Ambrose
AMbrOSE
A clamor. Banging. Shouts.
Bells.
Consciousness slammed home, but before I could do more than open my eyes, something beside me jerked upright with a hissed, “Damn it to Hell and back!"
"Wazzat?" I murmured unintelligently as I sat up as well.
The cabin was lit well enough that I could see Samuel's features as they twisted in pain, even as his eyes remained clear while looking around on high alert. He'd obviously moved faster than I had and faster than his body wanted him to. The urge to chide him for being too rough on himself died as the shouts and clamoring bells returned to my consciousness.
"What's going on?" he asked, sliding forward and using his right hand to grip the bedpost and pull himself upright. Even in my confusion and fear, I had to marvel at how quickly he’d adjusted to his current state. As much shit as I gave him for not being careful, I had to admit he was conscious of his shortcomings. In only a week, he’d trained himself to move in ways that wouldn't tweak or pull the wound in his back too badly, even now when his attention was on everything else but his wound.
"I don't…" I began, and then my brain finally caught up with reality, and my eyes widened. "Fuck."
"What?"
The bells rang repeatedly. I finally made out the words among the shouting. The light moving over Samuel's face that had no business existing in the middle of the night, never mind being orange and shifting like it was alive.
"Fire," I hissed, getting up so quickly I nearly knocked Samuel to the floor.
"Oh God," he groaned, looking around for his clothes.
I wasn't sure how much he understood, but he clearly knew it was serious. Of all the bad things that could happen on the ranch, the top of that list was fire. The land was too dry, and the little vegetation was as dry as the land. That and all the buildings were close together. All that was needed for complete disaster was a big enough fire and a wind to spread it in minutes.
We dressed in a hurry, me helping Samuel into his shirt and vest before we burst out of the door. Terror and horror wrapped their way around my chest as I stared in shock at the disaster unfolding before us.
Fire blazed into the sky along the edges of the ranch but was spreading inward. I winced when I felt a steady wind, blowing ash and dust into my face as men ran around with buckets.
I grabbed one of them. “What're you doing?"
"Tryin' to put it out," he yelled back to be heard over the cacophony.
I snapped my head in the direction of the fire. “Is everyone up and out of the buildings?"
"No idea! Walter was headin' the charge."
That made sense. Without me around to guide them, they would have fallen back on finding someone else to take charge. "Spread the word. We need to soak the buildings that aren't on fire."
He looked at me like I was crazy. “But?—"
"Do it," I snapped, giving him a push. "We can't save what's burnin', but we can keep the bastard from spreading all over the place. Go!"
The news wouldn't spread fast enough, so I started grabbing anyone looking lost or frantic as they tried to run past me to give them the same orders. Thankfully, they responded to me once they realized who I was, and I had to wonder why no one had tried to wake me up with how much it had spread. Guilt twisted in my gut as I realized I’d missed so much because I had been...well, so comfortable I had practically been dead to the world.
"I need to get this under control," I told Samuel as smoke billowed into the air, blotting out the cloudless sky. "You...can you move fast?"
"It's my back, not my legs that are hurt," he told me in a calm voice that bore only the slightest trace of an edge. "You want me to spread the word?"
"Yes. They're panicking, and I need 'em under control. Try to wrangle them as best you can."
"I'll invoke your name. That should do it. I don't exactly inspire people to obey orders."
Well, I had to suppose he wasn't the type to lead people. Not necessarily because he couldn't, I believed his quick mind could pick it up quickly, but because he had as little desire to lead as he did to be led...most of the time anyway. In this case, he nodded and turned to move away. Only to pause before turning to face me.
"Don't...do anything stupid or heroic, you hear me?" he said, looking me over. "If you get killed doing something stupid?—"
"You'll what...go back to your law-breaking days?"
"I'll head east and rob as many banks as I can, pillage a couple of towns, and set myself up as the meanest, cruelest leader of an outlaw gang this country has ever heard of."
