She heard the voice again, clearer this time.
“Help! Can you hear me?”
“I can hear you,” yelled Emily. “I’m coming!”
Buttons barked and tried to jump out of her arms.
“No!” said Emily, sternly. “I don’t want you stepping on a coal and burning your paws.” Suddenly she was back on the lakeshore, an unpleasant stretch of muck and rotten logs. Not far from shore, perhaps thirty metres away, was a tiny island with a single sickly tree on it. The island, hardly more than a sand bar, barely rose above the surface of the lake.
Sitting awkwardly on the shore, waving feebly, was a man who appeared to be covered from head-to-toe in mud. He could barely sit up and had to hold himself steady by holding onto the trunk of the tree.
Emily called out. “Are you okay?” She felt silly as soon as she’d said it. Of course the man wasn’t okay. That should have been obvious.
“I’ve got a broken leg, maybe a concussion, and I can hardly breathe,” called the man. His voice was hoarse.
“I’m going to swim out,” shouted Emily.
She tied the dog to a large piece of driftwood and crawled through the mud on her knees until the water was deep enough for swimming. It only took her a couple of minutes to reach the man. His sanctuary was nothing more than a dangerously unstable mud bank. Emily didn’t even attempt to pull herself onto the island. It wasn’t big enough for both of them. Besides, the mud was so squishy the man seemed to be in danger of being swallowed up by it.
The man’s face, like the rest of his body, was caked in layers of brown sludge that made it impossible to tell how old he was, although Emily had the impression he was middle-aged.
“Are you by yourself?” asked the man. He peered anxiously at the shore, clearly hoping to see a more impressive rescue party step out of the forest.
“It’s just me,” said Emily. “Well, me and Buttons. The two of us barely escaped the fire. Now we’re trying to get back to the Beaver Creek Campground.”
“I know the campground you’re talking about,” said the man, his voice cracking. “It isn’t far from here. You should be able to make it.”
“What about you? Are you able to walk?”
He shook his head. “My leg is broken.” Emily could see that his right foot was pointing in an awkward direction. “I’m in awful pain. There are burns on my face, my neck, and my hands. I’ve plastered mud on the burns. It helps a little, but I keep fainting. I’m afraid I’m going to drown in the muck. It’s like quicksand.”
He sounded like he was at the end of his rope.
“I’m Emily Morrisseau. What’s your name?”
“Matt Kaloti. I’m so glad to see you. I’ve heard your dog barking for what seems like hours. I’ve been yelling, but my voice is weak and I wasn’t sure if you could hear me.”
“I didn’t hear you, but Buttons did.”
Matt peered at the shore, where Buttons was pacing restlessly. “It’s just a miniature poodle.”
“Yes, but he’s really smart. He’s saved our butts more than once.”
Unable to sit up any longer Matt let go of the tree and lay on his back in the mud. Emily was concerned by how quickly he sank into it. He wasn’t exaggerating when he said he was worried about drowning in the muck.
“Were you in the SUV that went down the embankment?” asked Emily.
Matt started crying “Yes. My father was with me. I don’t know if he escaped. When we went off the road the Range Rover landed on its roof. The air bags deployed. It was like getting punched in the face. I must have passed out for a minute. When I woke up the passenger side door was open and dad had disappeared. We were surrounded by fire. I managed to open my door and get outside.” His voice was so low it was barely audible. “I couldn’t see dad anywhere. I knew where the lake was, so I ran in that direction. The fire was really intense and I tried to protect my face with my hands, so I couldn’t really see where I was going.” Matt reached out, touched his injured leg, and gasped in pain. “I stepped in a hole near the lakeshore. That’s when I broke my leg. I was barely able to crawl to the lake. Then I started swimming and made it to here.”
“It was far enough from shore to keep you safe.”
