Strong

by Natalie Debrabandere

  “Damn it!” Kate exclaimed.

  “It’s okay, I’ll go talk to them.”

  Ashley jumped out and went to speak to the guy in charge, and when she ran back down to the Jeep Kate was already getting ready to walk.

  “They won’t let us through?” she said.

  “No.”

  “I can't believe it!” Kate exclaimed, furious. “Have you told him we have a friend up there?”

  “Yes, of course. But theirs is not a rescue mission at this point.”

  “This is so fucked up," Kate fumed. "But never mind. I’ll walk.”

  She turned and rested a hand on Ashley’s shoulder.

  “You’re not,” she added.

  “Don’t tell me what to do,” Ashley said evenly.

  She reached into the car and grabbed her rucksack.

  She started walking.

  “Give Marion a call and tell her what we’re doing,” she said over her shoulder. “Let’s go, doc.”

  Kate shook her head. She slammed the Jeep door shut and hurried after Ashley. So very much like Tyler, she thought. Oh God, I hope we find her.

  Tyler went down on her hands and knees for the third time in ten minutes. She swore under her breath, and then gave herself a quick second to catch her breath and readjust her prosthetic. Ahead of her Annette was still going strong.

  “Never thought I’d get dropped by a sixty-two year old,” Tyler muttered.

  Annette was wearing a skirt and a pair of espadrilles, and she was literally flying down the path. Where they were Tyler did not have a clue. Not on the path that Kate had told her to take, she knew that, and she was not entirely sure that this was a good thing. Her heart tightened at the thought of Kate, and it gave her the strength to get up once more. She could see that Annette had stopped and was waiting for her. Tyler caught up with her, and she was surprised when the woman gestured for her to sit down.

  Too tired to ask why, she did as she was told, and she watched as the woman ripped the sleeves off her own shirt.

  “Now what are you doing?” she asked drowsily.

  “Tu saignes,” Annette informed her, and she leaned forward a little to wrap the length of fabric around Tyler’s head.

  “Ah. Yeah, okay,” Tyler said, and she leaned back a little. "Thanks..."

  “Tyler,” Annette called urgently.

  She shook the younger woman until Tyler’s eyes snapped open again.

  “Sorry,” Tyler sighed. “I’m a bit slow just now.”

  She coughed. There was a lot of smoke in the air now. She wondered if they were going the right way, away from the fire, and if it was simply catching up with them.

  She looked at Annette and saw deep worry reflected in her eyes. Smiling gently, she reached out for her and squeezed her arm.

  “Hey, don’t worry,” she said. “We'll be fine.”

  “I think we’re lost,” Annette blurted out.

  Tyler stared at her, eyes wide.

  “You speak English?” she said.

  Annette burst out laughing.

  “Un peu,” she admitted shyly.

  “Un peu, right?” Tyler repeated with a grin of her own.

  She allowed herself to rest for a little while longer. How much worse could it get, she thought. So now on top of everything they were lost.

  “Désolée,” Annette said softly.

  Tyler smiled at her, determined to keep them thinking positive. She had noticed that Annette looked a bit pale now, and genuinely frightened. She could not afford to follow her down that road or they would both be toast, literally. She had done a lot harder things in the Marines on training, and she been in a lot more nasty situations on countless operations.

  She knew she could beat this one hands down.

  “Don’t worry, it's fine,” she repeated. “We’re going to find a way out, I just know it.”

  She examined the terrain all around them. Typical Provencal landscape, she reflected. White rocks in the distance, and miles and miles of garrigue in between. Brambles and bushes, rosemary, thyme, pine trees. Perfect kindling, she realised grimly. The air was hot and smoky, and the pain in her head seemed to be getting worse. Not looking so good, she thought privately.

  Once again she found herself drifting. If Annette has not grabbed her and pulled her up she probably would have gone to sleep right there.

  “Don’t let me sit down again,” Tyler said firmly.

