"Hurry, hurry, run!" Shock said, ushering Barrel along quickly. The chubby teen was having trouble keeping up and the forest was quickly being engulfed in flames. Smoke was starting to surround them and it was getting hard to see and breathe. Lock was leading them through the confusion as best he could but soon Shock lost site of his tail and Barrel was slowing down considerably.
"No, no, no! Come on, Barrel! We have to catch up with Lock!" the small witch cried desperately, trying to support the younger boy's weight on her shoulder.
"I can't – do it – Shock," Barrel gasped around coughing fits. Shock shrieked as a tree to their right went up in flames. Now she could hear people from town screaming from beyond the flames. Probably none of them could see them though.
"HELP!" she screamed as loud as her scorched lungs could manage. "LOCK! JACK! ANYONE – HELP!"
A flaming branch fell just inches from them and she yanked Barrel's dead weight off to a smoldering circle of dead bushes. He had slipped into unconsciousness now and Shock was sweating from the extreme heat and the effort of dragging him along.
Pulling out her wand, she stifled a coughing fit against her sleeve and tried to think of a quick spell. Glancing back at Barrel she flashed back to her own death and started panicking slightly. Think, think! Barrel won't last much longer!
Finally it came to her and she started muttering under her breath, wand aimed at the oncoming flames. Slowly but surely a ring of cool water appeared around her and Barrel. It would hold off the fire, but not for long. And the smoke was still swirling all around them.
"Come on, come on," she breathed, sweat dripping down her neck. Suddenly she was thrown forward as a branch land on her. She yelped as she smacked hard against the ground, wand flying from her grasp. The ring of water evaporated immediately and the flames grew closer. Shock tried to wiggle her way over to Barrel, but the branch was too heavy. She had managed to pull herself nearly totally out from under it when the fire suddenly reached her.
She yelled as the flames engulfed the branch, scorching her ankle. The flames burned away the fabric of her sock and started licking into her skin. She screamed in agony and tried to yank away but her arms were shaking too badly to pull her free. She coughed and sputtered between screams, the branch burning mercilessly into her ankle. Finally, eyes watering from the smoke and throat sore from screaming, she blacked out, from the pain and lack of oxygen. It was like dying all over again.
"Lock!" Jack Skellington yelled as the young devil collapsed just outside the forest. Covered in ash he was only recognizable by his horns. He was shaking as he tried to cough his lungs clean. Jack rested a bony hand on his shoulder and shook him angrily.
"What happened?" he demanded. Lock continued coughing, shaking his head to clear it.
"Shock," he coughed. "Barrel."
"Where are they?!" Jack all but shouted. Lock pointed behind him before collapsing, unconsciousness, at the Pumpkin King's feet. "Sally!"
The concerned rag doll rushed over from her place in the line of town's folk trying to contain the fire. "Is Lock alright?" she asked worriedly, kneeling besides the young man, and resting a hand on his dirty head.
"I'm not sure," Jack answer truthfully. "But Shock and Barrel are still in there. I have to save them." With that, he stood to full height and loped into the smoking forest.
"Be careful Jack!" Sally called after her husband before turning back to Lock's still form.
"Shock? Barrel!" Jack called into the fiery depths of the forest. There was no answer. A tree collapsed near by and he knew he had to work fast and find them or they'd be goners. And once you died in the after life, you never came back.
"Kids! Where are you?!" Suddenly there was a fit of coughing and he spun on the spot. Rushing forward he leapt over a flaming log and found a semi circle of flaming plants surrounding the two unconsciousness teens. Barrel was lying face down, covered in ash and Shock's ankle was trapped beneath a smoldering branch as she lay on her back, mouth hanging open. The smell of burning flesh let Jack know that it had been on fire at one point.
His eye sockets widened in concern and he hurried to the young witch's side. Realizing that checking for a pulse was useless, he effortlessly lifted the branch from her leg and hoisted her up into one arm, cradling her like an infant. Moving quickly to Barrel, he hoisted the boy over his shoulder and stepped over the bushes and away from the fire pit.
Hurrying quickly through the forest, Jack did his best to be gentle with the children as he carried them to safety. Once he cleared the forest he saw that the entire town was present now, trying to put out the fire. Glancing around he noticed Sally had managed to pull Lock further away from the forest and turn him over. He rushed to her side to lay the other two down.
"He's not looking too good, Jack," Sally lamented sadly.
"Yes, well neither are these two," Jack grunted as he rolled Barrel off his shoulder and to the ground. Sally gasped at the sight of the three teens laid out together, all unmoving and unresponsive.
Lock probably looked the best of them and he looked awful covered in soot, and burned in many places. Barrel was covered head to toe in coal black ash and even though his mouth hung open, the blackness invaded there making it obvious he had breathed in the dangerous fumes. Shock's dress had been singed to being near unrecognizable and her ankle was charred so badly that the black flesh looked as if it were falling off.
Was this the end of the troubles trio?
First person to guess how Shock died before getting to Halloween town gets a cookie!! Hope everyone liked this!
Thanks for reading!
~monie
