Page 86 of The Sixth Fraction

“Don’t be an idiot,” I say, and I start to move.

I want to sprint, but I need to stay close to the ground, or I’ll inhale too much smoke. So I crawl on my hands and knees toward the door, Four at my heels. Glass turns to marble beneath my aching kneecaps.

In front of me there’s a crash as the marble paneling on one of the walls falls off and shatters. Bits of debris spray in every direction, one of them hitting me in the cheek. I get up, still crouched low, and walk across the rubble.

We reach the door, which is solid and sturdy. I can barely hear the high-pitched screaming behind it, but Mae’s in there; I know she is. Who else would have been locked in a safe room right where the hearing is supposed to be?

Four pushes against the door, then tries to throw his body into it. The door doesn’t even shudder at the impact. Mae’s stuck. He lets loose a string of invectives, some of which I’ve never heard before.

“We need to find something to break the door down,” he says.

“Not the door.” I point up at the wall, closer to the ceiling. Above the door is a small transom window. It’s too small for most people to fit through.

It’s not too small for me.

Four’s shoulders slump. But he nods. “I’ll be right back.”

He brings his jacket across his face and disappears into the smoke. I pound on the door and try to yell back at Mae, but all I manage to do is cough.

Four returns a few seconds later with a red hatchet, obviously intended for fires. I remember seeing them in the walls of Building A. IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, BREAK GLASS. But the window is too high for him to reach with the hatchet.

“Here,” I say. “Step on my shoulder, it’ll give you leverage.”

He’s stronger; he should be the one swinging that thing. I kneel next to the wall, and brace myself against it with my forearm. It feels warm to the touch; not a good sign. I don’t know much about fires, but I remember that if everything inside a room gets too hot, it’ll just burst into flames.

Four’s boot presses into my shoulder, and then the full weight of him is against me. I grit my teeth against the pain—he’s not heavy enough to hurt me, but it doesn’t feel good to bear the weight of a grown man.

“Cover your face,” he says, and I do, tucking my face into my jacket as he swings the hatchet.

I hear glass crack, and his weight shifts as he draws back to hit the window again. This time it breaks, glass sprinkling on the floor all around us. He hits it again, for good measure, and then steps off my shoulder. I’m sure he left a boot print behind.

“Your turn,” he says to me, offering me his hand. I take it, and come to my feet.

He’s not wearing his jacket. He draped it over the now-empty window frame, so his arms are bare, his forearms muscled. He laces his fingers together and holds them low, so I can step into the cradle of his hands.

I do, and he pushes me up like I weigh nothing to him. I plant my hands on the window frame and heave my chest into the gap.

The room beyond is hazy with smoke. The lights are out, but in the intermittent flash of the alarm, I can see a small bed and a bookcase, paltry attempts at making the space friendly to children. Mae is in a ball on the floor beneath me, right next to the door. She stares up at me with wide, terrified eyes.

“Hi,” I say, straining a little.

My legs are trailing down the door beneath the transom. I kick at the wall to get some leverage, and Four grabs my feet.

“Ready?” he calls out.

“Yeah,” I say, firming my grip on the window frame. He pushes my legs up, and I twist to the side so I can shove my left leg through the small gap. Panting, I ignore the hard press of the window frame and its still-jagged edges, and twist, painfully, to get my other leg through the gap. I’m on the other side of the door.

I drop down in front of Mae, coughing, and look her in the eye.

“Let’s get you out of here,” I say.

“I’m scared.”

“So am I,” I reply. “But we’re going to do it anyway, okay?”

She blinks up at me for a second. I touch the wall behind her; it’s hot, now, and we need to move.

“I’m going to give you a boost, and you’re going to crawl through that window frame, okay?” I say to her. “There’s a boy on the other side who will catch you. His name is Four.”