When Ali saw Meagan’s leg his eyes bugged out and he fell on his knees in front of her as he caressed it gently.
“Awe, Meg. What happened?”
Meagan explained how she’d injured her leg and then looked sideways to Grandpa. Meagan tapped his thigh as she looked at Ali.
“I’ll be okay, Ali, but we have to Grandpa to the doctor – like soon.”
Ali stood up and huffed loudly.
“Well, this is just great. Kind of a catch-22, isn’t it? We need all four of us to carry the stretcher but we can’t do anything until we find Don. What’s with this guy, anyway?”
Grandpa forced himself to his feet even though his body was wavering.
“I’ll just walk. Don’t need to carry me. Maybe I can head back with one of you and the rest can search for Don.”
Just then Grandpa fell back onto the rock and Brad caught him so he helped him to sit.
“I’m just a bit dizzy. Give me a second and we can go.”
Brad shook his head at Ali and raised his eyebrows.
“He can’t walk. His leg is bleeding. We need to carry him. Okay, let’s get a plan and get going.”
Ali stood up and turned in every direction and then threw his hands in the air.
“I don’t know where to begin looking for this guy. Where would he go? He’s old, how far can he get?”
Grandpa reached forward and grabbed Ali’s arm. He looked up and spoke slowly.
“He’s old but he’s fast. He’s a retired marathon runner, old and crazy. And he knows these woods better than anyone.”
Somehow I just couldn’t picture Don tearing his way through the dry grass and stony paths to get home, especially when the only way back for us was to cross the sway bridge that he was afraid of.
“But, Grandpa, he’s in pain. He’s been groaning and complaining about how much his hands hurt. Do you really think he can move so fast that we can’t find him?”
Grandpa snickered cynically.
“You don’t need hands to run, Sarah. His legs are fine and he’s fuelled with fear. He could be quite a ways away by now especially if his mind goes on him.”
Ali paced the stony ground and then turned towards us and threw his hands up again and then slapped them at his side.
“But where would he go? He’s afraid of the bridge so he wouldn’t go there, and he’s afraid of the fire so he’d be running away from it. So, maybe he’s hiding somewhere nearby?”
Grandpa shook his head slowly as he opened his eyes and looked down at the ground. The rest of us spent the next couple of minutes talking about where he might have gone. Brad looked over at Grandpa and then sat down on the boulder beside Meagan.
“Grandpa, when he was caught in that fire before, you know, the one he mentioned that was back in the fifties? How did he escape?”
Grandpa grunted and I knew he was trying to think above the pain and sickness that was now very obvious by the gruelling expressions on his face. He puffed a couple of times as his eyes shifted from one direction to the other.
“There was a lake and he was a good swimmer back then. He swam out to a little mound that was far out into the water and he waited there to be rescued. He screamed for his partner to swim out with him but he couldn’t swim so he stayed in the water near the shore hoping that I could get to him.”
We all watched Grandpa painfully tell us this horror story. Lumps of agony rose up into my chest and it was hard to swallow.
“I remember getting off the big ship and onto this little dingy type thing, and I paddled over to Don and pulled him in but I couldn’t save his brother. The fire had taken all the oxygen from the shore and he suffocated and drowned. And I think that’s when Don’s troubles began.”
By the time Grandpa finished talking, I felt like such a heel for the way I had treated Don. No wonder he had a hard time dealing with people. He likely had an even harder time dealing with himself and was blaming himself for his brother’s death. Brad leaned in to Grandpa and spoke softly.
“So, you think he may have gone back to the water to where he thinks it’s safe? It makes sense, you know. His mind has shifted back in time and he’s waiting to be rescued.”
Ali looked up and cut Brad off.
“Crap, look at the sky. The smoke is even closer. We better think of something quick.”
Grandpa looked up at Ali and motioned with arm for him to leave.
“Just go find Don. He’s probably gone back to the lake like you said. The girls and I will head back to the bridge.”
My insides were shaking so much that my words came out choppy.
“Grandpa, you can’t walk. Look at you. We have to carry you.”
“I can walk.”
Grandpa stood up and then collapsed back down onto the rock.
“God, I’m so dizzy. Better move your leg, Meagan. I think I’m gonna heave.”
Ali was pacing once more and then slapped Brad on the arm.
“Okay. So, we’ll break up and two of us will head out to look for Don. Meg, you’re obviously staying here with your grandfather. Sarah, I don’t know, maybe you should stay here too so that she’s not alone in case Don comes back.”
Grandpa lifted his head towards us but kept his eyes closed.
“Or the wolves.”
What?
“They may have gone but wolves are strange animals. Some run in fear and some don’t run until danger is on them. Maybe one of you guys should stay back just in case. I don’t want the girls to get hurt if they come.”
I searched the grass behind the rock with my eyes as Brad squatted and took the rope from a pocket in his backpack. He looked up at me as he forced a grin.
“Sarah, you up to it?”
“Yeah, sure. Grandpa, we’re both good runners, we’re both trained hikers so we’ll head back down to the water and see if we can find him. Are you guys going to be okay here?”
