Chapter 28
The Long Climb
Autumn
“Autumn?” The radio chirped, bringing me from the cushioned seat where I had been reading my devotional Bible and watching the smoke.
The smoke that everyone told me was coming from the fire nearby, and it was normal.
The smoke that Blaze and Kerry had also mentioned may be evacuating me sooner than later.
Just in case, I had gathered my things up.
“Blaze,” I said, no sense of keeping the formality when he didn’t start that way.
“We need to evacuate you immediately.” The tone in his voice wasn’t playful, it was dead serious, and it scared me. “The fire has jumped again. We should have taken you out yesterday, and I’m so sorry for not—” I cut him off.
“Okay, I’ll go. I’m ready to go right now.” I looked outside again, and the smoke was getting closer and closer with every second. I turned away, saying a prayer for my safety.
“I’m leaving right now. My truck frequency is two-nine-one dot six-two-two.
Take the satellite phone. Get what you need—the tower is metal, and it won’t burn, so don’t worry about everything.
I’ll be at the base in thirty minutes.” He ended the call, and I did as he said, taking the satellite phone, and I gathered up a few items in my backpack, including the phone, my toiletries, Bible, and my cell phone.
My suitcase stayed behind with most of my clothes.
I wouldn’t need to trade these for my life if I was evacuating this quickly due to the fire threat.
No, I’d follow Blaze’s lead and come back for the rest.
By the time I was done gathering up my items, it seemed impossible, but the wind was howling even more than it had been.
The smoke was now at my windows, and I couldn’t see out.
I couldn’t see through the smoke. Small bits of light were shining through, and it looked like dirt in the air. I panicked. “God, help me.”
Turning my radio to Blaze’s frequency, with fear in my voice, I called him. “Blaze, the smoke—I can’t see through the windows.” There was a crackle and a pause, followed by the comfort of his handsome tone.
“Autumn, you will be okay. We are going to get you out.”
“Blaze, I’m really scared right now.”
“Will you pray with me?” His question took me by surprise, and I choked up with tears.
“Yes.”
“Dear Lord, it says in the Bible 365 times to ‘Fear Not.’ But Lord, we are afraid. Please be with Autumn as she makes her way down the tower in the smoke. Please be with me as I drive to the base. Lord, please protect us from the flames that are moving far too fast.”
“Amen,” I croaked, feeling a second wind of adrenaline hit me.
I opened the hatch that led to the stairs of the tower.
Smoke started rising quickly. The tears in my eyes actually helped moisten them so they didn’t get dried out.
I prayed as I stepped onto the staircase.
All I could see were the stairs, as smoke swirled around me.
Several minutes had passed before I worked up the nerve to start going down them.
I had the radio clipped to my backpack strap.
I had the satellite phone clipped to my pants.
I had God above, guiding my steps. By all accounts, I wasn’t alone.
And I would never be alone with God as my guide.
For a second, as I made it down the first handful of steps, the smoke cleared. I saw a view of the horizon, God’s mountainous creation, and I thought of a Bible verse that I had highlighted last week.
I lift up my eyes to the mountains. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. —Psalm 121:1-2
The smoke swirled again, blocking the view as quickly as it appeared.
I took another handful of steps down, the smoke irritating my breathing.
My tears had dried from the extreme heat of it.
I covered my mouth with a bandana that I had been wearing around my neck.
I thought it looked cute and “campy” this morning, and now it was my greatest tool.
I heard hollering from the base. It was Blaze.
“Autumn! Can you hear me!?” My heart skipped a hundred beats. My body went frigid. Blaze was here. He was going to get me out of here.
“Blaze, I’m still trying to get down. I don’t know why this is so scary. I’ve taken these steps a hundred times by now,” the shrill in my voice as I called over the radio to his truck. I wasn’t sure if the call would make it through, but a moment later, he answered me.
“Autumn—” He was breathless. “I’m coming up. I’m going to come get you. Just try and make it down as many steps as you can, but I’m going to come get you.” The call ended.
“Blaze, you can’t—your leg!” But there was no reply on the other end of the radio.
I wiped my face with the bandana. I knew I needed to make it. I needed to prevent Blaze from coming up here as best as I could. I took more steps. And then more. Before I knew it, I was halfway down, but then the stairs creaked in the way that it does when two people are on them at the same time.
I looked down the stairs, but the smoke had me socked in. No changes to that yet. But knowing Blaze was here, that God had ensured his safety thus far, and my own, made the descent feel easier. I got down another flight by the time I heard his voice again.
