by Dave Bowman
They were lost in nostalgia for a few moments, then one by one their gazes fell upon the empty barstool where Jessa had usually sat.
“It’s so quiet in here without Jessa,” Mia said, breaking the silence.
“It’s too bad she missed all this great food,” Liz said.
Charlie nodded in agreement. “Yeah, she would’ve loved it.”
“She said she’d be gone for only two days,” Mia said. “Shouldn’t she be back by now?”
Silence hung in the air. Mia had finally spoken what was on all their minds.
“What if something happened to her? Maybe she got lost,” Mia said warily.
“Jessa worked in the wilderness for a living,” Nick said, leaning on his elbows with his hands clasped. “If she ever got lost, I doubt she’d stay that way for long.”
“But maybe she’s hurt. Or what if she ran into some bad people out there?” Mia said, her lips trembling. “Like those three guys who tried to come in here.”
“If anyone is stupid enough to try to mess with Jessa, they’ll figure out their mistake fast enough,” Charlie said with a half smile.
Nick didn’t respond. He knew Jessa was strong and capable, but she could only do so much. There were so many things that could go wrong – she could be outnumbered, taken by surprise – he had to stop his mind from wandering to all the dark possibilities.
“I’m worried about her too,” Liz said, straining to move her injured leg as she shifted in her seat. “She said she would be back by now.”
“Maybe she’s just not going to come back,” Charlie said. “Maybe she’s planning to stay in Colorado. Who knows? That may have been her plan all along.”
Liz frowned at him. “Jessa wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t just leave us all here. She didn’t even tell me goodbye.”
“It makes it easier to leave that way,” Charlie said bitterly.
“But she wouldn’t have made a copy of the map for us,” Mia said, remembering the map to Chris’s cabin the child had found in Jessa’s room. It had been laid out on the dresser in plain sight. “Not if she was planning to come back. She left us that map so we could go find her if we needed to.”
Nick dropped his hands to the table. He knew what was coming.
“Don’t you think we should go look for her?” Mia’s small voice asked quietly.
Everyone looked toward Nick, their faces expectant. “It’s too far. And too dangerous.”
“The danger is exactly why we need to go look for her,” Liz said. “We could get to Denver in a day. We could go find her!”
“Denver was a big city. There’s got to be a lot of survivors there, fighting for resources.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better about Jessa being alone out there,” Liz said.
Nick sighed. “I told Jessa not to go there. She’s so stubborn, she won’t listen to anybody. It was too dangerous for her to go alone, and it’s too dangerous for any of us to go as well. I won’t put the three of you at risk.”
He looked back at the others. Mia’s face was hard to take. Her eyes were brimming with tears.
Mia had been through so much in her short life, even before the Hosta virus when she lived in an abusive household with only her mother on her side. The little girl needed stability in her life. She had gotten attached to Jessa, just as she had gotten attached to all of them, clinging to her new caregivers in an uncertain, dangerous new world.
He stood up and carried his plate to the sink. “Let’s give her one more day.”
He glanced back at Mia to see her wipe the tears away. Hope appeared once more on her face.
After the cleanup, the four of them scattered to take an hour off before resuming their afternoon work. They were all reading some of the books he and Charlie had brought back, happy to lose themselves for a while in a fictional story.
Nick walked outside. The smell of smoke was strong in the air, he noticed absentmindedly.
He didn’t give it much thought, figuring the people in Los Gatos were clearing a field with a controlled burn. He knew the practice was fairly common in the area.
A familiar call sounded from across the meadow, and Nick looked up from his chair on the front porch.
He returned the call, setting down his book and walking to the edge of the porch. He watched as Daniel began to cross the meadow. Nick could tell in the way Daniel walked: Something was wrong.
Nick walked out to meet Daniel halfway.
“Hey ,Daniel, what brings you this way?” Nick said, shaking Daniel’s hand.
“We’re evacuating. Everyone in Los Gatos. We have to leave, and you should too.”
“What? Why are you leaving?”
Daniel struggled to catch his breath. He had been running through the woods to get there quickly. “The fire. The giant forest fire, coming from south of here. It’s going to destroy all of this.”
Nick’s heart began to race. He turned around wildly, looking in all directions. “But how can that be? I don’t see anything. Even from the top of the hill, I didn’t see anything looking south.”
“But you will, and soon. The elders can read the signs. They always know when a fire is coming. I don’t know how they do it, but it’s something about the clouds. It’s the way the wind is blowing, faster then slower, all the time. The fire makes its own weather system.”
Nick looked at the leaves fluttering on a cottonwood tree nearby. “The wind isn’t even coming from the south right now. It’s blowing out of the northwest.”
“It’s going to change. The wind will start blowing in fast from the south, and everything is so dry right now that the forest will go up in flames like a tinderbox.”
Nick rubbed the back of his neck. “And here I was thinking you were just coming to visit.”
“I wish this was that kind of visit,” Daniel said. “But these old-timers are always right about these kinds of things. I’m afraid we’re going to lose our homes.”