Ali looked around at the sky and then at the path that we were originally trekking on.
“Yeah, we’ll be okay, but we may move along the path and go down there a bit to where it’s more shaded. It depends on if we can help him walk that far or not, otherwise we’ll be right here when you get back.”
We all agreed that Don was likely to return to the inlet where Grandpa’s and Don’s boat had capsized so that’s where Brad and I headed. We just hoped that we could get to Don before he did something foolish and what that might be, we weren’t exactly sure. We knew that it would take us at least fifteen minutes to get there even though it had taken us an hour and a half or more to get to this point. But that was because we had to walk so slow with Grandpa, not to mention the time that was wasted trying to get Don moving.
The piercing rays of the sun stung my skin as we ran down the slopes, and it wasn’t long before we were both covered in beads of sweat. We realized that we could shorten the trek by cutting across some other stony areas and down a couple of jagged slopes. We didn’t talk much and basically the only noise I heard was the occasional “ouch” in between our heavy puffing as we pressed through the dry debris and rocks.
My legs were aching from the endurance of the fast pace and I was just about to say that we needed to rest for one minute when Brad stopped and pointed.
“There’s the water. Hey, you okay?”
“Yeah.”
I stood beside him and the lake was about five minutes and one rocky slope away. We ran down as quickly as we dared and headed towards the bank of the water.
“Brad, do you see him? Do you see the boat?”
“Nah. I was kind of hoping we’d find him around their boat but I guess it sank. So if the boat has sunk, where would that old man go?”
We called out his name as we jotted in and out of all the surrounding areas. I didn’t want to look up at the sky but I did anyway, and when I saw that the smoke was even closer my insides shook so badly that I gasped out loud. And I figured that Brad had noticed it too because he stepped back and grabbed my arm.
“Sarah!”
I couldn’t take my eyes off of the smoke and that’s when my dream began to filter through my mind. I was suffocating in my dream and now I realize that it meant I would be suffocating through this. My chest was pounding and I just wanted to cry.
Brad looked at the smoke and then back at the water.
“Not the smoke.”
“What?”
“Look! Out there!”
I turned to where he was pointing and gasped as spikes of fear shot up and down my spine. Don was floating face down about a hundred yards into the middle of the inlet.
Chapter 7
Bombs Away
I was shocked to see Don floating in the water, and for a few seconds all I could do was stare because I didn’t know what else to do. My whole body had become limp and I shook from my head to my toes. But Brad didn’t waste a second. He pulled off his boots and socks and tossed his shades and cap onto the ground beside them.
“I’m going in.”
He grabbed the coil of yellow rope that he’d flung onto the ground and poked his arm through the middle. It wasn’t until I heard the splash of the water that I realized he had dove into it and was heading out towards Don. My head was fuzzy and it took me another couple of seconds to get a grip and stop shaking enough so that I could think straight.
“What? Oh yeah, I’m coming, too.”
I pulled off my own boots and socks and placed my glasses on top of my one boot. Seeing Don floating out there really made me afraid of what we would actually find, but I took a deep breath and dove into the water and followed Brad. Although the water was warm because of the intense heat from the sun, my insides were shivering as I stroked each arm and swam towards them.
When Brad got to him he yelled out to me as he wiped the water off of his face.
“He’s alive! He’s on a …”
I couldn’t hear what Brad said after that because my ears were blasting so loud from the fear that rang through them. The water was a lot deeper than it appeared from the surface but I was a good swimmer and so its depth was the least of my fears.
I pulled myself up beside Brad who was holding Don’s head and talking to him, and that’s when I noticed that Don really was okay. Brad turned towards me for a second as he spoke.
“Yeah, Sarah, he’s okay. He’s laying on this rock here. Didn’t look like a rock from back there and I thought he was just floating in the water.”
Don was stretched across a large rock that protruded out of the water. His hands were clinging to one side of the boulder that looked like a little shelf protruding from the side. That’s when I knew that he was really scared because all along he’d been complaining about how much his hands hurt and now they seemed to be the least of his concerns. He lifted his head and growled at Brad.
“Leave me alone!”
We kept buoyant in the water by holding onto one side of the large rock and the whole time Brad was trying to get Don to let go of it so we could get back to shore.
“Come on, Don. Grab hold of me and I’ll take you back so we can get out of here.”
“No! The rescue team will be here any minute.”
“There’s no rescue team coming, so come on. Let’s get back to the others and get out of here.”
But that just made Don scream all the more that the rescue boat was just up ahead. Brad looked at me inquisitively and then I remembered what Grandpa had said.
“Gees, Brad. He thinks he’s in the war being rescued by Grandpa. What are we going to do?”
“Not sure. Come on, Don. We have to get out of here. Now come on, take hold of my arm.”
“No, we have to wait here. The rescue boat is coming soon to save all of us.”
Don had his body wrapped around the boulder and he wasn’t going to let go of it easily. He swatted at Brad each time we tried to get him off the rock and I knew that if we forced him off that we might not even get back to the shore. Just then Brad pulled the rope from his shoulder and opened the coil.
