8:54 A.M.
“YOU CAN STAND UP now, Natalia,” Wyatt said. “We’ve reached the shore.”
Still clinging to her makeshift flotation device, she stood up. The water was only waist-deep.
As she turned toward the shore, Ryan and Lisa splashed toward them, calling Trask’s name, their arms outstretched.
“We’ve been so worried.” Ryan’s voice broke. “I can’t believe you swam that whole way! Thank God you’re all still alive.”
“Let me get Trask out.” Lisa’s voice broke with urgency. “I just need to hold him, at least for a second.” She started fumbling with the straps on Wyatt’s back. Trask woke up and reached for her.
Her heart in her throat, Natalia scanned the rocky shore. What about the others? Had they survived?
First she spotted Beatriz. Marco had his arms around her. Her head was tucked underneath his chin. It was another layer of relief to see Beatriz still had Wyatt’s backpack, which meant the group still had at least his first aid kit, water bottle, and filter. The two held each other, rocking back and forth, while Blue barked and ran in circles around them. Beatriz’s face was smeared with ash, while Marco looked like he had just taken a shower fully clothed.
Behind them were Darryl and Zion. Jumping from foot to foot, Zion was explaining to AJ what had happened.
“The tree just went whoosh past us!” Zion demonstrated by throwing his hands from one side of his body to the other. “Grandpa and I had to run.”
Natalia only relaxed when she saw Susan, standing a little apart from the others. The older woman was wringing her hands, looking anxious and confused. But she was alive.
“Come on, Natalia.” Wyatt held out his hand from where he stood on the shore. “We need to keep moving.”
The whole time she had been counting heads, her fingers had been working at the knots in her pants, now empty of air. “I need to put my pants back on, but I think the knots are too tight.”
He splashed back out to her. “Let me try.” After tugging and fiddling, Wyatt even tried using his teeth. Finally, he swore. “It’s like they’re superglued.”
“I don’t exactly want to hike in my underwear.”
He pulled the knife from his pants pocket. “How do you feel about shorts?”
“It beats the alternative.”
He had her hold the knot while he grabbed a pant leg and sawed away. Eventually, the lightweight nylon cloth parted with a loud ripping sound. When it reached the seam, Wyatt had to give the blade an extra tug. After they repeated the process with the other leg, she slipped into pants that now ended at her knees.
After she stepped out of the water, she saw Ryan wince at her exposed scars. He looked away when he saw her noticing. Did he recognize them for what they were? For a minute, Natalia allowed herself to think about the future, about how they might be rescued, how Ryan and Darryl and Lisa might be treated by real doctors. About how Ryan might learn firsthand the truths behind her scars, about debriding and grafts and skin so tender that at first even the weight of a cotton sheet was too much to bear.
She was still lost in thought when Beatriz wrapped her in a hug. “I’m so glad you’re alive. When that burning log split us up, we all freaked out, wondering what had happened to you guys.”
“We were doing the exact same thing.” Marco slipped his arm around Beatriz’s waist as soon as she released Natalia.
“I thought you guys were gone forever,” Zion said. “And Wyatt’s the only one who knows where to go.”
As if to underscore Zion’s words, Wyatt had already pulled the map from his pocket and unfolded it. Instead of being a waterlogged mess with disintegrating paper and smeared ink, it looked untouched.
“That survived the swim?” Natalia asked.
“It’s printed on waterproof paper. I wish I could say the same for my phone.” He tapped a spot on the map. “So anyway that’s Knox Lake we just crossed. Even though the fire may not be able to get across, it’s already working its way around the lake. But if we keep ahead of it, we can pick up the Cougar Creek trail.”
“Wait a minute,” Darryl said. “Haven’t we just spent the better part of a day avoiding the Cougar Creek fire?”
Wyatt shrugged. “That was when we were miles farther north, where there’s still active fire. But I think we should head to where the fire started a couple of weeks ago. The fire already burned everything there and then moved on. If you can’t outrun a forest fire, then the best place to be is in what smoke jumpers call ‘the black.’ Because things can’t burn twice.”
“And if we do that, if we take the Cougar Creek trail, how much farther to civilization?” Marco asked.
“Once we meet up with Cougar Creek, it looks like it’s only about three miles to a road.”
Road. It almost sounded like a foreign word to Natalia. The reality of the last twelve hours—of running for her life over and over, of near misses and panic, of one injury or problem after another, of exhaustion sapping the strength from her muscles—seemed like just how things worked now. It was hard to imagine ever breathing clear air again, or licking her lips and not tasting ash, or lying down between crisp white sheets. Hard to imagine finally being safe.
AJ, Wyatt, and Natalia put their wet boots back on. Then Lisa placed Trask back in the carrier Wyatt was still wearing. While people took turns drinking lake water through Wyatt’s filter, AJ said, “Here, Susan, let me carry your pack for you a bit.”
She took a step back. “You don’t need to do that.”
“I know I don’t need to. I want to. Plus, I don’t feel right without something on my back, and I had to leave my pack on the other side of the lake.”
Even though her expression betrayed that she wasn’t quite following him, she still started to shrug out of the straps. As she did, she looked down at her arms. “What happened to my arms?”
He answered patiently. “You just scratched them up a bit last night. But you’re okay.” He settled the straps over his own shoulders.
At first the woods ahead of them were untouched, but soon there were scattered burned patches where sparks had fallen but not found enough fuel to stay alive.
They had been hiking for about a half hour when they heard the burble and mutter of water flowing over rocks. Then the woods opened up and they saw the source. A stream. While it was only about fifteen feet wide, the water looked at least thigh-deep.
And it was moving fast.