Despite the utter disaster going on around us, a laugh burst from my lips, and I reached out to grip his arm. What I wanted to do was to pull him close and give him what I hoped was a comforting kiss. Except I knew it wasn't possible. Even with all the chaos surrounding us, the two of us locking lips wouldn't go unnoticed. Maybe it wouldn't stop everyone dead in their tracks, but there would definitely be questions later.
"If you're saying what I think you're trying to say, then...me too, and you don't have to worry about me doing anything stupid. I'm not the noble one around here," he said, laying his hand over mine to squeeze it briefly before pulling away. There was a flash of something tender and longing on his face before it was replaced by the focus I’d seen moments before. He gave a jerk of his head. “Now get going. We'll meet up once we've got them together. Priority on preventing the fire from spreading and then worry about trying to put it out."
"Ya got it," I said, drawing my arm away.
Even though I managed to turn away from him with the same determination he'd shown, it still took more effort than anything else. Everything in my life was in danger right now, and I realized that Samuel had become one of those things. Now I was sending him off, already injured and not at his best, to go do a job I couldn't manage on my own. It made sense logically, a decision I had to make despite everything in me screaming that I shouldn't because I needed him close, even though utilizing him right now was exactly what I should do.
I suppose such a cold, calculating decision was the sort of thing my father would have approved of if he could ever bring himself to say anything.
It was a bittersweet, heavy on the bitter, thought and I shoved it aside. There were larger concerns than the turmoil in my heart, and if I wanted to save the ranch and its people, then I needed to focus, which meant finding Walter because he was holding things together while I’d been blissfully unaware of the doom approaching.
Considering he had been the one handing out orders to put out the fire, it probably meant he was the one nearest the fire. Only the newest men would look at Walter and think the laidback, jovial man couldn't be taken seriously. Anyone who had been around long enough knew full well that if my father or I weren't around, it was Walter that you turned to when things got messy or you needed someone to lead the charge.
I weaved my way through the buildings, heading toward the wall of flames in the distance. More men were running around, some of them trying to steer the horses away, while others had buckets and even large bowls filled with water. Not that it was going to make much difference considering the strength of the blaze, but I listened closely for the most yelling and shouting.
Then I heard a familiar voice calling out over the din and let out a sigh of relief as I ran toward the source. Walter looked worn down already, his shirt torn and singed in places, and he had apparently lost a boot at some point. Yet even with soot on his face, he was standing tall and giving orders like he was born to do it. There were a few men near him, keeping a respectful distance from the fire, but I would bet Walter was keeping an eye on it.
A crack ripped through the air, and my eyes widened as one of the roofs buckled, giving way with a harsh sound that cut through the air. The men all jerked toward the sound as wood exploded from the building as the structure gave way and sent debris scattering everywhere. Walter dropped to the ground, dragging a man with him as another also had the sense to drop. I had only a moment to see that the third wasn't quite as quick. I tasted gritty dirt as I slammed into the ground, wincing as I heard a scream of unmistakable pain.
I picked myself up, quickly brushing a piece of flaming wood off my shirt as I stood, eyes sweeping to survey the damage. It had made a mess, but most of the men had seen it getting ready to collapse and had taken cover or had gotten out of the path in case there was any debris or flames flung everywhere. I could see one man picking a chunk of wood out of his arm with a wince, but the worst was the man screaming on the ground beside Walter.
Walter clambered over to him, holding him still. “Hey, stick with me now. It's not as bad as it feels."
That might be true, but it was as bad as it looked as wood stuck out from the man's gut, blood leaking around it as the embers flickered and faded at the top of the spike lodged in him. I didn't need one of his screams to be interrupted by a gush of blood from his mouth to tell me it had hit something vital, and I definitely didn't need the gurgle he made when he tried to give another cry.
Walter's face never lost its composure or the assured smile as he bent to say something I couldn't make out among the chaos and the sounds of the flames crackling ferociously. Whatever it was, it stopped the man from trying to cry out, his terrified gaze locked on Walter's face, riveted by him. I was again not surprised when I watched his face tense once more and then relax, his head slumping back, and a trickle of blood left his mouth as his body went still.
