A young man ran past them toward the group. “Another fire! Southeast near town. We’re going to be surrounded.”
Blake didn’t say a thing, but Kris had to push her tired legs to keep up with his quickened pace. She glanced back at Hannah, who looked from the group to them, and back and forth.
“We’ll get you to your dad, Hannah. He’ll let you know what you guys should do,” Kris assured her.
“He will. My dad is really smart, like rocket-science smart.”
“Hannah!” A tall, lanky man ran toward them as if he hadn’t run in years and forgot where to put his long arms.
“Dad!” Hannah bolted to meet him, letting her dad wrap her in a hug as she sobbed. “I’m sorry about the car, Dad. I didn’t do anything. It just sputtered and lit on fire. I swear I didn’t do anything.”
“Shh, it’s okay, Sweetie. It wasn’t your fault.” He looked up at them and met Kris’s eyes and then Blake’s. “You brought my girl home. I will forever be in your debt.”
“No debt. Though if you have an idea of what is really going on...” Blake looked toward the sky where the smoke and clouds covered the aurora and back to the man. “And I think you do. You should get out of here.”
Hannah’s dad kissed her on the head and pulled himself partly away, though he kept a protective arm around the girl. He reached out a hand. “Arland Walters.”
“Blake Chantry.”
Surprise filled Kris. Blake didn’t often give much information away. Something about Hannah’s dad must have impressed him.
“Kris.” She shook his hand, noting its smoothness and gentle grip.
“And this is Tucker, Dad. He’s the smartest little guy I have ever met.” Hannah motioned to the boy stirring in Blake’s arms.
“Are we home?” Tucker’s voice tugged at Kris’s heart.
“Not yet, Sweetie. Soon,” Kris soothed, brushing his hair back.
“Here, buddy. Why don’t you stretch your legs a bit while Mr. Walters and I have a quick chat?”
Kris looked up at the sky and the ash that gently fell around them. They didn’t have time to talk, yet she had to trust Blake. He wouldn’t put them in unnecessary danger.
“Why don’t you guys come to my house and at least refill your waters before you have to go on? It’s just right there.” Hannah pointed to a house just down the road.
“We won’t be staying long, but a refill would be a good idea.” Blake turned to Arland. “Water’s still working?”
“For now. I think there’s still pressure left over.”
Blake nodded. “Kris, go ahead and take Tucker in to refill those waters, but don’t dawdle.”
Kris wanted to chirp back a snide yes sir, but she just turned to do as he bade. Now was not the time to make little digs. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, she and Tucker needed him to get home safely. She glanced back to see Blake leaning close to the lanky man, his voice serious and earnest.
~*~
Blake immediately felt a need to warn Arland of the dangers that lay in their future. Something about the man made him realize the survival of the people in this neighborhood would lie in hands of men like him. Arland didn’t shout “leader quality,” but it lay hidden just under the surface of his nerdy, scientisty exterior.
“You know what’s going on, don’t you?” Blake asked.
“My bets are on a CME, like in 1859.”
“Yeah, like that, except these days our lives are structured around all that has just failed.”
“I don’t understand. I thought they had warning systems.” Arland pinched the bridge of his nose.
“They’re limited, but yeah. I don’t know why they didn’t use them, at least here. Who knows what it’s like down in the cities.”
“Thank goodness for that. You and I both know the chaos this would do with that density of population.”
“Exactly.” Blake nodded his head, the respect for this man growing with their conversation. “What are your plans?”
“I may be a scientist, Blake, but I’m no survival expert. I’ve been running the numbers and coming up with the same answer—run.”
“Unfortunately, that would be my advice, too.”
“North?”
“Yeah, and settle near a creek where you have a good view point within easy access that is up out of the smoke.” He looked up into the smoky sky. “All this will settle in the low spots. Bring as much water as you can and a pan to boil it once you run out. Blankets. Food. Anything you have to hunt with. It’s not going to be easy, Arland. Morals sometimes have to flee when you are fighting for the survival of your family.”
Arland’s gaze shifted back towards his house as Hannah led Kris and Tucker back out. “Thank you.”
“There’s more...” Blake continued to give him a quick version of Survival 101 while Kris watched from a distance. He saw the worry on her face and did his best to impart all he could as precious time ticked by.
“I appreciate you sharing all of this. I’m not sure why you are, or why you picked me, but thank you.” Arland shook his hand.
“You just keep that girl safe. She’s tough, but she needs you right now.” Blake nodded to Kris, who took Tucker’s hand and met him. “Say goodbye to Hannah, son. We have to get going before we can’t make it back.”
“Would you want to stay?” Arland asked as he shifted his weight and gripped his hands tightly in front of him.
“Thanks, but we need to be home.”
“Yeah, we have...” Tuck began.
“It’s where we belong, right, Tuck?” Blake cut off his son before he could give away vital information.
Tucker’s eyes widened, and he nodded his head. “Yeah, we belong at home.”
Kris gave Hannah a hug and whispered something in the girl’s ears that made her smile and nod. Then she shook Arland’s hand. “You have quite the daughter. I wish you both the best of luck.”
