She finally opened her eyes and was rewarded by the sight of a large man descending gracefully to her position. It took her a moment to realize he was hooked to some sort of rope that tethered him to the mountain.
His voice was muffled through the mask he wore. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she said, now competing with the thuds of more rocks and the clacking noise as they crashed into one another.
The fire was growing louder, too. Not to mention the smoke. The thick, black stuff was starting to fill the air.
The man—clearly a firefighter by the way he was dressed—peeled off his mask. “The fire is going to come faster now. That brush on the side of the mountain is fueling it. But there’s not enough of it. The blaze will consume it fast and come this way, looking for more.”
Trixie gulped. “You act like the fire is alive.”
The man gave a smile, though it was evident there wasn’t much humor behind it. “Sometimes I think it is. But that’s not important right now. I need to get you to safety and then go help the folks in the car.” He pointed down toward the wrecked, stalled vehicle.
Trixie didn’t like that no one had emerged from it. Nor had they even called for help. It was as if whoever was inside was…
She didn’t want to think about that.
Perhaps they were just stunned. She would be too probably, had her car just rolled halfway down the side of a mountain.
Or maybe they were unconscious, but alive.
She prayed that was the case.
Prayer she herself lived through this might be good, too. Along with some for the firefighter who was intent on rescuing them all.
“What’s your name?” he asked her.
“Trixie, Sir.”
A slight smile creased his lips. She wondered why. Obviously now wasn’t the time to investigate that.
“Okay, Trixie. I’m going to get you out of this. But I need you to listen to me very carefully. Can you do that?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Good. Now—” A loud rumbling sound cut him off and a second later, his arm was around her as he pushed her back. “Look out!”
It wasn’t a rock that rolled right where they’d been standing seconds earlier.
It was a damn boulder.
The giant thing kept on tumbling down, hitting other smaller ones and dislodging them, on its way to the fire. It eventually tumbled right into the wall of flames and disappeared.
“Shit!” Trixie yelled. “Oops. Pardon my language, Sir.”
Again, even under the dire circumstances, the man smiled. “That car triggered a bit of a slide. We’ve got to get off this mountain before the rocks get us and that fire climbs any closer. Okay, here’s what we’re going to do—I’m going to go get whoever is in that car out. You’re going to go with them.” He pointed up the slope.
Trixie saw four more men descending on ropes, looking like in the movies when military guys rappel down a building or out of a chopper or something.
“But wait! I want to stay with you!”
She didn’t understand why she felt that way. Or why she’d actually voiced it. There was just something comforting about the man’s presence.
Get over it, Trixie. You just feel this way because he’s the first one who reached you. But right now, just listen to him! Be a good girl, for once. Don’t complicate things more than you already have!
“Can’t. Do as you’re told.” He put his mask on, signaling that the argument was over.
“Yes, Sir,” she said.