"Hey," I said as I approached. Walter reached up and closed his eyes gently, murmuring. "Walter, we?—"
"I know," he said with a sigh, pushing himself up and gesturing to the men nearest to him. "Y'all got empty hands? Get him out of here, and somewhere there isn't gonna be any more done to him."
I was grateful none of them thought to look at me for confirmation. It was only when they moved him that the flames caught the cleaner side of his face, and I let out a heavy sigh. His name had been Peter, and he'd only joined us at the ranch a few months back. He'd heard that the West was a place for people to make good money through honest work if they knew where to work. He'd told me once he had a wife and a couple of kids back home that he was hoping to bring out west once he'd saved up enough money, probably to Rapture if the ranch turned out to be as great as it seemed.
"Christ above," I muttered, wiping my face and wondering what I was going to put in the letter I was inevitably going to have to send to his widow.
"It's in His arms that he goes now," Walter said quietly. It wasn't quite an admonishment against my slight blasphemy, but it was as close as it would get when it came to Walter. The man was deeply but quietly religious, and I figured it had been a prayer he had said to the man and whispered over his body after he'd passed.
It was safer and more important that I moved on from the subject. “We need to get the men focused on preventin' the fire. Not trynna put it out. That's a lost cause."
Walter turned to stare at the fire as it spread to another building and grimaced. “S'pose you're right on that one. Kept trynna focus on gettin' everything put out, didn't even think about that."
"What kind of hell are we lookin' at?"
"Whole North side is gone, or will be soon. You're right. If we don't get it under control, we're gonna lose a lot more than that."
"Then let's get on it. I got Samuel spreadin' the word that we need to contain this, not fight it. Let's hope they listen."
"They will," Walter said with complete confidence. "They got no reason to ignore 'em. He's one of us, even if he don't know it."
I let that idea roll through my head before gesturing. “Then let's get movin'. Anything we can soak and spread over the ground and some of the other buildin's in its path is gonna be our goal. Don't care if it's sheets, shirts, or anything. Spread it out. If we need to, we can tear down some things to make it harder for the bastard to catch more."
"You got it," Walter said, immediately turning to relay my words.
It was the best plan I could come up with, and I wish I'd had more time to consult with Samuel before we had to separate. I didn't know how much he knew about fighting fires, especially this far west, but the man was educated and clever. If there were anyone who could string the random knowledge in his head into something that had a damn good chance of working, it would be him.
For now, though, I had to trust that my plan would at least slow the spread enough to figure something else out. And if I were lucky, maybe it would give us a chance to fight the fire so it would burn itself out. There wasn't nearly enough to stop it right now. It had gained too much strength. I had no idea how the damn thing even started, but I doubted there was a single person on the ranch who didn't know what was happening and was on the move.
Of course, my plan required more than just slinging wet things all over the place. Walter and I had to get the men collectively in control so they would think about what they were using instead of just flinging water wastefully. Our wells were good this year because of the snowfall, but that wasn't going to matter much if we wasted it. It was important to stop the fire, but it wouldn't matter if we threw any future water supply away hastily. That could kill the ranch just as well as the fire.
"You three," I said, pointing toward three random men who looked lost as they looked around for a bucket or...hell, their boots for all I knew. "Go wrangle the horses out of the barn and get them as far from here as ya can without settin' ‘em free, got it? Good, go."
With something more solid than vague orders, the three quickly moved. The entire place must have been woken up to the presence of the fire, and it must have been large from the beginning for there to be so much chaos. All the long-timers had been trained to put out fires because of how dangerous they could be in the desert. That so many people were confused meant pretty much everyone had been caught off guard and had reacted in sleepy panic.
A question persisted in my head as I found more men to round up and give jobs to so they weren't simply wandering around in aimless panic. Just how had the fire started? There had been no storm for lightning to strike something dry and no wind to knock a lantern into dry brush. Everyone knew better than to leave lanterns near the animals because we couldn't afford to have them kick one and start a fire.
