She tried the door. It didn’t budge.
Flames rose behind her, dancing dangerously close to her back. Jennie leaped out of the way and grabbed for a horse blanket. Using the blanket, she beat at the flames, trying to put out the fire now firmly entrenched in the straw bales. As smoke filled the interior, Jennie realized she couldn’t put the fire out on her own. She had to get Lady out and go for help.
As she ran for Lady’s stall, dry, scorching heat flared behind her, smoke rose choking off her air.
Inside the horse’s stall, Lady screamed and reared, slamming against the wooden walls.
Jennie slid open the gate and grabbed for the horse’s halter. Smoke filled her lungs and she gave in to a bout of coughing. Then, pulling her shirt over her mouth, she ran for the front door, dragging the frantic horse behind her. She had to get her out, quickly, before the smoke overcame them both.
With her arm stretched out in front of her, she felt her way through the smoke. Once she located the door, she pushed the latch and leaned her weight into the heavy wood. It still wouldn’t budge. She pushed again, putting all her strength into the effort.
The front and back doors didn’t move. It had been locked with her inside.
The stack of hay became a towering inferno shooting flames up the beams into the dry wooden flooring of the loft, also full of dry hay bales.
With heat scorching her skin and lungs, Jennie sank to her knees, trying to get as low as possible. She pulled hard on Lady’s head to move the horse’s nostrils closer to the ground and away from the rising smoke.
With the back entrance blocked by flame, all Jennie could do was beat against the door, screaming until her voice cracked and her lungs were raw and scratchy from smoke.
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