Peg's Stand

by Manda Mellett

  I’ve missed something and immediately act to rectify it. While they’re prospects no longer, Jekyll and Hyde make no complaint as I ask them to start clearing the ground around the propane tanks.

  When the converted pool’s full to bursting with everything from Mouse’s computers, my precious hi fi, Drum’s turntables, photograph albums, the lot, we close it up and hope, if it comes to it, any fire burns over it quickly. For good measure, Bullet uses the bull dozer and puts an extra layer of sand over the top.

  “Paperwork?” Drum checks with Dollar, who’s just walked up.

  “Fireproof safe,” he replies, his face looking worried. “Tried ringing the number Mouse gave us for Ma Jones. It’s out of service. Viper’s going to take the 4 x 4 and take the direct route over to her. Check she got the evacuation order alright.” Viper, standing next to him, jerks his chin in agreement.

  I’d taken a moment to ring Flash’s station house and got the confirmation it was her crew that was up on the mountain fighting the fire. Having no old lady here to get organised, and now we’ve done all that we can, if I have time on my hands, I’ll only spend it worried about her. It’s an easy decision to make. “I’ll come with you.”

  Casting an uneasy glance above, I see the sun has been totally obliterated by the thickening smoke, a weird yellow glow replacing blue sky. It’s dark when night isn’t anywhere near close as Viper drives the Jeep over the rough ground, saving time by going direct and not taking the long route of going down our track, along the interstate, and then up a parallel, unpaved road to the isolated homestead which I’d forgotten was even there. Ma Jones…well…we’d often prefaced her name with the word fucking. Twelve years or so now and she was threatening to take us to court. But since we’ve moved in we’ve seen nothing of her, and presumably have caused her no concerns, despite her dire predictions at the time.

  It takes us a while to navigate the direct, but unmade route. As we draw close I swear. “Hope she’s already out. Look at that mess.” Shrubs and tall trees are up close to the boundary of her yard, and not very far from the timber-frame house. From here, the fire seems closer.

  “They’ve probably already left.”

  I nod. It’s my thought as well that we’ll find no one at home, but we’ve come this far. “Best go check as we’re here.”

  Viper turns onto her rutted driveway and takes the Jeep right up to the house. As soon as he pulls up the handbrake, the front door swings open and a young woman runs out. Viper and I look at each other. This wasn’t what we expected. As we open the doors and jump to the ground, I get my first proper look at the frantic woman. She appears to be in her late teens or at the most, early twenties, attractive, but her looks are marred by the tears on her face.

  “Oh, thank God you’re here. Help us, please!” Her hands wringing, she looks first at me, then to Viper. “My great-grandmother’s bedridden, and we should have evacuated, but the phone’s out and there’s no way I could get help. I can’t get her into my car, and the fire’s so close…”

  “Whoa, hang on there. We’ve come to help. Where’s your gramma?”

  She almost staggers with relief. “This way.”

  We follow her into the house, noting the wooden boards of the veranda look like they’re rotting away. Inside, the house is dim and dark.

  I try a switch and tell Viper, “Electricity’s out.” Then take another look at the girl. “What’s your name, darlin’?” She’s so wound up she’s shaking like a leaf, and I’m asking partly to calm her.

  “Sarah. I’m Sarah.”

  “I’m Peg, and this is Viper. Do you need to sit down while we sort Ma Jones out?”

  “Ma Jones?” She gives a little giggle at the handle we’d given the old woman. “You better not call her that.”

  I roll my shoulders, determined I certainly am, and a quick glance at Viper shows he’s on board. Amusement or anger, those emotions can damp down the fear. It’s easy to see why Sarah was so scared, stuck in this house with no way out, and the fire drawing closer.

  She leads us to a bedroom and opens the door, and immediately a crochety voice calls out, “I told you to go, Sarah. Get in the car and go. Leave me here.”

  “Not leaving you, Gramma, I’ve already told you that. And I’ve brought help.”

  As Viper and I step into the room, Ma Jones makes the effort to sit up. Her eyes open wide, then she points an unsteady finger at us. “Get out of my house. You’re those filthy bikers. Sarah, run. Run for your life. They’ve come to rob us. They’ll rape you.”

