Chapter 6 - The Ring of Fire
The intense heat of the blazing fire immediately sucked the oxygen out of the underground cellar.
Victoria coughed violently, ripping a piece of fabric from her expensive gown to cover her mouth.
She rushed over to the bleeding boy on the floor and applied heavy pressure to his gunshot wound.
Leo fell to his knees beside them, desperately clutching his injured brother's hand.
"We have to get out of here right now," Victoria yelled over the roaring flames.
She looked frantically around the room, realizing the heavy steel door was completely impenetrable.
The flames were quickly spreading toward the highly flammable casks of vintage whiskey stored in the back.
"The ventilation shaft," Julian gasped weakly, pointing a bloody finger toward the ceiling.
High above the burning wine racks, a small metal industrial fan was spinning slowly.
Victoria knew it was their only chance for survival.
She grabbed a heavy wooden ladder and dragged it toward the roaring wall of fire.
"Climb, Leo, go right now!" she ordered, practically lifting the uninjured boy onto the first rung.
Leo scrambled up the wooden ladder like a frightened squirrel.
Victoria then wrapped her arms around Julian, lifting the injured boy onto her back despite his dead weight.
She climbed the ladder desperately, feeling the intense heat blistering her bare arms.
Just as she reached the top, the wooden rungs beneath her feet began to loudly crack and splinter.
Leo kicked the metal grate off the ventilation shaft and pulled his bleeding brother inside.
Victoria leaped into the narrow metal duct just as the ladder collapsed completely into the inferno below.
A massive explosion shook the foundation of the house as the whiskey casks finally detonated.
The sheer force of the blast shot them violently through the metal tubes like ragdolls.
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They tumbled out onto the cold grass of the back lawn, gasping desperately for fresh, cool air.
But before they could even celebrate their narrow escape, blinding spotlights suddenly snapped on from every direction.