“Autumn?” My head never stopped looking down.
I was focused on the man at the bottom of the staircase with the intensity of a laser.
And finally, I saw a shape through a momentary clearing in the smoke.
A figure appeared. He was here, just steps away from me.
Then, we were on the same flight of stairs, Blaze at the bottom and me at the top.
“Blaze!” I called out, seeing his face. Seeing the glow of his skin, even through the ashes.
His body looked covered in soot. Tears came to my eyes again.
The gravity of the moment took hold, and I started crying uncontrollably.
Blaze hobbled up the stairs, gripping the handrail with intensity as he moved stiffly, and then we were face to face.
His hands traced my face, his fingers moving over the freckles that crossed the bridge of my nose, and I couldn’t drop his gaze.
The perfect, strong line of his chin. The subtle stubble that gave a different texture to his otherwise perfectly smooth skin.
He looked at me like I was being discovered for the first time.
“It’s you,” he said, his smile shaking. “The girl from the grocery store,” Blaze said, his hands reaching out from my face to examine my hair.
I could feel that ash was on it by the texture of his hand.
His eyes looked like they were on fire, and his skin was still bronzed from the sun, despite working inside all season.
Blaze, the handsome firefighter I saw several months ago at Fairy Falls Grocery.
Blaze, the man, whom I stood before now, was here to save me.
My emotions were out of control. The moment was charged with a force I’d never experienced before.
I took him by the collar of his shirt, and in the midst of the smoke plume that was swirling around us, I pulled him close and leaned my head into his chest. He wrapped his arms around me like he could carry me through this entire world and never set me down.
In that second, I felt that I had found my soulmate.
“We better go,” I said, and he hesitantly let me go before taking my hand, and we started making our way down the stairs as quickly as possible.
“Your leg,” I said, full of concern, as he ambled down the steps.
“It hasn’t felt this good since before the accident. I’ll be okay. I promise.” He squeezed my hand in his, and finally, we reached the end of the tower staircase before he hollered out in anguish.
“What happened?” I bent down where he was clutching his leg, sweat rolling from his brow.
“It’s buckled somehow.” He was gasping for air. “I just need… I just need to wait a moment.” He tilted his head back as he tried to bend it, and eventually, it started to move very slowly.
“Is it... the brace?” I asked, seeing that one of the gears was not giving way as much as I expected it to.
“Maybe? Your guess is as good as mine. This hasn’t happened before.” More sweat rolled from his hairline.
“Can we remove the brace? This side hinge isn’t moving,” I asked, feeling highly unqualified to be making decisions of this nature.
“Yes,” he said, nodding, eager to agree.
As we removed the buckles that secured it to his leg, he leaned the rest of his weight onto a bolder that was next to the tower.
“Wow, that feels better already.” He stretched his leg and slightly bent it at the knee, nodding.
“I’m ready, I think.” I put his arm around me, trying to help distribute some of the weight, but in doing so, we were face to face for a moment.
Covered in soot. In a high-stakes double rescue mission, and we still had a distance to go.
Blaze and I were locked into a stare. I wanted to kiss him with every fiber of my being.
I wanted him to kiss me more than I wanted anything in my entire life.
As he moved closer, a tree popped in the distance, scaring me straight.
The forest was on fire. It was time to go.
At the top of the hill, I saw the lights from his truck intermittently through the smoke.
Blaze leaned less on me during the descent on the uneven terrain than I had hoped, but with all of my strength, I held onto him and him onto me like a promise that neither of us would ever let go of each other.
Just touching him, I felt an electric current run through my body.
We made it to the bottom. At the truck, he opened the passenger door, and I jumped in before he hobbled to the driver’s side while leaning on the truck for assistance.
I winced, knowing he was in pain. He quickly climbed in the driver’s seat, kicked the truck into drive, and within moments, we were on the road.
The fire had reached the forest just outside of my tower, moving impossibly fast. I was still shaking from the experience.
From the shock. Blaze had one hand on the wheel, and the other hand was gripping mine.
I could only take my eyes off of the flames to peek over at the gorgeous man that I’d been falling in love with over the last few weeks.
Having Blaze here with me now and the sense of calm sent from the Holy Spirit, I felt complete.
Like my life had turned upside down in order to shake off all of the things God didn’t want for me, like when you get sand out of a pair of shoes after wearing them to the beach.
Now, I had Blaze. I had reconnected with God, and I was stronger for it. I was safe.