Firestorm

by Ronnie Dauber

  I gasped loudly and turned back to catch myself before I stumbled over my own feet, and that’s when I heard Brad shout.

  “Now!”

  All three of us held on tightly to the rails and rocked the bridge so that it bounced around and swung about two feet out on either side. I had done this for fun on a few other hikes and laughed uncontrollably as the thrill gave me such an adrenaline rush. But the bridges were shorter and it was all done in fun, so it was very different. This time it was to stay alive and the only rush I got was the fear of dying.

  I heard the closest wolf yelp a few times and then I heard Brad yell for us to keep walking and rocking. I walked as quickly as was possible on the bridge that was being tossed from side to side, but my legs were filled with pins and needles and it was hard to move them.

  My ears were ringing with fear and I was struggling to hold onto the rails. Part of me wanted to look to the left to see how much the fire had spread, and the other part of me wanted to turn around and see if this scare tactic was working on the wolves. I knew that normally wolves did not like to travel on these kinds of bridges, but these didn’t seem like normal wolves, otherwise they would have fled the forest with the other animals.

  Don began to scream and his voice sent goose bumps all over my body. At first, I thought maybe one of the wolves had got to him and that’s when my chest really began to pound. But then I heard him shouting out profanities to them and I knew by his voice tone and the words that he was just cussing them.

  I wanted to turn around and look but that would have made it too easy to lose my balance, and even though the sides of this bridge were covered with a metal mesh, I didn’t want to trip or cause Brad to trip which give the wolves an advantage over us. It took all of my concentration to just keep walking and not stumble.

  I knew it was going to be a long trip crossing this bridge. I kept my head down and my eyes straight ahead. It was only another few feet until Meagan would be off but it felt as if it would take forever for me to get to that point. Somehow she was able to just sail right across it and she was way ahead of me.

  The bridge was swaying aggressively now and even though I didn’t want to do it, I tipped my head slightly to the left and looked at the fire in the distance. It was definitely closer now, and the smoke was hugging the water’s edge as it burned towards us, while its rolling clouds reached up high into the heavens. That made my insides shake even more and for a few seconds I couldn’t even move.

  I forced myself to focus on the bridge and a second later I slid my hands very slowly along the rails, still rocking the bridge as best as I could with my feet as I pressed down one rubbery leg at a time. I felt as if my whole life was hinging on the balances of ‘what ifs’, and I was beginning to wonder if we really were going to get out of this whole trip safely.

  Meagan was still moving as quickly as she could in front of me and I knew she’d be at the end soon. I turned slightly to look at Brad behind me and that’s when I noticed out of the corner of my eye that he wasn’t there. I stretched my neck as much as I could to see where he was and that’s when I knew that Murphy’s Law seemed to just follow us around like a plague at times.

  Don had somehow managed to get out of Brad’s grasp and was trying to climb over the side rail to jump off. Brad had his one arm wrapped around Don’s chest trying to pull him off while holding on to the other rail with the other hand. The bridge shook and jerked as Brad struggled with Don and yelled for him to get down. Don yelled back that he needed to get on the boat.

  When I turned around to go back to them, I lost my balance and fell to the floor of the bridge and landed on my right hip and leg. That’s when the view of the encroaching fire really grabbed my attention and filled me with the fear of death. The flames shot fiercely high above the tallest tree and it was already at the edge of the water where we had rescued Don. The smoke had rolled even further since I looked a minute ago.

  It took me a few seconds to regain my own composure and that’s when I got on my knees and with my right hand, took hold of the railing and pulled myself up. I swung my left arm around and grabbed the other railing to face Brad and then took a few short steps towards him. As much as I wanted to keep going so I could get to the other side of the bridge, I knew that Brad needed help, so I held my breath and moved closer towards him.

  I had to retract about twenty feet to get back to where they were and I could see the veins just popping out of Brad’s neck as he struggled to hold onto Don. I finally made it to Don’s side and took hold of one of his arms.

