A Dog's Courage--A Dog's Way Home Novel

by W. Bruce Cameron

  Everyone wrestled with just their hands for a moment. Meat-man gestured toward his friends. “David said you’re going to put a firebreak around the shelter. We’re here to help.”

  “Thank you so much,” Olivia replied.

  “So, we brought chainsaws, axes, and shovels,” Meat-man advised, looking grimly purposeful. “We’re going to make a stand. No one can tell us we have to just let this town burn. These are our homes, our lives. We might not be able to save everything, but we’re going to try. I got six guys, including me. We all grew up in Paraiso together.”

  My boy nodded. “We’ll take all the help we can get. We can’t leave either. If this building goes, all the animals inside the shelter will burn.”

  Meat-man nodded. “That’s what Dave told us. We’ll make this one of our top priorities, I promise.”

  The other men were unloading metal objects from their truck. I picked up the slick smell of oil and dirt. They set their things on the ground with heavy thuds.

  I heard something approaching, and waited patiently for Lucas and Olivia to hear it, too. Finally, an enormous truck swung up the driveway. I wagged because I had been on top of that truck! There were no people atop it this time, only the man driving and Mack, who jumped down from the open door when it came to a halt. He walked over to us and I wagged, licking his hands in greeting. He watched the men from the two small trucks carrying their obviously heavy items over to the trees in front of the building of dogs and cats, then turned to us with a grin. “Your chariot has arrived,” he announced.

  Lucas and Olivia glanced at each other. “Mack…,” Olivia began cautiously.

  Mack held up a hand. “Look, I know you’re trying to do the right thing, here. But I’ve been trained for this, and I’m not staying. Nobody’s staying.”

  “Not nobody. There are dogs and cats and a couple of rabbits in there,” Lucas responded bluntly. “If we leave, and the fire comes up here, they’ll be cooked alive.”

  Mack fixed Lucas with a serious look. “The fire will come up here, Lucas. And it won’t just be the animals who get burned to death.”

  One of the men from the trucks stood close to the house of barking dogs and yanked at the tool in his hand and there was a sudden loud mechanical roar. He bent down at the base of a tree and the nature of the roar changed to something deeper-throated. I didn’t like the sound. Beyond the stand of evergreen trees where the men had gathered with their metal machines was an expanse of grass that sloped downward to the dirt road. On the other side of the road were many trees.

  Mack and Lucas seemed tense, which made me uneasy. They stopped speaking and we all watched as more machines joined their hideous voices in a chorus of loud shrieks.

  I heard a crack and a moment later, a thin tree one man was attacking with his machine fell to the ground with a muffled thud. Soon another one followed. The machines in their hands were somehow bringing down all of the trees, which lay at their feet.

  Mack nodded at this and then turned back to Lucas. “These people live here, man, it’s their home. And I get that they don’t want to leave, won’t leave. Maybe if I lived here I would feel the same way. But you two have to come with me. The fire can’t be more than an hour away. It’s zero percent contained at the moment, and by the time it’s through they’re saying it’s going to burn six million acres of Rocky Mountain forest. That’s the size of New Jersey. This isn’t just a wildfire, it’s an inferno. The flames and the heat can’t be stopped.”

  “Do we know how it started?” Lucas asked.

  Mack shook his head grimly. “It looks like the one here in Colorado was deliberately set a couple days after it started in Wyoming.”

  Olivia breathed out in disgust. “Unbelievable.”

  “The one in Wyoming we know was from a tanker that went down an embankment and right into where they were conducting a controlled burn. By the time everyone realized the problem, it was already into Idaho. And now it’s all the same fire, see? You get what I am saying, here? Call it the drought, call it climate change, or maybe we’ve just not been doing good forest management. Whatever it is, there’s never been anything like this.”

  Lucas nodded. “I do see, Mack. But we’re just talking one building, here—I think we’ll be okay.”

  “Geez, Lucas.”

  “Mack,” Olivia pleaded, “these animals are stuck here through no fault of their own. They’ve been abandoned or lost by their owners. They’re helpless.”

