Love Bites *Sequel to Insanity Bites*

Z

The thought of reaching land made me think about my future. Would I be stuck with this horrible family as their slave? Or could I actually start a new life?

The emptiness I felt inside threatened to consume me and I wanted to choke. Who was I kidding? I was nothing but a shell. I was existing not living.

"What are you going to do once you get there?" I asked Wynona.

She smiled and I couldn't help but think she was being foolish for expecting something good.

"Who knows? Maybe I'll work as a chef in a nice restaurant. Maybe I'll marry again. Whatever it is it's better that being on this boat day and night."

I nodded at her words. Maybe she was right.

Once the mayor's family and the doctor had finished their dinner, I cleaned up and got their beds ready.

I had to wait till they were tucked in their beds before I blew out the candles that illuminated their ostentatious rooms.

I went into the mayor's bathroom and washed his dirty clothes. I was about to blow out the candle there when I stopped myself.

There was a nagging feeling that gnawed at my skin and I knew deep down that justice had to be served. They did not deserve happiness after what they had done.

Tomorrow we would be reaching land  and I would have a chance to escape this wretched family. Now was the only chance I had at revenge.

I brought one of the mayor's most expensive clothes and lit it on fire. A smile spread across my face, the first real one I've had since I've been here.

I then took the gold trinkets he kept hidden in the bathroom shelf and turned them over the fire until they deformed. My fingers burned but I rejoiced in the pain. I put some of the gold in my pocket. Maybe I would be able to use some once we reached land.

When the bathroom began to fill with smoke I quickly put the fire out.

I left the room before the mayor grew suspicious and went to my quarters on the lower decks. 

If I got punished tomorrow, it would be worth it.

Once I got on the flimsy mattress I shared with two others I lay on my side wondering how the mayor would react one he discovered his finest belongings were ruined.

It was difficult to sleep with so much on my mind but I eventually did.

When I woke up to the screams of my bunkmates I expected it to be because we had reached the Americas but instead I woke up to the smell of smoke that burned my nostrils.

Tears stung my eyes as I tried to make sense of the chaos around me. There were men, some older, some younger all scavenging and running around in panic. Most of them ran out of the door that lead to the upper decks.

"Fire! Fire!" Someone shouted and a jolt of fear ran down my spine. I stood up slowly and wormed my way out of the room. I had to struggle to get through.

My body collided with others and I coughed loudly as my lungs filled with smoke.

Maybe this was how I would die. The thought filled me with a mixture of excitement and fright.

The smoke was worse out here in the narrow corridors. Bright orange embers licked the ceiling at the corners and then danced to the centre causing portions of it to collapse on top of the people running to the end.

Unlike them I walked, not caring if a chunk of the ceiling were to fall on my head and then I remembered Wynona. A sense of urgency washed over me as I realized she might be dead.

Instead of heading out to the open deck where everyone else was going I rushed to the upper floor.

I could barely breathe as I reached Wynona's floor and all I could see was fire every where. There was no one in sight. They were either dead or they had escaped.

I swallowed the black air and my chest throbbed in pain. I hoped she was up there on the deck where they would be evacuating people.

I turned around but froze in place when I heard someone scream. It was a woman's voice.

When I looked back at the fire I knew if I went further in there was a chance I might not come out. But what if that voice belonged to Wynona?

Unlike me she wanted to start a new life with a new job and partner. Maybe this was my chance to save her unlike Arabella.

I knew in my heart I had to do it.

I took a deep breath and ran in. Hot air seared my skin and my face felt like it was on fire.

I coughed loudly and gasped for air. It was as if nothing was going into my lungs.

I ran towards the screams, peering into the rooms I passed, they were all empty. When I reached the end of the corridor I realized the woman's voice was coming from above.

The gates had barred this floor from the upper one but the fire had melted parts of it and there was a hole in the middle.

I slipped through it but the ends cut into my skin and the heat from it made me scream in pain.

When I reached the top I saw a woman and a man struggling to break through the barrier that kept them in the floor for the upper class. 

My eyes widened in surprise when I saw the panicked green eyes of the mayor's wife.

"Help us!" She shouted deliriously and I rushed up to them and tried to pry open the lock. It burned to touch it.

The doctor was with her and his face was severely disfigured with blood pooling out from his ear. He held it with a torn piece of cloth and tried to help me with the lock.

The fire behind them was raging and it looked much worse there.

"My daughter, my husband both gone," the mayor's wife cried in anguish. "The fire started in his room. I could not save him."

My hands froze for a moment as I processed her words. We locked eyes and hers widened in realization.

"You, you were supposed to put out all the candles! You killed them! Once I get out of here I will have you punished so severely you will regret it, you piece of filth!" She screamed and reached her hands out to me.

My hands stopped fiddling with the lock and I took a step back.

The mayor was dead. It might have been by my doing even though I was positive I put out the candle.

The mayor was dead and I was free.

"What are you doing? Get us out of here slave!" She commanded desperately and the doctor begged but his words were slurred.

I looked at her and smiled when I saw the horror on her face. She started crying and begging for me to help but I knew it was all an act. If the roles were reversed she would have pushed me into the fire. At least I was giving her a chance to try and escape herself.

I ignored her tireless screams as I rushed down the hall and to the exit shaft. The walls burned my skin and when I finally escaped to the deck above most of the people were already on the boats.

Some of them were released onto the water.

A loud explosion erupted behind me sending me flying over the edge and into the water.

Water filled my nostrils and ears and when I coughed I swallowed more of it.

I kicked and kicked until I reached the surface and grabbed on to the edge of a boat.

Someone pulled me over and I sank to the floor gasping for breath.

Around me survivors, some burnt and injured, some unharmed all pointed to something beyond the waves behind me.

I turned around and saw the faint outline of a shoreline. We had reached land.

"The Americas," Someone whispered.