MAN FROM TOMORROW (EPISODE 56)

"Someone went in to find the rest of the kids just a few minutes ago," a man said in response to one of her questions. Martin was baffled by the possibility of that. Weren't the fire fighters supposed to go in before the fire got too bad to search for anyone still trapped inside? And yet there was a civilian brave enough to run inside the burning building to do something they weren't properly equipped for.

Martin inched toward the fence and leaned over it, trying to get a good look at the front doors, which were becoming engulfed by newer flames. The flames were growing faster now; whatever it was the fire fighters were doing clearly wasn’t enough.

The smoke inside the building was thick, and the flames grew swiftly when more oxygen was found for it to consume. All Kevin could see through the haze of smoke were the slightest of shadowy movements his hands made when waved in front of him. That was how he spent the first five minutes inside the building, with his minimal supply of usable air depleting much quicker than anticipated. Finally he began to see more than shadows when he grew nearer to the flames, the red hot glow piercing the many layers of smoke that stung at his eyes.

Kevin had entered the school sometime after the fire began, when he heard there were still children missing. Several  people told him that it was too dangerous to try and help, and that there were fire fighters with proper equipment searching inside, but he needed to try and help. He couldn’t watch from the sidelines when he knew there were children who were in need of help. He used the brunt of his strength to force his way past the authorities and the crowd of people that was accumulating at the scene, and rushed inside without a semblance of a plan.

He heard faint screaming down the hallway. He was sure they were the screams of children. He needed to find the source of the noise. He bolted in the general direction of the shouts, finding a veneer of comfort in the fact that the screams were of terror, not of pain. If the fire had yet to reach the children, he may still be able to save them.

Of course it was when he finally had a lead on the children when everything around him began to confuse him. It was the carbon monoxide in the smoke, he knew, messing with his mind. He may be able to find the children before he passed out. By then he would be useless to them. Like that, they would all die; he for nothing. There had to be another way.

(To Be Continued Tomorrow...)

[The complete Book ‘MAN FROM TOMORROW’ can be downloaded at amzn.to/2MSf1ng]