Chapter 2

Michaela pushed Flash to run as fast as possible through town. She could see the dark, grey smoke hovering above the trees in the distance. Although she would never usually run through town that fast, the town had all but been abandoned. Everyone was helping to put out the fire. Not knowing how long the fire had already been burning, Michaela prayed that she wasn't too late.

As Michaela approached the house, the smoke got thicker and the smell of burning wood grew stronger. Michaela could hear people shouting to one another but she couldn't see anything through the thick smoke.

Minutes later, as Michaela rode past town, the burning house came into view but it was barely recognizable as a house. Only the basic skeleton of the house remained and even that was burning.

Michaela tethered Flash to a tree far from the burning rubble and ran over towards the house. She immediately spotted Jake and Robert E passing buckets full of water to other people who threw them on the flames.

"Dr. Mike!" Dorothy yelled. Michaela ran over to her. Dorothy's face was covered in black soot, as was her hair and clothes.

"Where's the family?" Michaela asked, shouting over the sounds of the flames and the yells of everyone around her.

"There's no one left, Michaela," Dorothy replied. "They pulled out four bodies."

"Bodies?"

Dorothy pointed to a blanket that was lying on the ground. Michaela walked over to it and picked the corner of the blanket up. Dorothy turned away.

"I'm too late," Michaela said.

"There's nothing you could have done, Michaela. There's nothing any of us could have done." Michaela still couldn't help but feel as if she should have been there earlier.

"Dr. Mike!" Matthew yelled, running over to her, his face dirtier than Dorothy's.

"Matthew, are you alright?" Michaela asked, checking him over from head to toe to make sure that he wasn't injured.

"I'm fine."

"Is anyone hurt?"

"There's a few men who collapsed due to the smoke and Hank's got a pretty bad burn on his arm but Andrew's takin' a look at 'em," Matthew shouted.

"I'll go help him," Michaela said, scanning the crowd for where Andrew was.

"HELP!" A female voice screamed. Everyone immediately turned towards the house where there was a woman screaming. She waved her arm out of what used to be a window in the house. She screamed one more time before her arm disappeared.

"There's someone still in the house," Dorothy gasped, staring at the house.

"We gotta help her," Matthew yelled.

"It's too dangerous," Dorothy responded as she watched the flames grow.

"I'm going in!" Matthew hollered.

"Matthew, no!" Michaela screamed.

Matthew ran to Jake who held a full bucket of water. Matthew dumped the water over his head to better protect him from the fire.

"Are you crazy?" Jake yelled, trying to pull Matthew away from the house. "You'll get killed!"

"No, Matthew, please!" Michaela pleaded, following him.

"I gotta help her, Dr. Mike," Matthew said.

"It's too dangerous," Michaela proclaimed.

"And waistin' time out here is only makin' it more dangerous." Matthew looked up towards where the woman had screamed. Matthew put a damp handkerchief that was tied around his neck around his nose and mouth. "I've got to help her, Dr. Mike," Matthew insisted, walking towards the house.

"That boy's crazy," Jake remarked. "He's gonna get himself killed."

"Just throw water at him!" Michaela shouted, trying to ignore what Jake had said even though she knew that he was right. Matthew was walking into a death trap.

Michaela watched as Matthew ran into the house, her heart breaking.

"Let's keep the water flowing, gentleman!" Robert E shouted, looking at Michaela's solemn face.

"Michaela!" Michaela turned to see who had called her name. The smoke was so thick that she couldn't tell who it was. She walked towards the sound and finally saw Andrew crouching on the ground beside a man whom Michaela recognized as a nearby rancher.

"He just collapsed," Andrew explained, still shouting over the chaos.

"Smoke inhalation," Michaela diagnosed.

Michaela quickly opened her medical bag and pulled out a clean cloth. She dipped it in a nearby bucket full of water that Andrew was using and began to pat the man's head with the cool cloth.

"I've never seen such a devastating fire," Andrew said as he treated a different man with the same problem. "By the time I got here and we got the family out they were…"

"There's someone still alive in the house," Michaela stated as she tried to get the man to drink some water.

"Alive?"

"Matthew went in after her."

Andrew looked at Michaela's pained face as she spoke. "I'm sure he'll come out any minute, Michaela."

She nodded and silently tended to her patient.

"He'll be fine," she declared as the man began to cough and sit up.

"Michaela," Andrew said, pointing to the edge of the woods.

Sully ran over to her.

"You alright?"

Michaela shook her head. "Matthew went in."

"Went into the house?" Sully replied.

"There was someone still alive and he went in. I tried to stop him but he…" She buried her head in his chest.

"I'll go in after him."

"No, Sully!"

"I've go to try and help him, Michaela."

"I can't stand to lose you both!" By this point, tears were streaming down her face at the thought of seriously losing Matthew.

"Dr. Mike!" Robert E shouted.

Michaela immediately turned around. Robert E was running towards her with a limp form in his arms.

"Where's Matthew?" Sully questioned as Robert E put the girl down on the ground. Michaela kneeled beside her and began looking over her injuries. Robert E shook his head, signifying that he didn't know.

"I just saw her at the doorway. I ran in and got her," Robert E explained.

"Did you get burned?" Andrew questioned, noticing Robert E holding his right arm close to his body.

"It's nothin'," Robert E assured him.

"I'm going in," Sully decided.

"Sully!" Michaela cried as Sully raced towards the house.

"Go, Michaela, I'll take care of her," Andrew said.

Michaela picked up the bucket that she had dipped the cloth into earlier and dumped it over her head just as Matthew had done before. She ran towards the house, not really knowing what she was doing but just that she couldn't stand back and do nothing. As she reached the burning doorway, Sully appeared, holding Matthew in his arm.

"Sully!"

"He's not breathin'," Sully yelled.

As he and Michaela ran from the house, it completely collapsed.