Cut From A Tattered Cloth

Chapter 23

Eijiro felt the blast before he heard it.

A wave of heat slammed into him from behind, scalding the back of his neck as the force pushed him forward. He gritted his teeth, throwing himself on top of Melia to protect her from any shrapnel the initial blast might've sent. To his surprise, he didn't feel any. The heat seemed to dim a little, too. He looked over his shoulder.

A wall of trees filled the hall. The trunks were so thick they wedged against each other, blocking off the flames. Smoke seeped through the trees, making Eijiro's eyes sting but the heat and sound was muffled now. Melia must've grown more trees, enough to pad the hall and absorb any shrapnel that would've come their way. Eijiro admired it, but it was risky. If Melia hadn't packed the trees like cement, they'd have burning splinters firing at them on top of the melted plaster and broken glass.

The floor groaned from the added weight of the trees. Eijiro felt it bend under his feet as metal bowed and plaster snapped. Behind him Melia gasped. Eijiro thought she would Wither the trees, realizing what an added danger they were, but her eyes were wide. She started hyperventilating, pointing at something as her trees grew thicker. Weeds clawed out of the ground and Eijiro realized she hadn't grown them on purpose. She was scared.

His mind snapped back to the night they met, the plants that exploded onto the bridge. If she did anything like that here...

"Melia," he tried to say.

A tree punched through the ceiling. Plaster rained down. Melia screamed. The floor dipped again. Tears ripped through the carpet as the ground started to crack.

Alarmed, Eijiro scooped up Melia and ran. Where he would go, he had no idea. The walls were boiling over with curtains of smoke. Every second the temperature seemed to jump up ten degrees. Melia wheezed in his arms. She hit him feebly with one arm, pointing behind him, but Eijiro kept running. She opened her mouth, then her chest spasming as she tried to breathe. Eijiro blinked. For a split second, he thought they were back at the embassy. Everything was red. Melia couldn't breathe....

"Ke...Ker–" she tried to say, choking as she gagged on more smoke.The trees reacted, shriveling up before bursting into flames. The brightness blinded Eijiro as another wave of heat overwhelmed them. He gasped, then immediately regretted it as smoke filled his lungs. He clung to Melia and turned his face away so that he wouldn't cough on her.

He rounded the corner and saw a window. The ceiling had caved in around it and flames danced in the reflection. Tucking Melia to his chest, he sprinted for it. Then, at the last second, he jumped. Cradling a hand against her head, Eijiro's back hit the window and they smashed through the glass.

The night air bathed him in a cool breeze, shocking him almost as much as the heat had. He felt disoriented by the sudden darkness, accompanied by the flashing lights of passing hoverports. Then his stomach dropped as he remembered he was falling.

Ironically, that was the least alarming thing that had happened to him tonight. He shifted Melia's position, resting her head against his shoulder so that he could hold her with one arm while grabbing a coil. He looped it around a lamppost, examining the precinct below. Officers and staff poured out of the ground entrance, flooding the street like bugs fleeing from an open light. Smoke billowed from the middle of the building, boiling out of the broken windows as the fire grew.

Eijiro tried to think. Their first priority would be to make sure the building had been evacuated. They'd want another team to ensure that–

The coil snapped.

Eijiro dropped.

Panic flared inside him as he threw out another coil. He tied it to a building corner, wincing at how burned it was. He gritted his teeth as he swung down, leaning back so that he wouldn't lose Melia if–

The coil ripped.

Eijiro watched it tear, charred ends whipping in the wind as he let go. Cursing, he pulled out every coil he had, tying them any surface he could to slow their fall. It worked; Eijiro spun awkwardly, his balance thrown off by holding Melia while trying to use burnt coils that snapped the moment he tried to swing from them.

They tumbled to the ground. Eijiro's last coil broke before he could touch down. He twisted at the last second, shifting Melia again so that he could protect her head while his back took the brunt of the fall. He looked over to the paramedics, shouting to call them over. If they hurried, maybe they could get Melia on oxygen before–

The back of his head smacked against the pavement. Spots flashed against his vision and pain exploded through his skull. Then everything went black.