“It’s just across the bridge and down the path. We’re almost there.”
Ali looked curiously at Brad.
“What boat is he talking about?”
Brad shook his head at Ali.
“You know, the rescue boat on the other side of the bridge?”
I realized that Don was old and scared, but I was worried that if he continued to have these panic attacks, it was going to take us hours to get out of the forest. And the anxious look on Ali’s face said that he was just as concerned.
“Hey man, is he going to be okay now?”
Brad continued to rub Don’s arms as he nodded.
“For the moment, but I’m not sure how long we can keep him this way.”
Don seemed to have calmed down so we each lifted our corner of the stretcher and continued towards the bridge. Before we could get on it, though, Grandpa began to whine loudly.
“I feel sick. I can’t feel my toes. My leg is killing me. God, it hurts.”
I patted his good leg gently and told him that we’d be home soon and that he should just relax. He never opened his eyes but he kept groaning and I knew from the wet and bloodied bandages on his leg that he was in a lot of pain. The infection was getting worse by the minute, and for the first time I actually began to worry that he might lose his leg if we didn’t get him to a doctor soon.
The sun was right above us and the heat rays were penetrating like hot razors through my skin. I was glad that we were finally going to get to the other side where there was more shade from the trees since the forest was much denser on the other side. Just looking at it from this side gave me hope that we’d soon be home.
“Wow, it looks so much cooler over there, and it’s so nice to finally have a breeze to cool us down.”
Meagan turned sharply and glared at me.
“What did you say?”
“I said it was nice to have a breeze to cool us down?”
The echo of my own voice sent chills up and down my spine. There was a breeze and it was coming at us in the same direction as the fire.
Chapter 9
Blood Trail
Now I knew why the fire was moving so fast towards us and that made my chest pound even harder. I took a couple of deep breaths just as Meagan yelled that we should get going, so we edged our way carefully down to the bridge. But as bad luck would have it, the bridge was too narrow and so we had to stop.
Ali suggested that he and Brad should carry Grandpa by themselves across the bridge, and that Meagan and I should help Don to cross. It was the most logical way to get across and under normal circumstances this would have the perfect plan.
Unfortunately, as soon as the guys were manoeuvring themselves to take hold of our ends of the stretcher, Grandpa began to groan loudly and cry out so painfully that it stirred the hairs on the nape of my neck. His face turned red as he cringed again and cried even louder in agony. The guys quickly backed up and lowered him onto the dried grass on the river bank.
Huge tears seeped from his eyes and trickled down his sweaty face. He waved his right arm aimlessly towards his wounded leg that now reeked with a rotten stench. Meagan talked to him but he didn’t respond. He collapsed and appeared almost lethargic as the tears stopped and his whole body began to shiver.
Meagan grabbed my arm.
“Sarah, look at his leg. We’re going to have to stop it from bleeding before we take another step.”
“Do we have time for this, Meg? I mean, you know, all things considered.”
“Sarah, if we don’t get the bleeding to stop or at least slow down, he’s not going to make it. Look at it.”
I put my hand on Grandpa’s face and he was really hot with a fever. His leg was drenched in blood and infection and I knew Meagan was right, and that we had to do something now. But instinctively, I looked at the fire in the distance to the left of us and it seemed even closer than before, and I was scared.
“Let’s just get him across first where it will be a bit safer and where there’s shade and then I’ll clean up his wound and do something to help stop the bleeding. Okay?”
Meagan huffed as she rubbed Grandpa’s hand.
“I guess so.”
“It’ll be okay, Meg. It’ll take us less than a minute to cross this and then we can take care of it over there. We’ll do it as soon as we get across, I promise, but I really think we should get across first.”
It was at that moment that Don’s mind came back to the real world. He saw the bridge and began to yell and swear at us. He slapped at Brad who was trying to calm him down and then wrapped himself around a young tree trunk so that Brad couldn’t even peel him off of it.
He kept repeating that the bridge would break and that we’d all die, and the more the guys tried to calm him down, the more frantic he became. This went on for several minutes and the fear in Don’s voice got Grandpa crying again. He mumbled several times that his leg was really hurting and felt as if it was going to burst.
Ali turned to me in frustration and pulled the first aid box out of his backpack.
“Just take care of your grandfather. We’re not going anywhere in a hurry anyway so just do what you can to help him and we’ll try to pry this guy from the tree so I can just carry him across.”
Meagan opened the first aid box and took out the last of the bandages as she took a deep breath and stared at me.
“Ready?”
I knew what that meant. What she was saying was, ‘are you ready to do it?’ I held my breath and my nostrils flinched at the sickening stench that was permeating from his leg. I tried not to breathe while I unravelled the saturated bandage, and I almost threw up when I saw his leg.
“Oh geez. This is disgusting.”
Ali left Don with Brad and squatted beside us. He took out the last two tissues to wipe off the green infection that was all over the wound.
“These bandages aren’t going to do any good. It won’t keep this covered so I’ll use them to finish wiping off all this crap.”
Meagan handed him the bandages reluctantly.
“Well, what are we going to wrap his leg with? We can’t just leave it open like this.”
