Chapter 31

31

Stirring, Megan strained her eyes in the dim evening light. She must have fallen asleep. She sniffed the air. There was a funny smell. What was that? She could feel Cindy moving beside her, pawing at her and nudging her arm with her nose.

‘What's the matter, Cindy? Try to go back to sleep.'

Turning over, she closed her eyes again. She just wanted to sleep, to forget about Jay, about Lyle, about everything.

Cindy nudged her again, her nose wet against Megan's skin. Could she sense she was upset? She rolled back over and began fussing her behind the ears.

‘I'll be okay, Cindy. Don't worry.'

A loud bark sounded from downstairs, penetrating the silence in the house. Maybe Flora and Poppy had just pulled up in the car. She closed her eyes again.

Megan stirred again, blinking the sleep from her eyes. The funny smell was there again. Stronger this time, and she could hear dogs barking. She pushed herself to sitting.

‘Cindy? Dougal?'

Cindy jumped onto the bed and towered over her, her bark loud and constant.

‘Okay, okay. I'm getting up.' Standing up, she paused. It wasn't just Cindy and Dougal's barking she could hear, there were others barking too. A little muffled, but there. It must be coming from Wagging Tails. Why would they be making all this noise at this time of the night? She hadn't heard it before, the barking, not from the cottage, not at this time. They usually only barked like this when they were being fed. Although this didn't sound like that, they didn't sound excited.

‘Let's see what's going on, shall we, Cindy?'

Megan walked to the window and drew the curtains before opening and closing her mouth. An orange glow was flickering to the side of Wagging Tails, and it took her a moment to realise it was fire. Flames were licking up against the new kennels. That was what the smell was: smoke.

She grabbed her mobile and ran down the stairs, two at a time, before shutting Cindy and Dougal safely in the living room and flinging the front door open. As she ran across the driveway towards Wagging Tails she could see the fire was isolated to the new kennels. It hadn't leaped across to where the dogs were. Yet.

Pausing, she turned her mobile on, the screen taking an infinity to flicker to life. Once it had, she punched in 999 and waited.

She covered one ear with her phone, her other with her hand, trying to block out the noise from the dogs. She could hardly hear anything else.

‘Fire, please. Wagging Tails Dogs' Home, West Par.'

After the call ended, she shoved her mobile back in her pocket and hoped they had all the information they needed.

Picking up the pace again, she neared the fire, holding her T-shirt over her mouth and nose. She stood and looked from the fire to the existing kennels and back again. The fire had completely engulfed the new kennel block. What was she supposed to do? Were the dogs safe where they were? Could the fire reach them?

Just then, an almighty crash filled the air, louder even than the barking from the dogs. She watched as one side of the new kennel block fell against the existing building, the flames licking against the roof.

Please don't take. Please don't take.

She kept her eyes fixed on the fiery debris that had landed on the roof, her heart skipping a beat as the fire slowly but surely took hold. She jumped from foot to foot. She was sure most roof tiles couldn't catch fire – they were made of clay, or whatever, they were flame retardant. There must be gaps in the tiles. That could be the only explanation. She hadn't learned much from Lyle's building trade, but some things she had.

She looked behind her, across the courtyard, towards the lane beyond. Where was that fire engine? It could have only been a couple of minutes since she'd made the call, though. They wouldn't arrive yet.

There was only one thing she could do, and that was to get the dogs out.

She ran the short distance towards the door and pulled on the handle, quickly remembering that Flora kept a key in a key safe on the wall to the side. After punching in the passcode, she took the key out and unlocked the door.

Inside the reception area, it took her a moment to catch her bearings. The room was dark, a dim light flickering through the small window in the door leading to the kennels, smoke filtering through from beneath the door. With adrenaline now pumping through her veins, she grabbed a handful of leads and pulled open the door to the kennels. The noise was deafening now she was inside, the terrified crying and barking of the dogs mixed with the noise of the flames from outside and above filling the space.

The smoke was thicker in here too and she turned the torch app on her phone on as the dim light continued to flicker on and off. She couldn't see any fire. It must still be contained on the roof or in the ceiling somewhere, but the windows opposite the kennels were open, great swathes of smoke pushing in from outside.

She hurried along the wall and pulled the windows shut before heading to the first kennel.

‘It's okay. Let's get you outside, shall we?'

She quickly secured a lead to Rex's collar while deciding which dogs to approach next. She made her way down the row of kennels until she reached Splash – she knew they got along, and so did Ocean so she'd take them up to the top paddock before coming back to get the others.

