To Be A Leader

Chapter 62: A Real Hero

Please read the A/N at the end of this chapter.

The walls behind us crack, rumble, break. I close the steel door. Just as I do, I see orange- red. It burns my eyes, and I'm hit with an overwhelming heat that steals the air from my lungs.

"The volcano's blown!" Sam yells as we flee, every part of my brain screaming to run, run, run!

"It's not a volcano, Mr. Yao," Janine corrects. "It's geothermal energy well."

"There's a river of hot lava melting straight through a steel door," Jaime says through gritted teeth. Sweat pours off his body. "We never had training in volcanoes in the fire service, but it looks a lot like a volcano to me!"

"What do we do?" Milo croaks, and concern floods my entire body when I look at his face. His lips are dry, cracking, and the parts of his skin that aren't red are extremely pale. We're all sweating profusely, but Milo is the worst of all of us.

I've seen these symptoms enough times in America. I know heat exhaustion when I see it.

If we don't get out of here, it'll progress to a heat stroke, and we don't have any water or safe place to cool him off. We won't be able to drag him out before succumbing to the heat ourselves. We'd have to leave him.

So basically, if we don't get Milo out of here in the next twenty minutes, he'll die.

"That lava will keep moving," Janine answers. "It will move faster than you can run. Your only chance is to get to the sprinkler systems. They are extremely powerful and will create an enormous flood of water.

"If you turn them on manually, the sea water will turn the lava back into rock. That should create a barrier which will protect you from the heat."

"Okay, okay," Sam breathes out. "That sounds like a workable plan. And coincidentally, stops me from thinking about how Veronica is back working with Sigrid, who is going to instruct a nuclear submarine to bomb the UK.

"Okay. Uh, manual override on the sprinklers. Yes. Um, uh, yeah! There's one on the way to the island. Head down that corridor with the yellow walls."

"Very good, Mr. Yao," Janine says as we obey. I keep a constant eye on Milo. "Runners Five and Eight, Your Majesty, I have a message for you from the Exmoore Militia. If I may play it?"

"Play it while we run, yeah?" Jaime pants. "Time and hot magma wait for no man."

"Mr. Yao, play the message."

"Runner Five, Runner Eight, Your Majesty," Jules says, her voice shaking. "We, the Exmoore Militia... we just want you to know that... we're sure our husbands and wives on board the nuclear submarine, the Undaunted, would want to be sacrificed rather than used to destroy this country.

"If you manage to get to that transmitter and speak to them directly, if the nuclear countdown has gone too far, if it's impossible to stop it without scuttling the vessel... we want you to know we think you should order them to destroy the vessel." Her voice cracks. "If that's your only choice, we think it's the best one."

Jaime gives a brief nod. "Message received, Janine. Tell them. Come on, guys. We've only got a few minutes to save the country. Plus, if we don't get to that sprinkler system, we'll be roasted alive, and I ain't goin' out that way!"

I nod, my mouth too dry to speak. I gather what little bit of saliva I can to swallow. It's painful.

I keep my eyes on Milo, making sure he keeps pace. He's managing, but I can tell just how much strain is being put on him. The smell of burnt metal and fire hits my nose, and it takes everything in me not to look back at the glow I can feel behind us.