Shelter in Place

by Harley Tate

  He ran a hand over his face. “Do we have any duct tape?”

  “What for?”

  “My leg.” Keith hoped he sounded conciliatory. “If we need to relocate—”

  “It’s worse than that.” Jerry hurried to the lantern and turned it on. “The fire is enormous. The whole horizon is lit up like morning.”

  “What direction?”

  “Most likely due west, but I can’t be sure.” Jerry glanced at the windows. “The foothills are definitely burning.”

  Lainey covered her collarbone with her hand. “How long before it reaches the neighborhood?”

  “Could be minutes. Could be hours. It all depends on the winds.”

  Keith jammed his knuckles into the couch and braced himself to stand. As soon as he put weight on his leg, pain overwhelmed him and he fell back. Nausea washed over him and he doubled over.

  “What are you doing?” Lainey crouched beside him. “We haven’t closed the wound. It needs medicine and stitches.”

  “I’ll settle for some tape.”

  “We should have some in the van.” Owen pushed his glasses up his nose and crossed the living room. “I’ll find it.” As he opened the door, a wave of smoke billowed into the house.

  Bear whined.

  “It’s okay, buddy. We’ll get out of here just as soon as we can.” Keith stroked the dog’s head again. “What are the chances the fire comes here?”

  Jerry looked grim. “High. Without helicopters dumping fire retardant and water, this entire neighborhood is kindling waiting to light.”

  “Then we need to leave.” Lainey stood up, casting her head back and forth as she tried to process what to do. “We need to gather all the food, any supplies we brought inside.”

  The door opened and Owen came in along with another burst of smoke. He coughed as he held the roll of tape out to Keith. “It’s really bad outside.”

  Jerry nodded. “Let’s hurry. Owen, you get all the food together and load up the van. Lainey, you collect all the blankets, sheets, and towels. Anything we can use to dampen the smoke. I’ll gather clothes and other supplies.”

  “What about me?” Keith scowled as he sat on the couch, irritated at his ineffectiveness.

  “You tape up that leg. We need you mobile.”

  Everyone set off on their tasks and Keith sucked in a deep breath. Coughing on the residual smoke still hanging in the air, he bent over and ripped the ruined pants higher up his leg. As Lainey rushed by with an armful of towels, Keith tore off a length of duct tape. He used a strip of the T-shirt folded up beside him as a cover for the wound and the duct tape as a makeshift suture, pulling his skin together before wrapping the tape around his leg.

  A single touch of his skin sent fireworks of pain bursting across his calf and shin. Keith gritted his teeth and kept working, wrapping more strips of tape around his leg until the entire wound had been closed. It wouldn’t stop infection or heal without a wicked scar, but at least it should slow the bleeding. Sweat covered his brow from the effort and his heart thundered in his chest.

  Jerry dumped Keith’s duffel bag on the floor at his feet. “Figured you could use some clean clothes.”

  Keith nodded his appreciation and bent to pull out a clean pair of jeans and a T-shirt. He changed right where he was, shimmying the ripped and bloodied pants off before gingerly pulling the jeans over his wounded leg. Tears leaked from the corners of his eyes, but he forced himself to finish the job.

  As Lainey hurried by with another armful of blankets, Keith grabbed the vodka bottle and took a swig. It burned the back of his throat and he closed his eyes. The door opened and shut behind him.

  “You okay?” Owen’s voice rang out and Keith blinked his eyes open. The network engineer stood in front of him, messenger bag slung over his shoulder. He’d changed out of borrowed pajamas and into jeans and a hoodie. “Do you need any help?”

  Keith hesitated. “Any chance you’ve got some Advil?”

  Owen cringed. “Sorry. Can’t touch the stuff. Sensitive stomach.”

  Of course. Keith coughed as the rear door opened again.

  “The fire is in the neighborhood.” Jerry held a handkerchief up to his face. “First houses at the top of the hill are burning. We have to go.”

  Keith clenched his fists. Now or never. With a deep breath, he pressed his knuckles into the couch and forced himself up, wobbling as he almost fell on his face. Owen rushed forward to lend a hand and Keith managed to stay upright long enough to grab the arm of the couch for support.

