Tuck Everlasting, The Continued Story.

Chapter 8

Jesse was out of Winnie's bed in a heartbeat, and already down the ladder to retrieve his shoes from his room. Winnie quickly slipped on her boots and a long black jacket on over her white nightgown. She climbed down the ladder and made her way to the stairs, fearing the worst. Jesse suddenly appeared in the doorway to his room, his night shirt tucked into his pants. He grabbed Winnie's hand, and they ran down the stairs, to where Miles was waiting for them.

"What's happened?" Jesse asked. Miles began walking out the front door, and Winnie and Jesse followed.

"There's a fire." he replied. They stepped out into the dark street and were immediately hit with the smell of burning wood. Winnie turned on her heel, and saw the haze from the flames in the distance. "It's the house of one of Andre's resistance fighters." He looked at Winnie and Jesse, and then all three of them took off running toward the burning house.

When they arrived at the house, at seemed like most of the village had shown up to help extinguish the fire. Men and women were running around with water buckets, frantically trying to put it out. The house was three stories high, but the flames stretched even higher, bursting from the windows and licking at the neighboring houses. Winnie could hear the wood breaking, and knew that it would probably fall down any minute. 

Winnie Jesse and Miles were quickly handed buckets full of water, so they threw it on the house. They knew that it was probably a lost cause, but they still had to try to stop the fire before it spread to the other houses. Suddenly, they heard a blood curdling scream come from inside the house that stopped them in their tracks.

"MY DAUGHTER!" Someone screamed from the street. Winnie saw a large man push through the crowds, looking helplessly at the house. "She's still in there! Someone please!?" A woman with tears in her eyes put her hands on his shoulders, trying to calm him. Jesse looked at the house, took a deep breath, and began to run toward it.

"NO JESSE!" Miles yelled, as he grabbed Jesse by the collar of his shirt and pulled him back. He wrapped his arm around Jesse's neck. "It's too risky! We could be discovered!" Jesse struggled against Miles' hold, to no avail. 

Winnie took that chance to run into the house, right through the flaming door.

Jesse and Miles watched her disappear into the flames, and immediately broke away from each other. They called her name as they scrambled to their feet to run in after her, but she ignored them. The only thing she was listening to was the sound of the child's scream coming from up the stairs. She ran through the burning house to where the stairs were, but discovered that they had collapsed.

She looked around, and saw a large table that was still intact. She began to pull it to the stairs but struggled with the weight. Suddenly, Miles and Jesse ran into the room and pushed on the other side of the table, helping her move it to the stairs. The railing from half of the stairs was still attached to the wall on the second floor, so Winnie stood on the table to grab a hold of it.

"Winnie," Miles said cautiously, but Jesse jumped on the table with her and picked her up so that she could reach the railing. She grabbed onto it and pulled herself up to the second floor. Jesse and Miles were tall enough to reach the railing on their own, and they soon followed. The screaming had turned into crying, and they followed the cries down the broken hallway. The heat was intolerable, but the flames didn't hurt them. They jumped over a hole in the ground, and finally reached the room that the cries were coming from.

Winnie tried the door, but it didn't budge. "It's stuck!" she said. Jesse tried pushing on the door, but it still wouldn't move. A large piece of ceiling fell next to them, and made Winnie jump. They knew time was running out.

"Get out of the way." Miles ordered Winnie and Jesse. They quickly moved, and Miles walked up to the door and kicked it. Once. Twice. Finally the door broke and he pushed it aside for them to enter the room.

The room was black, and flames were almost covering the whole thing. They heard the cry again, and looked around the room, but didn't see anybody. The floor began to creak, and they pushed back some fallen wood, but still found nothing. 

Winnie turned to move a broken chair, when a large armoire caught her eye. Flames were surrounding it, but it hadn't burned yet. Winnie quickly pushed the chair aside and ran to it. She opened the door to see a small girl huddled inside. Her face was drenched in sweat and her whole body was covered with soot. She had tears running down her face, and looked up at Winnie.

"She's here!" Winnie yelled. She reached in and picked the little girl up. She looked to be around Henri's age. Winnie carried her to the door as Jesse and Miles followed. They climbed through the remains of the door into the hallway, just as the roof caved in to the bedroom.

"We have to hurry!" Miles yelled. He ran to the end of the hallway and jumped down to the table. Jesse and Winnie followed, and stopped at the edge of the second floor. Looking down at Miles, it seemed that he was in hell itself. Flames surrounded him except for the table that he stood on. "Hand me the girl!" he said.

Winnie carefully reached down and placed the little girl into Miles arms. He softly looked at the little girl and brushed her hair out of her face. "Take her and go!" Jesse said. Miles looked up at Jesse and Winnie, and gave a slight nod before jumping off the table and running toward the front door.

"Come on Winnie." Jesse said. He held her hand, and they both jumped onto the table. As soon as they hit it, one of the legs on the table broke, and they fell into the flames. Jesse pulled Winnie up and they both ran for the door.

As soon as they made it through the door, a large beam fell right behind them. The fell to the ground, panting. Their clothes were burnt and dirty, but they were unharmed. Suddenly, they were greeted with cheers! Villagers gathered around them and helped them to their feet, shaking their hands and patting them on the backs. The large man whom Winnie had seen earlier walked up to them, his frightened little girl safely in his arms.

"God bless you!" he said in French, before kissing Winnie on both of her cheeks, making her blush. Then he turned to Jesse and did the same. Jesse squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath, as if someone were giving him a shot.

Andre appeared behind Jesse and Winnie, and put his arms around their shoulders. "You did a wonderful thing tonight." He said, as he escorted them away from the crowds of people.

"Where is Miles?" Jesse asked as they began the walk back to Andre's house. The moon was still high in the sky, but the stars were hidden by the smoke still coming from the house.

"He left as soon as you two came out of the house." he said. "He seemed upset." 

Andre took a cigarette from his jacket and put it between his teeth. Then he lit a match and inhaled deeply as he lit the cigarette. He looked at Jesse, then pulled another cigarette from his jacket and offered it to him. Jesse politely smiled, but shook his head.

"No thanks." he said. Andre shrugged. When they reached the house, Cheri was upon them the moment they reached the door. She wore her night gown, and her head was covered in rollers.

"Is everyone all right?" she asked, her eyes wide with worry. Andre pulled her into a tight hug and kissed her forehead.

"Yes. Everyone is perfect thanks to them." he pointed at Jesse and Winnie. Cheri's eyes widened, and she rushed to them.

"Look at your clothes!" she shrieked. She sighed as she lifted a burnt piece of Winnie's night dress.

"Is Miles back?" Jesse asked, turning the attention away from Winnie's burnt dress. Cheri squinted as she tried to remember, but she shook her head. Jesse turned to Winnie, with a worried look in his eye. 

"We have to go find him." he said. Winnie nodded, then looked to Andre and Cheri, who were watching them carefully.

"Go on." Cheri said. Jesse grabbed Winnie's hand and they turned to leave.

Winnie muttered a "Thank you" while Jesse said, "Don't wait up!" and they hurried out the door. They walked along the street, the moonlight lighting their way.

"He could be anywhere." Winnie sighed. Jesse squeezed her hand.

"I have a hunch." he replied.