“Barely. The heat was so intense that I thought the water around me would start to boil. That might have just been my imagination. And I had a lot of trouble breathing. I guess the fire was sucking up all the oxygen.” Matt raised his head and coughed. “I have no idea if my father is dead or alive.”
“I looked inside your car. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t there.” Emily couldn’t be sure the fire hadn’t completely destroyed the body, but it seemed unlikely. Enough had remained of the deer to tell what it had been.
“Did you search the area around the Range Rover?’
Emily shook her head. “No. I’d just finished looking inside when Buttons heard you calling.”
Matt was once again sinking into the mud, apparently too worn out to keep his head free of the goo. Emily took off her life jacket and put it under Matt’s head. “That should keep you from sinking any further,” she said.
Matt thanked her weakly.
“We have to get you to shore. Can you swim that far?”
“No. I can barely move.”
Emily thought for a moment. “I think I know how to do this. I came across the lake this morning with a whole bunch of life jackets. I tied them together to make a raft. I’ll go back to where I left them. You can crawl on top of them and I’ll pull you to shore.”
Matt nodded his approval of the plan and then whispered, “Emily, thank you for helping me.”
“Don’t thank me just yet. I usually mess things up.”
“I feel safe in your hands.” The words, said with total sincerity, caused her to blush.
Matt got up on an elbow and looked carefully at her. “You’ve got a bad burn on your face.”
“I can only see out of one eye right now.”
“Please be careful.”
“I will.”
The shore wasn’t very far from the mud bank and Emily was positive she could make it, even without a life jacket. She rolled into the water and swam confidently to where Buttons was waiting.
Twenty-One
Emily spent a couple of minutes tightening and adjusting the strips of tarp that protected her feet. Some were badly frayed and she wasn’t certain how much longer they’d hold up. Then, leaving the cooler on the shore, she picked up the poodle and headed back toward the access road. She’d decided it would probably be easier and safer to follow the road than try and work her way along the swampy shoreline.
Retracing her trail through the blackened tree trunks was easy. Every step she’d taken earlier was clearly visible in the thick ash that covered the forest floor. Before long she was back on the road, passing the wreckage of Matt’s SUV. It reminded her of how much trouble he was in and prompted her to walk faster.
Emily was limping badly by the time she reached the place where she’d come ashore and abandoned the life jackets. They were exactly as she’d left them, lying in a pile on the shore.
“I’m going to have to trust you to stay close to me,” said Emily. Buttons was much calmer than when he’d first heard Matt calling for help. “My arms will be full of life jackets and I can’t carry you at the same time.”
The poodle seemed perfectly content to be put down and showed no sign of wanting to run off.
Back on the road, feet throbbing, Emily once again had to pass the ruined Range Rover. She went by slowly, checking both sides of the road for any sign of Matt’s father. There was nothing. It was certainly possible he’d survived. Emily had. So had Matt. She hoped the older man had also made it as far as the lake and found sanctuary.
When she came to the overturned boat Emily sat on it for a couple of minutes to give her throbbing feet a break. Buttons sniffed at the skiff, whimpered, and then sat at Emily’s feet. Something was upsetting him. Emily decided the poodle was worn out and desp
erate to find his family. She remembered that she still had a small amount of beef jerky in her pocket. The dog seemed to perk up at the sight of the dried meat. He ate the jerky greedily and begged for more.
“Sorry. You got the last of it. I didn’t even save anything for myself. Not that I want any food right now. My guts are so messed up from drinking bad water that I’m afraid to put anything else in my stomach.” She got wearily to her feet. “I’m sure Matt is wondering where we are.”
She walked over the stony ground as fast as her battered feet would allow, followed closely by the poodle, and reached the lake. Matt saw them and waved feebly.
Emily opened the cooler, took out the knife, and cut one of the life jackets free from the primitive raft so that she could wear it. This time she didn’t bother tying up the dog. Emily put on her life jacket and pulled the others behind her as she went back into the water. Buttons watched intently, but didn’t attempt to follow.
