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Part 29 - Trial By Fire

(Nathan)

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The fire spread rapidly, transforming the countless wood chips peppering the ground into wickedly burning embers. A collective gasp rang out from the gang, each member having to stagger back from the fallen machine as sawdust turned to flame beneath their feet.

Nathan stared on, frozen in horror as the clouds of dust floating through the workshop also ignited. In seconds, a burning red haze filled the air. Another hair-raising bang pulsed through the room right after, stealing his attention back to flames' source.

Blackness radiated outward from the shattered socket, the heat of the blazing wiring searing the formerly white wall around it. Burning wood, melting plastic and singeing fur all merged together, forming a stench that wafted amid the building plumes of grey smoke.

"-Bezhat! Bezhat!-" The cry resonated between Yuri and his crew, audible above even the ear-ringing wail of the shop's smoke alarm. Their footfalls issued out tremors as they rushed away from the fire-soaked sander, rocking the little husky stood in relative safety at the edge of the workbench walkway.

"You!" Yuri screamed, stopping in his retreat so that he cast a grim shadow over Nathan. "This is what you get! This... is what you both get!" His snarling face expressed the hatred in his heart, though darting eyes and uncertain words suggested this night had escalated far beyond what the tiger had intended. Still, his stomping strides towards the broken workstations revealed he still held plans for the Polcian husky, even with the fire growing uncontrollably around them.

"S-stop!" Nathan scrambled backwards, ears splaying out as the towering tiger quaked his way into the walkway. "Please, leave me alone!"

"Yuri!" The rest of the gang cried out for their leader, focusing on escape rather than vengeance. Yuri paid them no regard, his wrathful eyes transfixed upon the tiny husky beneath him.

Nathan spun on his heels, sprinting through a shadowy gauntlet that shook fiercely with each step the tiger took.

"Run, Polcian! It is all you are good for!

He glanced back over his shoulder, face contorting with terror as one of Yuri's massive paws smashed into the ground a matter of inches behind him. The shockwave knocked Nathan off his feet, sending him thudding down to the cold, hard floor. He yelped severely, sprained wrists bearing the brunt of yet another rough landing. As painful as they were, the focus upon his throbbing paws would be fleeting.

Nathan couldn't even attempt to pick himself back up, a tremendous force soon pressing heavily upon his legs. "Please, don't!" he whined, squirming as the weight upon him steadily increased.

"I could end you, Polcian!"

"I'm sorry!" Nathan clawed frantically at the unforgiving tiles beneath him, unable to move his lower body a single inch. "Don't hurt me!" Despite his desperate struggling and even more desperate pleas, the pressure only worsened, soon building to horrifying levels. He glanced over to Alexei, still lying motionless next to him. 'Please, get up, Alex! Help me!'

"He cannot help you," Yuri scoffed, as if reading his mind.

Nathan rolled as much as he could, peering up over his shoulder. The sight of the massive tiger glaring down through the darkening atmosphere, pinning him beneath his footpaw greeted him. It would stay with him for the rest of his days.

"Nobody can help you."

He began to whine with even greater distress, begging for mercy and crying out for his wolf as he lied powerless beneath the Velikan's foot.

"-Yuri, davai!-" Marat's squeaky vulpine voice cut through the sound of Nathan's wailing, as well as the ever-intensifying roar of flame. Yuri turned back to the fox, giving one final downward press before lifting his heavy paw from atop the husky.

Nathan screamed out loud, writhing in agony as pain shot up from his legs to afflict his entire body. He didn't dare look to his lower limbs, such was his certainty that they'd been crushed under such intense, bone-grinding force. Instead, Nathan simply lied there on his front, staring down past his beaten body to Yuri's gigantic calves. Stood beyond them, Marat and Bogdan gestured manically from beside the window, doing what they could to beckon their leader to follow.

