"Attention! Do not come close! It is life-threatening!" The police orders in the loudspeaker restrained a crowd of onlookers gathered in front of the burning building. Several fire engines with sirens stopped in front of the clinic, firefighters deployed hydrants and turned on the maximum pressure. The building blazed like a thin sliver thrown into a fire. The fire was so strong that heat coming from it was felt tens quite a few yards from the building. The rumble and sound of breaking gla.s.s mixed with human cries for help."Get the child out of here! Now!" one of the policemen grabbed Amelia, the girl squeezed through the crowd and rushed to the clinic. She did not see anyone around, all her thoughts were focused on two people in the power of the fire.
"Let go! My parents are there!"
A man"s hand wrapped around her waist, that touch was enough for Amelia to understand who it was. Marcus pulled her aside, despite the girl"s protests. Chaos reigned around, firefighters and doctors shouted from all sides. Someone asked for help to the victims, someone tried to get into the burning building in order to get out the people who were captured by fire.
"Amelia, look at me!" Marcus knelt down in front of the girl, grabbed her face and turned her gaze to himself, "Everything will be fine, keep it together! I will help you!"
"How will you help?! Even firefighters can"t get close!"
Despite her young age, Amelia was a smart child, and she understood that this fire was serious, perhaps even the maximum level of danger cla.s.s.
"Just trust me!" Marcus wanted to calm the child, although emotions raged inside him. He well knew the limit of his abilities, and to cope with such a fire was a difficult task, but not impossible. "Polina, look after her," he ordered the girl. Polina was no less shocked, like the rest, when she got to the place and saw what was happening. Marcus left the car right on the road, and she took the time to drive aside, and then ran after them.
The man turned and looked at the burning building, Amelia managed to notice how his eyes changed color, and from blue they turned deep black. With a confident and quick step, he went towards the clinic, ignoring the police and firemen who were silent at once, as soon as they looked at him closely.
The aura of Marcus was absorbing, like a black hole in the depths of s.p.a.ce, he inspired such fear that even the danger of fire faded against the background of this man.
He scanned the building, there were too many people inside to find Lucia and Martin among them. Marcus turned his eyes to several fire engines, the area of the fire was large and the firemen did not have time to extinguish the flame.
The man took a deep breath, waved his hand, and a gigantic amount of water, like a dome, covered the building in a few seconds, after which it fell downpour.
People were completely taken aback. The buzzing crowd of onlookers fell silent, not a single person uttered a sound.
In the eyes of Marcus it darkened, he staggered, but managed to stand on his feet. The man looked at his hands, his skin began to melt, exposing the muscles hidden beneath it. This was the first time he had spent such a large amount of energy at a time, and his body reacted in a manner that would be typical for such a situation.
But he still had a supply before thirst eclipsed his mind and he turned into a monster, whose sole purpose would be to absorb as much energy as possible.
"Begin evacuation, now!" the head of the fire department shouted, and a dozen of people in protective suits ran into the building. But as soon as they crossed the threshold, an increasing rumble of an unknown source appeared in the air.
People began to look around, not understanding what was happening, as the two upper floors of the six-story clinic flared up with renewed vigor.
"What the...," Marcus looked in dismay at the raging fire, which as if had not been extinguished a minute ago. The man did everything possible to get water not only on the surface of the building but also inside, extinguishing all the fire sources. But this fire seemed to live by its own rules.
"The department of pediatric surgery is on fire! Team 3 and 4 - Continue extinguishing! Team 1 and 5 - continue evacuation from the lower floors!"
Department of Pediatric Surgery? The words of the chief fireman made Marcus tremble, it was the department where Amelia"s father worked.
Without skipping a beat, Marcus teleported to the fifth floor. Tongues of flame devoured the walls and ceiling, dense smoke displaced the air. The man waved his hand to disperse the smoke and extinguish the fire, but it only intensified, as if the force of nature acted against him.
"What is it?!"
In the smokescreen, Marcus saw the silhouette of a man in a white coat. His leg was bleeding from a fresh wound, and he limped, hardly moving it forward.
"Martin!" Marcus"s vision allowed him to recognize the girl"s father, he ran to the man and saw a boy in his arms, who was about ten years old, like Amelia. The child"s face was covered with an oxygen mask, his eyes were closed, and a brown plush dog was pressed to his chest.
"M-Marcus?" Martin"s eyes were already poorly oriented in s.p.a.ce, but he recognized the voice of his wife"s close friend even through thick smoke.
"Quickly, get this child out of here! "I just had surgery on his lungs yesterday, if he breathes smoke, he will die!" the doctor handed the boy to Marcus.
"Where is Lucia? I can not put out the fire. I"m teleporting you-" Marcus"s heart went cold, he tried to teleport several times, nothing happened. As if this place was an abnormal zone in which not one of his abilities worked.
From the face of Marcus, the doctor realized that something was wrong. The man smiled and squeezed his friend"s shoulder, "Lucia is at the end of this corridor, one of the beams collapsed and blocked the path. Don"t think about us, get this boy out."
"I will not leave you here! How will I look Amelia in the eye if something happens to her parents?!" Marcus tried to give the boy back to Martin and go to rescue Lucia, but the man stopped him.
"Marcus, we are doctors! The patient"s life is more important than our own!" the doctor leaned toward the child in the arms of Marcus and patted his cheek, "Brian, Brian, wake up! You must not lose consciousness! "
"Dr. Martin," the boy opened his eyes, his voice was barely audible.
"Brian, look at this man! Do not close your eyes, do you got me?" Martin asked and the boy nodded his head. The doctor stroked the child"s head and smiled, "Well done. Hold Simon tight so that he won"t get lost, otherwise, he will be sad without you," Martin put a plush dog under the boy"s arm and pushed Marcus towards the exit, "Five meters straight, turn right, the second door will lead you to the exit to the stairs. Hurry!"
Marcus cursed, pressed the child to himself and hurried in the indicated direction. No, he will be in time, he needed a little more time, and he will certainly have time to return.
The thunder of metal structures and the sound of breaking gla.s.s stopped the man in place. He turned around. In the place where Martin was standing, now lay a pile of metal and other materials melting from the fire from the collapsed ceiling.
A loud roar of despair escaped from Marcus, the man turned away and lowered his head, the child was looking at him with frightened eyes, not taking his eyes off, as Dr. Martin had requested. "Hold on," Marcus went on a run and with every step, he tried teleporting, but it only worked when they moved from the fire captivity to the stairs. The next second, he was already standing on the street, looking for an ambulance with his eyes.
Firefighters and policemen were running back and forth with a stretcher, transporting the victims. Marcus found the nearest ambulance and moved to it. The doctor dropped the bandages on the ground when the man appeared in front of him directly from the air. His hands and face were covered with b.l.o.o.d.y sores, and he had a small child in his arms.
"If something happens to this boy, I will find you and turn your life into h.e.l.l," growled Marcus and gave the child to the doctor. The life of this Brian was worth the life of Amelia"s father, the man had to make sure that it was not in vain.
Marcus turned to teleport again to the burning building. If this abnormal fire prevented him from moving back, he needed to find Lucia and get her out of there as soon as possible.
At that moment, someone grabbed his hand. Amelia stared into his eyes, unable to utter a word. The storm of emotions in the man"s gaze spoke for itself. Marcus pulled her hand away and disappeared into the air.