BRADLEY
The smoke grows thickerthe farther we climb. The crackling of fire fills my ears, heat rising off the mountainside like a volcano on the verge of eruption. I see the fear in Tate’s eyes as she stops dead, staring at the embers flying off the raging forest.
“It’s a forest fire! We’re going to need?”
“Help!”
A young couple up ahead are blocked in by a fallen tree, the fire growing dangerously close to them as they huddle together. My eyes lock with Tate’s and she nods.
“We can use the straps I brought to help move it,” I call over the roar of the fire.
She doesn’t say anything, doesn’t need to. We make our way to the trunk and get busy, wrapping the straps around it and pulling together, as a team. The young couple pushes from the other side, and together the four of us manage to pull it far enough aside for them to safely slip through.
“Thank you!” the woman cries, mascara staining her cheeks.
“Yes, thank you! You saved our lives!” the man adds as they shimmy by.
“Get yourselves down the mountain and to safety!” Tate says. “We’ll be right behind you.”
They nod and take off running, scaling down the mountainside faster than the fall breeze that’s threatening to help ignite this fire into a blaze.
I grab my radio and try to contact the station, but all I get is static. “There’s no signal up here. We’ll have to head back down and?”
A deafening crack fills the air as another trunk begins to snap. The tree comes clambering down toward us, hellbent on landing right where Tate stands. “Look out!” I dive forward and push her out of the way, sending us both sprawling farther up the rough terrain.
She lands on top of me, her eyes wide as saucers as the tree comes crashing down where we lay. Terror fills her eyes, and I can tell she isn’t breathing, but she scrambles off of me and grabs one of my hands, trying to hoist me to my feet.
“Fuck!” I scream out as sharp pain shoots throughout my ankle. Looking down, I see that it’s twisted in a grotesque and inhuman manner. “Don’t look!”
But Tate lifts my pant leg and rolls my sock down, involuntary winces escaping my lips with every touch. “It’s dislocated. I have to?”
“Just do it,” I groan, opting to look away. “Just do it, Tate. We don’t have time.”
“Okay,” she says. Her hands shake as she grabs my foot, popping my ankle back into place with a sickening pop.
Damn. Fuck.
“Ugh! Shit!” I try to keep the words to myself, but I can’t help but a few sneak past my lips.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Jenkins.” Her hands caress my skin, softly. “It’s done now. You’re all right. You need to rest it for a bit.”
“No time for that now!” I look back and see we’re now completely blocked in. The fire blazes to our right, growing rapidly as it engulfs every tree in its path. The mountainside has become a smokey blur of grays and reds and, though we can’t get back down, we can’t stay here.
“Come on,” I yell, taking Tate’s hand. “Help me up. We have to keep moving.”
“You sure you can walk?”
I nod, my teeth gritted tight from the pain. She lifts me up and wraps my arm over her shoulders, steadying me as I start hopping along the path.
“Oh God, I… What are we gonna do?” she cries. Tears well up in her eyes, but she quickly swats them away with her hand. “I mean, what should we do, Jenkins?”
The way she pushes past her fears and is emboldened by her last bit of bravery leaves me even more enthralled in this woman than before. “We need to find somewhere safe to stay until they can put this fire out and come rescue us. Somewhere out of the wind and smoke.”
“I know a place,” she says, catching me completely off guard.
“You do?”
“Come on!”
As she leads me up the mountainside, a little stone cave comes into view. It’s a ways off the main path, but a small, weathered walkway indicates it’s safe to trek to.
“Well, I’ll be damned. Good thinking, Tate.”