Coughing from the smoke, she hit the ground with the shovel, throwing up as much dirt as she could. Unfortunately, the ground was hard and she wasn’t making progress fast enough. The fire licked around toward the back of the trailer where it was parked against a screen ofbushes.
“Not a good spot,Grady.”
Grabbing a flame retardant jacket, she slapped it over the grass, putting out one hotspot only to have another one flare up. If the fire spread to the bushes and trees, it would surround thetrailer.
She could use the chainsaw and level the bushes, then dig a trench and create a firebreak, but she was one person and she didn’t havetime.
The smoke was already thick and her eyes stung. She couldn’t catch her breath, and her throat was raw with coughing, so she put on the flame retardant jacket to coverherself.
There was no time to put out the fire. Only time to get the girl out. She had to break thelock.
She was goingin.
The Pulaski was the ultimate wilderness firefighting tool. It had an axe head on one side and a sickle-shaped mattock on the other side, useful for prying anddigging.
“Stand back,” she yelled, although she was sure the puppy wouldn’tunderstand.
Swinging the axe side, she chopped at the door, keeping her blows high and away from any little bodies on the other side. Once she cracked the door, she turned the tool to the mattock side and wedged the digging edge into thecrack.
She ripped the door out and a little ball of fur wiggled into herarms.
“Jessie, Jessie!” Linx screamed as she felt inside the darktrailer.
The puppy squealed and barked, then wiggled into the trailer, leading theway.
Linx stumbled toward the bed over the fifth wheel and climbed into theloft.
A limp body, still warm, lay still on themattress.
“Jessie!” Linx scooped the girl over her shoulder with one arm and picked up the fur ball with the other. She tucked Ginger into her jacket and zipped it, then stepped from the trailer into a mountain of fire towering over her, snapping, cracking and popping up the pine tree aboveher.
They were about to beoverrun.
