked but didn’t break. She tried again, sobbing through a last burst of adrenaline and fear, and this time the rocking chair went flying out, crashing onto the overhang below. Moving fast, Katie raced to the bed and tore off the comforter. She bundled it around Josh and Kristen and began pushing them toward the window.
There was a loud splintering sound behind her as part of the wall burst into flame, tendrils licking the ceiling. Katie turned in panic, pausing long enough to notice the portrait that hung on the wall. She stared at it, already knowing it was of Alex’s wife, because there was no one else it could be. She blinked, thinking it was an illusion, a distortion created by the smoke and fear. She took an involuntary step toward the eerily familiar face when she heard a roar above her as the ceiling started to give way.
Whirling around, she pushed through the window, holding the kids in the circle of her arms and praying that the comforter would protect them from glass shards. They seemed to hang in the air for an eternity, Katie twisting as they fell so that the kids would land on top of her. She hit the overhang on her back with a whump. It wasn’t far, maybe four or five feet, but the impact left her breathless before pain rolled over her in waves.
Josh and Kristen were hiccuping in fear, wailing and coughing. But they were alive. She blinked, trying not to pass out, sure she’d broken her back. But she hadn’t; she moved one leg, then the other. She shook her head to clear her vision. Josh and Kristen were struggling on top of her, trying to get free of the comforter. Above her, tongues of flame began to flare from the broken bedroom window. Flames were everywhere now, all over the house, and she knew they had only seconds to live unless she somehow summoned the strength to move.
On his way back from Joyce’s house, Alex noticed the sky glowing orange just above the blackened tree line on the outskirts of town. He hadn’t seen that as they drove into town and navigated the streets to Joyce’s home. Now, however, he frowned as he turned in that direction. Something in his gut told him that danger lay ahead, and he debated only an instant before pressing down on the accelerator.
Josh and Kristen were already sitting up as Katie rolled over. The ground was perhaps a ten-foot drop from the overhang, but she had to risk it. They were running out of time. Josh continued to sob but didn’t protest as Katie quickly explained what was going to happen next. She seized his arms, trying to keep her voice steady.
“I’m going to lower you as far as I can, but then you’re going to have to jump.”
He nodded, seemingly in shock, and she quickly scooted toward the edge, dragging Josh with her. He moved to the edge and she grabbed his hand. The overhang was shaking now, fire climbing up both support columns. Josh climbed over, legs first, holding on, Katie sliding on her belly toward the edge. Lowering him… God, the agony in her arms… four feet, no more, she told herself. He wouldn’t fall far and he would land on his feet.
She let go as the roof shuddered. Kristen crawled toward her, trembling.
“Okay, baby, your turn,” Katie urged. “Give me your hand.”
She did the same thing with Kristen, holding her breath as she let go. A moment later, both of them were on their feet, staring up at her. They were waiting for her.
“Run!” she screamed. “Move back!”
Her words were swallowed by another coughing spasm, and she knew she had to move. She grabbed the edge of the overhang and swung one leg off, then the other. She dangled for only an instant before her grip weakened.
She hit the ground and felt her knees buckle before she rolled to a stop in front of the store entrance. Her legs screamed with pain, but she had to get the kids to safety. She scrambled toward them, seizing their hands and beginning to drag them away.
Fire was dancing, leaping, spurting toward the sky. Nearby trees caught fire, their upper branches sparking like firecrackers. There was a sharp clap, loud enough to make her ears ring. She chanced a peek over her shoulder, just in time to see the walls of the building collapse inward. Then there was the deafening sound of an explosion, and Katie and the kids were knocked over in the scorching blast of air.
By the time the three of them caught their breath and turned to look, the store was nothing but a gigantic cone of fire.
But they’d made it. She pulled both Josh and Kristen toward her. They were whimpering as she put her arms