Even then, when we'd had fires of that sort in the past, they had never been this bad. The worst had been when I was a boy, and a storm struck a pile of brush we’d gathered to prevent exactly what happened. The brush hadn't been nearly wet enough when it was struck, and the heat had quickly sizzled away the moisture. It had spread through a decent chunk of the southern part of the ranch and caused a few deaths and quite a few injuries. I had no idea how much monetary damage had been done.
After that, there had been zero tolerance for stupid mistakes that could cause something like that again. More than one ranch hand had been sent off with their belongings for being foolish enough to set a lantern down in the barn or the paddock with the goats. Those who smoked were warned repeatedly that they needed to make sure every bit was extinguished when they were done, and if, on cooler nights, there was a fire, then they were to grind every ember into the dirt and coat it with water. Plenty had received a similar punishment for not following through on the orders.
So, just how had a fire of this size happened so quickly? We were supposed to have a few people every night who patrolled on the lookout for trouble. Just how had something like this gone unnoticed before it had reached the inferno it had become?
"!" a gruff voice barked, and I turned from the sheets I was soaking in a trough.
"What?" I asked, trying to remember who it was other than Samuel's nickname for him, ‘Grumpy.’
"Samuel sent me," he said, sounding a little annoyed that he’d been reduced to a messenger. "He said to tell you that we need to use mules."
"Mules?"
"Mules."
"For what?"
"For moving stuff around. Said they're not as scared as horses, too stubborn by all accounts. They'll get water around, and he also said to use anything you can to get soaked, but, uh... it looks like you got that bit covered."
The mules, of course. The damned creatures were the only ones on the ranch that vexed me and just about everyone else. It wasn't like the beasts weren't known for being spiteful, cantankerous, and stubborn creatures, but the ones on our ranch were something else entirely. Still, one thing they didn't fight us on was being put to work. The damned things despised when they were woken up, even when they were sleeping in a dangerous spot, being fed at the wrong time, hated being touched unless it was certain people at certain times, but strap those bastards into a harness and put them to work and they were the happiest creatures in existence.
"Good idea," I said, standing up and looking around to find some men to put to the task. "How's it goin' on y’all’s end?"
"Everything's on fire," he said in a mostly bland but still sarcastic voice. "Not sure if you noticed that or not."
"Don't be cute," I told him.
He sighed. “It's Hell, what do you expect?"
"Samuel gettin' people to listen to him?"
"Yeah. Asshole is rounding people up and quickly figuring out who can move fastest and who can lift the most. He just had a few of 'em gather up the mules, and the rest he has pushing the animals to the other side of the ranch."
Amusing that Samuel, a man with little experience on a ranch, had come to the same plan I had, with a few alterations and new ideas thrown in. If we got through this without the ranch burning down and our hides intact, I was going to need to find a better way to use him on the ranch. Well, that was if he wanted to be used. It was long past time for me to stop treating him as just a prisoner when it was obvious to everyone that he was a lot more than that.
"We'll do that," I told him. "Anythin' else?"
"Uh," he began, face screwing up in confusion. "He also said that after we manage to fix this mess, we're gonna need a helluva lot more gun oil."
"What?"
"Wait, that y'all are gonna need it. That's it. Didn't know you let 'em shoot."
"I..." Thank God the fire was orange because it did wonders for obscuring the heat that rose to my cheeks at the message.
Why, oh why, in the midst of all of this, did Samuel decide it was a good time to use someone else to deliver his...loaded message? How was he even thinking about that while we were fighting for our lives? And what was worse, why was it affecting me?
God save me, even in the midst of all this, he was finding ways to mess with me, I had to be impressed even if I was definitely annoyed.
"Tell him I rolled my eyes if he asks," I told him with a shake of my head. "Now, get a move on."
