esmé
Shockedwho: kaori, esmé & aamir---OPEN TO OTHER 2ND FLOOR RESIDENTS
when: 4am!
where: esme's room
When the fire alarm went off, Kaori sat bolt upright in bed, at first thinking an attack was going on, and someone had sounded the alarm. Half stumbling out of bed--she hit the floor when one of the blankets tangled around her ankle, she scrambled up, running for the door. Upon opening it, her eyes went wide.
Oh god... she thought, immediately running towards Esmé's room. She was going to need help. They were going to have to get her out, she couldn't...and the wheelchair lift was going to be too goddamn slow!! Gah! She stopped midway through the hall to run back to her room and grab her key for Esmé's door, then went back to it, having to try once or twice to get the damn thing in the keyhole, but then finally did, opening it up. "Esmé!!" she cried, rushing to the bedside to shake her.
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Esmé was having a wonderful
Esmé was having a wonderful dream when she felt the world begin to shake. She felt hot. Very hot. And something smelled bad. Her eyes fluttered open to the sight of- was that Kaori?- standing over her, shaking her and saying something. She was loud enough that Esmé could hear *something*, but with her earplugs in, couldn't make it out clearly. Her legs kicked out as she looked up at Kaori. "Waa goon on?" Her mouth never did work well when she first woke up, and her body seemed to be going into overdrive with the sudden awakening. She tried to reach up to rub her eyes, but her arms didn't want to cooperate. Now that she was awake though, she could definitely smell and feel that something was Not Right.
...
The alarms woke Aamir. He was on his feet before he knew what was happening. His body reacted on instinct. His mind was still half asleep. Smoke cleared his thoughts, if not his lungs. Barefoot, shirtless, he hurried to the door, pressed his palm against it. Cool. Safe, for now. He ran out into the hall, careening through Esmé's open door.
Kaori looked back when
Kaori looked back when someone else came in, and thank god it was someone bigger than she was. She didn't know how fast the chair was, or how fast even the wheelchair lift would be going, but she knew that they didn't have time to find out. "Aamir--help me please, we need to get Esmé downstairs and outside right now, I can't carry her--I need you to." she said, tugging Esmé's covers down. To her, she said. "There's a fire, we need to get out, right now." she told her, attempting to gain composure as her mind was already reeling on everything else, getting everyone out. Everyone. Forty some people. Good god.
Esmé felt the wind as the
Esmé felt the wind as the door was opened, and her bleary eyes opened wider when she saw Aamir burst in. Now she could definitely feel the heat and knew it could be just one thing- fire. Huge by the amount of heat it was generating. She started crying, both in fear and relief that Aamir had been there along with Kaori. She didn't know what she would have done without them. She tried to maneuver herself to the side of the bed, but her body was barely cooperating. "Aammm!" she yelled, reaching out clumsily for him. She could tell that Kaori was trying to tell her something, but was too flustered to even try reading her lips right now.
...
Aamir didn't answer either woman. He grabbed at the bed coverings. Fabric. A sheet, a blanket, he wasn't sure which. Something came free from where it was tucked into the mattress. He flung an end carelessly around Esmé's shoulders, bent down, picked her up with a grunt. Adrenaline surged. She didn't weigh much. He headed for the door, trailing the bedclothes behind him.
Kaori didn't say anything
Kaori didn't say anything when she saw Aamir comply, and she looked around, mostly at the chair. Eyes ticking to the smoke in the hallway, and the flames she could still hear roaring in her ears, she knew she didn't have time. Besides. She was an official house member. She needed to make sure everyone else got out too. So she ran back out into the hallway, trying to see who was running for the stairs, and who's doors might not be opened yet.
Esmé's head was clearing as
Esmé's head was clearing as she realized what was going on- only to be struck a moment later by a tremendous coughing fit as the smoke started hitting her. She willed her arms to hold onto Aamir tight as he carried her, knowing that right now there was no way in hell she was going to be even walking, much less running, anywhere.
He could feel Esmé's body twitching. It was as if she was struggling. Aamir wished he had wrapped the sheets tighter around her.
