As I ran, I abandoned everything I had ever learned in training. Blind panic took over as I reached the car and scrambled on top of the passenger door without a moment’s hesitation. I could feel the heat of the growing fire on my face; I went to adjust the visor on my helmet and realised I wasn’t wearing it. Somewhere between my dismount from the engine and reaching Bailey’s car, I had knocked it off.
I pushed it from my mind and focused on the scene in front of me, but it was hard. The blaring noise from the car horn made it difficult to think.
I banged on the window of the car. Inside I could see two people, and I separated them immediately based on their hair colour. Noah was in the passenger seat and Bailey was in the driver’s. Noah was moving her arms and head slightly; Bailey was utterly still. My heart was pounding so fast I couldn’t hear my friends as they shouted to me and to each other. I yanked on the handle of the car door, but it didn’t budge.
“Fuck!”
The window was already cracked, so I repositioned my body and used the heel of my boot to smash into the lower right-hand side, where the glass appeared to be at its weakest. It gave way instantly and I heard moaning and soft cries of pain. I assessed Noah straight away; her seat belt was still in place and she was almost dangling in the air. I looked past her to my little sister and felt my stomach drop.
She was still motionless. I couldn’t tell if she was breathing or not.
“Bailey!” I shouted, my voice cracking. “Hang on, baby, I’m comin’. D’ye hear me, Bails? I’m comin’ for ye!”
I heard my name being hollered, and turned my head in the direction of my friends, who were running towards me. I saw Stitch motion his hands left, right and centre as he shouted orders. My heart felt like it was about to burst with fear. He needed to get the fire under control before a spark touching the poured fuel became a problem. But there was no way I was leaving my girls to help him.
Not a chance.
“AJ!” I roared. “Gimme a knife. I think the seat belt is jammed.”
I turned back to Noah and she was mumbling something that I couldn’t hear; her eyes were open, and they were on me, but she wasn’t looking at me. She was far away – I wasn’t sure she even realised I was in front of her. Blood dripped down the side of her face from her temple. I gently turned her head in my direction and instantly swallowed down bile. She had a massive, deep open wound running back into her hairline. I sucked in a breath and repressed the urge to cough as the strong, choking odour of smoke suddenly filled my lungs.
“It’s okay, green eyes. I’m right here and I’m gonna get ye outta here. D’ye hear me, Noah? I’m gonna get you outta here.”
I was working on her seat belt as her head lolled from side to side. She lifted her hand and slapped it down on Bailey’s shoulder and said something inaudible to her. My sister didn’t so much as flinch. It was then that I inhaled the metallic tang of blood. I quickly grabbed my torch from its holster and shone it on my sister, and saw that her face was covered in red. Some of her hair was matted to her forehead while the rest of it hung loose to the door, and her nose and jaw appeared to have been crushed against the steering wheel. I realised then that she wasn’t wearing her seat belt. A pained cry tore free of my throat when I saw her eyes were wide open and unblinking.
My mind screamed that my baby sister was dead, but I refused to accept it.
“Hold on, Bailey! I’m comin’, baby.”
I pressed the release clasp on Noah’s seat belt and pulled the strap as hard as I could at the same time, and it suddenly gave way. I caught Noah under the armpits and quickly pulled her from the car. Her pain-laced screams made my blood run cold.
“Mum!” she screamed. “Elliot! Make it stop.”
I hooked an arm under her legs and the other around her back, and I ran with her, shouting for my friends to get the fire under control and for AJ to get into the car and get Bailey free so we could extract her. I noticed an ambulance pulling up just as I set Noah down on the ground. I froze for a second as I looked her over. She had blood all over her – there were bruises, cuts, and her face was swollen – but she was conscious and breathing.
I leaned down and kissed her with relief that she was alive, then I turned and ran back towards the car that AJ and two others were suddenly diving away from. I watched in horror as sparks fell on to the leaked fuel and ignited instantly. I let out a roar for them to help my sister just as the car exploded. The force of it knocked me back as flames flew up into the air and then completely consumed the car.
“Bailey!” I screamed as I scrambled to my feet and ran towards the wall of scorching flames. With my ears ringing and my body swaying, I forced myself to stay on my feet. “Bailey! No! God, no! Bailey!”
I was suddenly tackled from the side and then dragged backwards by two sets of hands. I heard voices blend together, but what I heard over them were the pleas and cries that tore from my throat. I fought them, my determination to get to my sister making me swing and kick, but in the end they won and I lost.
I lost everything.
I stared at the flames that swirled and danced with one another, knowing that my baby sister had been claimed by them. She was dead and there was nothing I could do to save her. My world became all the darker, even as orange and blue lights flickered around me. Inside of me there was no light, no peace – just all-consuming sadness, anger and hopelessness.
Things that people normally felt in the dark.
CHAPTER ONE
NOAH
Present day . . .
Dissonant beeping. That was what I awoke to.
I wasn’t sure what the beeping was or where it was coming from, but it was somehow familiar to me. It was as if I’d heard it, or woken up to it, a few times before. I couldn’t place the cause of it though, and when I tried to think of what it could be, the pain started. An excruciating sensation pulsed throughout my skull. It was so agonising that I couldn’t open my eyes or move my limbs. My body was completely tense and rigid as it braced itself against the pain. I wished for it to go away, but it didn’t, it only lessened slightly to the point where I could open my eyes.
My vision was hazy, but slowly a brightly lit room came into view.
An off-white coloured ceiling caught my attention the second my vision could focus. Like the beeping, it was familiar to me, but I had no idea what place it was linked to. For a few minutes, I did nothing but stare at the ceiling as I waited for the pain in my head to fade. It never went away, but eventually the pounding gave way to a throb. Though it was constant and still very painful, I could just about tolerate it. I had no choice but to endure it.
I attempted to say “hello” but my voice didn’t sound like my own. The word came out as a slur, barely coherent to my own ears. I tried to say it again, but it felt like my tongue was suddenly too big for my mouth. I wasn’t sure how long I was lying there figuring out how to work my tongue, when suddenly the sensation that the muscle was too big just faded away.
“Hello!”
My voice was hoarse and my throat itched, like I needed to down a litre of water to soothe it, but I said the word loud and clear. It felt like a victory of sorts. I tried to clear my throat to scratch the itch, but the action proved to be too painful, so I resisted the urge to cough, even though that was what my body desperately wanted to do. I carefully attempted to sit up, but I couldn’t. My body felt like a heavy weight and I wasn’t strong enough to lift it. Though I couldn’t move all that well, I could turn my head from side to side. I slowly looked to my right and the decor – and machinery – that came into view told me where I was instantly.