  “Don, get down. Come on!”

  “No, there’s the boat. I have to get on the boat before those tanks get on the bridge.”

  I had to think fast. Don was back in the world in his mind and for us right now, this just might turn out to be a good thing. The onus was on me now to keep his thoughts there so that I could convince him that there was a boat waiting on the other side of the bridge. But first, I had to convince myself that this wasn’t wasting our precious time and giving the wolves the opportunity to get to us. I kept hold of his arm and pulled him as I talked to him.

  “Don, it’s me, Pete. Come with me. James has the boat over there. Hurry, he’s waiting for us.”

  I tried to turn to where the others were and all I could really see was Meagan almost at the end.

  “See, over there? Can you see the boat over there? It’s waiting for us.”

  Don turned with an angry scowl on his face and shouted at me.

  “You think I’m stupid? There’s no boat over there. It’s down in the water. I can see it. Let’s go before the bombs get us.”

  Just then he jerked forward and he almost broke loose of my grasp as he tried to lift his leg over the side railing. Brad wrapped his arm around his waist tighter and pulled him as he yelled.

  “No, Don, that’s an enemy boat. Ours is back here. Listen, they’re calling for you. If we don’t hurry up, they’ll leave without us.”

  “Where?”

  I pulled on his arm and we got Don to stand on the bridge again.

  “Behind us. Can you see it? The boat is there and they’re waiting for you.”

  After what seemed like minutes of fighting with him, Don stopped and faced Ali on the far side of the bridge. My voice was trembling so much that at first I wasn’t sure if I was even speaking clear enough for him to understand me, but I guess I was because he leaned his head forward and strained to look where I was pointing.

  “He’s getting the boat there, eh Pete?”

  “Yes, and we have to hurry so we can get on.”

  Ali was waving in our direction and that helped us to convince Don that he was actually waving at him to hurry and get on the boat. Don trembled and his eyes welled up with tears. Brad still had hold of him around his waist but I could see that even he was relaxing slightly even though his face and arms were coated in sweat. I held onto Don’s arm with one hand and picked up the slack of the rope with the other one.

  “Okay, Don, we’re going to walk towards Ali, okay?”

  Don looked back towards the fire and his voice broke.

  “The bombs are so close now, Pete. Where are the others?”

  I realized that we needed to get Don calmed down so that he could regain some confidence before he would take one single step across the bridge. But at the same time, every second we waited was another second for the wolves to gain on us.

  Brad lifted the bottom of his shirt and wiped the drops of sweat away from his eyes.

  “Okay, enough. Grab him and let’s go.”

  I pulled Don towards me and he wrapped his injured arm around my shoulder while his other hand was burning into the railing.

  “Okay, let go of the railing a little bit so we can walk. I’ll walk with you but we have to hurry.”

  “I know. I know. But we’re going to have to duck to stay out of the way of the bombers.”

  Brad took a deep breath and tried to look behind us.

  “Maybe I should just
carry him. It’ll be faster.”

  I knew that would be the best way but Don began to yell that he wanted to walk by himself. Then he pointed to the fire in the distance and began to cry.

  “They’re coming. Oh god, Pete, they’re coming. You can’t die again. You just can’t die again.”

  Brad glanced over at the fire and then at me.

  “I don’t care how we do it but we have to get across this thing now.”

  He pushed Don sharply and that’s when he began to walk on his own with one arm wrapped around mine. I looked ahead at how far we had to go yet to get off the bridge and to get to the others. Meagan was on the other side with Ali and Grandpa and we were almost half-way across. That’s when I noticed Ali running towards us with something in his hand but I couldn’t tell what it was.

