"Hey! Stop!" a security guard's voice chased them through the smoke. "The firefighters are on their way!"
Jason didn't stop. Neither did Arnon.
The air thickened—dense, stinging fog rolling through the corridors, tasting of scorched metal and ash. Lights flickered, and the heat pressed in like a living thing, smothering every breath. The distant crackle of flames and muffled orders from the fire response team echoed from the floors below. They'd broken through the lower levels, but the upper floors—where Katherine was—remained a danger zone.
Jason's eyes burned, but his steps stayed steady—too steady. He moved low, close to the wall, his breath shallow against the heat. His hand shot out, slamming a door closed to starve the fire of oxygen—automatic, instinctive—
Wait… How did —
The thought barely formed before it scattered, lost in the chaos.Yet his body moved with a strange certainty—like a rhythm he hadn't learned but always known.
"Split up!" Jason rasped through the smoke.
Arnon nodded, breaking left as Jason veered right.
---
Arnon found her first—Katherine, crouched low, coughing into her sleeve, disoriented but conscious. Flames devoured the walls behind her, heat distorting the air into a feverish haze, turning the world into a melting mirage.
"Katherine!" Arnon barked. "On your feet!"
She tried to rise, but her legs buckled—she collapsed with a pained gasp, her fingers scraping the hot floor.
Arnon closed the distance—his movements sharp, almost too quick. He scooped her up effortlessly—far too easily for a man his size. She felt weightless in his arms, the heat of his soot-streaked chest somehow grounding.
A crack—like bone snapping—split the air. The ceiling above—
Move.
Without thinking, Arnon twisted—debris crashed down behind him, missing by inches. He sprinted toward the stairwell—faster than any man burdened by another should.
Katherine's head lolled weakly against his chest. "You…" she coughed, voice faint and raw. "Fast…" Her voice broke, and her body slumped as if she'd been holding on to consciousness through sheer willpower.
--
Meanwhile, Jason pressed forward, guided by—
Nothing.
No thought. No plan. Only a razor-thin thread of instinct pulling him through the burning maze. The building roared, a beast devouring itself, and he felt the heat shift before he saw it—sidestepped just as a gas line hissed and ignited behind him with a hungry roar.
Too close—
His hands found a fire extinguisher—quick, practiced—and he smothered a blaze blocking his path. The nozzle swept side-to-side with perfect control, white clouds hissing over crackling embers.
When ..
The question dissolved as the air warped—
Boom.
A support beam collapsed—
Jason spun—too late—
The flames roared, and his body moved before his mind caught up—duck, roll, ten steps to the left—like rehearsing a scene he hadn't read. His heart pounded, but his hands didn't shake. They remembered surviving.His knees hit the ground, sliding clear as the fire scorched a line where he'd stood a heartbeat before. The air blistered his skin.
Pinned—his jacket trapped under the beam—heat licking too close—
His muscles tensed—too tight for instinct, too certain for panic—
The fabric ripped like paper. He was free.
Smoke burned his lungs. His pulse pounded. But the rhythm remained. A whisper of motion, like dancing to a song he couldn't hear.
---
The stairwell loomed ahead—just as firefighters burst through the lower entrance, their voices sharp through radios and masks.
"Anyone inside?" one called.
"Here!" Arnon's voice cut through the smoke. He shifted Katherine slightly, her head limp on his shoulder. "She's unconscious but alive!"
The firefighter nodded. "We've got a path back! Come with us—"
A sudden roar—flames surged through the corridor behind them, sealing the way. The fire response team froze, their exit route cut off.
"No good!" another firefighter barked.
Jason and Arnon were trapped on the other side.
"We'll take another stairwell!" Jason shouted.
The firefighter yelled back, "That side's blocked—"
But Jason's eyes were already on Arnon—calculating—
The building trembled. Fire spread below, consuming the stairs. Above—collapse imminent.
---
Jason's gaze dropped—to the floor below. Only one option.
"We're jumping," he said flatly.
Arnon's brow furrowed. "That's a whole floor. I'm carrying—"
Crack. The ceiling groaned—
Jason's body answered before his mind. Legs coiled—perfectly aligned, perfectly timed—
"Trust me."
Arnon didn't argue. He clutched Katherine tighter.
And they jumped.
---
The air rushed—the heat swallowed them—
Jason hit first—absorbing the impact, his legs driving into the floor with unnatural force, the scorched ground cracking beneath his boots. His arms whipped back—and caught Arnon, shielding Katherine. His knees bent, dispersing the force as if his body was the landing pad.
Jason, breathless, his palms pressed to the scorched ground—felt it. The pressure. The impact. And the raw power—
Not mine.
A breath—
Katherine, stirring, coughed weakly—alive.
---
The firefighters, quickly descending, reached the landing—eyes wide at the destruction.
"What the hell—"
"We're clear," Arnon's voice cut through. His face soot-stained, calm. "She's safe. Needs oxygen."
Jason, breathless, added, "We're going out through the west side."
The firefighter, confused, shouted, "Wait! What the hell just—how did you—"
But Jason was already pulling Arnon forward—Katherine's head still lolling unconscious on his shoulder—
"Tell them," Jason muttered, "We're ahead. Just meet us outside."
---
The fire response team breached the corridor—hoses unleashed torrents of water, steam screaming into the air.
But in the chaos—
Jason, Arnon, and Katherine vanished into the smoke.
---
Katherine stirred, groggy and smoke-drunk, as cool air hit her skin. They'd reached open ground—the burning building a smoking giant behind them, orange tongues still licking the sky. Sirens wailed. The asphalt beneath them was hot, cracked, and dusted with ash.
"Did you…" Her voice cracked, hoarse. "Sorry… I'm… heavy…"
Jason's soot-stained lips quirked, his voice dry but amused. "Nah. You're just light as a feather for Arnon."
Arnon, deadpan: "Diet a little."
But she caught it—the flicker in his eyes.
A hint of something—almost… nervous.
Her eyes, fogged with confusion and smoke, narrowed. "You guys… are insane".