Firestorm

by Ronnie Dauber

  Nana screamed and held her hands over her mouth.

  “I knew it. I knew it. That stupid boat. They’re probably yelling for help and scaring all the animals.”

  Suddenly, the hairs on the nape of my neck tingled and sent a spike of fear up and down my spine. It was the same icy chills that I felt when I hugged Grandpa, and the same fear that hovered over me in my dream.

  Chapter 2

  Lost

  Nana began to cry uncontrollably into her apron as she repeated over and over that she knew this would happen. Meagan put her arms around her and kept telling her that everything would be all right, but I could tell by the stressed look on her face that even Meagan was struggling to believe her own words.

  The guys ran ahead to the dock and were talking between themselves for a couple of minutes as Meagan and I tried to keep Nana calm. A few minutes later they ran back to where we were standing on the back lawn and Ali shook his head.

  “The river turns to the right just over there and becomes really wide. We have no idea how far up the river they are and with so much brush all around, it’s going to be impossible to get over there without a boat. All we can do is to run the river bank and hope we spot them from this side – if they’re on this side.”

  Brad agreed and pointed to the house.

  “Why don’t we just call for help? Someone around here must have a boat that we can borrow or maybe they even know where they are.”

  Nana pushed Meagan away and talked in between the tears.

  “Our phones aren’t working and all I have is this walkie-talkie. You have to go. Please, girls. You’re hikers, you can find him.”

  Ali interrupted and pointed to the house.

  “Mrs. Davies, we can use my cell phone to call for help.”

  “Anyone I know will be at the fair today and they don’t carry portable phones like that and we can’t wait for them to get home. You have to go in and look for Grandpa now while it’s still light.”

  Nana had no idea how intimidating these trails were for us. Meagan and I had ventured out a bit each time we visited, but we’d never gone beyond the first mile or so and we really didn’t know where the trails went or what kind of challenges they carried. And what’s worse, we had no idea where Grandpa and Don might be. But Nana stared at me expecting me to say something.

  “Nana, we can go along the trail over there, but it’s going to take us a while and I’m not sure if……”

  Suddenly, another flock of birds came screeching from the forest and flew behind us. Ali looked at Brad and then at us and we all just nodded. I pulled on Meagan’s arm and pulled her towards the house.

  “Come on, Meg. Let’s get our hiking boots on and at least try to find them.”

  They guys ran with Nana who followed us as quickly as any elderly and stoutly woman could, and by the time she got to the house Meagan and I had already scooted upstairs and changed into our blue jean shorts and t-shirts and had grabbed some clean socks. We were by the back door pulling on our socks when she opened the back door and stared at us with a very annoyed look.

  “Oh, girls, this is not the time to be fashionable. You didn’t need to waste time changing your clothes, you could just go the way you were.”

  I understood her frustration but I also knew that she’d never gone hiking into the woods and had no idea what it was like.

  “Nana, the paths are stony and rocky and it’s uneven. We can’t run in sandals, okay? We need our boots so we can move fast.”

  Brad looked around the kitchen and asked Nana if she had a first aid kit that he could carry it in his backpack just in case we needed it.

  “Yeah, there’s a box of band aids and some rubbing alcohol. Here’s an elastic wrap from when Grandpa hurt his knee. Oh, and here’s a small box of tissues. There’s blankets in the hall there in that box.”

  Ali and Brad instinctively dumped their personal things out of their backpacks onto the couch and then Ali put the first aid supplies and some bottles of water into his, and Brad stuffed two blankets into his. Brad told her to stay by the walkie-talkie and then the second the last boot was laced we hugged Nana, said goodbye and took off into the forest.

  Ali studied his compass as we walked the first steps along the path.

  “Okay, your Nana said that he went this way which is north so we want to go this way. And Sarah, you said that it was about two or three miles in, right?”

  Meagan and I were running behind the guys.

  “Well, that’s what Grandpa said, that it was two or three miles this way. But Meg and I have never been there so we don’t know exactly where it is.”

  We trekked at a decent pace up and down the hilly trail and about twenty minutes later we came to a fork in the path. Ali used his compass and pointed in the direction that we should go.

  “Okay, the trail on the right takes us in the direction of the water which is down there on the right, but we can’t see if it actually runs along the water edge or if it stays up here and away from it. I think we’re going to need to cut through all that mass of broken dead trees and just get down to the river bank.”

  Brad ran ahead on the trail and came back a minute later waving for us to follow him.

  “I think this trail takes us deep into the forest and possibly even away from the water, but it also runs along the terrain. So maybe we should take it until we can get to a point where we can cut through the dry terrain and get to the water.”

  We all agreed and hustled along the path until we got to the dry terrain where the heat waves just bounced off the dead grass and made it difficult to breathe. We crossed the terrain of dry grass and rocks and we were all dripping in sweat by the time we got to the far side. After climbing a short stony ramp we looked down and could see the water about fifty feet below us. I looked carefully and I could feel my chest tightening.

  “There’s no path. This just drops right into the water.”

  Brad ran up a short hill to the left of us and then yelled for us to follow, so we scooted up the uneven hill to join him. We followed him through a mass of broken trees that looked as if a huge boulder had just crushed them. Ali wiped the sweat from his forehead as we ran along.

