Safe Haven(56)

The coolers  along the back wall were still illuminated and he walked the aisles,  wondering idly if Cheerios would burn, if Twinkies would burn. DVDs. He  located the charcoal and the lighter fluid-only two cans, not much. Not  enough. He blinked, looking around for something else. He spotted the  grill in the rear of the store.


Natural gas. Propane.

He  approached the grill area, lifted the divider, and stood facing the  grill itself. He turned a burner on, then another. There had to be a  valve somewhere, but he didn't know where to find it and he didn't have  time because someone might be coming and Coffey and Ramirez were talking  about him, laughing and asking whether he'd had the crab cakes in  Provincetown.

Roger's apron hung on a rack and he tossed it onto  the flame. He opened the can of lighter fluid he was holding and sprayed  it on the walls of the grill. The can was slippery with blood and he  wondered where the blood had come from. He hopped up onto the counter  and squirted some lighter fluid on the ceiling and got down again. He  ran a trail of fluid along the front of the store, noticing that the  apron had begun to burn in earnest. He emptied the can and tossed it  aside. Opening the second can, he squirted more fluid at the ceiling.  The flames from the apron began leaping toward the walls and the  ceiling. He went to the register and searched for a lighter and found a  bunch of them in a plastic bin, near the cigarettes. He squirted lighter  fluid on the register and on the little table behind him. The can was  empty now, too, and he stumbled toward the window he'd broken earlier.  He climbed out, stepping on broken glass, hearing it crack and pop.  Standing by the side of the house, he flicked the lighter and held it  against the gas-soaked wall, watching as the wood caught fire. At the  back of the house, he touched the flame to the stairs and the flames  rose quickly, shooting up to the door and spreading to the roof. Next  came the far side.

Fire blossomed everywhere, the exterior  rippling with flame, and Erin was a sinner and her lover was a sinner  and the Bible says They will suffer the punishment of eternal  destruction.

He stood back, watching the fire start to consume  the building, wiping his face, leaving trails of blood. In the glowing  orange light, he looked like a monster.


In her dream, Jo  wasn't smiling as she sat beside Katie on the Ferris wheel. She seemed  to be searching the crowd below, a frown of concentration on her face.

There, she said, pointing. Over there. Do you see him?

What are you doing here? Where's Kristen?

She's sleeping. But you have to remember, now.

Katie looked but there were so many people, so much movement. Where? she asked. I don't see anything.

He's here, Jo said.

Who?

You know.

In  her dream, the Ferris wheel lurched to a stop. The sound was loud, like  the shattering of glass, and it seemed to signal a change. The  carnival's colors began to fade, the scene below dissolving into cloud  banks that hadn't been there a moment before. As if the world were  slowly being erased, and then everything suddenly dimmed. She was  surrounded by impenetrable darkness, broken only by an odd flickering at  the periphery of her vision, and the sound of someone talking.         

     



 

Katie heard Jo's voice again, almost a whisper.

Can you smell it?

Katie  sniffed, still lost in the haze. Her eyes fluttered open, stinging for  some reason as she tried to clear her sight. The television was still on  and she realized she must have fallen asleep. The dream was already  fading away but she heard Jo's words clearly in her head.

Can you smell it?

Katie  took a deep breath as she pushed herself to a sitting position and  immediately started coughing. It took only an instant to realize that  the room was filled with smoke. She bolted off the couch.

Smoke  meant fire, and now she could see the flames outside the window, dancing  and twisting orange. The door was on fire, smoke billowing from the  kitchen in thick clouds. She heard roaring, a sound like a train, heard  cracks and pops and splintering, her mind taking it in at once.


Oh, my God. The kids.

She  ran toward the hallway, panicked at the sight of heavy smoke billowing  from both rooms. Josh's room was closest and she rushed in, waving her  arms against the stinging black fog.

She reached the bed and grabbed Josh's arm, dragging him up.

"Josh! Get up! The house is on fire! We've got to get out!"

