Page 8 of Corrupted Lies

Heat rushed at them, enveloping them as they ran through the flames toward the stairs, but Jake didn't stop.

Couldn’t stop.

He had to get Alannah out.

The temperature soared, and the smoke was so thick he could barely breathe.

For a moment, he was sure they weren't going to make it.

That he’d finished off what the fire had started.

But then they were through, on the stairs, and he was pulling Alannah up the stairs along with him, aware from the weakening hold she had on his hand that she was struggling.

“Only a little more,” he encouraged her, unsure if she heard him over the roar of the fire.

Finally, he reached the top of the stairs. They’d done it. They were all but free.

At least, that’s what he thought.

Until he reached for the door handle and found it wouldn't turn.

Locked.

It was locked, and they were trapped with the fire already barreling its way toward them.

October 13th

1:13 P.M.

Why didn't Jake open the door?

With her mind fuzzy and sluggish, Alannah found it difficult to think, and she couldn’t figure out why if they were at the top of the stairs, Jake didn't just open the door and let them out.

“I’m sorry, sunshine.” He turned to face her, and she didn't like his expression.

Didn't want to understand what it meant even as part of her knew.

“Open the door,” she ordered. The smoke was too thick up there at the top of the room, choking out what little oxygen there had been left.

“I’m sorry,” Jake said again, and she could see in his eyes that he meant it.

She could see the hopelessness.

The despair.

The guilt.

None of them were what she wanted to see.

Her eyes stung, her throat burned, taking a breath was next to impossible, and her skin was smarting in several places where she was sure the flames had scorched her skin.

The wet blankets that had been covering her shoulders had fallen off somewhere along the way, and the one on her face had tipped back so it was dangling off her head when she’d looked up at Jake.

“Open the door,” she insisted.

They had to get out.

Now.

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