Betrayed, I Rise novel · Chapter 22 of 32

Chapter 22: Ashes

I don't remember going down the stairs.

I remember the heat on my face when I opened the office door.

It pushed me back a step.

Troy was already out in the yard, barefoot, in a T-shirt, dragging the big hose off its reel.

"Call it in!" he shouted. "Nine-one-one! Then get back!"

I called.

The woman on the line said the volunteer trucks were already rolling.

My camera was around my neck.

I didn't remember picking it up.

I raised it and shot, from the office steps, because my hands didn't know how to do anything else.

The shed roof. The flames coming out under the eaves. Troy, small against it, with the hose.

Then I let the camera drop on its strap and ran to help him.

The crew came in pickups, in pajamas and boots, some of them with their wives.

The oldest man was the first through the gate.

"The hulls," he said. "Which ones can we get?"

There were three boats inside the main shed. Two were on rolling stands near the big doors.

The third was the skeleton boat, the one with bare ribs, all the way at the back.

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