  “Looks like a lot of this brush just dried up. I don’t think I’ve ever hiked where it’s been so hot and dry before.”

  We stopped a few minutes later and Brad told us that we’d been trekking for about an hour.

  “We have to be getting close to them. The river’s down there and according to my watch, we’ve reached the two mile point already, so I think we’re going to need to get close to the water somehow. What do you think?”

  I found it hard thinking about where we were going because the icy chills were shooting up and down my back again, and all I could think of was that Grandpa was in some kind of real danger.

  “Meg, something’s really wrong. I can feel it.”

  “I know, Sarah, I know. I’m scared, too, but we have to find them before it gets dark.”

  Ali turned back to look at Meagan with a puzzled look on his face.

  “So when does it start getting dark around here?”

  Meagan and I looked at each and I could feel myself biting my lower lip again. We knew that it always got darker in the forest first, and that’s when the real fear of disaster began to creep up my spine.

  “Usually around eight, right Meg? But that’s in the house. By eight it’ll be black in here.”

  We found a narrow pathway that led down towards the water and Meagan and I yelled for Grandpa and Don in between pants as we climbed down. There was no answer. We even stopped at one point just to listen for any kind of response, but there wasn’t any that we could hear.

  Ali moved ahead of us and then stopped to stare at the water with his hand over his sunglasses like a visor.

  “Do you see that? It kind of looks like an inlet way over there. You said that your Grandfather said it was a quiet place out of the way. So what do you think? Should we try to get over there? It
’ll take us about half an hour.”

  A few seconds later we were standing beside Ali and trying to block out the sharp rays of the sun as we focused on the tiny inlet on the far side of the river. There was no direct path down to the water and no visible way of crossing it to get there. That’s when Meagan grabbed my arm and gasped.

  “Sarah, we have been this far before when we were little. Remember when Grandpa took us along the trail when we were little and we crossed a sway bridge?”

  Meagan was pointing up the path and I was focussing on a sway bridge that I’d seen years ago.

  “Yeah, I remember the bridge now that you mentioned it, and I remember crossing it, but I don’t remember this surrounding. Sorry. It was years when we were here, Meg.”

  Ali stared at the inlet and then looked at the trail in the direction we were heading.

  “Maybe we should just keep going along for a bit. If there is a bridge it’ll be up there somewhere. It’s not going to be right here where the river is so wide.”

  We agreed and continued along the shaded, stony trail that eventually ran beside a very long and terrain of dry grass and dead trees. My legs were beginning to ache slightly from all the fast moving and my insides were jumping all around with worry for Grandpa.

  We kept trekking for the next half hour or so and nothing struck either Meagan or I with any familiarity until Brad read a sign posted on a huge oak tree.

  “Cypress Outlook one mile ahead.”

  I heard myself gasp aloud as Meg shouted hurray.

  “I remember this sign, too.”

  Brad was concerned over finding Grandpa and he and Ali were both totally focused on the search almost as he was their own grandfather. Yet, Brad had a way of letting me know that no matter what priority thing he was doing, my thoughts and feelings were always important. He motioned for Ali to walk with Meagan and he picked up the pace beside me.

  He took hold of my arm and stopped walking for a second.

  “We’re going to find your grandfather, Sarah. I don’t care what it takes, but I won’t stop until we’ve found him.”

  I stared into Brad’s deep brown eyes and his passion was genuine and it almost melted my heart. I wiped away the tears that I’d been trying to hide and he cupped my face gently with his hands.

  “We’ll find him and get him home safely, I promise. But you’re not going to make me have to rescue you on a bridge again, are you?”

  He had a sense of humor and knew just when to say the right thing to break the tension. I smiled at him even though my insides churned like a meat grinder. He took hold of my hand and looked ahead to where Ali and Meagan were.

  “Coming?”

  When we reached the lookout point we were all exhausted from running in the unbearable dry heat, and we were relieved when we saw the water pump that stood so boldly a few feet away from the benches. After a short refreshing splash of cold water, Meagan began to shout with excitement.

  “This is it. This is it. We are really close to the bridge. Remember, Sarah? Remember when Grandpa took us down that path there and you saw that snake and woke the whole forest?”

  I looked where she pointed and my chest pounded with excitement. I remembered falling and screaming and I remembered that the bridge was only a few minutes away. The guys grabbed their backpacks and we headed down the narrow, treed path. A few minutes later we were at the sway bridge and my insides jumped with excitement.

  We surveyed our surroundings for a second and then Brad grabbed my hand.

  “Okay, I’ll go first and if Sarah gets on right behind me this time, maybe I won’t have to go looking for her.”

  Ali moved his cap back and forth and then rubbed Meagan’s arm.

  “Sounds good, and then Meg will go next and I’ll follow. Okay, let’s go.”

  Crossing the bridge was a lot easier than I remembered. It was about a hundred feet long and made of solid metal with a steel mesh floor and sides, unlike the rope bridge at Snake River where I was trapped by mud and almost fell through the broken planks. The water was about fifty feet below us and we were across in seconds.