Without warning, another round of crackling filled the increasingly hot, dirty air. In a flash, the socket's blazing intensified with a roaring fireball visible even beyond the shattered remains of Alexei's workbench. The flames licked frightfully, seemingly spreading to the wiring hidden behind the increasingly scorched surrounding wall.

"Yuri!" Marat cried again, hurling himself out of the window with Bogdan in tow.

The tiger turned to glare back down at Nathan, but did nothing more than give a vile, triumphant smirk. Without a word, he raced off out from between the broken benches and towards the flame-covered back wall.

Yuri reached the open window just in time for the stack of lumber below it to fall victim to the growing inferno. He scrambled desperately, clawing like a rat at the smouldering windowsill to hurriedly haul himself out into the safety of Alexei's backyard.

Within seconds, Yuri had followed his friends off into the night, leaving Nathan and his wolf to face the rising flames alone.

"Fuck!" the husky yelped tearily, finally reaching down to grab at his aching, tender legs. Rolling onto his back, he tentatively sat upright and cast his anxious eyes down beyond his waist. Nathan squeaked in relief, delighted to find his limbs still in one piece following the heavy crush. He took a deep breath, working up the courage to try and move them. Another happy sigh escaped his muzzle; never in his life had Nathan been so happy to see his legs bend and move, albeit with a great deal of discomfort. "Thank you, gods, thank you!"

Taking a moment to ready himself, the little husky slowly picked himself up to his sore legs, wincing at the relentless stabbing pain in his joints. He staggered towards the end of the walkway, shielding his face with his forearm from the increasingly severe heat. The blaze raged on ahead of him, taking advantage of the shattered furniture littering the sawdust-covered workshop.

As he limped onwards, Nathan caught sight of something truly dreadful beyond the smashed bench, growing smoke and intense heat haze. With the sander downed, a small batch of white plastic containers organised in the corner of the room came into view; containers that wore a variety of warning signs shining as brightly as the flames dancing around them. "That... can't be good!"

Nathan stumbled over to Alexei as fast as his injured legs would carry him, knees eventually buckling to send him falling into the unconscious wolf's muzzle with a yelp. "Get the hell up, Alex!" He started slamming his paws into the giant lupine's snout all over again. "We've gotta get outta here--"

A deafening explosion cut Nathan off, his instincts sending him sprawling to the ground for cover. A columns of flame rose from where the containers had sat, visible even above the smashed workbench. It flickered against the ceiling, filling the room with a horrifying orange glow and igniting everything it touched. An incredible, almost unbearable heat struck the husky almost as hard as Yuri's paw had done, causing him to pant furiously in an effort to cope. "Alex! Alex!" His cries resonated through the burning workshop, urgency clear in both his cracking voice and desperate driving of his tiny fists into the giant's nose.

Nathan whimpered, watching helplessly as the blaze invaded and consumed even more of Alexei's shop. Within moments, it had surrounded them on all sides to form a ring of fire that would soon begin to creep inwards. The rear of the workshop had disappeared behind a literal wall of flame, casting the room in an awful red-orange glow. Intense smoke billowed out, filling the air with thick, choking blackness.

"Curse my size," Nathan coughed terribly, masking his muzzle with a paw in an attempt to counter the noxious fog seeping into the walkway. "Damn it... why can't I help him!?" 'If you run now, you might have a chance at getting out of here alive.' 'Run!? I can barely walk!' Nathan cursed at himself, disgustedly casting that thought out. 'Besides, I'm not leaving him--!'

Another crackle preceded a terrifying bang as the light fixtures burst, showering sparks upon the workshop.

'You can't save him! You need to--'

'Then I'll have died trying.' He set his teeth, resisting the instinctive urge to take flight into the firelit darkness and away from his wolf. "The police... they won't be long, Alex. I'll stay here until they're here to save us."

'You really think that?'

