Chapter 2: The Dragon Returns

Lei Fang stepped outside with waves of heat stroking against her willowy body. Her face jittered in astonishment, taking notice that the buildings lined up on the street had been set ablaze without any clue of what started the fires. Thick smoke poured out from lifted windows and opened doors of the homes that once belonged to the hundreds of screaming citizens running rapidly down the street in panic, evacuating the flames that started to consume their homes. Lei Fang's eyes zoomed straight ahead and saw two small children, alone, about to meet death at the hands of a crippled building getting ready to topple over them. Their whaling cries for their parents to come save them went unheard as a small shower of debris rained down from their burning home. They were too frightened to move and just stood stiffly, grasping onto each other.

Lei Fang sped toward the two weeping children, a sense of urgency triggering her legs to move forward immediately. She grabbed them underneath the armpits and dove out of the way of an incoming hunk of debris falling from the building, as it loudly collapsed and turned into a pile of stones and bricks. The frightened children removed a pair of hands from the closed envelopes of their eyes and looked up to see Lei Fang breathing rationally, displaying a thankful smile.

"Oh my goodness!" came a worried voice. "There you two are!"

The mother of the two children stumbled into their embracement, happy to see both safe and alive. She turned to the girl in the flowing dress, expressing her gratitude.

"Thank you so much, Miss. If you weren't around I don't know what would have happened."

Lei Fang meant to speak out with a reply, but a voice called to her from afar and repositioned her focus.

"Lei Fang!" Hitomi ran over and stopped, holding her gloved hands against her bended knees, panting softly. "What's going on? What happened here?"

Lei Fang did not give a response as she saw more people running and trying to escape their collapsing homes. She darted away from Hitomi's view and went on to aid as many citizens as she could. Hitomi realized that the people were in trouble, and though she was just a fighter as well as Lei Fang, she decided to pitch in and help her friend. She then rushed to the nearest building, kicking down the door and frightening a couple trapped inside. They had almost jumped when she barged through, but they came to know she was a friend looking to help them escape. Avoiding the scorching flames, Hitomi led them outside to safety and moved to the next few buildings.

Meanwhile, Lei Fang had rescued a few more civilians before coming back into the center of the street. She coughed and gagged as the smoke of the buildings ran into her eyes and mouth from the windows and doors, trying to rest a bit before going into another building as her lungs felt like they were being choked from the inside. Everyone on the block appeared safe, or so she thought. Another group of civilians stampeded out of their homes, and right before Lei Fang's hazy eyes, a falling building suddenly crushed them underneath its weight.

"No!" The college student screamed as she fell to her knees on the cement road with a hand reached out. "Those were… innocent people," came a muffled whimper. "I can't believe what is happening here."

Never did Lei Fang witness death before, but now was her first time experiencing the horror at watching a person lose their life right in front of her. It brought a tear to her eye to see this madness take its toll on part of the city. Trying to remain strong, she continued moving her fellow neighbors out of harms way, while paying for it in the process, taking a few bruises. She did not seem to care about her own life, just saving others now was all that was on her mind. Nobody deserved this tragedy and surely not the people of Beijing did either. The cause of the flames were a mystery to everyone, but was the least thing to worry about.

Chaos continued to ensue with more buildings falling, killing and flattening more innocent civilians attempting to make it out before any further damage was done. Many were unsuccessful to seek safety, buried dead beneath a pile of fallen rubble. Lei Fang and Hitomi could hear the survivors' cries, their loved ones lives gone, and claimed by the threatening flames that burned and slithered around the area.

The screeching sirens of speeding police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances finally made it to the scene. Paramedics rushed out from their vehicles, flapping open the doors and bringing out stretchers to treat the wounded while the fire trucks maintained the fires brewing about in and out of the existing buildings left over. Dozens of people now stood trembling with minor burns from the flames on their skin, crying and hugging their surviving family members tightly. There was no other place for them to go, for the flames had burned up their homes and most of their belongings inside. Police tried to get the situation under control, but everyone was in so much hostility and panic they failed in that aspect.

Hitomi screamed fearfully as she turned to see the hotel her father and her were staying at engulfed in flames too. She ran toward the building, hoping that the worse did not befall the only remaining parent in her life. Crowds of people evacuated the blazed building, all but her father. She prayed that he was not inside, that the flames did not get him, but as seconds went by, she began to believe that the flames had claimed his life too. To put her horrible thoughts to rest, the burly karate instructor staggered outside the front door with the assistance of two other hotel guests guiding him. He was carrying two large suitcases in his hands, one that belonged to Hitomi and the other to himself.

"Father!" Hitomi shouted as she ran toward the man to hug him for relief that he was not dead. "Father, I almost thought I had lost you."

"Hitomi, thank goodness your safe," her father said in a slurred voice of worry. "You do not need to… ow!"

"What's wrong?"

"My head. A heavy piece of the ceiling came down and hit me on the head."

"You need to go see a doctor then. We will go to the hospital together and take care of you."

Lei Fang approached them, carrying a look of expressed sadness for the people that were unfortunate to survive.

"You guys ok?"

"Yes," Hitomi confirmed. "My dad needs to go to the hospital. I am going with him. So, I'll see you around if I can."

Lei Fang concurred with a nod and took notice of a wounded man passing them as he cried out for medical assistance.

"Excuse me, sir? Do you know what caused this?" Lei Fang asked him, referring to the fire that claimed dozens of lives.

"It just happened. I do not understand how, but it did. The buildings all just suddenly caught on fire and everyone, including myself, panicked."

Lei Fang was curious and at the same time baffled as she watched Hitomi and one of the paramedics escort her father to the ambulance. One last time, the Chinese fighter gazed at the horrific effect the fire had on part of the city before leaving. She saw police placing caution strips all over the area and more paramedics treating the wounded. She would never forget this tragic day.

The fire department managed to put out all the flames and save the remaining survivors. Part of the city was nothing but wreckage of burned down buildings of homes, hotels, and restaurants. There were causalities among the dead who were young and had a family; their souls now rested in an eternal slumber forever, never to awaken.

By nightfall, the police finished wrapping up their duties, scurrying into their cars and driving away from the wrecked part of the city. Meanwhile, elsewhere, the paramedics had admitted several patients to the hospital and were still bringing in more by the minute. The building eventually became overcrowded and the recent arrivals had to take a trip to another hospital that was not as overpopulated. The nurses and doctors did all that was within their power to fix the bruises, burns, and cuts of the new array of patients while also having to tend to the old. It was stressful, but, despite that, they managed.

As the pitch darkness of the sky came, the Jeet Kune Do fighter known as Jann Lee had returned from his long period of training, walking into the neighborhood, sweaty and a little fatigued, only to see a fragment of it reduced to rubble. It was true; Jann Lee had returned to Beijing, but his presence went unnoticed as well as unwelcome. In spite of everything, he did not expect anyone to look forward to his return back at home after having spent several weeks training in the mountains, nor did he have any concern about it. To his surprise, he saw the remains of the city block that had burned to the ground earlier. He wore his usual white colored pants with a long stretching dragon emblem marked across the pant leg and nothing more but the red tennis shoes on his feet. The rest of him was topless, naked without a shirt or jacket.

"What happened here?" he thought to himself.