44. Chapter 44
Chapter forty-four
Bexley
M y heart is pounding painfully in my chest. This is not the way I thought I'd go out.
I'm not sure what's worse—the idea of being burned alive or waiting for it, trapped with no way out.
The roaring outside grows more intense, windows smashing under fierce heat and loud banging as parts of the auditorium collapse. Terrifying creaking sounds echo around us, my eyes flitting to the ceiling as my breathing gets heavier. It still hurts to breathe—my lungs screaming in pain while the taste of ash lingers in my mouth.
Maybe the roof will fall down on top of us, crushing us to death. That would be the humane, peaceful way to go. I almost start internally begging for it, just to get this nightmare over with.
Hunter squeezes my hand again when something explodes nearby, a frightened whimper escaping my lips.
I can't help but glance around the dressing room, cataloguing all the wood inside. The cupboard in the corner, the dressing table with white lights surrounding the mirror. So much flammable material.
A buzzing sound distracts me from my thoughts for a moment, and Hunter flinches. He digs into his pocket, letting out a dry laugh as he glances at his cell. From here, I see Rylan's name easily, flashing across the screen. And it hits me—just how fucked up this is.
"Hey," Hunter answers, in an eerily calm voice. It's as if he's just casually picking up the call on a normal day.
To my surprise, he puts them on speaker, Rylan's deep voice mid-conversation as Tai rants in the background. The sound of sirens weaving through their voices should calm me, but I think my mind already knows that it's too late.
"—Out the front. Emergency services are here. Tell me where you are exactly so I can tell the Chief," Rylan demands, in a bossy tone that even in my life-or-death panic makes me still want to fight him.
Hunter holds out the cell under my chin, nodding at me. He's handing control over, knowing I have a better understanding of this building.
"We're behind the stage in the auditorium," I recite clearly, a little stunned that my tone is so strong. "At the back of the room, toward the West side of campus, there's a set of dressing rooms, accessible through a door behind the stage backdrop. Last room on the right."
There's a sharp inhale on the other end of the line before the two voices clash together, both Rylan and Tai shouting my name at the same time.
Next to me, Hunter laughs quietly to himself, shaking his head. More voices grow louder, seemingly as they get closer to firefighters, and we hear Rylan repeat our location to someone. Shit—Archie's dad.
I barely have a handle on this disaster, doing my utmost best to purposely block my emotions so I don't spiral and end up in a blubbering mess on the floor. But realizing that people who know us—people who care—are outside, about to witness our deaths, that is a hard pill to swallow.
And suddenly, it all makes sense.
I've nearly torn myself apart trying to understand why Mom locked me out, why she hid the truth of her illness from me.
Now, I know why.
It wasn't to exclude me or deny me any input.
She was protecting me from the pain of what was about to happen. Minimizing my grief so our last moments together weren't tainted with fear and sad goodbyes.
A tear rolls down my cheek, which doesn't go unnoticed by Hunter. He glances over with a concerned look, pulling the cell back toward his own face as he answers whatever Tai just said. Their conversation is muffled, the world around me distorted as I have one of those ridiculous end of life epiphanies. People always say that things become clearer at the end. I thought that was just something people said to make the grieving process easier. But right now, I don't have some profound sense of peace and acceptance like I'm allegedly meant to have.
I'm not ready to die. And I sure as hell don't want anyone hearing it through a cell.
As I take a deep breath in, my chest constricts and tightens, sending me into another coughing fit. Hunter pauses his sentence with alarm on his face as Rylan's voice booms through the speaker.
"Hunter, is she okay?!"
"She's fine," he snaps back, but his lingering gaze contradicts his tone.
I'm not imagining it. As I stare at the door, waiting for it to blast open in one way or another, I notice smoke trickling through the cracks. Almost immediately, the smell intoxicates the room, Hunter pivoting to look at it as well.
It must be getting close if the smoke has managed to get through the stage door and travel down the hallway. Coming in thick and hard, the white sheet seems to do little to stop it.
I see resignation appear on Hunter's face as he notices too, a grim expression forming.
"Give me the cell," I say to him, holding out my hand.
He passes it over without question, and I bring it to my face, taking a deep breath. "Rylan… Tai?"
"Bexley," Rylan answers instantly, a chill to his tone. "Tai's here too."
"I'm here, Peach Queen."
Hunter makes a final scoff of what I assume is meant to signify disgust, but there's no heart in it. Holding his gaze, I offer a tight smile, hating what I'm about to do but having no regrets.
"Look after yourselves. Tell everyone we love them."
"Don't you fucking dare hang up, Bexley—" Rylan snaps back but I'm already hitting the red button, ending the call.
Slowly passing the cell back to Hunter, he wordlessly pockets it. Within seconds, we hear the buzzing and vibration as they attempt to call back, but Hunter doesn't reach for it.
Smoke continues to flow into the dark room, that eerie orange glow returning through the gaps in the door. It's only a matter of minutes now. Hopefully it will be quick. I think I read somewhere once that burning is one of the most painful ways to go—but eventually, the nerves reach a point where they stop hurting. Unless we suffocate first. I guess that would be the merciful way to die in this situation.
A brief thought crosses my mind, making me laugh.
Hunter raises an eyebrow. "What's so funny?" he asks, perplexed that I could be laughing at a time like this.
"I could kill you," I smirk through the shadows. "Two birds, one stone. Save you from the fire killing you but also… you know, getting to end your existence."
"Good to see that death hasn't affected your warped sense of humor."
"Who said I was joking?"
Hunter drops his head back against the wall, humming when he suddenly pauses, stiffening.
"Bexley."
I eye him through my peripheral vision. "What?"
"Look," he nods his head toward the ceiling.