"Bismillah," he pleaded as they reached the stairs. God, don't let me drop her. The sound of flames roared up the staircase, audible even over the screaming alarms. Smoke billowed. He tuned it all out. Focused on the stairs, on keeping his footing.
Esmé couldn't hear what Aamir was saying, but she thought it was a prayer of some sort. She wished her damn body would stop fighting so much. The last thing she needed right now was to be dropped on the ground. She just closed her eyes against the smoke, still coughing up a storm, and said a silent prayer of her own. Our father, who art in heaven...
The ground floor was burning too. The heat was like a physical presence, a curtain he had to push against. Smoke made Aamir cough. He drew a breath, tried to hold it. Just a few more steps. The foyer seemed to stretch, twice the distance it usually was. Finally, the doors. He shouldered his way through the crowd, tried not to bump Esmé's feet against the door frame. The air outside felt cold--a welcome relief.
Esmé gasped at the first breath of fresh air she had managed to get since Kaori had shaken her awake. It was cold, but compared to the inferno inside, it was welcome. She opened her eyes and looked up through her tears at Aamir, the wonderful man who had basically just saved her life. "Faankoo" she muttered, her mouth still not behaving properly.
"You're welcome," Aamir said, automatically, distracted. People were milling around. Some were moving out onto the grounds. Heading toward a small building. The chapel? Firelight flickered, jumped. Cast long shadows, robbed the eyes of perspective. Trees loomed, then receded. Aamir half expected to hear the whine of bullets. His side throbbed. He set Esmé on her feet, supporting her with one arm.
"Here. I don't want you to catch cold," he said. He fumbled with the blankets, trying to wrap them more securely around her.
Esmé was trying her hardest to stand, but it was very wobbly, and she had a feeling they would go at any minute. Now that she was able to get a good look, she saw that the whole house seemed to be on fire. Aamir was wrapping her more tightly. She saw people running towards the chapel. She breathed deeply, trying to calm herself. It's okay, spazz. You're fine. As long as Aamir's here, you're fine.
D launched out of bed as
D launched out of bed as soon as he heard the shit go off, tripped over something on the floor and ran smack into the bedpost with his face. That didn't slow him down much, even if he felt a trickle of blood on his upper lip. He scrambled for the door, grabbing up a t-shirt to put over his mouth and nose. He'd been in a housefire before. Or rather, an apartment building that had burned, but he knew what the fuck was up. Keeping low, he tapped the doorknob to see if it was hot. It wasn't. He opened the door and headed out into the hallway, sort of half-crouched over, trying to get his bearings for the stairs.
It took awhile for Blair to
It took awhile for Blair to come out of her medication induced sleep. It was the alarms that did it, forcing her up in bed with a gasp. She pushed her eye mask up and off her head before belatedly realizing there was a fire. Her immediate reaction was to save her things. All of her expensive things. Her clothes. Her shoes. Scrambling out of bed, Blair grabbed her robe and slid it on before shoving her feet into her shoes. All her things were going to be ruined. Destroyed. The only thing logic let her do was grab her ring and watch from her table, along with her prescription bottle and she hurried from the room, snatching her sweater from the back of her desk chair to place over her mouth as she ran from her room toward the stairs.
If the whole damn house burned down, those scientists were going to replace every. single. item. or she would find them and set them on fire herself.
.
Sally had been dreaming of fire, trapped in a nightmare of flames so that when she actually awoke, it took her a moment to orientate herself. But that moment was all it took before she was up and out, pulling on her dressing gown and finding her slippers. What took the time was finding Flossie - she wasn't leaving the kitten. She was finally located cowering under the bed, refusing to come out. "I don't have time for this," Sally muttered to herself, grabbing the kitten by the scruff and hauling her out before they headed out, the kitten hissing and scratching as they neared the flames. At one point, Flossie successfully leapt from Sally's arms and started to run off, but she was caught by Gwil, who was also heading out of his room and between them they got the little cat down the stairs and outside.
.
Comfortable and asleep, Cortez had been dreaming. He'd been trapped in a memory, sepia-toned and pleasant enough to etch a smile on his lips as he relived childhood days. He and his sister Rosa, neither a decade old, both dying to see the marble fireplace of their villa put to some use. Of course, a boy of nine who had relied on servants his whole life had no idea how to open a flue, and he'd reached the point where the house had filled with smoke and he was due a beating from his father.
