The Last Plague

Chapter Forty-Three: The Fire

The flames engulfed me; I couldn't breathe. The suffocation began to make me lose consciousness. I felt a thin material appear over my mouth. I began to breathe better.

"You may kill us," I heard the voice come through, but I was so dazed I couldn't tell who it belonged to.

I started to be able to breathe as I felt my body lift off the ground. Somebody was grabbing my hands and legs. I could tell they were running, my body was shaking back and forth in the heat.

I snapped back to consciousness. I pulled away and fell on my back. I groaned in pain as I felt myself getting lifted up again. A hand grabbed my back and pushed me along as I woke up. I looked around me and saw fire surrounding me. I knew that was exactly what we were running from. A searing heat came over me when I was fully conscious. I was sweating, but the sweat evaporated off my body in seconds. The fire was all I could see. Ash fell down from above us and singed my skin when it landed on it.

I shook my head and started running on my own. I held up the garment I was given to my mouth and ran ahead of me. It took me a minute, but I noticed it was Trina and Aiden ahead of me. Grayson had his hand on my back and was pushing me along. I continued running after them away from the fire. The fire engulfed us in seconds and it became all I could see.

"We can't outrun this," I said between coughs.

Grayson pulled me a little harder and ran a little faster in response. "Just don't pass out," he said while pulling me faster.

I started running as fast as I could through the forest. The heat started becoming overwhelming. I eventually ran out of Grayson's grip, ahead of him. He started running faster and caught up to me in moments. My lungs wanted to breathe faster because of the running, but the heat blocked heavy breaths. I breathed through the garment as quickly as I could, trying to pump more air into my lungs.

"Come on, keep moving," Trina shouted before coughing heavily again.

I started seeing a large patch of grass in front of us. It looked like it may provide what we needed at the moment, air. It was in an open area and looked like it may provide some breathing. I started running after it as quickly as I could. Then I noticed it caught. The flames started engulfing it. The burning grass would make it impossible to get through.

I looked out and saw Trina pulling out the grass from the ground. I ran over to try to stop her when I realized what she was doing. If she was pulling out grass and throwing it behind her, she may be able to create a passage into the open air. I started pulling the grass out with her.

"That's not going to work!" I heard Grayson shout behind us. "There's no point in that, come on, we have to keep running!" he shouted over the flames.

I knew he was right, but the smoke was clogging my thoughts. I continued pulling out the grass, ignoring what he had said.

"Come on, we don't have time for this!" Grayson angrily at us. "If we want to ever attempt to outrun this fire, we have to go!" He yelled as he grabbed my shirt and pulled me away.

I saw he did the same with Trina and started running with Aiden away. They both looked back and motioned for us to join them. They ran around the field and I followed them. I grabbed Trina's hand and pulled her along with me. We both ran after Grayson and Aiden as quickly as we could. The fire had already stretched out farther than I could see, but we continued to run.

Grayson and Aiden stopped as they ran around the patch of grass. When I and Trina caught up they both ran into the area. There was a patch of short grass. No fire would be able to burn in it. The grass was a bright green and lush against the tall grass which surrounded it on both sides. I and Trina ran in after them and stopped near the middle. We could still hear the fire blazing around us, but the flames weren't coming into the area. Ashes still fell from the sky and burned our skin, but it wasn't as bad as the heat inside the forest. My skin was still burning from the fire, but it was bearable.

"We don't have any choice. We have to wait it out here." Grayson said, panting and coughing as he sat down.

I sat down as quickly as I could and Trina and Aiden followed quickly after. The blazing fire around us continued and exploded with sound. I covered my ears and took off the garment covering my mouth. I started coughing and my throat seared with pain. Everyone else seemed to look the same way; coughing, gasping for air, trying to block out the sound.

I eventually fell asleep from the exhaustion. I woke up and looked around me. There was a black, charred forest surrounding me. I laid back down, my body ached all over. Everyone else was asleep and laying down on the grass. I looked around me from my position and saw the dead tall grass around me. The sky was gray and clouds hung heavily from it.

I fell back asleep, then woke up again to the feeling of rain. The cool drops soothed my flesh and made me feel calm. I wanted to go back to sleep because of it. Everyone around me was sitting up and yawning. My body was aching from the sprinting and I felt like I could barely move. Sitting up was a pain in itself. I felt gratitude at the fact I was alive.

We had just run through a major forest fire, and we survived. Then I remembered that Grayson had pulled me and Trina away from the stupid idea. Without him, we'd be dead. I suddenly felt like I had a debt to him; one that couldn't be repaid.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Trina asked me, staring up in awe of the sky, interrupting my thoughts quickly.

"It feels amazing, I'll say that," Grayson told her back.

The rain felt amazing against me. I loved every moment of it. But my stomach started complaining before I could enjoy the moment for long.

"Did we bring any of our food?" I asked Grayson, almost knowing the sad answer.

He only shook his head in response.

We all sat there staring up at the raining sky. The clouds started dancing around each other, creating a beautiful swirling effect. A strong wind suddenly picked up from the silence. The leftover ashes from the fire flew across the field. The wind started picking up rapidly.

"We need to go," Grayson said, staring up into the swirling sky. His voice barely audible over the sudden wind.

The loud crash of thunder came from nearby. Lightning started to brighten the sky.

"We have a storm coming in!" Grayson shouted over the noise. "The fire caused this change! Come on, we have to go!" He continued shouting. He ran over and picked up Aiden.

I stood up quickly and felt the ache from running from the forest fire. Soreness was all over my body and made it painful to stand. The thought of running seemed horrible. Grayson had started running off in the opposite direction of the clouds. I started following, but the wind changed direction quickly. It started pushing us in the direction of the storm. I ran as quick as I could against the wind, but it was too strong. I was barely moving at a walking pace through the wind.

"It's too strong!" I barely heard Grayson shout over the wind. His voice was pulled away very quickly by the wind. "We have to stay here, try to wait it out!" he shouted back at us, sitting down like he was previously.

I knew he was right. We wouldn't be able to make much progress if we tried running against it. Sitting there and waiting it out was our only option. The wind continued beating against the ground, causing multiple ashes to land on my face. They weren't hot, so they didn't burn, but they came so quickly it would cut and sting when they hit. I looked over and saw several clouds coming down from the sky. They were spinning rapidly around each other.

"Guys," Grayson said looking at the clouds, "that's a tornado."