The Escape

         I crawled towards the sound of the crying baby, the textured metal cut at my hands and knees, the acrid smell of burning metal burned my nostrils, but I forced myself onward.  The popping as another metal beam behind me fell to the fire silenced my young charge for an instant before his screams resumed louder than before.  I crawled over a beam that nearly left a burn on my hand when I accidently touched it and slid under another one barely held up by a metal table I could see melting in the heat of the spreading fire.  Please, if there is a god, let him be safe, just let us get off this inferno safely, I prayed silently as I saw the rocking cradle peeking over the edge of a bed long since stripped by the fire.  So close, so close.  Then I noticed the wall at the foot of the bed.  The bulkhead should have been four feet but was now nearly touching the bed and steaming.  It would buckle soon and the delta class fire on the other side would flow over the room like molten lava, destroying everything it touched in seconds.  Not good.
         No room to walk around the bed, no room for a running start, and no time to plan.  Acting on instinct I rolled over the bed, ignoring the scalding pain on my back from the silently melting metal, and grabbed the cradle as I fell, pointing the opening towards the nearly cool bulkhead on my side just as the beam I had just crawled under fell completely to the floor and more of the ceiling collapsed throughout the room.  Looking up, I noticed the door a few feet from the head of the bed had been ripped open by a falling main beam.  It left just enough room for me to carry my brother through.  Rushed though I was, I carefully lifted the screaming baby from his synthetic cradle, the rockers already starting to melt in the unbearable heat.  It was a struggle but we got through the door and stumbled to the floor as the bulkhead by the bed ruptured, spewing molten metal throughout the room we’d just vacated.  A few drops flew through the barred door and landed on the heel of my shoe, metling the metal sole enough to make walking painful. Fumbling to get up while soothing the darling and not putting pressure on my left heel, I headed for the nearby escape pod.  Just a little further, just a little more, I told myself silently, the air too foul to speak out loud.  I’d barely moved when the door behind me started to melt and I forced myself faster.  This corridor hadn’t been touched by the fire yet, thank the powers that be, so the molten metal was quickly cooling, but the heat was spreading.  Time was running out.  I hurried the two hundred meters to the escape pod with my little brother in my arms, the smoke curling around me burning my nostrils.  After checking that the escape pod was still safe, I swung in the cramped space and pushed the button to shut the door and launch the pod.  With my whimpering brother balanced on my lap, I engaged the thrusters and zoomed away from the cruiser behind it. 
         I shut off the thrusters and turned slightly to look back at the doomed ship once we reached a safe distance.  A moment later the spaceship exploded from the cascade of one well placed mine that had overloaded the engine, causing it to explode.  Other shuttle pods and escape pods dotted the area the ship had once filled and I wondered where our parents were.  I hoped that they had made it out.  I guess only time will tell, I thought as I set to calming my brother, born only a few weeks before.