Page 50 of Remain (one-of-a-kind)

I awakened to coughing spasms so deep and raw that my chest and stomach felt like they were tearing apart.

When I tried to draw breath, there was little oxygen to be had, and my skin felt as though I had been plunged in boiling water.

Blinking back burning tears, I struggled to comprehend what was happening.

Another round of coughing seized me, and I could feel myself beginning to black out again when Wren’s face materialized inches from mine.

“Tate!” she screamed. “Stay with me! You’ve got to get up.” I could barely hear her amid the roar that seemed to be coming from all around us.

I tried to respond, but my throat felt as though I’d swallowed hot charcoal. It was Wren’s panicked expression that roused me more than anything.

“Wren?” I croaked.

“The house is on fire!” she shouted. “You have to get out!”

Before I could answer, another bout of violent coughing racked my body. Tears streamed from my eyes, their salt stinging my inflamed skin.

“Please, Tate! You have to get out of the house! You have to save Oscar!”

I drew an agonized breath. “Oscar?”

“Louise hit him with the truck!” She gestured frantically toward the driveway. “He’s hurt!”

It took a moment for me to make sense of her words, but her distress spurred me to action.

I forced myself to roll over onto my stomach.

Choking on the thick black smoke, I rose to all fours, dragging my upper torso onto the sofa cushions.

Then I hoisted myself into a standing position, triggering an explosion of agony in my knee that momentarily turned my world black again.

Meanwhile, Wren continued to shadow me, yelling encouragement and urging me toward the front door.

“Keep going! You’re almost there! You’ve got to leave now.”

Looking over my shoulder, I felt a wave of terror. Where the kitchen and dining room had been, an inferno raged, and every wall of the parlor was on fire. Flames mounted the staircase in giant bounds, their long tongues stretching toward the ceiling.

I lurched for the door. My hand erupted in pain as I turned the scorching knob, disengaging the lock.

I yanked open the door in time to see a gray-and-white blur dash across my feet as Paulie fled for safety outdoors.

With the sound of a bomb detonating, the parlor exploded behind me, flinging me down the porch steps.

I landed hard, straining for breath as I stared up at the orange-tinted sky, even as Wren’s words came back to me.

You have to save Oscar…

Rolling over to my side, I was forced into a fetal position by another excruciating coughing spasm, but I eventually managed to get onto my hands and knees.

My eyes watered as I strained to make out my surroundings.

Looking around, I spotted a child’s car seat lying in the grass; beyond that, in the drive, stood Oscar’s Escalade.

Sparks were beginning to shower down into the yard as I pushed myself to my feet.

“Oscar!” I shouted, my voice drowned out by the hurricane force of the fire.

I staggered across the yard, ignoring the white-hot bolts of pain in my knee as I peered into the shadows.

It wasn’t until I reached the corner of the house that I finally saw a figure sprawled in the grass, unmoving.

I hobbled toward it, recognizing Oscar’s familiar form just as part of the second floor gave way, crashing down in a geyser of flames.

“Why won’t you just die?”

The enraged voice came from behind me, and I turned.

The blazing light made Reece look demonic.

In his hand, he held a crowbar, and I felt a surge of dread and fear.

As he advanced toward me, my knee buckled, and I fell on my side.

I watched in terror as he raised the crowbar, knowing there was no escape from the blow that was coming.

In the seconds before Reece was upon me, I closed my eyes, sensing with sudden intensity Wren’s presence hovering over me.

In that instant, the house exploded from within.

A deafening boom shook the ground beneath me, and every window along the front of the house blew out.

The force of the blast washed over me like a wave, and I stared at the conflagration.

Chunks of debris rained down. Flames were pouring through every window, and another part of the roof began to cave in; the parlor where Wren had been standing was a blazing furnace.

In the distance, I heard the faint wail of sirens.

Reece—

I struggled to my feet, my limbs numb and my ears ringing.

I turned in a circle, expecting to see Reece rising to finish me off.

But I didn’t see him, not right away. Scanning the area where he had stood just moments ago, I saw the crowbar first, lying in the grass.

And then, a few steps away, the bulky outline of his figure, prone, his head an almost unrecognizable pulp of blood and brain matter.

A slab of heavy oak debris the width of a man’s torso lay blackened and smoking on the ground nearby.

Turning away, I felt close to vomiting before I remembered that Oscar needed me.

I wheeled in the direction where I’d seen him last and felt a wave of relief that he was in the same place as before, miraculously shielded from the explosion by the porch.

But the porch was now on fire, the flames snaking ever closer to his unmoving body.

I scrambled over to him, bracing myself against the searing temperature.

I reached for one of his arms and, straining with all I had left, I began to slowly drag him away from the inferno.

He grew heavier with each step, my every movement unleashing a burst of agony. Sweat poured into my eyes.

Steadily we inched farther from the house, the blast force of heat gradually diminishing. I continued to pull until my strength gave out and I collapsed beside him. As I lay gasping, I heard Oscar moan, and I almost shouted with joy that he was still alive.

Lifting myself up on my elbow, I peered across the yard. Louise was hunched over Reece’s disfigured form, her shirt and hands soaked with blood. I watched as she let out a wail that rose into the rippling waves of superheated air.

As if sensing my gaze, she turned toward me, her expression of anguish giving way to one of murderous rage. In slow motion, I saw her stand, her eyes alighting on the crowbar in the grass.

Staring at me with implacable hatred, she lunged for it.

· · ·

The sirens were louder now, and flashing lights raced up the bottom of the drive.

Louise stood with the crowbar in hand, but I couldn’t push myself to my feet.

My body was utterly spent, my legs unable to bear weight.

I slumped back to the ground, wheezing. With a sense of terrible resignation, I watched her break into a run.

Raising an arm to shield myself as she lifted the crowbar into the air, I barely registered the sound of spraying gravel and doors flying open behind me.

“Freeze! Put it down! Now!”

I risked a glance over my shoulder to see two police officers advancing toward us, guns drawn.

I turned toward Louise and our eyes locked. Shadows danced madly across her face while embers drifted around us. I was certain she was going to slam the crowbar down on my huddled figure. And then something dimmed in her maniacal gaze.

“Drop the weapon now!” the officers shouted, stepping around Oscar and me to surround her in tense formation.

Inch by inch, she lowered her arms and released the crowbar. She looked over at the police officers, dazed.

“It wasn’t supposed to happen like this,” she said, sinking to her knees.