Xanthippeia felt scorching hot, almost as if her body temperature skyrocketed to a supernova. When she opened her eyes with great difficulty for the first time all she saw was dirt and smoke. She lifted her head and her hand slightly so she could fan the smoke away. She fanned enough to notice that she was in a deep hole in the ground. She looked up to see Carey yelling down to her, or at least that's what she thought she was doing.
Xanthippeias' ears were stuffed up so she couldn't hear anything except the initial screaming of her best friend then ringing and the sound of melting asphalt floated in her ears.
Her skin was lined with a thick layer of sweat, her hair and clothes were wet and sticky. She looked around frantically wondering how she got in this situation. Carey was looking down at her trying to reach her hand down to help Xan out of the hole but she was incredibly disoriented and it was as if all the energy was drained out of her body.
Xanthippeia could barely move her body, she even felt strain from lifting her head so she decided to take some deep breaths and figure out how to make her body function again. She kept blinking and fanning to see past the smoke. She wanted to yell up at Carey to tell her she couldn't get up on her own but all that came out of her mouth was a soft rasp and it burned right through her throat so she stopped and looked around for another way out.
Carey was so panicked she didn't know what to do but one thing was for sure, she had to get her best friend out of that hole and make sure she's okay. When she realized she couldn't reach down she fanned her way back to where she had dropped her handbag. There she fumbled to find her phone so she could call for help.
She finally had the phone in her hands and was about to start dialling when she heard someone shouting. It was Quinton and he came running towards the scene. Carey dropped her phone back in her bag and started yelling at him.
"Quinton! We're over here hurry we need help!" she yelled.
"Carey? Carey? Where are you?!" Quinton yelled back,
"Over here just follow the sound of my voice idiot!" she replied. Quinton was fumbling and fanning the smoke when he bumped right into Carey and knocked her down on the ground.
"Ouch! Q! Would you watch where you're going?" She said when he gave her a hand up. She stood and dusted herself off and the sense of urgency took over again.
"Oh my god, Xan! We have to get her out. Come on hurry." She said grabbing him by the wrist and she led the way back to the hole but before they got there Quinton stopped.
"Care, hold on. Where are you taking me? What's going on?" he asked. Carey stopped and seemed frustrated and said.
"Okay I am only going to say this once, Xan is stuck in that smoking hole and we need to get her out before she inhales all that smoke and dies. Got it? Now let's go!"
It was like a protective instinct took over Quinton as soon as they got to where the deep hole was and he saw Xanthippeia lying limply at the bottom. He rushed to the edge and was going to attempt to climb down to get her until Carey yanked him by the shirt and he jerked back.
"Carey, what are you doing I'm going in after her. Let go of me!" He snapped at her
"Why, so both of you can be trapped in the hole together?!" she yelled back.
"In case you haven't realised Princess we are all alone here. We're all she has. NOW BACK OFF!" she unhanded him and took a step back. He walked forward and she shouted out to him.
"Wait Q! We'll do this together." He gave her a sceptical look. "How?" he asked.
"You get down there while I call for help, check if she is still breathing and okay then you have to put her on your back and I'll try to pull you guys up." She said in one breath.
,
"Carey no offence but you're not strong enough to pull both of us up." He sighed as he took in her statuesque frame.
She rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips and replied.
"You think I spend three hours at the gym and two hours of yoga and Pilates every day for nothing? I can handle this."
"Alright then call for help and uh give me your scarf to cover myself. I don't want to suffocate down there" He shrugged at her argument.
She reluctantly took the expensive item off and handed it to him. And he wrapped it around his face except for his eyes. He took a deep breath and starting climbing down the hole. And Carey started dialling.
Xanthippeia had been looking up for a way out for a few minutes now and every breath she took was suffocating her. She had started to feel a liquid sensation running down her nose and out of her ears, even though she touched it but couldn't see she knew it was blood.
Her vision was blurring so she wasn't sure if she was seeing Quinton climbing down the hole. She was delirious. There was no way he could put himself in so much danger trying to rescue her. She thought she could hear him calling out for her but before she could think again she felt a huge pain in her head and she fainted.
The earth was cutting and crumbling under Quinton's fingers at the same time slightly burning and it hurt like hell but he couldn't think about that right now. He carried on, carefully placing his feet on the big rocks poking out. He was strategic about his movements as he was about everything he did. He didn't want to think about the fact that Xanthippeia was seriously hurt or even worse…
He put those thoughts aside and continued when his left foot slid on one of the shaky rocks and he fell back about 4 inches from the ground. It wasn't that far a fall and he mostly landed on his shoulders but the impact was still brutal.
