Sten, Camilla - The Lost Village by Sten Camilla

Author:Sten, Camilla [Sten, Camilla]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

NOW

I smell the smoke before I see it.

The harsh, piercing odor makes me cough as we run. I’m pretty fit, but I’m soon left breathless and lagging behind, and Robert isn’t waiting for me.

Up ahead of us the thick, black smoke is soaring up over the square.

Robert doesn’t care about me, or Tone, or himself. He’s running to Emmy.

I take a few deep breaths, cough into my hand as the smoke sinks deep into my lungs, then try to catch up.

The square looks like something out of a war film. The sooty, black remains of one of the vans lie strewn across the square.

Our things are still burning; it’s from them that the puffs of smoke are surging up into the sky. The second van has flipped onto its side. Its white body is flecked with black soot, and the wheels appear to have melted in the heat.

The shock waves have thrust Max’s Volvo into the side of the village hall. Its crumpled blue body looks like it’s been squeezed by a giant’s hand.

Most of the heather has caught fire, and it burns in shifty, slight flames that seem to be gasping for air.

My ears are still ringing.

Across the square, I see Emmy and Max run up and then stop in their tracks. Emmy’s hair has fallen out of its ponytail and sprawls, red and ruffled, around her head. Even from across the chaos, I can tell when her eyes meet mine.

Our things are still burning steadily, but by now they have started to blacken and shrivel in the flames. I can barely make out what’s what.

“Emmy!” Robert cries, her name tearing out of his throat.

Emmy takes Max’s arm and says something to him. Then they cautiously start edging around the square toward us, keeping their distance from the flames still licking the cobblestones.

When they near us, Robert runs forward. He hugs Emmy so hard that it looks like she’s about to snap. Emmy hugs him back, her eyes closed. Neither of them says a word.

I feel a strange ache inside me, made only worse when Max gives me a hug. It feels weird, and wrong, and I pull back.

Emmy lets go of Robert and locks her eyes on me.

“We can’t stay here,” she says. “The other van could blow.”

“What the fuck is happening?” I ask. I don’t know if I’m directing this at Emmy, one of the others, or at Silvertjärn itself.

“I don’t know,” says Emmy. “But we’ve got to get to safety first. Then we can try to figure it out.”

She sweeps her hair behind her ears and looks at Robert, who nods.

There’s a sound of metal cracking as something in the burning van gives out.

I don’t know how explosions work. All I know is I that want away from that van. I’ve heard that it isn’t the fire you need to worry about but the shock waves; that they can make soup of your internal organs.

I don’t let myself dwell on that thought.

Emmy starts running, and I follow her.

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