Survive: A Darrel Curtis Love Story

Chapter 7

~ Chapter 7 ~

Blair Creed's Point of View
(Some of these lines are directly quoted)

I knew Dally would have to park the car and catch me before he could carry out his threat, Ponyboy and Johnny were already out and following me, so I figured I was safe. We could hear him cussing us out, but he wasn't mad enough to come after us. There was a crowd at the front of the church, mostly little kids, and I wondered how they'd gotten there so quickly. I tapped the nearest grownup. "What's going on?"

"Well, we don't know for sure," the man said with a good-natured grin. "We were having a school picnic up here and the first thing we knew, the place is burning up. Thank goodness this is a wet season and the old thing is worthless anyway." Then, to the kids, he shouted, "Stand back, children. The firemen will be coming soon."

It wasn't worthless, that was my home. Tears come to my eyes. That's my home. I live there…not anymore. My things were in there. Everything I have is in there or on my back. 

"I bet we started it," Pony mumbled to Johnny. "We must have dropped a lighted cigarette or something."

About that time a lady came running up. "Jerry, some of the kids are missing."

"They're probably around here somewhere. You can't tell with all this excitement where they might be." "No." She shook her head.

"They've been missing for at least a half an hour. I thought they were climbing the hill…"

Then we all froze. Faintly, just faintly, you could hear someone yelling. And it sounded like it was coming from inside the church. The woman went white.

"I told them not to play in the church… I told them…" She looked like she was going to start screaming, so Jerry shook her.

Without a word, I run up the hill and towards the church. My backpack makes the short distance feel longer. It threatens to pull me back down every further step, but it doesn't occur to me to drop it. I wish I had. 

I reach the top and the door is engulfed in flames. I have to get in there. Maybe my case isn't burned. Maybe the kids aren't burned. I need to get them out, damn it. Their screams echo through my head, pleading for me to get them out. Their voices warp and I freeze for a second. A loud crash breaks my thoughts. I turn to my right and see a busted-in window.  Johnny had thrown a rock through it. I hadn't realized that they were following me. 

"Go back down to Dallas," I demand, climbing into the window and crouching in it. I turn to them. "Go!" 

They dont go. I hop out of the window and shove them back towards the car, yelling at them again. I turn around and crawl into the window again. 

I jump inside and the smoke fills my lungs in a thick vapor. I lean forward and hack, willing for my body to throw up the smoke. I started stumbling through the church. I should be scared, I thought with an odd detached feeling, but I'm not. The cinders and embers began falling on us, stinging and smarting like ants. Suddenly, in the red glow and the haze, I remembered wondering what it was like in a burning ember, and I thought: Now I know, it's a red hell. Why aren't I scared?

"Where are they?" I turn around and see Johnny and Ponyboy following me. The ashes are burning through my shoes a little bit. I feel specks of pain on the tops of my feet. 

"Get outta here!" I screech at them, covering my mouth with my shirt. 

"After we get the kids!" Pony yells back. 

I pushed open the door to the back room and found four or five little kids, about eight years old or younger, huddled in a corner. One was screaming his head off, and Johnny yelled, "Shut up! We're goin' to get you out!" The kid looked surprised and quit hollering. I blinked myself--- Johnny wasn't behaving at all like his old self. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the door was blocked by flames, then. 

I pick up two of the kids, one on each hip. My knees were shaking and they're sure to give out if I can't get them outta here. Just then, Johnny tears down the boards blocking the nearest window. That's not like Johnny. I'm sure he was only following Ponyboy in here, but now that he was here, he was the leader. 

I tossed Pony the kid and he gave him to Johnny. Johnny relayed him out the window to where Dallas was standing. I caught one quick look at Johnny's face; it was red-marked from falling embers and sweat streaked, but he grinned at me. He wasn't scared either. That was the only time I can think of when I saw him without that defeated, suspicious look in his eyes. He looked like he was having the time of his life. Adrenaline was sure to be the cause of that. 

I tore down the window near me and tossed him out. I picked up a kid, and he promptly bit me, but I leaned out, the window and dropped him as gently as I could, being in a hurry like that. A crowd was there by that time, at both my window and the other.  Dally was standing there, and when he saw me he screamed, "For Pete's sake, get outa there! That roof's gonna cave in any minute. Forget those blasted kids!"

I didn't pay any attention, although pieces of the old roof were crashing down too close for comfort. I snatched up another kid, hoping he didn't bite, and dropped him without waiting to see if he landed okay or not. I was coughing so hard I could hardly stand up, I had already dumped my backpack. 

"Get outta here!" I managed to shout at the boys. "They're all out! Go!" 

I leaped out the window and heard timber crashing and the flames roaring right behind me. I staggered, almost falling, coughing and sobbing for breath. Then I heard Johnny scream and I stopped. Without a second thought, I jumped back into the window. The roof was swaying and shaking above us. Ponyboy had jumped back in too. 

Johnny's foot was stuck in the floorboard. 

"Get outta here, Pony! I got him!" I shout over the crackling. I pick Johnny up under his arm and Pony grabs his other side. I yank him out and as if in slow motion, the roof starts to fall. I look around, panicked. Johnny's hurt and there's nowhere to hide. The balcony is already collapsed and if we hid under there, we'd be sure to burn to death. 

The stairs were on fire and the walls start to cave with the roof. I mumble curses under my breath and I feel my lungs shrinking. Floorboards under me shift as well. I fill myself slipping. I gotta get them outta here. I'll be fine. I could never forgive myself if I let them die in this. I've been burned by a cigarette and u could only imagine dying with that feeling all over your body. 

It didn't matter to me anymore that my backpack was burning or my bag of all the things from my mother was too. It was as if I could hear someone within me telling me to just let them go. I wished I didn't feel the need to keep them, but I lost everything of my mom. I barely remember her voice. An hour ago I could never have parted with those things, but now, I couldn't care less. 

With a lunge forward, I shove them both towards the window. The smoke drained my sense of balance and I fall forward, hitting the floor with a thud. I swear I heard my own ribs cracking, but the windowsill hit bother of them square in the gut so hard they nearly fell out of the window. 

Dallas grabs them and yanks them by their collars. I try to stand, but the burning wood beneath me is too hot for my palms. I scream as the roof falls square on my back. I didnt gr a chance to ease into the darkness that was consuming me. It hit hard, like a punch to the face. A punch to the face that I'm not going to take up from.