Read Online Fire Water by Jaye Wells - Free Book Online Page B

he balked. “We’ll be poisoned!”
    â€œBetter than getting flash-fried!” I bumped him with my hip. His arms windmilled for a moment before he tumbled ass-over-elbows into the sludge below. Once I was sure he bobbed back up and was out of the way, I sucked in a breath and jumped.
    The water was cold despite the warm summer day, and thick; it was like jumping into a barrel of oil. I sputtered up toward the surface. I had to use my hands to swipe away the worst of the pollution to be able to look around. Cap’n was about five feet away, and judging by the slowness of his movements and the wincing frown on his face, his injuries were making it hard to paddle. I swam toward him instead of the shore. Grabbing him by the arm with my right hand, I stroked with all my might toward the shore. Behind us, the flaming houseboat was floating toward the main channel of the Steel River.
    I labored toward the shore. Next to me, Cap’n was sputtering and cursing, but he didn’t fight me. He kicked his good leg and moved his arm to help move us forward. It felt like it took forever to reach the side of the channel. My feet touched bottom and I used the leverage to help push Cap’n out of the water. He cleared the lip of dirt and fell onto his back, panting. I glanced over my shoulder one more time.
    The burning houseboat had come even with the police river cruiser, which was a good two hundred yards from where we were.
    â€œKate, come on.” I looked up to see Cap’n leaning over and extending a hand toward me. “Quickly now.”
    I scrambled up out of the water with his help. My knees hit the shore and I spit to clear the taste of pollution and stagnant water from my lips. Commotion to my right caught my eye. I looked over and saw Lanky lying on the shore not fifty feet from us. Beyond him, in the distance, Shorty was struggling to regain his feet. They both looked like those ducks you see after an oil spill—covered in black oil and shell-shocked. I couldn’t blame them, I felt pretty shitty myself.
    I didn’t hear the explosion. But I sure as hell felt the wall of searing heat slam into my body. The concussion knocked me to the ground and made my hearing go fuzzy.
    I don’t know how long I stayed down. But when I opened my eyes, I couldn’t see very well. They throbbed painfully, as if blood vessels had burst. I blinked a few times to try to clear my vision. A blurry mass lay to my left. Realizing it was Cap’n, I crawled toward him. Each movement felt like a new injury, but soon my fingers touched something solid. “Marty?” I couldn’t hear myself. “Marty!”
    A hand touched my face. I blinked again and my eyes finally cleared enough to see Cap’n’s face in mine. He looked like hell with a gash bleeding freely from his head and his face streaked with sludge. “Are you okay?” he mouthed. He’d probably spoken out loud, but the only sound in my ears was high-pitched static.
    I swallowed hard and nodded. Despite my confusion, I was pretty sure I didn’t have any serious injuries. His face changed from relief to shock, and he pointed behind me.
    I turned slowly. My mouth fell open.
    The river was on fire.
    Â Â 
    A week later I hefted a box from the trailer I’d rented to move our meager possessions into the new house. The move made the still-tender burns on my arms flare painfully. According to the doctor who’d treated my wounds, we were all extremely lucky to be alive—although I doubted Lanky and Shorty would have agreed with the sentiment.
    Lanky, whose real name was Earnest Tuttle, and Shorty, aka Fred Higgins, had been arrested for conspiracy to distribute illegal Arcane substances, attempted murder of two police officers, destruction of public property, as well as couple of fuck-you charges courtesy of the EPA. It had only taken the fire department an hour to get the fire under control, but by that time