Military Girl

Chapter 13

"Go straight outside. That's an order." They nodded, fear of the unknown spread fiercely on their faces. I nodded in return and opened the door. The heat hit me like a tidal wave. "Cover your faces until you get outside." I instructed the trio. Again they nodded. I pushed forward, against the heat and turned towards the other rooms in the dorm. The others turned the other way, left, reluctance to leave me embedded in their eyes. I forced myself to ignore every part of my body that told me to follow them to safety. I had a responsibility to make sure everyone was out. It was my job, I knew that when I agreed to it. I waved at them, encouraging them to continue forwards. They were going to be alright, thanks to me. I sighed. "Is anyone in here?" I yelled, breathing in the smoke and soot. Surely no one was in here. Surely they had all gone to the canteen like they were supposed to. I heard a cry. Shit. Apparently not. I heard the cry again and pinpointed its location. One of the far room. Crap. That room already had flames covering the bottom of the door. They had probably already reached into the room. I cursed again. Crap. Crap. Crap. I ran through the fire. I reached the door. My ankles and lower legs were burning. "I'm coming in," I shouted through corrupted lungs. "Cover your mouth with a cloth." I gave them two seconds. Those two seconds was all I could give them before my legs became too sore to bare. I kicked open the door. It was a boy. He was huddled up on the bed, backed up against the wall. He was trembling, trying to get away from the relentless flames. I waded through the sea of orange and yellow and red. I lifted the petrified boy over my shoulder in a fireman's lift. I ran out or the burning room. There were bangs as things fell down. There were pops as things burst from the heat. A panel of wood fell at my feet. I jumped over it. I carried on running. My eyesight became blurry. Drops of sweat fell from my forehead. All around me things were falling and shattering into tiny pieces. I felt my chest getting tighter. Everything was coming closer and closer towards me. There was a door to the left and what looked like a bit of the wall to my right and something up ahead and another thing nipping at my ankles. I shifted the boy on my shoulder to make it just a little more comfortable for me. Probably not for him but I was saving his life, he could live with it. I heard him groan slightly. Fuck him. If it weren't for me, he would be being burnt alive. I heard a board creak just above my head. It was nothing. Right? These ceilings creak and make funny noises all the time. It was nothing unusual. I carried on, feet pounding. Left. Right. Over and over again. A million times over. I ducked through a broken doorway. Wait? I felt a sharp stinging on my forehead. Then, there was a small, red drop fall over my eye. Crap. There was quickly a steady stream of red running down my face. I shook it off and ignored everything. I focussed on the door that was only a couple of minutes further down the hall.  I was almost there. I was almost there. I was almost... There was another loud creak from above my head, this time even louder than before. I attempted to shake it off again but it echoed once more, even louder. Then, it was continuous. A loud creak for minutes, coming closer and closer. This wasn't good. Not good at all. The creak finally ended with a loud bang as a board of some variety fell fully from its hinges. I felt it smack into the back of my legs. The floor seemed a million miles away. I heard a distant scream. That wasn't far away at all. That was on my back. The boy on my back was screaming. I had two choices. I either kept the, now crying, boy on my back, or I threw him away from the flames. The latter sounded slightly better. I grabbed him and slung him from my shoulder. "Run. Run to the climbing wall. Don't look back!" He didn't move straight away. "Go!" My voice broke halfway through. He nodded, eyes still streaming. All I saw was his retreating back. I felt a soaring pain shoot through my legs, starting from my ankles and soon reaching higher up towards my torso. I flicked my legs up, kicking the the board behind me. But, when I tried to stand, my legs immediately gave way. I fell to the cold tiles once more. "Ah shit." It came out as nothing more than a whisper, my throat not capable of making more than a squeak. I jumped up again, stumbling, yet again. Seriously? I was never this clumsy normally. The small stumble allowed the orange demons more time to clamber towards my heart. I had to carry on. I knew I did. I ran. I ran and ran and ran. It seemed like a lifetime before I reached the corner in the hall. It wasn't even two meters away from where I fell. I swung around the bend, catching myself before I could trip. It was taking too long. The flames were wrapping around me. I could feel them everywhere. I was never going to make it. Shit. In saving someone else's life, I was going to lose my own. No. I wasn't going to allow it. I was going to make it.

Hey guys. Sorry that this has taken so long to upload. I wrote this chapter out like a week ago but it decided to delete everything that I had written. Therefore, this probably isn't as good as before.