Out of the Ashes

by Lori Dillon

He just prayed he’d get to Sera and Heberto before the bombs started falling.

  *

  When Sera and Heberto arrived at Professor Moretti’s villa, he was on the phone, arguing with Italian officials about the threat to the ruins, begging them to intercede with the Allied powers and try to stop the impending destruction. It was no use. They wouldn’t listen to his fervent pleas, so it now fell to a rag-tag group of archeologists to save Pompeii’s priceless legacy.

  Sera now found herself racing toward the ruins on her bicycle. Olympia was beside her, with the Professor and Heberto close behind. About a half dozen of the other archeologists accompanied them, the few who had decided to stay behind and save what they could.

  The drone of airplanes drowned out the frantic beating of her heart. Looking to the darkening sky behind her, she knew these weren’t the peaceful Allied planes that had dropped the warning leaflets less than two hours ago. These planes carried a lethal cargo, and she nearly cried out as they flew over her head toward the ruins.

  An ear-piercing whistle cut through the air, followed by a hollow thump. A blinding flash of light filled the sky in front of her.

  Dear God, it had started.

  Without speaking, they all began to pedal faster. Being younger and stronger, Olympia and Sera pulled ahead of Heberto and the Professor.

  Another whistle began overhead, the whine growing louder until she thought her eardrums would rupture from the piercing sound. The bomb hit a hundred yards in front of them, showering them with dirt and rocks. They slowed as they entered the cloud of dust left behind, careful to navigate around the crater left in the road.

  From behind her, Sera heard a thunk and a crash, followed by a muffled curse. Obviously, one of the other archeologists had not been as careful.

  Glancing back, she saw Heberto and Moretti still pedaling behind her, although they’d dropped further back. She worried that the two older men might not be able to handle the stress and exertion.

  She didn’t have time to worry too much. The telltale whistle filled the air again. She refused to look overhead. If a bomb was going to kill her, she’d prefer not to see it coming.

  The whine increased in intensity until it sounded like the very heavens were screaming out in pain. The impact came from behind, the concussion blowing Sera from her bicycle into the brush at the side of the road. She curled into a ball to protect herself and waited for the rain of rocks to stop.

  When it seemed safe, she got to her feet and climbed back up to the road. The settling dust stung at her eyes and choked her throat. She could hear someone coughing nearby, but couldn’t see who it was. She felt as if she were walking in the middle of a dirty brown cloud, with no way of knowing which way to go.

  A cry of pain to her left startled her. Someone was hurt. Who?

  She made her way down the road. Dark forms started emerging from the dirt cloud, taking on human form as the dust continued to settle. She zeroed in on the one body that didn’t rise. As she drew closer, she saw Professor Moretti clutching his leg as he lay sprawled on the road.

  “Professor! Are you hurt?”

  “My leg. I think it’s broken.”

  Kneeling down beside him, Sera tried to comfort the injured man.

  “Lie still. We’ll get you to a hospital.”

  “There’s no time.” The professor tried to move, but even that slight shift of his body caused him obvious pain.

  She looked around desperately for help. It came in the form of Olympia.

  “The professor’s hurt,” Sera informed her. “We need to get him to the hospital.”

  “No!” he protested as the other archeologists gathered around him. “We need to get to the ruins. The damage has already begun.”

  “You’re in no shape to go anywhere,” Olympia said, taking on the role of mother hen. Looking around at the people standing with her, she started issuing orders. “I’ll stay with the professor. Enrique, you go call for an ambulance. Serafina, you, Heberto, and the others go on to the ruins as planned.”

  At the mention of Heberto’s name, Sera glanced around.

  He wasn’t there.

  Her eyes were drawn to the large crater left in the road by the bomb. She felt her stomach bunch in a knot, threatening to relieve itself of its contents. A buzzing started in her ears as she made her way to it on shaky legs, the crowd of archeologists behind her growing conspicuously quiet.

  As she stood on the edge, the wide hole gaped up at her like a giant’s empty bowl sunk to the brim in the dirt. Inside lay the crumpled remains of Heberto’s bicycle, the blue frame twisted and contorted into a mangled metal pretzel. His hat rested at the edge of the crater covered in dust. It was all that indicated he had even been there at all.

  Sera felt her heart break into a thousand tiny pieces.

  “Noooo!”

  *

  David found her just as another bomb detonated on the other side of the wall. She was covering the mound with her own body, shielding it as if flesh and bone had any power against exploding bombs and flying debris.

  “Sera!”

  He ran to her, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her around to face him. Any reprimand he may have had died on his lips as he saw her tear-streaked face. He’d never seen such sorrow in her brilliant blue eyes. The sight tore his heart apart.

  “Heberto,” she sobbed and flung herself into his arms.

  He cradled her, letting her absorb his strength when she needed it most.

  “I know. I saw the others as I came in. They told me.” He squeezed her tighter, wanting to take away all her pain. “I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s my fault.”

  “No, it’s not.” He rocked her like a child, brushing his hand through the dust and dirt matting her hair. “Heberto made his choice to come here, just as all the others did. It was his decision to make, and there was little you could do to stop him.” Just as I couldn’t stop you.