Lazily I follow his direction, frowning as small flashes of red and blue hit the corner of the room. It's faint, a reflection from nearby emergency vehicles parked further up near the entrance.
Hunter spins around, slamming his hand on the wall. He knocks a few times, placing his ear to the panel. "What's on the other side of this wall?"
"The grounds," I answer, trying to decipher what's going on in that thick head of his.
He sprints over to the dressing table, shoving his weight into it. "Help me push this to the wall."
My face wrinkles in confusion, eyes darting up.
The window…
Well, it's not so much a window as a porthole. It's barely wide enough to shove a child through. Back in freshman year, the academy removed all the unused A/Cs to relocate them to other parts of the building. You know, saving costs and all since the State doesn't like to part with funding. I had forgotten about them since no one has come down here in years. Instead of replacing the A/Cs at the later date, they installed glass panels to seal up the holes.
The dressing table crashes into the wall and Hunter wastes no time climbing onto it, reaching up high to bang his fist on the tiny glass pane.
"We're not going to be able to fit through there!" I yell, smoke irritating my eyes. I can barely see him in front of me, even though he's only a foot away. "Nor are we going to be able to reach it."
"We have to try! Where's the extinguisher?"
I fumble around in the dark until I feel cool metal, lifting it up and passing the extinguisher to Hunter.
"Cover your eyes," is all I hear before there's a loud thud as metal hits tempered glass.
The pounding continues, and on the fourth attempt, I hear a different sound—a crack, followed by a shatter.
Before I can even move, rough hands grab my shoulders, hoisting me up onto the dressing table. I barely feel the sharp, stabbing pain as I stand barefoot on broken glass. Hunter wraps his arms around my waist, lifting me up toward the hole at the top of the wall.
Sweet, cold air hits me in the face, and I make an ungodly wheezing sound, chest rattling as I feel blood vessels explode with oxygen.
I start panting uncontrollably, breathing hard and fast as my body works overtime to suck in much needed air. I reach for Hunter's shoulder, squeezing it.
"Your turn," I say, wincing when I land on glass again. My senses have returned with the literal breath of fresh air, and before he can comprehend what I'm doing, I barge my shoulder into his ass, pushing with all my strength to lift him up. He's not as close to the window as I was, but I hear him taking deep breaths, my pride relishing in the beautiful sound.
Another thing I read was stories of people exuding superhuman strength in the face of danger. I'd like to believe that's what's happening as I lock my knees and arms, holding onto the wall so we both don't crash to the floor. My body shakes, and just before I finally drop him, my strength giving out, Hunter yells, "Hey!".
He lands heavily next to me, the dressing table wobbling as we both throw our hands against the wall to catch our balance.
"Why did you yell at me?" I grunt, hissing as I flick more glass off my feet. "I did the best I could."
"I wasn't yelling at you," he answers abruptly, and I hear a flurry of thudding coming our way.
Rylan's face appears on the other side of the hole, eyes blown wide and that odd stormy color again. He growls as another figure crashes into him, their heads colliding painfully as Tai comes into view—apparently proving that Rylan is indeed the better and faster runner out of all of us.
"Hunter," he chokes out, suddenly coughing as smoke billows through the shattered glass into his face.
"We need to smash the rest of the glass out of the way," the man pressed against me says with urgency. "Quickly."
The tone of his words starts to unnerve me. Or is it because we're so close to safety that suddenly my body is in full survival mode?
Blue eyes meet mine through the smog and I'm horrified to find a tangerine glow in them. Spinning my head around, I gasp as I see the door in flames—well, what used to be a door.
"Move!" Tai shouts, an unusual darkness taking over his playful voice. There's just enough reflection through the black fumes to see a purple ball hurling toward the edge of the glass, his fist wrapped in his Joker jacket as he punches shards toward us.
Tiny fragments of glass slice my face but that's the least of my concerns. The two men outside barge their fists into the shattered window, clearing the rest of the hole as unbearable heat starts burning up my skin. It's so hot in here, sweat pouring off my body as Rylan attempts to squeeze his shoulders through the gap. Shit—we might just fit after all.
There's a tiny break in the smoke as a breeze rushes through and I see his eyes darting between the two of us, panic on his face. Suddenly his face is gone again, replaced by the sound of violent coughs as black smoke engulfs us all.
I get it.
He's trying to choose. Trying to decide who to save first.
I don't envy him, having to pick between the girl who's broken through his walls and sees the real him or his lifelong best friend. But lucky for him, I already know the right choice.
Holding my breath, I crouch low, repeating my self-proclaimed impressive move from before as a surge of power rushes through my body. Hunter flinches against me, immediately tensing up and sandbagging his weight to try to stop me.
"Bexley!" he shouts. "Stop."
A hand rips me up, and for a brief second, I let him, reaching blindly through the dark to cup his face. It's amazing I can get any words out at all, white spots appearing in my eyes as my lungs scream and cry for air.
"It needs to be you," I manage to croak out, knowing the pain of losing their best friend would kill Rylan and Tai. I'm replaceable in their dynamic, not him, and before he can respond, I'm back low, shoving him again.
One of the guys must manage to grab him at the same time as I push his feet off the ground, probably unaware of our dispute below. Between their grip and my push, Hunter gets dragged up, legs brushing my face as I thrust him with all my strength until his weight is gone.
And there it is.
That weird feeling of peace and acceptance.
Even as flames light up the room, my body sags, exhausted against the wall with one arm still raised and resting above my head. I'm too tired to move it, a moment of relief as I realize I'm about to pass out before the fire can touch me. The heat from the flames is burning me, but slowly, the pain starts to fade, my consciousness floating away in static waves.
It sounds like someone is screaming my name, but I have no energy to respond, my sweaty body starting to slip down as my legs give out.
Then, it stops.
And my world goes black.