  He took a tentative step toward the kitchen with Owen at his side. He couldn’t feel his toes on his injured leg. Was that good or bad? Bear whined beside him and he shoved thoughts of his own discomfort aside. “It’s okay, buddy. Someone can come back and carry you.”

  Bear didn’t agree. He eased off the couch, limping badly as he kept pace with Keith. The pain was obvious. Keith bit back a curse as he let Owen lead him to the van. Smoke thickened the air and clouded their sight. It plumed in the road and over the houses, acrid in its intensity.

  Keith stumbled toward the van and after a few stops and starts, hoisted himself into the back. Squeezing between bags of groceries and a stack of blankets, he made a place to sit before spreading one blanket out beside him. As he patted it, Owen helped Bear into the van. The dog curled up beside Keith, head resting on his thigh. What a pair.

  Lainey climbed into the driver’s seat and Jerry the passenger’s. He stared out the windshield at the road, now lit up by the glow of the too-close fire. It licked the roof of a strip of houses on the north side of the street, catching trees and grasses as it inched closer before wicking up old stucco and wood siding.

  “It’s terrible.” Lainey stared in horror as she started the engine. A bandana covered her mouth and nose as she shifted into drive and eased toward the street. As they turned to head south out of the neighborhood, another car rounded the corner. It stopped in the middle of the road, blocking their way.

  “That’s Gene’s car.” Jerry straightened up in the passenger seat. “I bet his kid’s driving.”

  “The guys who robbed you?”

  Jerry nodded. Lainey honked the horn. The other car’s engine revved.

  He moved to roll down the window, but Lainey reached out her hand. “Don’t. There’s too much smoke.”

  “We can’t get around them.”

  “Then we back up and turn at the corner. There’s got to be another way out.”

  Jerry twisted to peer out the driver’s side window. “Only one and it might be blocked.”

  “What choice do we have?”

  The other car laid on the horn again and something cracked. A boom drowned out Lainey’s gasp and rocked the van on its wheels. A burning light lit up the windshield and Lainey threw the van into reverse.

  Keith couldn’t see much from the back. He twisted and strained to catch a glimpse of whatever spooked Lainey and Jerry. “What’s going on?”

  Owen sat across from him, blanket up to his face. Only his huge eyes peeked out, staring through the windshield. “Huge tree fell in the road, right in front of the other car.” Owen slid as Lainey took the corner as fast as she dared. “We’re going around.”

  Bear eased closer to Keith and he wanted more than anything to wrap a comforting arm around the dog, but he didn’t want to hurt him. Another burst of fire and flames lit up Jerry’s window. Lainey shrieked. She jerked the steering wheel and the van wobbled.

  “Are we going to make it?” Owen’s question echoed similar thoughts parading through Keith’s mind.

  Jerry didn’t turn around. “Hell if I know, but we have to try.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  LAINEY

  Jerry’s House

  Altadena, CA

  Thursday, 6:30 a.m. PST

  Lainey leaned against the door to the van and immediately jerked her hand away. Heat from the flames turned the vehicle into a hot pot on wheels. She shook her fingers to alleviate the sting. How long
before essential parts of the vehicle stopped working?

  She squinted to see through the smoke. Somewhere to the east the sun rose, but it might as well have been midnight. Thick, cloying smoke consumed the entire sky.

  Fire hugged the road, molten white and yellow. It crackled and sparked, sending burning cinders flying over the van as the flames threatened to jump the road. Lainey gripped the steering wheel with both hands as she drove down the middle of the street. She’d never been in a similar situation. This was worse than running from the fallout. Worse than hiding in the courthouse.

  Another wave of smoke poured over the road and as Lainey pushed the van through it, brake lights appeared ahead. She swerved to avoid the stopped vehicle, edging dangerously close to a blaze curling the leaves of a fallen tree.

  Just beyond the car, a cross street cut across the road. Lainey slowed. “Which way?”

