AllFreeNovel
Share Us
On his shoulders, Matilda started to struggle, her claws ripping into his shirt and skin.
He couldn’t get them all out.
“Van!”
Relief crashed through him at the sound of another human voice. He didn’t even care that it was Ash fucking Rawlings.
“Van, where are you?”
“C-wing!” he called back, then coughed hard as smoke filled his lungs.
Ash appeared in the doorway, covered in soot, backlit by an orange glow. “Let’s go! We’re going to lose the barn.”
“Get Dante. I’ll take Matilda out and come back for Spirit.”
“There isn’t—”
But Donovan didn’t hear the rest. He sprinted out the back door into the agility yard. The fire was close. Too close.
“Sasha!”
She stood out in the driveway, the fire dancing orange over her horrified face as she watched her vet clinic ignite, but she turned toward him at the sound of her name. He heaved Matilda up over the fence. “Get her in the Jeep. Get out of here!”
“Wait—”
He couldn’t. He turned and ran back toward the barn. He passed Ash, coming out with Dante over his shoulders. The shepherd wasn’t wearing a muzzle, but he wasn’t growling either. Whatever Ash had done to win his trust worked.
Ash tried to catch his arm. “Van, don’t—”
He shook off the grip and plunged into the barn. The heat was intense now and scorched his face. The smoke had grown so thick that it felt like he was breathing in a hot blanket, but he had to keep moving. If he stopped, the flames would swallow him whole, and Spirit would die. He could hear them crackling around him as he forced himself to keep going despite the fear that was urging him to turn back. His courage had kept him alive as a boy, and he drew on every ounce of it now.
The sound of Spirit’s frightened whimpers guided him through the dense, black haze, his eyes streaming with tears. He could feel his skin blistering, his lungs screaming for fresh air, but he wouldn’t abandon his girl.
If they were going to die like this, they would be together.
Through the haze, he saw Spirit’s small form huddled in the far corner of the C-wing hallway, her fur singed and her eyes wide with terror. She had left her kennel after all but hadn’t known which way to go and instead ran toward the fire. Now she was trapped.
He took a step toward her—
And the ceiling crumbled on top of him.
Pain lanced through his skull, as bright as the fire, and his vision swam with black spots. His jaw throbbed as if someone had punched him in the face, and then he realized that, yeah, something had. The floor. He staggered to his feet and reached through the flames for Spirit’s collar. Her fur was hot, and she bared her teeth at him like he was the one causing her pain.
“Hey, sweetheart. It’s okay. I’m here now.”
She whimpered and inched toward him, tentatively licking his hand. He pulled her into his chest, trying to shield her from the heat. “Shh, I’m here. I’m here with you.”
His mind fogged, and his limbs grew heavy. He’d lost consciousness enough times to know he was losing the battle to stay awake.
But with the fire at their backs and death heavy in the air around them, if he closed his eyes now, that would be the end of Donovan Scott.
No more fighting with his scrambled brain.
No more group therapy sessions that prodded at all his old wounds until he bled.
Wood popped and crackled and groaned around them as the fire chewed through more of the structure.
No more fucking podcasts digging into his life.
