Twenty-Eight
Dallas
Billie is reciting her lines for the upcoming play while Annabeth parades around the kitchen preparing breakfast. My little firefly is making it difficult to remain composed when I know for a fact that I had her bent over this breakfast bar just last night.
Billie’s voice snaps me out of my daydream. “Dad, did you hear what I said?”
“Yeah, course,” I reply.
She scowls at me, clearly not believing the lie. “I said, does Aladdin die at the end?”
“Bumble, I don’t know how to tell you how wrong you are. He gets the girl and lives happily ever after. Why are you asking about Aladdin, aren't you doing that plant-eating play?” I enquire.
Annabeth bursts into fits of laughter. “Do you mean The Little Shop of Horrors?”
“Yeah, the one where the plant eats everyone?”
A loud crash and panicked nickers echo through the property outside, followed by what sounds like a stampede coming from the main yard.
What the fuck? I look out the window and don’t see anything.
Another loud crash sounds, and I can’t ignore that.
I rush from the kitchen, pulling my boots on and grabbing the motorbike keys.
“Stay here,” I call to the girls, who are still standing in the kitchen.
I barely make it to the shed when I am almost taken out by the rush of cattle charging down the driveway. Dust fills my nostrils, and I realise my eyes are stinging from… smoke? What the fuck is going on?
In seconds, I’m on the bike and kicking the engine over, tearing-ass towards the paddock where the cattle are kept. I have to figure out how they got out and what spooked them. Coming around the bend behind the main yard, I’m almost knocked flat by a cloud of heat and smoke.
Ash is flying through the air. I can hear the horses whinnying from somewhere in the smoke.
I’m on autopilot, the bike is off and flung to the side.
Where is this coming from? I can barely see three feet in front of me while heat radiates through the air.
I pull my shirt over my mouth and take a harsh breath before I push through the billowing clouds of thick, black dust. Smoke fills my lungs and I choke out a spluttered, “Hello, is anyone out here?”
I stumble through the paddock, trying to keep rogue embers from hitting me.
I know I’m getting close because I can hear the crackling of flames up ahead.
An engine roars to life, but I can’t make out what it belongs to.
Adrenaline courses through my veins. My heart is racing, my eyes burning from the billowing ribbons of smoke.
There’s a break in the clouds, the air only slightly clearing as I push forward.
My eyes are watering and my mouth falls open.
Panic rises within me as I take in the horrific scene before me.
The barn in the stockyard is completely alight with angry golden flames that consume the entire structure.
Half the fences are also up in flames, the hellish inferno completely swallowing the rickety wood.
There’re animals racing in all directions, and I’m nearly taken out by one of the horses as he gallops out from within the chaos.
I have no hope of regulating my thoughts; my mind is racing as I consider the worst possible outcome.
I need to get out of here, but something stops me in my tracks.
I see Colt’s ute parked within the flames.
If his ute is here… Then where the fuck is Colt?
“Colt!” I scream into the toxic haze before me. The only response is the hissing of flames. I hear the loud grumble of a diesel engine coming from back towards the house followed by shouting.
“Dallas, Colt. Are you out there?” I can’t make out the voices, I’m too distraught. Plunging my body into the inferno, I hold my breath and stumble into the flames. I need to make sure nobody is out here. I need to find Colt.
“Dallas, stop!”
I hear her now. It’s Annabeth.
Another flicker of light passes through the barn.
I swear I see… Sam? I’m losing my grip on reality while the burning smoke fills my lungs as I clamber through the raging fire searching the barn.
The heat from the blaze is overwhelming, and crimson flames whoosh around me, growing angrier with each step as they lick at my feet.
I’m sweating, my body feels weak, and I have no idea how long I have been in here when I hear a sharp crack behind me followed by an uncontrollable hissing.
Then I see it. See him. Colt is laying in one of the stalls, trapped beneath a beam, and he isn’t moving.
There are flames all around him, and I’m amazed they haven’t reached the beam that’s keeping him pinned to the floor. Black smoke spirals behind him.
“Colt!” I shout, my throat hoarse.
I climb over the debris, dodging the white-hot rage that’s swallowing the barn.
My eyes are filled with tears, and my lungs retract with each sharp breath.
At this point, I don’t even know if I can lift the beam, let alone drag my brother out.
What if I fail? What if we both perish? Get your shit together, Dallas.
You need to save him. Save you both. Keep going.
My body acts solely on instinct, and a burst of adrenaline soars through me as I lift the weight from my brother. His body is limp, his eyelids trembling. I wrap my arms around him and try to lift him. I can’t.
“Come on, brother. I’ve got you.”
My knees start shaking, and the muscles in my arms quiver with weakness. A sharp, shooting pain rips through me, and I realise the flames have finally met the beam. This is it. It can’t get any closer. I need to get us out of here.
I hear panicked shouting from somewhere outside the barn. My name, followed by Colt’s, then I hear a sentence no father should ever hear. “Someone, please help my Dad!”
The wall behind us completely collapses in the inferno, the embers nipping at our skin.
But I’m here. I’ve got him. I will protect my little brother with my life.
I know I only have one shot because if I fuck this up, neither of us will make it out of here alive.
Dizziness takes over me as I feel the pain soaring through me.
“Come on, buddy, one more try. I’m not leaving here without you,” I tell him. I can barely speak, barely breathe. Every word rips through my throat, threatening to steal my voice. I’m fighting with all that I have, which at this point, is nothing.
Mustering every last ounce of strength within me, I manage to lift him just enough to slide him out of the stall and begin dragging us towards the exit.
Flames crackle around us, and the smoke is only getting thicker with every laboured step.
We’re almost at the exit when I feel arms wrap around me, and Colt is pulled from my hold.
“No,” I choke out. Unsure whose got me or where I am. My eyes roll into the back of my head, my knees collapse, and suddenly, it all goes black.