The Eleventh Plague Of Mobias

THIRTY-TWO

Shadow pulled at my hand and we all raced into the crowd that was gathering in the park between Espio's house and the family’s. Others flooded in behind us, returning from the fight only to find their homes close to destruction.

Pickle stood at the center of the crowd shouting instructions I couldn’t make out over the roar of the fires and panicked voices. Buckets were passed out and people began filling them with snow and rushing off to the houses that hadn’t caught yet. Another group took axes and ran to the stands of trees between houses, hoping to fell them and create firebreaks.

It seemed hopeless. The air was thick with smoke and the smell of burning. There was screaming as the crowd surged and pushed. Pickle tried to keep people organized, but his voice was getting more and more drowned out.

Someone forced a bucket into my hand and I was pushed on by the crowd, Shadow beside me.

“We’re going to the school,” he shouted into my ear. To his right were Tails and Silver and some others.

“They sent the little ones there,” Silver said. “Thought they’d be safe there during the fight. We think some of them are still there now!”

I remembered the plume of smoke I’d seen rising from the school roof and broke into a run. There were about twenty of us, some with axes and some with buckets. We tore down the hill and across the parking lot to the school.

It was better off than many of the houses, but smoke was seeping out of the cracks of doorways and some of the windows were lit up with flames. Silver led a group to a snowbank nearby where they began to fill their buckets.

“Where are they?” I asked Silver. “The kids?”

“Toward the back, I think.”

I dropped the bucket and once Shadow, Tails, and I made it to the school’s front doors, I slammed my shoulder into them. The doors gave with a screech and a wave of heat. It was worse inside than it looked. Shadow motioned some of Silver’s team into the doorway and they began tossing loads of snow onto the walls to try to keep the fire from growing. There was a hiss and gasps of steam as some of the flames were squelched.

“Stay low,” Shadow called.

The three of us covered our mouths and noses and ducked down, crawling along the floor where the air was clearer. We checked all of the small classrooms we passed, but each was empty except for overturned desks and chairs. The smoke was already massing in my throat and burning my eyes. We had to find them fast.

The three of us finally reached the main classroom at the end of the hall and tumbled through the doors, coughing. The air inside was clearer, but still just as hot. I doubled over and sucked in a painful breath. At first the room seemed empty, but then I saw a leg poking out from behind Pickle’s big desk. “There!”

We found ten of the little ones cowering behind the desk, all of them stained with soot and looking terrified. Shadow dropped to his knees by their side.

“It’s going to be okay, guys,” he said calmly. “Just come with us and we’ll get you out of here.”

The kids shied away at first, like scared animals, but he was finally able to pull them to their feet and lead them back to the doors. I paused by the desk as he went. Shadow turned back.

“Take them out of here,” I shouted.

“What are you going to do?” Shadow asked.

I turned toward the far wall of wooden shelves. Each level was stacked with row after row of books. Science. Government. The arts. Everything.