  Jerry ducked and twisted in the passenger seat, trying to place them in the neighborhood. “We need to head south.” He frowned as he leaned closer to the windshield. Sweat beaded on his brow as he pressed his forehead to the glass. “I can’t tell with all the smoke.”

  “It’s down, right? We should start to feel the road sloping down toward the valley at some point, shouldn’t we?”

  “Not for a while. If we’re wrong, we could be heading into a dead end.”

  Lainey’s voice edged into panic as she spun around in the seat. “Owen? Can you help?”

  “Already on it.” He hunched over his tablet, tapping the screen. “I’ve got a compass app. Shouldn’t need more than GPS. Hold on.” He twisted the tablet around and around. After a solid minute, he shook his head. “There’s so much smoke, I can’t get a read.”

  Lainey turned back to the front. The smoke grew thicker, tinged red from the flames licking the houses on both sides of the road. Visibility was at a minimum, maybe ten feet even with the headlights. She fretted, unsure what to do.

  Beside the van, a roof gave way and shingles poured down the sloping, swaying ruin of a house. One skidded into the road, bright orange and deadly. Lainey punched the gas, turning the van right to head down the cross street. She had no idea if she was heading south or north or back to where they started, but sitting still wasn’t a viable option.

  She glanced at Jerry. “If this is the right way, how much farther until the highway?”

  “No idea. I can’t place where we are.” Jerry stared out the window.

  Owen squeezed between them and held the tablet up with both hands.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Recording.”

  “What for?” Lainey shook her head in alarm. “You should be back there hunkered down in case I crash into a car or a tree!”

  “I’ve got faith in your driving skills.” Owen shrugged. “Besides, we can use this footage. I’m sending it to a Canadian TV station to get us an in.”

  “An in for what?” Keith asked from the back.

  “Crossing the border.”

  Lainey shook her head in disbelief. Owen was thinking about their jobs and making it all the way to Canada when they might turn into a human barbecue at any moment. She sped up, heading straight into a bank of smoke. The road began to slope and she hoped that meant they were leaving the foothills behind to head back down into the valley, not just into a lower part of the neighborhood.

  Eventually they would drive out of the flames, wouldn’t they? The fire couldn’t cover all of Los Angeles, could it?

  A boom shook the van and Lainey shrieked. She managed to keep the van on the road, but her heart hammered in her chest. No more than twenty feet ahead, a giant fireball plumed into the sky, followed by roiling black clouds.

  “Car exploded.” Jerry leaned back in the seat. “Surprised there haven’t been more.”

  Lainey angled the van to the right, avoiding the flames darting halfway into the road. Up ahead, another tree blocked most of their path and she rumbled over the sidewalk to avoid the burning branches.

  Bear whined in the back and Keith shushed him. “It’s okay. We’ll be out of here soon.”

  Was that even true? Lainey focused on the road, trying to ignore the fear bubbling up inside her. After all they had been through, they couldn’t die in a wildfire, could they? No. She clenched her teeth and tightened her grip on the steering wheel as she eased the van around the worst of the flames.

  I’m going to keep us alive. With that mantra stuck on repeat in her mind, she drove through the fire, darting around obstacles and speeding up to avoid larger spots of fire. After a few agonizing minutes, the first inklings of sky appeared. The smoke thinned, changing from red to orange to gray. Lainey let out a trapped breath. They were finally leaving the fire behind.

  Jerry exhaled. “We’re heading the right way. Freeway entrance is straight ahead in about a mile. If you get on the 210, we can put some distance between us and the fire.”

  Lainey did as Jerry instructed, merging onto the ramp when it came into view. As they headed back toward the city, she slowed. Beside them, the entire hillside burned. Smoke billowed up from hot coals where houses used to be. Flames licked trees until nothing but trunks remained. They were lucky to have escaped.

  Jerry’s house was probably cinders and ash at this point. Lainey reached out a hand and gave his arm a squeeze. “I’m sorry.”

  He nodded his appreciation and turned away from the fire, unable to speak.

