Chapter 8 - The Ashes of Deceit
The explosion threw me backward against the hallway wall.
The entire living room was instantly consumed by blistering, roaring flames.
Thick black smoke began choking the oxygen out of the air.
Miranda used the chaos to sprint toward the back door, leaving her brother trapped under burning debris.
Elias ignored the fire and rushed toward the couch where my father was still unconscious.
The police chief dragged Miranda's screaming brother out the front door into the yard.
I crawled through the thick smoke to help my grandfather lift my father's heavy body.
The flames licked at the ceiling, causing the wooden beams to groan and splinter.
We dragged my father step by step toward the shattered front window.
The heat was unbearable, blistering the skin on my arms and face.
We finally hoisted him over the window sill and collapsed onto the cool grass outside.
I coughed violently, my lungs burning from the toxic smoke.
Elias checked my father's pulse and yelled that it was dangerously weak.
I looked back at the house and saw the roof beginning to cave in.
Suddenly, a loud engine revved violently at the end of our driveway.
Miranda was sitting behind the wheel of her heavy SUV.
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She shifted the car into drive and pressed the gas pedal entirely to the floor.
She was accelerating directly toward us to finish the job.
