imperfect (35 page)

As the dust grew thicker, Kristi realized
she wasn’t breathing in dust; she was breathing in smoke. The
building was on fire.

“
Kristi!” She heard Troop
call her name. “I can’t find you! Are you still at the table we
were sitting at?”

“
Yeah,” she replied. “I
couldn’t get out of the booth fast enough before the wall crumpled
over it.”

The air around her grew thicker and hotter.
Desperately, she searched for some passage out of her confinements.
There was a tiny gap near the ground; at most, it was only a foot
wide.

Kristi pressed the back of her hands against
the wall; it was hot, signaling the fire was very close by.

“
Can you get out of the
restaurant?” Kristi asked Troop, who was on the other side of the
wall.

“
I think so.” His voice
sounded dry and croaky from the smoke. “There’s a path to the door,
but the fire’s going to burn through the path soon.”

“
Get out of the building
now. And call the fire crew if they haven’t already been
called.”

“
Are you able to get out?”
Troop asked.

Kristi’s eyes watered from
the smoke; her nose burned from the acrid smell of things on fire.
Sweat dripped down her back and glistened on her forehead; the
temperature rose intensely. She went into panic mode.
I’m going to die! I don’t want to be burned to
death. Or maybe I’ll suffocate in this blanket of smoke. I don’t
want to die—I’m only sixteen.

“
Kristi, are you all
right?” Troop’s voice brought her back to reality.

“
Yeah.” The tone of her
voice said otherwise.

Something thumped on the wall barricading
her from the rest of the restaurant. The walls shook a bit and
plaster pieces sprinkled down.

“
Troop, get yourself out
of here,” Kristi said in her most authoritative voice. “You’re not
much good dead.”

She wiped a bead of sweat off her brows and
sucked in some air through pursed lips, trying not to inhale too
much smoke. Then she kicked at the gap near the floor, hoping to
widen it somehow.

“
Kristi, try to break down
the wall from the inside and I’ll work on it from the outside,”
Troop said.

“
I thought I told you to
get out!”

“
Shut up and listen to me.
If we don’t work together, neither of us will get out alive. Do you
see any weak spots in the wall?”

“
There’s a small opening
near the ground and—” A coughing fit overcame her.

“
Alright,” Troop
said.

Both of them worked simultaneously at
chipping away the plaster wall around Kristi’s only escape route.
She kicked, pounded and clawed at the wall. No matter how fast or
hard they tore at the wall, it seemed like the gap was only
widening a few millimeters at a time.

Her oxygen deprived muscles screamed at her
to stop working and just give up. Her eyes and nose felt like they
were on fire; her vision started to blur, strength beginning to
wane.

“
Hang in there.” Troop
sounded tired and spent.

A minute later, the gap had widened to about
a foot and a half. Kristi could see Troop’s hands working,
furiously hacking away at the wall.

“
I think I can fit
through,” Kristi croaked, her throat parched.

Flames licked at the backside of Troop and
Kristi could see sweat pouring down his neck. She thrust her upper
body through the space and squirmed her way through. The hardwood
floor was covered with hot ashes and cinder, singeing her cheeks as
she slid out from beneath the table.

“
Thanks,” she
said.

“
Come on, let’s run for
the back door.”

Kristi followed Troop through the flaming
restaurant, dancing over smoldering pieces of furniture and dodging
ceiling chunks that were falling from above. The front of the
restaurant was completely engulfed in flames. The back of the
restaurant was rapidly being eaten away by the never-satisfied
inferno.

The glass door leading to
the outside world never looked so significant. Kristi put all her
focus on getting to the exit she didn’t notice when a ceiling beam
dropped down with a
THUD!
She leapt backwards in surprise. Had she taken
one more step forward, she would’ve been dead and burnt
crispy.

