Chapter Twenty-Two
Jake’s head was groggy when he woke to hear Aspen lightly clawing at the cabin door. Chuck was sleeping soundly on the other twin bed in the room, snoring softly and not waking up as Jake stumbled out of bed.
“I’m coming, Aspen,” he said. Jake was still in his clothing, obviously still a little intoxicated as he’d headed to sleep. He slipped into his runners and opened the door. He was instantly hit with the thick smoke smell from outside. If he wasn’t mistaken, this was different, closer somehow.
Aspen ran outside, and Jake stepped onto the porch. The dog was so quick to get out, Jake had forgotten to leash him. “Make it quick, Aspen.” It was still dark out, but Jake could see glowing orange above the surrounding forest. The fire was close. His heart raced as his mind tried to catch up. He had to wake the others, and get out of there.
Aspen barked and ran off toward the trees. In the darkness, Jake thought he saw the white fur of a rabbit racing away.
Jake ran after his dog. “Aspen! Aspen, stop right now!” The dog did no such thing, chasing the rabbit deeper into the woods.
They needed to get out of here, but he wasn’t going anywhere without his constant companion. He ran through the thick underbrush, catching his leg on a broken branch. He let out a curse but kept after the dog. He could still hear Aspen’s barks and spotted bushes swaying vigorously a hundred yards away.
“Aspen, stop!” he shouted at the top of his burning lungs. The smoke was so thick now, he was starting to cough. He leaned over, resting his hands on his thighs. Aspen hadn’t moved in the last few seconds, and Jake started for him again. He could hear the crackling of the fire now, and through the dense smoke he saw the flames.
“Aspen, we gotta go!” he shouted. He tried every trick in the book, and Aspen finally came to him. He rubbed his face into Jake’s legs, and Jake kept hold of the dog’s collar, not willing to risk letting him go to run away again.
They turned around, and Jake nearly doubled over. A wall of flames stretched between them and the cabin. He’d run close to a mile after Aspen, and the fire was close to them now. He’d have to find a way around it. He needed to get back to the cabin to warn the others.
The opposite direction from the cabin was clear but still covered in smoke, and the trees quickly became thicker and harder to maneuver through. Aspen kept close, and Jake wouldn’t let go of the scared dog’s collar. Aspen coughed a few times but kept moving.
Jake had to find water; he needed a makeshift mask. Hadn’t there been a river nearby? He knew the bridge they’d walked over last month was half a mile away, but the river would have to continue. They moved in the dark, the light of the fire in the distance enough to see where his steps would lead.
They moved that way for what seemed like hours, slowly trudging through the forest, trying to stay as far away from the flames as they could. The last thing he wanted was to be surrounded by fire. He’d do whatever it took to avoid that. His head was throbbing, a continuous pulse that sent pain down his neck and back every few seconds.
Eventually, Jake heard the sounds of the river rushing by. He ran for it as the sun started to peek through the dense smoke. It would be around five in the morning now, and he could only hope there was a path for him and Aspen to get around the flames. Jake worried the whole time about his friends and family back at the cabins. If only he’d alerted them before running after Aspen. He kept telling himself someone might have heard his shouts to the dog and woken up. He hoped that was true.
They arrived at the river’s edge, and Jake knelt down. He didn’t normally recommend drinking water like this, but he had no choice. He tested the water temperature with a finger before he let Aspen lick away at it, and Jake allowed himself a few swallows. He ripped a sleeve off his plaid shirt and soaked it before wrapping it around his face. He also convinced Aspen to take a dive and pulled him back onto the grass, where he rolled around.
Jake looked around, trying to assess his situation. It felt bleak. He could still see heavy fire between their location and where he’d started the walk through the forest. It was south. He had to go south and work around it to the highway. It was the only way. “Come on, boy.” He hugged Aspen around the neck, and the dog licked his face. “We have to get out of here.”
*
Summer couldn’t sleep. She’d had too much wine, and she was wound up with worry. Jake hadn’t replied, and at first she’d guessed they were busy or had made a no-phone rule. But after a couple of hours, she’d tried each guy there. No one replied. She was watching the radar of the fire online, and at three in the morning, an alert came through, saying the fires had spread rapidly down Vermont.
“Wake up!” Summer said. She was sharing a room with Trina, and her friend groaned before sitting up in her bed.
