River on Fire (River's End #5)

by Leanne Davis

  She ate with Erin before wandering out the front door to stare at the burgeoning plume of smoke that was starting to move ever closer. On the other side of the sky, she thought she noticed a new dark haze.

  “There’s more than one fire burning.”

  Hailey turned and saw Erin closing the door. She smiled, and softly explained, “There were four separate lightning strikes last night that started four small fires. They are still upriver from us, but quickly spreading. They’ve burned a few thousand acres so far. Most likely, Joey is working on the Jaguar Creek fire. It’s the biggest, from the reports. The lightning storm was the perfect mix of heat and wind, without any rain so it went on for miles. Just saying it might be a while, Hailey. They’re bringing in more firefighters from all the neighboring districts and I even heard several counties from around the state are gearing up to join the effort.”

  She gripped the post of the porch. “How can you be so calm?”

  Erin was pulling cowboy boots on her feet. “Because every summer we have them. It’s one of the drawbacks in living here. All this dry, arid land invites the wildfires to scorch through it. They’re often caused by lightning or careless campers, and we’ve come to expect them.”

  Jack appeared at the end of her statement. They all three strolled up the road towards the barn. Jack continued Erin’s explanation. “We’ve had fires all around us, even up there.” He pointed to the top of a mountain across the river. “One Labor Day weekend, the whole mountain was on fire. We watched the smoke jumpers circle around and jump right into it, at least a dozen or more of them. It was pretty amazing. Another year, it burned clear up to the other side of that mountain over there. We were on high alert. Evacuation wasn’t mandatory, but strongly recommended. Fortunately, the wind shifted and it never crested over the top. Another year, we reported one that started right up there.” Jack pointed to the hills that were just north of the resort. “Lightning hit it about four o’clock and we were outside watching it. It began as a small storm with only a few strikes, but we saw it explode into a wall of flames when it started to gain strength. We called that one in.”

  Hailey’s breath released in a sigh. “It’s a way of life around here, I guess.”

  “Part of it. Lots of land, Hailey. Lots of heat and no rain this time of year. We can go for months. It’s already been sixty-six days. So when I heard there was a lightning storm, I knew there’d be fires in its wake.”

  “So did Joey.”

  “Course he knew.”

  “Why didn’t he tell me?”

  “Didn’t want to scare you would be my first guess… and it seems like you two probably had other things to discuss.”

  Hailey fell quiet as she followed the couple. She was clinging to them like a toddler does to her parents after a bad dream. She seemed so vulnerable and needy. After spending the morning helping them feed and water most of the stabled horses, which impressed her considerably, they tended their personal horses, which numbered over a dozen. The ranch hands took care of the other forty or so that people boarded there.

  About noon, Hailey glanced up to see Brent standing there with her kids. They were confused, no doubt, as to why she was working with the ranch owners. She walked over to them.

  “There’s a bunch of fires burning uncontrollably.”

  The stubborn smoke was starting to hang lower as it covered most of the blue sky. The sun seemed like an odd red coin stuck in the sky and the light was diminished to an odd, rosy hue that hovered over the parched land. The air smelled horrible and Hailey’s sinuses were already so stuffy, they were making her sneeze.

  Brianna stared at her as she bit her lip. “Dad said Joey’s out there fighting that one.” She pointed to the hills where the biggest plume of smoke came from.

  “Yes. I’m going to stay for a few days and make sure he’s okay. After that… then I’ll be home. I’m sorry, Brianna, but I think I need to see this through.”

  She nodded. “Dad already told me that. I know I need to be nicer and more understanding. You will come home though, won’t you? After you see him, I mean?”

  She grabbed her daughter and hugged her as a wave of relief washed over her. “I’ll be home. I promise.” She leaned her backwards, gripping her shoulders and convincing her with the confidence in her tone.

  Brianna bit her lip and let her go. “Okay. I hope Joey’s okay.”

  Brent caught her eye. “Do whatever you have to here. I’ve got the kids for as long as you need, okay? They’ll be fine. You just… try and take care of yourself, okay?”

  Hailey was emotional already, but she nodded, feeling so grateful for the first time in a long while. Brent was her kids’ father again, and the man she chose to have kids with. They were still a team, which she hadn’t felt for so long. “Thank you, Brent. I needed that. Okay? Let me have just a few days.”

