Chapter 104
CADE
I called one of the men running around.
"The firefighters-" I began.
"We've called them," he said. "It will take a few minutes before they get here."
"The children... how many in there?" Hannah asked in a strangled voice.
The man's face twisted in pain. "Three."
A look crossed Hannah's face as the man hurried away. She seemed to be steeling herself for something. I grabbed her arm.
"No," I said. "I know what you're thinking, and I won't let you do it. The fire is too intense. At least most of the children are safe."
"But the other three-"
I shook my head sadly. "You can't save them all. If you go in there, there’s no guarantee you’ll come out with those kids. This is not a risk worth taking.”
"I won't let them die," she snapped. “I won’t.”
Before I could blink, she had wrenched her arm away and was running towards the building.
"Hannah! No!" I bellowed.
As I dashed after her, I shouted at the others to stop her, but they were too surprised to immediately understand what was going on.
I managed to get a hold of Hannah's short. It slipped through my fingers as she ran through the door. The moment Hannah was inside the building, the front door, coated in fire, collapsed, completely blocking her path.
I felt my heart stop, then start slamming so hard it felt like it would pop right out of my chest.
"The door!" I roared, glaring at the men who stood and kept staring like idiots. "Help me clear the front door. Hurry up!” I could barely feel my legs as I ran, but I had to do it. This was the only way for Hannah to come out safely.
The women started to scream and shout as they realized what Hannah had just done.
The shouts roused the men. They started moving. I grabbed a fire extinguisher someone had left lying around and aimed at what was once the front door. More than half of the men joined me to try to clear a path through. The flames only grew higher and brighter.
"I'll check the windows and the back of the building," one of the women said and promptly took off.
The wail of a siren soon split the air. Firefighters descended on the place like a swarm of bees, but even then, they could not control the fire so fast. They would not be able to get to Hannah so quickly.
When I checked my watch, I saw that several minutes had already passed. All the noises weren't enough to drown out the roaring in my head. Cursing, I grabbed the nearest fireman by his collar.
"People are dying in there," I shouted in his face. "When are you fucking going to rescue them?"
The terrified man swallowed. "We are working as fast as we can-"
I shoved him away from me. "Not fast enough!"
There was only one thing left to do. I tore off my jacket and covered the lower part of my face with it.
A soot blackened hand fell on my arm.
"Sir," a man said. "Please, you can't go in there. If you do, you won't make it out."
I shook off his grip. How could I ever explain to him that I would rather die than see Hannah get hurt? She had been brave enough to try and save the kids. I had to be brave enough to save her.
"Please-" he begged again, trying one last time.
As I was about to break into a run, several screams, louder than anything I had ever heard yet, split the air.
Everyone was looking through the windows on the ground floor, where a movement had been detected. Suddenly, it was shattered from inside and out of it crawled-
"Hannah!"
I screamed her name so hard it felt like my throat would burst. I rushed to her. Other people got there before me. The women took all three children she was holding on to. One of the kids was screaming her head off as she had burns all over her body. She was not more than two.
There were tears of relief shed as people thanked Hannah over and over again. I shoved them all aside to get to her.
"Cade..." Hannah croaked out.
Her breathing rasped painfully in her throat. She moved a step and then fell. I caught her in my arms. My arms and my entire body shook as the shock of what had just happened started to set in.
"Hannah," I sighed.
I wanted to yell at her for being reckless and for putting her life in danger but I couldn't bring myself to, not when she was so weak and pale and white and
Shit! Her hair had turned completely white again. She must have shifted inside the building.
"Cade... I saved them," Hannah croaked again, tears streaming down her eyes.
And then she closed her eyes and blacked out in my arms.
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