The Peacock's Poison by Ruby Loren

Author:Ruby Loren [Loren, Ruby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-12-17T18:30:00+00:00

11

Next in Line

It wasn’t the nice autumnal scent of a wood fire that often floated across the zoo from nearby residences. This was the acrid smell of burning plastic and other things that weren’t supposed to burn.

I lifted my head up, anxiously searching for the source. The snow made it nearly impossible to see. The only thing I had on my side was the lightened sky, coloured an eery orange by the snowfall. A dark column of smoke had just started to rise above the offices. The building must be on fire!

I was already pulling out my phone when I saw something that horrified me.

There was a face at the window of the conference room upstairs in the building.

Someone was trapped inside!

“Oh, hell,” I said, knowing that I was about to do everything you were told not to do when there was a fire in a building. All the same, I knew I would never be able to stop wondering ‘what if?’ if I sat by and watched.

With the phone still pressed to my ear, I ran inside the building, shouting at the operator to send the fire brigade to Avery Zoo before hanging up and fully focusing all of my senses on what I intended to do.

I skidded to a halt outside the main office door. It was open a crack, and when I touched the handle, it was cool. I pushed it further open and was rewarded with a thick haze of smoke that made me cough and choke. I might be shorter than the average person, but walking upright was no longer any good. I got down on my hands and knees and started to crawl forwards, noting that the air was more breathable down here. At any second, I expected to see, or feel, orange flames licking out of the black smoke, but so far, I’d been lucky.

It was also fortunate that I knew the office layout. It was especially fresh in my mind due to my recent journeys up to sort out Jenna’s office. Even in the dark and smoky atmosphere, I was able to make my way through until I found the closed door of the conference room, where I was certain I’d seen someone looking out. I touched the door handle and was relieved to find it was cool.

Well aware of back drafts and other scary things that could happen in fires - like the building collapsing - I pushed the door open and prayed for the best outcome. Smoke poured into the relatively smoke free room. I had just enough time to see the person I’d spotted looking down at me from the window.

It was Lawrence O’Reilly.

“You silly mare! You’ve just let all of the smoke in,” he complained, as if I wasn’t here risking my life to save him. Fortunately, the very same smoke meant I could roll my eyes at length knowing he couldn’t see. Not that I would’ve cared if he could.

“We need to leave,” I said, stating the obvious.

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