Small mercy, then, that he snapped awake before the belt's lashes cracked home; pulled from his slumber by a low whine of urgency from Anubis and the foul taste of ash in his mouth. Cortez's gut seized tight with dread as he looked to the door and the orange flickers dancing under it's edge, to the smoke pooling beyond it. It was no trick, the sounds of frantic escape from beyond told him as much. "Hannah!" he snapped, reaching for her next to him and giving a rough shake, "Wake up! I think there's a fire, we must go now."
.
Hannah wasn't a fan of waking up when she didn't want to, and that included what felt like a very short time from the time she'd fallen asleep. So the rough shake she received had her automatically grumbling her way to wakefulness, swatting at the hand on her shoulder. "...the fuck?" she mumbled, yawning and stretching. "What the hell is going on now?" Then his words actually registered and she sat up, reaching out for Anubis. "Wait, what?" she asked, automatically grabbing for her dog's service harness, sliding him into it with the ease of practice. "Are you fucking with me, Cortez?"
.
"Never!" Cortez snapped in sudden agitation, swinging both feet over the side of the bed to let bare feet touch down. "Even if it is a small fire, we cannot sit! Do not dress..." he began to say, frowning as his feet settled on the floor, feeling the faintest hints of warmth, "We have very little time." He stood up, casting a mournful glance at Hannah's cello and thinking of his own possesions; if this were severe, they would all be lost. Such was the fate of things though, and Cortez resigned himself to it as he moved for their door, then swung it open. "Quickly now," he called back, eying the haze of smoke in the air. "We must be fast or the smoke will claim us where the flames do not."
.
"Well, is it a small fire?" Hannah asked, clipping a secondary leash to Anubis' collar and sliding out of bed and into a pair of slippers. Dressing wouldn't be a huge issue; she was wearing pants and a tank. Perfectly acceptable for running around in, as long as no one was having any dinner parties. "Because we do have fire extinguishers." She, of course, had no idea of the severity of the fires. She could smell smoke, but that only meant there was a fire, not how close it was nor how big. "Cello," she said, knowing it would take her only a moment or two to stick the instrument in its case and take it with her. "Two seconds."
.
"No," Cortez answered to her first question as he caught the wash of light along the hallways, ducking low and peering out to see the doors nearby already open. "We must go, now. Two seconds is more time than we may have." How could he know what the damage was, or if it was contained to their floor? He looked back, swinging the door mostly shut to cap the flow of smoke as he waited for her, ready to bolt.
.
"I'll risk it," Hannah said, fingers working on loosening the bolt that held the end pin out. It was a little tight; after a second or two, she got it loosened and shoved the pin in so she could place it in the case. "Go ahead," she told Cortez. "Anubis and I'll be right behind you." It was probably very stupid, what she was doing, but the cello she was trying to save was like her child; she couldn't dream of leaving it to potentially burn any more than she could leave her dog.
.
"You will not!" Cortez snapped, moving from the door to wrest the cello from Hannah's hands and throw it on the bed. The last thing he needed as he did was the sudden growl from Anubis, the raised hackles, the bared teeth. Already worried about burning alive, Cortez somehow found room to fear the beast, and he made no move to touch Hannah in the moment after. "Please," he pleaded instead, "Please do not tell me that it is worth more than our safety. Please, Hannah," he repeated again, "We need to go."
.
"I'm not saying anything about your safety," Hannah snapped at him, though she reached out to make sure Anubis was going to stand down. "I'm talking about myself. You're free to go, but this arguing is wasting time I could be using to pack that bitch up and peace out." She grabbed the case and brushed past him, coughing a little as the strong, acrid smell of smoke hit her.
.
"And it is time we do not have!" Cortez reiterated, moving to intercept her and seize Hannah by the wrist. He hated the rough way he had to shake the case from her hand, but in the moment Cortez was determined to ignore his pangs of conscience. "Not just you, or I! I saw someone outside by the stairs, waiting for people! We are for all of our sakes! Hate me later, and let your damned dog attack if you must!" That said, he flung the door open with his free hand, dragging both Hannah and Anubis, by proxy, out the door.
