There was a slight groan and shuffle and a head emerged. Rather than the child I’d anticipated, it was a petite older woman who scooted out. She hugged me tightly while I continued to hold the tray aloft. Some of the tension in my stomach eased. Part of me had expected to see Joshua’s chubby face gazing up at me, even though I knew that wasn’t possible. The fact that this wasn’t a kid meant I could stop worrying about old nightmares and stay focused on the nightmare happening right now.
‘Stay right there with your arms round me,’ I instructed.
‘Mmmhmmm,’ she said into my shoulder. I could feel her trembling. Somehow I didn’t think she was going to move from my side without considerable persuasion.
The skin on my fingers was starting to hurt with the heat from the tray. I adjusted my grip slightly. There wasn’t far to go, and my house still appeared to have a strange fire-free arc around it. It was about all I had to bank on. I sent up a silent prayer to whoever was listening that things would stay that way and started to move.
It wasn’t easy. The small woman was attached to me like a limpet. Her eyes were screwed shut and she was letting out a long, continuous moan. We shuffled forward while my fingers grew hotter and hotter and Lizzy, who was watching us from the doorstep, grew paler and paler.
Fire spattered onto the tarmac, hissing and melting tar on the road. Screams were continuing up and down the street but, when I angled my head right, the house that had been burning was still standing. Plumes of dark, angry-looking smoke continued to billow out, but I couldn’t see any flames and it seemed as if the smoke as well as the fire were starting to dissipate.
The people who’d run over to help were sheltering and no longer frantically trying to help. That had to be a good thing; it freed me up to help others who were sheltering like the petite woman.
Unsurprisingly, she was oblivious to anything but her own situation. Her moans were growing even more high-pitched and shaky.
‘Eight more steps,’ I gasped, unsure if she could hear me.
She stumbled. I hauled her upright with one hand while continuing to balance the tray above us like a bizarre umbrella.
‘Come on! We can do this!’
‘It’s too hot,’ she groaned. ‘I can’t…’
‘You can.’ I pushed her up the doorstep and into Lizzy’s waiting arms. ‘You did.’
Tears ran down her face, creating pale trails against the grime. I gave a Lizzy a meaningful glance and spun round. Even if the fire at the house had been contained, there would be more like her out there, more people in danger of being burned alive.
‘Charley, no! You can’t go out there again!’
I set my mouth into a grim line. ‘I have to.’ I shook my hands as if to get rid of the searing heat on my fingertips and stepped through the door once more. Left or right?
Without any warning, the light changed. The amber glow that had suffused everything vanished completely. It occurred so abruptly that it seemed impossible that it was a natural phenomenon. Someone, somewhere, had done something, although I had no clue what.
Almost immediately ragged cheers floated up the street. I peered round. The fiery raindrops had definitely stopped. As if by some strange magical force, the clouds looked the same as they always did. Whatever hellish shit had occurred, it appeared to be over.
Chapter Four
I couldn’t have told you what time it was when I woke up again but at least it was dark. The silence outside was immensely gratifying. Groggily, I rubbed my eyes and padded out of my room and downstairs. My fingertips still stung; when I glanced down at them, I saw that angry blisters had formed. I grimaced. I’d been hoping that I’d had a bad nightmare caused by over-tiredness. I should have known better.
Lizzy poked her head out of the kitchen. I wiggled my hands at her, palms facing outwards with the blisters visible. ‘It wasn’t a dream then,’ I said.
She didn’t smile. ‘No, it wasn’t.’
I tilted my head and listened. I could hear the hum of voices from the television in the living room but nothing beyond that. ‘The woman?’
Lizzy shrugged. ‘When you disappeared upstairs again and didn’t reappear, she left. She told me to say thanks.’ She squinted at me. ‘I went to check on you and you were dead to the world. And,’ she added, ‘snoring like a pig.’
I couldn’t even remember going back to bed but I felt refreshed so it must have done me good, and I was pretty certain I only snored when I was really knackered. It must have been some sort of adrenaline surge that had knocked me out. I cricked my neck and sighed. ‘Has anything else freaky happened?’
Lizzy bit her lip. ‘No. But the army are rolling in to help restore order.’
That was something; at least some bigwig somewhere had realised that we needed help before the entire city went into meltdown. I nodded and wandered past her. Coffee. I needed coffee.
Lizzy watched me for a moment or two as I bustled round, seeking out a cracked mug and flicking on the kettle. ‘You know,’ she said eventually, ‘Ellen said she was going to leave. The city, I mean.’
I threw in a scoop of instant coffee and several sugars. I deserved them. ‘Who’s Ellen?’ I asked.
‘The woman you were asking about. The one you saved.’
‘Oh.’ I gazed unseeingly at the cracked tiles, still not fully awake.
‘Martial law has been imposed. The army are telling everyone to stay indoors for now, but a couple of the worst-hit suburbs are being evacuated and the roads are filled with cars heading out. It was on the radio. Lots
