AncilMegan and I hid in the bush pile with Sara’s unconscious body beside us. The trees were rustling in front and I could tell that something was coming. Something dangerous. I kept my hand on my gun and Megan kept her hand on hers. Out from the bushes Maggie came out with her lantern in hand, calling out each of our names. She must of heard us and decided to come back to check on us. I breathed a sigh of relief readying myself to go out and meet her.
However before I could even budge, a giant hand suddenly came down from the trees and plucked her from where she stood. The only trace of her that remained was her loud screams and the lantern that fell to the ground and broke into a fiery blaze. The sight mortified me and I wanted to bellow out “MAGGIE!!” but whoever took her was still out there and that would alert it of our presence.
The Lagahoo was already a problem, now we had to deal with a forest fire. I heard a couple gunshots being fired. The fight had begun.
“We have to move. We can’t stay here,” Megan said. “That fire is going to spread.”
“It’s too dangerous to go out there especially with Sara unconscious.”
“Sara’s dead Jed!” Megan exclaimed over the crackling of the burning forest. “And if we stay here we’ll be dead too. If it was you on the ground you think Sara would risk her own life to save yours?”
The flames were spreading. Even though the forest was wet it still couldn’t stop the fire from rummaging the forest. The heat was becoming unbearable as the fire rose up into the trees. There were still gunshots being fired so it was obvious that the Lagahoo was somewhere close by. Looking Sara in the face was hard for me to do because I knew that leaving her was my best chance for survival.
Tree branches were falling, the heat from the fire was rising and the smell of ash and smoke invaded the air, but amidst it all I still dropped to my knees beside Sara to take a last look at her face which was now pale and ashen. Her lips were parched and cracked and the bags below her eyes were purple reminding me of the time I saw her in the light of the SUV in front of the rusty green iron gate on the first day that we met. A stream of tears fell from my eyes as I looked down at her. I wanted to rescue her but I KNEW that it couldn’t be done. I kissed the tip of my fingers and placed it on her forehead then said, my voice breaking. “You were right. You were right all along. You can’t always be a hero.”
Megan touched me on my shoulders and said softly with a comforting tone. “We should go.”
“Yeah yeah. Let’s get out of here,” I said to Megan before we both ran off, leaving Sara behind in the ashes of the Caura rainforest.
