Chapter Ten
Mia
I’d never been so terrified in my life. In retrospect, maybe I should have waited given the fire was still well beyond the lake and I had no clue what I’d be driving into, but I’d been calling myself all kinds of a fool for staying as long as I had.
I should have left the second the first ashes fell.
Sooner. I’d only stayed because I’d thought I needed time to get my head on straight about Oktober so I didn’t do us both a disservice by jumping into a relationship on the rebound.
And the fucking man had come for me. He’d come. For me.
Though Noose had slowed the Bronco considerably, the going was still rough. Outside, the world had tried to revert to normal, but the smoke still created a heavy haze. I buried my face against Oktober’s chest, his scent somehow comforting despite the heavy taint of smoke.
“Slow down,” Pain called from where he crouched beside us, one hand braced against the Bronco’s interior. “Can’t see shit through this smoke. We’re out of immediate danger.”
Noose eased farther off the gas. The change in speed made my stomach settle slightly, though my heart continued its maddening rhythm against my ribs.
“Knight, you still there?” Pain’s voice cut through the rumble of the engine as he pressed his phone to his ear.
“Yeah. We got her. Heading down now.” He listened, his expression darkening with each passing second.
“Fuck. Are you sure? That was the way out.” Another pause. “Copy that. We’ll find another way.”
Oktober shifted beneath me, his body tense as a drawn bow. “Was?”
“Fire jumped the creek,” Pain scrubbed a hand over his face several times in agitation. “Knight says it’s moving west now. Directly toward the road we came in on.”
I felt Oktober’s curse vibrate through his chest before I heard it. “How much time do we have before the fire overtakes the road?”
“Not enough.” Pain’s eyes met mine briefly, a flicker of something like apology crossing his face before his professional mask slipped back into place. “Wind’s pushing twenty to thirty miles per hour in sustained gusts. Fire’s crowning through the canopy.”
From the front seat, Inferno twisted to look back at us. I looked out the side window and all around where I could see, the sky glowed orange at the top of the tree line. “We’ve got minutes. And precious few. Then these pines will go up like matchsticks.”
“Can we outrun it?” I asked, my voice sounding strangely small and far away.
Inferno shook his head. “Not on these roads. Not with the wind direction.” He turned back to scan the path ahead through the windshield. “If I had to guess, we’re already surrounded on at least two sides. Getting out is not going to happen on any usual route.”
The certainty in his voice chilled me more than any shouting could have. This man knew fire, had fought it, respected it. And he was uneasy.
A violent gust rocked the Bronco, so strong it nearly pushed us off the narrow logging road. Through the windshield, I watched the trees bend and sway like dancers performing for a cruel god.
“Look out!” Inferno shouted.
A massive pine seemed to come down in slow motion.
There wasn’t a snowball’s chance of making it under that tree.
Noose slammed on the brakes. I flew forward, Oktober’s arms not quite fast enough to hold me.
My forehead cracked against the back of the passenger seat.
Stars burst behind my eyes as we skidded to a halt, the Bronco’s front bumper mere inches from the fallen trunk.
“Everyone OK?” Pain called, already reaching for me, tilting my chin up to look into my eyes.
“I’m fine,” I managed, though my head throbbed with each heartbeat.
Oktober pulled me into his arms, wrapping himself around me. “She’s bleeding.”
I touched my forehead where it stung, my fingers coming away red. Before I could process this, the Bronco’s engine revved as Noose shifted into reverse.
“Hold on,” Noose warned, his voice sharp with urgency.
The tires spun, finding purchase for a moment before the vehicle jerked backward. We’d moved perhaps ten feet when a sickening crack split the air. Through the rear window, I watched another tree, this one wrapped in flames, crash across the road behind us.
“Verdammte Holle!” Oktober’s curse was nearly lost beneath Noose’s more creative string of profanity as he slammed on the brakes again. We’d all braced for it this time but even that preparation couldn’t help the current situation.
The Bronco rocked forward, then back as Noose tried to navigate between the big trees, the engine whining in protest. “Fuck! There’s not enough room. We’re boxed in!”