  “Hey, Mack!” the man driving the big truck called. Mack turned and looked at him. “The National Guard trucks just pulled up. Evacuation is on. We have to go.”

  “Give me a minute!” Mack shouted back. He turned back to Olivia. I could feel the tension in all of them. “What if you just let them out? The pets, I mean. Wouldn’t their instincts tell them to run from the flames?”

  “A dog’s instinct is to stay with people,” Olivia replied softly.

  Now all the machines were snarling and the men were busily thrusting them at the trees, which were shaking and then falling. The evergreens were big and bushy and when they landed a cloud of dust joined the smoke and was whisked away in the strong winds.

  “Mack!” the driver called again.

  Mack gazed steadily at Lucas and Olivia. “You’re really staying here? Despite everything I just told you?”

  Olivia gestured to where the men were using their loud machines. “They’re staying. Diane and her brother are staying. What sort of person would I be if I didn’t help a shelter full of abandoned pets?”

  Mack looked to Lucas, who shrugged. “When my wife decides something, it’s like she sets her emergency brake. And I’m not about to leave her. Here’s your radio.”

  Mack took the phone, staring at my boy.

  “I decided a long time ago to devote my life to animal rescue,” Olivia added. “It’s never pretty, never easy. But we’ve got help. We’ll be okay.”

  Lucas put a hand on Mack’s shoulder. “You go on now, Mack. You’re a good man. We’ve got this.”

  “Mack!” the driver yelled. “Captain says we got to get back now! Hustle up!”

  Shaking his head, Mack turned and walked back to his big truck. He stepped up and leaned in and said something to the driver. There was an animated conversation. I watched anxiously—was Mack leaving? Weren’t we all going to climb back up on the truck for a ride?

  Lucas didn’t move. “What’s happening now, I wonder?” he murmured to Olivia.

  “Looks like an argument. Do you think they’re talking about sending the sheriff up here to arrest us? Force us to go?”

  Lucas shook his head. “I can’t see them doing that.”

  Mack climbed back down and with a loud blast the big truck rumbled to life and turned in the tight circle of the driveway, going up on the grass and then down and driving off. Mack stood there, watching it go. Then, with a shrug of his shoulders, he trudged back up to where we stood.

  I wagged happily because he’d come back.

  “What are you doing, Mack?” Lucas asked softly.

  Mack shrugged. “If you’re serious about this, the least I can do is help you understand the risks you’re taking. I told them to give me half an hour, send someone out to get me when they’re getting ready to leave. The fire department’s always the last to go anyway.”

  “Thank you, Mack,” Olivia said simply.

  “I’ll say something,” he replied seriously. “I’m proud to serve with the both of you. You’re warriors. But that doesn’t mean I agree with your decision-making process, here. You’re taking a huge risk. Risk of death.”

  Olivia wiped her eyes. I wagged tentatively, feeling so many awful emotions pouring off these three people. It was this place, I knew, with the smoke and the wind, that was causing them such anguish. I did not understand why we didn’t just leave.

  Mack slapped his hands together. “Okay, Lucas, I want you with me. These guys seem to be doing the right thing, cutting down the trees that’re right up against
the structure. Hopefully, they’ll have time to get them all.”

  “What can I do?” Olivia asked.

  Mack grinned at her. “From what I’ve seen, there’s almost nothing you can’t do, Olivia. Okay, the first thing I’d like you to get on is move anything flammable away from the windows inside. Tear down the curtains. Close the windows and fill any container you can find with water.”

  “In other words, you do the housework,” Lucas advised her.

  Olivia arched her eyebrows. “Oh, really, you’re going to say that to me now?”

  Lucas winced at Mack. “Oops.”

  Mack chuckled.

  Olivia deliberately turned away from Lucas. “So, why are we filling containers with water? Wouldn’t it be smarter just to run the hose and keep the building wet?”

