The Heat of Fire

Chapter 6

The rest of the week was hard for me. I skipped training 3 of the 5 days, claiming it was because of my shoulder. Danielle left on Friday. She didn't even say goodbye. All week I had been trying to hang out with her, to spend our last moments together, but she just stayed in her house for most of the time. And like I said, she never said goodbye. I had gone to her house the day she was leaving, at precisely 12:36, and as soon as I had arrived, she ran into the car and the car left. I ran after it for as long as I could, but tripped and fell, badly bruising my knees, not to mention my feelings. Danielle had been my best friend for a long time. Well, now I could get to know Dante better. We've started to hang out a lot more, and I learned a lot more about him.

            The next week (Monday, 7:34 PM)

I jolt awake, and my hands fly to my knees. They can now be seen through a medium sized rip in the stretchy material of my leggings. My knees are stained blue and purple, and they hurt when touched. My shoulder, as well, has begun to hurt. The cut itself seemed to heal for the most part, but it is still badly bruised. At least I don't have to wear the bandages anymore. But I catch myself wishing for them. For a normal part in my schedule that I can fall back on, that's the same every single day.

I stand up, feeling the blood rush to my head, and stalk off to the office. I'm going to ask for some ice. I feel groggy and faint when I reach the office and get my ice. I decide that I will not be going to training today. As I lay back down on the sleeping bag, I press the ice to one knee at a time, eventually numbing the flesh.

       Two months later (Thursday, 5:38 AM)

I jump over the pile of rocks, and make it to the landing. I hear a loud clatter and look back to see a displaced rock falling over 40 feet. Ive decided that I'm done waiting for the "citizen" train to come and get me out of here. I've been searching for a week now, looking for the safest path out through the crumbling mountains.

Ojai has become a death city, with very little resources, disease, and crime.

I reach up for  a rock, ready to climb up the almost vertical slopes, when I hear a hiss. A snake slithers out from behind the rock, and looks at me. I stay still, staring into its yellow eyes. It hisses again, and slithers away. I remove my hand and sigh in relief. I'm going to have to name this Snake path.

As the sun comes up, I feel the back of my neck starting to burn. I've completely given up on going to training, and most of my classmates have too, so I don't have to worry about being late anymore. I finally make it to the peak, but lay low. Officials in Ojai have started to patrol the mountains. It seems to me like they don't want anyone to escape. If they spot me all the way up here, I can't even imagine what they would do.

I look around, and try to scope out the way down on the other side. This is when I realize that I'm looking out at the desert that surrounds us. I've been curious for a long time as to how the land looked, because the Fires came from out there. The ground is a reddish dirt, more sand like than anything. There are small cliffs and plateaus littering the area, and in the distance, a chain of titanic mountains can be seen. The blue sky doesn't have a single cloud, and I can feel sweat starting to form on my forehead.

After another half an hour or so, I've determined that the way out of Ojai is the safest through this way. Besides the snakes. All I have to do now is get down and get as many people and supplies as I can. But that won't be easy. I haven't even thought of a plan for after we get out. Where are we going to go? How are we going to survive? I need to talk this over with Dante before I go on with this plan. I am careful to slide down the mountain, sending rocks down with me, and make it back into the city, with only a few scratches on my palms. I take a minute to catch my breath, and then proceed to run to Spork. In the field by Spork, I see a group of teens throwing a ball around. I must admit, I'm a little startled by this. It's just so... normal. I walk towards them, noticing that Dante's playing with them.

"Hey, Naomi's here!" Neil shouts, and I am greeted by many "hellos" and "hi's." I wave back at everyone, and go to stand by Dante.

"What are you guys doing?" I question.

"We're just throw'n this old thing around. Everyone's pretty bored so, this seems like the only thing to do." Adam answers.

"Well do you mind if I join?" I ask, grinning.

We have fun joking around and throwing things at each other for a while. I notice that this is one of the first times that I have not had to check my watch to see what time it is. But my happy thoughts are interrupted by T. That one, happy, normal moment, gone. Yes, T is actually skipping training. But he stays away from us. He's distant. T taps me on the shoulder, and I turn around, to see what he wants. A fist flys at my face but I dodge it. My other arm comes up, grabs his outstretched arm, and swings him to the ground. This all happens so fast.

"What just happened?" Noelle stammers. I am breathing heavily.

"Are you ok?" Dante asks me. I nod.

"What do you want!" I spit at T, who is struggling to stand.

"I want you to stop trying to find a way out!" He says, straightening up. I am shocked. How did he know? And why would He announce it in front of all the others.

Noelle speaks. "Isn't that a good thing? We all need to get out of this stupid death place."

"No. There are dangers beyond the mountains." He responds.

I say, "How do you know? What makes you think you can tell me what to do!" I say, raising my fists.

He backs away and says, "No, no, I'm just a messenger!"

"Who sent you." I demand. But we are interrupted by the sound again. That dreaded sound, ringing through the air, declaring that some danger is on our front doorstep. We all look to the skyline, where clouds are billowing up and tumbling down the mountains.

I stand still for a moment, before Dante's voice brings us all back to reality. "Come on! We've got to take shelter!" I stay frozen, dreading this new fire. Now that I know about my mother's death in the flames, I am more terrified than ever. I stare as neon red and yellow flames begin to invade what was once my home. Dante grabs my arm, and pulls me away, bringing me out of my stupor. We run into Spork.

"We should be running to the southern mountains, this fire is coming from the north!" I shout, hopping over dead twigs and branches.

"We have to get the others first!" He shouts back. As we make it to the doors, I internally facepalm. Right now, I'm running into the least safe place when it comes to Fires.

Hi! This is a pretty short chapter, but yeah! Bye!