Inferno turned to Oktober. “We need to move. Now.”
“You heard the man,” Oktober said, already pulling me toward the tailgate.
Pain grabbed a small backpack from beneath the seat and slung on. Noose and Inferno were already out the front doors, scanning the forest for any path not yet consumed by fire.
The heat hit me like a physical force when Oktober yanked open the back door.
My lungs seized around a breath that seemed to sear my insides.
It was hot inside the Bronco, but the reality of the unshielded wind made me cry out.
Smoke rolled in, thick and choking. Oktober pulled his shirt up over his nose and mouth, helping me do the same with my own.
He took a bottle of water and poured it over my nose to wet the material before doing the same with his own.
“Keep your head down!” he shouted, helping me scramble from the Bronco.
All around us, the trees swayed as embers floated above our heads.
The timber directly above us hadn’t ignited yet, but I didn’t expect things to stay that way long.
The wind had become a living thing, hungry and furious, pushing the flames toward us from multiple directions.
Already the air was almost unbearably hot making it uncomfortable to breathe.
Oktober grabbed my hand, pulling me close enough that I could feel his breath on my face. “The waterfall,” he said, his blue eyes intense in his smoke-smudged face. “Remember? It’s less than half a mile east. If we can reach it --”
“Water’s our best chance,” Inferno agreed, appearing at Oktober’s shoulder. “The water might not save us, but maybe we’ll have a fighting chance.”
Oktober’s fingers interlaced with mine, his grip strong and sure. “Don’t let go, K?tzchen. No matter what.”
We ran. There was no path, no clear direction except the one Oktober set.
Branches whipped at my face and arms leaving shallow scratches and catching in my hair.
The smoke thickened with each yard we covered, until the world narrowed to Oktober’s hand in mine and the vague shapes of trees materializing and vanishing in the haze.
My lungs burned. Each breath brought less oxygen and more pain. My legs trembled with exhaustion and fear. Behind us, the roar of the approaching firestorm grew louder, drowning out everything but the thunder of my pulse in my ears.
“Keep going!” Oktober shouted, though I could barely hear him over the fire’s voice. “Almost there!”
I stumbled, my foot catching on an exposed root. Oktober’s grip tightened, yanking me upright before I could fall. The momentary halt in our flight gave me a chance to look back.
The forest behind us had become an inferno, trees transformed into towering torches as the wind gusted through like a hurricane.
Heat pressed against my back like a living thing.
In that moment, I understood with terrible clarity we were running for our lives, and the margin between survival and death had narrowed to the distance we could cover before the fire caught us.
Oktober pulled me forward again, and I forced my leaden legs to move. He practically dragged me after him, not letting me slow for even a moment.
We burst from the tree line, a collection of gasping, not slowing as we sprinted for the lake.
The surface of the water reflected the inferno that pursued us, ripples of gold and crimson dancing across water that had been such a haven of peace just days before.
Behind us, the forest had transformed into some kind of hell so intense I could feel the moisture being sucked from my skin.
The smoke scorched my throat with each desperate breath.
Oktober’s hand was the only anchor keeping me from collapsing as the reality struck brutally clear.
The fire now surrounded us on three sides with the water and the rock wall at our back.
“Get in the water now!” Inferno’s warning came seconds before a massive gust of heated air slammed into us from behind.
The force of the gale nearly knocked me off my feet, the heat so intense it felt like opening a hot oven door in your face.
A shower of burning embers rained down, catching in my hair.
I screamed as the smell of burning hair filled my nostrils, my hands frantically batting at my head.
“Sorry, K?tzchen,” Oktober growled. Before I could process his words, his hands clamped around my waist. In one powerful motion, he lifted me off my feet and literally threw me into the water.
I had just enough time to gasp before hitting the surface, the shock of cold after the intense heat stunning my system.
I plunged beneath the dark water, which was only about waist deep, but I landed butt first and so went completely under. I managed to get my legs under me and came up coughing and sputtering.
“Swim for the falls, K?tzchen! Now!” Oktober’s voice cut everything else around me, the command brooking no argument.