It was all they had.
Benito urged Gianna forward and they inched down the stairs, step by step, over and around anyone who got in their way. People shouted. Hands reached for them. Benito shoved them aside, not caring who they left behind until Gianna and Rosetta were safe.
The smoke was densest on the third floor. Heat enveloped them, and flames crackled at the windows, creeping up the building, sparking the flammable cladding as it went. A loud bang busted the glass.
Gianna jumped and the cat escaped her clutch, disappearing into the murky gloom. “Sullivan!” she wailed. “Sullivan! No no no! Beni, he’s gone. We have to find him.”
“No. We have to keep going.”
Benito forced her on, taking her sharp elbows and fists as she flailed against him, hardening his soul to her heartbreak. She loved that cat so fucking much, but he loved her more.
Rosetta still clinging to his back, he pushed on, herding them to the ground floor, and fought his way to the exit.
Fresh air hit them, and they staggered into the night, coughing.
Gianna kicked and screamed, tossing her damp towel aside. “Sullivan! Sullivan! We have to go back for him.”
Benito dragged her away from the building to the chicken shop where a crowd had begun to form. Good Samaritans eased Rosetta away from him, guiding her to safety while he fought with Gianna. “Stop. You can’t go back, okay? He’s a clever cat. He’ll find his own way. He’s probably already out here.”
“He’s not, he’s not. I saw him. He ran up the corridor.”
“Which corridor?”
“By the fire. I saw him, Beni. He went past the blue doors.”
Benito turned back to the tower block. Fierce flames were creeping up one side, enveloping the cladding. It wouldn’t be long before the entire building was acting like a chimney, drawing the blaze to the sky.
Now or never. Benito marched Gianna to the pavement and sat her down. “Wait here. Don’t move unless a firefighter or a fed tells you to, you hear me?”
“But—”
“Promise me, G, or I’m not going back for him.”
Gianna nodded and hugged her knees to her chest, tears streaming down her soot-stained face.
Benito backed away from her, then turned against the tide of people flowing from the block and ran back inside.
The smoke was thicker than ever. He wrapped his arm around his face, wishing he’d thought to grab Gianna’s wet towel, and dropped low, crawling up the stairs towards the heat of the flames, sweeping his hand for any sign of Sullivan.That damn fucking cat.
On the third floor, his legs gave out. He slumped against the wall, coughing. Away from Gianna and his mum, the urge to sleep forever returned.
Just for a minute.
Seconds and minutes past with the slowing thump of his heartbeat. Half his brain knew he was dying, the other screamed at him to keep moving. He listened to neither and felt nothing. Floating. Or maybe he was sinking, it was hard to tell.
And I don’t care. I don’t—
A soft thud battered his legs. Then claws. For the second time in five terrifying minutes, Benito opened his eyes to a wily orange feline scaling his body.
Sullivan. You little bastard.
For a moment, they stared at each other, man and heroic, and yet awkward as fuck, beast. Then the survivor in Benito’s soul kicked in too. He grabbed the cat and lurched to his feet, coming upright as another body emerged on the landing.
They collided hard, sending both of them sprawling.
Benito cursed, squeezing his hands around the cat. He couldn’t lose him now.
Somehow, he kept Sullivan tucked against his body. He found his footing again and turned to face a weathered-looking man he’d seen around.
A tall man withstronghands.
He gripped Benito’s wrist. “Come on, son. Down we go.”
They found their way to the first floor, picking up stragglers on the way. Benito hooked his arm around the little old lady from number seven, hiding her face with his free arm.
The final set of stairs was three feet ahead. Benito hauled them forward, chest burning, but as he reached the banister, it fell away, and the staircase collapsed, obliterating their only way out.