  She hugged her kids and promised she’d be home soon. They soon pulled away and Erin approached her. “That must be hard.”

  “Yes. But I can stay. I mean, if that’s okay with you guys. I just need to—”

  “I think Joey would disown us if we didn’t say it was okay. As a matter of fact, it’s more than just okay, it’s great, and also expected.”

  So Hailey stayed and watched the growing columns of smoke. Obliterating most of the sunlight, a weird zombie-like gray took over the sky. A few patches of blue, along with the burnt coin of sun, were the only exceptions to the shadowed sky. The fire’s intensity grew exponentially. The smoke trailing over the ranch started to thicken, socking in the entire valley and something fluttered down over them, little leaves and twigs of white ash that fell like snow, and kept sprinkling down.

  Hailey clung close to the Rydells. That night, everyone came to Jack and Erin’s for dinner. Ian and Kailynn were still in town, as well as Allison, Shane, Rosie, AJ, and Kate. But no Ben. All of their faces were solemn and they discussed the mounting fires. Two of them had sprung up unexpectedly from blown embers, swiftly growing from six hundred acres into more than several thousand. The imminent fear that those two fires could combine outside the small town of Twisp, which was just upriver from River’s End about ten miles, was on everyone’s mind. Six homes that bordered the tiny town were evacuated and fire crews were trying to establish a fire line behind it.

  “Don’t worry, Hailey. He won’t call us. We never expect him to check in, so he’s not going to. He’s fine. Trust me, it means nothing,” Allison said, catching her eye. They were all analyzing the fire’s path of devastation and the families they knew it affected. It was heart-wrenching for Hailey to picture. Family homes and acres of ranchlands, orchards and farmlands had already burned.

  Erin insisted she sleep at their house, so Hailey did. She wasn’t sure why but it made her feel closer to Joey. She knew it was stupid since he didn’t live there. Nothing could happen to him. She was overreacting, and she knew she was, but she couldn’t shake the fear of being completely unsure of his whereabouts and safety.

  She woke the next morning to hear voices, lots of them, and quickly threw on her clothes and went downstairs. All Joey’s brothers were there, along with their wives. Their expressions were grim. The entire atmosphere seemed so different from yesterday. All were concerned, yes, but yesterday, they seemed more resolute, adopting a been there before kind of attitude. Now? Panic edged the air.

  Jack glanced up when he saw her. “Joey called and said he’s fine. Working very hard. He’s currently about six miles north of here, trying to establish a defendable perimeter around a small cluster of houses near Carlton. He hasn’t slept but a few hours and said it’s really bad out there. The fires have grown so out of control. Two have combined and a third is developing and totally uncontained. We’re expecting the temperature to climb over a hundred degrees today, and the winds are coming from the northwest, which isn’t the norm.

  “Did you tell him I was here?”

  “No. I thought it better that he stay focused.”

  “Thank you,
” she said quietly.

  “Look, Hailey, the situation might become… pretty alarming.”

  “Alarming?”

  “There are four fires that started out miles apart, but one is burning towards the other… and with the direction of these winds, well, we might see, I mean, there is a definite possibility that they could combine. That puts us right in the middle of them,” Ian said and his tone was soft and very serious.

  Kailynn grabbed his hand. “You don’t think… the ranch is in any danger, do you? I mean, they are all still miles north of here.”

  Silence answered her dark question. Then Jack replied, “We’re probably in the safest place to be. The green alfalfa of our fields? And the irrigated orchards surrounding us? We’ll run all the water we can now, and we’ll be fine. But our friends and neighbors… I think this could end up being a game changer for many in the community. I think… we might be witnessing something pretty epic here. What started out so small and predictable has managed to grow into a colossal beast that is totally out of control. Some other ranchers have called to report…”

  Allison interrupted. “What, Jack? How bad is it? Don’t spare us the truth.. Your friends and neighbors are the best sources since they are calling it firsthand.”

  Jack sat down, his shoulders drooping. “The Red Cross is coming in and setting up a shelter in Pattinson for all the evacuees, as you probably already heard.”

