Fire From the Sky: Trial by Fire

by N. C. Reed

  “How. . .because of your dad,” Gordy answered his own question.

  “Yeah,” Kade nodded. “He wasn't part of that district, but he did a lot of work for the county on pumps and stuff. And just because that one is so isolated doesn't mean it's still there. One of the firemen may have it by now. It maybe won't start, or they didn't protect it like they was supposed to, there's a dozen reasons why it won't be there or won't run, but. . .if it is there, and it will run, then. . .well, it's a fire truck. And your sister said we needed one.”

  Gordy wheeled the ATV around in the road and floored it, headed back to the Troy farm.

  “Where we going?” Kade asked, grabbing the overhead rail to brace himself.

  “To see Jose,” Gordy replied. “Maybe he 'll want to go and see if the truck's still there.”

  –

  “How far is this station?” Jose asked, pulling his map of the area out and spreading it on the hood of the Humvee they were gathering around.

  “Maybe ten miles?” Kade ran his finger along the roads to a point near where the station was located. “It's not on the main road. In fact, there probably ain't a house closer than five miles. Well, maybe not quite that far. Anyway, not many people outside that little district will know where it is since it was new. And it didn't get a lot of use as I recall.”

  “And you think it might still run?” Jose looked doubtful.

  “No idea,” Kade admitted. “If they protected it like they was supposed to, then maybe. But,” he looked at Jose, “even if that truck won't hit a lick at a snake, ain't nothing gonna be wrong with that pump. Ain't a piece of electronics on it that I know of. Hook it to one o' these trucks around here that does run to give it some PTO juice and she 'll pump just fine. Park it near the creek and pull water straight out of it to fight the blaze.”

  “You can do that?” Jose asked.

  “Sure, if you're close enough to the water,” Gordy answered that one. “Most trucks around here can do that. They're all set up to pull water from a dump tank. Think of one of those swimming pools you inflate with air, except larger,” he described a dump tank when Juarez's face showed a lack of understanding. “Inflate it and it will hold anywhere from three to four thousand gallons of water for trucks to pull from while the tanker runs for refills.”

  “How 'bout that,” Juarez mused. “Well, I'd say it's worth a try. Only we don't have much help at the moment. If it don't run and we're forced to use that trick we used on the dozer then we may not can do it. What is it?” he asked when Kade's face lit up.

  “That forestry truck!” he said excitedly. “It'd be perfect to put that pump on if they can get it running!”

  “Well, I suppose it would,” Jose nodded. “Still leaves us with the problem of getting the truck if it won't run. And like you said, that's assuming it's there at all.”

  “All we can do is go see,” Gordy shrugged. “Be there and back in less than an hour.”

  Juarez considered that for a minute, clearly running the alternatives over in his head.

  “We can't get big Jake to go, he's up to his elbows with your sister's bulldozer,” he said finally. “Ellen and Tandi could take the Beast, like we did for the fire plow and truck, but we can't send them alone. We need the Hummer at least for an escort. And we would need at least three people in it if we're going to have any security at all once we get there.”

  “Well, there's us,” Kade pointed to the three of them.

  “And we're all that are standing guard at the moment,” Juarez reminded him grimly. “And that's something we can't just abandon.”

  “So, we need manpower from somewhere?” Gordy mused. “That's all that's slowing us down?”

  “If we can get two or three others to help, then we can probably manage,” Juarez nodded. “Why?”

  “Well, there is one person we can talk to,” Gordy smiled.

  -

  “A fire truck?” Leon was breathing better but was still taking it easy at Patricia's insistence.

  “It's a small one, and it may not run anymore, but the pump should still work and that's a big help,” Gordy nodded.

  “And how many people you think you need for that?” Leon mused from behind his oxygen mask.

  “Well, it's not just the people,” Gordy admitted. “We need security here, but we need it there, too. And we need people who can really help, not just bodies. See what I mean?”

  “Yeah,” Leon nodded thoughtfully. He looked over at Brick.

