Firestorm (15 page)

It was no
wonder that Brad was known as the walking history book in high
school because he seemed to know a bit about everything.

“The soldiers
planted hidden grenades around their camps and in nearby fields to
protect themselves against the enemy who would try coming up on
them while they were sleeping or resting. My guess is that Don’s
command used this tactic or experienced it in some way during the
war and when his mind slips back, he remembers the affect it has
and he gets scared.”

“That’s awful.
I mean, war is awful. So many people die and get hurt before it
stops. I hope we never have to face that here.”

Brad looked
over at me and smirked.

“Well right now
I feel like we’re in a war and I don’t want this enemy to win.”

We trekked for
about fifteen minutes before anyone spoke again, and that’s only
because Grandpa began to cry out.

“It hurts so
much. Please make it stop!”

Hearing Grandpa
crying out like that made me want to cry, too. I didn’t know what
to say and I knew we couldn’t stop to comfort him. At first he was
squirming around a bit as he was weeping, but then he became still
and his cries once again turned into pathetic whimpers.

We kept moving
but it was a challenge because his distressful cries sent cold
shivers up my back. I couldn’t feel him moving around much on the
stretcher after that, and from the corner of my eye I could see
that every once in a while he’d wave his one arm towards his
wounded leg in an attempt to touch it. Meagan spoke to him in
between breaths and told him that we were almost there. Her voice
was soft and soothing and I hoped that that’s what had calmed him
down and not because he’d passed out.

It wasn’t long
before we came to a creek about ten feet wide that had a large
broken tree stump strewn across it. It was too narrow for all four
of us to cross at once so we stopped right in front of it and
lowered Grandpa gently onto the ground. Don slipped off Ali’s back
and Meagan held onto the rope that was still tied around him. Brad
looked behind us as he removed his cap and combed his sweaty hair
with his hand.

“Okay, we’re
out of immediate danger so let’s take a second and figure out how
to cross this.”

I stepped up to
the stream and looked down at it and at the solid stump that had
obviously been left there to act as a bridge to cross it.

“What if just
two of us carry the stretcher, one in front and one in back? Don
can walk and we can be across in seconds.”

Brad wiped his
face with the bottom of his t-shirt as Ali and Meagan agreed. He
appeared very antsy and was ready to keep going.

“That’s what I
was thinking, too. Anyone know where we are in relation to the
house?”

Meagan looked
around and then cleared her throat in her effort to sound
cheery.

“I remember
that about half a mile up on the other side of this creek there’s
another path that takes us up and away from the river, but I don’t
know where it leads. And I think I remember seeing this about a
half hour or three quarters of an hour into our trip down
here.”

I closed my
eyes and forced myself to focus on the earlier trail.

“Yeah, I
remember that cut off, Meg, so if we saw it around half an hour in,
then we can’t be too far from home. Or from having someone find
us.”

Ali turned and
his face was solemn.

“Yeah, so why
hasn’t anyone come for us, yet? These guys have been missing for a
day and no one’s come looking for them. By now the forest fire must
be clear to everyone and yet no one has come looking for them.
Doesn’t that seem strange to you guys?”

Meagan and I
looked at each other and I was quick to answer.

“There aren’t
that many people who live around here. Grandpa and Nana lived up on
the hill there, and Don down the street, but that’s all the houses
for like miles. Everyone else lives in town and that’s at least
fifteen miles away.”

Meagan nodded
her head and agreed.

“That’s right.
And Nana’s phone is out of order so she probably couldn’t even call
anyone until today when they’re supposed to be working again.”

Brad turned to
us and shook his head.

“No, I don’t
buy that. Even fifteen miles away anyone with eyes could see that
the forest is burning. I mean, gees, the smoke is covering the
entire sky. These people look at the water and at the forest all
the time, that’s why they live up here. They would have to see that
it’s on fire. And if your grandparents are the only ones in this
area, then surely someone from town would come out to check on
them.”

