by Dave Bowman
Nick continued to pace, rubbing his jaw.
If they stayed in hopes that the fire would go around them, they risked being trapped in an inferno. If they left, how would they find Jessa?
He didn’t agree with Charlie’s cynical view – Nick knew that Jessa, as long as she was able, would return to New Mexico. She hadn’t given up on them, and he didn’t want to give up on her. There were endless possible explanations for her delay.
But even if Nick’s group went to Colorado to look for her at the cabin, the chances that she would still be there would be slim. What if their paths never crossed? The days of cell phone service and email were long gone. They had no way to find her if they didn’t see her at the cabin or spot her on the road.
And besides, taking the three of them, including a little girl and an injured woman, on a long road trip in such uncertain times could be dangerous.
There were no good options.
One thing was certain – they would find a way to survive. He wasn’t going to let them down.
“If we do have to leave, we’ll find another place to live. We’ll find more food, one way or another.”
They all looked up at him, the warm light from the oil lamps illuminating their tense faces.
“We won’t give up,” Nick said. “We’ll just have to find a way to carry on.”
“That’s right,” Liz said. “We made it this far.”
“Charlie’s right about packing up,” Nick said. “We each need to get ready to leave quickly if the fire comes. We can’t take everything, but we can fill the trucks up.”
“I’m not even sure I can drive with my leg yet,” Liz said.
“I’ll drive the Dodge truck if it comes to that,” Charlie said. “We’ll just leave my old car behind.”
Nick agreed. “So we’ll each pack a bag of the most important things, plus a few boxes of food and bottled water. Charlie and I will take it out to the vehicles tonight. Then I’ll take the first watch while the three of you try to get some rest. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, and we need to be prepared for the worst.”
He watched as Liz murmured something quietly to Mia, who had tears brimming in her eyes.
“Maybe Jessa will come back in the night,” Nick said. “She may have had car trouble or something like that.”
Mia nodded and retreated with Liz to their room to begin packing. Charlie lumbered off to his own bedroom.
Walking heavily into the kitchen, Nick began to pack a few boxes of the most nutritious and calorically dense food they had. He gathered up their guns and ammo. Finally, he went into his room to pack a few personal belongings.
After he and Charlie had hauled what they could out to the trucks, Nick sat with his rifle at the guard station. Tonight, he was less worried about ill-intentioned invaders than he was about Mother Nature. In the chilly, quiet night a blazing forest fire seemed unlikely, but he knew how unpredictable wildland fires could be. Still, he prayed that Daniel would be wrong. Maybe the village elders were being overly cautious.
They had already lost so much – how could they lose their home too?
At the first sign of trouble, they would evacuate, but he hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Maybe the wind would change to blow the fire in an unexpected course, and they would be safe. And if it they were lucky, Jessa would return in the night – safe and sound and with a good story explaining why she had been delayed.
23
In all the rush and commotion of the previous hours, Nick had completely forgotten about making his usual cup of instant coffee before taking his post. He tried to fight back sleep, but his eyes were heavy. The monotony of the night pulled him into slumber.
The howling of the relentless wind in the trees around him woke him up at some point later. He suddenly became aware of the noise. And immediately after that, he was aware of the smell. The smoke in the air had become much stronger than just a few hours ago, and his lungs filled with the acrid, charred fumes.
Jumping to his feet, he quickly climbed up on the chair to get a better view of the valley to the south.
He gasped, nearly falling out of the chair.
The horizon glowed neon orange as the fire erupted across the ridge. Giant clouds of smoke raged upward into the night sky, billowing violently from the force of the inferno below. The fire was racing up the dry hills from the valley below, consuming everything in its path. The wind blew north, pulling the smoke toward the lodge.
How could it have spread so fast? He’d never heard of a forest fire moving this quickly.
He realized that the loud noise he had heard was not just the wind. The racing fire was roaring like a freight train.
He looked to the west and saw smaller, isolated fires that had apparently only recently begun, perhaps starting from an ember that had blown in from the central mass to the south. His hands went clammy.
The only way out was starting to go up in flames.
“Fire!” he bellowed to the three inside.
He raced to the front door, flinging it open. He yelled for them to wake up, pounding on their bedroom doors. He charged into the girls’ bedroom first to find them both sitting up in bed, groggy and rubbing their eyes.
“Go, run to the cars!” he said. “We’ll be right behind you!”
Liz came to her feet and grabbed her backpack.
“Leave it,” Nick said, taking it. “I’ll carry it.”
He paused a second to see Liz limp out the door, moving as quickly as she could, with Mia on her heels.
Charlie emerged, dressed and ready to go. With the two rifles that still remained in the house slung over each of their backs, Nick and Charlie ran outside. They caught up to Liz and Mia as they crossed the meadow and entered the woods to the west. Liz grimaced as she ran, the pain from her leg not allowing her to go faster.
When they entered the forest, the heat was scorching. They ducked their heads down low as they ran, trying to dodge the suffocating smoke. There were isolated fires burning all around and picking up speed as the wind blew. To the left, a fifteen-foot wall of flames raced down the hill. Mia screamed when she saw it.
