Chapter 7
"Mom? Where's Jen?" He shouted, out of breath. She turned around and
ran to
him, her arms outstretched.
"Zac...we don't know where Jen is. We thought you were still inside.
The fire
department is on their way." She cried, holding him. Wordlessly, he
broke
through her embrace and ran straight for the house. The flames had
engulfed
their den and part of the garage. Taylor had moved the cars out to the
street
when he saw the flames. Zac opened the door and was greeted with the
choking,
smoky air. He coughed and pulled his shirt up over his mouth. He left
the
door open, as his family watched him disappear inside the house. He
heard
their screams to come back, but he didn't listen. He ran up to the
bedroom,
shouting her name.
"Jen? Jen? Can you hear me? I need you to make some kind of noise baby.
Jen?"
He looked in the bedroom, in the closets and the bathroom. Finally he
heard a
loud pounding from the den. He flew down the stairs, four at a time and
bolted to the den door. He pounded on it with his fists.
"Jen? Are you in there?"
"Yeah...I am...help me Zac." He heard her weak voice say, between
coughs and
gags from the smoke.
"I'm going to get something to break the door down. Move away from the
door
Jen." He heard her get up as he grabbed a shovel from the nearby
fireplace.
He took the heavy iron handle and with all his strength, hit the hollow
door
with it several times, each time making an indentation. The fourth
strike
broke the door enough for his hand to fit inside the hole and tear the
scraps
of wood away. He could see her face, almost black with soot.
"Okay, Jen? I need you to crawl through this hole for me." She looked
at the
tiny hole and up at his face. He bent over slightly and held his arms
out to
her. She grabbed on and put her arms through, her head following. Zac
grabbed
her and pulled. He could hear the fabric of her shirt and jeans
ripping. Her
head was down and she wriggled to get through the small hole.
"Zac, hurry. I can feel the fire. It's hot." She looked up and him and
he
gave one final tug, getting her hips through. She let go of his arms
and
pulled her legs through. He could see the blood coming through her torn
shirt, contrasting to the blackness of her clothes from the fire.
"Come on! Let's go!" She ran with him, hearing the crackling of the
flames
taking over the door behind her. Zac took her hand and lead her slowly,
not
being able to see more than a foot in front of him. He finally saw the
light
of the door and walked through, clinging Jen close to him. He breathed
in the
clean air and ran to his family. They gave tearful hugs to both him and
Jen.
The fireman got there right then, their sirens loud and shrill,
followed by
two police cars. The chief came over and made sure everyone was out of
the
house and accounted for before they headed inside with their hoses. The
police came over and questioned them about the cause of the fire.
"I know who started it." Jen spoke up. Zac looked at her.
"Me too." They joined hands. Walker and Diana moved the children away
to the
ambulances, before returning to listen in to their story.
"My father was put in jail for the recent physical abuse of me and my
mom,
who is still in the hospital after an attempted murder on her. He must
have
somehow gotten my sisters boyfriend involved, because this morning, he
came
into my bedroom and knocked me unconscious. He took me down to the den,
I
guess, because thats where I woke up. I woke up when I smelled smoke.
About
two minutes later, I heard Zac yelling for me to make noise. So I
started
banging on the walls until he found me, broke the door down and pulled
me
out." The police man looked at Zac, waiting for his side of the story.
"I woke up this morning and I couldn't find my girlfriend. So I looked
around
the house, and when I looked in the bedroom the second time, I found
this
note." He pulled the note out of his pocket and handed it to the
policeman,
who looked at it while Zac continued.
"So I ran down to the dock as fast as I could, where Jared tried
repeatedly
to stab me in the feet from under the dock." The policeman looked down
and
saw Zacs foot, caked in blood and dirt.
"Son, I think we better get that checked out. Can you tell me where
your dock
is?" Zac nodded as the policeman helped him hobble over to the
ambulance, Jen
following close behind. He sat down on the edge of the ambulance and
lifted
his foot up, telling the policman how to get to the dock. Jen suddenly
felt a
cold chill shiver down her spine and turned around to see a dark figure
in
the woods, peering through the bushes. She wanted to scream, to panic.
But
she calmly turned around and tapped the policeman on the shoulder.
"He's over there in the bushes I just saw him." The policeman looked
beyond
her and took off running toward him. Jen sank down beside Zac and took
his
hand in hers. Her tears rolled off her face, erasing the soot in thin
lines.
"I was so scared." She sobbed. They both looked up when they saw Jared
walking toward them in handcuffs, accompanied by the policeman. He was
shoved
into the car headfirst.
"Good job for being smart enough not to panic. If you would've done
that, he
might've gotten away." The policman said, out of breath. Jen nodded and
watched as the paramedics slowly cleaned Zacs foot.
"Are you okay miss? Any medical attention needed?" She lifted up her
tattered
shirt to reveal a large scrape on her back. The policeman nodded and
got
another paramedic to assist her.
Jen looked out across the yard, filled
with
blue and red flashing lights and sighed. It was over. All of it was
over. For
now...