I pointed up. “Call 911. Tell them there’s a fire.”
The crowd parted, staring and pointing at the smoky building. The boy with the phone gawked at me, as if locked in a trance.
I shook his arm. “Call 911!”
In that instant, he came to life, stabbing at his phone. “Okay. I’m on it.”
Siegfried and I rushed into the building. No one stood behind the sales counter or in the work area in the back of the shop.
“Where are they?” I said, hurriedly searching behind doors and cabinets.
“Upstairs,” Siegfried said with certainty, pointing toward a back staircase.
We scrambled toward the stairs, entering a cloud of thick, choking smoke.
A woman’s cry came from above.
“Lily!” Siegfried shouted, covering his mouth and nose with his shirt. He scaled the steps two at a time with me right behind him.
A hoarse bellow came from the left in what had to be Korean, Thom’s native language. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of movement, followed by a burning rafter crashing to the floor, but smoke quickly obscured my view.
A flicker of orange flames bloomed in another doorway, flaring to the ceiling. The fire was spreading fast.
“Professor,” Siegfried yelled over the roar of the inferno, peering into the darkness. “I can’t see!”
On the far side of the building, a window cracked and exploded, allowing the smoke to shift and clear just enough to give us a view of the bedroom, where I now headed to search for Thom Kim.
“There!” I said, pointing to the man pinned beneath a fallen timber.
Fire crackled along the wall and licked orange-red near his arm. The bed, fully engulfed, leapt with flames.
A scream erupted farther down the hall.
Lily.
“Get her!” I shouted over my shoulder, stumbling toward Thom.
Siegfried quickly ducked into the smoke, following the direction of her cries.
The wall of heat blasted me, nearly melting my resolve. Stooping low, I took a deep breath and crawled toward Thom. I pulled hard on his arm, but couldn’t budge him. He uttered a low moan. The fire had reached him and his sleeve was starting to burn.
Grabbing his jacket from a nearby chair, I slapped it over his arms, extinguishing the flames, then kicked repeatedly at the scorched beam until it finally moved. Breathless, I half-dragged, half-carried Thom out to the hall, stumbling backwards away from the fire and denser smoke. With a concerted effort, I slung him over my shoulder.
A blast came from the rear of the building.
Oh my God. Siegfried. Lily.
Horrified, I searched the smoke for my friend, shouting his name. “Siegfried!”
The black cloud rolled with a vengeance now, completely obscuring my vision. I struggled to breathe and reached for the stairway rail, trying to balance. Tears bathed my eyes, but failed to cool the inflamed tissues. I wanted to pull my shirt over my mouth and nose, but it was impossible with Thom on my back. I didn’t want to drop him.
Siegfried stumbled out of the darkness and crashed toward the stairway with Lily in his arms. Tinier than her brother, she clung to Sig’s neck, still conscious. Choking with relief, I followed them down the stairs and into the street with Thom draped over my back. The fire roared above, creeping up the outer walls, and sparks fell to the sidewalk. Breathing hard, we ran away from the burning building.
Wailing sirens approached in the distance.
Thank God, the fire department.
In front of the old cinema, two students reached out to help me carry Thom farther down the street.
Holding his legs, I walked with them, noticing the gash on his forehead and the angry burns on his arms and face. “Careful,” I said. “He’s badly burned.” I looked down at my own arms, which prickled and throbbed, but they weren’t nearly as bad as Thom’s.
“Are you okay, Professor?” Siegfried said, coming up close behind us.
I nodded, catching my breath. “I think so. You?”
Still carrying Lily, he gave a curt nod in return. “Ja.” Soot smeared his face and arms. His ponytail had come undone, and his hair flowed over his shoulders in a snarled tumble. Backlit by the light of the fire, he reminded me of an angel warrior.
Two fire trucks shrieked to a stop in front of the burning building, delivering firemen who raced to set up the hoses. A kind young woman came toward us with a blanket, laying it on the sidewalk. She helped us gently lower Thom to the ground.
The owner of the bagel shop dragged a chair onto the sidewalk, motioning to Siegfried and Lily. “Set her down right here ‘til the ambulance comes.”
“Okay.” Siegfried tried to put her down, but she wouldn’t let go. Still coughing, he stuck a hand out to stop the well-meaning spectators who tried to pry her off him. He waved them away. “Nein. I will hold her.” He dropped into the chair with Lily on his lap.
Wild-eyed, she looked around with panic in her eyes. “Thom?” A slew of words I didn’t understand followed, trailed by a long bout of coughing.
I tried to calm her. “Thom is there, Lily.” I pointed toward her brother who lay on the blanket nearby.
Well-meaning volunteers surrounded him and blocked her view, thankfully hiding his condition from her. Within minutes, however, an ambulance skidded around the corner and screeched to a stop twenty yards from us. The bagel shop owner ran into the swelling crowd, waving her arms to get their attention. “Over here.”
The van backed toward us and two EMTs leapt to the street, sprinting in our direction.
***
Lady Blues: forget-me-not, AMAZON BUY LINK
Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Aaron Lazar’s Book Awards
Websites
Excerpt from Lady Blues: forget-me-not LeGarde book #10
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Aaron Paul Lazar, Under the Ice
Under the Ice Page 27