.
Of course she wasn't going to let Anubis attack, but Hannah was pissed as Cortez manhandled her around. She was busy making sure Anubis wasn't about to take a chunk out of him and struggling to get her arm free as Cortez dragged her from her room, but her attention was caught by the sudden volume increase in the sound of the fire, the heat in the air, the thick smoke she was suddenly breathing. All of it combined to drive home the point that this was no runaway candle and she stopped dragging her heels. She was getting it from both ends, anyway, since Anubis was doing his level best to get the fuck out, too, and was eagerly matching Cortez's pace. "You son of a bitch," she settled for saying in a tone that was a mixture of fury and loss, and punching him in the arm as hard as she could.
.
"Later!" he echoed, flinching as her fist sent the muscles into his arm into a temporary spasm and he concentrated more on seeing through the ashy air to the stairs. Cortez scowled at the figure waving him forward, familiar enough but lacking a name in the midst of crisis, and bent low to draw in a breath. "Go!" he called to them, "Do not linger!" Even as he got closer and garnered details, he couldn't come up with Kaori's name, but he'd definitely owe her later. "Do not rush the steps," he said back in warning to Hannah as his own feet went over the edge of the stairway.
.
"No shit," Hannah snapped, wishing she had something with which to cover her mouth as she caught another wracking fit. "I know... how to walk... down stairs." That last interspersed between coughs. She jerked her arm out of his grip, reaching out for the banister. She was good, but she felt too unsteady with Cortez on one arm and Anubis on the other and didn't want to do the whole 'fumbling with her feet to find the stair edges' thing.
"Si, si," he answered,
He was glad, in hindsight, that he'd moved down here. THe thought of hacking his way through five floors of this with Hannah in tow was nightmarish, and Cortez found room to count his blessings as he let out a harsh cough. He moved fast down the stairway, lingering at the bottom to watch her descend. Cortez would've preferred to be right there, but between the punch and the yanking her arm free, he knew better than to intervene again. If he was being honest? He would've loved to just sling her over his shoulder. But as it was, Cortez stood there, stooping to breathe as little smoke as he could. "The doors are still clear, thank god!" he wheezed up.
"Even if they weren't you'd probably play fucking fire hero and break a window," Hannah muttered, quicker to descend once she had something to hold onto. "Come on, Anubis," she said, trusting the dog to lead her to the front door and not run her into anything on fire. She bent nearly double as she coughed again, dizzy but still moving.
Cortez wasn't sure why, but he found himself laughing harder at that than he knew he should, given the situation. He'd never been a victim of smoke inhalation either, so the connection was lost as he grinned at his knees, hunched over and waiting for her. "No need!" he repeated, looking back over her way as Anubis kept her clear of burning debris on the stairs. From where he was, Cortez could hear faint calls from outside and over the noise of the fire, and they were welcome sounds indeed.,
"Just fucking go," Hannah said, missing the connection as well and pretty much just disgusted that he was laughing at a time like this. She'd caught up to him, pinpointed his location by his laughter, and reached out to give him a little push. Pissed as she was at him, she wasn't going to leave him to die in a fire. Well, she might have considered it for a second but that was it, honest.
"Si, si," he answered, standing straight as Hannah came close and rubbing his streaming eyes to ward off the smoke. He started moving again with the little shove, stumbling slightly as a wave of dizzyness washed over him but pushing for the door anyway. "I heard others outside," he gasped, moving for the darkness beyond the open front doors, "Do you think anyone else is still in here?" As much as he didn't want to, Cortez paused in the doorframe with the thought, giving a hazy look over one shoulder at the fiery ruins of the house.
"We'll have to figure that out later," Hannah said, giving him another push as he paused in front of her, causing her to bump into him. "You're not going back in there. Move, for christ's sake. I can't fucking breathe." There was a tight band around her chest, constricting her breathing, and she was getting dizzy again.
With a low grumble, Cortez stepped back to give Hannah room, grudgingly pulling himself away to follow. If anyone else had lingered in leaving? God have mercy, he thought, turning and starting towards faint forms in the distance that seemed to be heading off towards the chapel.