Adrenaline rushed through his body and he sprang to his feet. Out of nowhere, he felt a searing pain in his foot. He looked down to see his pant leg alight. He gave a scream of terror as it burnt through his cuff, scorching his leg. Instinct took over, and he bolted. He dashed out of the cave, running like his life depended on it. Behind him, he heard heavy footsteps—someone had followed him. Suddenly, he was hit squarely in the back. "Roll, you idiot!" hissed Ripred's voice in his ear. Without thinking, Gregor obeyed. He rolled over and over until all the flames had been extinguished. His pants were smoldering. A horrible, shooting pain registered in his leg. He looked down. What he saw made him gasp. His leg seemed to had started to melt. It looked like a piece of modeling wax had been left by a heat source for half an hour. Even from a very young age, Gregor had always hated burns. In his opinion, it was the worse type of pain. And no burn he had ever received could compare with the one puffing up on his leg. Gregor lay face down in the dirt, coughing. Around him, he could hear the others doing the same.
"Boots!" he choked out as soon as he could speak.
"Your sister's fine," said Ripred. Gregor lifted his head to look at the others. Ripred's whiskers were singed, along with several patches of his fur. Boots was ashen-faced and scared-looking. Luxa was nursing a burn across the back of her hand. She seemed to have shed the outer layer of her close—presumably because of the fire. And like everyone else, she was covered in soot.
"How could you be so careless? You light a fire, then fall asleep?"
"I did not think—"
"That" interjected Ripred, "is obvious. The entire cave is covered in flammable material."
"It was my idea that we light a fire," said Gregor, clenching his teeth from the pain in his leg and back.
"Why does that not surprise me?" said Ripred unpleasantly.
"Can you get me some painkillers?" Gregor asked Luxa. Ripred answered before Luxa could speak.
"No. She cannot. They're all burnt. Along with the rest of the medicine and most of our food." "What about water?" asked Gregor.
"We would have some, but little-miss-genius over here decided to use that on the fire... it didn't work in case you didn't notice." Luxa scowled at Ripred.
"So we've got pretty much no food?" said Gregor.
"What did you save?" he asked.
"I managed to drag these two packs out of the cave, and whatever is in your pack," he said. "And me!" piped up Boots.
"Yes. I got the pleasure of dragging her screaming out of the cave," said Ripred sourly.
"No!" said Boots. "I have food!"
"You do?" asked Gregor.
"Ye-es!" she said, nodding seriously at him. "This!" she said, presenting him with the bag Dulcet had given him to entertain her. Gregor opened the bag and examined the contents. There was a packet of cookies, some dried fruit, a whole bunch of beef jerky, and a wine-skin filled with water.
"This is great, Boots," said Gregor, still grimacing from the pain. Luxa scowled at Ripred.
"What is to be done?" she asked after a moment's stony silence. "Almost no water, food, or medical supplies... and now we have no shelter," she added. Gregor wanted to speak out and say that they could still stay in the cave once the fire died down. But he didn't—he was in too focused on the pain; both in his leg and his shoulder. During the adrenaline rush of the fire, the pain had temporarily died away. But now it was back and worse than ever. He lay there face down for almost an entire hour while Ripred and Luxa argued. It seemed they had reached some agreement, for quite suddenly, all was quiet.
"All right, let's start with the warrior," said Ripred. "Can you walk?" Ripred asked Gregor.
"Yes, I think," said Gregor. "Can you help me get up?" Luxa reached out a hand and Gregor took it. He braced himself, then pulled himself up to his feet. The pain was blinding. He put his arm around Luxa's shoulder, using her for support. He painfully hobbled to the cave. As soon as he was inside, Luxa helped lay him onto the ground. The blankets must have been burned because he was now lying on the bare cave floor. As he lay there, immobilized, Luxa and Ripred started to bring the few possessions they had saved from the fire into the cave.
Alright, what do you think of my story so far?