Arland wrapped his arm around his daughter. “Together, we can make it through anything, right?”
“Right,” Hannah said as she leaned against her dad for support. Her face was still covered in soot and exhaustion dulled her eyes, but Blake knew that girl would not go down without a fight. She might cry through it, but she’d keep pushing. “Thank you, all of you, for getting me home.”
“Of course, may we see you again.” Blake nodded, reached back for Tucker’s hand and walked down the road.
“Will we make it in time?” Kris whispered before looking up at the orange sky, blinking back the ash.
“If we cut through the forest and across the gully. You up for it?” He slowed so he didn’t drag his son.
“I’m up for it,” Tucker said with a yawn.
“Whatever will get us home safely.” Kris met his eyes briefly before ruffing up Tucker’s hair. “You’ve been such a trooper.”
“Yes, you have.” Blake scooped the boy up and put him on his shoulders. They only protested the added weight a little. With his family now by his side, he felt unstoppable.
The group still stood around in the distance. Blake squeezed his fists. He didn’t trust a group of people in situations like this. Chaos was sure to follow, especially when they realized just how serious this event was.
An empty lot opened up next to them. Quickly and quietly, he took Kris’s hand and pulled her into the safety of the trees. Once behind the screen of trees, he stopped and put Tucker back on his feet.
“I’m going to need you to walk for a while. It’s too dangerous to carry you on my shoulders in the dark.”
“Because a tree branch could knock me off?”
“That’s right, Tuck.” He looked toward his wife, who scanned the darkness around them. He knew she feared the woods at night, and with a fire chasing them down, who could blame her. “We’re going to head east through the forest and down into the gully. Once there, if we follow the creek, it will take us right to our property.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Her voice quivered, making him
want to take her in his arms.
“It’s just precautionary, Kris.” He reached out a tentative hand to brush the soot from her cheek. “We’re going to make it.”
She bit her lip and nodded. He always had been able to count on her to keep her resolve in dangerous situations. It was one of the many things he fell in love with. She had an inner strength that most couldn’t even fathom. In fact, he drew on that strength now. Hoping to be the man she needed him to be. Hoping to win a place back by her side and in her heart.
“It’s just like a night hike, Tuck.” She clasped the boy’s hand and started walking through the trees.
“Except it’s more survival-like, for real, with a fire chasing us down!”
Blake did his best to restrain the smile trying to force its way out. He had to hand it to the kid for his excitement and making the best of the situation. Yet, this was no game, and true survival was on the line. He glanced at Kris. The hard line of her lips let him know she didn’t like Tucker making this into a game. She was smart though, and what she said next only solidified his high opinion of her.
“And we’re the survivalists having to storm through the woods, jump over fallen logs, avoid other people, and make it back to base camp.”
“Yeah, and if we see any game on our way, we should hunt it for food. I wish I had my bow.” He put his arms in archery position and released pretend arrows with whooshes at imaginary creatures hiding in the dark.
“You’ve kept up your practice?”
“Almost every day!”
Delight filled Blake, even with danger rushing toward them and no idea what lay in store for them, or the world for that matter. He enjoyed being back with his family. A rightness filled him. He would make sure they survived. In fact, he would make sure they thrived.
~6~
Kris watched her son shoot at imaginary game and bad guys as they made their way as quickly as possible through the dense forest. She knew that it would open up slightly soon, but then they would be in another creek canyon. Thankfully, this one was wider and less steep than the one they barely made it through just an hour or so before.
The smoke in the air burned her already parched throat. Without stopping, she hoisted the backpack she had taken from Tucker and brought out the water bottle. She took a slow drink, allowing the water to cool her mouth and throat. Less than half of the bottle sloshed around when she stopped, and she still wished for more. With a few quick steps, she sidled up to Tucker and handed him the bottle.
“Thanks, Mommy. My throat feels all rough.”
“It’s from the smoke, Sweetie. It should feel better tomorrow.” She watched as he almost finished off the bottle.
“Sorry, I almost drank it all before asking Daddy if he wants some.” His kindness burned at her heart.
Knowing that he had his dad to rely on again, for a while at least, warmed her even more. Who knew when Blake would leave again. Though, he had said he was done...
She watched Blake’s reaction to their son offering him the last bit of their water. He took the bottle reverently but then handed it back. “It’s okay, Tuck. I have a few more bottles in my pack. You go ahead.”
Kris bent down and kissed him on the cheek. “You are very thoughtful to think of others.”
“You sure?” Tucker questioned.
“Yep,” Blake said as he shifted his bag around and dug out another bottle. “See?”
“Okay.” The word had hardly left his mouth before he had downed the rest of the water.
Kris’s mouth watered at the thought of more, but she didn’t know how much they might still need. She swallowed painfully, took the empty bottle from Tuck, and shoved it into the pack before readjusting it to her back.
“Here.” Blake’s voice had softened as he handed her the bottle. “There are two more in here, and we’re almost back.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, taking the bottle and swallowing two large drinks.
“You still have that aloe plant at home?”
“Yeah,” she said, thinking of how big it had grown since he had left.