He grunted, which was more or less what I expected. He was a man of few words, and those few were generally angry or complaining. Still, it was a perfect opportunity for him to take advantage of the chaos to make his escape, but either he’d decided he liked it on the ranch, or he had come to the conclusion that there wasn't a better option that wouldn't get him killed.
Then again, maybe it was time for me to stop thinking of all of them as troublemakers and outlaws that we had to keep on a short leash to make sure they didn't cause trouble. It was, after all, not just Samuel who’d proven he was willing to follow the rules. But Grumpy was also here, in the midst of the mess, when he could have easily found somewhere to bunker down and let others take care of the problem so he’d be safe. Maybe he hadn't always been the most moral and upstanding of men before he'd been brought here, but it was obvious he didn't lack courage.
With him gone, and hopefully not coming back with another message from Samuel to throw me off my focus while everything hung in the balance. Honestly, the less I thought about him, the better off I was because he was obviously distracting. Maybe one day, we would find a way he could help me focus, but for now, it was better to keep my attention on anything but him.
I had no idea how long it took us to soak everything we could find and wrap everything the flames hadn't touched. Walter managed to get some of the mules together to transport water and supplies and use them to pull some of the buildings down in hopes of robbing the flames of more fuel. Against all my worst fears, it seemed to be working. Between tearing down some of the buildings and keeping fabrics wrapped around others wet, we kept the fire from spreading much further.
"Now we can start trying to put this bastard out," I told Walter, gesturing toward the building. "Not too much, though. We keep it starved, and it'll go out on its own."
"We used plenty of water already," he said in agreement.
"How are we doing, men and damage, I mean."
"Hard to say. I, uh...know a few didn't make it out at the start," Walter said, looking away with an unhappy expression on his face. "Couple of 'em said what woke 'em up wasn't the fire, but the screamin' from a cabin. Guess they didn't get out in time."
Another odd thing I couldn't make sense of but had to push aside while there were bigger and more important things to worry about. "Any others?"
"I don't know. If we count the ones that were reported and the ones we're probably gonna hear about from your man, I'd say a couple of dozen if we're unlucky...this is pretty unlucky," he said, surveying the fire that, while still contained, threatened more chaos and destruction.
"My man?" I repeated in a gruff voice to conceal my concern at the phrasing.
"Samuel," Walter said with a grunt. "Seemed like he was becomin' your second quicker than me."
"I..." That caught me off-guard, and I glanced at Walter with a frown. "Walter, I got no intention of shovin' you to the side or replacin' you with no one, not even him."
For the first time in the past hour, he gave me a soft smile. “Probably not, but I'll tell ya what, it's nice to see you ain't tryin' to pretend like you two ain't got close. Everyone needs someone in their life, and it's about time you found someone. I miss Alice somethin' fierce, but I've got Arthur, and he's the one I need right now. Maybe there'll be someone else when he gets old enough to need someone other than his old dad. And you seem to be gettin' Samuel from the looks of it."
"If ya hadn't mentioned your son for yourself, I would've accused you of makin' me 'n Samuel sound married."
"Eh, out in this part of the country, you hear and see all sorts of things. To each their own, I s'pose."
It wasn't the time or place for that conversation. Especially when it seemed Walter was getting close to the truth or suspected and was trying to show me what he knew. Whatever the case, that conversation could be had when there was more time. For now, we needed to focus and make sure everything and everyone was safe.
"We'll split the men. We seem to have this thing under control for now," I said, looking at how dirty I was from the wet ash and mud. "We need some makin' sure the animals aren't getting loose. We know the men best with animals, so send them. We'll need a rotation, makin' sure everything stays wet, and some to keep the fire back if it looks like it might be spreadin' again."
"We're gonna need men to get all the injured," Walter said and looked toward a nearby sheet-covered body, "and the dead."
"That, I'll leave to you," I said, giving him a shrug. "Sorry Walter, we know I ain't good about that sorta thing. You got the knowledge, and you got the faith. I just got these two hands and a pretty decent head."
