Chapter 12 - The Ashes of Yesterday
Mark hit the soft garden soil hard, rolling to break the impact while keeping Lily wrapped safely in his arms. He scrambled to his feet immediately, coughing violently as the cold night air filled his lungs, and hauled Clara up from the trampled rosebushes where she had landed. Behind them, the entire back half of the house was engulfed in a ferocious, unnatural wall of fire that roared like a jet engine, casting an eerie orange glow across the trembling trees of the surrounding forest.
Sirens wailed in the distance now—real police cruisers and fire trucks finally winding their way down the narrow country road, their red and blue lights flashing frantically through the dark woods.
“Is everyone out?” Mark gasped, holding Lily tight as she buried her face in his neck, her small hands clutching his shoulders. He looked around frantically, his eyes searching the dark perimeter for the second girl and the burn-scarred child, but the yard was completely empty except for the scattered debris of the broken front door.
Clara stared at the blazing wreck of their home, her face blank and hollow, tears carving clean tracks through the soot on her pale cheeks. “They didn't need to run, Mark,” she whispered, her voice barely audible over the crackling timber. “They were never trapped in the house. The house was trapped inside them.”
Before Mark could process her words, the massive, towering silhouette they had seen from the upstairs window shifted violently in the treeline, folding in on itself like a collapsing star before vanishing entirely into thin air with a sharp, concussive pop that rattled the windows of the approaching fire trucks.
A heavy, tactical transport vehicle rolled up onto the front lawn, its doors flying open as men in hazmat suits poured out carrying heavy fire suppression foam tanks. The lead agent stepped out from the passenger side, his tactical helmet removed to reveal a scarred, hardened face that looked decades older than Mark remembered.
“Secure the perimeter!” the agent barked, pointing toward Mark and Clara. “Detain Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds for immediate debriefing. Do not let them make contact with local authorities.”
Mark took a step back, positioning himself between his family and the advancing hazmat team, his fists clenched so tight his knuckles turned bone-white. “You’re not taking us anywhere,” Mark growled, his voice dropping into a dangerous register.
The agent stopped, pulling a small, silver pocket watch from his vest and flipping it open to reveal a glowing digital countdown that was currently sitting at thirty seconds.
May you like
“You think you survived the night, Reynolds?” the agent asked, a grim smile touching the corner of his mouth. “Look at your daughter’s left collarbone.”
---