  “How will I ever be able to face Maria?”

  “You will.” He tried to speak around the sorrow that threatened to choke him as he thought of the brave old woman waiting at home for a husband who would never return. “And you’ll be strong for her, because she’s going to need you now more than ever.”

  An explosion detonated on the other side of the wall, sending small bits of rock flying in the air around them.

  The tender moment was gone. There was no more time for solace or regrets.

  “We’ve got to get out of here.”

  Sera stiffened in his arms and pulled back, her eyes full of determination and fire.

  “No.”

  “No?” He couldn’t believe what she was saying. She’d seen with her own eyes what a five-hundred pound bomb could do.

  He jerked her to her feet, prepared to sling her over his shoulder and carry her out if he had to.

  She pulled against the vise-like grip he held on her arms.

  “I’m not leaving.”

  “Damn it, Sera. It’s not worth your life.”

  She struggled within his grasp.

  “I won’t let Heberto’s death be in vain. It’s more important now than ever to save the cast. I have to.”

  “Are you crazy? You can’t stop bombs from falling from the sky.”

  She looked back over her shoulder at the mound, exposed and unprotected out in the open.

  “But it’s been preserved for two thousand years. I can’t let it be destroyed now.”

  “If it’s going to be destroyed, there’s nothing you can do to stop it.”

  “I have to try.”

  “And get yourself killed in the process? You’re worth more than that.”

  She shook her head.

  “Pompeii is irreplaceable. Every statue and building here is priceless.”

  “No, Sera.” David grabbed her face with his hands, the swiftness of the movement startling her. He forced her to look at him, as if he could imbed the meaning of his words into her mind by force of will. “They’re just stones and
ash, things long dead and forgotten. You’re flesh and blood and alive.” He paused, his eyes boring deep into her soul. “Oh, so very alive.”

  She stopped fighting him. Looking into his eyes, she saw the truth for the first time.

  He loved her.

  He hadn’t said the words, but he didn’t have to. She knew it with every fiber of her being.

  The fight left her, and, for the first time in her life, the desire to hold onto the past was replaced by dreams of the future.

  A future with David.

  “All right. I’ll come with you.” The words came easily, even though she knew to say them meant it was to leave all she cherished behind.

  The drone of the second wave of bombers flying overhead drew David’s attention to the sky.

  “Run!”

  He grabbed her hand, practically dragging her behind him.

  A distant whistle behind them turned into an ear-piercing whine followed by a blinding flash. The thundering concussion that followed slammed them both on the ground.

  Chapter 30

  As the debris sifted down around her and the hail of pebbles slowed to an occasional plink on the ground, Sera pushed herself up and scoured the area for David. The anguish she had felt when Heberto disappeared before her eyes resurfaced tenfold.

  She couldn’t lose David, too. Not now.

  The fog of dust finally settled, and she spied his body sprawled a few feet away from her. The distance seemed to stretch out to miles as she crawled her way toward him, not caring as the rough ground cut into her hands and knees.

  He was so still, so pale. Dust covered his entire body like a death shroud.

  “No!” she screamed, feeling the words rip from her heart.

  She laid her head on his chest and heard the wonderful sound of his heart beating. He was alive.

  Sera gently cradled his head in her hands, praying for him to be all right. A warm, wetness seeped through her fingers, and when she pulled her hand away, crimson blood covered the palm.

  “Oh, David, no.” He was bleeding, either from the flying debris of the blast or from the fall, she couldn’t be sure which. All she knew was he was hurt badly, and she needed to get him out of there.

  “Wake up. Oh, please, wake up.” She shook him by the shoulders, and his head rolled from side to side like a ragdoll’s.

  Then his eyes fluttered open.

  “That’s really not helping my head very much.”

  Sera stared in disbelief at him for a moment.

  “How can you joke at a moment like this?” If he weren’t already hurt, she was tempted to punch him until he was.

  “I wasn’t kidding. It hurts like hell.” David touched behind his ear and brought back his fingers covered in blood.

  “Is it bad?”

  He shook his head, then winced.

  “No, it’s just a scalp wound. They tend to bleed like crazy.”

  Another whistle cut through the air right before a bomb landed just on the other side of the wall, sending a shower of debris to rain down on them. Sera threw herself over David, covering his body with hers, shielding him just as she had tried to protect the body mound.

  As the dust settled, she raised her head and pulled back to find David’s eyes piercing her own. He reached up and pulled her face down to his, crushing her mouth in a forceful kiss. Only the shaking of the ground beneath their bodies from the impact of another bomb succeeded in pulling them apart.

  “We have to get out of here.”

  Sera nodded, pushed herself off David. He tried to stand, but as soon as he got his feet under him, his leg buckled, and he crumbled to the ground, rolling in obvious pain.

  “Holy shit!”

  “What is it?” She was instantly kneeling on the ground by his side.

  “My leg.”

  Her gaze shot to where he clutched at his thigh. A jagged tear ripped through the fabric of his trousers, and blood had turned the dark green material nearly black from hip to knee.

  She had to pry his hands away to see how bad it was. Grabbing the edges of his torn pants leg, she ripped it open wider. Bright red blood oozed from a deep gash in his thigh, making the flesh look like a tomato split open in the hot sun.