  Kate’s throat was aching from yelling out Tyler’s name over and over. Both she and Ashley had tied wet scarves to the back of their necks and pulled them up and over their mouth and nose. Ashley was doing the navigating, and she was keeping them going back and forth across the fire road that Tyler would have been on. Should have been on. They searched every inch of the woods on both sides of it as they made their way slowly up the hill, and still they could not find any sign of her.

  It had taken them a long time to make it up to Annette’s house, and that was when they had found the Jeep. Before Ashley could tell her to be careful, Kate had jumped straight down the hill, rolled a few times, and come to a stop against the car.

  Tyler’s mobile phone was abandoned on the floor and the vehicle was empty.

  “Where is she?” Kate had cried desperately, out of breath with fear and anguish. “Damn it Ash, there’s blood all over this thing!”

  “Look, if she’s not here, it’s a good sign,” Ashley had reminded her calmly. “Okay? Means she’s walking and on her way down. Now we just have to find her. Can’t be that far.”

  Two hours later and they were still searching.

  “What’s Marion saying?” Ashley asked as they paused for a minute.

  She had to squint to see Kate through the heavy dust surrounding them. This was hard going, and she could not understand why they had not found Tyler yet.

  Ashley had to believe that she would have headed down away from the direction the fire was coming from, but she caught herself wondering if they might be wrong thinking that. Although she had total faith in her friend's abilities, she knew that if she was injured, Tyler might not be thinking straight.

  She kept her thoughts to herself, knowing how worried Kate already was. They just had to keep going.

  “The fire is still being held off on the other side of the hill,” Kate told her. “For how long I don’t know. David is at the harbour with Marion.”

  "Good, I'm glad he's with her."

  "He's trying to round up some more people to help us with the search, but they are still busy evacuating as well."

  Kate scanned the woods around them and hated being here with a vengeance. She hated knowing that Tyler was lost somewhere in this wilderness, and that she was unable to get to her.

  “Let’s go,” she said tersely, and started going down again.

  “Hang on, Kate,” Ashley said.

  “What?”

  “Shh…”

  Ashley stood with her head cocked to the side, listening intently. “Did you hear that?” she asked.

  Kate froze in place.

  "I can't hear anything..."

  "Just listen for a second," Ashley insisted.

  At first all that Kate could hear was the roar of the wind burning through the trees. Then she focused on something else that sounded a whole lot more promising.

  “Whistle?” she ventured.

  “Yes!” Ashley beamed. “This way! Let’s go!”

  They went crashing through the woods, running now. A couple of times they stopped, and the whistle kept on going. Please let it be her, Kate was praying as she ran. Please, please let her be okay.

  They ran down about a mile and a half through ankle breaking terrain, and then Ashley stopped and pointed at something in the distance.

  “I think it's them!” she exclaimed. “Gotta be. Come on!”

  The look of relief on Annette's face when they finally caught up with her was indescribable. She grabbed Ashley and immediately started chatting to her in excited French. This made absolutely no sense t
o Kate, and she still could not see Tyler.

  "Ash, where the hell is Ty?" she shouted.

  She looked wildly around her until she spotted her lover a little way behind, covered in blood, and limping slowly toward them.

  "Jesus," she exclaimed. "Tyler!"

  She ran toward her, almost falling over in her haste to get to her.

  “Hey doc,” Tyler said as Kate finally reached her.

  She looked exhausted, but she forced a smile when she spotted the fearful look in Kate's deep brown eyes.

  "Don't worry, I'm okay," she said quickly.

  Kate immediately wrapped her arms around her.

  “You don’t look it.”

  She hugged her fiercely.

  "Sit down so I can have a look at you," she advised.

  Tyler did not have to be told twice. She knew they should keep moving, but the temptation to stop and rest was overwhelming. She tried not to let it show though, and she did her best to hide how bad she was actually feeling.

  "Sorry, we got a little lost," she sighed. "Did you hear me whistle?"

  Kate smiled a little as she used her wet scarf to wipe some of the blood off Tyler's face.

