The Fire

The flames are kissing every inch of the room, engulfing everything in their path.

A normal fire shouldn't spread so fast!!

I bend down and touch the floor, which I previously presumed to be wet.

I hold up my fingers and take a sniff, kerosene!

I look around, and I am not surprised to find the whole floor covered in it.

I can only hope that the fire is not too spread out.

I let out a gasp when I remember…

The lobby!

When I came in, the lobby was wet too! And there were wet tags scattered all over the floor.

But not the stairs.

Which means, this was a fucking trap!

So that noone other than me would come on this floor.

I look around for a means of escape since the door is already doused in flames. My gaze catches onto the window, the fire's not far from it but I can make it.

I sprint to the windows and I am not even surprised anymore, to find them barred and locked.

And that's when the realization dawns on me.

I am well and truly fucked, but I am obviously not about to give up!

I look around for a vent and I am relieved to find one at the corner but the problem is of how to climb it.

As soon as I am near the vent, something unexpected happens.

A whole rush of kerosene comes pouring and the flames go amok. There isn't a single thing I can see except fire and flames. Its horrifying. I run a spell through my mind and try to summon a water spell, but it isn't enough to douse the fire. I am strong enough to summon a lake's worth of water but right now I can only summon something equivalent to a dozen buckets, since I am thirty one floors above the ground. And I might actually need a lot more than that and altogether.

With my back to the vent, I am caught off guard when a flame rears its head too wildly, knocking me to the ground and the last thing I remember before I lose consciousness is a shadow walking to me with flames cowering away from it.

________________

Z

I watch as she falls to the ground, confident that she can't see me since she is surrounded by flames. I lean against the door, a fire repelling spell shields me from the blazing flames that seem to be dancing even without any air around. When I am certain she has lost consciousness, I walk towards her. She looks so weak, so empty. My heart feels like it is being squeezed out of my chest, why? I don't know. But my mind feels the glee.

It bathes in the feeling of victory.

Feeling of bringing her down to her literal knees.

And I fall to mine, as I stroke her hair. Despite all the fire around her, she is not hurt. A part of me is relieved but at the same time, one part of me is unsatisfied because why is she not hurt?

My guess is that she only fainted due to inhaling too much smoke.

My fingers linger on her silky black hair before I jerk my hand away. I look around and then with a sigh, I bend forward to pick her up.

The idea of carrying her out of here is as appealing as eating shit in my next meal. But I can't help it. I need her alive for my plan to move forward.

As I carry her out of the burning room, her head falls to the side, exposing her long slender neck to me. And a sudden urge to lick her tender flesh comes over me.

What? No! Fuck.

What the hell is wrong with me!?

I shake my head as if the thoughts would rattle themselves out of my mind. I leave the room and take in the sight of the now burning floor. The flames have engulfed everything in their wake. Well, this much was expected. I take the executive elevator to the ground floor and step out of the building.

I am not shocked to see the crowd that has gathered at the company entry. Police cars, Fire extinguisher trucks, paramedics. There's people shouting for help, trying to push past the mock barricade, the police must have put up.

"Yes we need backup, over and out." I hear a voice near me.

From the corner of my eye, I spy two officers coming my way.

"Excuse me Sir." one of them calls out to me.

"Yes gentleman, how can I help you?" I turn around to face them.

They take me in, raking their eyes over my frame.

"Who are you carrying?"

"I found her unconscious on the floor that caught fire. I was hoping for the paramedics to take a look at her." More like hoping for them to never find her. But just play the part Zeke, I say to myself.

Their eyes turn suspicious as they look at Erna. She isn't exactly dressed like an employee. She is gonna be in so much trouble.

One of them takes his eyes off of her and regards me with a nod. "Take her to them."

"Yes, of course. Thank you, officers." I nod once before turning on my heel and walking towards the white van.

As soon as I reach them, doctors rush towards me and take Erna from my arms. All of a sudden I feel empty. But I blame it on carrying her for so long. I turn my back, ready to leave when one of the paramedics stops me.

"Sir, we are going to need you to come with us."

"Ah, can I ask why?" I ask him, irritated.

But before I can hear his reply, a boom sounds behind me which shakes me to my core. The horrified eyes of the paramedic tells me everything.

But I still turn around to look at the damage. Shit.

Where there was one floor on fire, there are now ten. And the fire isn't showing any signs of stopping.

As if on instinct, I turn to look at Erna who is now lying on the stretcher.

Her fingers.

Her fingers are glowing bright orange.