They weren’t moving fast enough, and soon the flames would engulf them.
“We’ll have to carry you,” Nick said to Liz. He picked her up from under her shoulders with Charlie carrying her legs. “Mia, I want you to stay right beside me, okay?”
The little girl nodded, terrified.
They ran through the woods with the smoke stinging their eyes. To dodge the smaller outbreaks, they had to weave their way around flaming trees. They ran through swirling embers and sparks as the larger columns of fire from the south threatened to engulf the entire hill in moments. They advanced quickly. Fueled by adrenaline, they pushed onward through the nightmarish landscape.
Mia’s cry from behind them made them pause. Nick turned around to see the little girl trip on a rock and fall on the ground. She pushed herself back to her feet, but froze. She was paralyzed with fear as flames began to erupt in the brush around her. She stared at Nick, her eyes round as saucers. Then, she looked over head to see a burning pine bough fall to the ground with a crash. There were flames all around her.
Setting Liz back on her feet, Nick motioned with his hand. “You go ahead! Run as fast as you can.”
She turned and ran off through the woods toward the vehicles parked ahead.
“It’s okay, Mia, we’ll get you out of there!” Nick shouted as he took off his jacket and began to beat out the fire that was catching around Mia.
Charlie did the same until the flames had died down a bit. Nick grabbed the little girl and carried her in his arms, jumping over the new flames beginning to erupt in the dry brush and limbs all around them.
The three of them arrived at the clearing with the vehicles just behind Liz. Flames were creeping in from all around. They ducked into two trucks – Charlie and Liz in one, and Nick and Mia in the other.
Nick led the way in his truck down the narrow path. The f
lames licked up the trees on both sides, with flaming branches starting to fall around them. Charlie followed close on his tail, turning onto the main road right behind him, the truck tires slipping as he took the turn too fast.
In a matter of minutes the forest was nearly completely engulfed. The fire raced up the hill behind them as they sped onto the gravel road, trying to outrun the wall of flames behind them. The woods burned on either side of the road.
A loud explosion behind them – probably the propane tank at the lodge, or perhaps the fuel tank of Charlie’s car they had left behind, Nick thought – made Mia cry out. Nick turned to see her sobbing, but quickly flashed his eyes back to the road.
Calming everyone down could wait. He had to concentrate on getting them out alive.
24
Matt felt himself being shaken, and he looked up at Bethany’s terrified eyes. It was still dark out, but her face was lit up by some unknown source, and he saw the panic written across it.
“Look!” she exclaimed, pointing to the horizon on the right.
He blinked, not understanding it at first. Huge, gray clouds billowed up to the heavens, powered by raging, neon orange flames underneath. The ridge line to the south was burning. The swirling wind blew the fire across the valley, and the flames were spreading toward them in angry, pulsating waves.
It took him a second to realize he was staring at a massive forest fire. The hills to the northeast were also catching fire, making the road to the left impassable. The only way out was behind them – he’d have to turn the truck around.
He fumbled in his pocket for his keys, cursing himself for not leaving them in the ignition. He pulled them free of his pocket, and then in his haste, his clumsy fingers dropped them in the crack between the seat and the middle console.
“Hurry, Matt!” Bethany said. “We have to get out of here!”
The crack was just small enough to prevent Matt’s hand from grasping the keys. He opened the door, jumping out to get a better view under the seat. Plucking them from the floorboard, he stood up, then paused, distracted by a foreign sound.
He glanced up to see two trucks flying down the road, then slowing down only a bit to turn wildly onto the road where Matt and Bethany had parked, their headlights shining in Matt’s face. The tires of the first truck skidded as it came to an abrupt stop, and the second truck only narrowly avoided crashing into it.
“Matt? Is that you?” a familiar voice asked breathlessly.
The boy found himself staring at his uncle, though once again, it took him a moment to comprehend that fact.
“Uncle Nick?” He couldn’t help but smile to see the familiar face, momentarily forgetting the fire raging down the hill.
Nick’s face opened into a quick smile as recognition sunk in. Then his eyes flashed to the raging fire behind them. He motioned for Matt to turn the truck around.
“Follow me!” he called, moving the truck forward to give Matt room to turn around.
“I think I should drive,” Bethany said frantically as she watched the flames in the distance. Her hand moved toward the door handle, ready to jump out.
“No! I can do it,” Matt said, narrowing his eyes as he concentrated.
As if guided by a divine hand in his time of need, Matt was relieved to find he could maneuver the truck around in a U-turn and straighten out quickly. He got into line behind Nick and followed him down the gravel road. Nick was driving fast, and Matt clenched the steering well tightly, struggling not to lose control of the truck.
Up ahead, the valley narrowed, and the road curved to the left. The road turned toward the direction of the burning ridge line to the south. Nick picked up even more speed, trying to outrun the encroaching fire.
Bethany shrieked as they drove through flaming embers and thick smoke. The horizon line glowed orange-red. It felt like they were driving into hell.
“We’ll never make it off this mountain!” Bethany cried. “Look at that wall of flames!”