  Mack shook his head. “The water’s not for fighting the fire. The water’s for drinking. I’m gonna guess that we’ll lose pressure pretty soon and then the hose will be worthless. It’s gonna get hot and we’re gonna be thirsty.”

  “Got it.” Olivia turned and went inside and I yawned anxiously, not understanding what she was doing.

  I didn’t like that she had left, and I didn’t like the loud buzzing machines, wind, or the smoke. I didn’t like that there was a building full of dogs who were barking in fear.

  I pressed up against my boy, trusting that as long as I was with Lucas, nothing bad would happen.

  “Okay,” Lucas said in serious tones. “Tell me honestly, Mack. What are our chances?”

  Mack gazed frankly back. “You want me to be honest? Odds are looking pretty bad. The winds are coming out of the north and they’re bringing the fire with them. I appreciate what those boys are doing, but they’re fools if they think they can save the town.”

  Lucas swallowed. “I understand. What about here, though? Can we save the shelter?”

  “No.”

  The two men stared at each other.

  Mack sighed. “Can you talk to her? Your wife, I mean. You have to make her see how hopeless this is.”

  Lucas turned and gazed to where Olivia had gone inside. “I’ve never met anyone with a bigger heart when it comes to animals. She couldn’t live with herself if we abandoned those pets to the fire.”

  I nosed my boy’s hand, but it didn’t react. He was upset and I was not able to provide comfort.

  “What about putting them down? Wouldn’t that be best?”

  “I don’t know if they have enough humane killer, or even any. And God, can you imagine doing something like that?”

  “Well, you know what’s going to happen if you can’t save the place. Then you and Olivia will have died for nothing.”

  Lucas was still staring at the building. I glanced in that direction, but Olivia didn’t come out. “When you go, would you take Bella with you?” he murmured softly.

  Mack gave him a long look.

  Lucas met Mack’s eyes. “I wouldn’t want her to die like that.”

  “Listen to what you’re saying, man.”

  “I know exactly what I’m saying.”

  Mack inhaled, then let the air out in an audible whistle. It was a very sad sound. “Tell you what. Let’s walk the perimeter, check out your defensive lines, and I’ll show you how bad I think it’s going to get.”

  Twelve

  I thought we should wait for Olivia to come back outside, but instead Lucas and Mack set off walking close to the building at a brisk pace. We rounded the corner and Mack paused and pointed. “Okay, this is a deal-breaker right here.”

  “The firewood?”

  Mack nodded.

  “So, what if I move the logs?”

  Mack pursed his lips. “You’d have to remove all of it. Anything flammable. Even pieces of bark.”

  Lucas nodded. “Where should I put it?”

  Mack sighed and turned and looked toward the road. “Take it down and throw it into the woods on the other side of the road, I guess. There, where the trees are sparse.”

  Lucas bent down to pick up a stick and I watched with interest, even though it was too thick for me to put my mouth around. Mack touched Lucas’s arm. “Let’s take a look at the rest of the area first. Then we can figure out the top priority.”

  Mack and Lucas resumed walking, so I got up to follow. They led me around to the back of the building, where I smelled many dogs, although there were none to be seen. Cages extended well out into the yard.

  Mack nodded. “Okay. I like this. Nice long kennels sticking out perpendicular to the siding, cement floors, chain-link fence. The only thing that could burn are the doghouses in the individual cages and the grass on the far side of the cement pads. If you dig a trench on the back side of these kennels, pile up the dirt, that should help stop the grass fire from reaching the shelter. The kennels are a nice, big firebreak.”

  “You’re saying this area can’t burn.”

  Mack shook his head. “No, I’m saying it’s defensible. Different thing. You need to pull all the doghouses out of here and take ’em down where you’re throwing the firewood.”

  “Got it,” Lucas replied.

  Mack blinked at Lucas, seeming like he was going to say more, then turned away.

  This was an odd walk, with all the stopping and talking, as if we were in a musty room with glass booths and upright dead cats.

