by Jill Sanders
“My head.” She reached up and noticed that she too was bleeding.”
“Focus! We have to move!” Lane shook her a little.
Abby nodded, then watched as he slowly strapped on the backpack.
“Come help. I’ll take the majority of your weight,” he said as he helped her out of the door. “I tried to call in, but we lost power.” He glanced at her. “We can only hope that my call got through, or that someone sees the fire and calls it in.”
Abby nodded and then glanced back towards the plane. “What about…?” She nodded.
“There’s nothing we can do now. We have to fight for ourselves.” He nodded towards the growing fire.
It was then that she noticed they had landed in a small field, half of which was currently burning. She watched in horror as the wind moved the flames closer to them. Trees along the edge were already burning. She almost screamed when she noticed how high up the flames were.
When she focused in front of her, she felt a scream escape her. A small red glow was coming from that direction as well.
“There,” Lane said, pointing towards a ridge. “We have to get down there. It hasn’t reached it yet.”
By the glow of the fire and the moonlight streaming through the trees, Abby saw a large body of water. And Lane was right; there was a small path of darkness.
“I think that’s the stream that empties into Lake George. If we can make it down the hill before the flames, we should be okay. There’s a camping site and a ranger station across the water. We need to move before the fire hits the tanks.” Lane kept moving, pulling her along as they went.
Abby’s back hurt, her head hurt, everything hurt, but she pushed it all aside to stumble down the dark hill towards the darkness.
***
“How can you tell which way we’re going?” she asked.
“There.” He pointed to an outline of the ridge. “Away from the fire, towards Widow’s Peak.”
“Widow’s Peak?” she asked.
“My mother used to tell me the story of a widow who lived in a cabin near the top of the peak. Her husband was a sailor who was called into active duty during the war. Before he left—” He grunted a little as he almost fell. Righting himself, he continued, “Before he left, he built her a strong cabin on the top of the peak, so she could keep watch for when he returned.”
“How sad,” she croaked.
Lane glanced over and shrugged. “It was just a story.”
They stumbled a little when they finally hit a walking path. She didn’t know how long it had taken them to get down the hill, or how far it was to the ranger station. All she knew was that she hadn’t stopped focusing on Lane as he spoke. Most of what he said was gibberish, she guessed to keep her alert. He was doing a great job.
“This is it.” He laughed. “Almost there.”
Abby didn’t know how he was doing it. Her back was hurting and her vision had gone gray a few times. Plus, her legs were getting extremely heavy all of a sudden. Her lungs didn’t even seem to be working right.
“Abby, come on. Almost there.” His voice kept calling her back to what little light there was in the darkness. Chills started racing through her, even though she had been warm enough a few minutes ago. She shook her head lightly and tried to focus on getting out alive. Before she knew it, she was falling forward, directly into Lane’s arms.
***
His sides hurt and, more than once, he’d stumbled on the dark pathway and ended up on his hands and knees, protecting Abby, who he held close to his chest. He was bleeding and most likely had a broken wrist, but that didn’t stop him. He was almost to the lake when he heard her moan.
“Lane?” Abby’s voice was the sweetest thing he’d ever heard. It was a whisper over the sound of the rushing water in the river beside them. He’d been scared to death when she’d gone white and passed out in his arms, and his only focus had been to get to the water’s edge.
“Abby!” He took a tighter hold of her, glancing around. He knew that they were screwed. The fire had already reached the ridge. There was no way out, other than the freezing water.
“Oh my god!” He watched her eyes grow bigger. “We’re surrounded.”
“Shhh, it’s okay.” He felt the tears slide down his face and he dropped to his knees. “I’m here; we’ll make it out.”
He felt her shoulders relax, and she pushed him back a little. “Katie’s father.” She glanced over his shoulder and a few tears slid down her dirty face.
“Don’t.” He leaned down and placed a kiss on her lips. “Don’t think about it now. I need you strong if we’re going to make it out of here.”
She sniffled and looked up at him. “How?”
He smiled. “I know it hasn’t come up, but I sure hope you can swim.” He nodded towards the rushing water and felt her stiffen. Then she slowly looked up at him and nodded.
“I’m ready.” She smiled a little.
He pulled her towards the water and when they came into a slight clearing, he looked down and could see the blood flowing from a scrape on her head. His fingers brushed over her cheek.
“I’m okay,” she smiled at him. “We can do this.”
He nodded, but pulled her close one last time before they made their way down to the river’s edge.
***
Abby felt her skin start to numb instantly when they entered the water.
“We have to do this fast.” Lane glanced over at her. She nodded in reply, since her teeth were already chattering and she didn’t want Lane to know she was freezing and scared. He smiled a little and took her hand, leading her deeper into the rushing water. “Make it to the other side, there.” He pointed to a large tree that was uprooted, about half a mile down the river. The eerie glow from the fire made it possible to see, which only unsettled her more, since she knew the fire was close on their heels.
