The Waitress

17 - Comatose

           

Jared was... well, he was in shock. It had all happened so quickly. As he sat in the Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth, right outside Kaely and Lexus' room, he pondered what had happened the previous night, and he shivered.

Eliot dropped his phone in his lap and looked up, pure shock and fear racing through his eyes.

"Oh God," he said, and Jared looked at him, his heart thumping.

"What?" he asked, putting his gun down slowly, and Eliot returned his gaze as Dex wandered into the room.

"It's on fire."

And all the fear, rage and anguish that he had been holding in since then showed on his face, all in one expression. Dex, instantly, pulled his phone out and called the fire department while Eliot made his way to the door. Oliver and Leo were still sleeping, but Eliot, Dex and Jared couldn't. They didn't know why, they just couldn't. Jared didn't think it felt... right, to sleep. And he was right. It was all going terribly, horribly wrong.

"Go," Jared ordered, his voice on the verge of breaking. "Go!"

Dex took Eliot's wheelchair as Jared followed behind them. It didn't take long to find the Motor Inn; it was the only building that had flames and smoke emerging from the rooms.

Jared began to panic. What if it was too late? What if they had been perished in the time it took them to get to the Inn? And where was the Fire Department? They should have been there already.

"Jared, room five," Eliot shouted over the sound of wood burning and people shouting. Most of the people staying at the Inn – luckily there weren't many – had already evacuated, and more were pouring out. But the heart of the fire?

Room five.

"Hold on, I'm going in there," Jared called back, handing his jacket to Dex, but Eliot grabbed his arm firmly.

"You can't," he hissed. "You'll be burned alive."

"What, and that's not an option over saving them?" he demanded, but Dex gave him the same look.

"Lexus is in there," he reasoned. "She'll know what to do under the pressure. If they're not out in a minute, we'll can see what we can do. But by then the Fire Department should be here anyway, alright? Stay calm; they need you to stay calm."

Jared nodded in understanding, but saw Eliot's suddenly panicked face and turned to the fire.

Lexus had burst out of room five, and without hesitation, Jared sprinted over to her and helped her to her feet as she fell, gulping in the fresh air around her.

"Are you okay?" he demanded, alarmed with his eyes wider than they had ever been before, and Lexus shook her head.

"Kaely's worse," she managed quietly between coughs, and Jared looked up quickly. There was no sign of her.

"Where is she?" he asked hurriedly, and Lexus glanced back to the motel as Dex and Eliot reached them, Dex taking Lexus.

"She was– right behind me," she muttered, and after making sure that Lexus wasn't going to die, Jared turned back to the open doorway and ran for it, just as he saw Kaely two metres from the doorway. She had collapsed, and it didn't look like she was getting up.

Jared jumped into the room without warning and took Kaely by her waist with both hands, hauling her up and lifting her out of the room and onto the ground outside into the cool fresh air just as the firetruck arrived. Jared knelt down beside her and stared at her, panic rising up through the pit of his stomach.