  Lainey kept driving, following the 210 through Pasadena and due east. For the first time since leaving the courthouse, they weren’t alone on the road. With the threat of the fire, other residents were fleeing.

  A family in an older station wagon kept to the slow lane, the father’s eyes glued to the road. A woman with a small dog in her lap pushed a little Volkswagen Golf as fast as it would go, darting among the accidents and other cars. Others joined in and soon the freeway looked like any other day in Southern California. They crossed over the Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area in a long procession of vehicles and on into the outer fringes of the greater Los Angeles metro. The fire dogged their trip, staying in view out Lainey’s window no matter how fast she drove.

  “We need to clear the foothills,” Keith offered from the back. His voice cracked and Lainey flicked her eyes up to the rearview. Was he in pain? He had to be with the tape around his leg, but was it more than he could handle?

  Jerry kept the conversation on the fire. “The wind is pushing the fire this way. With all the dry undergrowth, the whole area is a giant tinderbox.”

  “That means, what, heading northeast on the 15?”

  “If we can make it there without the fire cutting off the route.” Jerry flipped open the glove box and rooted around. “Doesn’t anyone keep a map anymore?”

  “We might be able to find one at a gas station,” Lainey suggested.

  Keith spoke up again. “What about a Walmart? They usually have some back by the automotive section.”

  After their experience in the Home Depot, Lainey wasn’t sure she ever wanted to step inside a warehouse store again. But if it meant helping Keith… “We need medicine for your leg.”

  “And pain pills.” Keith winced as he shifted position. “A vet would have everything.”

  Lainey raised an eyebrow. “You’re going to take pet medication?”

  “Antibiotics are antibiotics.” With that proclamation, Keith leaned back and closed his eyes. Lainey stared at him for a moment before focusing again on the road. Sometime after leaving the fire, his cheeks had paled. Was it the change in temperature, or was he suffering more than he let on? Between the blood loss and the pain and the worry over Bear, it was a wonder he even managed to stay awake.

  “A veterinarian’s our best shot.” Jerry nodded as he thought it over. “Why not give it a try?”

  “Where are we going to find an open vet?”

  “Nowhere near here.” Jerry leaned forward to assess the fire. “If we don’t clear the foothills, we could be stuck right back in the same conditions we jus
t left. If we can cross over, we can stop again in Victorville or one of the smaller towns.”

  Lainey took the advice and plowed ahead, driving past abandoned cars and accidents, all while keeping an eye on the fire. Other evacuees had the same idea, heading north to leave the last bits of Los Angeles behind. She swallowed. Would any of them ever come back?

  As a beat-up pickup truck loaded down with everything from furniture to a kid’s bike struggled to stay at highway speeds, Lainey pressed the gas pedal. A renewed sense of urgency pushed her on. She felt exposed out on the multi-lane highway, its flat asphalt stretching on and on.

  It took longer than she expected to navigate the highway congested with fleeing vehicles, abandoned cars, and a smattering of accidents, but she managed. As she took the exit toward Barstow, she chewed on her lip. They crossed under an overpass and turned north as a farm stretched out to the right, orderly plants arranged in neat rows, oblivious to the fire ravaging the foothills.

  An exit neared and a sign proclaiming everything from a Marshalls to an Aldi tempted her to exit, but Lainey pushed on. A line of cars full of evacuees clogged the exit and the fire wasn’t far behind. They couldn’t risk getting caught up in a crowd. As they pushed on, climbing into the mountains, they left most of the other vehicles behind.

  The mountains evolved as they drove, trading in their green coverings for sandy ridges and pocks of scrub brush. Eventually, the road crested and the mountains gave way to the flat vistas of the high desert. A sign welcoming them to Hesperia, California perched on the side of the dusty road and Lainey exhaled.

  “We did it.” She leaned back in relief and rolled her shoulders. They were out of Los Angeles, away from the remnants of the bomb and the fire and the millions of desperate people still stuck in the city. The bright sun beat down on them from a clear blue sky, and Lainey smiled.

  “Guys?” Owen’s tentative voice called out from the back.

  Lainey glanced up at the rearview mirror.