Damaged (Boys of Winter 2)

People are collapsing, the smoke becoming too much as others are having asthma attacks, finding it impossible to breathe. I hold my dress to my face, desperately trying to keep the smoke out of my lungs, but they’re starting to ache.

More children get dumped at the table as the other adults work tirelessly to try and contain the fire. I see Tobias King cutting through the people, shoving desperately as he runs toward the edge of the room with a large piece of paper in his hands, papers that kind of look like blueprints.

He looks up at the wall, coughing from the smoke and then double checking the papers. “HERE,” he yells to anyone who will listen. “THE OLD TUNNELS ARE HERE. HELP ME KNOCK THIS WALL OUT.”

Grayson is the first to run with the other men hot on his heels. He uses the back of the fire extinguisher to break through the wall, but it’s not fucking easy. These underground buildings were built to last.

I see Cruz’s father, Matthew Montgomery, even Earnest Brooks in there, all of them getting in and doing their part to save their families and what’s left of Dynasty. If we all perish here tonight, that will be the end of Dynasty, but right now I’m wondering if that’s even such a bad thing.

Everybody grabs something and starts banging against the hard walls of the ballroom and as the first hole begins to appear, hope surges through everyone. The men work harder and faster, but they don’t have much energy left and have to work as a team.

The hole gets bigger and as the fires continue raging around us, only getting bigger with the new oxygen breathing into the room, I realize that while Cruz told me that Ember was alright, I still haven’t actually seen her.

I desperately look around, but the hole finally gets big enough and the crowd rushes toward it, anxious to get out.

“WOMEN AND CHILDREN,” Tobias hollers through the chaos. “WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST.”

They don’t listen and rush toward the hole, squishing their way in and hurrying out into the long tunnel, not knowing what they’re going to find on the other side, but anything is better than this.

I look down at Caitlin, knowing that rushing her into that mess of bodies isn’t going to be good for her. We need to hang back a bit and take our time otherwise she could end up worse, but she looks as though she’s about to pass out from both the pain and thick smoke.

With the majority of the partiers pushing toward the tunnel, it gives us a clear view of the remaining bodies left scattered over the ballroom. Many of them have passed out from the smoke, but there are three of them left crushed under a large piece of the stairs that had fallen. There’s debris everywhere and the glass and crystal from the shattered chandelier sparkles across the whole room like a deadly, enticing weapon.

There are people left crying for help, and blood smeared all over the room, but not a damn thing I can do to help them right now. “We have to go,” King demands, rushing into me with so much momentum that he crushes into me and throws me back a step. He scoops up Caitlin as Cruz, Grayson, and Carver come back to help the other stranded children.

They all start leaving, taking as many kids as they can possibly handle, leaving the rest for the other men to help, but I hesitate, looking back at the people on the ground and scanning once again for Ember. “Now, Winter. We have to go,” King insists.

“But all these people. They’re going to die in here.”

“We need to get these kids out of here,” he tells me. “I know you understand that. Once they’re safe, we’ll come back for the others, but we have to go NOW. The smoke is too much for them.”

A tear sits in the corner of my eye as I reluctantly nod and let King pull me away. We get to the tunnel and I look back, being one of the very last people to leave the burning ballroom with guilt resting heavily in my chest.

King tugs on my hand one more time and I tumble after him, having to skip a step to keep up with his fast pace. Carver looks back over his shoulder, holding two kids, one on either side as blood seeps through his clothes. “Keep up,” he grunts at me, his jaw clenched as his muscles strain and bulge.

We quickly catch up to the rest of the crowd desperately trying to escape as the smoke follows us down the tunnel. We walk for another five minutes when we finally break out into a usually quiet street, only we find it swarming with people.