Firestorm (13 page)

Meagan and I
each took one of Don’s arms and pointed him in the direction of the
guys. He was busy looking around, and I’m not sure at what because
there was a lot going on inside his head that I didn’t know
about.

“Come on, Don.
You don’t have to worry. Ali says the wolves are gone so we’re okay
now. Let’s follow them and get to the boat.”

Don was still
very fidgety and he walked methodically and suspiciously, almost as
if the path was a dangerous trail. And then he relaxed a bit but
became totally absorbed in surveying everything around us.

“Where’s the
boat, Pete? I don’t see it?”

I took a deep
breath as I held onto his arm a little tighter.

“It’s just over
there, Don. They’re waiting for us but we have to hurry.”

“Yeah, well the
water’s down there. What are we going up here for?”

Meagan was
walking slightly ahead of us as she pulled Don up the slanted
path.

“The dock is
over here, just on the other side of this hill. Come on, we have to
hurry up and get there.”

The uphill trek
was slow and painful and my legs were aching from climbing the
uneven path while trying to dodge the potholes. We were practically
dragging Don along the trail because he was taking short and uneasy
steps, and he was constantly stopping to see what was in the
grass.

“There’s
grenades hidden in the grass. We have to be careful. They’ll blow
us to pieces, you know.”

We had to coach
him constantly to keep walking as we took turns assuring him that
there weren’t any grenades in the grass. And even though the guys
were carrying Grandpa, they were already yards ahead of us.

I found myself
looking back quite often in spite of what Ali had said just to make
sure the wolves weren’t following us. That provoked my stomach into
churning even more as it fought off the jitters of fear, while at
the same time warding off the continuing hunger pangs that reminded
me we hadn’t eaten since yesterday.

Meagan was
trying to maintain her ‘nothing-bothers-me’ attitude but I knew her
only too well and she was as scared as I was. I caught her looking
back a few times and I couldn’t blame her for being nervous. But
after several minutes I began to think that Ali was right, and that
the wolves were long gone.

We walked a bit
further and then out of reflex I looked over towards the river. And
that’s when I saw an even greater reason to be afraid. I handed
Meagan the rope as I stared at the distant sky.

“Here, hold on
to him. I just want to check something.”

I pushed
through some broken trees and headed about twenty feet down towards
the edge of the river. The smoke was thick and it was rolling in
like massive brown clouds across the water. I couldn’t see much of
anything else except for the bright flames that pierced through it
as it carried the ominous sounds of wood that crackled and snapped
on the other side of the water.

I stretched
over the edge as much as I could to see where we had just come
from. It was visible in the distance through the layers of smoke
and when I saw the bridge, my chest pounded and I ran up through
the briar to get back to Meagan.

“Meg, you know
where we just came from on the other side of the bridge? It’s
totally covered in smoke – not really thick but the smoke is all
over the place. And I saw the flashes of the flare on the bridge
that’s still going. We have to get out of here.”

That was all
the incentive we needed and so we each grabbed one of Don’s arms
and hustled him along the path. Meagan’s voice trembled as we
walked.

“Well, at least
we know that the wolves aren’t behind us. One less evil we have to
worry about, right? Mind you, this is more challenging than I’d
bargained for and I sure wish we were at home already – and I mean
home in Bearsfield.”

I knew what she
meant and I felt exactly the same way. But as we ran along the
rugged path I knew that it was likely going to be our greatest
challenge just to get out of here alive. I couldn’t believe how
fast the fire was moving and I was so thankful that we left the
bridge when we did or we’d be trapped there.

I was going to
make another comment when Brad shouted at us.

“Everything
okay with Don?”

I looked up and
waved to him.

“Yeah, we’re
coming.”

“Are you
sure?”

“Yeah, we’re
okay. We’re coming.”

