Mishaps & Wolves (REWRITE)

Chapter 7 - Fire, Fluff and Flying Wolves

The smoke was thick in the air, making her eyes water and her chest squeeze tighter. She tucked the lower part of her face into her shirt and crouched low beneath the dark cloud. Marissa couldn't see much through the smoke, letting Randy led the way, crouching low beside her and keeping her hand on his flank. The heat was beginning to burn her throat and nose, but she just kept going. There was a little girl's life on the line and she could stand a little more pain.

When they finally reached the top of the stairs, Marissa let herself stand to stretch her legs, her ribs hurting as she moved. She could hear the flames roaring behind her but she didn't want to look. 

"Which way?" Randy moved to the right and scratched at one of the doors. Marissa touched the door handle with the back of her hand, opening the door when it didn't burn. She and Randy rushed in, Randy taking one side of the room whilst Marissa looked for the girl on the other. 

"Hello? Sweetheart, are you in here? We need to leave right now!" She tried to keep her voice soothing, but her throat was too raw from the heat and her panic at the flames was starting to rise. She looked in the closet, and in the small pillow fort built by the window. In the back of her mind she could hear the crackling of the flames and the wooden beams of the house breaking.

They really had to go.

Randy whined at the bed, more specifically under it. Marissa went over and looked under the bed. A little girl was not what she found, but she did find a little bunny in a pile of clothes.

Shifters, right. Werebunnies. Because things cannot get any weirder. 

"Mia cara, we need to hurry and get out of here." Marissa tried reaching under the bed, but the bunny-girl hopped back, away from her reach. Feeling pain run up her side, Marissa had just about enough.

"Listen here, young lady. The house is on fire and you are in danger. You are a big girl and you can understand what is going on. Now, you are going to come here so I can carry you out of here and take you to your parents. There will be no arguing. There will be no more chances. We are almost out of time, so come out this instance!"

It was a hesitant second before the bunny-girl hopped forward and Marissa didn't spare any time before scooping her up into her arms. They ran back to the door, finally noticing that the room had quickly begun to fill up with smoke and as they reached the door, Marissa saw flames coming down the corridor and towards the room. She slammed the door shut and tried not to panic. They were trapped on the third floor, and nobody knew they were here.

She looked to Randy, who was now watching her. "I swear one of us is cursed. This can't keep happening to us."

Randy just barked, and she snapped out of the daze. She put the bunny-girl on the bed, giving her a warning look to stay put before turning to the window to open it. She looked down, and noticed that people were beginning to come towards the house.

"Up here! Up here!" She screamed as loud as she could. People below noticed her, and started pointing and running around. Marissa breathed a sigh of relief, but the creaking wood of the house ringing around her was not a comforting thought. 

They were going to have to get themselves to safety. Fast.

Marissa looked back at the room, trying to see what could be done. The only thing she could think of, as dumb as it sounded, was to climb down. But they'd have to be careful because three floors of a burning building was not going to be safe at all. Seeing no other choice, she turned to Randy.

"Change back. I need you human to help me tie as many sheets together as possible and make a rope for us to climb down." He was shifting as she finished off her sentence, and together, they grabbed every sheet and pillowcase off the bed and from the fort that they could, and began tying them together. As Randy found something to tie their makeshift rope to, Marissa looked in the wardrobe and grabbed a small backpack she'd seen earlier. She emptied it out and put it on backwards then moved to the bunny-girl.

"I'm going to be honest with you," she looked into the bunny-girl's eyes. "We're going to make it out of this because apparently something in the universe thinks pushing my buttons is extremely entertaining. Now I'm going to put you in this backpack and keep you as close to my body as possible whilst I'm climbing down. Don't move too much so we don't slip, alright?"

Marissa took the twitching nose as a sign she'd been understood and put the girl into the backpack, closing most of the zip but leaving a small part open so the girl could breathe - she didn't want the bunny-girl hopping out whilst they were still climbing down. Ready, she turned to find Randy had moved the wardrobe towards the window after Marissa had ransacked it and had tied the makeshift rope to the heavy wooden doors.

"This won't hold but I'll hold onto it for as long as possible and lower you down to give you more time."

His reflexes were better, but not by much since he didn't avoid the slap upside the head. 

"Are you insane, I'm going to count to five and your ass will be climbing out the window right behind me. Don't argue with me either or we'll just find a way to get the girl down and I'll stay right here."

"Now whose the insane one?" He shouted right back. "At least I heal quickly so I'll survive a little heat."

"I'm not leaving you to fry!" Her voice broke with her scream and he just hugged her tightly. The creaking of the wooden house around them not a moment later was like a shot.

"Go!" Randy pushed her to the window where he tossed the rope out. She started climbing out of the window, gripping the sheets tightly.

"5 seconds or I'll just climb back up to drag you out."

"I'll be right behind you," he promised, pushing her out of the window.

"You'd better be, fratello, or I'm telling Dad as soon as I get to a phone." Then she was climbing out of the window and hurrying as carefully as she could without crushing the little bunny-girl strapped to her chest.

She slowly started making her way, the smoke coming out of the broken windows filling the air and making her eyes water. She tried hard to keep the flames to her back and her body as close to the rope as possible. She wasn't the strongest physically, but she had enough strength at that moment to control her slipping down the rope. She kept looking upwards towards the window, hoping that at any moment that Randy would be climbing down after them. He stood at the window, head out and watching her slowly make her way.

Feeling her foot swing, she looked away from him and down, but could only see the ground below. They were still more than a storey up and there was no more of their rope left to climb.

"It's not long enough!" She shouted up to Randy, his head disappeared from the window and she felt the rope lowering bit by bit. The few jolted movements made them sway, pulling on the material. Then the sound of tearing sounded above them and Marissa only had a moment to curl into the foetal position, twisting her body around the bundle strapped to her chest to protect it as they fell.

The force of her body hitting the ground stunned her, aches and pain springing up all over. She managed to uncurl herself enough to force the zip on the bag open to let the bunny-girl out. She hopped out and Marissa was relieved. Her sight was beginning to go dark, and she looked to the window, waiting to see Randy climbing down behind them. He'd survive the drop; like he'd said, he was stronger now. Instead, she watched as his wolf sailed out of the window. He heart thudded in her ears, a scream caught in her chest. She didn't have the strength to call out, but she must have made a sound because then there was a wet lick to the side of her face and familiar amber wolf eyes leaning over her.

He was alive. He'd survived. They'd be alright.

"Worst vacation ever," she whispered, finally feeling safe enough to let her eyes shut, just for a moment.