“What is it?” Trina sounded annoyed.
“The Pines. They’re suggesting an evacuation. The fires are an hour north already.” Summer was getting dressed, and she was glad she’d brought some practical clothes too. She slipped into an old pair of jeans and a sweatshirt before throwing on some runners.
“What?” Trina was out of bed now, groggily rubbing her eyes. “Where are you going to go? It’s three AM.”
“We have to get out of here, and I need to get to Jake.” Summer was ready to go when she realized she didn’t have a car with her. “Monique!” she called.
Mon came into the hall, looking put together even at this late hour, after drinking all night. “What’s going on?”
“They want everyone out of the Pines, and I need to get to the cabins. Does anyone have a car here?” Summer asked.
She shook her head. “I took the limo from Boston. Trina drove here.”
Trina threw her keys at Summer. “Take mine. We can all go together in the limo south.”
Summer knew it wouldn’t work. “It’s not automatic. I never learned to drive a stick.”
Kimber was in the hall now, dressed as well. “You can’t go alone. Let’s take the limo to the cabin.”
Lisa joined in. “My husband’s there too. I want to go.”
Summer’s mom appeared. “It’s settled. Everyone get your things together. We’re all taking the limousine to the cabin. We leave in five minutes. I’ll go wake the driver.” He was staying in a small unit, waiting to drive them all home in the morning before bringing Monique back to the city.
The smoke was thicker than it had been, and they had the radio playing the whole trip. Already, in the middle of the night, cars were leaving the Pines on the main road, racing away from the incoming fires.
“It looks like we may get some reprieve after all, Carl. A large system is moving in, and quickly. We’re projecting three inches of rain over the next twenty-four hours,” a woman’s voice said through the speakers.
“Thank God,” Barbara said. They were all white as ghosts; no one had showered and they all displayed day-old makeup and dishevelled hair. This wasn’t how Summer had expected the weekend to go. She tried to call Jake again but got a busy signal. She needed to get to him, to make sure he was all right. Most of the people she cared the most about in her life were either at the cabins or in this limo with her.
Every minute was agonizing as they made for the cabins, and when the roads became quieter the farther they got from civilization, she had a sinking feeling in her core. After an hour and a half of this, the driver slowed and came to a stop.
The front partition was down, and Summer looked through the windshield to see a road blockade ahead.
Her body tensed, and panic coursed through every thought in her head. She was about to scream when Kimber pointed. “That’s the van!” And she was right. Beside a police cruiser and an EMT ambulance sat a long white unmarked passenger van.
Summer flung the door open and ran the hundred yards to the van, shouting for Jake.
Her dad stepped from around the vehicles, where he’d been speaking to a police officer, and she knew something was wrong the instant she saw his expression.
She raced into his arms and felt his strong grasp on her back. “Where is he? Where’s Jake?” She was crying now, deep heavy sobs from her chest. The smoke-filled air caught in her lungs, and she began coughing, her throat quickly becoming raw.
“We don’t know, Sunshine. Stewart heard him call for Aspen in the middle of the night and got up to check. He was just gone, vanished. By the time Stewart roused everyone, the fire had snuck right up on us. We had to get out of there.” Her dad held her at arm’s length, and she scanned around them, seeing the rest of the guys. They looked dirty and tired.
“We wanted to stay and find him, Summer, but the fire was too bad,” Garrett said.
Jeff was hugging Kimber, and Lisa and Stewart stood to the side, holding hands.
“What are you doing about it?” Summer asked the police officers with them.
“We’re stretched thin as it is. We have to stay here to make sure no one goes in or out of the area,” the female officer said, and Summer’s stomach sank.
“Which way would he go?” she asked her dad.
“Honey, you can’t go in there,” Barbara said.
“He wouldn’t be that far. He’d go around the fire. He’d head south, I know it. He’d stay by the river.” Summer said it all because they’d been there together, and they each understood the terrain more than the others. Jake would do anything he had to, to survive, and that was how he’d do it. She was sure.
The police officer nodded. “That’s what he might have done, but we don’t know that.”
Summer moved to the back of the ambulance and grabbed a respirator from inside. “I do.”
She started for the forest line just as the sun started to show itself for another day. Rain poured down on her, mixing with her tears. She heard the others call for her to get back, that it wasn’t safe, but she was running fast, and their words fueled her need to find Jake.