Ash got up in a hurry and looked around him. It was just as Amani had warned. There was a fire spreading slowly swallowing everything in his peripheral vision like it were a black hole. The cafeteria signs, employee uniforms, the wooden tables even the food displays were on fire. It was miraculous he didn't feel the blazing heat of the intense flames until just now. Ash couldn't help but be drawn to the fire. His legs felt like melting candle wax and all he could do was just stare and take it all in. The mall echoed with a harmony of screams and coughing accompanied by generic mall music. People were running away one after the other, rushing to leave the building.

Many people, including Amani and Eris, were calling the fire department, the police, or even loved ones...just in case. Rachel kept trying to bring Ash out of his trance. Even though he was no longer focused on the fire, the heat made him freeze up. Amani reminded everyone that if they all have gotten over the shock, they should probably leave. Right now.

Rachel dragged Ash with her while following the twins. Ash was still dazed and still unable to really grasp how dire the situation is. He wasn't alone in that regard, Amani also had very little urgency at this point. Her running was slow and her expression far too calm. It wasn't really known to any other members of the group, but Amani had been in several fires before. The initial rush of adrenaline looked to have worn off for her.

Ash noticed that the exit was just centimeters away. Right when relief started to wash over the group of friends, debris started to fall. Still burning decor and even parts of the emergency exit door itself fell down along with charred unrecognizable pieces of what may have been advertisements or clothes. Eris moved a little closer to the exit, as a crowd of bystanders too nervous to do the same, watch. The second she did, a medium-sized chunk of the ceiling fell at her feet ominously. She moved back in place out of fear.

Amani turned behind to Ash and Rachel, "Well, we're dead now I guess." She probably meant it as a joke, but Ash wasn't really in the mood to hear something so foreboding. Rachel coughed up a nervous laugh, though. Amani then, for no apparent reason, bolted in the other direction. Eris and Rachel called for her to come back, but she kept going. Ash couldn't see exactly what she was doing because of the smoke and falling debris, but he could more or less still make out the fact she was having trouble trying to break something. He couldn't help wondering was she really trying to rob a store or something? Then a loud ear-shattering "crash" followed by the shattered glass falling echoed throughout the small mall. Eris yelled for Amani in a panicked voice. The only response was a loud thud.

Amani came back limping and hysterically jumping around to move. One of her thin tawny legs was covered in small, shiny, and sharp shards of glass. She was dragging an abandoned fire extinguisher behind her. It looked like a scene out of an action movie. The debris and fire were just barely avoiding her as she ran recklessly through the fire. She finally walked up to her friends, overly excited.

"Why didn't you put out the fire around you just now?", Rachel asked.

"Oh...oh yeah I can do that. Right."

"Did the smoke get to your brain or something?", Ash chimed in.

Amani retorted by pointing the fire extinguisher at Ash's face while panting exaggeratedly between movements. She was drenched in an ocean's worth of sweat and the pain from the glass she kicked was clearly getting to her. She handed him the extinguisher and gently plopped down on the floor. Ash glanced around at the burning mall. The cough syrup colored thick fog that covered the ceiling now was closing in on everyone. Ash tightly shut his eyes and aimed at the fire around him. The hissing and crackling of the fire got quieter and quieter. Finally, he couldn't hear any of it. Actually, he didn't hear anything at all. Not the thud of random debris falling, not the screaming or coughing, and he couldn't hear his heartbeat.

There was nothing but complete silence for what seemed like an eternity. He couldn't feel his pulse or breath either. It was hard to really tell if he even moved. He could vaguely understand that whatever he was holding was cold. Even that sense got duller and duller by the second. It wasn't long before he just couldn't move or feel anything. Ash accepted that he was probably dead or dying.

"Ash?"

"Why's he taking so long to wake up?"

"Uhh, maybe he's tired or something?"

"Oh, I'm tired too. Tired of waiting for him to wake up."

"Amani be more patient. Let him take his time."