Chapter 10

Amber was frozen to the spot. She stared at the man in front of her. As much as she could see through the thick smoke he was tall and slim. He looked as though he'd been living rough, but Amber couldn't be sure. There was also a wild kind of look about him that seemed to stare right at her.

Behind Amber Hex took a few tentative steps forward. The smoke was growing thicker by the minute, though Hex was unsure of the source of it. He could feel the smoke caught in his throat and he felt the start of the effects of claustrophobia take hold. He pushed it back down as he stepped forwards again.

The man, whose eyes had been on Amber suddenly, seemed to notice Hex. He barked out something and shifted the gun so it pointed at Hex's chest. Hex felt his heart quicken and slowly raised his hands into the air. Amber spent a faltering glance at Hex before copying him.

"Amber?" Hex asked quietly "Any idea on a language?" Amber grimaced but looked back towards the man.

"Do you speak English?" she asked carefully. She was vigilant to make sure that she didn't come across as threatening. It was important that the man didn't feel threatened. If he felt he was loosing control, he may just pull the trigger in desperation. In reply to Amber's question the man spewed out a string of words, none of which were English. But Amber wasn't deterred. She thought she recognised some of the words and sounds the man had used as being some form of Spanish, but it wasn't like any form of it she'd heard before. .

Behind her, she heard Hex breathing raspily and realised that they all needed to get out of the building, and fast before it collapsed from fire damage or they all suffered from severe smoke inhalation. With newfound determination Amber looked back to the man and spoke to him again, using Spanish. It was tricky because Amber wasn't yet fluent in Spanish. She was well on the way to learning it but piecing together a sentence and trying to match it to how the man talked was hard.

As she spoke the man's eyes seemed to light up and he suddenly seemed to realise what was going on. He started shouting at them again and pointed to a door at the other side of the room, still pointing the gun at them. Hex and Amber understood. They had to go to the door. Usually Hex would have thought that they could have found some way out of the situation, or to try negotiating with the man, but his moods and actions seemed unstable, and Hex didn't want to risk making him angry.

Hex reached the door first and as he reached out to open it, he felt a wave of heat through the handle. This must be where the fire was. Hex bit his lip nervously as he reached out and pulled the door open. A wave of heat and smoke hit them causing all three to cough heavily. As soon as the man recovered he jerked the gun in the direction of the door staring at Hex and Amber. Amber's eyes widened in horror but soon realised there was nothing they could do. They had to do what the man said. She walked past Hex and took a small step into the room, and almost fell. Managing to grab the door in time Amber realised that she was at the top of a flight of stairs leading down. This was some sort of cellar. Amber reached out and grabbed Hex's arm to guide him, and together, the two of them made their way down into the cellar.

The smoke thickened as they went, Amber found it harder and harder to breathe as they descended. Once she reached the bottom of the stairs Amber turned round to look at the man again, though, he was barely visible through the smoke. He barked out another order and held his hand up, indicating them to stay where they were. The gun was still pointed at them. Amber clutched Hex's arm until the man retreated back out of sight and she heard the definitive click of the door closing. As soon as she heard it Amber charged back up the stairs to the door and tried the handle. Just as she'd thought it was locked. In addition, the door was solid wood, which meant there was no chance of knocking it over.

At the bottom of the stairs Hex was already on the floor coughing heavily.

"Amber!" he called. Amber ran back down the stairs, covering her mouth with her hand. The smoke was making her eyes stream and it was getting hotter all the time. Although Amber was unsure of where the actual fire was, it was becoming clear that it was nearby, and getting stronger by the second. She ran over to Hex who was still coughing on the floor, breathing in big gasps. She fell to the floor herself.

"Hex!" she called at him "Calm down ok?" Hex looked up at her

"Amber I can't-"

"You're panicking ok?" Amber said calmly "Calm down" Hex looked at her and nodded, and slowly seemed to get some control over his breathing. Amber grinned at him.

"We need to find another way out." She glanced at Hex, coughing "Keep low to the floor".

Amber crawled across the dusty concrete until she reached the wall. She looked around the room, but all she could see was the thick black smoke.

"Amber!" Amber twirled round at the sound of Hex's voice. She could barely see him through the smoke, but he was lying on the floor, still coughing heavily. He was pointing up to something above Amber's head. She followed his arm with her eyes and spotted it. A small window in the corner of the room, at the top. It was at floor level on the outside. Below it was a set of shelves. They were empty spare a few empty cans of paint and a rotten cereal box.

At the sight of the window Amber's heart leaped. But looking at it she soon realised that it was much too small for Hex to fit through, she'd have a job of fitting through herself. As she made her way over to the shelves Amber glanced back at Hex, still coughing.

"Hex!" she spluttered "I'll come and unlock the door for you" Hex didn't speak but raised his hand in acknowledgement. Amber could barely see him through the smoke.