When she could no longer reach the ground, she dropped Lane’s hand and started swimming. Her eyes focused on the tree that she was rapidly approaching. She felt Lane push past her. The sheer size of his body and the strength of his muscles caused him to travel faster.
Her muscles, on the other hand, were so frozen, she couldn’t feel them. When she looked up again, she was shocked to see that she’d already passed the tree. She was even more shocked to see that Lane was nowhere to be found.
When she tried calling out to him, she was rewarded with a mouthful of freezing river water. She kicked as hard as she could but still felt like she wasn’t gaining any ground. Then she tried something she’d read about once in an article. Flipping over onto her back, she pushed her legs together and started flipping them like a fish. Together, they were more powerful than separated and she felt herself finally moving out of the middle of the river.
When she made it to the muddy shore, she was gasping for air and completely frozen. She crawled up and pushed her wet hair out of her face. She turned back to the water and screamed for Lane.
Her eyes moved everywhere, the water, the tree line, the muddy shore. He was nowhere.
Crawling on her hands and knees, she pushed farther away from the water and thought about backtracking to the missed tree. That’s when she noticed the water was flowing the wrong way. She’d come ashore on the wrong side of the river. Glancing around, she gasped when she noticed the wall of fire crowding her back to the edge of the water.
She didn’t think she’d make it if she had to swim across again. Tears stung her eyes as she continued to call for Lane.
***
Lane could hear Abby calling for him and knew she’d gotten turned around. Instead of heading to the correct shoreline, he pushed back towards the other side and used up every ounce of energy he had to make it to the shore.
He dug himself out of the mud and faced a wall of fire between him and Abby. He didn’t have the strength to fight the current of the river to make it to her, so there was only one other way. Dipping his hands deep into the freezing mud, he covered himself as much as he could
until he was sure he looked like a big muddy mess. Holding his breath, he rushed into the wall of flames in hopes that he would make it to her in time.
Chapter Sixteen
Tucking her knees to her chest, she cried and coughed as the smoke slowly burned her lungs and eyes. She cried for the loss of Lane. For the loss that her family would have to deal with. Her mind was so focused on everyone else’s pain, she hadn’t stopped to think about what she’d be going through herself. She knew one thing, she wasn’t about to let the fire take her.
Looking up through teary eyes, she moved closer to the edge of the water. She’d heard that freezing and drowning were one of the more humane ways to go.
Just then she heard a noise and glanced over to see a huge ball of mud jump right towards her. It was like the fire split in two as Lane hurled himself in her direction.
“Lane!” She stood up, trying to hold back the coughs that had been racking her lungs. Then he was there, holding her close to his muddy body.
“My god!” he kept saying over and over.
When she felt a bead of sweat drip down her back, she glanced over and gasped. “Lane, we have to go.”
He nodded, but then reached down and kissed her solidly on her lips. Mud transferred onto her skin, causing it to cool.
“I don’t think I can make it.” She glanced at the water again.
He shook his head. “Do you trust me?” he asked, stepping back.
She nodded without even thinking. Of course she trusted him. More than she’d ever trusted another man in her life.
“Here.” He bent down and scooped up some mud. “It will protect you for a while, but we’re going to have to get back in the river.”
She groaned. She knew it and had prayed it wouldn’t come to that again. Nodding her head, she helped him cover her body with the thick mud.
“There’s a clearing back there.” He nodded to where he’d come from. “If we can make it there, the river is shallow enough we can wade across.”
The thought of walking across made her even more determined to follow through.
“We’ll have to coat your hair.” He glanced up at her locks and dumped a handful of mud on her head.
She helped him and then took his hand as he moved closer to the flames. “Hold your breath and don’t let go.” He gripped her hand in his. She nodded, closed her eyes, and rushed with him into the fire.
The next time she opened her eyes, they were in the clearing. Her skin was warm, but not burned. When she looked at Lane, she gasped and started swiping at his shoulder. His shirt was burning and she could see his skin underneath turning red.
“Easy.” He moved to the water and fell in, putting out his clothes. When he came up, mud was smeared all down his face and he was smiling. He held out his hand for her and she walked back into the freezing water to him.
They walked across the rushing water together. At one point, she lost her footing, but he was there to hold onto her and set her back on her feet.
When they made it to the edge of the river, he pulled her up to dry land and almost carried her past the tree line into the forest.
“Where are we?” she asked, trying to keep up with him. The cool night air was causing the water to steam off their mud-covered bodies. She was frozen to the bone and couldn’t feel her feet or fingers.
“We’re past the lake.” He glanced at her. “So, we’ll have to do some hiking.”
She tried to hold in a groan, but it escaped anyway.
He stopped and pulled her close. His body heat felt so good, and she closed her eyes and rested her head against his chest.
“I know this is hard.” He brushed his hand down her mud-caked hair like it was the softest thing in the world. Then his finger tipped her chin up until her eyes met his. “Just a little longer.” He pushed her hair aside and frowned. Then he reached down and tore part of his muddy shirt off and swiped at her forehead, causing her to wince.
“Easy, I need to stop the bleeding.”