With a five-foot high wall of flames cutting
her off from freedom, Kristi was out of ideas on what to do. Behind
her was an impenetrable blockade of fire. Yellow and black spots
danced in the corner of Kristi’s vision. She felt her body start to
shut itself down. The smoke, the heat, the stress and the lack of
clean air were taking its toll.

chapter
thirty-five

[ Troop ]

Kristi looked like a dead person.

But she’s not dead,
Troop ferociously thought to himself.

“
Sorry, Kristi,” he said,
and then gave her a hard slap to the face.

Her eyelids flew open.

“
Ow! What the hell?” she
grated.

“
Don’t lose consciousness
on me.” His voice was equally gravelly. “Can you stand?”

He offered her a hand up, which she
accepted. They stumbled out of the sandwich shop and traveled a few
blocks before Kristi’s legs buckled in on her. She leaned against a
wall to regain her strength.

Troop looked back at the sandwich shop,
where the conflagration still burned. “Wait here. I’ll be back
soon.”

“
It’s not like I’m in
shape to go anywhere.”

Troop left her, feeling
apprehensive at leaving her alone; but they needed water.
Where can I get some water? All of the shops are
closed and it’s not like I can walk up to someone’s house and ask
for a bottle of water.

He wandered around, keeping track of all the
turns he made; getting lost in the city was the last thing he
wanted to happen right now. The thought of Kristi parched and lying
in the streets spurred him into a faster pace.

A wishing fountain
appeared ahead. Excited at the prospect of getting a drink, he
broke into a jog. The water shimmered in the granite basin, clear
as crystal. He reached his hands into the fountain to splash some
water onto his face…and felt nothing.
What’s going on?

He leaned down to inspect the water and his
spirits sunk. It was holographic water. Troop spun on his heels and
continued his search for water.

Please let me find water
soon,
he thought. As if some water god had
heard his prayers, a parked solar-truck with the words “Wayland
Water” printed on the side appeared ahead.
Finally a stroke of luck.

He scrambled over to the truck. The padlock
on the truck was rusty and weak; with some effort, Troop was able
to snap it off, brown flakes of rust shedding off the lock.
Glancing around to make sure no one was in the proximity, he lifted
up the back of the truck, wincing at the screeching sound it
made.

“
Jackpot,” he whispered to
himself.

Crates upon crates of water bottles sat upon
each other inside the truck; ripe fruits ready for picking. Troop
snatched two water bottles from the closest box and pulled down the
back door of the truck. Then he leapt down from the edge and
sprinted back to Kristi, clutching the two bottles like they were
bottles of liquid gold.

Kristi looked better when he got back to
her.

“
Anybody see you?” Troop
asked.

She shook her head. He ripped off part of
his shirt and wetted it, then pressed the wet rag over her forehead
and she moaned in appreciation. Kristi’s hands trembled sponging
herself with the cool, soothing piece of cloth.

“
Here, take a sip,” Troop
said. He handed her a water bottle.

Most of the water ended up dribbling down
her shirt rather than in her mouth, but nevertheless, she let out a
groan as the water revived much of her. Troop downed his own bottle
in a few swallows.

Then he took a few seconds to assess their
state of being. Kristi’s eyes were bloodshot and her hair plastered
against her neck from perspiration. He himself was feeling sore and
weak; Troop was pretty sure he was as equally as disheveled as
Kristi.

“
How are you feeling?” he
asked.

“
Like my skin got turned
into cracked leather.”

“
We have to return to the
Filches as fast as possible,” he said. “It’s fifteen minutes past
curfew and we’re still a ten minute walk away from their
apartment.”

However, in their bedraggled condition, the
walk would take much longer than ten minutes. Kristi staggered to
her feet and drudged after Troop. The uneven cobblestone ground
didn’t make walking any easier and she almost tripped several
times; Troop drew in a sharp breath every time she stumbled, but
wasn’t sure if Kristi would welcome his help if he offered his arm
for support.

Instead, he said, “Do you want to stop for a
break?”