"Right, I'll get them together, you off to check on Samuel?"
"Sure am. I need to hear how things are goin' for them and how they've fared."
"A'right, be safe. God be with you."
"I'll be back, Walter, don't fret so much. You're startin' to sound like how Samuel accuses me of bein'."
"We're both...protective."
"Right. By the way, where is Arthur?"
"Sent him to the main house, figured it'd be safer there with your family. Figured your daddy was keepin' everyone there in line while trustin' you to deal with the mess out here."
"Right," I said as I walked off to check on the south end.
It was a nice thought. But it was also strange that my father wouldn't make an appearance, even if he trusted my decision-making. Then again, it had been years since we'd had a fire like this, and maybe there was something to Walter's idea. The very idea felt odd, though, but I pushed it aside.
It seemed like Samuel and the men had as much success as we'd did. It had spread along the outer barriers, taking out the fences further along than in the North, but that was damage we could live with for a while. The damage to the houses and the livestock was the biggest concern. Lumber was expensive out here but not nearly as pricey as the lives of the animals, and especially the men.
In fact, it looked like they’d already gotten started on spreading the work and splitting off now the fire was mostly contained. Like I’d told Walter, some of the men were keeping watch over the fire while others were clearing debris to create more gaps to hold it off, and I saw a couple of men carefully moving bodies onto a cart drawn by a mule.
"Hey," I said, grabbing a passerby’s arm. "Where's Samuel?"
"No idea," he said with a shrug. "He was out here just a bit ago, but then...he's not anymore, I guess. Woulda thought he'd be with you."
"No," I said, turning around and calling out. "Samuel?"
For a moment, a dark thought blossomed in my head, an old fear and worry that took root in all the pain and stress inside me. Maybe Samuel had taken advantage of the chaos and found a way to get out without anyone seeing him, biding his time, waiting for enough people to take their eyes off him to run for the hills. He could show up in Rapture under the guise of delivering news about the fire and use that beldam to disappear with whatever supplies he found. That everything we’d shared had been nothing, and my feelings had been nothing but a tool for him to use and?—
"He went to the house," a soft voice explained, and I turned around to find the quiet man who stayed with...with Grumpy. The man rarely spoke, so he was never able to complain like his friend or get on my nerves like Samuel. It seemed that he, like his friend, had stayed to help from the mess smeared over his clothes and face. "Said he wanted to make sure everyone was okay."
"Why wouldn't they be?" I wondered. "The fire didn't get that far."
"I don't know, that's just what he said. Went off a bit ago and haven't seen him since."
"Right," I grunted, something unsettling, uncurling and tightening in my stomach. "Guess I should do the same. Y'all good here?"
He gave a light shrug. “For now."
"Good...and thank you."
"For what?"
"This ain't your home, but you still helped to fight for it like it was."
"Who says it isn't my home?"
Which was when he decided to turn away and leave me standing there, staring after him in confusion and wonder. I suppose I’d been so focused on Samuel for months that I hadn't thought to pay attention to the other two. It was as if Samuel had been speaking for them as much as himself when he’d spoken of what this place had done for him and what it offered him for the future. Maybe all these men really needed was a safe place to get themselves back together and do better things with their lives.
Leaving them to their work, I made my way toward the main house and frowned as I approached. At the very least, I would’ve expected some of them to be standing outside to keep an eye on progress. Hell, even having a light on in the house because there was no way anyone was sleeping through all the noise.
Frowning, I mounted the steps and walked up to the door, twisting it open and feeling my stomach drop at the darkness that filled the main room. The silence I noticed as I stepped into the deep shadows filled me with a sense of unease that wouldn't be shaken even as I came to a stop. I could swear I heard breathing somewhere in the darkness and took a breath to call out for someone to answer.
A scuff to my right made me tense, and something slammed into my head, sending pain exploding through my skull, and darkness thicker and heavier than in the house took my vision. It took everything except the knowledge that I had collapsed to the ground, and someone was walking near me as I fell into that darkness.