Rotten ✔️

Chapter 11

I groaned as I woke up to the sound of something crackling, and there was a familiar smell, but I couldn't put my finger on it because I was too tired. My eyes snapped open when I realised I could smell smoke. Confused, I got up out of bed, stepped around Garth and went to the door of my room. I had no idea what the time was, but I knew it was early in the morning.

I reached for the door handle, but when I touched it, it was hot.

"What the..." I put my hand to the door and the wood was getting warmer and warmer.

The house was on fire.

I stumble backwards and trip over Garth waking him up. He groans as he shuffles in his bed.

"Why are you lying on me?" He asked sleepily.

"The house is on fire." I reply.

He quickly snaps awake and gets out of his bed. He rushes over to the curtain and my heart drops. The lounge was in flames and there were Rats surrounding the front of the house.

"Shoot, shoot, shoot! We gotta get out of here!" Garth quickly goes for the door, but hisses when his hand touches the handle.

"We can go out the window, we just have to make sure no Rats see us. But they might be distracted by the fire." I quickly get to the window and open it as wide as it can go. The smell of smoke filling my room almost instantly.

"I gotta get out there and see if mum and Jacob are okay!" He goes to grab the door handle again, but draws his hand back with another hiss.

"You have to think about your own safety first! The fire is blazing in the lounge, they must have been the first to get out!" Smoke started streaming in through under the door. The crackling of the fire and the groans from the Rats getting louder and louder with each passing second. "We have to get out of here now Garth!"

I see him hesitate. He stands in front of the door. Debating whether to try and get through again or to leave out the window with me.

"Garth, we have to go now!" I yell at him and he snaps into gear.

When I see that he is coming to the window, I quickly climb out. Once I am out, I look back and see that flames are starting to lick under the door. If Garth had gone out, he would have been met with fire.

Garth climbs out of the window and we run around the back. The grass was cold as we ran to the back fence. I had no idea how the fire started, or if my family or Garths were safe. Thankfully Garth and I fell asleep in our clothes, but we had no shoes or socks on to protect our feet while we were running.

We make it to the back fence and climb over it. There was a massive hill behind my house, so we quickly tried climbing it. Our feet getting dirty from the dirt that we were kicking up while we tried to climb it. We had to grab onto roots and trunks to pull ourselves up the steep hill. My arms were quickly getting tired and sore, but I kept on pushing myself.

Clawing our way up the hill, the sounds of groans and the fire were slowly getting quieter. Grabbing tree trunk after tree trunk, root after root, pulling ourselves up the hill was one of the hardest things I have had to do.

The ground soon started to level out and we finally reached the top. The both of us panting, we collapsed on the ground. Legs and arms sore, we took a break. I had stood on something sharp as I was climbing up the hill and my foot hurt like hell.

I could still hear the crackling of the fire as my house burned and the groans of the Rats as they surrounded my burning house. I sat up once I had my breath back and stared at the roaring fire. The Rats had the house surrounded, but the whole house was on fire now. All our possessions are gone. We didn't have any time to save any food, water or weapons for ourselves, so hopefully someone else who got out of the house managed to get some.

I felt tears come to my eyes as I watched the house I grew up in burn. Being destroyed by both the flames and the Rats surrounding it. I wiped my face with a dirty hand and stood up. Resting most of my weight on my left foot because my right foot was injured.

My eyes were scanning the neighbourhood around my house. Searching for any signs of movement that doesn't belong to Rats, but the smoke from the house was obscuring most of my vision. I felt Garth put his hand on my shoulder and I knew that he was trying to find someone as well.

That's when I saw it. I saw three figures running through backyards away from my house. I couldn't tell who it was, but they were well on their way from the house. I smile and let out a small sigh of relief. Hopefully it was three people from either of our families. I knew that at least one person from my family made it out of the fire, but who? And did the others make it? I couldn't be sure until I saw them again.

We hadn't come up with a rendezvous point to meet up at in case we did get separated. I just had to hope that we would all find each other again.

I point out to Garth where I could see the three figures running and I felt his relax a little.

"Hopefully everyone made it out alive." I hear him mutter.

"Yeah hopefully." I reply. "We need to find somewhere to stay until it is light again. I know that there are some houses somewhere up here."

"Let's go." He said. We both don't go when he says. We both stay there for a few more seconds watching the three figures until they are out of sight.

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*** Chapter is dedicated to @trigotto because they came up with some ship names for Spencer and Garth! Thank you!!! ***

A/N: Heyyy!!! I see that we are almost at 100 reads and 10 votes!!! Do you think we will be able to reach 100 reads by the end of the week? Shall we make that our weekly goal? I officially claim that by the end of the week, 10 votes, I shall... dedicate a chapter to the 10th person to vote on my story! If we hit 100 reads, I shall... upload a new chapter on Monday? How does that sound?

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I figured that the gang needs to leave the safety of the house... SO I LIT IT UP WITH FFFFLLLAAAMMMEEESSSS!!!! MWAHAHAHAHA. I am sorry to say that two people died in the fire... can you guess who died and who made it?!!?!!?!!??

I'm uploading this chapter half an hour early because I have my maths exam at 9 so I'm posting it now. Wish me luck!!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please please please vote and comment and stuff, it makes me so happy to see someone likes my story! And I love responding to comments! Happy reading!

-FlatMatesForLife