point their hoses at the fire to try to wrangle it under control.
“I’d go back for any of you,” I say, voice eerily calm, a complete contradiction to the rapid beat of my heart. Oscar and Johnny’s faces filter through my brain. Half of me is missing. Literally half. I clamp down on my jaw and focus on what’s right in front of me. “I’m going in, Brawler.”
I turn away from him and walk right into a black-clad fireman. He tips his yellow hat up to gaze down at me past his blackened nose. “You can’t be this close. Get back. Let us do our jobs.”
“One of my friends is still in there,” I tell him, pointing back at the burning building, not even knowing if it’s true. If he’s not in there, where the hell is he? He would’ve been trying to find us already if he was okay.
The fireman takes my shoulders in a firm grip. “I’m sorry, Miss, but you have to get back. We’ll do our best to save anyone who’s still in there, but we can’t go in until the fire is under control.”
A groaning sound comes from the building. The fireman whirls around, hands spread out, blocking us as he simultaneously moves us back. The roof nearest to us collapses into itself. A volcano of ash and flames lick toward the sky until it rains down white, snow-like cinders.
“Oscar!” I scream, but the sound I make is only eaten up by the void. My heart squeezes painfully. The thought of Oscar inside, trapped under the burning roof almost brings me to my knees. The fireman runs forward, leaving us there and dodging people and police. He yells at everyone to “Get back!”
Brawler wraps his hands around me from behind, dragging me backward a few feet. “We just have to wait.”
“Fuck that,” I snarl. Desperation triggers my muscles to move. I push away from Brawler, heading in the opposite direction the fireman went. I scan the building, looking for another door, looking for Oscar, for anything. All the while, Johnny’s pained expression stays forefront in my mind. If there’s a chance we can save Oscar, I’m going to do it. Then, I’m going to kill whoever took Johnny, make them suffer like I know he’s suffering right now.
Magnum and Brawler flank me as we make our way around the side of the building. A cop stands in front of a barricade that leads down the alleyway between this building and the next. He straightens when he sees us moving toward him. We must look like a sight. Brawler and I in fight gear, but looking like we took a bath in char. Then, there’s Mag, the ever-steady sentinel whose usual calm demeanor is marred by the sweat and fallen embers that litter his clothes.
“You can’t go back there,” he says. “It’s been deemed unsafe.”
“We’re looking for our friend. He was in there,” I say again. Panic has taken control over my voice until I barely recognize it. It’s high and squeaky, riddled with heartache.
The cop’s lips thin. He gives me a pitying look that does nothing but anger me. “Listen, you’re better off heading back the way you came and then give his name to—”
I don’t give him a chance to finish his sentence. I fake him out, squeezing past him and ducking under the white and orange roadblock that acted as a barrier. My feet slap the uneven pavement as I take off at a run. No doubt I’ll have cuts and scrapes on the bottom of my feet, but I don’t feel anything right now, other than the determination to find Oscar no matter where he is.
Luckily, the other end of the alleyway isn’t manned yet. I turn the corner, scanning the wall for a different entrance. This side of the building isn’t quite so chaotic with people, so hope blooms inside me. If I could just find a door. Something. Anything.
Except for blown-out windows, the fire hasn’t even reached this side of the building. I skip over the glass as best I can until a scream pierces the air.
I spin on my heel. Further down the block, a gang of guys spill out of an alleyway. Hands shove a dark-haired boy to his knees and aim a gun at his head. Fear crawls its way up my throat. That’s Oscar. “No!”
I run toward them. They’ve angled themselves away from the building, so I can’t see what’s happening, but I don’t stop. The