Heart of a Hero (H.O.C. #3)

Chapter 3

David sliced at the iron with his ax while other men attempted to stave off the fire as it approached the car. He didn’t sense the others who worked beside him. He had tunnel vision. “Get Lottie out” repeated over and over in his mind like it was stuck to a spinning wagon wheel. Finally, several of the men pulled at once against a break, some with axes, others with shovels, and forced the metal wall of the car open. David jumped inside as fast as he could, coughing from the smoke. He pulled his kerchief out, covering his face until he found Lottie.

Looking right, he saw fire. Looking left, he saw smoke.  No one was in front of him. He went left. He began slowly, cautiously moving over the top of the wooden seats that were now the floor to crawl towards the last place he’d heard Lottie’s voice.

The smoke was too thick to call out her name, and he didn’t want to taste the acrid stuff again, but he would once he found her. Some of the other men were behind him, following closely. A shadowed form appeared in front of him, limp, possibly a dead or unconscious person. David moved closer. The body was too large to be a woman. Waving at the smoke around him for a better look, David pulled his lantern close to the figure.

“PAW!” He yelled through his kerchief. While shaking his father, he signaled to the men behind him to pass the message back that they had found someone. David managed to push the window open above his head to allow some of the fumes out, but it did very little. “Paw! Wake up. We gotta get you outta here. Fire’s coming.” Gerald moved very little, but did manage to rouse when he heard his son’s voice.

“Paw, it’s me. These men are gonna help get you out! Okay? I gotta find Maw and Lottie.” He gently patted his father’s shoulder as O’Kelly helped to get the large man to the window. Someone down the line called out to move the rope ladder to where he was, making it easier to get the passengers out. David kept moving ever so slowly to the left, hoping to find her. She was two benches over, but why, he didn’t know. His mother was right beside her. “Maw. Maw, wake up.”

“David?” She asked simply, unaware of the circumstances.

“Roark, help her out, would you?” David called before answering his mother. “Yes, Maw. My friend here is going to help get you out, but you have to hurry. There’s a fire. I’m gonna get Lottie.”

“Good, son. Get Lottie. I love you, boy.” She gasped. He tore her sleeve and put the scrap across her nose and mouth.

“Breathe through that, Maw. I love you too!” Roark stepped up to Hester Sue, gently helping her to get through the window as David turned, once again, to his left.

There she was.

Hurt.

Gasping from the smoke.

He took his own kerchief and placed it on her face to shield her.

“Lottie, baby. Can you hear me? I wanna hear you singing again. Come on, wake up. The smoke’s thick and getting thicker.”

“Davit? Is ‘atchu?” He almost chuckled at her twang. She didn’t use it much anymore. “Where you been? I misseded you.” All of this was mumbled through the cloth barrier, but he understood her every word.

“I missed you too, baby. We’re gonna get you out of here, and then you and I can spend some time together. How does that sound?”

“Goot, Davit, that sound real goot.” As he lifted her, Lottie’s head lolled to the right a little.

“Stay with me, Lottie. Don’t go back to sleep. Stay with me.”

“I cain’t. I’m too tired.” Lottie placed her head on his shoulder, and sighed unawares.