Indiana Goes West (Mail Order Brides of Pioneer Town, Book 1) by Ruth Hartzler

usual
perfectly groomed self. “Girls, we have to get out of the house
now! Hurry!” Her voice rose to a shriek.
    I can’t go , Indiana thought, not
without Morgan. What will I do? I’ll have to go to Charles
and tell him everything .
    “Indiana! Are you listening?”
    “Sorry, Mother. What did you say?”
    Before Deborah could reply, a tremendous
explosion threw Indiana to the ground.
    Misty was the first on her feet. “Indiana!”
she cried.
    The staircase had collapsed, and there was no
sign of the others. Misty and Indiana made their way out of the
back entrance of the house, cringing as structures fell down all
around them. It took a considerable time to make their way through
the rubble.
    When they finally reached the street, Indiana
and Misty froze on the spot, clutching each other. People were
screaming and running around. In the space of five seconds, the two
young women were surrounded by a crowd running in terror.
    Misty pulled Indiana into a doorway. Indiana
simply shook her head, too scared to speak. Panic surrounded her,
and she was at a loss to understand what was happening. One
thought, however, was foremost in her mind, to free Morgan. “Misty,
find Mother and tell her I’m okay.”
    “What? You’re not making any sense.”
    “Don’t worry about that. Find Mother and tell
her that Cade Hollway has imprisoned Mr. Chase.”
    “What?” Misty then let out a cry as a piece
of burning wood landed on her arm.
    Indiana held Misty’s arm and looked at the
small round burn spot on it. Just then a sheet of flame lighted up
the building opposite them. The debris was now blocking the rays of
the sun. Within seconds, the whole area was in dreadful
darkness.
    “Run, Misty, run. Now!” Indiana urged
her.
    “What about you?”
    “I’ll be all right. Run!”
    Indiana stepped back into the street, then
immediately regretted her decision, as a panicked crowd carried her
along. She tried hard to keep her footing, as she well knew that if
she fell, she would likely be trampled to death.
    As far as Indiana could tell, the crowd was
pressing her in the direction of Cade’s apartment, so she didn’t
fight to go in another direction. Flames lit the way at
intervals.
    Debris filled the air. A few times she could
smell her own singed hair. Although it was early morning,
everything was blacker than night, apart from the frightening
sheets of flame which came at intervals, providing the only
light.
    Although she was utterly beside herself with
sheer terror, Indiana’s one thought was to reach Morgan. With some
difficulty, and bruised by the bustling crowd, Indiana finally
managed to reach Cade’s apartment.
    When Indiana reached the wall, part of it
collapsed, just missing crushing her. In fact, the whole front of
the house seemed to have left its foundations, and was leaning
toward her.
    Without thinking, Indiana ran inside, just as
one of the columns lining the porch fell and slid right at her. She
jumped sideways, and then ducked as another column fell and
exploded with a deafening crack. Indiana was unspeakably terrified
at the sight, but it only served to spur her on to find Morgan.
    The building was on fire. Thankfully it
appeared to have been deserted. Indiana looked around, wondering
which direction to try. A young man ran out. Indiana caught him and
shook him by the shoulders. “The cellar, where is it?”
    The youth stared straight ahead, terror in
his eyes.
    Indiana shook him again. “The cellar?”
    The young man pointed behind him, then pulled
away roughly and fled in a mad panic.
    Indiana was overtaken by a fit of coughing
from the smoke, but hurried in the direction that the man had
pointed. Her way was soon blocked by a wall of rubble. Indiana
tried to remove some of the rubble, but her efforts were futile.
She peered through a large crack that had opened up and saw bottles
of wine lying on the ground, so figured that this must be the
cellar.
    The ground above the cellar was piled so high
with the