  Sera’s hand flew to her mouth as a wave of nausea hit her. She was accustomed to the dry bones of the dead, not the fresh wounds of the living as their life-blood pulsed out of gaping wounds.

  She looked up to David’s face. Sweat dampened his brow, turning the fine dust on his skin to tiny rivers of liquid mud dripping down his temples. She had to stop the blood, or he could bleed to death.

  The hum of fighter engines filled the air overhead, while sirens and machine-gun fire from the German camp on the other side of the wall joined the symphony of battle. The now-familiar whistle of incoming bombs broke through the deafening noise. A thud landed just on the other side of the wall, followed seconds later by the rattling concussion of the explosion.

  Small stones and large chunks of the ancient wall flew over their heads and rained down around them. They couldn’t stay here, out in the open like this. They needed to get out of the ruins.

  Sera moved behind David and shoved her arms underneath his. Even though he tried to help her move with his good leg, he felt like dead weight. Hobbling just a few feet had him shaking from the strain and leaning heavily on her. Three more feet, and they both tumbled to the ground.

  It was hopeless. She’d never get him all the way to the main gate. They had no choice but to find cover close by.

  The dark opening of a ruined merchant’s shop beckoned, and she used all the strength she had to get David into the safety of its shadows. Sera guided him to the back corner of the shop, where she eased him carefully to the ground.

  As with the majority of the ruins, there was no roof over their heads to shield them, but the stone walls did offer some protection. The detonating bombs sounded like thunder on the horizon, only it wasn’t rain falling down on them, but small bits of rock and dust carried on the wind from the blasts over the wall.

  David pushed himself to a semi-sitting position with his back propped against the stone wall. Crawling to his side, she examined the jagged wound once more. Fresh blood oozed from the gash every time he moved, the red droplets falling on the parched ground beneath him, soaking in like drops of rain. She took a deep breath, willing herself to be strong. She couldn’t afford to faint right now. She was the only one who could help him.

  “What should I do? Should I make a tourniquet?”

  He seemed to sense her alarm.

  “Don’t panic. It’s not that bad. I don’t think it hit an artery, or I’d be dead already. But we do need to stop the bleeding.”

  “That’s what you think. You haven’t had a good look at it.”

  Even to her untrained eye, the wound needed stitches. But there was no chance of her being able to sew it up, even if she had the needle and thread to do it. The best she could do would be to bandage it tight enough to stop the bleeding until they could get him to the hospital. But with what?

  “I need your shirt to use as a bandage.”

  David made no comment as she reached up and started unbuttoning his shirt. He leaned from side to side to help her pull it off his broad shoulders and peel it down his arms. He winced every time he moved, and she hated that she was causing him pain.

  The earthen floor exhaled dust whenever either one of them moved, threatening to invade the wound and make the situation worse. She needed something to lay him on to keep the dust down, but they had nothing but the clothes on their backs. Sera thought desperately about what she might be able to use, then remembered the excavation site and all the equipment just a few feet away.

  She grabbed David’s hand and pressed it to the wound.

  “Keep pressure on this, and don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

  “Sera, don’t go out there!”

  He tried to reach for her, but she was already out the door.

  She ran down the road
with her hands covering her head, jumping over rocks and fallen stones from crumbling walls littering the street. Dashing under the tent, she scoured the table for anything she might be able to use. She had picks and scrapers, trowels and brushes, but nothing that could be used to tend a wound.

  The canvas over her head flapped in the breeze as she struggled to think. She glanced up at the source of the noise.

  The tent. At least they could put it on the ground and maybe even wrap up in it to shield themselves from the dust and debris.

  Sera ran to one of the poles and untied the ropes staking it into the ground. She kicked the pole away, and one end of the tent collapsed. The others followed, landing on the ground with the hump of the screening table draped in the middle. She tugged at the canvas, not caring as the material pulled the table over, toppling all her tools and supplies on the ground.

  She wadded the canvas up in her arms, pausing for one brief moment to glance at the body mound exposed in the middle of the road. It would have to fend for itself. David needed her more.

  Grabbing some of the tools and a few loose stakes, she turned and ran back to their ruined shelter.

  His look of relief was quickly followed by censure. “Don’t you ever do something so stupid again. You could have been killed.”

  Sera ignored him and dropped the supplies on the ground. She knelt beside him and spread the canvas on the ground.

  “Here, let’s get you on this. It’s not ideal, but it’ll help keep the dust down.”

  He cocked a brow at the discarded tools and shovel.

  “Planning on doing some excavating work while we wait it out?”

  Sera sat back on her heels and glared at him. She wanted to smack him. How could he joke at a time like this?

  “Very funny. I thought we might be able to use something as a splint for your leg.” She fought hard to hold back the tears that threatened to come. She had to be strong if she was going to save David’s life in spite of himself. “But if you’d rather lie there and bleed to death, I’ll be more than happy to—”

  “Hey, hey.” He reached over and grabbed her fist held curled in tight on top of her thigh. “I’m sorry. I know you’re trying to help. I was just kidding.”