M*A*S*H 4077 By Taylor Froelich and Sammi Simonar

Day 1: Near the M*A*S*H Compound, 0300 Hours

Day 1: Near the M*A*S*H Compound, 0300 Hours

Dalli woke up in the middle of the night to the smell of something burning. It was extremely warm in the room she shared with all of the other girls in the orphanage. She sat up on her cot and was shocked to see orange flames blazing in the corner of the room, barely visible through the thick black smoke. She scrambled quickly to her feet, worrying frantically for her cousin, Jess. Dalli took a deep breath to call the other girl's name, and her lungs were filled with smoke and she started coughing.

"Jess? Jess, where are you?" she shouted through the fire, her voice hoarse and soon swallowed up by the sound of the other girls' screaming and shouting as the flames crackled.

Jess had woken up earlier to the faint smell of smoke, and she got up and went into the hall, heading down to the first floor to see if the owner of the orphanage knew where it was coming from. She wasn't worried, not until she made it downstairs and suddenly the smoke was so thick that she couldn't even see her own hands in front of her, much less the flames producing the smoke.

Chaos filled the air, flames roaring and people shouting frantically in Korean, both on the second and first floor. Though Jess and Dalli had grown up in a Korean orphanage, they still had a hard time understanding the language, especially when it was being spoken so frantically.

The owner of the orphanage, Mr. Takihashi, grabbed Jess by the shoulders and pushed her forward, towards the door. Jess willingly stumbled her way outside, gasping in air but still coughing badly. She fell down and passed out from too much smoke inhalation, her whole body smarting from the burns. Her last thought was that since Dalli was smart, she'd have known to come outside and find her.

But meanwhile, Dalli was still trapped on the second floor, pushing all the younger girls towards the door so they could get out, but not before peering into every frightened, soot-streaked face to see if it was Jess. Soon the screaming of all the girls had turned to faint whimpers as they escaped, going down the hall.

But Dalli wouldn't leave without finding Jess, and she had yet to see her. She stumbled around the room, hot as the flames crept closer to her, the smoke stinging her eyes and burning her throat. Flaming chunks of wood were falling very close to Dalli, blocking her path to the door. She looked around frantically and spotted the window. Hoping Jess had made it out safely, Dalli leaped through the window in a last attempt to save herself.

The ground rushing up suddenly was very black, blocking out the contrasting bright flames behind her. Dalli hit the ground suddenly and pain jarred through her body like a shock, but she got up and ran away from the ferociously roaring building behind her as it collapsed. Dalli wasn't sure where she was going, her vision was spotty from the change of bright light to sudden darkness, but she hoped she was heading for Jess and the rest of the children from the orphanage as she stumbled through the black of night.