“It’s okay, Meg. We’ll use my shirt. We can wrap it around his leg and then tie it tight and hopefully that’ll stop some of this bleeding. Okay, where’s the disinfectant?”
My hands were shaking as I handed Ali the small bottle of iodine.
“There’s not much left.”
“Well, it’ll have to do. Better than nothing. Oh crap. Look at all the blood that’s dripping from his leg already. We have to work fast.”
Ali pulled off his grey t-shirt and laid it under Grandpa’s leg, and then poured the iodine over the wound. Grandpa grabbed the sides of the stretcher and screamed out in pain which sent cold shivers up and down my back. There was still so much infection there and it was bleeding steadily, but Ali wrapped his shirt tightly around Grandpa’s leg, and said that at least keep the bleeding down for a little while.
Meagan rubbed Ali’s shoulder and tried to smile at him.
“Thanks, Ali. We really appreciate you helping Grandpa like this.”
Ali shook his head and pointed to Grandpa’s leg.
“Look how red it is all around here. It’s almost at his knee. This is not a good sign and it means that the infection is likely already in his blood. I just hope that wolf didn’t have rabies.”
Rabies!
Those words made my whole body shudder with fear. I’d never even given any thought to the wolf having rabies. Now I was really worried about Grandpa. Meagan looked as if she was about to pass out so I pulled her over to the side a few feet away. Her eyes welled up as she spoke.
“Sarah, this is awful. The smell, the sight, gees, I think I’m going to throw up.”
I looked back at Ali who was collecting all the rotten bandages into a pile on the ground and I motioned for him to just give us a minute to recoup. We both took a couple of really deep breaths and then she tried to speak
through her quivering lips in her own way to break the tension.
“Mom always wanted me to be a nurse and I couldn’t make her understand that this stuff really gets to me. Can you picture me working in the ER?”
I’d never thought of Meagan as a nurse any more than I thought of myself as being one. She has always wanted to create her own line in dress design, and my dream has always been to become an architect. I love taking pictures, but my goal is to design homes and hotels. I tried to lighten the moment.
“Yeah, I can see you in ER, only your purpose would be to show off and design all the uniforms. But as a nurse, well I wouldn’t want to be your patient.”
Meagan forced a smile as she pulled the clip from her hair and used her trembling fingers to comb it back up and pin it again.
“Just seeing Grandpa like this is horrible. I hope we get him back soon.”
I stretched my arm around Meagan’s shoulder and gave her a quick hug.
“Me, too.”
A minute later we walked back to the others and told them we were ready to continue on. And that’s when Don went ballistic again.
“Oh, no you don’t. I’m not going on that bridge. Oh no. Get off of me.”
He tried to untie the rope but Brad grabbed his hands and literally wrestled with him for about half a minute.
“Don, it’s the only way to safety. God, I thought we were done with this nonsense.”
“No, the bridge is evil. Bad things will happen when we get on it. We’ll all be killed. There must be another way across.”
“There isn’t. This is it. Now either you walk or I’ll carry you but we’re crossing this bridge now. Do you hear me?”
Don backed up a few feet and managed to wrap himself around the small tree again as he continued to shout.
“No, I can’t. And you’re not carrying me either. I won’t go.”
By this time Ali was getting anxious to cross and yelled for Brad to leave him.
“Let’s just leave him with the girls for a second while we carry this once across the bridge, and then one of us can stay there while the other comes back here for this guy.”
Brad handed me the rope and shrugged.
“Sounds good to me.”
Brad shook his head as he looked at Don behind him, who was still wrapped around the tree.
“I’ll be back for you in a minute.”
Meagan and I stood beside Don as the guys lifted the stretcher and stepped up and onto the swing bridge. Even though the bridge seemed long, it was solid with high mesh sides so they were able to carry him safely across it without worrying about slipping or falling. We watched as they took one step at a time, slowly but surely, and with each one the bridge swayed slightly. I was relieved that finally Grandpa was getting across and soon we’d be on our way back home.
At one point they stopped and both looked to the left of them. Filled with curiosity, Meagan and I took a few steps closer to the bridge to see what they were looking at and we both gasped.
“Meg, it’s getting closer by the minute. This is getting really creepy.”
Meagan grabbed my arm and motioned for me to step back with her towards Don.
“You know, Sarah, I was watching a Discovery show on TV a few weeks ago about forest fires, and this guy said that he was trapped in a forest fire, and that once the wind picked up where he was, the entire forest was in flames within about two hours.”
“Two hours? If that’s true then that fire will be here in a few minutes.”
“I know and that’s why we have to stay calm because we need to get out of here safely, and this issue here is going to really be a problem if he doesn’t start co-operating.”
Don suddenly became very quiet as he leaned against the tree.
“Don, are you okay?”
He looked at me with blank expression and then shifted his eyes back and forth.
“You hear that?”
Meagan and I looked at each other and then towards the guys on the bridge and then behind us. I couldn’t hear anything but then we’d also been talking, and on top of that my ears were ringing from all the stress. But Don was insistent that he could something and I tried to hear what he was hearing, but I couldn’t hear anything. I thought it was his imagination starting up again.
