Saturday, 2:00 p.m.
Richard put the Audi in drive and started down the street, following Rocky’s Chevy. Thea had insisted on riding with Goose in Rocky’s truck. Olivia had protested at first, but it was probably better that way. Olivia planned on coming back to take care of the last-minute things she’d had no time or privacy for, but mainly for Dominic. Richard insisted their son would be fine—the evacuation wasn’t even mandatory yet, he’d said—and Olivia had been too weary to argue. But once Thea was safe, she would return for him.
Ahead of them, Rocky hit the brakes hard, and Richard did the same a second later. Olivia’s neck snapped forward. The car lurched to a stop in front of the Kims’ empty driveway.
“Damn it, Richard.”
Her husband ignored her, so focused was he on Rocky, who had gotten out of his truck to study the space between the Kims’ privacy hedges.
Curious, Olivia tracked her husband’s gaze. “Do you see something?”
Again, she was greeted with silence. He threw the car in park, released his seat belt, and jumped out of the car, headed for his cousin. She followed him to the hedges, hoping that whatever had caught the men’s attention wasn’t serious.
“I thought I saw—” Rocky stopped, craning his neck to see between the hedges.
Richard did the same. “Me too,” he said.
All Olivia saw was a sliver of murky sky.
Rocky let out a long breath, visibly relieved.
“Thank God,” he said. “For a second, I thought I saw flames.”
Then Rocky’s body went rigid. In the distance, the sky flashed orange. Far, but not nearly far enough. Olivia grabbed Rocky’s arm for support.
How did it get this bad so quickly?
But Olivia knew. The Tubbs Fire traveled twelve miles in three hours. With the Camp Fire, the first evacuations were ordered just over an hour after ignition. Like many people in Plumas County, Olivia had memorized such facts.
Memorized and yet ignored.
The road to the highway impassable, Richard backed up down the street and ran inside their house to call 911. A moment later, Rocky parked alongside. His presence comforted her. Rocky would keep them safe until emergency services arrived.
But when Richard came out a few seconds later, Olivia saw it on his face: The landlines were down. Help wasn’t coming.