Free Unzipped: An Urban Erotic Tale by Noire Page B

cars were already rolling up on the front lawn as they arrived, and an ambulance was speeding toward them with its lights flashing wildly.
    Smoke billowed from the roof and the windows as Pearl ran right up on the lawn, her eyes darting around the crowd of onlookers, anxious for a sign that her family had made it out of the flaming house.
    “Where’s my baby?” Pearl screamed to nobody in particular as firefighters and police took up their positions and got ready to do their jobs. “Where’s my daughter? My niece? Where are my parents?”
    A line of firemen were running past her carrying hoses, and one grabbed Pearl’s arm and shook his head.
    “Stand back, ma’am. Please wait across the street. If there’s anyone in there we’ll get them out. It’s too dangerous for you over here.”
    Pearl heard an eerie sound and froze. Every mother’s nightmare had suddenly become her reality. From deep inside the house, beyond the smoke and flames, Pearl could have sworn she heard a plaintive cry, softer than a kitten’s meow.
    Her knees sagged as she imagined the worst, her child trapped inside the smoking box of flames, calling for her, wanting her, needing her.
    The muffled cries rang out again and Pearl’s whole body strained toward the house.
    She fought against the fireman’s arm. “D-d-did you hear that?”
    He shrugged and tightened his grip, manhandling her as he tried to turn her around and push her across the street. “I didn’t hear anything. It would be impossible to hear anyone in there anyway. Please stand back!”
    Pearl dug her heels into the ground. “I heard my daughter crying! My
baby
is in there!”
    “Stand ba—”
    “Sasha!” Pearl broke free and darted toward the house at full speed, determined to get to Sasha and Chante. The young fireman lunged forward and snagged the back of her blouse and Pearl went straight gorilla.
    She whirled around and side-kicked the man below his right knee, cracking his shin. The blow was so powerful and unexpected that his lower body halted as his upper body continued moving forward on momentum. Two fingers jabbed in just the right spot between his jaw and neck finished the job, and the firefighter went down like he’d been shot in the head.
    An overweight veteran police officer noticed the action and lunged for Pearl, catching her by the shoulder. She rolled swiftly with his motion, using the hand-to-hand-combat techniques she’d excelled at in the Academy, then lightning fast she slid her fingers down his arm until she clenched his hand in a firm grasp, then twisted his thumb sideways while cocking his wrist and snapping it backward before he knew what had hit him.
    The cop yelped and swung on her wildly with his other hand, and Pearl blocked the blow and drove the flat of her palm deep into the meat of his throat. He coughed and grabbed at his crushed Adam’s apple and staggered a few steps before bending at his knees and gasping for air.
    Pearl ran toward the house like a speeding train, and she didn’t even see the smoke or the danger that stood between her and herfamily. Her baby. Her niece. Her mother
and
her father. Every fuckin’ body she loved was trapped in there. All she knew was that she had to get inside to save them.
    Pearl had almost made it up on the porch when another cop rushed her. This one yanked her by her hair and Pearl screamed and lifted her chin fiercely, snapping her head back so hard she broke his pointy nose and temporarily blinded him.
    Three steps later Pearl was at her parents’ front door. The outer screen door was still intact, but the wooden interior door had been kicked in. Smoke was pouring from the house and the heat on the porch was way past intense as it nearly drove her back. Pearl’s lungs felt like they were bubbling and the skin on her cheeks and forehead was getting scorched. She had just reached for the blistering screen door handle when it hit her.
    A spiny Taser barb was launched. It bit into her left