FITCH MANSION
Smoke floods down the hallway, closing
in on Nick
and Ryan.
The smell, the heat, the stuffy air -- all of it is
rapidly surrounding them. No flames are visible yet, but both men know
it is only a matter of moments.
"How the hell are we gonna get out
of here?" Ryan asks, coughing out the words from behind his forearm.
Nick looks back at his son over his
shoulder. "I'll push my way through. Just follow me."
Ryan draws in yet another gulp of
air, hoping that he'll be able to hold his breath long enough this time
that he won't have to keep breathing the polluted air. The smoke is beginning
to scratch at his throat and lungs, and he lets loose with a deep cough
as he follows close behind Nick.
Nick is forcing his way down the
hallway, moving right into the oncoming storm of smoke. But the men stop
in their tracks when they hear the scream.
"Nick! Help!"
Nick's head darts around frantically,
hoping to find Katherine
somewhere in the cloud.
"Katherine!" he calls back.
"Nick!" she shouts. "Help me!" Her
cries are somehow muffled, almost remote-sounding.
He has to bring his arm back in front
of his face as he responds. "Where are you?"
A response comes back, but Nick isn't
sure what it is. He turns back to Ryan, who is desperately trying to shield
himself.
"Did you hear her?" he asks, realizing
that he now has to raise his voice even to talk to Ryan, who is less than
a foot from him.
"I think she said she's in the guest
bedroom," Ryan half-yells.
Nick looks as though he's going to
ask Ryan for more details, but then he turns outward again. "Katherine!
Can you hear me? Which room are you in?"
Hre reply is muted even more now,
but Nick is able to make out the words. "The guest bedroom!" she shouts.
"The one at the end of the hallway!"
"Oh, jeez," Nick says, partly to
himself and partly to Ryan.
Ryan leans in closer. "What?"
"She's all the way at the other end
of the hall! We have to get past the staircase and all the way down there
to get to her!"
"Can we even do that?" Ryan wonders
aloud, surveying the now-dense fog of smoke that has overtaken the hallway.
He can barely see more than a few feet in front of him and he can only
imagine how far the end of the hall is going to seem in these conditions.
"We have to," Nick says. He continues
moving forward, holding one arm behind him as if to shield Ryan and keep
him with him.
"Katherine!" Nick calls out. "We're
coming!"
No sooner has the cry left Nick's
mouth than do both men see an orange light rip through the curtains of
gray that are engulfing them. Ryan gasps just as another flame tears across
the hallway.
"I'm coming!" Nick yells back to
Katherine.
There is no response for what feels
to Nick like minutes and minutes, even though he is fairly certain it is
no more than a few seconds. He forges ahead, grasping onto Ryan behind
him and trying to cover himself with his front arm.
Finally Katherine does reply, her
voice worn thin with terror. "Get out! Save yourself, Nick! Leave me here!"
"No! Ryan and I are coming for you!"
"Don't!" comes the instantaneous
response. "Don't worry about me! Get out while you can!"
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