Nathan's fists uncurled, his resolute scowl easing into a sad frown as he hacked out another bout of coughing. Without a reply to his internal debating, he moved to bring his muzzle level with the tip of Alexei's. Nothing would stop him from doing what he must; not the thick smoke threatening his lungs, the fiery embers raining from the now burning workbench, nor the sound and smell of his own fur singeing from the raging flames.

"I love you, Alex." Nathan rolled onto his side, tears streaming and falling to the floor as he embraced Alexei's muzzle. "Always will." He leaned forward, closed his eyes and gave his wolf one final, loving kiss.

Alexei's scent filled his nose, pushing out the stench of the smoke. Nathan's coughing slowed to a stop, along with time itself. His head felt light, as if it could float from off his shoulders. He nuzzled into his wolf, thinking about home. He thought about his parents, his brother and sister, his friends.

'I'll never see them again.'

He thought about the job he'd never have to return to, but also about the future he'd never have; a future in which to know, maybe even spend with Alexei.

'I'm not ready for this to end.'

Finally, Nathan thought about the thunderous crashing echoing from the hallway outside.

"Alex!? Nate!?" "Huh?" He clambered groggily up onto paws and knees, peering through a gaping hole in the broken bench above Alexei's frame. Past the darkness, smoke and flame, Nathan could barely make out the doorway in the distance. "Are you in there!?" The pounding continued, as did the shouting. "Are you okay!? The whole place is on fire!" "Erik?..." He coughed, wheezing terribly. "...Erik!"

"Nate? Is that you!?"

"Yeah!" Nathan shook his head, the fog of his smoke-addled mind gradually thinning. "We're in the workshop!" "I can't get in!" Another thump echoed. "Where's Alex?" "Here, too! He's unconscious. Can't wake him up!" The slamming at the door quickened; Erik's efforts at gaining entry audibly growing in intensity. Nathan clambered up onto Alexei's arm, then again onto the thick fur of his bare back. He hunkered down into a scared little ball, ears perked to the leopard's clattering. A crack sounded from above, pulling the husky's focus upwards. He watched the ceiling split close to the burning light fixture, sending down a hail of flame and panelling right on top of the walkway. "Hurry, Erik!"

"Are you okay!?"

"Shit!" Nathan turned away from the burning specs of debris, throwing his face into Alexei's fur.

"Nate?" Another heavy thud from outside. "Are you okay!?"

"We don't have long!"

An angry tirade of unintelligible Velikan came before one final, heavy boom. A loud creak and the thump of wood upon wall followed. Finally, the outside door relented to Erik's insistence. "Guys!?"

Nathan picked himself back up from the smouldering white dust covering him and his wolf. He looked back to the hallway, through the terrible orange glow to find a shrouded feline form visible beyond the flames.

"Where are you!?" "We're between--" He hacked out a cough, whimpering uncontrollably. "The benches, between the benches!" The cracking of glass sounded, the workshop's window starting to succumb to the bombardment of heat. "How you gonna get in here? There's fire everywhere!"

Erik didn't answer, slinking back and disappearing from beyond the blaze.

"Erik!?" Nathan squeaked, dipping his muzzle. "No... Don't leave us--"

The air parted with a whoosh, the raging inferno and choking smoke momentarily giving way to the shadowy figure sailing through it. A heavy thump followed, the room rocking as the flying leopard impacted at the end of the burning benches.

"Oh, thank the gods you're here!" Any anger Nathan held towards Erik for his involvement in Yuri's schemes were quashed the moment he'd landed and scurried into the walkway. Crouching there, sheltering Nathan from the heat of the flames, his darkened form was one of a friend, not a foe. "He's breathing, b-but he won't wake up. I tried so hard-- How did you know to come!? We--"

"We need to get out of here!" Erik rushed closer, halfway between a prowl and a crawl.

"Don't need to tell me twice!"

With no time for pleasantries or explanation, he gathered Nathan up, slipping him hurriedly into the wide pocket of his hoodie. The noxious smoke and fumes in the workshop soon started the leopard coughing and wheezing himself.

