Saved by the Phoenix

Chapter Two

Patrick's POV

I'm kind of panicking. The fire is raging around us. Not a small one, but a full on forest fire.

I think we're only about two miles away from Chicago, but I could be wrong- the GPS stopped working a long time ago, saying the road was closed.

The smoke furls around our van, and I'm worried about what it will be like back in the city. How big will the evacuations be? Chicago is big, but when we get there, we might have to go another twenty miles before we find people.

I look in the rearview mirror. Andy is fiddling nervously with his drumsticks, and Joe and Pete sit by each other silently. "Just another few miles," I say, but it doesn't seem very reassuring. Anything could block us. I was hoping no trees had fallen in our path; this road isn't used often.

I'm turning the corner, and Pete climbs up to the front. "Stop the van!"

I slam on the brakes, confused, but now I see what he's pointing at- a girl, on the side of the road. She lays down on the ground, in a position as if resting. She couldn't have passed out and fallen that way. I knew what she had been thinking- that she was going to die, and she lied down on the ground and gave up.

"I'll go get her," I say, surprised at my commanding voice. "Joe, Andy, open the back doors. Oh, and, Pete, you drive?"

I dive out, slamming the door behind me in a hurry. As I approach her, she stirs and looks up. Her face it cut up, as is her limbs, presumably from branches in her way. But why would she be out in the middle of nowhere? Her frantic green eyes lock with mine.

I stoop down to pick her up; she flinches hesitantly, but really doesn't have much of a choice. Her body is so light.

I run around to the back, where Andy and Joe wait with the doors open, covering their mouths and noses with the fronts of their shirts, too. I climb in, and the doors behind me are closed. "Step on it!" I holler.

The van lurches forward again, and I rest her head in my lap. Dried blood is on the corner of her lips and some of her chin. Green eyes waver at me, flickering to the band's name symbol painted on the inside of the van wall. Eyelids closing hesitantly, but unconscious again at once.

"Get us to the nearest hospital!" I say.