I looked up to see my brother’s silhouette outlined against a pair of headlights. Fire bloomed behind him.
“Better get a move on, bro!”He yelled down from the top of the bluff.
“She secure?” I yelled back, yanking the rope.
“Yes!Go.”
“Wait!” Sunny jerked away. “My dogs.” Her voice cracked with panic.
I looked down the bluff where four dark shapes paced the riverbank.
“Swim!” I yelled down. “Get in the water! Swim!”
Brute faded into the shallow water, followed by the others.
“They’ll stay there. They’re smart. We’ll come back for them. I promise. They’ll be okay in the water. The rocks won’t light. They’ll be okay.”
Sunny hesitated, tears filling her eyes.
I grabbed her chin. “Baby. Listen to me. You’ve got to get out of here. I’ll climb back down and stay with them until help arrives. We’ll be safe in the water?—”
“No.”Tears streamed down her face. “No. Nothing can happen to you. You’re right. They’re smart. We’ll come back. God, promise me we’ll come back.”
“Yes.Go,Sunny.” I shoved the rope to her. “No time to waste.”
She gripped the rope and looked at me. “You saved my life.”
“No.” I kissed her head. “You saved mine.”
54
JAGG
Eight Months Later…
The afternoon sun was bright, the air fresh and cool, clinging onto spring although summer was only a month away. It was a glorious seventy-six degrees, with big, white clouds speckling an endless blue sky. I parked my Jeep between two jacked-up Chevys with American flags and tool boxes in the back.
I took a moment to admire the thriving tree in front of me. I’d never seen a green so vibrant. So healthy. Squirrels zipped from branch to branch. There was even a blue bird, as bright as turquoise, sitting only a few feet above my Jeep.
I killed the engine and climbed out of my Jeep. Yes, the same one. The same Jeep I’d had when the world burned down around me. The same one with ripped seats and a busted air conditioner. I never got the thing fixed. I don’t know why really, other than I’d come to like the fresh air. The Jeep’s flaws were like a badge of honor, a weakness in the vehicle that I not only accepted, but embraced.
A metaphor, no doubt about that.
“Let’s go, Brute.”
Oh, and there was that. Nothing easier for hauling dogs around than a vehicle without doors.
Brute jumped out, tail wagging and took off into the woods, as he always did. A smile caught me as I watched him sniff like a bloodhound. Turns out, the pit was one hell of a detection dog. I watched as he meandered through the new grass and seedlings, budding along the forest floor that eight months earlier had burned to the ground.
One thousand acres had burned during what was now dubbed as the Moon Magic Fire. It would have been a lot worse—catastrophic—if not for the river that helped contain the flames until the sky opened up six hours later and rained for almost an entire day. Autumn, followed by an icy winter, didn’t allow for much regrowth, but so far, the season of new life was living up to its name.
Renewal.
Rebirth.
I straightened, stretching my spine, my hand almost instinctively going to my lower back.
The sound of tires on rocks had me looking over my shoulder at the black sedan slowly inching to a stop behind my Jeep.
