1269_UgliesFreeBook

UGLIES 173
caught the glimmer of the river through the smoke, but the
heat pushed her back.
She stumbled down the other side again, coughing and
spitting, one thought in her mind: Was her hoverboard
already engulfed in flames?
Tally had to get to the river. The water was the only
place safe from the rampaging fire. If she couldn’t go over
the hill, maybe she could go around.
She descended the slope at full tilt. There were a few
spots burning on this side, but nothing like the galloping
flame behind her. She reached level ground and made her
way around the base of the hill, crouching low to the
ground to duck under the smoke.
Halfway around, she reached a blackened patch where
the fire had already passed. The brittle stems of flowers
crunched under her shoes, and the heat coming off the
scorched earth stung her eyes.
Her footsteps ignited with flame as she ran through the
blackened flowers, like stabbing a poker into a slumbering
fire. She felt her eyes drying, her face blistering.
Moments later, Tally spotted the river. The fire
stretched in an unbroken wall across the opposite shore, a
roaring wind pressing at its back and sending embers flying
across to alight on the near side. A rolling billow of smoke
surged toward her, choking and blinding her until it
passed.
When her eyes could open again, Tally spotted the