  When we got to the other side, we jumped onto a trail that ran along the water’s edge. Brad yelled as he pointed to the inlet.

  “Look, there it is. We can get to it along this trail, if you can call it that – more like a sporadic path worn down by an animal.”

  Brad led the way and we followed him as we neared the opening to the inlet. It wasn’t an easy path to travel along since it was very narrow and ran close to the edge. Several times I slipped and almost fell down into the water, so I had to slow down to keep my balance.

  As the view of the inlet became clearer, we all slowed down and searched for any clues of Grandpa or his boat. There was nothing by the shore on the far side except for a lot of trees and bushes so we agreed to continue on until we were close enough to see everything clearly.

  It was at least half an hour before we were able to get to the side where we thought we might find Grandpa, but once we were there we couldn’t see anything that would make us think we were even in the right place. By then my chest was pounding with anticipation and aching from finding nothing.

  “Ali, is this the location that you anticipated with your compass?”

  “Well, all things considered, this would seem to be a logical place to find them, but we have to remember that maybe they didn’t even get this far this time. His boat may have given him problems long before he made it here or when he was leaving and got out there somewhere.”

  Ali’s words pierced my ears with a suggestion that I’d never even thought of before. Perhaps the boat did begin to sink way up stream and we missed it completely. But Grandpa said he was used to the boat and never had problems he couldn’t handle.

  “Geez, now we have to think like Grandpa would think. I wish we could know if this was where he was fishing. It would make things easier for us to track.”

  Ali dropped his backpack and hit Brad in the arm.

  “Come on, let’s check it out. You girls look around here for any clues and we’ll run over there to that far side. Be back in bit.”

  The guys took off and disappeared behind some brush while Meagan and searched the grounds and the water for some hint that Grandpa had been here.

  “Sarah, let’s get their backpacks and follow the guys. There’s nothing here and there’s no sense in them running all the way back.”

  We each flung a backpack on our backs and combed the water and the ground with our eyes as we walked along slowly. Just as I was feeling totally unsuccessful, I spotted something on the ground about twenty feet ahead of us.

  “Meg, what’s that?”

  “What? What are you looking at? I don’t see anything.”

  “That baggie over there. Do you see it? Maybe it’s theirs.”

  I ran ahead of Meagan and squatted down to look at the plastic bag.

  “It looks almost new, not like it’s been here for days or anything.”

  Meagan picked it up and sniffed the open side. Her eyes lit up and she squealed.

  “Tuna. Nana’s tuna sandwiches. They were here. They ate their sandwiches and dropped the baggie on the ground.”

  I felt giddy inside knowing that we were a step closer, but as I looked up at the guys, they had stopped running and were staring into the forest. We ran along the path around the inlet and a few minutes later we had caught up with them and showed them the baggie that we’d found.

  Brad looked at the bag and then nodded to Ali.

  “Okay, so this is a good sign. We know they were here and if what your grandfather said is right, then they would have left here around 3:30 or so to be home for four, and we know they called for help around 4:30. So, that means that they didn’t get too far before they ran into problems.”

  Ali took the backpack off of Meagan’s back and threw it on his own back and Brad did the same and within seconds we were back on the brush trail that ran along the water’s edge. Several minutes late
r I tripped and fell and everyone stopped running when I yelped out loud.

  Brad had been running ahead with Ali and came back to brush the dirt of my scratched leg.

  “Looks a little sore but I think you’ll make it. Can you stand on it?”

  I stood up and swallowed hard as the sting of the scratch began to grow with the dirt and sweat that was dripping into it.

  “Yeah, I’m okay. Let’s find Grandpa and I’ll cry about this later.”

  Brad rubbed my arm.

  “That’s my girl.”

  ]I took a deep breath and turned to continue along the path behind Ali when Meagan screamed so sharply that it shot spikes of fear up my back. She was ghostly white and shaking as the tears poured out of her eyes.

  I turned to see what she was pointing at and my breath caught in my chest. About twenty feet in the water and lodged upside down in a maze of brush was Grandpa’s boat.

  Chapter 3

  The Cave

  I gasped for air and held onto Meagan’s arm for support as I stared at the half-sunken boat. Spikes of fear shot up and down my back as waves of paranoia flooded my entire body. I couldn’t move. Flashbacks of earlier summers with Meagan and I on that boat with Grandpa suddenly filled my thoughts and my eyes welled up.

  I remembered the first time Grandpa took us on the boat. We sat out in the middle of the lake and I was so nervous and terrified that we were going to sink that I kept crying. I remember Grandpa laughing and then speaking with his quiet, gentle voice as he promised us that we were safe. At the time it seemed as if we were so far away, but it was really only about twenty yards from the end of the dock by their home.

  He bought us each our own fishing rod and then showed us how to hook these horribly fat worms so that we could fish in the boat beside him. Nana had just painted our fingernails with bright red nail polish and Meagan was upset that the worms would ruin her nails. I didn’t care so I watched Grandpa carefully and stuck my hands right in the worm bucket so that I could get my own worm and hook it on. I wanted to be as perfect as Grandpa so that I could catch a big fish just like him.