A/N: Thank you so much for the amazing reviews you guys wrote! Only three more chapters to go. I intend to have them uploaded by Sunday!

A special thank you to KayMarieXW for beta-ing!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.

Twenty-ninth Chapter…

…where the inferno starts

The building was ablaze.

Alice, Emmett and Jasper were already outside and a safe distance from the building and Edward had just returned from having set fire on the upper floors. The air was filled with thick, black smoke, which made it difficult to see. He could feel the heat of the fire consuming the complex and while his instincts were screaming at him to get out of here as fast as possible, he couldn't. Not yet. He had to make sure the fire would devour everything. He stayed just outside the airlock, waiting, his thoughts on Bella. He hoped she was doing well, because while he was grateful that Rosalie had promised him to try and save her—which meant a lot to Edward, given how opposed she'd always been to Bella being changed—he didn't have a lot of faith in her control. He knew he was being ungrateful, but he couldn't help it. It was the way he felt and he couldn't chase the fear that had settled in his heart away. He didn't want to lose Bella. He couldn't imagine a life without her and contrary to what he'd said to the others, he didn't want her to have a life without him. He knew what it would do to him if she died. The same it would do to her if he died, which was why he wouldn't. Not if he could help it.

I hope Carlisle arrives in time, he thought, no, prayed. Please let him arrive in time. He was still an hour out, according to Alice's last estimate. They were still close enough for him to read their minds. They were worried and scared, didn't want to lose him.

Flames were now dancing at the far end of the corridor. There was very little for them to consume even though Alice and Emmett had liberally poured everything that would act as an accelerant over the floor and the walls. Just a few more minutes and then he'd get out of here. Just a few more minutes.

Edward didn't remember much of the last days of his human life, but he'd been having flashbacks. It was 1918 again and he was in Chicago and his father had just died. Then, he'd still hoped he and his mother would survive, but a few days later she had fallen ill as well and Edward himself had shortly thereafter. He remembered the feeling of suffocating when his lungs had filled with fluid that couldn't be drained, not back then. The pain in his arms and legs, and in his head, that had almost been as bad as the fire of the change. He remembered that now, although he had never before. He didn't want anyone to die that way. That was why he'd offered to stay. He didn't know why he hadn't just said so. Perhaps because he'd been afraid the others wouldn't understand. Edward didn't think of humans as inferior to vampires, didn't think of them as prey. He knew that another vampire would have let them die. Or maybe not, he thought grimly. No humans means nothing to drink. Still, that wasn't why he did it. He wanted to save the lives that couldn't be saved back then, irrational as it sounded.

The fire crept closer, faster than Edward had thought it would. He heard flames crackling overhead and the heat was so intense that the air blurred, became distorted, began to glimmer before Edward's eyes. He stepped into the airlock and sealed it, activating the decontamination process. He deliberately inhaled the air that was released. It wouldn't have been particularly healthy for a human—not dangerous and better than dying of a virus, just not very healthy—but to him it made no difference. The process took over four minutes until it was complete. Edward was counting down the minutes, second by second. Two minutes to go. One minute and forty-five seconds. One minute and thirty-seconds. One minute and fifteen seconds. One minute…

The ceiling came crashing down at forty-five seconds left, engulfing Edward in orange flames.

Do I have to hide now? Please review!