We held Don’s
arms even tighter and practically pulled him along the stony path,
and several minutes later we were all at the plateau at the top of
the one hill. I told the guys what I had seen and Ali told us to
wait there while he checked something out. Brad ran after him and
left Meagan and I squatted beside Grandpa and Don. Grandpa didn’t
say anything but he groaned and whined loudly, and his leg looked
even worse than before.

“Meg, look at
his leg. That red line there, the one Brad told us about, see
it?”

“Oh my god,
it’s wider and longer. That means the infection’s spreading.”

We tried to
comfort Grandpa but nothing worked. He was groaning loudly and
tears were streaming down his dirty face. Don was frantic and began
yelling that we had to hide. Meagan’s cut was still bleeding and
she tried dabbing it with her shirt to clean it. We were both
rubbing our legs that were red and stinging from top to bottom from
the scratches and the dirt and sweat that coated them.

A minute later
the guys returned and Ali scratched his head as he looked around
nervously. Meagan looked up at him and then stood at his side.

“Ali, what is
it? What’s wrong?”

“The fire is
getting closer, Meg. It’s spreading faster than we can run.”

“Yeah, but it’s
on the other side, so we’re okay, right?”

Ali didn’t
answer. Instead he looked up the trail and then back across the
river.

“We have to run
like crazy and hope that we can get around that bend up there as
soon as possible. That’s the point that the river gets really wide
and we should be clear of direct shooting ambers at that
point.”

I pushed myself
off the ground and stood in front of Ali.

“What are
shooting ambers? What do you mean?”

Ali took a deep
breath and ran his hand through his short, dark hair.

“As the fire
grows, the heat builds up and gets so hot that it produces gases
that become even more fuel for it. Then as the fire spreads onto
the trees, the heat gets so fierce that it literally explodes parts
of the burning branches or stumps and shoots them into the
air.”

Brad moved in
beside me and gently rubbed my back, and that’s the only thing that
kept me from falling over with fear. I swallowed several times to
stop myself from crying as I looked towards the fire. We still had
at least two hours of trekking ahead of us just to get back to the
house. Ali’s words put the fear of death in me and everything
inside me trembled.

Meagan turned
to me slowly and nodded.

“That’s true.
They said that on that special I watched on TV about forest fires.
The guy said they can shoot hundreds of feet in any direction. He
said that’s how forest fires spread so quickly, because they shoot
these things and wherever they land it just begins to burn.”

I could feel my
eyes welling up and my thoughts were all over the place.

“But it can’t
shoot across the water. That’s too far, right?”

I looked at
Brad waiting for him to say that it couldn’t possibly do that and
that we were totally safe, but instead his answer startled me.

“Well, here
maybe but not back there where the bridge is. It’s so narrow by the
bridge and all around there that if the ambers shoot across they
could easily light the trees behind us, and if the wind shifts then
we’re like sitting ducks out here. We need to get out as fast as we
can.”

Ali motioned
for Meagan to pick up the right front end of the stretcher and Brad
took the rope from me and grabbed the back, right end. We all get
ready to pick Grandpa up but my legs were prickling as much as my
insides were jittering, and for a few seconds I struggled to get
myself moving.

Brad leaned
over and rubbed my arm.

“You okay?”

I realized that
I was the only one who hadn’t taken a corner of the stretcher and
so I squatted to pick it up.

“Yeah, just a
little nervous, you know.”

Brad shrugged
as he adjusted the rope on his shoulder.

“We all are,
but we’re going to have to talk about that later.”

I felt foolish.
I knew that the others were as scared as I was, and I was angry at
myself because I always seemed to be the only one who ever showed
it. I’d never been caught in a forest fire before and it was really
freaking me out, especially since in just the few seconds that we
stopped, it had already gained more ground.

We lifted
Grandpa and began trekking as fast as we could along the open path,
which was basically only as fast as Don could go. The large,
prevailing clouds of smoke on the other side of the river were
clearly visible above the trees that were planted between us and
the river. The trail led away from the river and that gave me a bit
of confidence in that we were heading away from any potential
direct shooting amber.The next ten minutes were silent and no one
said a word, not even Don. And that’s when the horrifying thought
hit me and I gasped louder than I had planned to. We slowed our
pace and everyone turned to look at me. Brad leaned over and asked
me if I was okay.

