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Ch 9
Indelibly Inked
Chapter 10
Looking back toward the bedroom again, she remembered seeing a window at the opposite end of the hall. But the dog had been in the living room. Adam would have gone that way, for sure. She pulled her shirt over her mouth and started crawling toward the front door. She didn't want to leave him if he needed her help.
A raspy bark from behind made her freeze, slowly looking back over her shoulder to see Adam's dog staring at her. His head was lowered and he barked again, then wheezed a few times before he turned and took a few steps in the opposite direction. Did he want her to follow him?
The dog barked again, then coughed, his tail low and nearly between his legs. He was obviously suffering. She remembered seeing a window at the end of the hall earlier. Sure that Adam would want her to save his dog, she turned and crawled the other way, the dog staying a few steps ahead. Through the smoke she saw a dark mass on the floor ahead and as she got closer, Claire gasped.
"Adam!" She hurried to his side, panic rising up as she saw the blood pooling beneath his head. Had he fallen? His dog whined, pacing between the window ahead and his master's body. Was he dead, she wondered? She slid two fingers onto his neck, searching for a pulse. Nothing. The smoke was thickening. She couldn't do anything for him until they got outside.
Forcing herself up she spotted a fake plant in the corner, and hoped the pot wasn't plastic. Quickly she stepped over Adam and picked up the heavy porcelain pot, throwing it as hard as she could into the window. The glass shattered out and she knocked the remaining shards out of the lower and side frames with a picture frame yanked off the wall. Fresh, cool air streamed in. She took several deep breaths, imagining she could feel it replacing the smoke in her lungs. Suddenly she was very aware of the severe pain in her foot, and it was all she could do to keep from dropping to the ground and grabbing her toes. Instead she patted the windowsill, pleased with the dog still had the energy to vault over it. She glanced over the sill to make sure he'd made it okay, then hurried back to Adam's side.
She reached under his armpits and curled up with all the strength she could muster, dragging him to lay right in front of the window. Looking out again, she judged the distance to the ground. There was no way to lower him down gently, and they were running out of time. Flames were licking at the hallway as she leaned over him and pulled his right arm up onto the windowsill, then his right leg. Shoving at his hips, she managed to get his left toe out, and then suddenly gravity took over and his body was slipping neatly through the window.
She grabbed for his hands, surprised wihen his fingers locked around her wrists. It took all of her strength to lower him until his feet touched the ground. Then she let go, watching him crumple into a heap on the ground. She crawled out after him. In the brief flash she was concious as her feet touched the ground, she remembered her two broken toes.
