gxslightghost:
Ghost trudged on through the fire, keeping clear of a few downed beams and rubble that’d fell onto the floor from the ceiling. He almost stopped and turned out when he spotted someone, wheezing and coughing her lungs out. He approached her and she reached out - grabbing onto the hem of his hooded jacket.
He wasted no time, grabbing at her with thick gloved hands, scooping her up into his arms. The house seemed to snap and groan ever louder, and Ghost could’ve sworn he’d felt it begin to shake. Thank the gods for his gasmask, otherwise he would’ve been wheezing and coughing just as much as the girl he carried.
Eyes looked back in which the direction he came - the fire had made it there; blocked off his exit entirely. He had no idea of this houses layout - but he could stay no longer as fire began to creep ever closer.
Making his way towards what he assumed was another exit of the house - the back, maybe, he held the girl tighter as he ducked and squeezed through burning wood. At last, at the end of a hall, he could see a door that had to have lead out. It was untouched by the fire, though the paint was beginning to bubble from the heat and the glass had already snapped and broken.
Darting forward, he ran passed flames and heard as the ceiling caved in from behind him. He charged towards the door with his shoulder and threw the door open, landing onto the grass outside, making sure not to crush the girl in the process. The house groaned and shook, the roof caving in as Ghost let the adrenaline take him, and he picked her up once more and darted away from the building. Hopefully no other kid was near it - he didn’t have time.
Once he was farther away from the building, he set her onto the grass and slumped to his knees next to her, breathing heavily. There… That was a good deed, right?
Unclasping his mask, he moved it up just a bit to breathe in cool air. The first words out of his mouth were hoarse, and almost too quiet.
“Sorry.”
The need to breathe overrode all else. She barely even realized there was a person there, and even when she was lifted could only focus on the lack of air making its way to her lungs.
Burning heat flashed across her bare skin and scorched patches through her threadbare clothes. She clung to his arm. Splinters of wood hit her; the world was fading out, out...
The impact of their combined bodies against the door snapped her back into wakefulness, and suddenly cool oxygen hit her lungs. She gulped it in greedily, and the world began to come back into focus along with all the aches and pains of burns, splinters, and bruises.
She was in no shape to move. Kendra just lay there on her back, staring up into the sky and listening to the roar of flames and the cracking and snapping of wood as it fell in upon itself. To the sirens in the background, and the whisper of her rescuer’s voice, and the kids screaming her name...
The kids!
Kendra scrambled to rise, but her limbs wouldn’t cooperate. Any attempt to talk only ended in a breathy squeak. Where were all the kids? Did they all make it out? Who was the stranger, and why was he making a mask? Those sirens - were there ambulances along with those firetrucks? She couldn’t go to the hospital. They’d find out everything, they’d separate her and her brother and her baby and her kids...
She reached up and grabbed hold of her rescuer’s sleeve as he crouched next to her. They couldn’t take her kids. She couldn’t go to the hospital. She had to get out of here, find somewhere safe.
