The Black Flames

Chapter 2 - The Bodies

Kiara was now just a few feet away from the burning plane and starting to feel itchiness in her throat and eyes. The villagers had stepped back too and were coughing profusely, some of them turning away from the scene, covering their mouths and eyes.

Three of them had pulled away the man who had suffered burns after the explosion. She limped to the victim's side and saw severe black burns all over his body.

"The fire brigade and the ambulance are on their way!" she announced as she reached the victim's side.

"Okay, thank God," grimaced one of the men standing near the victim's legs.

"You stay in Mr Sharma's cabin?" the man crouched near the victim's head and asked her.

"Yes, I am his daughter, Kiara," she replied.

He nodded and went back to examining the burns on the victim.

"Is he related to you?" Kiara asked the man.

"Yes, he is my brother," he replied calmly, without looking at her.

"I am so sorry. Don't worry, the ambulance is about to rea..." Kiara had hardly finished the sentence when they heard the siren and turned around to look at its source.

Two fire brigades were cresting and troughing on the uneven ground, rushing towards the burning plane with three ambulances in tow. Kiara turned towards the first ambulance and started moving towards it. She was hopping on her left leg while waving her hands above her head. She was trying to grab the driver's attention when suddenly, the brother of the burn victim sprinted past her. The driver saw him first, slowed down rapidly, making a screeching sound, and turned towards them.

Kiara halted and turned towards the burn victim. Her knee screamed at the continuous movement, and she doubled up wincing. The victim's brother guided the ambulance towards them.

That was quick! She thought but kept it to herself.

A stretcher was pulled out, and the burn victim carefully transferred on it and into the ambulance. Then, the victim's brother came out of the ambulance with a medic and a wheelchair in tow. They both walked over to her.

"That looks bad. Let me tend to it," the medic pointed to her ruptured knee, "Let's get you cleaned up," he opened the wheelchair and pulled it closer to Kiara. The victim's brother, not uttering a word, stepped over and held her arm as she lowered herself in the wheelchair with a thud.

The medic pulled her over to the front of the ambulance, where another pair of medics were attending to the burn victim.

"How is he?" Kiara asked the medic attending to her.

"Well, too soon to say anything, but I think he will survive."

After forty excruciating minutes of unwrapping, cleaning, removing the remaining pieces of the plane that flew to her knee, stitching, and wrapping again, Kiara was out of the ambulance. The medic gave her medicines for the next two weeks and offered her the wheelchair, but she refused.

"Thanks, doc, but I don't need it anymore."

"Are you sure? You shouldn't put any pressure on it for at least two weeks,"

"Two weeks? That's too long!"

"It was a deep gash. Let it rest," the medic told her as he made his way to three other people standing outside with cuts on different parts of their bodies.

One's head was bleeding, while the other two had injuries on their arms and legs.

The victim's brother was among the crowd, waiting. For the first time, she noticed his appearance. There was a gash on his left cheek and black soot all over his bronze face and neck. He offered her a bottle of water. She noticed callouses and burns on his hand. Only some of them looked fresh.