17. How To Put Out A Fire
The base caught on fire horribly fast. The fiery arrow had lodged itself in the dry wooden planks. The wood crackled and lit, the flames consuming the base in an instant. The heat was unbearable, scorching their faces until they were red and raw.
The smoke was everywhere, engulfing their surroundings in blackness, mixing and blurring with the dancing tongues of fire that licked the wood all around them.
Charlie's eyes were watering so badly that he could barely see, if there had been anything to see. He ran to one of the holes in the base, gasping for air. Blinking, he looked down and saw that the girls had disappeared - Emma and Phoenix had left quickly, leaving the boys in the burning wreck of their base.
In the instant the fire had taken hold, all grudges from the spat were suddenly forgotten in the blind panic that took over them. The only concern they had was for their escape, no longer caring if other teams found them. It didn't matter anymore. If they didn't get out of the base soon, the only thing left for the other teams to find would be five charred bodies.
They were running around the small, confined space of the base, seeking for anyway way out, prisoners in a fiery cell.
“Get the ladder!” shouted Jason, who was merely a dark outline amounts the billowing smoke.
“They've gotten rid of it!” Hamish yelled. “We'd need to fly to escape! We'd never survive the jump!”
“Any bright ideas?” Peter looked around desperately, as if he thought something might magically appear. “Any useful powers?”
“No, I imitate the colour of my surroundings like a chameleon.” Joshua was testing the boards as he looked around. He did a quick demonstration, his whole body seemingly disappearing, including his jumpsuit. Flames rippled across where his face was.
“Don't look at me, I turn into a squirrel.” Hamish was choking in the smoke. “I could climb down, but that wouldn't help you guys.”
“I just do stuff with water, but I don't see...” Charlie was at a loss for what to do as their base burned around them, ash coating each and every one of them head to toe.
The other four froze and stared at him. Their mouths dropped open, and Charlie saw Hamish roll his eyes, like he was saying 'how stupid can you get?'.
“Charlie, HOW DO YOU PUT OUT A FIRE?” bellowed Peter. “WATER!”
Realising what Peter meant, Charlie summoned a powerful surge of water, spraying it all over the burning base like a mini tsunami, snuffing out the flames almost immediately. There was a loud hissing as some of the water evaporated immediately. The coolness of the water on his face was soothing and he understood why the others had given him such looks of incredulity. It seemed such an obvious solution now.
Coughing and spluttering, they collapsed into what was left of the floor of the base. It was charred and black, and probably wouldn't last much longer. Far below on the ground, debris and ash was scattered everywhere. Charlie looked up to see the entire group sopping wet. In putting out the fire, he had managed to soak all five of them.
“You idiot Charlie.” Hamish was wheezing.
“We could have burnt alive there, if we hadn't reminded you of your power.” Joshua sneezed. He was lying on his back, facing the sky, eyes closed in relief.
“All those in favour of knocking him out?” laughed (or rather, spluttered) Peter. Jason, Joshua and Hamish all raised their hands. “You just wait until we're out of this training thing, Charlie.”