Matt squinted through the smoke. It was getting harder to see – and breathe. He wiped the sweat rolling down his forehead from his eyes and tried his hardest to keep up with his uncle.
They followed the curve in the road as they drove through burning forest on both sides – a tunnel of flames. Smoke filled their lungs and stung their eyes, but Matt pushed on.
Nick swerved as a tree fell into the road, narrowly dodging it and driving over some branches. Matt yelped as they rode over the tree branches, but he didn’t lose control of the truck.
Bethany turned around to see the headlights of the other truck close behind as it dodged the burning tree in the road.
“Just keep going, Matt,” she said to encourage him. “Don’t lose him.”
They drove on, pushing the trucks to fly down the mountain road through the intense wind and fires raging around them. Matt was drenched in sweat from the fire’s heat and his own adrenaline. He dared not take his eyes off the road for a second, needing his full concentration to steer the truck down the road and keep up with his uncle.
He heard Bethany coughing, and his own lungs yearned for fresh air.
25
Finally, the road curved back around to the right as it made its final descent from the mountain. There were fewer flames and less smoke the farther they drove, and ahead he could see the untouched valley where the fire had not yet reached.
“Are you okay?” he asked Bethany.
“Yeah,” she exhaled. “I think we’re past the worst of it, thank goodness!”
Matt’s eyes flashed up to the rear-view mirror. The mountainside behind him was igniting in flame and spreading quickly.
“I didn’t know fire could travel that fast,” he said, out of breath. “It’s just racing down that mountain.”
Bethany turned around in her seat to watch the flames behind them. The fire was going fast, but they were driving faster, and each mile put more distance between them and the hell they had escaped.
Bethany breathed a sigh of relief and turned around to face the front.
“I guess we made it,” Matt said.
“And to think you could barely drive at all when I met you,” Bethany said, flashing him a smile. “I guess that’s what they call trial by fire. Literally.”
Matt laughed at her corny joke. “I’m just glad we made it out alive.”
“And your uncle is here too! You must be thrilled.”
Matt had barely had time to process that fact, but he was excited to see a family member. Taking the risk to drive to New Mexico had been worth it. Especially now that they weren’t going to burn to a crisp in a wildland fire.
Once they made it to Jemez Springs, they were out of the path of the fire. Matt and Bethany rolled their windows down to fill their lungs with air, now that they were out of the thick smoke.
Nick’s Silverado came to a stop in the center of the empty town. He got out of the truck, followed by a young girl. Matt and Bethany, and the two in the truck behind them, did the same.
“Uncle Nick!” Matt called, running over in the dark street toward him. He gave his uncle a hug, overjoyed to see a familiar face.
“Matt, I have no idea how you made it here. But it’s sure good to see you.” Nick laughed, then looked at his nephew’s face.
“What about your parents? Your sister?”
Matt looked down. “They’re all gone. Ashley was the first to go, then Dad. Mom held out the longest.”
Nick nodded his head in quiet understanding.
“And what about Owen? And Aunt Kaitlyn?”
Nick’s face fell and he gave a slight nod. It was enough for Matt to understand as well.
They all turned around to look at the flames racing down the glowing mountain they had just evacuated. The fire was spreading fast, but they had escaped the danger. The distance in between them and the flames was big enough to give them a chance to rest and decide their next steps. The six of them watched silently for a moment, each struggling with their own mix of emotions – sho
ck, horror, loss, and amazement.
“I’ve never seen anything like that in my life,” said the young man who had followed Matt.
“And I hope to never see it again,” Nick said.
Nick looked down at the boy beside him. He had lost his home, but he had just gained something more important.
“Everyone, meet my nephew, Matthew Redmond.”
Introductions were made all around, quickly and without fanfare. No one could really take their eyes off the blazing mountain for very long.
“It’s nice to meet you, ma’am,” Nick said as he shook Bethany’s hand after hearing how she had met his nephew. “I’m sorry you had to go through that hell in your condition. Are you feeling all right?”
Bethany smiled and nodded. “I’m a little shaken up, but I’m all right. Your nephew turned out to be a good little driver. I had my doubts at first, though.”
“Sometime later you’ll have to tell me how the two of you drove out here all the way from Texas, Matt,” Nick said. “But for now, we need to decide where to go.”
“So where do we go now?” Liz asked. “Everything up there is gone.”
They were all silent, except for Mia’s quiet whimpering. Liz pulled her in close, trying to comfort the child.
“We have an invitation to go to White Pine Falls,” Nick said to Bethany and Matt. “It’s north of here. Some neighbors of ours warned us of this fire. They got out hours before we did, and they said they were headed there to build everything from the ground up again.”
Bethany’s eyes went wide. “That must have been who we saw leaving last night. It was a long line of cars, trucks and trailers. The most people I’ve seen since the virus killed everybody.”
Matt nodded. “It looked like they had a bunch of people and animals, and they took everything with them.”
Nick smiled. “Yeah, those are the good folks from Los Gatos. They were smart and got out before it got bad. So, we could go out to White Pine Falls. Building a new homestead from the ground up is easier with more hands and more tools. But…”