Once she had the three of them out of their kennels and the leads in her hand, she glanced up at the ceiling again.

Please hold .

She rushed through the reception area, the three dogs following her quickly behind, and pulled open the door to the courtyard. A gush of smoke billowed in and, sticking her head down, she ran past the burning shell of the new kennels towards the top paddock, where she guided the dogs inside, dropping their leads before closing the gate again. She knew it wasn't a good idea for them to have their leads dragging behind them, but she needed to get the others out as quickly as she could.

As she was running back into the courtyard and past the fire, she stumbled on something and tripped. Throwing her hands out in front of her, she felt herself falling and her mobile skidding across the slabs of the courtyard. Megan had to grapple in the glow from the fire, but she managed to pick it up again. The torch was still on, thankfully. When she jumped back up, the smoke was even thicker than a few moments ago. She coughed as it filled her lungs.

Megan ran back towards the kennels. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she struggled to draw breaths in. She wheezed as she pulled the door open again, fighting to breathe as she hurried down the corridor towards Ralph's kennel. She knew he couldn't be kept with any other dogs, couldn't even be near them, which is why she'd left him until last. She'd take him over to the cottage. She'd put him in the garden while she ran inside to make sure Cindy and Dougal were still shut away.

As she pulled the door to the kennels open, the glimmer of blue penetrated the thick grey smoke. Help was here.

‘Come on, Ralph. Your turn.'

Pulling his door open, she bent down, trying to clasp the lead to his collar. Her fingers were fumbling as she tried to listen to the sounds from outside. Would the firefighters realise she and Ralph were in here? Would they be able to put the fire out before any more damage was done to the kennels?

‘That's it.' She couldn't hear her words above the noise of the fire, above the sirens. She wasn't even sure if any noise was coming out. She could hardly breathe, let alone talk.

That was it. She had Ralph on the lead now. She stumbled backwards, forcing herself to keep moving forward. She had to get him to safety. She had to get him out.

Just as she pushed the door into the reception area open, it gave way and she fell forward. She felt someone catch her, hold her up. She glanced in her saviour's direction.

‘Jay?'

With her fingers gripping Ralph's lead, she let herself be guided outside and away from the fire, out of the smoke. The pulsing blue light of the fire engine blurred her vision, and she looked away from the firefighters as they began drenching the roof with water.

‘Let's get you over here, away from the smoke.' Jay held her around the waist, gently cupping her elbows as he walked and she stumbled across the courtyard towards his car. He pulled the door open and lowered her into the passenger seat before kneeling on the floor in front of her.

She took deep breaths, filling her lungs with the fresh air and pushing out the smoke. Ralph put his front paws on her knees and nuzzled her chin.

‘We need to get you to the hospital.' Jay took her hand in his. ‘You need to be checked over.'

Megan shook her head. ‘No. The dogs…'

‘Where are they?'

‘In the paddocks.' The words rasped from her throat. She couldn't leave them. They'd be scared and they'd need to be checked over. ‘Is he okay?' She nodded towards Ralph. ‘He was in there the longest.'

‘He's fine, aren't you, boy?' Jay ruffled Ralph's ears. ‘And Mack will check on him, on all of them, as soon as he's back. I've rang and Flora, Percy, Poppy and Mack are only a few minutes away. They'll be here in no time and be able to care for them.'

‘But Ralph was in there for so long.' She began fussing him behind the ears before bending over and coughing.

‘Ralph might have been in there the longest, but his kennel was the furthest away from the fire in the roof whereas you were closer to the fire and inhaling the smoke.' He cupped her cheek. ‘We really do need to get you checked over. Please.'

The last thing she wanted was to spend hours at the hospital. She just wanted to know if the dogs were okay. She needed to see them. She shook her head and stood up before sinking back into the chair. ‘No, I need to check on the other dogs.'

‘Megan! Megan!'

Looking up, Megan watched as Flora came running across the courtyard, Percy, Poppy and Mack close behind her.

‘Oh, Megan, lovely. Are you okay?' Flora sank to her knees in front of her and looked her up and down.

‘The dogs are in the paddocks. I had to tie Petal and Willow to the fence too.' Her voice came out as a hoarse whisper, her throat stinging as she spoke.

‘Don't worry about the dogs, lovely. You rescued them.' Standing up, Flora cupped Megan's head with her hands and kissed her on top of her head before turning to Jay. ‘I'll take Ralph. You get her to the hospital.'

Leaning her head back against the chair, Megan closed her eyes. She knew there wasn't any point in refusing.