“Abby!” he screamed again. Hoping for just a signal, a whimper—anything.
A massive crossbeam crashed through the ceiling, just feet to his right, and exploded into a flash of flames as it hit the ground. But Eli couldn’t stop.
He ran further in and—
There.
Two feet poked out from behind the bed. Abby lay unconscious, face-down on the floor, and Eli flipped her over, noting the blood on her face. He threw his ear against her chest, listening fiercely for a heartbeat, for any sign of life.
.......thump-thump..........thump-thump.
It was all he needed. He pulled her limp body up and threw her over his shoulder. Adrenaline made her feel as though she weighed nothing at all, but it was the awkwardness of carrying a limp body made things difficult, not the weight. The room roared into a full blaze as he carried her out into the hallway. The old structure creaked and groaned, parts of the ceiling starting to come down. They had to get out, and fast. Eli stumbled down the stairs, the door just visible in front of them.
They were going to make it.
And then something smacked him squarely in the back of the head, hard. It knocked him clean off his feet, Abby tumbling from his shoulders. It almost knocking him unconscious.
A falling beam? he thought, on hands and knees. No. As his vision returned, speckled with light, he saw the dark figure of the man in front of him. He recognized his face from the news report.
Tucker.
Eli scrambled to his feet, and Tucker lunged at him again. This time he collided hard, sending them both to crashing to the floor. Eli fought, striking Tucker in the face, but the strike seemed only to infuriate the man further. With a sudden burst of strength, he threw Eli off him, sending him skidding towards the kitchen. The heat was terrible, the smell one of wood smoke and burned plastic, the hot dry smell of heat and something else, like when Hannah used to leave the hairdryer on too long.
He tried to get up, but was immediately thrown down again after making it just a few inches off the ground. The stars returned. He had a concussion for sure.
Tucker placed his knee on his chest, pinning him to the floor. He struck Eli once, twice—the third punch nearly knocked Eli unconscious. Whatever strength he’d felt he had left was gone. He couldn’t even breathe in all this smoke.
He made one last feeble attempt at a counter strike, but Tucker saw the punch coming, and grabbed Eli’s hand in his. Pinning it to the floor. With the other hand, he wrapped his fingers around Eli's neck and began to squeeze.
“It’s you! You've poisoned her against me!”
Eli's eyes began to roll back into his head. Light fled from his eyes. The deep roar of flame and Tucker’s voice faded to an echo and the world slowed.
“It’s all your fault!”
He could barely keep his eyes open, now. He turned his head to the side, and in his trance state he saw an iron cooking pan that had fallen from the oven top. It sat squarely in the middle of a burning flame, red-hot, and Eli knew what needed to be done.
He stretched out his free hand, and grabbed onto the scalding hot metal—the pain was so intense he didn’t even feel it. With all his might, he threw the blistering pan directly against Tucker’s head. Immediately releasing his grip, and sending his limp body tumbling to the floor.
Eli gasped for air, inhaled only smoke, and rolled over. Keep low, that’s what you were supposed to do. He crawled toward Abbey, and with the last reserves of his strength hefted her into his arms, his burned palm clenched into a tight fist against her waist.
The ceiling was still coming down. They probably had just moments until the whole thing collapsed on top of them, and he couldn’t carry both Abby and Tucker to safety. It wasn't a difficult a choice.
I'll have to come back for him, Eli told himself, as he turned toward the door. He could hear the house groaning, a noise like a living thing. The second floor gave way just as he reached the door, falling with a mighty crash—and Eli jumped.
Not quite airborne, but high enough, far enough, that he could taste the clean, sweet air of the world beyond. He turned his body to shield Abby from the concrete, and then they hit the ground hard. More pain. Pain cracking through him, his head and his hand and his freshly skinned shoulder and leg, and as he screamed the house finally collapsed behind them, a roaring black mess of flaming debris.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The street was a swarm of activity. Lights flashed. Firemen pulled at hoses, dousing what was left of the house. There as a police cars on scene, and someone would no doubt want to talk to Eli, at least—probably both of them, now that Abby was awake.
She sat on the edge of the ambulance as a paramedic, waiting as one of the paramedics flashed a light in her eyes. They’d done the same for Eli, diagnosing him with a mild concussion, and then had him sit for a while with an oxygen mask. A paramedic had cleaned and dressed his hand, and they would be taking them to the hospital soon, just after they gave their reports to the police offers. But the EMT told him that he didn't expect them to have to stay more than a night for observation.
Eli pulled himself to his feet. His whole body ached, but it didn't stop him. He made his way across the scene, beneath two “Police: Do Not Cross” tapes. When she saw him, she jumped from the back of the ambulance in the middle of her assessment. The paramedic called out to her, but she was already firmly in Eli’s grasp, and he was holding onto her with everything he had. He never wanted to let go of her again.
She kissed his cheek, then whispered into his ear, “My hero.”
Hero. Boy did that feel strange to hear coming from her. It was even true, this time around, but he honestly didn't care; the only thing he cared about was in his arms. And he would run into a hundred burning buildings for this woman.
“I thought I’d lost you,” he said, trying to hold back tears.
“You did...” She looked him in the eye as she pressed her palms gently against the sides of his face. “...and yet here I am.” She smiled, and suddenly everything in the world was right again. No more pain. No more guilt. No more running. It was just him and her... and he would fight to the end to keep it that way.
“Here you are...” he whispered. Their foreheads touched, and each stared into the eyes of the one they cherished most.
Then Abby looked over at the house. The house she had grown up in. The house her grandmother lived in, and cherished.
Eli pulled her face back towards his. “We’ll rebuild it. No matter how long it takes. No matter how difficult it gets. We’ll rebuild it right, together, and it’ll be stronger than ever.” He reached out, wiping a tear from her cheek. “Trust me. I'm not going anywhere.”
Abby smiled. “And neither am I.”
With that, they leaned together in unison, kissing with more passion and intensity than some felt in a lifetime. Their love was true. It saw the ugly, and said it was there to stay. They weren’t pretending everything would be easy or perfect, but as long as they were together they would make it through. And in doing so they would live a dedicated, devoted, and passionate life. Loving each other endlessly.
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Romance: The Second Chance - Contemporary Romance (Romance, Contemporary Romance, Suspense Romance Book 1) Page 14