“Hear what, Don? I don’t hear anything.”
“There’s something in those trees behind us.”
That gave me an instant adrenaline rush.
“The fire? You can hear the fire? Oh no, is it that close?”
“No. Not fire.”
Meagan was already uptight from the suspense and she snapped at him.
“What noise? What are you talking about? I don’t hear anything.”
Don cocked his head slightly and put his finger up as if to tell us to be quiet.
“Hear it? Crackling. There’s something behind us.”
He was adding even more fear to my already jittering insides, and just listening to his frightened voice sent goose bumps up and down my arms. Whatever it was that he was hearing was very real to him and the fear it brought on was becoming very real to Meagan and I, too. I had to say something to stop this from getting out of hand.
“There’s nothing behind us, Don. All the animals and birds are gone, remember? Grandpa and the guys are almost across the bridge and we’re next. We’re fine. We’re going to get across it and then home. Okay? And the fire is still way over there.”
“No, we’re not okay. Something is behind us in those buses behind those trees and it’s getting closer.”
My nerves were now almost raw with fear. I began wondering what it could be that he was hearing but I brushed off any possibilities because I really couldn’t deal with any more challenges right now. Meagan, on the other hand, became angry at Don for adding more stress to an already horrible situation.
“Don, I’ve had enough of your nonsense, okay? I’m not a foolish teenager and we didn’t have to come out here for you guys. We could have just said who cares and stayed at home. But we came out for you and the least you could do is stop trying to freak us out. I don’t hear any noise and what you’re trying to do is make us more scared than we already are, but you know what? I’m already too darned scared to care about anything else except getting out of here.”
Just then, we could hear Ali’s distant voice echoing from the other side of the bridge as he yelled to us and then waved. We all looked over at him and I was so relieved just knowing that Grandpa was out of the direct path of the fire.
“Meg, they made it. Okay, let’s stop this nonsense and get ready to cross.”
We watched as Brad came running across the bridge by himself with his hands just gliding along the railings. The bridge was swaying back and forth and I knew that if we didn’t have this dilemma that he could actually have enjoyed his little jaunt. He jumped off and came up to us and took the rope from Meagan.
“Okay, let’s go. Meg, you and Sarah get going and we’ll follow you.”
But Don had no intensions of moving. He stood with his back to the tree and his arms wrapped around the trunk behind him. His face was white and without expression.
“We’re dead if we go and we’re dead if we stay. I hate fires. I don’t want to die in a fire.”
Brad tried to loosen Don’s arms.
“Well, neither do we, so that’s why I’m going to carry you across to where there is no fire. You can keep your eyes closed and we’ll be across in no time.”
Brad pulled Don’s arms off the tree and picked him up around his legs and then flung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Meagan jumped onto the bridge first but when she turned to say something, she stopped and turned a million shades of white. She didn’t say a word. I was standing beside Brad and I asked her what was wrong but she didn’t answer. She just stared behind us as she slowly lifted her hand and pointed.
Brad and I both turned and stared into the woods. I had no idea what Meagan was referring to.
“Do you see
anything, Brad? I don’t. The fire’s still way over there.”
Brad stared straight ahead into the woods and then down to the ground. His eyes followed the path that we had just come from and then spoke in a sombre voice.
“They smell the blood.”
Brad was now wearing his own shade of white, and I quickly searched the woods with my eyes to see what they were looking at. He grabbed my arm and whispered as he pushed me.
“Move slow and get on the bridge. Now!”
I glanced back at the tall, dry grass that was spread out between the trees and I saw them staring at me, wolves with eyes that pierced my soul.
Chapter 10
Swing of Fear
Brad reached out slowly with his left hand and then gently pushed me again to move onto the bridge. He stared at me with his head tipped down as he spoke quietly.
“Sarah, get on the bridge. Walk steady and fast. In about ten seconds we’re gonna rock this thing back and forth.”
“But Brad…”
“Get on the bridge. Maybe we can scare these things into staying off of it. But you have to swing with me. Tell Meg to swing with us. Now get on and move fast.”
I turned around slowly, trying not to lose my balance with my rubbery legs as I took hold of cold railings with my clammy hands. Meagan was just a few feet ahead of me but she was moving fast and steady. I was trying to walk evenly but my insides were shaking so much that my legs were trembling with each step.
I tried to call Meagan as loud as I could shout in a whisper.
“Meg? Can you hear me?”
“Yeah, just keep walking, Sarah.”
“Did you see them?”
“Yeah, why do think I’m moving so fast?”
“Meg, slow down. Listen, we’re going to swing the bridge to scare them off. Hold on and get ready.”
“What?”
I was straining my ears to listen for Brad behind me but I couldn’t hear anything so I turned my head around as far as I could to see him. He was right behind me, walking steady with Don wrapped around him like a frightened child. Brad had his hands on both of the side rails and was about six feet onto the bridge. He was walking sure and steady towards me but I looked behind him and fear shot through my chest like bolts of lightning. One of the wolves had stepped onto bridge.
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