  “You care to go and help them?” he asked. Brick merely nodded and went to get ready. Leon turned back to Gordy.

  “Get Greg Holloway up here,” he ordered.

  -

  “You wanted to see me?” Greg asked as Marla Jones let him inside. “How you doing Mister Sanders?”

  “I'm doing, Gregory and that's about all I can say,” Leon told him. “You still teaching that bunch security basics?”

  “About half,” he nodded. “Most of the men are helping with the fire break. Need something?”

  “How about a little on-the-job training?” Leon asked him. “We need someone to take over the security patrol here for maybe two, three hours at most. Think you and they can handle that?”

  “I would imagine so,” Greg nodded thoughtfully. “I still have six students with me, including four women and two teen boys.”

  “Not perfect but if they're able then they 'll have to do,” Leon mused. He looked at Juarez.

  “How many men are you leaving here?”

  “Jody, our rifleman, and his trainee, Heath Kelly, will both be here, on lookout,” Juarez stated. “I need Tandi with me because he's our medic, and his woman is driving the truck so he 'll want to be with her. Nate is helping with the fire break and Mitch is overseeing the evacuation preparations.”

  “Call your uncle,” Leon told Gordy. “Tell him I want Nate back here for the time being. Who else can oversee preparations for evacuation?” he asked Juarez.

  “Well...” Juarez mused.

  “How about Vicki?” Kade asked. Juarez made a classic 'V8' forehead slap.

  “I forgot all about Victoria,” he admitted. “She's helping Mitch at the moment.”

  “Can she go with you instead of Nolan?” Leon asked. Gordy frowned as his great grandfather wheezed a little.

  “Yeah, she can,” Juarez nodded. “And that will leave you Mitchell and Nate on the ground with Jody and Heath in the cupola. Added to you, deputy,” he looked at Greg, “and your students, that should cover it nicely. If nothing else we can bring Heath down to help on the ground until we get back.”

  “Then do that,” Leon ordered, settling back into his chair. “Tell your uncle that's my decision, if he asks or objects,” he gasped to Gordy before putting his mask back on. Marla Jones frowned at Leon's sudden difficulty.

  “That's enough. You've got your answer so that's enough. He needs to rest and let his breathing get better. It was doing much better until this. I 'll have to ask you all to go,” she motioned them toward the door with a shooing motion.

  “Hey now,” Gordy began to complain but Marla shook her head.

  “We've been dealing with this for two days, Gordy,” she told the young man. “He has got to rest. Your mom's orders. Now go and let him get the rest he needs.”

  “I'm still here, you know!” Leon said from behind his mask.

  “And we'd like to keep it that way, you old goat,” Marla's voice was firm. “Stop talking and breath that oxygen in. You guys go and be careful,” she told the others as Brick returned dressed to accompany them. If the others were surprised by the rifle case he was carrying they didn't say so.

  “Let’s go,” Gordy agreed, watching Leon struggle to breath. “Sorry Old Man. We're out of here. Let me know if you need anything, okay?” A shaky thumb’s up was his answer, but Gordy didn't miss the wink and grin that Leon gave him just before he turned. A small grin of his own blessing his face, Gordy led the others out of the house and back to business.

  “Sen
d one of your students up here to help,” Juarez beat Gordy to it, talking to Greg. “We're taking Brick away, and Janice is already working in the comm shack. Someone needs to be here.”

  “I 'll take care of it,” Greg promised.

  -

  “So, what's up?” Nate Caudell asked as he arrived. “Bossman was some pissed off when he came to get me,” he added.

  “He 'll have to get over it,” Juarez shrugged. “We're making a run. I need you here on the ground with Mitch until we're back. Deputy Holloway,” he nodded at Greg, “and his students will be helping and Heath should be on his way down from the cupola. We hope to be back in two hours or so.”

  “Where ya going?” Nate asked.

  “Hopefully to get a fire truck.”

  -

  It was a small crew, but a pretty good one. Tandi and Ellen would be in the Beast of course. Jose would driver the Hummer with Kade on the gun there, and Gordy would driver the Cougar with Vicki Tully on the gun and Brick riding with them.