"Hold on, Nate." He slipped his arms beneath Alexei's torso, dragging him up onto paws and knees. In one motion, Erik dipped his head beneath the crook of the wolf's arm and pulled it around his shoulder.

"Are you gonna be able to lift him?" Nathan blurted, clinging to the fabric surrounding him for dear life. He watched in suspense, willing the comparatively smaller Velikan on as he started to pick both himself and Alexei up from the ground. "You're doing it. You're doing--" A sudden wobble, accompanied by a yelp forced the husky to grip tighter. "Erik, you okay!?"

"Yes," came the strained response, the glass of the workshop window shattering loudly as Erik regained his balance. Slowly but surely, he brought himself and the unconscious wolf up to half-standing height. A dreadful roar sounded with a bright, orange flash; the added oxygen fuelling the flames to grow higher and further. "Come on, Alex!" the leopard snarled, spinning to face his larger friend's limp frame. He stayed low, allowing Alexei's chest to flop over his shoulder.

Nathan continued to watch on all the while. If not for the perilous surroundings, he'd have been amazed to see the two giants practically wrestling their way up from the floor.

A feline growl echoed out as Erik thrusted both his hips and Alexei upwards, starting the wolf's legs dangling while his torso rested upon both of the leopard's shoulders.

Finally, Erik threw his arm around Alexei's, holding it against his chest as he stomped warily out of the walkway.

Fire raged on all sides, the workshop barely recognisable now as everything burned. The wail of the smoke alarm had long since died, falling victim to the harsh flames overtaking all four walls.

Nathan hunkered down within Erik's shallow pocket, trying to escape the incredible heat. Even at the very bottom of the fabric compartment, he could still see above the ridge of material sheltering him. The husky winced at the walls of orange flickering relentlessly, offering up only a treacherous, winding path that the leopard had to negotiate on his way back to the door.

Another roar sounded, the fire finding a new source of strength among the charred woodwork littering the shop.

The columns of flame to his left grew aggressively, forcing Erik to stagger right. A blood-curdling scream filled the smoky room, as did the smell of seared fur and flesh.

"Erik!?" Nathan called, wincing as his ears folded flat. "What happened? You still okay?" He could barely imagine what the leopard must be going through to carry himself and Alexei out from the firestorm.

"I'm okay," came the grunted reply. "I burned my paw." Erik's pace quickened, as if his injury had renewed his resolve to drag them all to safety. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine!" They twisted through the inferno, navigating the small area not completely overtaken by deathly amber. At his size, Erik would have had to travel a mere matter of relative feet to reach the doorway. With Alexei on his back, and the entire building seemingly going up in flames however, he could be forgiven for taking a good half-minute about it. "How we gonna get him past that!?" Nathan cried, the menacing wall of flame that Erik had thrown himself through standing before them. It stood high enough to touch the ceiling, turning the white plaster to black and causing great chunks of it to crack and fall to the ground. "Same way I got in!" Erik roared. "Hold on!" He lumbered as swiftly as he could, daringly taking the blaze head on. The leopard covered his face with his free arm, an action Nathan quickly copied. The husky felt himself forced downwards, Erik leaping as high and as far as he could into a world of fire.

Everything turned to orange. The air became unbreathable and the heat excruciating. For a split second, it was as if hell itself had burst forth into the world, hoping to claim the trio for its own. Thankfully, the firestorm would not have its way, receding as quickly as it came forth.

The smoke-filled gloom of the hallway greeted them, spinning and rocking wildly as Erik stumbled and fell to the ground. Nathan screamed, wrenching his eyes closed. After all that had happened, he prayed he'd not end up flattened beneath the weight of the two Velikans he trusted most.

A blast of fresh air hit him, moments before a giant paw wrapped itself around his torso. His neck jarred and legs contorted awkwardly from the force, but the comfort of landing safely beside Erik in the damp alleyway outside far outweighed Nathan's pain.

