You woke up to screams and cries piercing your ears. Your eyes shot open and you immediately sat up from your bed, wildly searching for the source. You quickly rose and started to sprint for the entrance of your house, praying that the screams weren't serious. As you forced the front door open, your eyes were blinded by the harsh sun and the screams became louder and closer. Peeling your eyelids open, you could see crowded chaos as the people of your town ran as fast as they could. You whipped your head around the area, frantically searching for the cause of the disarray. You stepped down from your porch and immediately got caught in the panicking crowd, hearing the cries of children and being pushed by citizens terrified of...whatever the problem was. Ever the heroic type, you pushed through people, heading the direction they ran away from to see what or who could cause such terror. You could hear those you pushed past yell at you.
"Don't go there!"
"Not that way!"
"Come back!"
"It's not worth it, y/n!"
You blocked out the worried cries of your townsfolk, picking up your pace as much as you could. As you grew nearer to the center of the town, the crowd had begun to thin and you started to hear explosions and fire crackling not too far away. As you pushed past the last trickle of townspeople, you finally saw the havoc they ran from.
Multiple houses had been set on fire and you could see shreds of TNT spread across the darkened sky as they were set off. Black smoke billowed from every roof and most buildings crumbled to the ground. Debris covered the pathway and you could hear screaming coming from beneath the rubble. People were trapped underneath. In a moment of panic, you rushed to the fallen pieces of house, ignoring the putrid smell of the black smoke. You were able to see some of those who were trapped, and were able to pull them out, but others would need to be freed by lifting the carnage. Using the adrenaline you felt to kick your instincts, you moved your shoulder underneath the biggest slab of debris you could find and lifted as much as you could. You could see more folk scurry out and limp away, but you still heard cries for help under more of the rock. Pushing the heavy slab out of the way, you moved on even further into the hot and sweaty end of the town, inhaling more smoke. As you lifted slab after slab of fallen debris, and see more and more people escape, you began to hear the screams subside and your nerves almost began to calm down.
Once you headed towards the library at the edge of the town, you felt confident that whatever threat started this had left, for you had not seen anyone or anything that seemed like the source of this mess. However, that feeling was short-lived once you saw the library. The biggest fire you have ever seen surged from the building and swelled to be bigger than the structure itself. The darkest smoke erupted from it, and you were certain that the library was the starting point of all this chaos. As you neared the library, you heard one more strained scream for help come from a pile of rubble next to the library, and you recognized the voice as the librarian's. Taking a deep breath through your shirt, you sprinted over to the rubble and began to frantically dig through the heavy pieces of charred wood and stone. As you saw the librarians exposed skin, you pulled on it and any scrap of cloth he was wearing, hoping to lift him from his would-be grave. You could see his hand gripping your shirt weakly. Disengaging him from the debris, you helped him to his feet onto the pathway, listening for any other screams. As you stopped scanning the rest of the town, you turned back to the librarian to find him running towards the exit of town. You found it odd how he didn't limp.
Hearing no other cries for help come from the fire, your body relaxed and you felt like falling down and sleeping. But you forced yourself to move away from the fire, against the fatigue of your sweaty form. The first breath of fresh air you took was glorious. As you felt the clear oxygen fill your lungs, you coughed up a storm and your body felt weak. As you fell to your knees, you started to regret waking up at all. You felt the dangerous chemicals in your body bounce around and it hurt to move. Once the adrenaline subsided, you began to feel tired from the exertion. Your brain screamed at you to stay awake, and as you attempted to obey you found yourself barely awake, crawling to your house on hands and knees. You refused to give up. In your state of survival, you almost didn't see the figure of the librarian idling at the exit. Almost at the porch of your home, you blacked out.