LITMIR.BIZ

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      Amina’s house had caught fire. Dear God, he could see flames through the blackness. The heat was almost unbearable. No, make that past unbearable.

      He had to go. He was doing nothing staying here. He was killing himself in a useless hunt.

      But still... His hand had caught the veranda rail. He steadied. One last try...

      He hauled himself onto the veranda and gave one last yell.

      ‘Danny! Luka!’

      And a great heavy body shoved itself at his legs, almost pushing him over.

      Dog. He couldn’t see him. He could only crouch and hold.

      He searched for his collar and found...a hand. A kid, holding the dog.

      ‘Danny!’ There was nothing of him, a sliver of gasping fear. He couldn’t see. He hauled him into his arms and hugged, steadying for a moment, taking as well as giving comfort. Taking strength.

       God, the heat...

      ‘Mama...’ the little boy whimpered, burying his face in Rob’s chest, not because he trusted him, but to stop the heat.

      Rob was holding him with one arm, unbuttoning his wool flannel shirt with the other. Thank God the shirt was oversized. The kid was in shorts and sandals!

      He buttoned up again, kid inside, and the kid didn’t move. He was past moving, Rob thought. He could feel his chest heaving as he fought for breath. His own breathing hurt.

      He had him. Them. The dog was hard at his side, not going anywhere.

      He had to get to the bunker. It was way past a safe time for them to get there but there was nowhere else.

      Julie would be at the bunker. If she’d made it.

      And he had something to fight for. For Rob, the last four years had passed in a mist of grey. He’d tried to get on with his life, he’d built his career, he’d tried to enjoy life again but, in truth, every sense had seemed dulled. Yet now, when the world around him truly was grey and thick with smoke, every one of his senses was alert, intent, focused.

      He would make it to the bunker. He would save this kid.

      He would make it back to Julie.

       Please...

      ‘Hold on,’ he managed to yell to the kid, though whether the little boy could hear him over the roar of the flames was impossible to tell. ‘Hold your breath, Danny. We’re going to run.’

      * * *

      Amina was crying, not sobbing, not hysterical, but tears were running unchecked down her face.

      Julie was past crying. She was past feeling. If Rob was safe he’d be here by now. The creek at the bottom of the gully was dry. Even if it had been running it was overhung with dense bush. There was no safe place except here.

      She was the last, she thought numbly. Her boys had gone. Now Rob, too?

      Last night had been amazing. Last night it had felt as if she was waking up from a nightmare, as if slivers of light were finally breaking through the fog.

      She hadn’t deserved the light. She might have known...

      ‘Your husband...’ Amina managed, and she knew the woman was making a Herculean effort to talk. ‘He’s...great.’

      ‘I...yeah.’ What to say? There was nothing to say.

      ‘How long have you been married?’

      She had to think. Was she still married? Sort of. Sort of not.

      ‘Seven years,’ she managed.

      ‘No kids?’

      ‘I...no.’

      ‘I’m sorry,’ Amina whispered, and the dead feeling inside Julie turned into the hard, tight knot she knew so well. The knot that threatened to choke her. The knot that had ended her life.

      ‘It’s too late, isn’t it?’ Amina whispered. ‘They would have been here by now. It’s too...’

      ‘I don’t know...’

      And then she stopped.

      A bang. She was sure...

      It was embers crashing against the door. Surely.

      She should have closed the inner door. It was the last of her dot-points.

      Another bang.

      She was up, scrambling to reach the door. But then she paused, forcing herself to be logical. She was trying desperately to think and somehow she managed to make her mind see sense. To open the outer door mid-fire would suck every trace of oxygen from the bunker, even if the fire didn’t blast right in. She couldn’t do that to Amina.

      Follow the dot-points. Follow the rules.

      The banging must have been flying embers. It must. But if not...

      She was already in the outer chamber, hauling the inner door closed behind her, closing herself off from the inner sanctuary. ‘Stay!’ she yelled at Amina and Amina had the sense to obey.

      With the inner door closed it was pitch-dark, but she didn’t need to see. She was at the outer door. She could feel the heat.

      She hauled up the latch and tugged, then hauled.

      The door swung wide with a vicious blast of heat and smoke.

      And a body. A great solid body, holding something. Almost falling in.

      A huge, furry creature lunging against her legs.

      ‘Get it...get it sh—’

      Rob. He was beyond speech. He was beyond anything. He crumpled to his knees, gasping for air.

      She knew what he’d been trying to say. She had to get the door shut. She did it but afterwards she never knew how. It felt as if she herself was being sucked out. She fought with the door, fought with everything she had, and finally the great latch Rob had designed with such foresight fell into place.

      But still...the smoke... There was no air. She couldn’t breathe.

      It took effort, will, concentration to find the latch on the inner door but somehow she did. She tugged and Amina was on the other side. As soon as the latch lifted she had it open.

      ‘Danny...’ It was a quavering sob.

      ‘He’s here,’ Rob managed and then slumped sideways into the inner chamber, giving way to the all-consuming black.

      * * *

      Rob surfaced to water. Cool, wondrous water, washing his face. Someone was letting water run over him. There was water on his head. The wool cap was nowhere. There was just water.

      He shifted a little and tasted it, and heard a sob of relief.

      ‘Rob...’

      ‘Julie.’ The word didn’t quite come out, though. His mouth felt thick and swollen. He heard a grunt that must have been him but he couldn’t do better.

      ‘Let me hold you while you drink.’ And she had him. Her arm was supporting his shoulders, and magically there was a bottle of water at his lips. He drank, gloriously grateful for the water, even more grateful that it was Julie who had him. He could see her by the dim light of the torch lamp. Julie...

      ‘The...the boy...’ Maybe it came out, maybe it didn’t, but she seemed to understand what he said.

      ‘Danny’s safe; not even burned. His mother has him. They’re pouring water over Luka’s pads. His pads look like your face. You both look scorched, but okay. It’s okay, Rob.’ Her voice broke. ‘You’ll live. We’ll all live, thanks to you.’

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