Chapter 9 - The Trial by FireArthur sped through the torrential rain, pushing the transport van to its absolute limit, with Maya sitting in the passenger seat clutching her chest in prayer.
As they rounded the final corner onto St. Jude Avenue, a horrifying scene unfolded before their eyes.
The entire top three floors of St. Jude Medical Center were engulfed in towering plumes of black smoke and roaring orange flames! Emergency vehicles blocked the streets, their red and blue lights reflecting off the wet pavement. Firefighters were frantically battling the blaze, but the building's emergency suppression systems had been sabotaged from the inside.
"The NICU is on the 4th floor!" I screamed through Arthur’s cell phone speaker as he connected the call. "The fire started right outside our unit! The stairwells are blocked by collapsed debris, and the elevators are dead! We are trapped!"
"Sarah, where is Clara?" Arthur demanded, stepping out of the van into the chaos.
"I have her in a portable incubator!" I coughed, smoke echoing through the phone line. "Rachel and I are trapped in the south corner room! The floor is collapsing under us!"
Fire commanders tried to stop Arthur as he charged toward the burning hospital entrance.
"Sir! Stop! That building is structurally unsafe! You can't go in there!" a firefighter screamed, reaching for him.
Arthur didn't even slow down. He brushed past the firefighters like a runaway train, bursting through the glass doors of the burning hospital.
He sprinted up four flights of crumbling, smoke-choked stairs, ignoring the blistering heat that threatened to reopen the burn scars covering his arms. The smoke was thick enough to blind a normal man, but Arthur navigated by instinct, memory, and sheer force of will.
He kicked open the heavy double doors of the 4th floor. The NICU was an inferno. Beams were falling from the ceiling, and glass was shattering everywhere.
In the far corner, trapped behind a wall of fallen drywall and roaring flames, were Rachel and I, holding Clara’s glowing portable incubator against our chest.
"Arthur!" I cried out.
A massive support beam cracked overhead, falling directly toward us!
Arthur leaped forward with superhuman speed, placing himself directly beneath the blazing wooden beam. He caught the burning, two-hundred-pound timber with his bare hands!
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His skin blistered instantly, the agony agonizing, but Arthur roared with pure, unyielding fury, holding the burning beam up on his shoulders, creating a narrow gap through the fire.
"RUN!" Arthur screamed, his muscles tearing under the immense load. "GET CLARA OUT! RUN!"