Climbing up the shelves proved relatively easy; although Amber found that the smoke got thicker the higher she climbed. It was getting harder and harder to breathe and Amber felt like her lungs were suffocating. Eventually she reached the window and a quick push on it told Amber it was unlocked. She let out a sigh of relief and pushed the window open fully. Fresh air blasted her in the face, and although it was still thick with ash, Amber breathed it in greedily. It was a lot fresher than the air below her. After a quick glance back into the cellar, where Hex was now out of her sight, she hoisted her shoulders through the window. She slowly managed to wriggle though and finally managed to hoist her legs through and stood up.

Amber coughed in the fresher air but didn't waste any time in running round to the main door. As she reached it Amber's heart sunk. The door was locked. A large, steel padlock bolted it shut, and, similarly to the cellar door, it was solid wood, which meant any chance of Amber opening it was slim. A sob rose in Amber's throat but she pushed it down and tried to concentrate on finding another way of getting in. There was a window not far down the wall and Amber ran to it. A quick examination of the window told Amber that she could easily smash it. A small beacon of hope rose inside Amber but she knew she still had to make it in and get Hex out. The danger was far from gone.

She pulled off her jacket and wrapped it firmly around her arm. Without hesitating she rammed her elbow into the window. The impact jarred up her arm but the glass shattered and it showered down onto her arm. Amber quickly cleared the excess glass away and was about to hoist herself back into the building when something caught her eyes. A flash of red. Her eyes darted up to the top of Purace. Orange rocks were visible at the top, being spat out powerfully. Amber swallowed and turned her attention back to the building. She only had one thing to worry about at the moment. Getting Hex out. As she climbed back into the building Amber pushed everything else into the back of her mind.

It was horrible to be back in the clogged air and Amber felt herself coughing again. Something briefly occurred to Amber and a quick search rewarded her with what she was looking for. She dragged the table across to the window and swung a chair over too.

The door was relatively easy to find again and Amber was relieved to see it wasn't padlocked. A rusted bolt held in place and Amber pulled it back. As she yanked the door open she was forced into another spasm of coughing as another plume of thick smoke ploughed into her. It was like being suffocated. Amber headed back into the cellar, her eyes streaming.

"Hex!" she spluttered. There was no reply. Amber's heart beat faster. She fell to the floor and crawled forward. Then she saw him.

Hex was sprawled out on the floor, unconscious. Amber moaned in desperation and leaned over Hex.

"Hex!" she called, shaking him "Hex wake up!" Hex didn't respond. Amber felt sick and realised she had only one option. She tucked her arms under Hex's and dragged him backwards towards the stairs.

Getting Hex up the stairs was hell. Amber had never actually realised how heavy Hex was. Her arms burned with the effort of dragging him upwards, and the smoke was unbearably thick. When she reached the top of the staircase Amber sank to her knees and rested Hex's head in her lap. She felt like crying but knew she'd never get back up if she let herself cry. Exhaustion waved across her body but she knew she needed to get them both out.

Amber forced something through herself and yelled with the effort of getting up, finding a new source of determination she didn't know she had. When she reached the window Amber thanked herself she'd thought of the table and chair before hand. She didn't think she'd have the energy to get them now. Although her primary objective to putting them there was just to make the job easier of them getting out, she now knew she faced something that was going to prove just as hard as getting Hex up the stairs had been.

A quick glance down to Hex's face gave Amber another surge of determination.

"Don't die Hex" she muttered as she sat herself on the chair "We're nearly there, don't die now". As Amber climbed onto the table she managed to hoist Hex onto the chair. The effort it took was unbearable and Amber sobbed with frustration and exhaustion as waves of pain rushed up her arms. She was just about to pull Hex onto the table when she felt something behind her.

Amber turned and saw someone outside the window. It took her a few seconds to register who it was, but when she finally did realise a warm flow of relief surged through her.

"Filipo!" she cried happily. Amber couldn't think of a time she'd been more relieved. If Filipo and the others were here… She didn't have time to dwell on the thought. Filipo reached past her into the room, and, with a little help from Amber, managed to grab Hex and dragged him out of the window. Amber jumped out herself and followed Filipo a few meters away from the building. As she got outside Amber greedily sucked in the fresh air.

Just in front of her Filipo was leant over Hex who was still unconscious and laid on the floor. As she reached them Amber suddenly realised that Alex, Li, and Paulo weren't there.

"Filipo where?" Filipo glanced up at her angrily

"Not now!" Amber frowned looking down at Hex. Filipo continued, "We need to go now".

"Why?" Amber whispered, still trying to get her breath back.

Filipo gestured down to Hex lying motionless in the ash.

"He is not breathing". Upon hearing those four words Amber's world fell apart.