Shadowsnow

Chapter 12: Fire and Brimstone

A few days after my dad and I helped Hannah move into my bedroom with me, the police precinct where my dad worked was attacked. Hannah and I were hanging out in my room with Carter and Ronnie when I heard my dad's home police radio go off.  Hannah flinched for a second when she heard the voices.  Carter, Ronnie and I looked at each other knowingly.

"Hannah, it's okay," Ronnie said, reassuringly.  "It's just Officer Price's home police radio.  With Allie's door open, the sound echoes up the stairs."  Hannah nodded and slowly relaxed, giving a faint smile.

"I...have to use the bathroom.  I'll be back soon," I said quickly as I jumped up, grabbing my bag with my suit in it.

I dashed out and ran to my dad's precinct, close to our house.  As soon as I found somewhere to hide, I pulled on my suit and stuck my clothes into my bag.  As I put my new mask on, I ditched my bag somewhere I could find it again and I knew it would still be when I came back.  I jumped into the air and flew over to the precinct.  As I hovered over the street, I could see the precinct's building in flames. Oh, God.  What the hell did Teleporter do?  Where's my dad?  I looked down at the firefighters running towards the burning building as I heard more fire trucks arrive with their sirens going. I have to get down there. They're going to need some help. I touched down on the ground in front of the precinct and started running past people into the building.  As I pushed past some scrambling people, a police officer running out saw me and tried to warn me against going in.

"You can't go in!  The building is completely on fire!"  I instantly recognized the person as Officer Brown, the older sister of one of my classmates.  I ignored her as I listened for any people still inside the two-story building.

"Hello?" I practically screamed over the roaring flames.

I heard a few weak replies, several of which were on the ground floor, where I was. I have to stop this fire!  I waved my hand at some of the flames, freezing them to make a safe path to walk through.  I walked through several doorways, freezing the flames as I went.  As I went further in, I found it harder and harder to sufficiently freeze the flames.  It's too hot in here!  I need to get back outside where there's moisture!  But I can't stop until I get these people out!  I forced myself to keep walking until I found one of the people still inside. It was one of the other officers.  He'd gotten trapped under a fluorescent light in the kitchen.  The light was pinning him to the ground on his back and he couldn't lift it on his own.

"Help!  Someone, help me!"

"Hey!  Officer Anders!  I'm here to help!" I yelled.

As soon as Officer Anders saw me, his eyes bugged out of his head.  He coughed from the smoke as he started trying to talk.

"You!  The...the sh...shadow girl! Y...you have to g...get out of here!  You'll get hurt!"  I walked over to him and knelt beside him, getting a grip on the light.

"I'm not leaving until I get you out of here!"  I found a good spot to lift the light and picked up the light.  "Hurry!  Get out from underneath!  I can't hold this thing forever!"  The officer pulled himself out and started trying to stand next to me.  I dropped the light with a crash and turned to face him, catching him before he fell.  "I'll get you out of here!"

I picked him up with little effort and quickly retraced my steps to the front entrance where I came in, dodging flaming, falling pieces of rubble.  More than once, I had to shield Officer Anders with my body. As soon as I got him out, I saw that there were ambulances, police cars from other precincts, and more fire engines all over the street in front of the building.  I set the officer down in front of one of the ambulances and coughed as I looked around.