  Brick had surprised them all when he had brought out a rather nasty looking rifle from the case he had carried down from Leon's. It looked small in his hands, and the harness carrying extra magazines looked smaller still on his huge frame, but the rifle was obviously not new, and he carried it like he knew what it was for.

  “Is that a 416?” Juarez had asked, to which Brick had merely nodded.

  “Niiice,” Kade had drawled upon seeing the rifle, but had said nothing else. No one asked Brick where he had gotten the weapon.

  “Everybody up,” Juarez spun his finger in the air as he slid behind the wheel of the Hummer. Ideally, they would have had at least one more person, but it wasn't meant to be for this trip. They had to make do with what they had.

  “Hummer ready,” he said into his radio.

  “Beast ready,” Tandi replied at once.

  “Cougar ready,” Gordy was right behind.

  “Moving,” Juarez said simply and pulled out. Kade would guide him to the turn and then to the station. Hopefully it would be a quick, quiet, and above all successful trip.

  “Hey man,” Kade said suddenly as the convoy straightened out on the roadway. “I can see smoke from the fire now.”

  No one replied.

  -

  “Smoke's getting thicker,” Clay had paused to wipe his forehead before replacing his hat. “Or is it just me?”

  “No, it's thicker,” Ronny nodded, offering Clay his Thermos water jug. Clay raised his own, shaking his head. Both took a deep drink.

  “It's slow going but we're making progress,” Clay decided.

  “We need to get fuel out here, too,” Ronny said, looking at the gauge on his bulldozer. “I'm at a quarter already.” Clay checked his own gauge and nodded.

  “Ask my dad if he can bring his truck out with fuel on it,” he called on the radio.

  “Yes, Mister Clay,” Janice Hardy's voice replied at once. Clay chuckled at that but said nothing to embarrass her over the radio.

  “What happened to the twins?” Ronny asked.

  “Don't know,” Clay shrugged. “They were fighting this morning instead of doing their jobs and Gordy was going to reassign them because of it.”

  “Maybe some physical labor will remind them of our circumstances,” Ronny mused. “If it gets too bad let me know, but I'd rather they get a taste of the real world instead of just listening to me. It might do more for them in the long run.”

  -

  “This is your fault, you know,” Leanne grumped as she drug several small sticks and limbs away from her grandparent's house with a garden rake.

  “My fault?” Deuce looked aghast. “Who was it that turned her radio down again and started all of this?”

  “Well, if you weren't so annoying then I wouldn't have had to turn it down in the first place!” she shot back.

  “I love how you can just reassign blame without looking at the facts, dear sister,” he almost sneered at his twin.

  “I'm not reassigning blame since it was yours to begin with!” Leanne shouted suddenly. “You called me Pip!”

  “Everyone calls you that,” her brother reminded her.

  “And after I offered not to call you 'The Younger' anymore because I knew you hated it!” she practically hissed.

  “Well that didn't stop you today!” Deuce yelled.

  “And why should it?” was her reply. “Why should I give you courtesy you don't return?”

  “I-” he started to reply but then held his tongue as what his sister said struck home.

  “You're right,” he said finally. Leanne was so shocked that she had to stop raking and stare at her brother.

  “What did you say?”

  “I said you're right,” he repeated, then noticed the look on her face. “What? It's not like I never said it before!”

  “It's pretty rare,” Leanne assured him.

  “Look, I shouldn't have called you Pip,” Leon stopped to lean on his rake. “I was just fooling around but I still shouldn't have done it. But until just now I never thought about how you hate that as much as I hate being called 'the Younger'. I didn't mean anything by it.”

  “I'm just tired of being so short,” Leanne said suddenly. “I'm sixteen years old and I'm five foot tall!” she wailed. “Look how tall Abby and Gordy are! And you're two inches taller than me and we're twins!”

  “I am?” Leon straightened up at that.

  “Is that all you heard?” his sister demanded.

