Page 47 of Embers of Love

The old man stopped to look at her. Ember saw his face for the first time. He looked utterly desperate. A shiver ran down her spine when she saw the gruff man with tears in his eyes.

“Please! It belonged to her! I can’t leave it!” he cried.

A cold shiver ran down Ember’s spine. It wasn’t just a piece of furniture. The armoire belonged to Farcy’s late wife. Now she understood his attachment to it. It wasn’t about the monetary value of it.

“She loved it! I can’t let the fire have it!” the old man said stubbornly he went back to wrestling the furniture. But it was too heavy to move. It was a miracle he got it this far, that had probably taken up a significant amount of time.

“Let me help.” She tried to move the man out of the way.

“No! You should go! Save yourself!” he protested.

“It’s my job! Now let me help you!” She hefted the armoire, dragging it beyond the door frame. Farcy went around and placed his hand on the bottom. Together they lifted it and brought it outside.

She placed it on the ground.

“Let’s put it in the bed of the truck.”

“No,” Ember disagreed. She had a foreboding feeling. Taking the armoire wouldn’t end well. “Do you have a tarp? Something thick we could cover it with?”

“Yeah!” Farcy snapped to action. He went around the back to grab a massive tarp. They’d found a relative grassless patch to place the armoire. It was far away enough that if the house went up in flames, it should be safe. Ember threw the tarp over it to protect it from the elements.

“Let’s go!” She hurried him to his truck. He got behind the wheel while Ember took the passenger seat.

“Are you sure we can leave it there?” the old man asked. He was still worried.

“It’s our best bet.”

Thankfully, he didn’t argue any further. He started the truck, and they zoomed out of his driveway. Ember secured her seatbelt.

“Put your seatbelt on, old man!”

He grumbled but did as he was told. Ember studied the roads ahead. It wound around the hill, over the river, and all if it was covered in thick, flammable vegetation. They still had a few miles to go before they hit the main road and everything was aflame ahead of them.

She remained hopeful but the wind was picking up quickly. The rain might help to put out the fire, but the wind that came with it was only going to make things worse. The feeling she had before they left the house was confirmed. They would not make it, but Ember couldn’t see any other options. They couldn’t sit in the middle of the woods waiting to be saved either.

She tried to radio in for help.

“Captain, can you hear me?!”

The voice came back garbled. She tapped the device desperately until her voice came through clearly.

“Thompson?! Are you okay?”

“Uh, not really. I’ve got Farcy. We might need some help. The fire’s trapped us over the hill. We can’t get out by road. Any chance we cou?—”

Her words were interrupted by a thunderous crack.

“Look out!” she warned Farcy.

A massive tree had crumbled from being eaten by the flames. It succumbed to its own weight, unable to support its huge bulk. That, in itself wasn’t what made the tree dangerous but rather it’s position above the hill. It had fallen off its roots and gravity had taken hold of it, carrying it further down the hill, building up momentum as it went. The thunderous crack came from the tree tearing its way through the forest.

“Shit!” the man swore.

She could hear him stamping hard on the brakes to no avail. The tree struck the passenger side of the truck like a supercharged battering ram. Ember felt the impact reverberate throughout her body, a sharp cutting pain flowed from her right arm into her shoulder, spreading all over her ribcage. Her vision swam for a moment. her eyes picked up glimpses of their truck sailing through the air. Dimly, she registered the fact that they were falling in the direction of the river below.

The sudden change in direction was all the truck needed to flip onto its side, consequently slamming the bed of the truck into the tree they’d been trying to avoid in the first place. That sent them into another spin. Dirt from the forest and inside the truck itself rained all around them.

They hit the river with a loud crash, displacing massive volumes of water. They’d landed upside down, but the raging current easily flipped them over, filling the interiors of the truck in the process. The cold water was exactly what Ember needed to jolt her mind awake, escaping the fugue the intense pain had put her in.

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