Chapter 113 FLAMES 2

Chapter 113 FLAMES 2
Nancy's POV

It felt like I had stepped directly into a nightmare. The deafening explosion, the suffocating heat, the bright orange flames turning into a wall of death right before my eyes—and my daughter was nowhere to be seen. I couldn't see Renna. I couldn't see Anna.

But Kelvin wouldn't let me go. I thrashed against his chest, I screamed until my throat bled, I bit down hard into his shoulder to force him to release me so I could run into the fire and find my baby, but his arms remained like iron bands around my waist.

The horrifying thoughts of what the fire was doing to them sent a manic, agonizing breakdown straight through my mind. I felt like I was losing my sanity. I prayed. I screamed to a God I wasn't sure was listening. It felt like my entire world had ended in a single second. The world went completely blank inside my head, the sound of the crackling fire fading into a dead, terrifying quiet in my ears.

Until I heard her.

“Mom!”

I froze. My breath hitched in my throat. I prayed, I begged, desperately asking God to let it be real. Please, let her be real. “Nancy!”

Annabella’s voice suddenly joined the air, instantly shattering the terrifying quietness in my head. I whipped around, my eyes scanning the smoke until they landed on the front balcony. There they were. Renna and Anna.

They were both completely safe. They were standing right there, with no scratches on their bodies, looking at the smoke in shock. They were okay.

A breathless, sobbing cry tore from my lips as I sprinted across the dirt toward them. The moment I reached Renna, I collapsed to my knees and violently pulled her into my chest, hugging her so tightly against my skin. Her tiny, fragile frame was shaking violently against mine, her own tears spilling over as she clung to my neck.

“Mom, I'm scared,” she sobbed into my shoulder.

“It's okay, honey... it's okay, I'm right here. Mommy's here,” I wept, my voice shaking uncontrollably as I ran my trembling hands through her hair, desperate to anchor both of us to reality.

Anna stood beside us, her eyes wide with a frantic, questioning terror before she spoke, her voice rising in panic. “Where is Mum? Don't tell me she's still inside the chicken house? And where is Kelvin? He was just standing right there!”

Anna froze, her face draining of color.

Mum was in the chicken house. A violent new rush of panic shot straight through my veins, obliterating the relief from a moment ago.

“Here—hold Renna! Call the fire service, call 911 right now!” I ordered Anna, practically shoving the crying little girl into her arms.

I turned on my heel and dashed inside the house. Moving in a blind blur of adrenaline, I soaked my clothes completely wet under the tap, grabbed two heavy fire extinguishers from the hallway, and sprinted back outside into the smoke. Dragging the heavy metal canisters toward the spreading flames, my heart hammered against my ribs.

I lifted the first extinguisher, pulled the pin, and began blasting the chemical spray, desperately trying to quench the fierce flames that had already broken through and swallowed the front door of the chicken house.

I managed to clear a path through the smoke to the entryway, and the moment I breached the threshold, I was met by Kelvin. And he was holding onto my mother.

“Mom!” I dropped the heavy steel canister to the floor, coughing through the smoke as I rushed straight into her arms.

“Oh my God, Nancy... you're okay,” I heard her whisper hoarsely, her arms wrapping around me, her body trembling against mine.

“I will make a way out for the both of you,” I said, my voice tight as I looked around at the burning wood. “I'll try to hold the fire back as much as I can until the fire department gets here.”

My gaze shifted from my mother over to Kelvin, but the moment I looked at him, my mother immediately shook her head.

“No, it's too dangerous, Nancy! The fire is already spreading out the back. Let's just get out and wait until the fire department arrives,” my mother insisted, tugging on my arm.

“Your mom is right, Nancy. It's too risky,” Kelvin added, his voice strained.

He moved his arm, and it was only then, as his left hand came into my clear view, that I saw the horrific, blistering burn coating his skin. A sharp wave of guilt crashed over me. I felt so utterly terrible, so sick to my stomach, that I couldn't even bring myself to look him in the eyes. He had been burned while trying to save my family.

“The two of you need to go right now,” I said, forcing the emotion out of my voice as I stepped past them to clear the remaining flames from the exit pathway. “I will stay and try to herd our livestock away from the flames until the department gets here. Without these animals, there is no farm left, Mom. I am not leaving a single one behind. Now go!”

My mother hesitated for a heartbreaking second, tears in her eyes, before Kelvin firmly took her shoulder and led her forward out of the burning structure.

“I'm coming right back for you, Nancy, so just stay away from the center of the fire! Do you hear me?!” Kelvin shouted back over his shoulder before the two of them disappeared through the smoky exit.

The moment they were gone, I threw myself entirely into the burning building, lifting the extinguisher and fighting the flames with a manic desperation, doing everything in my power to keep the fire back until a loud, wailing siren suddenly pulled into the compound.

The fire department had finally arrived.

Only after the last of the flames were completely choked out, leaving nothing but black smoke and charred wood behind, did the adrenaline finally leave my body. My knees buckled, and I dropped heavily to the ground, staring at the absolute devastation the fire had caused to our livelihood.

But as I sat there in the ash, a single, terrifying thought took hold of my mind, refusing to let go.

What if Anna hadn't taken Renna inside at that exact, critical moment? What if they hadn't gone inside just to grab a simple pair of scissors to open that package? If they had stayed out here for just one more minute... I would be standing here looking at two corpses.

My hands flew to my mouth, a violent sob wracking my entire frame as I tried to mask the heavy tears streaming down my face.

This was it. Whoever had sent that package had officially crossed a line. They had drawn a line in the blood of my family, and I was going to make sure they paid for it. I wasn't going to let them get away with this.