“I got the life preservers,” said Emily, pulling herself onto the mud bank. “I think you should put on the one you’ve been lying on. Then we can roll you onto the ones I tied together to make a raft. Hopefully I’ll be able to pull you to land.” She waved vaguely at the shore. “It’s really muddy there. I’m not sure what we’re going to do when we get there. I can’t carry you.”
“I can’t walk, but I should be able to crawl onto shore.”
Emily glanced at Matt’s feet. “You only have one shoe left.”
“The one on my good leg seems to have disappeared. I have no idea what happened.” He stared. “What on earth are you wearing on your feet?”
“I lost my hiking boots. I suppose they’re on the bottom of the lake right now. I found a pair of flip-flops at a cabin, but they came off when the canoe overturned. They’re probably floating around somewhere.” She held up a foot so Matt could see the bright blue plastic. “I had to cut up a tarp and use the strips to wrap my feet.”
Matt frowned. “They don’t look very sturdy.”
“They aren’t. They don’t provide much protection from rocks or . . . or anything really. But they are better than nothing. I’ve got a gash on the bottom of one foot and it is really slowing me down. If you had two shoes I’d borrow them for the hike to the campground.”
Matt struggled to put on his life jacket. “Were you at the campground when the fire hit?”
Emily saw Matt was having trouble so she reached over to help. “Yes. The fire came out of nowhere. It was wild. People were really scared. Everybody headed for an iron bridge where we were supposed to wait for rescue.” Emily glanced toward the shore, where Buttons was sitting in the mud. His white fur had been turned an ugly grey by all the ash and mud. “Buttons panicked and ran away. His owners were really upset, so I ran after him and got cut off by the fire.”
Matt whistled weakly. “You risked your life to save a dog?”
“Yeah, I guess so.” She paused and shook her head. “And I don’t even like yappy little mutts.”
“You are a remarkably brave young woman,” said Matt. “Buttons may not appreciate everything you’ve done for him, but I’m sure his owners will.”
Once again his praise made Emily feel uncomfortable. “Well, he turned out to be a lot smarter and tougher than I thought. He woke me up just before the cabin we were sleeping in caught fire. And then he bit a bear on the nose.”
Matt had finally managed to fasten the strap on his life jacket. “How did you manage to get away from the fire?”
“Same thing you did after you crashed. Headed for the lake. I got to the boat launch just as you were driving away. I screamed, but you didn’t hear me.”
To her astonishment Matt began sobbing. “It’s all my fault. Dad wanted to come back to shore almost as soon as we were on the water. He swore he could see flames. I told him he was imagining things. When it became obvious there was a forest fire moving toward the boat launch he said the situation had changed and the best place for us would be the middle of the lake. He said it would be safer. I wasn’t going to leave my new Range Rover behind so I said we had to go back to shore. Then I insisted we load the boat onto the trailer. He begged me to leave it behind, but I wouldn’t. I thought I’d be able to drive out. I was wrong. Now my father is missing.”
“I’m so sorry,” whispered Emily, taken aback by the man’s unabashed grief. She wondered what her own parents were feeling at that moment. They were probably just as frantic as Matt was. A few days earlier the thought of her parents mourning her death had felt oddly empowering. Now it made her feel ashamed.
Her mother had known for a long time that something was bothering Emily. She asked why old childhood friends no longer called or why Emily no longer called them. But she was so wrapped up in the slow collapse of her marriage that she wasn’t as perceptive as she’d once been. Her father was no help. Always self-centred, he’d become increasingly distant over the past couple of years and no longer seemed to have much interest in her life.
Twenty-Two
“We should go,” said Emily. It came as a surprise to her to discover tears pouring down her cheeks.
Matt must have assumed the tears were for him, although they really weren’t. He gave her arm a gentle squeeze. “All I’ve done is whine and complain and talk about me. How did you escape?”
“When you guys drove away you left behind an oar and a cooler.”
