Chapter 17

Amaris had a lot of time to think about the events of the last two days as they walked through the parking garage in silence. Lyle was walking just a few steps ahead and alert. When they reached the top level of the parking garage, which was the only above ground level, Amaris thought that she could smell smoke. Lyle’s pace suddenly increased and Amaris had to jog to keep up with him.

When they exited it was still early morning, but the black smoke that was everywhere, made it look like it was not yet dawn. The beautiful little village was no more. Most of the homes and buildings were burned to the ground or still on fire. The pall of the smoke was like walking into a wall. Amaris covered her mouth with the sleeve of Lyles sweatshirt that she had put back on over her clothes. She also pulled the hood up over her head. There were tears in her eyes and whether they were from smoke, or guilt, or fear she could not say. Maybe all three. The horrors that started yesterday morning were still continuing.

Lyle stood rooted to the spot where he stood. The devastation was awful. How could they do this to an entire town of innocent people. They were trying to flush them out, but at the cost of so many innocent lives.

Amaris took a few steps forward so that she was standing next to Lyle and now in his line of sight. Amaris once again reached out and put a hand on Lyle’s arm to comfort him. She could not say why she suddenly had these urges or was even acting on them since after all he was her teacher, but she knew it was the right thing to do.

Lyle was brought to his senses and grabbed her hand and pulling his jacket over his mouth and nose with his other hand, began to run with Amaris in tow down the street. Amaris had no idea where she was going and she could not see a thing with all the smoke and the fact that her eyes were watering. They dodged around debris and fallen pieces of roofs and walls that had landed in the street. Their path was almost completely blocked by a tree that had once stood at the entrance to one of the biggest and oldest houses in town. The tree had burned and fallen across the street that it once lined. The red and orange hue of the flames and the grey and black of the smoke made it hard to make out most of the surroundings as they ran down the street, but when they had to stop to find a way around the tree and Amaris really looked in the direction of that big house. All she could see was a flaming shell. The roof and part of the front wall had caved in to the second floor of the grand old house. The front door was ajar and there were flames licking the ceiling of the porch roof from it’s gaping mouth.

Lyle pulled Amaris in the direction of the old house and around the back to the back door. The fire from the front looked as if it had engulfed the entire house, but as you went around to the backside the flames came up from the roof and out two of the upstairs windows. The damage from back here did not look as bad. As they walked past the stairs leading to the back of the wrap around porch, he came to a bush. Lyle bent down and pushed the long boughs aside and pulled open a door that looked as if it belonged to a root cellar. Lyle waved Amaris inside. She went in first expecting to find just that, a root cellar. She was extremely surprised to find herself in what appeared to be someone’s kitchen. Lyle closed the door behind him and pulled a flash light from his pocket and turned it on to reveal that the wooden looking door from the outside was really a steel reinforced door on the inside. The kitchen that they were in was more like a lab, but instead of chemicals it held dried herbs and roots. Amaris was curious about this place but had no time to ask as Lyle once again grabbed her hand and continued through the room and into the next one. This room appeared to be a storage room with canning jars and boxes and pots stacked on shelves.

Lyle kept moving out into a hall way and down the corridor. He was moving quickly now as there was no smoke and no debris to slow him down.

Lyle ran down this corridor for what seemed like a very long time. Amaris was not sure that she could keep up with him anymore. Finally she pulled up breathing heavy and yelled forward to Lyle. “Wait, I just need a minute.” She huffed out between pants. She leaned forward with her hands on her knees and her head down. All of a sudden she felt hands wrap around her waist and she was hoisted into the air. Lyle had picked her up over his shoulder and was now continuing to run in the direction they had been headed before.

Amaris struggled and protested at first, but after Lyle simply said “Hush they will hear us we are right under them now.” Amaris quieted and dutifully allowed him to carry her to wherever they were going to.

Not long after they came to a T in the tunnel and Lyle turned in a direction that by Amaris’ calculation would lead them out of town. Lyle stopped and put her down. Now sweating profusely and huffing and puffing himself. “Do you think you can walk now?” He looked at Amaris as he leaned back against the wall and caught his breath. She nodded her head and looked at him. “Were we really right under the men that have been chasing me earlier?”

Lyle looked at her oddly concerned. “You couldn’t hear them? They were right above us. They were making so much racket I wasn’t sure that they would be able to hear us themselves, but I did not want to take that chance. You really did not hear them?”

Amaris searched Lyle’s face as to why he looked at her with concern. “No. Should I have?”

“Amaris, I will explain more when we are in a safer place and have time. Right now lets just keep moving.” With that Lyle pushed off the wall and began to walk in the direction of the new tunnel. Amaris watched him as he went. His shirt was drenched in sweat, and his pants had begun to hang lower on his hips. He was in great physical shape and his shirt was sticking to those board shoulders which, although beginning to hunch slightly with exhaustion, were still strong and attractive. Amaris shook her head to clear it of the inappropriate thoughts and started in a jog to catch up to him as she had been able to rest while being carried.

They followed this tunnel like they had all the others to a ladder and a hatch. “Are there tunnels everywhere through the mountain? It must have taken years to make all these.”

Amaris wondered out loud. As Lyle climbed the ladder and opened the hatch he looked back down at her. “This one has been here for about 150 years. It has been reinforced and modernized over the years of course. This was built when my great great grandfather built this cabin for his first wife.” He continued up and out of the hatch turning at the top and reaching a hand back for Amaris. She followed him up the ladder and took his hand at the top to get out. The familiar spark crossing her hand as she did so. This time it was stronger and felt like a tidal wave of energy. It made her feel weak for a moment and she stumbled forward as she pulled her last foot out of the hatch. Lyle caught her against him and suddenly she was very aware of how close he was and the hard warmth of his body. Her heart was beating at a hundred miles an hour in her throat. Her eyes traveled up to his and locked on him. He was looking at her as if he had felt it too. Before she knew what was happening Lyle had moved his head down and kissed her. His soft lips were gentle and wary. As she did not fend off the kiss it became more confident and Lyle’s hands held her tighter. Amaris felt as if she was melting with delight. Suddenly the voice of reason inside her head told her that this should not be happening. He was her teacher, they were running for their lives, Gran was missing, people have died. Amaris pulled back form the kiss. Startling herself at how much she did not want to stop kissing him. There was a pull that she could not deny.

Lyle looked into her eyes with surprise and said “I am sorry. I should not have done that”. He then let go of Amaris leaving her standing there cold and alone. He turned and closed and locked the hatch, then walked to the wall and said “We will stay in here. There are a couple of interior rooms that no lights can be seen from the outside.”