Page 94 of From the Ashes

We were trapped.

“What do we do?” I called over the wind and flames, coughing as I took a breath. “W-Where do we g-go?”

Phoenix stood there for a moment, turning his head side to side as he searched for a way out. Eventually it snapped to the right toward a wall of fire. I had no idea what he saw, but he turned back to me a moment later, flipping up his visor.

“Do you trust me?”

“Y-Yeah?” The tone of his voice made me feel like I shouldn’t.

“Does the creek still have water in it?”

“Not much… why?”

“We’re gonna follow it out.”

I glanced back at the wall of fire Nix had been focused on. It burned right up to the edge of the creek, consuming homes and backyards as it went. The creek itself remained untouched. But all around it… the air there had to be boiling.

“The fire is too close!”

“There’s no other choice,” he replied, a tone of panic in his voice as he turned the bike toward the creek. “All the roads are blocked.”

“Can this thing go off-road?” I asked, looking down at the smooth-ish tires on the motorcycle that weredefinitelynot built for grass and dirt. My heart was pounding wildly in my chest as adrenaline thudded through my system.

He glanced back at me, a mischievous grin on his face that I’d seen once before. It was the same one he wore that day we rode up to the edge of the wildfire. The day we got so close that we could almost touch it. The day that Nix showed me just how wild he could be.

“We’re gonna find out. Hold on tight!”

Before I could argue, the bike took off and jumped the curb. I squeezed so tight around Nix’s middle that I thought I might break his ribs. Any lighter of a touch and I would’ve gone flying off the back of the motorcycle as we rumbled through neighbor’s yards, over their patios, and through smoldering underbrush to the edge of the creek.

Without missing a beat, Nix jumped the small embankment and put the bike down with a thud on the gravel-rich sand at the edge of the creek. Turning the throttle, we headed south, following the curvature of the water.

There wasn’t much water left in the creek though. Even less than I remembered. It was no more than a foot deep even in the very center, burbling over rocks and around boulders. Not that I could hear it over the sound of the fire crackling all around us. Here the water and the air both were choked with ash and embers. The smoke was thick, and every breath felt like it was going to be the one that killed me. I choked and sputtered, holding onto Nix all the while as we bumped over rocks and sand.

I dared not open my eyes, the smoke causing them to tear up too quickly. However, I didn’t have much choice when the bike suddenly came to a stop a minute or two later. Looking up over Nix’s shoulder, I saw our doom in front of us.

There, lying across the entire creek was a log at least three feet wide. The massive tree had fallen, broken near the stump where the fire had damaged it the most. The entire thing was still on fire, the red-hot embers of its trunk hovering only inches above the surface of the water. Beyond it I could see several more trees that had fallen in a similar manner. Glancing around, I realized we were surrounded by fire on all sides. Even going back was no longer an option. The air was hot, and it burned the inside of my lungs with every breath. If we didn’t get out of there soon, both of us would die of smoke inhalation. We had only minutes to live.

CHAPTER 40

Phoenix

Trapped.

It was the only word that kept racing across my mind as we sat there on the bank of the creek, fire blazing all around us. There was no going back, fire had cut off our escape route. But the small clearing we were in was getting smaller and smaller with every passing moment. Flames already pressed against the opposite side of the creek. Soon they’d be on this side too, as soon as they were done consuming the house only thirty yards to my left.

The air was hot and full of ash. My helmet helped to block some of it, but the smoke made my lungs burn and my eyes water. It wouldn’t be long before breathing would become too difficult. We were already slowly suffocating. I figured we only had minutes to figure something out before it was too late.

I turned side to side, searching for any way out of this mess I’d gotten us into. In an attempt to get Charlie out alive, I’d gotten us both trapped in the wildfire. But I wasn’t giving up yet. Not when the man Iloved was depending on me. There had to be a way out. I just knew it.

My gaze flicked side to side. Driving the motorcycle through the fire didn’t look like a good idea. As far as I could tell through the smoke and the haze, the fire was far too deep to try to punch through with a burst of speed. But my brilliant plan to follow the creek hadn’t exactly panned out either.

Then my eyes zeroed in on the water and the way it ran under the fallen burning logs.

Maybe there was a way out.

Reaching down, I flicked the engine off on the bike. It wasn’t going to be any use where we were going.

“Get off,” I called, pulling off my helmet and tossing it to the ground.