He  was about to whine, but she pulled him up, cutting him off. "C'mon!"  she screamed. He immediately began to cough, doubled over as she dragged  him out. The hallway was an impenetrable wall of smoke, but she rushed  forward nonetheless, pulling Josh behind her. Groping, she found the  doorjamb to Kristen's room across the hall.

It wasn't as bad as  Josh's room, but she could feel the enormous heat building behind them.  Josh continued to cough and wail, struggling to keep up, and she knew  better than to let go. She raced to Kristen's bedside and shook her,  pulling her out of bed with her other hand.

The roaring of the  fire was so loud, she could barely hear the sound of her own voice.  Half-carrying, half-dragging the kids back out into the hallway, she saw  an orange glow, barely visible through the smoke, where the entrance to  the hallway was. The wall crawled with fire, flames on the ceiling,  moving toward them. She didn't have time to think, only had time to  react. She turned and pushed the kids back down the hallway toward the  master bedroom, where the smoke was less thick.

She rushed into  the room, flicking on the light. Still working. Alex's bed stood against  one wall, a chest of drawers against another. Straight ahead was a  rocking chair and windows, thankfully untouched as yet by fire. She  slammed the door behind her.

Racked by coughing spasms, she  stumbled forward, dragging Josh and Kristen. Both of them were wailing  between hoarse bouts of coughing. She tried to free herself to raise the  bedroom window, but Kristen and Josh clung to her.

"I need to  open the window!" she screamed, shaking herself free. "This is the only  way out!" In their panic, they didn't understand, but Katie didn't have  time to explain. Frantically, she tore at the old-fashioned window lock  and tried to heave the heavy pane up. It wouldn't budge. Peering closer,  Katie realized that the frame had been painted shut, probably years  ago. She didn't know what to do, but the sight of the two children  staring at her in terror cleared her head. She looked around, frantic,  finally seizing the rocking chair.

It was heavy, but somehow she  lifted it above her shoulder and heaved it at the window with all her  might. It cracked but didn't break. She tried again, sobbing through a  last burst of adrenaline and fear, and this time the rocking chair went  flying out, crashing onto the overhang below. Moving fast, Katie raced  to the bed and tore off the comforter. She bundled it around Josh and  Kristen and began pushing them toward the window.

There was a  loud splintering sound behind her as part of the wall burst into flame,  tendrils licking the ceiling. Katie turned in panic, pausing long enough  to notice the portrait that hung on the wall. She stared at it, already  knowing it was of Alex's wife, because there was no one else it could  be. She blinked, thinking it was an illusion, a distortion created by  the smoke and fear. She took an involuntary step toward the eerily  familiar face when she heard a roar above her as the ceiling started to  give way.

Whirling around, she pushed through the window, holding  the kids in the circle of her arms and praying that the comforter would  protect them from glass shards. They seemed to hang in the air for an  eternity, Katie twisting as they fell so that the kids would land on top  of her. She hit the overhang on her back with a whump. It wasn't far,  maybe four or five feet, but the impact left her breathless before pain  rolled over her in waves.


Josh and Kristen were hiccuping in  fear, wailing and coughing. But they were alive. She blinked, trying not  to pass out, sure she'd broken her back. But she hadn't; she moved one  leg, then the other. She shook her head to clear her vision. Josh and  Kristen were struggling on top of her, trying to get free of the  comforter. Above her, tongues of flame began to flare from the broken  bedroom window. Flames were everywhere now, all over the house, and she  knew they had only seconds to live unless she somehow summoned the  strength to move.         

     



 


On his way back from Joyce's house, Alex  noticed the sky glowing orange just above the blackened tree line on the  outskirts of town. He hadn't seen that as they drove into town and  navigated the streets to Joyce's home. Now, however, he frowned as he  turned in that direction. Something in his gut told him that danger lay  ahead, and he debated only an instant before pressing down on the  accelerator.


Josh and Kristen were already sitting up as  Katie rolled over. The ground was perhaps a ten-foot drop from the  overhang, but she had to risk it. They were running out of time. Josh  continued to sob but didn't protest as Katie quickly explained what was  going to happen next. She seized his arms, trying to keep her voice  steady.