“Quit your bitching,” Gram said, passing us on the stairs. “It’s not that bad.”
My mouth snapped shut as Curt started to snicker.
“Is this a dead body?” Curt yelled after her. “Am I helping you hide a dead body?”
“If you were, you wouldn’t be packing it into my car,” Gram replied without missing a beat. She strode out of sight.
As soon as everything was packed and ready to go, we found ourselves sitting around the gloomy living room. Even with all of the curtains pulled wide, there was barely enough sunshine making it through the smoke to lighten the room.
“Your mom and dad still planning on waiting it out?” Gramps asked, patting Gram’s thigh. She was sitting on his lap and I wasn’t sure what it said about any of us that the scene was perfectly normal.
“That’s what they’re sayin’,” I replied. “But Mom’s strung tight as a wire.”
“She’s always been like that,” Gram said with a grin. “If your dad is staying, she will, too.”
“I’d stay here if it was just me,” Gramps added. “But she’d insist on stayin’, too, and drive me up the fuckin’ wall with her worryin’.”
“There’s no reason to stay if we don’t have to,” Gram said easily, shaking her head. “There’s nothing we can do if the fire gets close enough to burn our shit, and I don’t want to get stuck in it.”
“Are Aunt Cecilia and Mark stayin’ home?” Curtis asked.
“I think they’re just waiting for us to leave,” Gram said with an indulgent smile. “They’ll probably head down south for a little while and visit their people in San Diego until the smoke clears. You know how Olive’s allergies are. She’s miserable with this smoke. Poor thing.”
As we sat around talking, the room grew darker and darker. No one said anything and I wasn’t even sure if they noticed until my Gramps looked out the window and sighed. “Alright, Ladybug. We better get on the road.”
“I’m going to look outside and see if I can see anything,” Charlie said quietly to me.
“Like what?” I asked. “Flames?”
“The smoke is thick as fuck,” she replied grimly. “It has to be getting closer.”
I followed her outside and pulled my shirt up over my mouth and nose. The smoke was thicker.
“I don’t see any flames or anything,” I said, glancing her way. “Do you?”
“Nah,” she shook her head but kept staring in the direction of the fire. “But it looks different, doesn’t it?”
It did look different. Not brighter or darker, but maybe the color was off? I couldn’t tell, but I agreed with her. Something was different.
As we went back inside, I got another notification on my phone.
“Is that the emergency notification thing?” Charlie asked, craning her neck to see the screen. “I haven’t gotten any.”
“Yeah,” I replied. It was another message reminding us that we were in the level two evacuation zone. Be ready.
Charlie pulled out her phone. “I’m going to see if the zone lines have changed,” she said, tapping at the screen. She was quiet for a few moments. “Oh, shit.”
“What’s up?” I asked peering over her shoulder.
“Look how much it’s moved,” she said quietly, scrolling to a screenshot from earlier in the day. “Its way closer.”
“And there’s the fuckin’ apartments,” I said darkly, pointing at a spot just inside the red zone. “Motherfucker.”
“She must be headed to her parents’ house already,” Charlie said as I strode toward the front door. “She wouldn’t just stay there.”
“You’re not gettin’ notifications?” I asked. “She might not be either. Try and call her.”
“What’s up?” Curt asked.
“You takin’ Gramps’ bike?” I asked him.
“Already took it over to Grease’s,” Gramps replied before Curt could.
“We moved the important stuff yesterday,” Gram joked.
“As it should be,” Curt said seriously, pointing his finger at our gram. He looked at me. “What’s goin’ on?”
“Looks like the apartments are level three,” I told him. “You got anything you want to go grab?”
“If you’re in level three, roads might be closed already,” Gramps said with a grimace.
“We’ll figure it out,” I replied. “We know the back roads better than any of the out of towners. Curt?”
“I wanna grab a couple things,” he replied with a nod. “You got everything you needed?” he asked Charlie.
“I brought all my stuff here,” she said with a nod. “It’s in my car. Kara’s not answering.”
“I’ll check your place. Text if you need us to grab anything,” I told her. “You guys all set?” I asked my grandparents.
“We’re headin’ out now,” Gramps answered. “You go get done whatever you need to.”
“Keep me posted,” Charlie ordered as we all exited the house, heading for our vehicles.
“We will,” Curt replied, pulling his shirt over his face. “Fuck, this is nasty.”
“Gonna get worse before it’s better,” I replied as I hopped in the truck.
I wasn’t sure how the apartments were part of the level three evacuation zone, since they were much closer to town, but I wasn’t going to question it. If I’d learned anything in the past few days of watching the news, it was that fires were unpredictable as fuck, didn’t care about what was in their path, and didn’t move in any kind of a straight line.