Kristi shook her head and motioned for him
to go on. Troop slowed down his steps. Kristi looked like she was
about to say something, but changed her mind.

The full moon perched in its nest of clouds,
sending beams of moonlight upon the land below. The clouds
scattered the light, creating a surreal effect.

Distracted by the warped lighting, Kristi
didn’t notice Troop slow down even more to match her steps until
she felt his arm supporting her around the waist; she stiffened her
back. Troop directed her a questioning look.

Kristi returned with a neutral expression.
Gradually, she relaxed her muscles and allowed Troop to bear most
of her weight.

“
At least twenty minutes
has passed,” Kristi said a while later.

Troop checked out the street sign nearest to
them and cursed. “I think we doubled back by accident.”

“
Do you think we can just
find someplace to crash for the night? I don’t think we’ll be able
to find our way back to the Filches without getting caught by a
curfew patrol.”

“
I’m so stupid,” Troop
said suddenly. “Why didn’t I think of using UnivMaps to find our
way back to the apartment?”

He pulled out his miraculously intact
electro-slate and clicked on its power button. Nothing happened.
The screen didn’t even flicker the tiniest bit. The heat from the
fire must’ve caused some type of malfunction in the slate; either
that or the electro-slate’s power must’ve run out—but that was
highly unlikely since he regularly charged his slate, and a fully
charged slate didn’t need to be recharged for up to three full
days.

Kristi fumbled through her pockets and found
her electro-slate. The screen had a slight crack to it, but other
than that, it seemed to be unharmed. She jabbed at the power
button. Like Troop’s electro-slate, her slate refused to turn on as
well.

“
This sucks,” she
mumbled.

“
Let’s head over to the
park across from this street,” Troop said. “We should be able to
spend the night in the wooded area without being seen by the
patrols.”

They trotted over to a cluster of trees and
benches (a little wooden sign declared their shelter to be a
Meditation Garden). Troop slumped down on a bench across from
Kristi, leaning his forehead against the palms of his hand. He
watched Kristi struggle to find a comfortable position on the hard
stone bench.

A couple sets of footsteps stomped by
outside, patrols making their rounds. But no one ever checked out
their hiding place. After making sure Kristi was fast asleep, Troop
gave himself the permission to close his own eyes and drifted off
to dreamland.

chapter
thirty-six

[ Kristi ]

It was the cold that woke
Kristi up. The temperature had dropped
dramatically overnight and her flesh was covered in goose
bumps. She sat up, feeling stiff from sleeping on the rigid bench;
she did her best to stretch out the aches that had settled into her
muscles. Kristi rubbed her hands together, warming herself up.
Troop wasn’t around anymore. She checked the time to confirm curfew
had already ended.

Then she finger-combed her hair into a messy
ponytail and left the protection of the Meditation Garden. Luckily,
the park wasn’t a busy place to be at five in the morning because
Kristi was pretty sure she would be getting plenty of odd stares
given her current appearance; it was hard to look or feel normal
after barely escaping an explosion and then having to spend the
night out in the cold.

She scanned the grounds and made out Troop
coming towards her.

“
Oh good, you’re up,” he
said upon reaching Kristi. “I just got directions to the Filches’
apartment. It’s actually not too far from this park.”

“
G-g-ood,” she chattered,
still feeling the nip of the morning coldness.

She only had on a black cotton t-shirt and
jeans; her jacket got left behind in the sandwich shop yesterday.
Kristi was sure Troop felt the cold too because he didn’t have a
jacket or sweatshirt either, though he didn’t show it.

“
Do you think you can
run?” Troop asked. “It’ll warm you up and we’ll be able to get to
the apartment faster than walking.”

She nodded and they set off at a slow jog.
Kristi’s stomach complained loudly for being forced to run on
empty. Thankfully, navigating the city by daylight proved to be
less confusing. The welcoming view of the Filches’ residence never
looked so good.