It’s too dangerous, make a break for it

The explosion of flames was too much, the inferno too savage. You took a few steps towards the cage and felt the flames lick awfully close to your skin, making your eyes water and disorienting you. As you stood hesitating, Marcus grabbed your arm and began to pull you away. You cast a single, sorrowful look at the girl in the cage before a burst of fire enveloped her.

Her screams echoed through the steel mill, somehow rising above the chaos and shouting of the cultists. By the time you were outside and catching your breath several yards from the mill, you had to puke. That girl died and it hadn’t been a kind end. The guilt, the fear, the horror, your head spun with it.

“You couldn’t have saved her,” Marcus said.

“ I could have tried,” you countered.

Tina put her hand on your shoulder. “And you probably would have died alongside her. I’m sorry, but we did the best we could. We got two of those girls out and we stopped whatever the hell they were doing back there.”

“We did the best we could,” you reluctantly agreed. “but it wasn’t good enough.”