Page 92 of Hearts of Fairlake

The yelling had calmed down by the time we reached what I thought might be the area close to whatever was going on. The mood of the crowd certainly changed as most were standing around, murmuring and lookingnervous. I thought about stopping to ask someone what was going on, but I never had a chance. A blast tore through the day's peace, sending a rolling flash of fire into the sky.

That was all I could see before I felt myself grabbed and yanked to the ground as debris rained down. Flaming pieces of wood and food pelted the ground and the people, except for me, due to the giant weight pressing against my back and pinning me to the ground. I could only see panic taking over the crowd, and everyone ran in the opposite direction as fast as they could.

"We have to get up!" I yelled, pushing against Chase. "Or we're going to get stampeded."

"Don't know about all that," he grunted in my ear, but I did feel him slide off me, giving me the time to scramble to my feet.

"Well, we can't stay here, and we should probably go see if someone…" I began and then turned around and stopped, my heart suddenly slamming against my chest even more fiercely than before.

"Yeah," Chase grunted, trying to twist around but then wincing. "Can't see how bad it is, but it feels...not great."

A jagged piece of metal was sticking out of his lower back. It wasn't huge, but it looked like it had gone deep. The edges of the wound were staining his shirt in an ugly pattern as I stood there in horror.

"Oh fuck," I gasped, kneeling beside him, completely forgetting about the original problem as I reached out for the piece of metal before drawing my hand away, remembering that the worst thing I could do was remove it without a professional around to treat the wound properly. "Oh shit."

"Pretty sure I can still move," he grunted, trying to push himself upright but wincing as he did so. "But I'm not getting anywhere quickly, I can tell you that much."

"I don't think we should move you," I said, shoving against my rising panic. "That would just make it worse."

"Devin, the park is on fire," Chase pointed out in a calm voice that should have been comforting but made me want to slap him. "We can't stay here."

I looked around desperately to find he was right. Whatever had exploded had sent flaming shrapnel in all directions, and I spared a moment to hope no one else was seriously hurt or killed. But that also presented the problem of the fire being spread from the source. Other booths were catching on fire and spreading it to the trees. If we didn't get moving soon, we could very well be caught in the growing flames and end up trapped.

"Okay," I said. "But you're going to have to let me help you, none of that stubborn crap, you got it?"

"We...can try," he said, and I reached down to try to get his arm over my shoulder so I could stand with him and help him to his feet. It was awkward and clumsy, but we began the slow shuffle away from the mess. Thankfully, it looked like everyone around us had already fled, so we didn't have to worry about other people accidentally bumping into us.

Which was good because our pace was slow but the fire was already spreading rapidly and threatening to overtake us. It wasn't helped by the fact that Chase...was really heavy, and I wasn't exactly the strongest person, so trying to take his weight was a slow process. He wasn't any better, and I was sure every movement was sending pain shooting through his back. The only comfort was that he could walk, so the metal clearly hadn't damaged his spine. I just had to hope it hadn't pierced anything vital while we waited for help.

"Holy fuck," a voice piped up, and I jerked my head around to find Annie running towards us. "Raise your other arm."

"Great, she's here to help," Chase muttered. "Get to safety, you stupid?—"

"Arm," she snapped and yanked his arm up so she could take his other side, forcing a hiss of pain from him. "Yeah, well, that's what you get for whatever stupid shit was about to come out of your mouth."

"Always a pleasure to talk to you, Annie," Chase said between gritted teeth as we helped him walk. She might not have been the strongest person, but a second person to take some of his weight was a lot better than doing it by myself. "A real fucking pleasure."

"Bitch about it after we get you out of here," she said, eyeing the flames as they spread closer to us despite the improved pace.

"What were you doing out here?" I asked, mostly to distract myself from the painful death approaching from behind but also trying to make it sound like I wasn't struggling already. The last thing I needed was for Chase to have one of his moments of valor and insist we should leave him behind. Despite his normal demeanor, he was the self-sacrificing type.

"I was looking for people who needed help," she said with a grunt. "Do we know what happened?"

"Big boom," Chase grunted and I knew the wound had to be bothering him.

"Basically," I said with a sigh. "We heard yelling, went to go see what was going on, then?—"

"Big boom," Annie said as she began breathing heavily. "Chase, I know Devin probably likes how big you are, and sure, once upon a time, I found it very sexy too, but...maybe you should have considered slimming down a bit?"

"Absolutely not," I grunted.

"Just...just go, you two," he said with a weary sigh. "There's no point in the two of you?—"

"Shut the fuck up with your self-sacrifice bullshit," I ground out as I continued to carry him, albeit with a bit more force than before. "You and I have sacrificed enough in our fucking lives to get to this point. You're not going to convince me to throw your life away just because you have a fat ass, got it?"

"You are so goddamn stubborn," he muttered, but I thought it was less to do with giving in to my stubbornness and more that between exhaustion and pain, he didn't have the energy to fight back. Undoubtedly, if we managed to get through this in one piece, I’d hear all about it later.

Thankfully, it didn't require any sacrifices to make it to the street, where the crowds had finally stopped to stare in shock and horror as the fire spread throughout the park. I had no doubt the damage was extensive, but I was more glad to have the three of us make it out, helped by a couple of people who saw how much we'd been struggling, and getting Chase onto the grass by the police station.

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