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16

Bianaca

The fire ate at the tents and stalls in vibrant shades of red and orange. Cloying smoke permeated the air as I tilted my face downwards, into the collar of my shirt.

“We need to move!” Heath bellowed, coughing madly. He tried to bring his arm up to cover his mouth and nose before remembering his hands were still tied together. A low growl of irritation left his throat. Thinking quickly, I grabbed the knife from my back pocket and sliced at the belt. It fell to the ground, baring his slightly chaffed pale skin. He turned towards me gratefully and immediately brought his shirt up to cover the lower half of his face.

“Move!” Aiden hollered, gesticulating wildly towards the Ferris wheel. More and more flames licked at the amusement park, until everything in the immediate vicinity was awash in red, orange, and bright yellow. No matter where I looked, all I could see were flames. The clowns’ faces were melting like candle wax as their heads all twisted in unison to stare at us.

Panic washed over me in a torrent, painful in its intensity, before I forced it away. I couldn’t fall apart right now, not when we were in the midst of a crisis.

Gripping Tanner’s hand in mine—and ignoring how unnaturally still he had become—I began to jog down the pathway, the only part of the park that wasn’t up in flames. Tanner’s feet stumbled behind me, almost as if he’d forgotten how to walk, though he didn’t complain as I dragged him in the direction of the Ferris wheel and, hopefully, the exit.

Malicious laughter reverberated through the flaming park, one after another, until the air was alive with a cacophony of sound. The eerie noise, growing louder and louder the closer to the exit we got, clawed at my insides. Out of my periphery, I swore I saw the plastic clowns open their charred mouths, almost as if they were the ones laughing maniacally.

Tanner’s chest gave a rattling heave as he coughed madly, tripping over his own two feet. I grabbed his arm and all but slung it over my shoulder.

“We need to keep moving! Go! Go!” I didn’t know if I was talking to him or myself.

My limbs felt as if they weighed a ton each, especially when Tanner rested his full weight on me, almost as if he was having difficulty keeping himself upright. My skin prickled from the heat that seemed to grow hotter and hotter with every step I took.

Still, the laughter continued, the distorted noise grating on my nerves and imbuing me with terror like I’d never experienced before.

More flames burst to life mere inches from my arms, and the pain was immediate and intense. It felt like the devil himself had crawled out of hell and was licking at my skin. I hissed, instinct trying to push me away from the heat, though all I could do was trudge forward. The flames closed in on us from all sides, impenetrable walls that corralled us forward. Forward. Forward.

It felt like I was standing in a kiln they used to make pottery. It took every ounce of willpower and strength not to scream as one flame got particularly close, burning off the tiny hairs on my arm.

The others were ahead of us, already at the exit, but my own pace was hindered by Tanner’s immense weight.

Aiden, Heath, Beau, and Kace glanced back in alarm, as if they’d only just realized we weren’t directly behind them. All four of them broke into a run in our direction.

“Help us!” I screamed, though my words came out stilted and ragged. A cough got lodged in my throat as a wooden beam from one of the rides dropped in front of us, barring the way to the others. There was just enough space for me to crawl underneath the heavy piece of timber…but there was no way Tanner’s considerable bulk would be able to.

“Bianaca! Tanner!” Aiden’s voice was high and panicky from the other side of the beam.

“B! Are you okay?” Beau demanded.

“Get out of here!” I screamed, though my words tapered off into coughs as I inhaled smoke. “Go! We’ll be right behind you!”

Though that was a lie. There was no way Tanner could fit underneath the flaming beam. And there was no way in hell I would ever consider leaving him.

“Go!” Tanner rasped out, shoving at my shoulder. “Go!”

“I’m not leaving you!” I hissed fiercely, turning around in an attempt to find another way to escape. Directly in front of me, there was a place the flames didn’t reach. A place I’d noted earlier.

The darkness.

If we made it to the darkness…

“Bianaca, you need to go!” He shoved at me again, the force of his push nearly sending me onto my ass. He toppled backwards, seconds from falling into the flames, but I lunged forward and grabbed his shirt before he could. I held the fabric tightly in my grasp, meeting his gaze with a steely one of my own.

“I’m. Not. Leaving. You.” I emphasized each word to show him how serious I was. If he was going to burn in the flames, then I would burn with him. There was no way I was leaving him behind.

His eyes searched mine, and he opened his mouth as if he was going to say something. Before he could, the fire hissed and sparked, gradually closing in on us. He cursed, glancing over my shoulder at the blockade prohibiting us from exiting the park. He then swiveled his head to stare over his shoulder, his eyes narrowing at the completely flame free abyss of darkness.

“Bianaca…” No doubt, he was remembering everything Heath had told us about the darkness. About the monsters who lurked there. About the impossibility of escape. About your inevitable death if you became lost there.

But we both knew there was no other option.