I Never Planned on This (A newsies fanfiction)

Chapter seventeen

Les quickly yanked a piece of paper free from his notebook and scribbled as fast as he could,

I'm going to save Henri and Davey.

-Les.

He followed JoJo out the window and across the roof, down onto the fence and then onto the ground. He then followed her down the street and through Newsie square, towards The Wall. But Les didn't need help finding the wall, not even in the dark of night. It was the brightest thing outside. The whole building was aflame, debris falling everywhere.

Upon coming to The Wall, Les noticed a bunch of Newsies crouching down around someone. Could it be Davey? Les slowly made his way towards the crowd, and saw some of the Newsies holding a teenage boy in a guard uniform. Obvious burn marks lined his face and arms. Oscar Delancey.

He looked terrified, a look Les had never seen before on the Delancey brothers. Seeing Les, he opened his mouth to croak,

"Davey...was in the hallway. He made it...out of his cell. I...I had to run. I thought he was behind me...Davey and Henri...are still inside." He said. His face was covered in soot, his clothes reeked of smoke. The building was absolutely covered in fire.

"Who would do this?" Les asked.

"We think it was some Newsies from Harlem." Mush said. "Those were some of the ones we forgot to get on our side. They didn't know that there were Newsies trapped inside The Wall." She said. Medda soon joined the Newsies, rushing out of the Bowery theater.

"The fire department is on their way." She said. "They should be able to help."

"N-no. They can't." Oscar said. The Newsies turned back to him.

"Whatta ya mean they can't?" Ike asked.

"I mean they can't. I saw the inside. This...this fire was started by oil. Water would only make it grow." He said. The Newsies looked at each other. Henri and Davey were trapped inside, and there was no way to help them.

"Les!!! Mush, JoJo, Tommy boy, Race!!!" A voice came from Newsie square. The Newsies all turned to see Jack and Katherine racing towards them. They all stood there in surprise until they reached them, hugging them out of fear and relief. "I'm so glad youse guys are safe." Jack said, breathing heavily, then stepped back, looking around. "Where are Davey and Henri?" The Newsies turned back towards The Wall and pointed at the burning building. Jack gasped, and Katherine put her hand over her mouth.

"No." He simply said.

"There's no way to help, Jack." Race said helplessly. "It's an oil fire, and for all we know, Henri could still be in her cell!!!"

"The fire escape!!!" Mush exclaimed, and all the Newsies turned to her, remembering. "Let's go on the fire escape and check Henri's cell!!!" They all followed her up the stairs, to the floor that they knew Henri was on. But when they looked for the bag that they layed near her cell, they couldn't find it. Looking over the edge, they saw a Newsie's bag, burning on the ground. Someone had moved it, and thrown it over the edge. The Newsies groaned. "There's too much smoke!!!" Mush exclaimed. "If we tried to find her again, we couldn't see her!!! And we need to get down before we get stuck up here, that fire escape isn't gonna hold long in these temperatures!!!"

Once back safely on the ground, they stood there, scared out of their minds, trying to think of how to find Henri and Davey. Les then realized that Albert wasn't with them. He turned just in time to see him running through the door, into The Wall.

"Albert!!!" Les exclaimed, running after him. "Come back!!! It isn't safe in there!!!"

"Les!!!!" Jack yelled, diving for him. "No!!!! Don't go in there!!!!" But Les was just fast enough to make it into the building after Albert. Jack proceeded to try to run after him, but the building began to groan. The second Jack opened the door, the doorway collapsed. Tommy boy and Romeo jumped in and yanked Jack away just before he would have been crushed by the flames.

Les, Albert, Davey, and Henri were all stuck inside. No way in for the rest of the Newsies, no way out for any of the four.