All was well enough.
Back at the car, Creed took a moment to make sure the baby was breathing.
The relief he felt at the slight exhale on the back of his spit-dampened skin felt like guardian angels hovered close.
Creed pushed and pulled, pressed, and cursed until he got the carrier separated from its base, and then repeated all of that as he got the handle folded down.
He took a moment to assess the padding before unclipping it around the edges and folding it over the baby.
With a trained eye, Creed measured the width of the carrier versus the space in the window.
He took off his jacket and laid it over the baby as he broke out the short lip of glass that stuck up past the door. He felt that gave him the space he’d need if he could swivel the carrier.
The cursing he kept under his breath, but there was a point at which he had to put his foot against the door and press himself back as he compressed the plastic sides that absolutely didn’t want to give.
A blessing and, quite literally, a curse, with lots of curses.
He ended up on his ass, then flat on his back as he rolled to keep the infant as cradled as possible. That babe had been jarred enough.
When he got to his feet, he turned to check on the children, only to find Marybelle chasing the umbrella into the woods. Hewatched to make sure she didn’t get out of sight as he reattached the baby’s bunting.
“Okay, Marybelle and Joey, come on down. I’m going to take you up to get you warm and comfy. It’s too far for you to walk, so we are going to become a great big giant together. Should we do that?”
Neither child answered. “Marybelle, I’m going to put you on my shoulders. It’s your job to hold the umbrella. Joey goes on my hip, and the baby stays in her carrier. Joey, I need you to keep holding Rou’s lead. She has trouble walking in her little red shoes. Throwing on his pack, slinging the mother’s purse, then the baby bag across his chest, next came Marybelle and her umbrella, Joey with Rou, and finally, Creed scooped up the baby carrier.
Creed didn’t know how to keep the kids' attention away from the destruction that they passed alongside. All he could do was keep pointing out things he saw off in the woods.
At one point, he needed to walk in the ditch to avoid the rescue workers, who were using heavy equipment that threw a shower of sparks into the air as they cut people free.
Creed noticed they hadn’t applied a layer of fire-retardant foam, which seemed okay for the moment because the sparks landed on wet macadam. And the foam wouldn’t help if the wind carried those sparks off into the tree line. When he’d gone after Jeb that morning, he’d seen how dangerous the drought conditions were in the surrounding woods. It reminded him of his emergency response training evolution in Nova Scotia, which had come to an abrupt end when the government deemed the risk of forest fires so severe that it banned people from entering the woods province-wide, with a $25,000 fine for those who ignored the rule.
Though here, just in a few hours, things had—at least in terms of fire danger—improved with the downpour. By the time Creed had gone after Parker, the top surface was damp.
Still, it was a risk. Especially because fire helicopters couldn’t fly, and the logistics of circumnavigating the wreckage with equipment would be daunting.
But Creed knew the teams were moving as fast and as hard as they could to save life and limb.
Everyone who could lend a hand was elbow-deep in helping.
Mandy had told Creed that a nurse, Mrs. Simpkiss, was waiting at the Iniquus transport to take over care of the kids.
Since Mandy was tracking his exact position on her Logistics board, he wasn’t at all surprised to see a woman in scrubs standing in the drizzle with a plastic bag tied on her head like a bandana.
“You happen to be Mrs. Simpkiss?” Creed asked.
“That’s me. I’m supposed to take care of Marybelle, Joey, and Charlotte.”
“I’m Marybelle. And that’s Charlotte. Joey is holding onto Rou.”
“And he’s doing a mighty fine job of it,” Mrs. Simpkiss said.
“Where are we heading?”
She ushered him to an ambulance to put them all down. He told Marybelle and Joey how brave and strong they had been. And that he’d never played great big giant with three better kids.
And as Mrs. Simpkiss leaned in to ask them questions about how they felt and if anyone needed to go potty, Creed headed over to the fire engine to ask for ropes.
Since no one was around, Creed dug through the side bins until he found the necessary equipment and loaded it into his pack.