Matt glanced toward shore, where Emily had left the cooler.
“I thought that looked familiar,” he said.
“It floats really well. I used it and the oar to get across the lake. We found a shack and thought we were safe. Then there was a windstorm and the flames got so high they made a tornado. That’s when the fire jumped the lake. We got away in a leaky canoe, but it overturned and we had to spend the night on a tiny island in a swamp. There was a bear on the island. It tried to get at us once, but Buttons scared it off.” She sighed, suddenly overcome with exhaustion. “This morning we set off in the canoe, but it filled up with water and we bailed out just before it sank. We swam to shore.”
“I could hear you in the canoe,” said Matt. “There was some banging, like a paddle hitting the side, and the dog barking. I kept calling out, but you never responded.”
“I didn’t hear you, but Buttons did. He knew something was wrong and he wanted to help. If it wasn’t for him I never would have found you.”
Emily looked around. The swollen eye was really bothering her. “I’m not sure where we should head.”
Matt waved his hand at a nearby point. “The boat launch is right over there. Do you think you can get us that far?”
Emily nodded, trying to look more confident then she felt.
“The lake bottom is relatively firm there,” said Matt. “That will make it easier to get ashore. There’s a decent sized parking lot, so we should be able to find a piece of level ground for me to stretch out on. There’s also a trail that leads to Beaver Creek Campground. I think it will be easy to find and follow.”
“Okay. Let’s go.” Emily looked at Buttons. The dog was waiting impatiently on the mucky beach. Hopefully he would keep up by walking along the shoreline. The journey would be dirty, but relatively easy for him. By sticking to the shore the dog would also avoid stepping on any hot coals.
Matt gingerly rolled onto the small raft. It looked like the mass of life jackets, combined with the one he was wearing, should provide more than enough buoyancy. He swore. “Sorry. I just twisted my bad leg and it really hurts.”
Emily slid into the water, grabbed hold of Matt’s life jacket, and started kicking. At first he attempted to help with his one good leg, but something happened that caused him to cry out in pain, so he stopped. Every once in a while Emily turned her head and looked at the shoreline. She was glad to see that Buttons was working his way through the mud and keeping a close eye on them.
“I can’t stop shivering,” complained Matt.
“Once we get to shore you’ll warm up right away,” said Emily. “It’
s another scorcher.”
“I don’t mean to be such a baby. I know you’ve gone through just as much as I have. Maybe more.”
“I wasn’t injured as badly as you are,” said Emily. She stopped kicking for a moment and listened carefully. “I don’t like the sound of your breathing.”
“My lungs hurt. I breathed in a lot of smoke and hot ashes.”
It dawned on Emily that Matt might actually be dying. She kicked with as much energy as she could muster, pausing occasionally to catch her breath. One of her legs cramped up, making it impossible to swim in a straight line.
Matt sensed she was in trouble. “How are you doing?”
“Not well,” she reluctantly admitted. “I don’t have much strength left.”
“We’re almost there,” he croaked. “I can see the place where we launched the boat.”
“Can you see Buttons?”
“Yes. He’s making better time than we are. He has to stop every few metres to let us catch up.”
Emily gritted her teeth, silently vowed to never go into a lake again, and thrashed at the water with increasing fury and less forward progress. She began to wonder if they would ever make it.
Then, amazingly, she heard splashing next to her head. Buttons had decided to swim out and join them. Emily turned onto her side so she could see the shore. It was almost within reach. She gave a few more thunderous kicks, felt sand beneath her feet, and stood up.
She grabbed Matt by the back of his life jacket and pulled him close to shore. He rolled over and began awkwardly pulling himself onto shore with his elbows. Matt stopped suddenly, reached into the water, and pulled out a silver can.
“Beer,” he whispered. “My brand.”
“There was some beer and ice in the cooler when I found it,” said Emily. “I dumped it all on the ground. I wanted to use the cooler as a flotation device.”
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