  He grabbed his laptop and went on a local website, one that Hailey wouldn’t have known about. Pictures of a rolling, spiraling wall of flames and black, thick smoke were shown in various mountains and pastures, some of which Hailey recognized from driving through there. She nearly cried out in grief. It was so much more real and graphic after seeing the pictures. The flames exploded and behind them, entire mountains were left to smolder, glowing red hot, as if being covered in an orange blanket. The thought of Joey being out there suddenly and very starkly became too real. No words formed in her head or her mouth, which she opened and then closed. She had no experience with wildfires. Nothing like this ever happened on the west side of the state. “Wow” was all she could say in stunned disbelief.

  She stayed in the house as the temperatures outside started to rise. The afternoon brought the winds with it like a blast from a furnace. The temperature was already a hundred and five degrees and the wind speed was registering at nearly forty miles per hour.

  Jack came back to the house with his brothers and there was a new spark of energy about him that was different than before. He was normally so solid, calm, like a rock. But not now. His nervous energy fairly radiated off him. He paced the floor with the phone to his ear. He’d talked on and off for hours to different community members.

  Suddenly he frowned and threw it. “Damn signal’s gone.” He glanced around. They were all silent, sitting on the edges of their seats. Outside, the gray went darker as new plumes of smoke devoured all the brittle vegetation, glowing far off along the horizon in an unearthly shade of red.

  “This last report… it’s… pretty bad. Things are happening so fast. Nobody expected this. The wind has made all the fires converge. It’s now one titanic fire. I’ve never heard of anything like it. It’s a fluid situation, so no one can tell what it will do next, it’s so unreliable. The wind is whipping the fire into its own fire storm. The hot ash and embers of burning material have been blown up to a half mile into the air and falling down to start new fires. It’s a roiling, swirling, oxygen-fed inferno that looks and acts like a monster consuming everything on the earth, be it natural or manmade.”

  Allison cried out and her hand covered her mouth as she pulled Rosie closer to her as if to reassure herself she was safe.

  “I’m hearing reports from the ranchers of their cattle being burned alive. The fire is so fast and furious… They can’t stop it or get any flanks of it under control. There is… so much tragedy and devastation from what I’m hearing.”

  There were no words, just a heavy blanket of sorrow that engulfed all of them. Kailynn jumped up. “I’m going to bring my dad here.”

  Ian followed her. “I think that would be best.” They left.

  The day only became more hot and miserable outside. The smoke was suffocating. The rainfall of ashes coated their eyelashes, hair, and bodies. The prevailing clouds of smoke trapped it all in, making it even more like a furnace. The subsequent reports were even more grim and a sense of hopelessness and apathy began affecting everyone more seriously.

  Jack was on the house phone until it was suddenly cut off. The power went off too. He had just finished talking to the fire chief and friends of Joey and the other ranchers in the area. Leaning heavily on the counter for a prolonged moment of utter silence, the fear he experienced could not be masked, and seemed to spread through all of them. “It’s utter chaos out there. Hundreds of people are fleeing with no way of knowing what’s happening. The telephone lines are down, most of the power is out and all the cell signals are nonexistent. It already crossed Highway 20 and 153…” He glanced at Hailey. “Those are the only roads in and out of this valley. The valley’s key arteries. The fire has gone from eighteen thousand acres to more than forty-four thousand acres, and it’s still expanding on all sides. They have zero percent containment. It’s racing down the river faster than they can move people. And burning so hot, it’s creating fire tornadoes sparking new fires with spontaneous combustion.” He glanced around, shaking his head. “It’s coming this way.” His voice was dead and flat.

  “It’s still got five miles to go and the river stands between us,” Shane tried to argue.

  Jack shook his head, suddenly moving forward. “It’s jumping the river and roads like they aren’t even there. It’s spreading in every direction, like pouring oil all over the entire landscape. We need to be prepared for evacuation.”

  Hailey’s heart wanted to scream, Prepared for evacuation? How could that be? Who would rescue them from this horrible catastrophe? She knew nothing about any of it.

  Then Jack started rushing all about the house, throwing duffel bags down and packing stuff inside them. Erin sat there, frozen, staring at her feet. “Are you sure? Our home is really in danger?”