“Good. We can mix some with water and drink it once we get back. It will help our throats, and the filtered air will help our lungs.”
“And your face, Dad.”
“You really expect us to go into that bunker?”
“Wouldn’t you rather not sleep in fear of the fire tearing down our house in the middle of the night?”
“Hmmphf.” Kris didn’t like it when he was right. A night in the bunker wouldn’t be too bad, except there was only the one large bed plus a hammock for Tucker. Maybe she could convince Blake to sleep in the hammock. An inner laugh shook her with the image of Blake’s massive body hanging out all sides of the child’s hammock.
They had several slumber parties in there after Blake installed the bunker. The whole idea wowed Tucker. Staying underground and all of them in one room made a fun adventure for the boy. Now, though, the thought of being trapped in such small quarters with her husband who had been gone for a year...well, let’s just say it wasn’t a comfortable thought.
She squeezed her arms around her just as her foot caught on an unseen stump. She threw her hands out to catch her fall as she crashed onto the forest floor. A piercing worse than anything she had ever felt slashed into her palm. She gasped and pulled her hand to her chest as she rolled to her back.
“Mommy!” Tucker ran over to her.
“It’s okay, Tuck.” She did her best to reassure him, but her voice sounded strained and breathless even to her.
“You’re hurt.” Blake stood over her and then squatted, his hands roaming her body.
“Stop. I’ll be fine. Just stuck my hand with something.” Kris bit her cheeks, both from the pain and from the crazy emotions rolling through her from his hands all over her.
Blake turned on his headlamp, which he had said they should keep off in order to not draw any attention to themselves. He shined it on the hand she still clutched to her chest. It throbbed and burned. The last thing she wanted to do was open it.
“Let me see.” His demand held no room for argument, and grudgingly she brought her hand into the light.
Seeing it might have been worse than the pain. A pencil-sized splinter of wood stuck out of her palm. The crazy thing was, no blood dripped from the wound.
“We have to get that out.”
She nodded, the thought making her face go numb as the blood drained from it.
“Can you make it another hundred yards down to the creek?”
“Yes,” she said as she took his hand with her uninjured one and stood. A wash of dizziness rolled through her.
Blake steadied her, grasping her elbow and steering her toward the sound of a gentle brook. This creek didn’t have much in it, a sure sign of the hot drought they were in and another reason the fire would be raging toward them. She glanced back at the orange-lit horizon. How close was it? Did they have time for this stop?
“We have to make time to do this. If we don’t, it will be worse once we get home.”
“Does it hurt, Mommy?” Tucker laid a gentle hand on her arm.
“Yes, but Daddy will make it better.”
“He’s great at wilderness medicine, huh?”
“Well, I’ve taken some classes at least.” Blake laughed, a tight-squeezed sound that didn’t seem full of confidence.
He led her to a low rock at the creek’s edge and instructed her to let her hand soak while he filtered through the emergency medical kit. He laid out tweezers, bandages, antibiotic ointment, and some gauze on the rock beside her and then squatted next to her.
“Okay, I would suggest you look away.” He took in a large breath and breathed it out. For someone good in emergency situations, medical things and blood did not come easy to him.
Kris opened her hand for him, seeing the crooked way the splinter stuck in her palm. She feared the worst and looked away as he suggested.
“Take a deep breath in. Okay, blow it out now.”
Kris did as instructed and felt a searing pain as he withdrew the splinter. She bit back the cuss word that wanted to spew from her lips and looked sharply at her hand. Blood burst from the wound like a plugged pipe that had been set free. When Blake pressed the wad of gauze into the gaping hole, she almost passed out from the pain.
Blake cursed under his breath as he readjusted the gauze and then poked around. “There’s still a piece inside.” The doom in his voice flooded her veins with fiery panic.
“What does that mean, Daddy? Can’t you get it out? Will Mommy be okay?” The boy who had been brave during this whole ordeal now had tears streaming down his face. His lips trembled, and he took in shaky breaths.
“I won’t let anything happen to Mommy.” Blake reached up and cupped the boy’s chin. “Do you remember that moss we saw on the survival show?”
“Yeah, it stopped bleeding.”
“That’s right. I saw some just back in the forest. Could you be brave enough to take the other flashlight and get some?”
“Yes,” he said with determination in his little voice. It made Kris’s heart ache almost as much as her hand.
“I don’t want him going out there by himself,” she said shakily.
“I can do it, Mommy. I’m doing it for you.” He stood tall before rummaging in the pack for the flashlight. He gave her a little kiss on the cheek. “We always return to each other.”
“We always return to each other,” Kris and Blake said at the same time.
“I’ll get that moss.” Then he turned and strode into the dark woods.
“I don’t like this.” Panic flooded her system.
“I’ll be able to see his light the whole time. He doesn’t need to see this.” He took in a shaky breath. “It’s going to hurt like hell, Kris.”
“I’ll try not to pass out on you.”
He rinsed a stick in the creek. “I’ll try not to as well.” He offered a small smile. “Bite on the stick. It helps.”
Grant Us Mercy (Book 1): Grant Us Mercy Page 7