  “I just never noticed it,” Leon shrugged. “You never seemed short to me,” he added, his casual manner of speaking telling Leanne he meant it.

  “I don't?”

  “Nope,” he was back to work by now.

  “Thanks,” she smiled at him.

  “Sure,” he nodded. “Now get back to work or we 'll be in trouble again.”

  “Right,” she started from her reverie and hurriedly returned to removing debris.

  -

  “I know we're making headway but it's hard to see it when you're still surrounded by trees,” Josh Webb commented as he took a break and got some water.

  “Been saying the same thing myself,” Clay nodded. “And you need to be supervising rather than doing this stuff yourself.”

  “Suppose so,” Josh chuckled. “I'm not as old as Leon maybe, but I ain't a spring chicken by any means.” He took another pull from the water jug and then turned serious.

  “Are we going to be able to save this place after all this hard work?” he asked Clay.

  “I sure hope so,” Clay tried to look and sound optimistic. “I didn't come home and build my house just to lose it. Of course, no one else does either,” he chuckled. Webb grinned back at him and nodded.

  “We left home to come here, and while I wasn't all for it like the wife was, I've grown comfortable here over the winter. It's been hard work I admit, but we've fared fare better than most through this hard time I'd wager.”

  “Almost certainly,” Clay agreed. “Well, I got to get back at it,” he increased the tractor's engine speed from idle to something low gear would accept. “Remember what I said, Mister Webb. Supervise. That's what you're supposed to be doing, you and Mister George.”

  “We 'll mind it,” Webb promised. “That niece of yours going to get her tractor running?”

  “I sure hope so.”

  -

  “Damn it!” Abigail almost screeched as her dozer sputtered and popped but then died again. “We 'll never get this damn thing running!”

  “Calm yourself Sanders Girl,” Jake told her as he moved back to the engine spacing. “That's the best sound I've heard out of this thing in two days.”

  “Jake, there's no doubt you're far better at this than I am, and I freely admit that your knowledge of mechanics is second to none anywhere around here, but that didn't sound so good to me.” Abigail leaned down from the deck to look at what Jake was doing.

  “That's because you weren't listening,” he told her, straightening up again. “This thi
ng was firing. Trying to run. We drained that old fuel and replaced it, but the lines and the engine are still trying to either burn the residue out or wait for it to be thinned by the good fuel. I think we're close to getting you back to work. Try it again.”

  Abigail dutifully returned to the seat and hit the starter once more. The dozer sputtered and spit for several second until suddenly it literally staggered to life, idling so rough that is made the large machine tremble.

  “Hot damn!” she could hear Jake yell over the noise. “Keep it going!”

  Abigail feathered and babied the engine, revving it slowly to let it build RPMs and smooth out its idle. After three minutes of steady coaxing, the idle did just that, smoothing to a steady rumble that Abigail knew very well after three years on the same machine.

  “Yes!” she held a hand high in triumph. “We did it!”

  “So, we did,” Jake had climbed up on the track. “Let it idle a bit and then we 'll test it out. If it doesn't stall on you, I'd say it’s ready to rumble.”

  “Thank you, Jake!” Abigail hugged the huge mechanic and suddenly kissed him on the cheek without thinking. He took her by the arms and pulled her away, laughing.

  “Easy there, Sanders Girl,” he smiled. “Don't give me the wrong impression now.”

  Blushing, Abigail laughed back at him and then returned to her seat, watching the engine gauges as her rig finally came to life.

  -

  “I think this fire is moving faster than Abigail estimated,” Clay told Ronny when the two met again. “And I don't know that we're moving fast enough to get done.”

  “Me neither,” Ronny agreed before taking a pull from his water jug. The smoke was getting thicker as the day wore on and he mentioned it.

  “I noticed that,” Clay agreed.

  “Well, as soon as I can take a bathroom break I'm back at it,” Ronny told him as he climbed down off the dozer. “Any women out here?” he asked, looking around.

  “Not in this area,” Clay laughed. “Go ahead. I'm going to start plowing up where you pushed the bush over coming this way.”