Unknown

7- Hell's Hotel

Soyer, Cameron and Raquel-(reluctantly) ran through the fire, back the way they came, then they and whoever had come with them found their way out.

"We need to get the others." Hayes said.
"No $#!7."
"Well, let's get a move on then." Tony said, already jogging.
The fire was chasing us down the hall, and there was far too much to just tap out.

On the stairway, I tripped on a step and went crashing into another, face first.
"Come on Mick, this ain't stop, drop and roll, get up!
Hayes helped me off the step and onto my feet, while my wonderful nephew laughed.
"Don't worry, mummy can kiss your boo-boos better later."

I'll tell him what to kiss..

"Go, go I'm fine." I told Hayes, trying to ignore Tony and his hysterics.
We bolted up one flight of stairs only to be greeted by the wild and unfriendly hands of flames.
"How did it get here?" Tony asked.
Hayes shook his head. "They brought others. There are more of them, everywhere, setting the place alight."
In confirmation, a pair of Jarheid's cronies went running down a passage on our right. Mischievous grins plastered across their faces.

"We really need to get out of here!" Hayes yelled above the now roaring flames.
"What if the others have already seen the fire and left?!" Tony called.
I shook my head and carried on running. "I'm not leaving until I know they're out!"

I thought back to a time when Thomas and his gang had set our home on fire back when I was sixteen. Tirrean had just joined the gang, and they'd all just broken out of prison.
Even though I hated Tirrean with my life, he came back for me. So now? I swore to myself I wasn't going anywhere until my I knew my brother was out alive.
Billy too. Billy had been there for me since forever, and I'd rather die here with both of them than get out alive without either one.

Just in front of us, a group from Hotel Management came running through the double doors. They parted ways and each took their own course down a hallway on either side of us, opening all the doors and shouting for people to hurry out.
A fire alarm sounded, and another, and another until the whole building was screaming.

I started to cough. Smoke poured down my throat and gripped my lungs.
Tony - for the first time in history - seemed concerned. He patted my back and told me to cover my nose with my t-shirt. After I'd nearly drowned in the ocean and my lungs had literally burst, breathing had become a bit of an issue for me.
Though it'd been four years, my lungs were still weak and needed to heal properly. Being choked by smoke while running a mile through a burning building wasn't exactly my idea of the perfect healing process.

People were running and screaming everywhere, pushing and shoving, looking for a way out.

The floor in front of me where Hayes was stood caved in and he fell through.
"Hayes!" Tony and I screamed. We couldn't see him and the fire had spread throughout the entire ground floor.
"Hayes!"
I caught sight of him, on the floor below us. He looked pretty alright for someone who'd just fallen through the floor and into a pool of flames.
"I'm fine!" He yelled, with noticeable effort. "I'll find another way up!"
"No! You get out of here, we'll get the others!"
I just about made out a nod from him before he vanished in the fire.

With all the running, stairways, people and screaming, I wasn't even sure where exactly Quel's suite was anymore.
I knew it was on the fourth floor, and we were on the third, but even if I did make it up there, there were over 200 rooms just on that floor, and all rooms look the same when they're on fire.

I could hardly breathe, and for a selfish moment, I wished I was the one who'd fallen through the floor, and been told to get out of here.

Tony tried as best as he could to support me, but my lungs were giving in and there was nothing either of us could do to stop it.