  We were walking too slowly even though we were swaying the bridge as we went, and we needed to speed up. Brad tried to grab Don around the waist to carry him but he reacted like a spoiled child and began to shout and cry and slap at Brad’s hands. I just wanted to scream because we were in a lot of danger and we had such a long way to go to get to safety. Don’s paranoia was keeping us from moving more than a few inches at a time, and it almost seemed as if we were moving backwards.

  Ali was at my side a few seconds later and told me that he’d help Brad get Don across and that I should go join the others. I was trying to let go of Don and as I tried to leave, he began to shout in a voice that rattled my nerves.

  “No, Pete! Don’t leave me. They’ll kill me if you leave me here. Look at the bombs. Look at the tanks. They’re coming for us. Don’t leave me.”

  His words made my skin crawl. The bridge was jerking sideways aggressively from all the commotion we were making and I lost my balance and fell again. Ali reached out his arm to help me up and that’s when my heart almost fell out.

  As I was pushing myself to my feet, I looked behind Brad and screamed out in shock as I saw what was behind him. I sat on the floor of the bridge with my heart pounding so hard that I thought it would break my chest. I’m not sure if I was breathing or not but what I do know is that I couldn’t move and my ears pulsated with fearful thumping.

  I swallowed hard and stared into the eyes of an oncoming wolf that was only about twelve feet away as it crept slowly and surely towards us. Its fangs were jutted out of its daunting mouth and foamy drops of saliva drooled down its protruding jaw. I felt as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice all over me and I was too frozen to move.

  For a few short seconds, I couldn’t hear anything and I couldn’t feel anything around me. I felt as if I was trapped in a soundproof room that terrorized me. I swallowed again as my thoughts told me to get up. But I couldn’t. I was totally mesmerized by the scraggly black and grey wolf that edged slowly towards me. And that’s when I realized that he was the leader because the rest of the pack was right behind him.

  Chapter 11

  Glowing Pains

  Its eyes stared into mine, almost as if it was trying to hypnotize me, and for a couple of seconds I felt locked into its power. I couldn’t move and that’s when Ali reached down and pulled me to my feet.

  “Get back to Meagan. Run as fast as you can and get off this bridge. Move!”

  He pushed me behind him and then twisted the flare that he’d been carrying in his hand. I watched as it burst into bright, dancing flames and shot bullets of fire straight ahead. Ali walked slowly behind Brad and waved the flare in front of him as he aimed the shots of fire at the wolves. The leader stepped back quickly and growled. The others turned and yelped as they ran off the bridge.

  Ali edged slowly towards the leader that didn’t want to heed to the fire he waved in his hands. But Ali was persistent and continued to creep closer and closer, and a few seconds later the wolf began to yelp as it backed up. Ali shrieked at it with a loud, penetrating bawl as he waved the flare frantically in front of him.

  The wolf turned and ran off the bridge and then stood in the distance with the other three wolves. Ali jammed the back end of the flare into the strips of metal that criss-crossed on the floor of the bridge and then stood back to watch. It continued to shoot bright flames that hissed and splattered at the wolves. I watched as I walked slowly backwards and a few seconds later the wolves retreated back into the dry grass of the forest.

  Brad wrapped his arm around Don and yelled for me to run, so I turned and with both hands on the side rails, I ran as fast as my rubbery legs would let me. I could hear Brad huffing and puffing right behind me, and a few minutes later I jumped off the end of the bridge and ran towards Meagan who was sitting on the ground holding Grandpa’s hand.

  A few seconds later Brad climbed down from the bridge with Ali right behind him. They showed Don where to rest and then they both plopped down onto the ground beside us. Brad was still huffing as he wiped his face with his shirt.

  “Everyone okay?”

  We all looked at each other and nodded and that’s when I saw the beads of sweat streaming down Brad’s face.

  “We should be asking you guys that. Brad, are you okay?”

  “Yeah, just a little worn out from all the fun we’re having.”

  Brad handed Meagan the rope and then drew his knees into his chest as he leaned forward to catch his breath.

  “Wish we could dismantle this bridge and kind of keep those things on that side.”

