Terror in the Night

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

When she turned around she didn't have chance to defend herself as he threw a punch at her head, so strong that it knocked her out.

It was a long time until Faye came to; she knew that because of the thick black smoke swirling around her head. The guy had left her in a small room and when she rolled over, she found a little girl lying on her side with her knees clasped to her chest, trying so hard to stay as quiet as she could.

“Are you alright?” Faye asked softly do and didn't scare the girl any more than she already was.

The girl nodded quickly and coughed until her small chest shook with an effort to breathe.

Faye quickly got to her feet and checked the door, only to find out locked. “I'm going to get us out of here, okay sweetie,” she said as she looked over her shoulder and tried to look reassuring. The last thing a scared child should see is an adult just as scared.

She braced herself and tried shouldering the door, but the door opened inwards and only shook in the door frame. When her shoulder got sore, she reverted to kicking at the door.

Faye started choking and tears were streaming down her cheeks when she gave up kicking at the door and in desperation, ran and threw her weight against the door.

Finally the door gave way and collapsed under Faye and they were finally free. But maybe the small room they were in was better than being out.

Faye quickly snatched a thick blanket off the back of the sofa and raced back for the little girl who was barely breathing. She covered the girl from head to toe and struggled to get back to her feet.

It took Faye some time to get back to her floor. The some in the halls was so thick it was almost toxic to breathe and made it hard to see when she headed down the stairs again, she timidly had to guess where the edge of each step was. The lower they went; the air around them seemed to get heavier and hotter with every step.

The fire was still raging in the floor below Faye's apartment and a number of firemen were running around trying to put the fire out and keep them safe.

Faye reached out for the first fireman closest to get and held onto his sleeve while she struggled to breathe any proper air. “Help me,” she gasped.

The fireman's face was converted in soot when he looked at the pair of them and quickly took the girl from Faye. “Stay close to me,” he asked and grabbed Faye's elbow to guide her out.

They had manoeuvred around the worst effects areas of the fire and the weak points in the building from the spray. But there was one spot that they missed, all but Faye that is. The floor creaked and groaned that made them freeze and look at the floor, just in time to watch the section around Faye give way.

There didn’t seem to be any sound that came out of her as she fell, she may have screamed but all she made was a wheeze as she fell and choked when she landed on the floor below hard, hitting her head just as hard and shutting all the light from around her.

She coughed and spluttered when she came to, she wasn't out for long as the fireman was still hovering over the hole and had fallen through. She struggled to get feet and looked around where she had fallen, the floor was black from the fire that the fire fighters had already put out, but the ash was thick on the floor and fluttered in the air on the way down.

“Ma'am, are you okay?” The fireman shouted down while Faye struggled to stand on her foot.

“I think I've twisted my ankle,” she wheezed back, “I'll get out on my own somehow.”