The hole was small but there was still space between where he and Xan lay. He turned his head to the left and there she was, her small body not moving as she lay on her side among what seemed like earth and ash. Adrenaline was pumping through him out of sheer panic that he ignored his own injuries.
He rushed to her side and as soon as his hand made contact with her arm he felt a sharp sizzling burn in his palm. He quickly jerked his hand away and rubbed at the now slightly burnt flesh. Then he squinted his eyes and fanned some of the smoke away so he could get somewhat of a good look at her. He was just about to attempt another touch when he heard Carey calling down to him.
"Is she alive? Quinton, please tell me she's okay." She shouted hysterically. He couldn't answer her immediately because he wasn't sure. He shifted towards her again and pulled down his shirt sleeve in case he got burned again.
He gently flipped her over so she was on her back. He leaned closer to her mouth and luckily she was faintly breathing. That was all he needed.
"She's breathing…she's going to be just fine!" he said excitedly and out of breath. Her clothes were tattered and covered in ash and dirt. The bare parts of her body were lined with dirt and sweat. But what caught his attention was the streams of drying blood coming out of her nose and ears. He sat up and got on his knees over her and slowly lifted her head closer to him so he could survey her properly.
Her skin was very hot but he held her face in his hands anyway. With his fingers, he gently opened both her eyelids and thank God her pupils weren't rolled back but were slightly dilated and her grey eyes were bloodshot.
None of that mattered now because they had to get out of here. He tried to shake her but she didn't move, then he tried to talk into her ears and still no response. He then tried to slap her hard across the face and he immediately felt bad about it. There was still nothing except a stinging on his hand.
He looked hopelessly at her and he wanted to cry and hug her but heard Carey calling out.
"Q, the firefighters are on the way!!"
"That's great Care but what about the paramedics? Xan needs serious medical attention here!" he coughed and yelled up.
"What do you mean? I thought you said she was okay." She yelled with a shaky voice.
"Yeah she's breathing but not for long and she seems to be heating up, we need to get her out of this smoking hole!"
Carey gasped and was just about to respond when she heard the doors of the gym opening. Someone was here this early she thought. It might have been the janitor. Then there were multiple footsteps. She got excited and started shouting for help and flailing her arms to get their attention.
"What happened here?" one of the firefighters asked Carey while the others scoped out the area.
"I-I'm not sure but we found my friend in that smoking hole over there please help you have to get them out!" she struggled.
The firefighters were quick to respond when they started getting some rope and harnesses so a couple of them could climb into the hole to rescue Xanthippeia and Quinton. One of them pulled him out quickly and the other wrapped a blanket around her so he wouldn't get burned and lifted her over his shoulder.
When they got out the sirens of the ambulance could be heard outside the school and the firefighter carried her into it. There was some wide panic as staff and students started arriving, Carey and Quinton were around the ambulance waiting for the EMT's to resuscitate her and luckily they did after a few minutes. She was still burning up but at least she was semi responsive so they drove off to the nearest hospital.
Xanthippeia snapped opened her burning eyes widely when she saw a man was going to stick a needle in her arm and her grey eyes turned a vibrant purple colour that started to glow. She let out a growl when the needle came in contact with her skin but only it shattered against her skin.
She was so wound up she grabbed the guy's arm, twisted it and pinned him onto the side of the ambulance with one arm. It was as if her body had been completely overtaken as now panic and rage flooded through her. This was not her anymore but rather the force that had been trying to push its way out of her earlier.
The driver came to a screeching halt when she heard the commotion in the back and went around finding Xanthippeias' purple eyes glowing and choking the life out of the medic that was trying to help. She couldn't sense anything but pulsating rage and a fire burning inside her. The lady looked positively terrified she didn't know what to do; Xan could smell the fear in her.
A moment of frantic looking around she shook her head diminishing the purple glow and her clear grey-eyed vision returned as she released her hold over the medic and dropped him to the floor of the ambulance.
"I—I'm sorry, I have to get out of here." she stuttered dazed of her actions and the lady just stared at her with bulging eyes as if she was cautious to not set off the tiny dangerous girl that began to cautiously climb out of the ambulance and take off stumbling barefoot on the road.