Saxifrage Fire

0034

She mounted her motorcycle, turned the key, and glanced over her shoulder at Hitoshi to find he was leaned against the Company building holding his reinjured ribs while he thought she wasn't looking.

She rolled up beside him and pulled the stowaway pills from her pocket.

"Take them."

"I can't drive on morphine."

She carefully took off her backpack that was cramped to the max with the propane tank and passed it to him to wear.

"I'm a better driver anyway."

He sighed and took one, swallowing it dry.

"Just one. I might need to shoot."

"Something tells me your aim would be fine with twice that dose."

He shrugged and climbed onto the back of the motorcycle.

"If we crash, I'll kill you. I do not want to add road-burn to this mess."

She just laughed.

The pines flew past in a blur as she tore down empty Main Street with the lake to her left and the usually gleaming world of high-class cafes, shops, and her childhood dance studio of old-town Eirene on her right. Not a soul passed through the night and the lights were shut off leaving it to the moon and distant fires to light her way. The night rumbled and the lake horizon lit with fire in the distance as Ember's teams bombarded the shipment field.

"The highway is a mile down Eighth Street!" she called to Hitoshi who was clinging to her middle for dear life. "We have to stop the trucks before Pa's teams are overwhelmed!"

"How fast are you going?"

She glanced at her speedometer and smirked; he didn't want to know.

She turned left onto Eighth Street, her back-wheel skidding with the slick from snow, rebalanced and tore downhill towards the bridge to be caught in the headlight of a truck speeding towards them.

"Oshi!"

"On it!"

She felt his arm leave her stomach move to her shoulder as he used it to steady his aim. She winced as the gun fired his arm's length in front of her face.

The bullet shot street through the window into the driver and the truck careened into a building clearing their path.

She suppressed a smile as she heard him shout in victory.

She braked at the bottom of the slope and leaned to slide sideways in the snow to the base of the bridge.

Hitoshi leapt off and locked his pistol onto the next truck that revved its engine threatening to hit him. He fired and it barreled over the short barrier into the shallow of the lake.

She tossed her motorcycle aside and rushed to him, battling the zipper of his backpack to retrieve the tank of propane.

"I'll cover you," he said. "Take it ten yards- I'll shoot when you're clear."

She locked the tank under her arm and snatched the box of matches from the side pocket. The night quieted and a chill ran down her spine; she set her eyes across the bridge to the distant shipment field to see billow gas caught in the silver moonlight. She snatched the radio from her belt and entered Ember's code.

"Ember!"

There was a moment of static.

She knelt, setting the radio on the ground, as she jammed several matches into the hole in the clip meant to hang the tank for shipping.

The radio blared.

"Masks..." static "we're running out of oxygen... toxin."

She whipped Hitoshi's mask from his bag and pressed it to his face, checking the seal and activating the oxygen tanks.

"Retreat immediately," she ordered before securing her own. She reached up to switch the oxygen on but hesitated as she realized she was about to use a precious commodity when she had another option.

"Thea..." Oshi said lowly.

She cut her eyes down the bridge to see a parade of trucks gleaming with highlights racing towards them. She switched her oxygen on and called through her mask as she locked the tank under her arm and clutched the matches in her other fist.

"Shoot when you hear me splash!"

He nodded.

She forced her tired legs to run, her icy feet feeling like they might break with each pounding step until she calculated she'd gone ten yards. She knelt in the middle of the bridge and set the tank upright, striking a match on its box. The wind rushed from the south blowing out the flame immediately. She tried again and it blew out. She unsheathed her staff and ignited its flame to light the whole box of match- they caught. Headlights stung her eyes and she bolted for the edge of the bridge and dove off the barrier into the water. She sunk into the sand and covered her ears.

The water roared and heated around her, and she opened her eyes to watch the surface light up with all the colors of fire. She was mesmerized until a truck crashed into the water and into the sandy bottom just feet away. She yelped inside her mask and pushed off the bottom towards the beach to escape the cascading wreckage.

She scrambled onto the sand and turned to examine the bridge; at least a ten-foot section had completely ruptured and broken into the water.

"You okay?" Hitoshi called as he rushed down the beach towards her.

"Yeah." She laughed. "It worked!"

"Congratulations, you blew up a piece of Sera infrastructure, you're officially a Pyro."

She cut him a bemused glance then watched Seras stumble out of the lucky trucks that hadn't been caught in the explosion.

Bullets hit the ground around them spraying sand and they fled towards the road.

She winced, waiting for a bullet to hit one of them as Oshi climbed onto the motorcycle behind her. She squeezed the accelator the second she felt his arm around her middle.

She sped down the dock and whipped into an alleyway nearly slamming into a wall and tearing uphill to jump back on Tenth Street which would take them south towards the capitol.

She reached for her radio and swerved a bit.

"Stop it!" Oshi cried.

A radio buzzed next to her cheek and she smirked.

"Pa's code!"

She heard him press in the numbers, then there was static.

"Here!" Pa called.

"Pa! There are several trucks coming your way!"

"Thanks for the warning! Did you find Alex?"

Her face contorted with grief.

Hitoshi retracted the radio and spoke to him, updating him on everything in a matter of a few seconds.

She pulled her mind out of its fast decline and shouted.

"Ezi's code!"

She heard him jam in the numbers.

"Ezi!" He called.

Static.

Alethea's heart pounded madly against the cage of her chest.

"Ezi! Are you there?"

Static.

She felt Hitoshi's energy turn cold with terror behind her just as her own blood froze over.

"Speed up!" he shouted.

She squeezed the accelerator harder, passing the 100 mark.

🌼🔥

Thank you for reading! Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. Every vote is appreciated!

-Em

(E.E. Hayes)