"Boss! Boss!", annoyed, Viktor looked up from his newspaper. He had just begun his lunch break! On a day like this it was definitely too hot to work. However, the construction site had been abandoned for too long last winter and Viktor had to be present as its manager on a hot day like today if the extension to the city shopping centre was to be completed in time.
"What is it now?" he wanted to know and made no secret of his displeasure. To hell with his staff, if it wasn't really important! "Boss, the excavator! He... he dug over there and...and...", Viktor hated it when people couldn't get to the point. He would also have rebuked his employee if he hadn't seen the panic in his eyes.
So he tried it with sarcasm instead: "Yes, excavators usually dig, but what do you want to tell me, Mr. Fischer?" Fischer seemed by no means calmer after this weak joke. On the contrary! "The gas pipeline! The plan said it was shut down, but..." Viktor froze the blood in his veins. "You're not going to tell me the gas pipeline is leaking?"
That was a joke! It had to be one! A stupid grinning guy would jump out of some corner and explain to him where they had hidden the camera. But Fischer's panic and his guilty nod spoke volumes. "We called the fire brigade," Fischer said hastily, as in his defense.
Viktor's gaze fell on the nearby shopping centre. "Did you evacuate the building?" he asked. Fischer blinked confused. So no! "Do it," he ruled over him and Fischer ran off. What a day! Viktor's gaze fell again on the huge building complex and he thought of the many people who had to be in it.
Gas! On a hot day like today a spark would be enough to trigger an explosion. Just one spark! Viktor went bad. "Hurry up, Mr Fisher", he would have liked to call, but he was long out of earshot.
Maybe they were lucky. The fire brigade would come and everything would be fine again, Viktor tried to encourage himself. But then he saw the teenager, one of the rebellious kind, he could even see it from that distance. And he was about to light a cigarette.
"No," Viktor yelled with all his might, but it was too late! An enormous bang tore up the midday rest. Viktor saw a huge jet of flame shoot up before the shock wave hit him.
Then everything turned black.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
YOU ARE READING
ESCAPE! Fire and Flames (English Version)
Jugendliteratur14-year-old Nele is to help move the bookshop from the large shopping centre to a smaller building. But then there is an accident on the nearby building site and everything is on fire. Will Nele succeed in escaping the flames? And what role does the...