  Ali kept his eye on the bridge.

  “Yeah, that would be great but I don’t have a metal saw in this bag and that’s the only way we’re going to take it down. That flare should keep going for at least ten or twelve minutes before it starts to burn out. And hopefully, those things would have clued in and taken off long before then.”

  Brad nodded as he put his cap back on his head.

  “I don’t think they’ll stick around. They can sense the fire behind them and they’re afraid of the flares so they’re likely long gone by now.”

  I clung to the hope in Brad’s words as I sat on the ground shaking beside Grandpa. He was really warm and it seemed as if he’d digressed a lot in the few minutes we were stuck on the bridge. His face was whiter and laden with stress. I knew he was in a lot of pain even though he wasn’t saying anything. He just laid there and groaned with each breath he took.

  Brad asked if we were ready to keep going and that’s when I looked up at the sky to the right of us in the direction of the fire. It was filled with mounds of greyish-brown rolling smoke that was highlighted with bright yellow and orange. It reached above the clouds and stretched over the water. Brad was right and we had to get moving.

  For a few seconds no one said a word, and then Ali stood up and handed Meagan his backpack as he wiped his forehead with his hand again. Meagan was holding the rope that was wound around Don and Brad picked up the loose end of it that was on the ground and then handed the coil to me.

  “Here, Sarah, he’s all yours. Ali and I will carry your grandfather. Who’s got the other bag?”

  Meagan picked it up off the ground and I took it and flung it on my back. She was worried that the wolves might try to cross again, but Ali reassured her that they had no idea that the flares would eventually burn out and that they wouldn’t be waiting around, especially when the fire was moving in so quickly.

  Just then, there was a loud pop that echoed from the other side of the river. The flames were clear and moving quickly through the forest. The only consolation we had was that it would hopefully continue in a straight path and not reach across the river at this narrow point. The bridge couldn’t burn so that gave me a bit of confidence that the fire was contained to the other side of the river.

  Ali pulled another flare out of his backpack and handed it to Meagan.

  “Here, Meg, hold on to this. I really don’t think you have to worry about the wolves anymore because they won’t cross the bridge with those flares there, and they’re going to be running to save themselves. But just so you know what to do, you twist it like this and then point it away from you. And
I’m just a few feet ahead of you, anyway, so just yell if you think they’re behind us.”

  Meagan nodded with a blank look on her face.

  “Yeah, sure. No problem.”

  Ali leaned over and gave her a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek.

  “That’s my girl. You show them who’s boss.”

  Then he motioned for Brad to pick up his end of the stretcher. As they lifted Grandpa up, Brad turned to me and then glanced over to Don.

  “Look, if he gets to be too much let me know, okay? The path is really narrow here but when we get to the other side of that little hill over there it gets wider, so we can all grab a corner again and I’ll hold on to Don. Okay?”

  “Yeah, we’re okay with that, Brad. Right, Meg? We’ll be right behind you.”

  I wasn’t totally okay with it, though, because I still had this reservation about the wolves crossing the bridge and coming after us. I looked back several times before we actually started walking and there was no sign of the wolves anywhere, and Ali must have known that Meagan and I were a bit worried so he yelled back for us to relax.

  Meagan and I each took one of Don’s arms and pointed him in the direction of the guys. He was busy looking around, and I’m not sure at what because there was a lot going on inside his head that I didn’t know about.

  “Come on, Don. You don’t have to worry. Ali says the wolves are gone so we’re okay now. Let’s follow them and get to the boat.”

  Don was still very fidgety and he walked methodically and suspiciously, almost as if the path was a dangerous trail. And then he relaxed a bit but became totally absorbed in surveying everything around us.

  “Where’s the boat, Pete? I don’t see it?”

  I took a deep breath as I held onto his arm a little tighter.

  “It’s just over there, Don. They’re waiting for us but we have to hurry.”