Just beyond them, in a pool of liquid that you presume to be gasoline as well, is a person you remember from your first year of school, a heavy, bearded scholar with a bald spot. A ferocious person.

But right now he does not look fierce; he is frightened…

From inside the back hall on the first floor, you can tell that the firefighters have done most of the necessary work. The front of the building is dripping wet. However, the trail of fire still leads down the hall towards the stairwell in the back right …

That's it!

"I think those boxes had cans of gasoline in them, Mr. Burton. I saw the gasoline trail just inside there. Can you come with me? I want to see where the trail leads...maybe Dr Gundersen is still there."

"I'm ready, yeah, I can do this. I've got…

"It was sort of a middle aged guy, not too big, he had been let go after a sort of scandal some time in the past five years. I heard some nasty old stories about 'im."

Your eyes light up. Doctor Gundersen?

"He was carrying some big ol' boxes with him, t…

As you approach, the motion sensor activates. The body you saw before is still leaning against the glass door, and you can see now that it is one of the campus security people; you've nodded in greeting to them time and time again.

You rush over to them, …

Great Scott, that's it!

Ms. Brett... she had not smelled like gasoline!

You sit up painfully, startled. If she had led the trail of gasoline by herself, she would probably have spilled gasoline all over her hands and, most likely, her stockings too.

Whe…

Soon enough, you revive, your face and body splashed with water from fire fighters' hoses. They have not seen you; you're just in the crossfire, as it were.

You lie back, watching the conflagration with a feeling of weary fascination. Your mind wanders ba…

You feel yourself leaning against the welcome mat, pulling it forward, feel the grain of the fibers clinging to your jeans. You fall headfirst, and the mat falls with you.

With a crash, you land right in the brambles; luckily, your eyes were tightly shut…

But as you bend your knees for a final huge leap, you hear a frightened whimper from Ms. Brett, and you feel your center of gravity changing. She's sliding off your shoulders to the left!

And it's too late...you're jumping even as you realize she's starti…

With a huge effort, you force Ms. Brett to a standing position, and drape her body across your back. Piggyback time! It's not ideal by any means, but it seems the best you can do. You try your best to make sure she'll stay on your back, take a step or two…

You decide that you couldn't live with yourself if you let a helpless person perish like that, so you chafe her wrists and even slap her face, always calling out to her.

.

And in time, she does wake up, albeit in a drowsy way. She may have breathed in a b…

[Please visit this page to continue your adventure: https://ficlatte.com/stories/41162]

Thank you.

With a yelp of fear, you spring across the opening, imagining how it would feel to have those sharp tongues of flame lapping at your feet...but you are not burnt. You land, slipping on the floor, which seems slick with some liquid.

You scramble to your f…

Ms. Brett. That's who it is. Your former instructor.

That's who it was, at any rate. You cannot imagine her living through the fall she took.

Feeling obscurely guilty, you fade to black and relax just before the fire trucks arrive.

You're going to be ok…

A head of wavy blond hair appears at the windowsill, haunted, frightened eyes burning into yours. Hands appear, trying to grasp the edge of the window, but the broken glass cuts into the woman's hands.

She gives a scream of pain, startled, and backs up. T…

As you cough and wince at your cuts, you are staring up at the broken window. You feel yourself losing consciousness. Thank goodness the fire and rescue trucks are on their way.

Just before you feel yourself passing out, you see a sudden vision.

Taking a deep breath, you jump as high as you can, trying to make it intact through the window.

Unfortunately, those shards of glass are just too sharp and hazardous. You cut your legs up pretty bad on the way out, and land in the sharp thorny bushes und…

"HELP! Help! Help...."

There is nothing you can do for whoever was calling out. It's probably too late already. You never realized that you weren't alone in that building.

Feeling obscurely guilty, you stumble to your feet and move away from the rema…

You figure you can get out safely enough if you're careful...and that includes covering up those shards of glass along the bottom of the busted window with that thick welcome mat. Good thinking!

With the broken glass covered up, you feel a bit safer. Howe…

You grab up that welcome mat and take it with you. For all you know, it could come in handy. Then you return to the window. You drop the welcome mat at your feet and break the window open with the fire extinguisher. It's badly shattered and there are shar…

You decide it's better for one person to make it out alive than for both of you two to die in a futile attempt to revive the instructor. You rush out of the classroom, disturbing an empty metal tin with your feet. You don't have time to examine the contai…

"Ms. Brett! Come on, now! We've got to get moving!"

You plead for the teacher to rise and come with you, but there's little reaction to your shouting.

Outside the classroom door, you can see that the flames have reached the hallway. If you don't get out…

Despite your feelings about your former instructor, you decide to do what you can to save her life. Hurt feelings can be put aside: this is a human life in jeopardy, and you must do your best.

"Ms. Brett? Can you hear me?"

You stoop beside the woman and s…

You feel little sympathy for Ms. Brett, who failed you a year ago, even though your translation final was, admittedly, not very good. You have walked up to her feet, but now you back up a bit. You can hear her moaning. "Help..."

Decide to help Ms. Brett…

You come to the foot of the aisle and can see the person lying there. It is Ms. Brett, the lecturer who teaches classes on translation. She seems to be only half conscious and has a hand pressed to her forehead. She's not one of your favorite people, bu…