Ali threw his
hands in front of him.

“And besides
that, what about the forest rangers? They’d know by now that the
forest is on fire. Wouldn’t they check parking lots or ask
attendants if anyone has parked and gone hiking in here? I mean, we
can’t be the only people in the world hiking in this massive
forest.”

I listened to
them but I had to believe that help was coming.

“Well, just
because we haven’t seen them yet doesn’t mean that help isn’t on
the way. We still have to believe it for Grandpa’s sake, don’t
we?”

Ali stared at
Grandpa.

“We have to get
him to a doctor, that’s what we have to and we have to do it
soon.”

“Well, what
about our Nana? She knows. She must have called someone.”

Meagan
huffed.

“How, Sarah? No
phones, remember? How’s she going to call anyone?”
Brad looked at his watch and took a deep breath as he surveyed the
trees around us.

“She has Ali’s
and my cell phones. Maybe she’ll figure out how to use them.”

Now I knew we
were doomed. Nana was probably the least technically literate
person in the world. She’s one of the reasons they don’t have any
mechanical gadgets that have more than an on or off switch. Grandpa
always said that modern technology was evil but we all knew it was
because Nana was just too old or too afraid to use them.

Meagan huffed
restlessly and I knew she was thinking the same thing.

“No, I doubt
that. Don’t hold your breath waiting for her.”

“Well, I dumped
my backpack where she could find it. Are you saying that she
wouldn’t even try to use it to call for help?”

I thought about
how this trip so far had been anything except the norm, anything
except what we expected.

“If she finds
it, Brad, she just might try pressing every button there until she
gets someone. I guess it could happen. But she may also just look
at it and get too scared and confused to even try. I know because
I’ve bugged her jokingly about using mine and she really is
clueless.”

Grandpa began
to stir around again and groan. His leg was even more swollen and
redder than it was a few minutes ago and I was really worried. I
wiped the tears that were about to burst from my eyes with my
sweaty hands, and that’s when Ali said we had to move. Brad and Ali
would carry Grandpa across the log because it was easier to balance
the stretcher between them than having us all try.

He picked up
the front and Brad picked up the back and the two of them made it
across the fallen log without any great problems. On the other
hand, we had to get Don across and as usual, he had to make an
issue out of it.

“I can’t cross
that. I’ll fall in. Anyways, I have to pee.”

What?

Meagan’s
patience was running away from her almost as fast as her sense of
humor.

“Forget it! Get
on that stupid log and start crossing now.”

“No. I have to
pee.”

“Fine, then you
can stay here and we’ll leave without you.”

“Why won’t you
just let me relieve myself?”

I looked across
the creek and Brad was standing there with his hands on his hips,
and then he threw them in front of him.

“Are you guys
coming or what?”

Meagan slapped
the rope on the side of her leg.

“Don has to
pee.”

Brad jumped
onto the log and within a few seconds he was standing in front of
Don.

“You have to go
now?”

Don just stared
at him and then put his head down and he put his hand at his groin.
He was old and he had to go but the timing was so wrong and as
frustrated as I was, I felt sorry for him.

“Brad, can you
just take him behind that tree or something? If we don’t let him
go, it’s going to be a rough trip back and I don’t want to listen
to him whining about it.”

“Yeah, okay.
Let’s go.”

Brad led him by
the arm to a large tree a few feet away and Meagan and I turned
around to give him some privacy. But Don apparently just stood in
front of the tree and we could hear Brad shouting at him.

“Now what’s the
matter? No one can see you. Come on, just go.”

“Grenades.
They’re all around this tree. We have to go to that one.”

I could feel
the tension rising up inside my chest and I knew that the only way
we could get around this was to let him go where he wanted. Brad
followed him down the path and we turned around to see where they
were but they had disappeared into the bushes.