  “Now, now.” I take a step towards the bed. “We ain’t here to rob you, hurt you, or take advantage of you or your granddaughter. We’re here to help.”

  But she’s not listening. “Get your phone, Sarah, and call the police.”

  Sarah walks over to her grandmother and takes her hand. “I told you already, the phones are out. I can’t get a signal on my cell. We’ve no choice but to trust them, Gramma. If we don’t, well…” Her head tilts toward the window where the sky’s now glowing orange.

  Ma Jones looks at her granddaughter. “You’re still refusing to leave?”

  “Look, Ma.” I don’t miss how her eyes flare as I call her that. “Sarah’s not going anywhere without you. We’re takin’ you both with us. Now you can come easy, or make it difficult, that’s up to you. But we ain’t leavin’ either of you here. There’s too much that’s likely to burn around here. If the fire comes this way this place will go up like a tinder box.”

  The old woman’s eyes narrow. “So, it’s kidnapping now, is it?” But I don’t miss the slight glint in them.

  “Com’on. Let’s get you up.” Viper takes a step toward the bed, throwing a look over his shoulder to the girl. “Pack a bag quickly, anything you need to take get it.”

  “Already packed,” she replies. “We were hoping someone would remember we were here and come get us.”

  “Can you put your stuff in the back of the Jeep?”

  I watch as she nods and goes off.

  “Now, Ma, you gonna make this easy or hard?”

  “I ain’t your ma,” she grumbles, and again goes to sit up. Viper helps by putting his arm around her. “I’m heavy,” she admits. “Don’t know how you’re going to move me.”

  “What’s the matter with you?” I ask.

  “Me legs have gone.” She gives me a sly look. “But my eyes still work. You try and take anything…”

  “We’re not here to steal from you, Woman. Give it a fuckin’ rest.”

  Viper puts his arm around her and moves her to the edge of the bed, then putting his other arm under her legs sweeps her up into his arms. He grimaces at me, but to her says, “See, light as a feather.”

  Seeing his muscles straining, I hold the door open wide and then go ahead to clear the way. When we get to the Jeep and he props her up inside, he mouths to me, “Next time you can do the liftin’,” and rubs his back as he straightens up.

  “Got everything?” I ask Sarah.

  “Yes, I’ve just got to go back and lock up.”

  “Yeah, because those filthy bikers might come back now they know the place is empty.” As Ma complains from the back seat, I turn just in time to see her lips curling slightly.

  Sarah’s quick, and soon sitting beside her great-grandmother. Viper starts the Jeep, and soon we’re on our way. As we turn onto the sand, Ma pipes up. “The road’s thatta way.”

  “Quicker to go direct. Just hang on tight.”

  There’s a few grumbles and moans as we bump over the sand, but they’re half-hearted at best. My summation is the old woman’s putting on a show, partly to stop Sarah from being scared.

  There’s no denying it is scary. The slight roar we’d heard earlier is far more audible now. The sky’s bright orange as flames are reflected from the smoke that’s so thick it’s hard to see where we’re going. Viper’s driving mainly by the compass on the dash. Soon we’re getting close to home.

  “What the fuck?” he suddenly ex
claims.

  As I peer in front I can see the compound, and beyond the gate, flames shooting up. How it started, I’ve no idea.

  “The fire’s reached us,” I shout. “Fuck! Put your foot down, man.”

  Fire’s eating up the ground, and it seems to have come cross from the direction we least expected and hadn’t prepared for, cutting off our access to the main road, and the main wildfire is still steadily burning down toward us from the mountain, closer than when we left. We need to hope we’ve made the compound as safe as we can, as it looks like we’ll be surrounded by flames.

  Fuck.

  Chapter 22

  Darcy

  It’s our third day of tackling this fire. The hard, sweaty work broken only by brief cat naps in the engine. So far, the fire’s winning, beating us back, forcing us to retreat while we desperately try to place obstacles in its path, planes providing aerial support during daylight hours, dropping retardant. It’s on the ground, in the canopy, and burning up fast. Branches crash down, sending sparks shooting. It’s fast approaching our fire line.

