Page 103 of Healing Conviction
“It’s fine, Nora. Lock this to my back. If it’s too much, I’ll set it down. But the smoke is making it hard to breathe and you’re tired too. If we’re gonna get out of this, we have to do it together.”
“Okay… okay, yeah. We can do it,” she agreed, and helped him tie the box to his back. By the time they were done, he looked like an old-school station wagon with luggage strapped on top. She didn’t have it in her to joke around, so instead she made a mental note to ask about what the heck was in it later. At the moment, she wanted to make sure the rubber box wasn’t the only thing that would survive.
“We can do it,” she muttered again under her breath. Maybe if she repeated it enough, she’d believe it.
He turned his head. “We’ll do it together. Lean forward to keep from falling back as we go.”
With both their backpacks loaded up, she finally looked at the fire. Panic sent an electric shock into her chest as she slowly spun to see all the ground the fire had swallowed up outside of their clearing.
No wonder she was fucking roasting.
“Pix, don’t focus on that—”
“It’s blocking our way to the godsdamnedtruck, Drake, I don’t know how I can’t focus on that.”
The fire had engulfed everything in the truck’s direction. Her eyes burned, but she couldn’t tell if it was because they had tears or because the tears had dried up. Terror slithered down every droplet of cold sweat on her hot skin and exhausted resignation took over. Her chest squeezed to the point of pain and her tired muscles felt like they were sagging off her body, trying to convince her to lie down and go to sleep.
We’re gonna die here.
“Why does just looking at that make me want to take a nap?” She coughed out the question and the alarmed look on Drake’s face tried to tell her brain to send even more adrenaline through her, but she was tapped out.
“I think the fire’s getting to you. Your lungs and body aren’t trained for withstanding smoke and heat like this.”
“Oh… that’s cool.” She blinked slowly, zoning out until Drake’s voice drifted her back into the moment.
“Good news or bad news?”
The question and his airy tone caught her off guard enough to make her jerk her head to look at him.
“Good news… or bad news, Pix?” The calm, urgency in his tense eyes made her take a deep breath and force a laugh. The tension release helped with the fear.
“Whelp. I don’t know how we’re gonna Shadrach, Meshach, and a billy goat the fuck out of here, so if your good news consists of tips on how to walk through a fiery furnace, I’m all ears.”
He barked a laugh back at her, but when she began to cough again, his voice quavered with concern. “There’s the spirit, little pixie. Alright, the wind seems to be pushing the fire toward my truck.”
She sucked her teeth, trying to imagine the good. “Towardthe truck meansawayfrom us, right?”
“Erm… not exactly. It’s sort of spreading on all sides.”
“Super. Is that the bad news, then?”
His nose scrunched up into a wince was the only answer she needed, but he elaborated anyway. “No… I’m not sure how far either of us can go right now. We’re exhausted and the smoke’s already affecting you. I think going in CTI’s direction is our best bet. Get to the embankment, then follow it within the tree line until we get to the service road. But we have to both work hard together, or… or I don’t think we’ll make it.”
She laughed at the absurdity of their situation until smoke invaded her lungs and made her choke. Drake reached for her but she waved him away. “Next time? We do ‘no news’. Just leave me in suspense and we’ll see if I can figure it out. This night has started to get dull, what with all our being safe and alive BS.”
He snorted back at her. “The only easy day was yesterday.”
“That’s just great, ‘cause yesterday wasn’t too flippin’ easy either!” She tilted her head up, closed her eyes, and swore at the gods because it had to be the men’s fault that they were caught up in this. Then she blew out a breath and nodded toward the facility. “Let’s get to it then, shall we?”
He took a deep breath and nodded before pushing away from the tree… only to go toppling down.
“Drake!” she screamed and jolted forward to help him up, but stopped herself just in time. Thankfully, he’d mostly caught himself on a nearby branch, but kneeling for her would be a really freaking bad idea. The bag she was carrying was way too heavy for her to jump around. Fear and frustration made her tremble. She watched helplessly as the fire kept encroaching dangerously close to their getaway route and Drake struggled to get upright again.
“Pix, if I can’t keep going, take the box—”
“Shut the actual godsdamned fuck up right the heck now, Draco Malfoy. I’m not leaving you. If you go down, I go down with you this time.”
He huffed. “That’s one hell of an incentive.”