Bart’s comment about the fire watch replays in my mind.
With a wet, unfinished canvas in one hand and my paint box clenched in the other, Ash breaks into a near sprint down the path toward the parking lot.
“It’s probably nothing!” he shouts, like saying it enough times will make it true.
“You keep saying that,” I yell back, overtaking him to lead us down the lakeside path.
“Worst-case scenario,” he pants, “we hop in your car.”
Shit. My car.
“No,” I say quickly. “Worst-case scenario is that my car won’t start.”
He barks out a laugh in spite of himself.
“Fuck. Ash,that’swhy I didn’t leave before!”
“WHAT?” His tone jumps from forced calm to full panic. “We literally walked right past your car! Are you serious?”
“It didn’t come up! I was going to ask for a jump after we won. You practically popped a boner when I poked your stomach, so excuse me for not mentioning my dead battery!”
“I did not—” He groans, and I glance back, mouthingwhatever, trying to lighten the mood. It only sharpens his scolding. “This is serious. It’s fire season. We’re in fire country.”
“They’re not going to leave without us.”
The trees blur into streaks of brown. Conversation dissolves into the crunch of pine needles and our ragged breathing.
For someone in such good shape, Ash breathes loudly, muttering to himself, and I slow my pace to match his.
“What are you mumbling about?” I ask.
“Nothing.”
He’s agitated, and if my earlier assumptions are right, that anger is going to swing back to me eventually.
Our phones erupt in a duo of high-pitched wails, and we slow to dig them out.
“Holy fucking shit,” Ash says as the sirens keep screaming.
I fumble mine unlocked.
EMERGENCY ALERT. WILDFIRE DANGER. IMMEDIATE THR?—
“Evacuate now!” he reads aloud. “It saystake action now!”
My heart hammers against my ribs. Ash looks ready to bolt.
“Go!” I shout, and we both take off.
He swipes at his screen as he runs. “I should’ve checked the damn fire watch earlier,” he mutters. “Why didn’t I pay attention?”
My thumbs mirror his on my phone. A quick search on the Query home page confirms our worst fear by showing a live map with a rapidly expanding red blotch.
“It says it’s in… Lassen National Forest!” I yell, the words catching in my throat.
“We’re inLassen National Forest!” Ash screams back.
“Oh, fuck.”