"Nate?" The leopard's paw uncurled, exposing him to the world. "Are you hurt?"

Nathan gazed up at Alexei's store. He could see the smoke pouring out from the roof; the fire already raging through the apartment upstairs.

"Are you hurt!?"

"No, I'm okay." He looked to Erik, groggily picking himself up out of his paw. "What about Alex!?"

The leopard rolled off of his back and turned his attention to Alexei, shuffling quickly to where the wolf had landed a short distance away.

"He's still out of it? ...Is he... Is he?"

"Alex!?" Erik shoved at the wolf's chest before checking his neck for a pulse. The seconds dragged by painfully, until those wonderful words filled the crisp, night air. "He's okay."

"Thank the gods!" Nathan rushed across the dank alley as fast as his injured legs would allow, headed straight towards his wolf's muzzle.

"We can't stay here, though. We need to get away from the fire in case the whole building comes down!"

He gulped, realising the danger hadn't passed. If the blaze grew larger, or if another, larger explosion came, they could all be caught up in the rubble. With a grunt, Nathan tried to heave himself up onto Alexei's chest, though his damaged legs limited the spring in his jump.

"Quickly!" Erik's urgent, yet delicate paw batted Nathan up onto the wolf's torso. Not a moment later, he hooked his arms beneath Alexei's shoulders. "Let's go!" With a loud grunt, the leopard retreated backwards, dragging them all out of the alleyway together.

A busy crowd of dozens filling the street came into view once Erik reached the edge of the alley. Most of them stood decked out in their sleepwear, but all stood facing the burning shopfront, watching on as the flames rose up to claim Alexei's home along with it.

The night air breezed through Nathan's fur, warmed by the flames and blackened by the thick smoke piling into the street. He too turned to bear witness to the building's demise, interrupted by a sharp flinch that instead pulled his attention downwards.

A low, guttural growl rumbled from the wolf, followed by words that would have been incomprehensible to Nathan even if they'd been Polcian.

"Alex?" squeaked the husky, frantically pawing at Alexei's bare chest.

"-Shtoh?- ...What?" They reached the middle of the crowded street, a few of the onlookers turning their attention to the trio. "-O... Niet," the wolf whined, still slumped back against Erik with focus steadfast upon the sky scraping blaze ahead of them. He opened his singed muzzle to continue; an awful, wheezing cough leaving it instead.

"Breathe, Alex," Erik said gently, lowering Alexei's shoulders so that he could lie down atop the asphalt. "Try to be calm. You've taken in a lot of smoke."

The wolf stirred quietly, his hacking slowly easing. "My store... My home..." Suddenly, as if a switch had flicked in his head, his eyes snapped open. "Nate!" A yelp of abject horror pierced the smoke-filled street as he struggled to sit back up.

Erik tried to keep the larger wolf down with a paw to his shoulder. "He's okay--"

"Where is Nate!?" Alexei knocked the leopard's hand aside, only stopping his struggle once he heard his husky's voice.

"I'm here, Alex! We're both safe now."

"He was with you when I came in." Erik knelt beside his friend, peering down at Nathan as he clung the wolf's chest ruff. "I pulled you out from the workshop together."

"I couldn't leave you to go alone. I had to come after you." Nathan's shrill voice barely travelled through the air, even with his Normaliser doing its work. "I tried to wake you, but I couldn't. I couldn't move you. I couldn't save your home... I couldn't do anything. I'm so sorry, hon."

A stream of tears flowed down Alexei's face by the time Nathan had finished. "I am just glad you are okay," he replied croakily, wrapping his husky up in a firm, loving hug. "I do not what I would do if..."

Nathan pressed himself into Alexei's chest, his own eyes starting to water. "I'm glad you're okay, too."

They remained locked together in their comforting embrace, the sound of approaching sirens in the background. Joined by Erik, they watched as Alexei's home and livelihood burned before their eyes, powerless to do anything to prevent it.