Denver Overrun (Denver Burning Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page B

to commend her officer for his wisdom, but noise up ahead distracted them both from their conversation. It had been very quiet on the western edge of the district, but as they neared the north side fire area, the cries of people and the roar of flames could be heard from several blocks away.
    Alicia stopped a man hurrying away from the smoke with his teen-aged son. "Can you tell us what's going on up ahead?" she asked. "Are there any police or firemen managing this disaster?"
    The man shook his head and kept moving. "It's all burning. Nobody can stop it, they're just all trying to get away before another building goes up."
    "Well, have there been any shootings in this area?" Alicia called after him.
    The man turned, eyes wide with fear. "Shootings? Who's shooting? What's going on?"
    Alicia waved him away. "Never mind. Just try to get to safety and stay off the streets." The man didn't need any more encouragement for that, and broke into a run, pulling his son along behind him.
    The two police officers crossed out of their district into the area where the jet had gone down. People were swarming out of their apartment buildings, carrying as many belongings as they could. The streets one block closer to the fire were in complete chaos, a writhing mass of humanity that was difficult to move through. But beyond that the streets cleared dramatically, with only a few people darting here and there. The smoke was so thick Alicia had to breathe through her sleeve, with one arm covering her mouth.
    She and Andrews could hear the flames crackling and popping now, and there was a thump as something exploded out of sight. "Keep an eye out for hoses and fire extinguishers," she called to Andrews. "We have to do whatever we can to slow this down."
    Coming around an empty building they saw the bright orange fire leaping across a rooftop and consuming half of what used to be an apartment complex. The heat hit them like a wave from a hellish ocean, and Alicia fell back. The smoke obscured much of the area, but she thought she could see the asphalt melting in the extreme heat, though it could just have been distortion in the air.
    "No amount of water or retardant is going to put that out," Andrews yelled over the noise. "All we can do is help evacuate everyone."
    Alicia nodded. She felt dizzy, and wasn't sure if it was the staggering immensity of the fire before them, or the smoke depriving her brain of oxygen. The fire looked like a hungry titan capable of consuming the whole city. She had never seen a fire like this up close, not without a host of fire trucks keeping it contained. It was like the videos she'd seen of forest fires ravaging entire Californian mountainsides, but instead of trees they were buildings being reduced to ash and blackened rubble.
    They went back the way they had come and began helping people move away from the fire. Some were desperately trying to drag sacks full of possessions with them, others had just stopped to watch the oncoming wall of smoke in numb shock. These they pushed onward, sometimes yelling at them to get going. One man was struggling to move an expensive-looking bicycle down the street while carrying a large TV under one arm. Alicia grabbed the TV from him, threw it into the gutter, and told the man to flee for his life.
    Then she spotted a woman desperately trying to shepherd four small children down the street while carrying a heavy backpack and a baby in her arms. Alicia grabbed one of the kids, a six-year-old boy judging by his size, while Andrews picked up a little girl and put her on his shoulders. He took another girl's hand in his and as they helped the family through the crowded, orange-tinted streets, Alicia thought she saw tears in her officer's eyes.
    They hurried away with the family until they were several blocks from the fire, then put the kids down and told the woman that as far as they knew, the area to the south was clear. The woman thanked them and moved her family away into the