out later, but for right now, she just needed to find the kids and make sure that they were safe.
“I’m sure that they’re around here somewhere. They’re probably just hiding,” Sloane reassured her as she dropped her bag off at the desk. “I’ll check the back.”
“Thank you,” Kim said, sending her a grateful smile.
Sloane quickly made her way to the pool, checking the break room and changing rooms along the way, already knowing that she wouldn’t find the kids in any of these rooms. Deb would never make it that easy on her, Sloane thought, unable to help but smile as she thought about the little girl that lived to terrorize her.
She was probably holed up somewhere in one of the back-storage rooms contemplating world domination. No doubt, she’d already constructed her throne from stacks of old files, Sloane told herself as she passed the pool. She headed down the small corridor and–
“Help!” came the muffled scream that had Sloane moving faster, quickly checking doors until she finally found one that would open.
As soon as she opened the door, Sloane felt her stomach drop when she spotted the kids across the small room filling with smoke, struggling to stop a large metal shelving unit from falling over on top of them. Sloane was across the room a second later, moving to grab hold of the unit and push it back up, but it was already too late. Knowing that there was nothing else that she could do, she released her hold on the shelves, grabbed the kids and moved quickly.
They barely made it halfway across the room when the sounds of everything that had been on the shelves crashed to the floor along with an ominous creek seconds before something slammed against her back. Sloane barely managed to push the kids out of the way before it knocked her to the floor and–
Tore a scream out of her when she felt the bone in her leg snap only to end up biting back another scream when pain tore through her ribs. Gasping, Sloane dragged in smoke laced air and slowly exhaled as she forced her attention on the kids to find them sitting in front of her, crying.
“Are you okay?” Sloane managed to get out on a cough as the muffled sounds of the smoke alarm going off in the other room caught her attention.
“Y-yes,” Deb said as Teddy nodded frantically.
“That’s good,” Sloane said, biting back another scream when she tried to move only to have more pain tear through her body.
“You’re bleeding,” Teddy said, drawing her attention back to find him pointing to her head.
“And I’m going to be fine,” Sloane promised him, somehow managing a smile as she noted that there was a lot more smoke in the room than there had been a minute ago. “We need to get you guys out of here.”
“The door’s locked,” Deb said as Sloane shifted as far as she could so that she could look for another way out and when she saw the soft orange glow on the wall behind her, she realized that they didn’t have much time.
“What about the window?” Sloane managed to get out, but god, did it hurt to talk right now.
“I can’t reach it,” Deb said, sounding close to crying.
Sloane looked back, noting the shelving unit on top of her was pretty deep and should be enough to help Deb reach the window. “Climb on top of the shelf and climb out the window.”
“But it’s on top of you,” Deb whispered.
“It’s okay, Deb. You’re not going to hurt me, but I need you to get your brother out of here,” Sloane said, trying to ignore the pain only to add, “You have to take care of Teddy,” when the little girl hesitated.
Nodding, Deb pulled herself to her feet, grabbed hold of the shelf and–
“Are you okay?” Teddy asked when Sloane gasped as the small movement caused searing pain to tear through her ribs and down her leg.
“I’m fine,” Sloane reassured him, struggling to keep it together as Deb pulled herself onto the shelf.
“I’m almost there!” Deb said as Sloane was forced to close her eyes as she struggled not to pass out, praying that the little girl was able to do this and trying not to think about what would happen if she couldn’t get that window open.
For what felt like hours, Sloane laid there, struggling to breathe through the pain only to end up coughing when smoke filled her lungs and Deb’s added weight