To Be A Survivor

Chapter 20: Relight My Fire

"They're all around us, Sam!"

"Can't you outrun them? Head to the side, out of their reach."

We're already running, trying to get to one of the small breaks in the horde. It's grown. All the screaming and growling and crying and moaning has attracted more zombies. We have get through one of those gaps or we're going to die.

"We're trying," She pants, "but the children. We can't drop the children and they're so heavy." Archie looks to her right, seeing a much larger gap than the one we're heading for. Hope swells up in my chest. "Maybe we can..."

"Yes?"

"No!" She screams it on the outside just as I do in my head. Another group of zoms have just come from one of the nearby coffee shops, filling in the gap, and the smaller one has been closed off as well. "There's no way out."

We have maybe a minute before they shamble onto us. I clutch the boy tighter to me, keeping his blue eyes from seeing the danger we're in. The blonde little girl just keeps screaming, crying, but that does us no good. There's no where for us to run.

"Well, there must be something!" Sam stresses. "You're not gonna die here, and you've got to save those children."

God, if you're listening, please give us a miracle, I pray, fear coursing through my veins as we keep running, right towards the zombies. If I didn't have the kid clinging on me like a leech I'd take off my axe and start swinging. It would give Archie a chance to get out of here if I took a few down and then got them all to try to bite onto me, but I can't risk the kid's life.

"Yes, that would be lovely to be saved," Archie says with bitterness, "but I don't think... wait, do you hear that?"

Thirty seconds until they're on us, but I hear it too.

"It's sounds like an engine."

"It's a fire engine!" Archie squeaks, and I laugh in delight at the fire truck that's coming toward us very quickly. It comes to a quick stop, and a dark skinned man jumps out and runs straight for the large hose connected to the truck. He aims it at the zoms, and then turns on the water works.

"Hey, stop spraying with the water," Archie says in annoyance when the cold spray start to hit on our skin. Then she gasps. "Oh, I see."

"Jaime! Jaime!" The girl screams, this time her voice is full of excitement instead of fear, and she squirms in attempt to get out of Archie's arms.

"What's happening, guys?" Sam questions as the water stops.

"He used the hose to spray the zombies and knock them right over; He's cleared the path."

By the time she's said that I'm already running towards the cleared way. The water against my skin causes goosebumps to erupt on my arms since it's still pretty cold, but I don't care. I'm just getting out of this zombie circle of death, mentally sending praises to Jesus for delivering on His miracle.

Archie's right behind me, trying to catch up to me as I make it to the fireman who just saved our skin. The dark skinned man is leaning against the fire truck with arms crossed and lips pressed into a scowl. It doesn't suit him, though. A smile would probably make him look much nicer. He's tall-really tall, taller than Evan I think. And he has nice eyes. Too bad they're cold as ice when looking at our approaching figures.

"Gimme them..." His words trail off for a moment when he sees me. The poor man looks like he might pass out from the sudden shock. I raise a brow, and he looks at my eyes. His face hardens again, eyes now even colder than before. "Gimme them kids."

"Yes, here you go," Archie says, handing over the girl to him. Her eyes go wide when she gets a good look at him, and I see the star struck look that passes her face. "Wow... okay."