There’s no response to her statement that doesn’t have me agreeing with her, which at this moment is a rather shitty thing to say. She shows remorse and is upset at what she’s putting everybody through. But again, it’s our job to protect these mountains and everybody and everything on top of them as best we can.
“Jace, get moving. Two sides of the fire are about to get married. So move your ass west and move now.”
“Shit.” I grab the radio and respond. “Copy that. Okay, Trouble, we’re goin’ to have to move and move fast. Are you ready?”
She nods and stands, but wobbles, and I check her feet, and her shoes have been compromised by the fire. They don’t have much support. Shit. She gains her balance and walks, but flinches on her feet for a few steps before gritting her teeth and toughing it out.
Fuck. Her feet are destroyed on top of everything else.
I’m tempted to throw her over my shoulder in a firefighter’s carry, but something tells me she’ll fight me on that. I’ll hold off until necessary.
“Keep up with me, okay?”
I throw everything into the bag and sprint in front of the woman. She nods, and I start us off on a jog. I want to run, but there’s no way her feet will handle it. I’m constantly looking over my shoulder, and she’s sticking close to me, watching my feet.
“Coop, we’re heading west. How long do we have?”
Out of nowhere, a massive tree in flames drops in front of us. I turn and cover Larissa with my body until the ground stops shaking. I lift my head. We’re blocked off from the direction we need to head.
“Come on.” I grab Larissa’s hand and start running south. I radio to Coop. “Change of plans. We’re blocked off, so we’re heading south. Tell me we’ll beat the blaze.” I’m running out of breath as adrenaline courses through my body.
I frown at the wheeze from Larissa’s breath. She’s been out in this smoke with no proper gear for far too long.
“Jace, move your ass.”
I’m doing that, but the smoke has now been met with the flames, and it’s moving fast. The two sides of the blaze I can see in the distance are going to be circling us in no time if we can’t make it through there.
“Fuck.” I turn, grab Larissa, and throw her over my shoulder in a fireman’s carry. She yelps but says nothing and makes no sudden movements. I push my legs as hard as I can and run with everything I have in me.
The radio has Coop yelling at the other helicopters to get the water dropped now. But I don’t focus on anything but the destination of running down the mountain and hitting through the line before the fire meets.
Larissa’s breath wheezes in my ear, but she stays still, and I hold her tight as the heat bears down on us, and I struggle to get oxygen. I drop my mask over my face and hope it helps.
The fires are now in front of me and close to connecting. I yell and push as hard as I can, but the flames are fierce and determined to trap us within their ring of hell.
“Dump it.” Coop yells into the radio, and the fires and I are about to meet, when a sudden rainfall flows down on top of us, and slows the fire’s progression, and then another large dump occurs. I don’t stop running, I keep moving. The fire needs to be behind us.
I keep the pace for another minute before I slow down to a jog, but I don’t dare stop. I’m breathing heavily, pushing my body to its max. Still holding on to Larissa, who hasn’t said a word or moved, but lies over my shoulder, fighting for breath.
“You okay, Trouble?”
“For this situation, yes. Are you okay?” Her voice is quiet and emotional. At this point, I ignore it, since we’re still in a dangerous situation.
My body shakes from the strain and stamina, and my chest gulps for air, but I say breathlessly. “Oh, this. Yeah, I’m good. Just peachy.”
It softens the mood, and Larissa chuckles.
“Jace, you there?”
“I’m here. Where can we get picked up?”
“Damn, you lucky son-of-a-bitch.”
Several people laugh over the radio. Knowing most of those men are my crew. When the line frees up, I radio in. “Hey, it’s not over til it’s over. Now get us the hell out of here.”
“Can you let me down now?” Larissa’s soft voice asks.
With a perimeter check, as long as we don’t stop and walk fast, we might be okay until we get to where Coop plans to extract us. I lower Larissa to her feet and make sure she’s steady,but I keep hold of her hand as we walk. She hisses but bites her lip to continue walking.