  “Shit!” Truck swears loudly and jumps back, making me swing around to see what’s wrong. “Fucking snake. I fucking hate them.”

  Looking down, I see something slithering across the spot where he was just standing, but not being too bothered myself, knowing my boots will protect me, and harbouring some sympathy for the wildlife simply trying to escape the flames to stay alive. It’s a far from uncommon sight when we’re fighting a fire such as this.

  I laugh and slap my crewmate on the back. “What do you expect, it’s the Snake Fire, after all.” It certainly isn’t the first snake we’ve seen, but Truck jumps each time, this mountain of a man being driven by a phobia he can’t control.

  “Fucking baby,” shouts Hammer, admonishing him, raising his voice to make himself heard. “Afraid of an overgrown worm.” It’s a brief moment of mirth. Not much to amuse us about this situation, so we take what we can. Truck takes it good-naturedly. Sometimes I think he exaggerates his reaction on purpose.

  “Back.” The instruction via the radio brings our humour to a halt. It’s not unexpected, having seen our puny attempts are futile, we are already moving backward, toward our previously agreed to escape route.

  The wind’s got up in the past hour and is now more than thirty miles an hour, forcing the planes to cease flying. It’s support we will miss.

  Slade comes up. “To me.” Retreating a safe distance, our crew gathers around him, straining to hear over the noise of the fire. “The flames are now over four foot, we can’t use direct attack any longer. Have to change to indirect. Bat chief agrees, and we’re going to move down and build a new fire line, setting up in front of the head.” He glances at the monster fast approaching. “Wind’s causing it to throw out fingers. We need to get far enough down so it doesn’t trap us.

  Other crews are getting similar instructions. Radios are passing the information on. The firefighters tackling the flanks are having a similarly challenging task and being pushed back. This fire is growing, and for the moment it’s got the upper hand.

  “Nicole. What you seeing?” I try to make contact over the radio.

  No reply comes back.

  “Nicole?” I prompt again, but again get no answer.

  Nicole’s been checking in every fifteen minutes, but my gut tells me her report is now overdue. Already on the retreat, I run and catch the captain’s attention. “I can’t get hold of Firewatcher Hudson.”

  His eyes widen, and he pinches the bridge of his nose. He knows as well as I do this isn’t good news. He tries to get her himself, then shakes his head as he, too, fails to get any response. “Where was she last?” he checks.

  “She’s in lookout position on the other side of the canyon. Her last report was that the fire had leapt across. She was told to get out of there, fast, but, Slade, I’ve not heard anything from her since.” I’m hoping like fuck she’s just dropped the radio or it’s malfunctioned. I’m suddenly consumed with fear for my friend. The smoke’s so thick it’s hard to see further than a few feet, and being alone without communication must be terrifying.

  “Flash, I know she is a special friend of yours. It’s not been that long, her reports have only just stopped coming in.” Though he’s trying, that’s not much comfort. I don’t know what to say, just look at the fire that’s drawing ever closer, the ravenous beast consuming everything in its path. He claps his hand down on my shoulder.

  “She’s part of the team, Captain.” Hammer’s overhead our conversation. “We don’t leave someone behind. You want us to try and find her?”

  Try keeping me back.

  Slade thinks quickly, then turns slightly away and gets on the radio. After a moment he swings back. “We’ve got a few other crews going down to set up a new fire line. Bat Chief Leadson’s okayed that we redirect our efforts into trying to find her.”

  His radio sounds again, and this time we all hear it. A report from the crew working the flank who’ve now themselves been forced to move back over the ravine.

  A tinny voice tells us, “We’ve found an ATV, it’s burned up. Looks like it could have been the firewatcher’s. No body in it. No sign of Hudson.”

  I don’t know whether I’m glad to hear that or not. She might not be with her vehicle, but I can’t understand why she left it. On foot, if she tried to outrun the fast-moving fire, she might not have made it. “How far was it from the cold zone?” That information will help us estimate the chances that she has made it to ground already burned, or out of the way of the flames altogether. But the anonymous voice informs me there’s no way of knowing whether she got out before the fire passed through. Right now, we don’t know whether we’re on a rescue mission, or one to retrieve a dead body. Knowing I’ve got to remain optimistic, I force my worry for her back down.