“Okay, okay, have it your way. Sarah, we’re the rescue team and we’re taking Don to the boat.”
Brad was a compassionate guy and somehow he had more patience and was able to understand Don a lot more than me. I just wanted to pull him off the rock and get him to shore, but Brad looked at me and shook his head as he spoke quietly.
“We’re going to have to go along with him if we’re going to get him back. He’s not going to budge otherwise and we’re wasting time out here arguing with him.”
He patted Don on the back and asked him several times to let go of the rock so we could get him to the boat. Don finally lifted his head up and spoke slowly in between his gasps for air.
“Can’t do it, son…. Gotta wait here for Luke…. Can you see him? …. Is his boat out there, yet?”
Brad looked at me and raised his eyebrows as he shook his head. I could see the compassion in his eyes and yet at the same time, the frustration that covered the rest of his face.
“Don, Luke hurt his leg, remember? He sent me to get you.”
Don lifted his head again as high as he could to look at Brad. His squinted at Brad and his countenance changed from rough and scared to hopeful and happy.
“Yeah? Well, why didn’t you say so?”
As I floated in the water beside Brad, my whole body shook and my teeth chattered. Brad stopped talking to Don and turned to me.
“Are you okay, Sarah?”
“Yeah, I’m just, you know, shaking a bit. Thought he was dead and that kind of got to me. Now I think I’m just scared.”
Brad reached over and rubbed my arm as he forced a smirk.
“Well, crewman, you’re going to have to finish being scared later because right now I need you to help me get Don off this rock and into the boat.”
Just as Brad said that, Don perked up again.
“Where’s the boat?”
I knew that this was going to be a difficult task because now we had to convince Don that there even was a boat. And then we had to get him to swim to the shore where we’d have to make him believe that the boat was hiding behind some bushes or rocks.
Brad was always one step ahead of my imagination, though.
“Don, it’s over there. See it? Big white ship with dark blue………”
“Where’s it? I don’t see it. Where’s the boat, Pete?”
Pete?
“Don, listen to me. It’s over there. You have to see it. It’s there.”
Don stretched his head to look behind him and then he looked back and stared me in the eyes. It was a strange sensation, almost as if he was searching my soul for something.
“Pete. I always said you could swim if you tried. We’re gonna make it to the boat together this time. Hang on.”
I saw the hope in Don’s eyes and I just wanted to burst out crying. He thought that I was his brother and that he was still alive. I watched him squirm around on the rock and my whole body was flushed with agony as tears began welling up in my eyes. Meagan was as close to me as any sister can get and my heart ached just thinking that anything bad could happen to her. How horrifying this must have been for him to watch his brother drown like that.
“Pete, come on. This guy’s gonna take us to Luke.”
While we were talking, Brad had unwound the rope and was wrapping it around Don’s chest and under his arms. He handed me the other end and began pulled Don towards him.
“Okay, Pete. You take this end and swim to the…to the boat over there, and when you get on it just keep pulling us in.”
The air was warm, the emotions were wild and the task was challenging, yet I could see in Brad’s eyes that he was actually enjoying this little pretence.
“The rope is only fifty feet long and it’s about three hundred feet to that boat, so how am I going to get to shore … or uh, to the deck and pull you on?”
He shook his head and smirked as he secured the knot in the rope around Don’s chest.
“Well, just hold onto the end and keep
pulling. You’ll feel the tension of us behind you but I need you to keep pulling us. He’s almost a dead weight and it’s going to be hard enough for me to keep us both afloat, so if you can help by pulling us and then reeling us in that last fifty feet, that would be great, Pete.”
As I tied the end into a small loop so that I could slip my wrist through it, I noticed the amusing grin on Brad’s face.
“So, if I’m Pete, who are you?”
But to my surprise Don jerked forward and pointed to Brad.
“Ah Pete, I’m sorry. This is Luke’s young helper. Forget your name, though.”
This caught me right off guard and as tense as this rescue was, Brad didn’t miss a cue.
“Me? I’m Bond. James Bond.”
Brad kept a straight face while Don’s was overwhelmed with excitement.
“Hey, I’ve heard of you. You’re a popular fella. Hey Pete, this guy’s a hero already and he’s gonna save us. This is our lucky day.”
I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or cry.
“Bond? You’re James Bond?”
“That’s right, Pete, I’m James Bond. Surprised you didn’t figure that out already. So, anything else you want to know or can we get going?”
“Well, with your credentials I would have thought that you could do this whole rescue all by yourself.”
Brad’s face was expressionless.
“Well then, that would mean that you came out here for nothing, wouldn’t it, Pete? I don’t want to take all the credit here, so how about you helping this guy into the water?”
I could see the smirk growing on his face and as tense as the moment was, his sense of humor actually relieved me of some of my shivers. I moved in closer and helped him lift Don’s limp body off of the rock and into the water. Brad held him close and kept him afloat.
“Don, you hang onto me, okay? I’m going to help you swim to the boat over there.”
Firestorm Page 6