  “The whole resort and ranch are all in danger.” He paused and walked over to Erin, bending down on one knee beside her. He cupped her cheek. “It’s all in danger. Everything we know and love and every single person we know and love. There will definitely be huge losses. It’s just a matter of luck as to how much is lost. But I can’t find Ben. I’ve been calling everybody he hangs with, and no one knows where he is. No one’s heard from him.” He was running his hands repeatedly through his hair, his eyes bright with panic.

  Erin shook out of her reverie. “I’m sure he’s okay, Jack. He knows this area. He’s been through plenty of fires. He wouldn’t do anything stupid.” Erin gripped his hand in hers, speaking with a fierce confidence that, until that moment, had only been coming from Jack.

  He dropped down. “I don’t know what to do. I’ve looked everywhere I can think of. That’s what I spent all afternoon doing. I’ve called everywhere… Where could he possibly be?”

  Hailey’s heart was lodged in her throat as she hastily hurried off to the room she was occupying to give them more privacy. It wasn’t time for her to be prying. Wow! She was startled by the look on Jack’s face; he seemed so disturbed, something she’d never observed before. Her own heart was beating erratically as the threat of the fire grew more and more serious during the last twenty-four hours. More reports, pictures and phone calls, along with terrible, sad stories. The magnitude of losses was staggering, and it was all happening just miles from there. The worst part was the collective helplessness everyone felt by sitting there. Every one of them seemed inert, sitting around, and barely eating. The smoky air was so suffocating, it was almost impossible to remain outside for very long. It seemed like they were suddenly thrust on to a rare, alternate planet. How could this be the shining, golden, bright land of only a few days ago? The
dark, apocalyptic sky that now accompanied it was the most terrifying of all.

  Then, Ian suddenly rushed in. “Joey just pulled in!” he exclaimed in a loud, eager voice, like no one had ever heard from him before. They all galloped up the ranch road, hurrying towards the main house.

  Hailey followed them. She nearly collapsed to her knees with relief when she spotted Joey. He was with several other men, all dressed in the heavy fire retardant material of black trousers, a shirt and even a hat. Jack had explained to her in one of several conversations over the last few hours that wearing all black was how they identified the volunteers from the true firefighters. Using colors to indicate their level of training avoided the chance that anyone might mistake them for full-fledged firefighters. Black soot covered his hair, forehead, nose, and cheeks. Utter fatigue ringed his eyes and the whites were all that showed.

  Joey was talking to Jack when Hailey finally reached them. He didn’t notice her at first. “It’s turning this way. Evacuate now. It’s a beast. Nothing to compare to it… Never seen anything like it, Jack. It’s a fucking demon. It’s devouring everything. Everything. It’s spotting and nothing is safe anymore or off limits. When I say get out, I mean get out. It’s—”

  Joey’s eyes grew wider, the only telltale sign of his reaction when he noticed Hailey. She wanted to grab him, but something about his demeanor held her back. He was working, and in a different mental frame. That much was obvious.

  “Ben. I can’t find Ben, Joey. That’s why I called you.” Jack’s tone was desperate, hollow.

  “I don’t know where he is either, but there are no reports of anyone in trouble or anything like that. He probably already evacuated. We are all going to inform the residents, road by road, house by house.” Joey suddenly grabbed Jack by the arms and shook him. “Listen to me. And for once, try to hear me. We are evacuating from here and going all the way to Pattinson, that’s almost twenty-five straight miles. They are moving the shelter to Brewster. Do you get why? The path of the fire is predicted to reach there by tonight. Tonight! Now do you get what kind of monster we’re dealing with? This morning, we set up an evacuation shelter there because the fire was so far away and no one ever expected it to get anywhere near. Now? It’s definitely going to hit it. Unless something epic happens like a huge rainstorm stops it. We have every possible fire truck and bulldozer available working on preventing that. There are hundreds of firefighters and volunteers clearing perimeters and lighting backfires, as well as two DC-10s that are dropping fire retardant… but we’re still failing. We have not contained any of it. So far, we’ve lost, and this is a conservative estimate, a hundred houses and countless outbuildings. You need to leave NOW. Despite Ben’s absence. You know how careless he gets about notifying us. He’s fine, Jack. I’m sure of it. I’d bet my life on Ben’s smarts. He wouldn’t play chicken with something as big as this. He’s safe. But… you aren’t. We aren’t safe here. I’ve never watched anything like it. It’s a miracle that no one’s been hurt… yet.”