Fire: Chicago 1871 by Kathleen Duey

Author:Kathleen Duey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

Chapter Nine

Just as the wagon of injured people passed, Nate stopped so suddenly that Julie bumped into him. The expression on his face frightened her. “What? What’s wrong?”

Nate didn’t answer. He began to run. Julie struggled to keep up, fighting her full skirts. She shot a fearful glance back toward the fire, but it was still blocks behind them. “Why are you running?” she demanded, but Nate ignored her.

She stumbled, falling a few strides behind. He didn’t slow down at all; he didn’t even seem to notice. It looked like he was trying to catch up with the wagon. “Ryan?” she heard him yelling. “Ryan!”

Nate followed the stream of carts and wagons turning right onto the Madison Street Bridge. Julie sprinted to catch up. “Nate! What are you doing?”

He pointed at the wagon. The driver was standing again to lash the horses back into a gallop. “Wait for me on the other side!”

Without another word, Nate ran on, staying close behind the wagon as it passed between the low barriers that separated the lanes of vehicles. Julie tried to keep up, but couldn’t. She slowed, then stopped. She stared as the crowds on the bridge swallowed first the wagon, then Nate.

Standing alone, Julie felt a new fear slide upward along her spine. She let people stream around her, bumping her shoulders as they passed, sometimes cursing her for blocking their way. Then she began to walk again, slowly, filing onto the outer walkway of the bridge, suddenly aware of the worn planks beneath her feet. They were covered with drifting black ash. The river below her was wide and dark—much wider than it had seemed earlier when she and her father had crossed this bridge. Maybe Nate would be back in a few minutes. She said a silent prayer that he wouldn’t just leave her here.

“Get out of the way!”

The shout was close and angry, and Julie spun around. There was a tall man carrying a squealing piglet. He was glaring at her. She stepped out of his way, and he went by slowly, catching her eye and grinning. Julie was so unnerved by his sudden smile that it took her a moment to even notice the woman who walked close behind him, her head down, her hair in strings across her face.

As the couple went on, Julie stopped and bit at her lip, trying to calm herself. She would just cross the bridge as Nate had told her to do. She would wait for him for a while, and if he didn’t come. . . .

Julie pulled in a deep breath. The end of the Madison Street Bridge opened into Conley’s Patch. It was the last place she wanted to be on this awful night. She looked back across the bridge at the traffic on Canal Street. Everyone was running from the fire.

As she started walking again, Julie heard shouts and screams. A ship was ablaze on the west bank. Its rigging burned like straw in the wind, falling, kindling a fire on the deck.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.