  “Yes. Good lungs. Makes up for leaving your phone in the car I suppose.”

  “Ah, yeah... Guess I wasn't thinking properly.”

  "Weren’t you? Why not? Did you hit your head?"

  "Uh... yeah."

  "Lost consciousness?"

  Tyler hesitated, and Kate shot her a warning look.

  "The truth, and nothing but the truth, captain. So?"

  Tyler had no choice but to come clean.

  "I did, but it was only for a few seconds."

  "All right."

  Kate glanced toward Ashley, who was looking after Annette and giving her a little food and water. Surprisingly, the older woman looked extremely well after their ordeal. Tyler did not.

  She was covered in dust and bleeding, and despite her lover's attempts at reassuring her, Kate was genuinely worried about her.

  She carefully peeled Annette’s improvised bandage off her head, wincing at the size of the cut just below her hairline.

  It was deep, and it looked serious.

  “Bloody hell, Tyler,” she murmured. “It‘s a wonder you managed to make it down this far.”

  “I’ve got Annette to thank for that. How is she doing?”

  "Doing well Ty, don't worry," Ashley informed her from behind.

  Kate reached into her bag for some disinfectant and some gauze. She cleaned Tyler's wound as best she could and wrapped a clean bandage around her head.

  “You'll need stitches but this will do for now. Can you see me okay?” she asked.

  Tyler shrugged a little.

  “Yeah,” she said, although her eyes were burning and her vision was a little blurred.

  She figured telling Kate about it would not change how she felt, so there was no need to share the information.

  "Does anything else hurt?"

  “No, I'm good," Tyler assured her.

  Kate gave an impatient shake of the head. She had a pretty good idea how Tyler really felt at this precise moment, and good was definitely not one of the options.

  She pulled her against her and wrapped her arms around her safely.

  "You know you don't have to pretend when you're with me, right?"

  In spite of herself Tyler closed her eyes and let herself rest against Kate.

  “I know, doc...” she murmured.

  Ashley squatted down next to them.

  “How are things with Ty?” she enquired.

  “Concussed, I think, although she won't admit to it. We need help getting out of here, Ash.”

  “Already took care of it. I spoke to David and he is going to get the Rescue helicopter to come get us.”

  “When?”

  “Just waiting for an update on ETA right now.”

  “How many can they take?”

  “It’s a Sea King. They’ll take all of us.”

  Kate stared at the horizon. She could not see any flames yet, but the sky was hot all around them. She looked down at Tyler and gently cradled her head against her shoulder.

  “Won’t be long now sweetheart,” she whispered softly to her.

  Tyler was lost in thoughts of another time, when another helicopter had come for her. She reached for Kate.

  "I don't like helicopters," she murmured.

  Her eyes were still closed but Kate could see the tension in her face.

  “Hey, Ty, look at me for a second,” she said.

  Tyler blinked a few times and focused on her face.

  "Hi," she croaked.

  Kate rested a gentle hand on her cheek and smiled at her.

  “I know what you’re thinking honey, but this is different this time, okay? I am coming with you. Nothing bad is going to happen. Just hang in there.”

  Tyler nodded slowly, and her eyes closed again.

  “I know… Just memories,” she sighed.

  Just then Ashley tapped Kate on the shoulder and passed her the phone.

  “Marion wants to talk to you,” she said.

  Kate turned around and grabbed the mobile.

  "Hi mate," she said.

  "Hi, how are you?"

  “I am going to be so happy when we get off this stupid hill,” Kate exclaimed, her voice heavy with sudden fatigue.

  “I know,“ Marion said with feeling. “Are you okay? Ash tells me Tyler looks like the lead in a horror movie.”

  Kate rolled her eyes, and Ashley gave a soft laugh and a guilty shrug.

  “Marines humour. Just trying to keep her spirits up I think,” Kate remarked. "Any news on the chopper?"

  Ashley glanced at Kate at that instant, and she frowned when she saw the stricken look on her face.