We were sure
that they’d be back soon so we grabbed the backpacks and crossed
the creek to be with Grandpa and Ali. I was too nervous to sit, but
Ali sat down on the ground and Meagan sat down beside him. He
leaned over and pushed his shoulder into hers as he smiled at
her.

“How are you
doing? How’s your leg?”

“I’m okay, a
little scratched, but I’ll be okay.”

“You know, if
your Nana doesn’t call for help and we are on our own to get out of
here, it’s going to take us at least an hour at this rate.”

Meagan slipped
her arm around Ali’s and forced a smile.

“Well, at least
we’ll get out and that’s the main thing.”

Ali huffed and
clenched his jaw as he stared straight ahead.

“Yeah. So we
grab your Nana, get into your grandfather’s truck and drive to the
hospital.”

Meagan and I
both agreed.

“And where’s
the hospital?”

It had been a
long time since we’d even gone into town when we visited here. We
usually spent the entire vacation right at Nana’s and Grandpa’s so
both Meagan and I had brain strain trying to remember where it was.
And then I remembered.

“Pembroke is
the nearest city that has a hospital. Problem is, it’s about sixty
miles away.”

Ali grunted as
he smirked at us.

“Sixty miles?
Well, maybe we should just use one of our cells when we get back
and call for an ambulance. He needs attention right away and
they’ll be able to give it to him. And if that doesn’t work, then
we’ll just drive him to the hospital in his truck.”

We had a
positive plan and that gave me a lot of assurance inside that we
would get Grandpa to the hospital, which in turn meant that we’d
get out of this forest safely. It was at least five minutes later
when we heard the rustling in the bushes on the other side of the
stream and we knew it was Don and Brad returning. Meagan and Ali
jumped to their feet and we got ready to continue on the
journey.

Brad was
carrying Don once again and his face was flushed red as he ran
frantically towards us.

“Let’s go. Grab
Grandpa and let’s get out of here now.”

I was about to
ask what happened but as he brushed my arm I knew why, and so did
Meagan because she went as white as I know I did. Brad and Don both
reeked of smoke.

Meagan and Ali
threw the backpacks onto their shoulders and then squatted to lift
the front of the stretcher. Don was already on Brad’s back so we
took the back end and lifted Grandpa at the same time, and then we
took off at as fast as we dared along the forest trail.

The smoke was
rolling in at a steady pace behind us and the smell was following
us just as quickly, adding even more fear to my already shaking
body. I looked back just for a second to get glance at the smoky
clouds that were rising above the trees in the distance. I’m not
sure how far back it was but it really didn’t matter because I knew
that it was moving easily as fast as we were.

We made it to
the fork in the path sooner than we expected and that was a relief,
but then we were challenged with which path to take and that just
added to the stress. We could take the one that ran along the water
and through an open grassy terrain which meant we would be out of
the direct path of the fire, but we weren’t familiar with it and
had no way of knowing where it ended up. We stood there, each
holding a corner of the stretcher as Ali pointed to the left.

“If we take
this it’ll lead us along the water’s edge and should take us to
your grandfather’s dock, although to be honest, I don’t remember
seeing a trail down by the dock when we were there. And this one
takes us back into the forest where we came from so we kind of know
it, but I’m not sure if we’ll be able to outrun the smoke that’s
coming at it.”

Brad huffed and
shook his head.

“I think we
should take the path by the water and follow it as far as we can.
If it doesn’t go to the dock then we can just make our own path up
the terrain and back to the forest. We have to go in that direction
at some point to get to the house, anyway.”

Unfortunately,
we were not that familiar with this forest and it made it a risky
challenge that could mean disaster for us if we chose wrong. My
insides were racing and I was almost at the point where I didn’t
care which one we took, just as long as we kept going. That’s when
I turned and looked behind us.

“Oh, my gosh,
look at it. The sky is covered in smoke and it’s headed along that
path. I don’t think we should take the chance with Grandpa. We
can’t outrun that. I think we should go along the water. At least
there’s more rocks and less trees there and part of it is an open
field.”