“They’re outside. Everyone’s outside. Come on,” she rushes out. “Let’s get out of here.”
Relieved, I swivel around and chase her back into my room where Tierra and Penny are waiting, terrified expressions on their faces. I run over to the window and wrench it open. Sure enough, everyone’s outside.
“Tie your sheets together and get those girls out of there,” Dad yells at me.
I snap into action and rip the sheets off the bed. Quickly, I knot one end of the top sheet to the fitted sheet. There’s nowhere really to tie it to, so I wrap it around my forearm a couple of times and then grip it in my fist before tossing the excess out the window. It’ll still be an eight or nine-foot drop, but it should be fine. Sirens wail in the distance, letting us know help is on the way.
“Tierra, go,” I bark out.
She scrambles over the window ledge and then holds on to the sheet. Her body weight has me exerting my strength to keep her from dropping from the second-floor window.
“Penny, grab that towel and put it under the crack of the door,” Charlotte instructs. “Hurry.”
Terrence and Garrett are waiting with arms open, ready to catch Tierra when she drops. She reaches the end of the rope, dangling, and shrieks.
“Let go,” I bark down at her.
She cries out, kicking. “I’m scared!”
Terrence balls up some snow and whacks her with it. She screeches as she lets go. Garrett is there to catch her, pulling her safely into his arms.
“Penny, let’s go!” I yell over my shoulder.
Penny flies out the window, shimmying down the sheets in record speed. She reaches the end of the rope, and like Tierra, stalls. Maybe it’s a higher drop than I realize. Rather than waiting this time, Terrence jumps, grabbing her ankle. She cries out, falling on top of him, both of them sinking into the snow.
“Hurry,” Charlotte whimpers. “That wall is bubbling.”
I turn to look at the bubbling wall. In slow motion, like something out of a horror movie, the wall opens, revealing flames as though it’s a portal to hell.
“Get the fuck over here,” I roar at her.
She starts my way but the wall starts to cave inward, toward her. I abandon my sheet and rush over to her, yanking her away from the collapsing wall. We fall back, both of us landing on our asses.
Fuck.
The sheet.
It’s gone.
We rush back over to the window. Lights flash, ricocheting off the trees below.
“They can’t get the truck over here,” Dad calls up. “Can you get to the guest bathroom window?”
“We’ll try,” I yell. “Come on.”
Charlotte takes my hand and I lead her to the bedroom door. Both of us are coughing now that the black smoke has thickened. The handle is hot to the touch when I grab it. Everything seems to be melting around us. I snag up the towel, using it to turn the knob. I expect to be blasted by flames, but my face burns from heat instead. Poking my head out, I realize the fire has spread, but the open door to the bathroom is untouched by flames.
“Go,” I instruct. “Don’t stop until you get into that bathroom.”
Charlotte runs ahead of me, coughing hard through the smoke. I follow after her, yanking on her hoodie when she gets disoriented and tries to open a linen closet door. With probably too much force, I shove her into the bathroom and slam the door shut behind us. I hurry over to the window. I unlock it, but it’s stuck.
Fuck.
I can see the red and blue lights through the tempered glass, but I can’t open it. I’m going to have to break it.
“It won’t open?” Charlotte shrieks. “We have to go back!”
“No,” I bellow. “Don’t you dare leave this bathroom. I need to break it.” I elbow the glass, but it’s easier said than done. Pain splinters through me. “We need something to break it with.”
Charlotte starts digging through the cabinets, looking for anything of use while I continue to try to break it. If I weren’t standing on a toilet, it’d be a lot easier because I could just kick it open.
Someone bangs on the window. I can’t see them through the glass, but I’m thankful as fuck for them to be on the other side.
“We can’t get the window open!” I yell.
“Stand back!” the voice responds.
I hop off the toilet and haul Charlotte into my arms, away from the heat billowing from the door. Glass shatters and then the window is being smashed away.
“Go,” I tell Charlotte, dragging her to the window. “Go with him.”
I meet familiar amber eyes through a mask and almost fucking cry in relief. It’s Roan. The fucking hero Hoodlum. He snags Charlotte when she gets close, pulling her through the window. I watch with terror clawing up inside of me as he precariously passes her down to another firefighter below him. I’m growing dizzy from the smoke, desperately sucking cold, fresh air into my lungs.
“Let’s go,” Roan says, once again at the window. “Quickly, but watch your step.”
I climb through the window, taking his gloved hand, and start down the ladder. He helps me past him and then guides me down to another firefighter. I’m dazed as they manhandle me down the rest of the way. Another fireman drags me away from the burning house toward an ambulance where the other hero Hoodlum is waiting.
“Charlotte,” I croak out when Hollis grabs onto me.
“She’s safe,” he says. “In the ambulance already getting looked over.”
He helps me into the back of the ambulance where my fucking girl is crying but alive. I yank her to me, kissing her smoky hair.
“Mom, Dad, uh, Garrett…” I close my eyes, thinking. “Did everyone get out?”
“They did. Tierra and Penny too,” Hollis assures me.
There were more people. Think. My brain is fuzzy.
“Terrence and Rhetta?” Charlotte asks, filling in the blanks for me. “Elise?”
“Everyone got out,” Hollis says. “Now let’s get you two checked out.”
While he and the other