  “What?” she asked, immediately on the alert.

  Kate shook her head, listening intently.

  When she put the phone down her expression was sombre.

  “What's going on?” Ashley repeated impatiently.

  "The helo’s not coming."

  “What? Why not?”

  “It’s not safe enough to fly. Kind of makes sense, really.”

  Ashley swore a few times.

  “Damn it,” she exclaimed. “It’s going to take us a couple of hours at least!”

  “I know. So we better get going, right?”

  Ashley gave a tight nod and went to speak to Annette, whilst Kate gently shook Tyler awake.

  "I've got news," she said.

  “Let me guess, we’re on our own,” Tyler pre-empted her.

  “Afraid so. It’s too dangerous to fly in for them now, and for us, so we are going to have to walk.”

  Tyler rubbed her face with both hands and stared up at the sky.

  “Sure, why not,” she muttered. “I can walk. No problem.”

  “How is your head?”

  “I could do with being in a cool dark room right now. But never mind.”

  “I know. I’ll get you there soon. Want to wear my sunglasses? Might help a little.”

  Tyler let Kate pull her up and slipped on her sunglasses.

  “Hey, doc.”

  “Yes?”

  “I’m sorry I got you into this mess.”

  Kate narrowed her eyes at her. This sounded a lot like the conversation they had had once before. Tyler blaming herself for events way beyond her control.

  Kate threw her arms around her and hugged her hard.

  “I wanted to come get you,” she said. "Now I am taking you home. Nothing else. Nothing you wouldn't do for me. Okay? No big deal."

  Tyler buried her face against the side of her neck.

  “Okay. I love you,” she murmured.

  "I love you too, babe."

  Kate let her go, albeit very reluctantly.

  “Let’s do this thing, captain,” she said firmly. “You owe me dinner in town, so let’s get cracking.”

  “Ready to go, ladies?” Ashley asked.

&nbs
p; Her eyes were on the horizon, and she looked worried. Kate resisted the urge to look back at the darkening skies and the huge columns of smoke that seemed to be getting closer all the time.

  “I'll race you home,” Tyler declared.

  Annette went first, followed by Ashley. Tyler slotted in right behind her friend, and Kate went last, to be able to keep an eye on her partner.

  They started at a fast pace, and once they got going no one turned back. Heads down, they ploughed on, through the increasing heat and gathering smoke.

  After a while, despite the conditions, despite her head, and despite her prosthetic, Tyler naturally fell into a rhythm. She vaguely registered when hot ash started to rain down on them, but she did not dare slow down. Only once did she turn around to look back at Kate, and gestured for her to catch up.

  "Stay beside me, okay?" she said. "I don't want to lose you in all this clag."

  Kate nodded and she took her hand, and they both pressed on.

  Tyler had been there before, with the Marines. On never ending training exercises, in the mountains, through the desert. She knew that pain, that point well beyond exhaustion, when you just had to put your head down, and keep going. She could do that. With Kate by her side, she could easily walk a hundred miles through the fire if she had to.

  It took them three long hours to get off the hills, and by the time they made it back to the road the fire had once more shifted direction. It looked like they were in the clear.

  “You guys wait here, I’ll go get the car,” Ashley commanded.

  “Je viens avec toi,” Annette said immediately.

  Tyler opened her mouth to speak, but Kate pulled her firmly to the side.

  "You and I are going to take it slow, okay?"

  “If I sit down now I won’t be able to get up again Kate,” Tyler said tiredly.

  “Would it be such a bad thing?”

  “Yeah. Can't quit now.”

  “Right. Is it a marines thing, this annoying stubbornness?”

  "I think it's just a me thing," Tyler said after a second's hesitation.

  Kate chuckled.

  She remained by Tyler’s side as they slowly walked up the hill a little way behind Ashley and Annette. After a while Tyler started to laugh. She leaned against her lover, still standing up, laughing as blood slowly trickled down the side of her face. Kate wrapped her arm around her shoulders and she frowned.