I saw the
concern in his eyes as we continued to step carefully over the
rocky path.

“I was just
thinking about what you guys said about the shooting ambers and
it’s really bothering me, that’s all.”

Meagan turned
her head slightly towards me as I talked.

“I know, I keep
thinking about it, too.”

“I know, Meg, I
guess we all are. It’s just that Ali said the fire gets hotter as
it goes along and starts shooting burning debris because of the
gases. Well, by the time it gets to the bridge it’s going to be
really hot and what if it starts shooting them at that point? It’s
so narrow all along there. Then the fire would be right behind us
and it’s moving faster than we are. How do we run from that?”

My own words
echoed in my ears and almost scared the life out of me.

For a few
seconds it was as if we were in a Hitchcock movie, where we all
turned in slow motion to stare at the forest behind us. I didn’t
say anything that they hadn’t already thought of, but somehow
hearing me say it made the possibility more real.

“I’m just
saying, look how fast it spread on the other side of us. It’s
really moving and like Ali said, it’s getting hotter as it
goes.”

Meagan groaned
as she stared into the forest.

“Hey, Sarah,
it’s not you. I know you’re right and I’m worried about it,
too.”

Ali shrugged
his shoulders to adjust his backpack and his face was almost
without expression as he looked at Meagan and then at the rest of
us. Brad wiped his one hand on his shorts and then tightened the
rope around his other hand. Ali turned forward again and motioned
for us to move.

“I think at the
rate it’s moving that it’s more than just possible. We have to high
tail it out of here now. No more breaks.”

My ears
throbbed as we trekked at a snail's pace up the sloped path and
headed back into the density of the forest. Don was getting really
restless and tired, and we couldn’t travel any faster than he could
walk. Brad and I both tried to pull him along with our spare arms
but between the challenge of carrying our corner of the stretcher
and the piercing heat that was beating down on us, Don was becoming
the issue that threatened our timely escape from the oncoming
inferno.

Grandpa’s
whimpers had become a steady and agonizing moan that grew louder
with each step we took. The red mark on his leg was spreading, and
the wound was more swollen now than it was a few minutes ago. Ali’s
shirt that covered it was soaked in blood and infection. Grandpa’s
face was coated in sweat and dirt, and there were thin streams of
tears that flowed from his eyes and down his temples.

We were moving
at a steady pace for about ten minutes with no interruptions until
Don tripped and fell, and when Brad and I both instinctively tried
to catch him we almost dropped the stretcher. We stopped and
lowered it onto the ground so we could help Don get back on his
feet. My arms were twitching in pain and part of me was really glad
for the rest but part of me was angry that we were once again
losing time.

Don had scraped
his right hand when he tripped and although it was wrapped in a
bandage already, he began to cry out and this just put more tension
on to everyone.

“My hand hurts.
I can’t walk any more. I want to go home.”

I rubbed his
shoulder and he looked up at me as he sat crossed-legged on the
ground. His face was worn and hard and his eyes seemed sad and
lonely. There wasn’t any sparkle in them like there was in
Grandpa’s eyes. Perhaps it was from carrying the burden all these
years of losing his brother and blaming himself, or perhaps it was
from being robbed of the ability to fit in peacefully with the
people around him. He had been very harsh on us earlier and it
wasn’t too difficult to dislike him initially. Yet now, his mind
was lost in the past, and his face seemed to cry out for help. My
heart melted just looking at him.

“Don, we’re
going to be home soon and the doctor will take care of your hands.
But we can’t stay here. We have to keep walking so we can
get….”

“…so we can get
to the boat. I know, Pete. I know. But I’m so tired and look over
there. They’re bombing all over the place and they’ll be here soon.
You watch. They’ll come up from behind and get us. We can’t escape
them unless we can get to the boat.”