  Slade looks at me sympathetically, and then he’s all business. “Hammer, Truck, Flash. Check your equipment and keep together. If she’s alive, we’ve got to find her.”

  The Captain, Hammer, Truck, and myself requisition an ATV for ourselves, and skirt around the edge of the fire, having to head down the ravine to find a place to cross, then make our way as fast as possible up the other side as we head as close as we can to the spot where Nicole was last seen. As day turns to night, we’re still able to see by the light of the flames, though distance is greatly restricted due to the thick smoke. I keep removing the shroud covering my face to scream out her name. Vegetation is still burning off all around us.

  “Keep away from the blaze. If she’s in that, she can’t be saved, and I’m not losing any more bodies,” Slade tells Hammer, who’s driving.

  “Got it, Captain.”

  We’re in the black now, the area where the fire’s already swept through, still smouldering trees reaching into the sky. Hammer pulls the ATV up, and I get off and look at the burned-out vehicle Nicole had been driving. It’s up fast against an almost hidden tree stump, giving a clue as to what made her leave it. She must have crashed and tried to escape on foot. But which way would she have gone? I concentrate, trying to put myself in her shoes.

  Fire burns up. Unless the wind’s pushing it down like it is today. But it could quickly change direction if there’s sufficient fuel and the wind swings to come from the opposite way. If the fire was closing in she could have gone up to find the cold spot. But she knows only too well that what looks like all fuel’s been consumed, could easily start burning again.

  She wouldn’t run down, she knows enough about how fast fire can move, so she wouldn’t want to get in front of it.

  Sideways. She wouldn’t have gone to the left, that would have led her straight into the path of the flames. She’d have gone right. “Captain, I think she would have gone this way.”

  As I point, Slade nods. “Unless she panicked, you’re probably right. You and Hammer go on foot in that direction, Truck you’re with me and we’ll take the ATV. We’ll continue exploring the cold zone. And for fuck’s sake, Fla
sh, Hammer, don’t the two of you split up. Keep in contact.”

  “Got it, Captain,” Hammer and I say together. I’m happy to search in the direction my gut feels is right. Slade and Truck might well be looking for a body.

  I start to move forward, pausing as a heavy and still burning branch crashes at my feet. Hammer gives me a glance and raises his eyebrows. That was close. If either of us had been under it, we could have been badly hurt.

  Moving carefully, we’re nearing the edge of the fire line, unburned forest coming into view, a strange sight with tree trunks singed on one side but not the other. We pause for a moment. Would Nicole have gone down?

  Smoke’s still so thick here, hampering our search.

  “What’s that way?” Hammer asks. “Any structure, rock that would protect her?”

  But all I can do is shake my head. My knowledge of the area is no better than his, anything I say would only be conjecture. Wishing the smoke would clear, but knowing it won’t, all I can do is to tell him, that if I was Nicole, I’d be wanting to put as much distance as possible between myself and the fire.

  My hopes of finding her alive are fading, horror stories returning to me of firefighters who’d tried to outrun a fire and failed, or who got surrounded and overcome. It seems we’re on an impossible task. I call out again, and Hammer adds his loud voice. But around us the fire’s roaring so loudly it’s hard to even hear ourselves while we’re standing next to each other.

  Suddenly Hammer’s hand tugs me forward urgently. I glance behind and realise that another burning branch has fallen from a crown fire in the canopy, setting the dry grassy ground aflame to our rear, the fire seemingly triumphant it’s found easy to consume fuel. Now it’s not just a case of locating Nicole, it’s getting out of here alive ourselves. Driven now by a sense of self-preservation, all other thoughts leave my mind as I push onward beside Hammer. We both have our Pulaski’s in our hands, our specially designed wildland fire-fighting axes that we now use to chop our way through the shrubbery that’s preventing us reaching safety. We don’t waste time talking, just methodically work our way through as fast as we can, both well aware of the danger we’re in. It may be psychological, but I swear I can feel heat pushing at my back when suddenly we burst out into a clearing and we both start running as fast as we can.