“What about trying to fight it? We could dig ditches, gather up all our water for firefighting. If it’s coming from the south, it will hit you folks first. I could go down to Los Gatos and help you, and then maybe we could put it out for good.”
Daniel shook his head sadly. “We talked about firefighting. It just won’t be enough. We would need crews of men with chainsaws clearing trees for days, and more crews of guys digging trenches. The federal agencies, if they were still around, would send forest firefighters in from all over the country for something like this. We don’t have enough people to fight it, or enough tools.”
Nick looked away toward the dry woods surrounding them. Daniel continued.
“My great-grandfather has seen a lot of fires in his days, but he says this will be the worst yet. Now that the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management folks are all gone, there’s no one around to contain these things. It’s just going to rage out of control.”
Nick kicked at the dirt in frustration. He turned to look back at the lodge his grandfather had built. So much work, so much time and energy. It couldn’t all just go up in flames.
“I’m sorry to bring you such bad news, Nick. I know it’s a lot to take. My family is really upset. I can’t get my mom to stop crying…” He trailed off.
Nick turned back to look at Daniel. “So all of you are leaving?”
Daniel nodded. “Yes, as soon as possible. Everyone’s packing up now. The decision was just made this morning, and I came here as fast as I could to let you know.”
“I appreciate the warning, Daniel. Where will you go?”
“North, far enough away the fire won’t reach. Do you know White Pine Falls?”
Nick shook his head.
“That’s okay. I drew you a map.”
Daniel retrieved a folded piece of paper from his shirt pocket and handed it to Nick.
“It’s a place many of us in the village know. There’s a lot of good water there. It’s a good place to start over.”
Nick looked over the map qui
ckly, then folded it again.
“Actually, I was sent here to invite you with us. You and your whole group. We can all go up to White Pine Falls and start a new life.”
“That’s very generous of you,” Nick said sincerely. “I really appreciate the offer.”
He looked around at the homestead. “It’s hard to think of losing all this. I was just starting to feel like life was getting on track around here.”
“Same here,” Daniel said. “We don’t want to leave Los Gatos, but there’s no choice.”
He looked at Nick. “Well, I better get back home. We have to pack up and take everything we can. What do you say, Nick? Are you coming with us?”
Nick ran his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, Daniel. We can’t leave today. We have a member of our group away. Jessa’s still in Colorado, and she should be returning any day now. If we leave now, she won’t know where to find us.”
“Man, that’s a tough one. I understand you don’t want to leave her behind, but you also have to think of yourself and the others. But I know you’ll do the right thing. And now you know where to find us if you want to leave a little later.”
“Sure do.”
Daniel extended his hand, and Nick shook it. “I hope we meet again,” Daniel said.
“I do too, Daniel. Have a safe journey.”
Nick watched as Daniel jogged across the meadow and disappeared in the woods once more. Nick closed his eyes for a moment, and the memories he had made throughout his life on the property came flooding back to him. Learning how to hunt with his dad and grandfather, the family dinners shared around the kitchen table, and teaching his own son outdoor skills. He thought of all he had been through during the past two weeks with the people who had come to form a new sort of family for him.
He couldn’t let it all go.
He turned around and walked back to the house. Liz, Charlie, and Mia were all on the porch, watching him.
“Where did Daniel run off to?” Charlie asked. “That was a short visit.”
“He came to bring us some bad news.”
Nick looked at the three faces staring at him, full of worry and fear.
“Everyone in Los Gatos is leaving. They say a forest fire is coming.”
21
“Jemez Springs,” Bethany said, reading the sign on the side of the road as she drove. “Are we getting close?”
“Yeah, we’re getting closer,” Matt said. “I remember going through this town. It never looked like this before.”
“You mean totally deserted?” Bethany asked.
Matt nodded, looking out the window at what had become a ghost town. They followed the state highway as it traversed the tiny town and then began its ascent to higher elevations.
“You just stay on this road. We’ll climb up into the mountains, and the road will become gravel, I think.”
“And you’re sure you remember how to get there?”
Matt hesitated. “I think so…”
The truth was, Matt wasn’t sure at all. He knew there would be at least one or two turns until they arrived at the turn-off for the lodge. He was far from confident he would remember which way to turn. And worst of all, the path to the clearing where his family had always parked the vehicles was hidden.
“I think it’s a big rock. Or maybe some pine trees,” he mumbled to himself.
“What’s that?”
“Oh, nothing. I was just trying to remember the landmark for the path to the lodge. It’s kind of hidden.”
Bethany snapped her head to look at him. “You mean, we can’t see the lodge from the road?”
Matt looked down. “No, we have to turn off the gravel road and drive through the woods to a clearing. Then, after we park, we have to walk in a little bit to get there.”
Bethany’s mouth was agape. “Wait, you didn’t tell me we’d have to hike in to get there. This is more complicated than I thought.”
Matt flashed her a weak smile. “It’s not as bad as it sounds, I promise. It’s just… Well, everything is dark right now. And I’m starting to worry I’ll take a wrong turn somewhere.”
