We emerged from the earthen tunnel inside a structure. The smell of smoke didn’t register until I spotted it seeping out of the overhead vent. I’d be lying if there wasn’t a part of my brain saying, fool, don’t go in there. It was no coincidence the house was on fire. Question was, who was inside?
Cervantes pushed past me and wasted no time barreling through the door, not bothering to stop as he kicked it in. Plates of stained glass broke free in sheets and shattered on the old pine floors. Shards skated across the room. Smoke wafted along the ceiling. The fire was in the walls, hopefully slowed by old plaster and lath and not accelerating through the hundred-year-old wood.
All three of us knew the risks being inside. The house could collapse at any moment. We ripped doors open with reckless abandon. I found the kitchen and reached for what I figured to be a closet.
“Found one!” Sam’s deep voice tore through the room.
I followed it and saw him holding up Alice. The girl could barely stand. She struggled to form words as Sam asked her simple questions.
I hurried back to the kitchen and pulled the door open. A set of concrete stairs descended into the darkness. Somebody was on the floor at the bottom.
“Cassie?” I yelled down into the chamber.
They didn’t respond.
“Sam, I’m going down.”
A loud bang erupted from the other end of the house.
“Christ!” Cervantes yelled as he ran into the kitchen. “It’s coming down. We gotta get out of here.”
“There’s someone down there,” I said, pointing down the staircase.
He craned his head to get a look, then glanced toward the front of the house. “Sam, get the girl out.” He put his hand on my back and pushed lightly. “Come on, let’s get them and go.”
A light flicked on over my shoulder. The end of his large flashlight pushed past my face. Halfway down the stairs I knew the body was not Cassie’s.
I hopped over it and squatted next to the man’s head, grabbing hold of his hair and yanking his face off the floor.
“Where is she?” I yelled.
Novak looked worse-off than Alice. I slapped him across the face. Didn’t even register with the guy.
“You drag him up,” I said. “I’m gonna check the room. Give me your flashlight.”
The floor overhead rattled, sending plumes of dust down.
He handed the light over. “I’m not coming back down, Tanner.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to.” I spun and swung the light around, getting a lay of the land. There were four doors. Two were open and two were closed. The closed ones were closest, so I started with them. I kicked the first open and aimed the light inside to see a stripped-down bed and nothing else. Before moving on to the next, I shone the light up the stairs.
“Shit.”
Smoke billowed in through the doorway. The kitchen was on fire now.
“Hurry up, Tanner!” Cervantes’s voice barely reached me.
I pushed the next door open, found the room much like the first.
A large table dominated the foyer area. I hurried around it to the first open door. I gagged on the smell of human feces. It was strong enough to overpower the fire. Bedsheets covered the floor. Blood stained the mattress. The name Alice was written on the wall in blood or maybe something else. I had no intention of getting close enough to find out.
One more room. Not enough time to check it out. I ran into it anyhow.
The bed only had three posts. The fourth lay on the floor, the end of it coated in blood. The sheets were in disarray. Clothing was balled up and against the wall. It smelled awful as well, but I must’ve adjusted because I didn’t feel like throwing up. I reached down for the bedpost and spotted a syringe on the floor, so I scooped that up, too.
By the time I reached the stairwell, orange glow filled the upper third. I closed my eyes and pictured the layout of the house. We’d come in from the right. The left had collapsed moments before I took my first step down toward the dungeon. There’d been a window somewhere in the kitchen.
I sprinted up the stairs like I’d just blasted past the left tackle and had a direct line to an unsuspecting quarterback with his back to me. Pain seared through my knee as I took the steps two at a time.
At the top, flames danced on the walls and ceiling. I knew the room to the left was a smoldering pile of rubble, so I darted to the right as soon as I emerged from the stairwell and stopped dead in my tracks. The wall had collapsed. I could see the front door wide open. But I couldn’t get to it.
The intense heat burned my skin. The smoke thickened and threatened to choke me out. I saw the one way out. I grabbed a kitchen chair and placed it in front of the sink. Then I backed against the wall and made another dash forward. My foot hit the seat. I swung the bed post overhead and brought it down diagonally, smashing the window. Then I covered my face with my forearm and closed my eyes. It wasn’t pretty. I sliced my arm, shoulder, and thigh. It felt like my wrist broke when I collided with the ground.
But goddammit I was alive and knew right then and there I would stay that way at least until I found Cassie.