“You pass us every day, blissfully unaware of our desperation. That is what hurts the most. And you want me to forgive them? You want me to take up their burden at the expense of my own people? Make no mistake, Nazirah. We may be poor and we may be hungry, but the intermix are not going anywhere. We have dealt with strife for centuries and we will endure. I cannot say the same for the Eridians.”
“But we’re fighting for the same thing!” Nazirah cries. “Like the Eridians, you want freedom and peace! You want the power over your own life!”
Adamek’s eyes are on her, but Nazirah doesn’t look his way.
“In this, you are correct,” Cayus says, appreciating her persistence. “But I am sorry. I cannot help you.”
“Why not?” asks Aldrik.
Nazirah puts her face in her hands, feeling nothing but despair. She hears crying and wailing outside and imagines the slum dwellers are as upset with their leader as she is.
Cayus stares at Adamek’s hands and then into his eyes. “Tell me, Adamek Morgen,” he says. “Tell me how many intermix you have killed.”
“A lot,” Adamek says, not missing a beat.
“I see.”
“And how many intermix have you killed,” Adamek counters, “in order to obtain your leadership here?”
“A lot,” Cayus responds slowly. “But you can understand why I could never fight alongside you?”
Adamek is silent then, as is Aldrik.
Nazirah looks at them, enraged. “Well, I can’t!” she shouts, standing up quickly. “He killed my fucking parents! If I can do it, then you most certainly can!”
Cayus also stands, causing everyone in the hut to rise apprehensively. “Even the intermix of the slums are not immune to the gossip of the world,” he says, looking curiously between the two of them. “You come here and ask me to forgive. Nazirah Nation, daughter of Kasimir Nation, lover of Adamek Morgen, how have you forgiven him?”
Nazirah opens her mouth, completely prepared to lie to the best of her ability. But Cayu rushes frantically inside the hut, cutting her off. “Father!” he screams, pointing outside. “The cannons are here!”
Loud booms shake the ground. Cayus pulls the flap of the hut entrance open, disappearing outside. Nazirah can see plumes of black smoke rising in the distance. The Medi vehicles retreat, as a huge fire begins to eat up row upon row of huts. Nazirah watches breathlessly as hundreds of intermix men run towards the ocean, preparing to fill wooden buckets with water.
Aldrik and Adamek run outside to help. “Nation, stay here!” Adamek shouts at her, before sprinting towards the massive ball of flames.
“Let go!” Cayu screams, trying to break free of Casha, who holds onto his tiny wrist. He clearly wants to help his father. Casha looks overwhelmed, trying to handle her small children, but Nazirah cannot stay with her.
“I’ll be back!” Nazirah yells at Casha and rushes out of the hut.
Nazirah darts down the rows, searching for anyone who may have been trampled in the chaos. Getting closer to the inferno, Nazirah feels the heat scorch through her body. Smoke fills her lungs and she coughs into her hand. The acrid smell of burning wood, metal, and flesh sears the air. Sweat and fear soak her clothes. Several meters away, she sees Adamek and Cayus joining the massive effort to quell the flames.
Men surround the wall of fire, beating it down with wet rags, towels, and clothes – anything that will suffocate the flames. Others form a human chain, an endless system transporting buckets to and from the ocean. The fire has already decimated dozens of huts and is quickly engulfing more, incinerating everything in its path.
Squinting, Nazirah sees Cander and several Eridians rushing down the shoreline to help. The smoke is thicker now, heavier. Nazirah’s arms are red and blistering. She bends over, trying to catch her breath, just as a small boy sprints past her. Nazirah doesn’t need to look twice to know who it is. “Cayu!” she yells.
Nazirah races after him, screaming his name. But he’s too far gone, already several yards ahead in the distance. Nazirah musters every last ounce of strength she has, running through the flaming rows as the huts around her begin collapsing. Nazirah sees Cander through the flames and calls out to him. He doesn’t hear her and quickly retreats from her vision.
Nazirah ploughs forward, tripping over a dead body in the lane. She gags but doesn’t stop. Someone grabs her from behind, slings her over their shoulder. “Put me down!” Nazirah screams, kicking furiously.
Adamek drops her harshly and grabs hold of Nazirah’s arm. His face is full of ash, but his green eyes blaze brighter than the fire, furious. “What are you doing here?” he growls, yanking her forcefully away from some falling debris. “I told you to stay put! You never listen!”
“Cayu ran here!” she cries. They both duck as the hut beside them collapses. “I have to find him!”
“I’ll find him!” he yells. “Get out of here, Nation!”
“No!” she shouts, wrenching her arm from his grasp. She runs away from him and back towards the wall of fire. Adamek shouts her name, chasing after her. Nazirah doesn’t know which of them is the faster runner, but she’s about to find out.
Nazirah runs in the direction she last saw Cayu, jumping over burning pieces of debris. Adamek is right behind her. He tries to grab her, but she ducks into the adjacent row of huts. Nazirah spots Cayu right at the encroaching wall of fire, about twenty huts away. She watches in complete horror as Cayu throws some water from a small pail onto the flames. He’s so focused he doesn’t see the collapsing hut until it’s too late. Moments later, he’s trapped underneath the rubble.
Adamek comes up behind Nazirah, spotting Cayu only a moment later. They look at each other and simultaneously sprint to Cayu’s aid. Nazirah is fast, but Adamek is faster. Adamek reaches him with Nazirah a step behind, and pulls an unconscious Cayu from the rubble just as the fire begins to catch. Nazirah leads them away from the heat as Adamek holds Cayu in his arms.
As they run, Nazirah can see that Cayus has intentionally destroyed dozens of huts near the blaze, clearing the debris in order to starve the fire of more fuel. Through the relentless efforts of intermix and Eridian, the flames are being suffocated. By the time Adamek and Nazirah reach Cayus’ hut, the fire has mostly died, leaving only smoldering remains and a thick black plume of smoke.
Casha waits at the hut entrance, where the air is still breathable, holding a wailing infant in her arms and looking petrified. She nearly faints when she sees Adamek walk in with Cayu. Adamek gently lays the boy on the floor of the hut. Casha hands the infant to an already frazzled Nazirah and then rushes over to her son and cradles him in her arms. The three of them exhale when Cayu coughs and his breathing steadies.
“Thank you!” Casha sobs, bordering on hysteria. “I can never repay you for this!” Nazirah is frankly more concerned about the finicky baby in her arms. She tries to soothe it, wincing as it pulls her hair with its tiny fists.
“It’s not a bad look for you,” Adamek says, absurdly trying to lighten the mood. Casha quickly pulls the baby away, cooing.
Nazirah runs her fingers through her hair, laughing a little insanely, completely unable to process the situation. Cayus and Cander walk inside, weary and exhausted. They both have minor burns on their arms and faces. Aldrik enters last, hacking loudly and collapsing onto the nearest stool. Some of his hair has burned off, the rest still sizzling, and he has lost his eye patch. As soon as Cayus sees Cayu, he falls to the ground, kneeling before him and sobbing.
“He ran off,” Nazirah explains.
“You saved my son,” Cayus says softly to her.
She shakes her head, then nods silently at Adamek. Cayus looks at him, bewildered. Nazirah can see the amazement behind his eyes, and the sadness as well. Cayus returns to his son, stroking his cheek tenderly.
“Well,” grumbles Aldrik, coughing loudly and rising in pain, “we will leave you to mourn your deaths in privacy.” He looks at Nazirah and Adamek pointedly. “We should go.” Nazirah knows what Aldrik is really implying – that this fire was not meant for the slumdwellers.