Bethany groaned. “I was so looking forward to a nice, warm bed.”
“Me too. But I don’t want to get us lost in the woods. Maybe we better plan to sleep in the truck tonight. The sun will be up in a few hours, then we can look for the lodge by the light of day.”
“All right. It’s a good thing I got some warm clothes. Are you sure you can find the lodge after daybreak?” Bethany asked, taking her eyes from the road for a moment to look at him.
Matt smiled and nodded, trying to convince both Bethany and himself that he could.
In a few miles, they arrived at an intersection with another gravel road. Matt stepped out of the truck and looked around. But he didn’t recognize the area, especially not in the dark.
He was starting to realize that being a passenger was different from navigating. All the times he had been here before, his dad had done the driving, and he had just looked out the window without paying too much attention.
Those days, he realized with sudden clarity, were over.
Bethany rolled down the window and looked at him. “You don’t know where to go?”
He shook his head.
“All right. I’m going to park this thing under those trees over there. Tell me if I’m about to hit anything.”
She maneuvered the truck into a small clearing, partially hidden from the road. Then she opened the door and stepped gingerly out.
“I’ll sleep on the passenger side. More room for this big belly. And here,” she said, handing him one of the coats she had found in Juniper Pass. “You can use this as a pillow.”
Once they were settled in and as comfortable as they were going to get, Matt’s eyes became heavy. He was starting to nod off when a noise startled him. It sounded a bit like low, rumbling thunder in the distance. And it was getting louder.
He sat up in his seat and saw a light in the distance.
Headlights appeared on the road to their right. And after that vehicle, another one climbed the hill, bringing its own headlights into view. Then another vehicle, and another.
“What the hell?” Bethany muttered.
“I just hope they don’t see us,” Matt said. “Just keep on driving by. Don’t turn this way.”
The vehicles advanced, breaking the eternal silence with the crunch of wheels on gravel. Matt held his breath as they approached the intersection, his hands clenching into fists.
But the vehicles continued forward, making no sign of having seen their truck.
“Whew,” Matt breathed.
Bethany gasped. “Look!” She pointed down the road.
After the initial throng of vehicles, new ones kept coming. One after another. There were cars, small pickups, large trucks hauling trailers full of livestock. It was an endless stream of vehicles, and they watched with their mouths hanging open.
“I haven’t seen that many people in weeks!” Bethany muttered quietly, as if afraid they might hear her. “And out here in the middle of nowhere? It doesn’t make any sense. Where are they going?”
Matt shook his head in disbelief. “I have no idea.”
They watched as the convoy of vehicles filed past, throwing a trail of dust in their wake. Finally, the procession came to an end. A trailer hauling what appeared to be goats brought up the rear.
“That was a lot of cars, and even more people. And they were taking everything with them,” Bethany said.
“Yeah, did you see how they were loaded down? They were carrying a lot of cargo. And even animals.”
“It looked like they were moving away,” Bethany mused. “Like a whole town just picked up and decided to move away together. I never saw anything like that.”
Matt nodded. There seemed to be no end to the bizarre things he would witness in this new world.
They sat staring at the empty road for a while in silence. Outside, the wind began to pick up, blowing the tree branches
around violently.
22
Nick and the others discussed what to do well into the night.
“How do they know it’s going to be a big forest fire?” Charlie asked. “I smell smoke, but that doesn’t mean we have to leave the lodge, does it? That smoke could be coming from a fire hundreds of miles away.”
Nick shrugged his shoulders. “Daniel said the wind was going to change, and then the fire would come fast. He said the old-timers could read the signs.”
“They can read the signs, but it doesn’t mean they’re always right,” Charlie said. “The fire could go around us. Especially if we stick around here to fight it.”
Nick shook his head. “We don’t have enough people to fight it. You and me with a chainsaw and a shovel aren’t nearly enough.”
“So, do you think we should leave like Daniel and everyone else?” Liz asked, looking up from her place on the couch. Her injured leg was propped up on a pillow after she had just changed the dressing on her wound. It was healing, but she still couldn’t walk very well.
Nick crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t know. The folks from Los Gatos are leaving tonight, if they haven’t already gone.”
Liz sighed. “Just when we finally have an alliance with some good people, they leave. And on top of that, we might lose our home.”
Nick paced back and forth across the living room. He couldn’t stand the idea of losing the lodge.
“And what about Jessa?” came Mia’s worried little voice. “If we leave, how will she find us?”
No one responded for a moment. It was the elephant in the room.
Finally, Liz spoke. She couldn’t stand to see Mia so worried. “Don’t worry, sweetie. We’ll figure something out. We’re not going to leave without Jessa. Right, Nick?”
Nick it looked up distractedly when he heard his name. “I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“We should all pack up a few things. The most important things,” Charlie said. “Just in case we do need to leave.”
Silence again. Nick knew it was the sensible thing to do. But he had resisted it. He knew that once he began to pack things to leave, it would make the whole thing seem real.