the spider whisperer

Peter Tingle [chapter 38]

"Get the door open!" the girl shouted in panic, rushing over to her two companions to help with moving all the objects away.

It took them a minute to move everything. Within that time, three more explosions happened, however, none topped the ferocity of the first one. By that point, smoke had started to slip between the small crack that was in between the floor and the very bottom of the door. The room was hazy, and within a few minutes it was very likely it'd be too hard to breathe properly.

Just as they'd all thought the possibility of escape was plausible, the universe decided to once again tilt the odds out of their favor. Peter reached his hand out to touch the handle of the door. Immediately, he reeled it back, wincing in pain at something.

"What?" Flash asked impatiently. Flash knew the answer though; he knew that the door handle must've gotten heat transferred from a fire that was likely just outside the door.

Peter shook his hand in pain, "It's too hot. Fuck, we weren't fast enough."

The girl stayed silent, her mind racing to find a solution. There had to be a way out. No way a big business place like the one they were in wouldn't have passed safety regulations. Especially for something like a fire. All they needed to do was find a way to open the door without burning their hands, and surely everything else would be a piece of cake.

Just find a way out, find a way...

The boys had their backs to her, so they didn't notice when she took off her shirt and wrapped it around her hand for the most protection she could get from the metal door handle. It should work exactly as she wanted. Especially considering she and Cairo would use clothes like that if they were having trouble finding oven mitts when they needed to take something out of the oven.

"You're the superhuman," Flash and Peter had started back up with their bickering in the time it took for the the girl to form somewhat of a plan. Even on the verge of meeting death, they were still arguing. "Figure out a way to get us out of here!"

Peter looked just as angry as he did stressed, "Well this is the first time I'm in a life or death situation and having to worry about someone other than myself! Even if I have a plan, I'd have to readjust it so your bodies could keep up with it. Not everything is as simple as you make it out to be!"

"You have to save people all the time," Flash countered. "This shouldn't be anything new to you. You always manage to save everyone. Just do it again!"

"Do you think I'm trying to—?!" he paused mid sentence when a shirtless damsel entered his line of sight. His jaw dropped as he stared shamelessly. Times like these were when it was made apparent that Peter was still a teenage boy.

Flash, on the complete other end of the spectrum from Peter, averted his eyes quickly. In the past, Flash would've likely ogled over her just as Peter was, but he was now very aware of just how much of a gap there was between her love for him and Peter. It'd be better for him to just forget about his feelings and push forward. You know what they say, no use crying over spilled milk.

"Why don't you have a shirt on?" Flash mumbled out. There was a faint blush on his cheeks as he spoke. He still refused to look her way though.

She didn't answer, instead continuing to boldly walk to the door. As expected, she was able to get the door open without much struggle. As expected, there was a scorching fire that had been waiting patiently to greet them on the other side of the door. As expected, once they got over the little challenge of opening the door, everything was a breeze.

They were able to crawl through a small path to the stairwell they had once been running away from. It was fire-free. Most places had flame-resistant stairwells. It was safety protocol.