  We continued around to the other side of the building. Mack smiled at Lucas. “You lucked out. This is a nice big patio, and I like the sand volleyball court. Gives you a huge firebreak—the flames will stop at the edge of the sand pit, and you’ve got, say, fifteen feet of cement that won’t burn either. Plus, you can throw sand on the roof to extinguish embers.”

  “Okay. So first the firewood. Then the doghouses,” Lucas recounted. “Here we’ve got more than thirty feet of space that’s defensible, so we’re okay on this side.”

  Mack nodded. “You’ll still want to dig a trench all the way around the building, putting the dirt berm on the structure side, but the kennels in the back and this play area on this side are great. I got to say, if you had to pick one place to try to hold out against the largest fire in U.S. history, this might be it.”

  “So, odds are good?”

  Mack looked glum. “No. It’s still insane.”

  Lucas let me pull him across the wide cement area to a stretch of sand full of interesting odors. Cats had been using this place—this was a giant cat box!

  Lucas kicked at it, stirring up more smells. “When I move the firewood on the other side, there shouldn’t be any grass growing underneath it. Just dirt. That’s another firebreak.”

  “Sure. But if the trees go up, the air’s going to be filled with flaming embers. Along the road you’ve got thirty yards of dry lawn leading up to a wooden building. Defending three sides won’t matter much if the front goes.”

  “Okay.”

  I did Sit, but not for a treat. Sometimes dogs do Sit for themselves.

  “Even here at the volleyball court, you’re going to need to drag the picnic table across the road, and pull the LP tank out from under that barbecue and get it as far away from here as possible.”

  “All right,” Lucas agreed.

  We completed our walk by returning to the front. Meat-man and his friends were still attacking the trees with gusto. We strode up to them and they shut off their loud machines, eyeing us expectantly.

  “What you’re doing is good work, exactly right,” Mack informed them. “But you need to drag these fallen trees away from here and down across the road. The road is your natural firebreak and that’s where you’ve got to make your stand.” Mack held out his hand. “Mack Fletcher.”

  The man who smelled like meat pulled glasses off his face, wiped his brow with his forearm, and held out his hand. “Scott. Scott Lansing.”

  It occurred to me that “Scott” was the name of this man.

  “I’ll get started on the firewood,” Lucas announced.

  We left Mack and the others.

  What we did next ma
de no sense to me. Lucas would grab an armful of wood so heavy it made him grunt, then nearly run all the way down the hill across the road and into some trees, where he would dump the pile and turn around and run back. He unsnapped my leash and it was fun to gallop alongside my boy, but otherwise I was completely mystified. When we were deep in the woods, dropping the big sticks, I would try to find one small enough for me to carry, but when I did so and trotted up to Lucas, he showed no interest in what I gripped in my mouth. Games are nearly always more fun when a dog participates, but sometimes people don’t realize this.

  Soon Olivia was playing, too. They didn’t run together, but made separate trips up and down that hill, up and down, up and down.

  “I’m getting all the cardio I need,” Lucas panted at Olivia.

  “Maybe you should go in and do housework,” she replied with a grin.

  “I am so hoping you’ll forget I said that.”

  “We’ll see.”

  Sometimes we passed Scott and Mack and their friends, who would be hauling a felled tree down across the road.

  The smell of burning wood was still strong on the gusty wind. And, though my senses told me it was still day, the light was gradually fading, as if night were descending early. When the stack of big sticks was all gone, Lucas and Olivia paused for water and poured some in a bowl for me to lap up. Next, we went inside the house of the barking dogs. The fur stiffened along my back. I couldn’t help it, there was so much terror and abandoned loss in the commingled voices of the dogs, because they smelled fire and were in a strange place without their people. The cats were tense, too—they just didn’t know how to bark.

  We crossed the room, which was different now: all the furniture was in the center, and Olivia and Lucas had to edge around the pile to reach the back door. Then we were outside again, in a place where I could tell many dogs had spent many nights. These were the cages I had seen earlier. Olivia bent over a small dog house and I hoped they were not going to go tell me to Go Kennel into it because it was too tiny.

  “You need help with that?” Lucas asked her as she picked it up.