Chapter 40 Lina
lina
Ihit the throttle on the truck as soon as I reached the double-wide. I’d never driven so fast in my life. Dust and gravel spit from the wheels like shrapnel as I sped down the road to the stable and bunkhouse. I barely put it into park when I arrived there.
Twilight was setting in, quickening my steps. I had to reach them before night came. I had no idea how I’d find them or how they’d find the river in the dark.
My hands trembled as I grabbed Mushu’s bridle.
I tied his lead to the outside of his stall.
His eyes were bright and big, his ears flicking, reading me like he always did.
Sensing the panic in the air. He nuzzled his nose against me, as if to check if I was okay.
I nearly collapsed, leaning my forehead against his neck, breathing in his familiar horse scent.
“We’re going to need to go the fastest we’ve ever gone,” I whispered to him, my words breaking. “We need to find them.”
I stroked my palm over his shoulder, feeling his strength and power, knowing he’d ride aggressively for me. I just hoped Warrior would be able to keep up.
The smoke was permeating the air now.
As soon as I finished with Mushu’s tack, I took a quick glance around the stable, mentally cataloging the horses in the other stalls, praying we could get back to evacuate them before the fire spread.
I rushed to Warrior’s stall, hooking the lead rope to his halter and bringing him out beside Mushu. Grabbing a handful of mane and his withers, I hopped myself up onto Mushu’s bare back, gripping the reins with one hand while I held Warrior’s lead in the other.
“Come on, boys. We don’t have any time to lose,” I told them, turning us out of the stable and into the yard.
I could already tell Mushu was raring to go, only holding back until we were on open ground.
The gray light was darkening by the time I turned us into the pasture. Dark smoke billowed in the sky. Whatever light was left on the horizon was turning orange, reflecting the flames.
I clicked my tongue while I squeezed my heels into Mushu’s sides and gave him his head. Racing toward the bluffs. Toward the river. Toward Penn and Reed. To where my heart was hopefully waiting for me.
I was racing against the night. Not a clock. Not against other racers. Not for a buckle. I was racing for the love of my life—the loves of my life.
I could feel the fire at my back like a threatening weight, looming down on us. My heart was pounding in sync with the horses’ hooves. I didn’t know how much time we had. I didn’t know how in the hell I was going to find them.
But if it meant staying out here all night, tracing up and down the river, letting the fire consume my ranch, I’d do it. I’d do it in a heartbeat. Over and over again until I found them.
When we finally reached the river, the wakes flickered red and orange with the fire now towering over the tree canopy. I peered up into the sky. Any stars that could light my way were quickly being choked out by the smoke.
As soon as we reached the trail along the river, I started calling out to them, “Reed! Penn!” My heart cracked each time my cries were met with silence. The rushing waters and the crackling flames carrying their names away from me, smothering them out.
Anxiety and fear gripped me. “Come on, Reed. Where are you? I don’t know what I’d do without you.” I sobbed into the night. Tears streamed down my face, blurring my vision.
Mushu and Warrior looped down the trail. I was no longer guiding them, letting them feel their way.
The smoke was starting to choke me, stinging my eyes and throat. “Reed. Penn.” My voice was weakening the farther we went.
The darkness seemed to consume us. The fiery glow flickered off the water—our only light on the trail.
“I don’t know how I’m going to do this.” I sobbed, slouching against Mushu’s neck.
The adrenaline was starting to dissipate. I didn’t want to voice it, but my mind was starting to spiral, to think the worst. That I might never find them. That they were going to be lost to the fire.
We started to slow. The horses were spent, too. We’d ridden hard to get to this point. I rested my head against Mushu.
“Mushu, please find them, take me to them. How will I live without them?” I croaked.
Mushu shifted his weight beneath me, as if to rock me, to soothe me. I gripped his mane.
Then I thought I heard someone in the distance. I sucked in a breath, listening intently for sounds of them.
I heard it again.
I sat up, alert, listening, squinting to see through the smoky, orange haze.
“Li-na!” It was far off, but I’d recognize his voice anywhere.
“Reed!” I rasped, trying to yell back, but it was like a knife in my throat.
I kicked my heels into Mushu’s side, urging him forward, pulling Warrior along with us, heading toward him.
“Reed,” I tried to call back again, listening for a reply.
We kept moving forward, the smoke we were wading through thick as soup.
“Lina!” he bellowed again.
This time it sounded closer, yet pained and hoarse.
Then I saw them.
He was barely staying on his feet. Stumbling through the smoke and undergrowth, Penn still in his arms. His face was streaked with soot and sweat.
I swung down from Mushu’s back.
“Reed!” I sobbed, racing toward them.
I threw myself into his arms, wrapping them both up in mine. I gripped his face in my hands, pulling his mouth down to mine, kissing him. Penn wrapped her little arm around my shoulders.
“Lina.” She coughed.
“Oh, princess, I’m so sorry I couldn’t get to you. I didn’t think I’d be able to find you. I didn’t think I could reach you. We rode so fast.”
He leaned his forehead against mine. A blanket of peace washed over me, telling me this was exactly where I needed to be. Except we needed to get out of this inferno.
“I would have fought through a war to reach you.” Reed’s voice cracked and strained with the words. “There was no version in which I didn’t come back to you.”
“I wouldn’t have stopped. Not until I found you and Penn.”
“I know, sweetheart. That’s why I had to keep going.”
I held them both to me.
The heat of the fire grew and sparked, and the horses blew their noses behind us, reminding me that we were standing on the edge of a growing wildfire. We still had to get out of there.
“We gotta go,” Reed announced, grabbing my hand and pulling us over to the horses.
Reed helped me back up onto Mushu and handed Penn to me. I gripped her tight as coughs racked her little body, pinching my gut with worry.
“Hold on, princess,” I told her as we grasped the reins.
Pulling himself up onto Warrior’s back and gripping the halter, Reed looked back at me, his brows furrowing. “Ready?”
I nodded. “Get us outta here.” I patted Mushu’s neck. “I trust you to get us home, boy.”
We turned around on the trail, pointing our compasses home. Sensing the urgency, it didn’t take much for the horses to take off, leading us out of the fire.