When the cloth pushed against her skin, she felt her eyesight blur and her head spin. Her nails dug into his shoulders to help her steady herself.
“Hold this.” His voice was calm, causing her to open her eyes again.
She held the piece of shirt against her head and watched him remove his belt. “Sorry, baby.” He wrapped his belt around her head and tightened it.
“How does that feel?”
She groaned a little.
“I know.” He took her hand and she winced again. Her body was starting to thaw, which meant she was starting to feel everything again. Looking down at her wrist, she gasped.
“It’s okay,” he said, reaching for her other hand. “Mine too.” He held up his wrist and she noticed for the first time that it was swollen and red. “Let’s go get checked out.” He smiled and tugged on her good hand until she moved again.
It seemed to take forever for them to finally make it to a large clearing. They could see red and blue lights flashing the second they stepped out of the trees. Lane dropped her hand and pushed his fingers into his mouth and whistled louder than she’d ever heard anyone before. Her ears rang as she watched a small truck rush across the field towards them.
By the time the rangers arrived in a truck, Abby felt like she was about to lose consciousness again. She collapsed into the back of the truck and smiled when Lane crawled in next to her. As they made their way down the bumpy field towards the waiting ambulance and fire trucks, he held her close and kissed the top of her head as she cried silently that the nightmare was finally over.
Chapter Seventeen
It seemed like hours later that they were finally put into an ambulance in the parking lot of the ranger station. Under the bright lights in the back of the ambulance, he finally noticed that she had cuts and bruises all over the left side of her face. Mud was still caked on both of them everywhere, which only hindered seeing further injuries on them both. She was carrying her left wrist funny, and he guessed by the looks of it that it might be broken. Glancing down at his own injured arm, he noticed that his was just bruised and not broken like he’d initially thought.
He had a big knot on the side of his head, which probably matched the one he’d felt on Abby’s. He watched as the paramedics cleaned her head wound and was relieved when it looked less menacing in the light.
For the entire trip into town, she lay back in the gurney and held his hand with her good one. He was thankful the paramedic working on cleaning her up hadn’t said anything to him about his injuries yet.
When they drove into the ER, however, he was pushed into a small closed area while they wheeled Abby away down a long hallway. Several nurses came and went, asking him questions, cleaning him up, even putting a few small stitches in his head, wrist, and knee where he’d been banged up.
The entire time he kept asking them about Abby, but he was told she was being taken care of and he would be able to see her soon enough.
Finally, when he’d complained loud enough, he was shown down the hall where she was having an X-ray of her wrist taken.
“Mr. Austin, just the man I need to see next.” The technician smiled at him. “You’re up next.”
He frowned. “I don’t need…” He heard Abby cough and glanced her way. When she glared at him, he nodded and sat down to get his wrist x-rayed.
When they wheeled her back to a room, he was allowed to follow her, and he sat with her until a doctor arrived.
He was relieved to find out that both of them had only suffered mild concussions. While Abby’s wrist had a hairline fracture, his was only sprained.
More people came and went and when Abby asked him to call her family, he stepped out into the hallway to make the calls, calling his own mother as well.
His mother and sister showed up less than fifteen minutes later, along with half the town of Pride.
When everyone tried to crowd into the small room, his mother took charge and told everyone there would be a gathering a few days from now to ca
tch everyone up on what had happened and they could see both Lane and Abby then.
Abby had sat quietly talking to Lane’s sister, who looked very concerned about her new friend. When he saw Abby reach out and take Angie’s hand, the last piece of his heart fell completely for her.
It took some doing, but finally, he cleared everyone out of the room so they would have time to themselves so he could tell her how he felt about her.
It had only been two hours since they had arrived at the hospital in Edgeview, but Abby was already trying to leave. Before he could tell her anything, she burst out, “You can watch me tonight at home.” As he pulled her closer, she whispered into his chest, “I hate hospitals.”
He smiled. “No can do. You have a concussion and they still have to put a cast on you.” Just holding her made him feel more leveled. She was safe and he loved her more than life itself. Now, he just needed to work up the courage to tell her.
She relaxed a little. “Promise me you’ll stay.”
He nodded. “I’m not going anywhere…” His heart skipped a few beats, but just when he opened his mouth, the doors burst open.
Glancing over, he saw Jenna hobble in on crutches, followed closely by Abby’s parents, her aunt, and her uncle. Abby’s mother rushed to the side of the bed as Abby held out her good arm for a hug.
“Mom! Dad!” she cried. Lane moved aside so Abby could be with her family. He heard the women crying and turned towards the door, only to be blocked by her father and uncle.
Lane reached out and took Tom’s hand. “You should have those looked at,” Tom said, nodding down at his hands. Only then did he remember the cuts and bruises he’d gotten from falling on the pathway as he carried Abby to safety.
“Already done.” He frowned a little as he realized he’d torn off the bandages already.
“Sounds like it was a crazy night,” Graham said. He nodded towards the crying women all huddled around Abby. “It looks like you both made it out in one piece though.” He nodded.