Page 56 of Smoke Season

Back near their vehicle, the wind whipped harder and hotter than ever.

“It’s getting worse,” Lewis said, squinting in the direction of Carbon. Even more alarming: the radio in the fire vehicle buzzed nonstop. Chatter from half a dozen agencies filled the cab, and the sat phone was lit up like a Christmas tree. A fresh swell of fear rose in True’s throat, stinging with the acidity of bile.

Lewis leaned into the open window of the truck to jump on the radio and give their status and coordinates. “Returning to town with one additional evacuee,” he told dispatch.

The voice on the radio was terse. “Coordinates and ETA?”

Lewis looked over at True, who said, “Two hundred block of Forest Service Road 440.”

Lewis relayed the address, adding, “We can be back to the station ASAP.”

“Negative, Lewis,” the voice on the dispatch returned. “Report directly to Carbon High to stage there for further orders. And avoid the highway at all costs.”

Lewis frowned. “Avoid southbound?” he confirmed.

“Southboundandnorthbound,” dispatch returned. “We’re at a standstill both directions after an all-out Level 3 evac.”

Lewis released a soft expletive. “Level 3?” he confirmed. “Where? Last we heard, the fire was still west of town.”

“Negative,” dispatch repeated. “All points east of the river have upgraded to Level 3, from Flatiron to Carbon urban, which is at 2.”

“All points?” Mel gasped.

They all swiveled their heads toward Carbon with one accord; in the hour or so they’d taken to clear the Forest Service roads and discover the Fallowses’ grow, all hell had broken loose to the east. The demarcation line of the Flatiron Fire glowed orange through the smoke on the ridgeline like a smudged sunset. But it was no longer the only show in town. While it continued to lap at the forest below the peak, a new, dense black cloud of smoke now plumed directly over Carbon, where additional flames now blazed out of control on the slope above the highway.

“Holy shit,” True said. “Is that ...”

“Yes,” Mel confirmed, eyes squinting in the haze. “A second fire.” Splotches of pink rose on her cheeks, always a sign of high stress. Astor got them, too.

“Almost certainly ignited from one of the lightning strikes in this fucking firestorm,” Lewis agreed. He fumbled with the handheld, his fingers suddenly shaking as he attempted to nest it back on its holder on the dash of the truck.

True stood frozen in place, limbs locked, unable to take her eyes off this new blaze. It looked like the plume originated at elevation, on a ridge just east of the original ignition site. The bottom went out from her stomach as she realized how close it looked to Sam’s place.

This occurred to Mel at the same time. “Do you think that could hit Highline?” she cried. Her face had gone from red to white.

“No,” True answered swiftly. But her grip on Mel’s knee gave away her fear. Because just like the base of Flatiron, Highline could jump from Level 1 to Level 3just like that. “We need to stay calm,” she said, then immediately ignored her own advice. “Lewis! Let’s get moving!” She pulled herself into the Carbon Rural vehicle and tugged Mel up into the cab beside her.

Lewis complied, and Mel had just shouted, “Go!” when the truck backfired. Illegal firearms on her mind, True automatically ducked. It only took a moment for reason to prevail, but when she lifted her head, she saw that the three of them in the truck hadn’t been the only ones startled by the sudden blast. A handful of people burst out of the adjacent trailer like a flock of jays flushed from the brush.

Surprised, Lewis laid on the horn, trying to get the people’s attention, but most of them sprinted across the pot grow in the opposite direction.

“Growers?” Mel asked.

“More likely ill-fated bodyguards for whatever they’ve got running out here,” Lewis cursed, siren and lights now going. “But are they really too stupid to seek safety when their lives are on the line?”

Or too afraid,True thought, thinking of Fallows. After all, their grow had just been breached. Only one straggler headed toward the sirens and horn instead of away, staggering up to the truck, breathless.

“Get in, kid,” Lewis said without hesitation, and the boy—because he couldn’t have been older than a teen—reluctantly but gratefully obeyed.

Megafire

CHAPTER 26

The Flatiron Fire was officially promoted to megafire status at hour 1500. Sam heard the announcement over the radio from Chief Hernandez himself, and like every longtime resident of Carbon, he knew what it meant: the original fire had not only gained ground and size in the hot wind but had now merged with the new, smaller fire he could see burning just shy of his ridge on Highline.

“At least one hundred thousand acres so far,” he repeated hollowly, listening to the PSA. “My God.”

And with no meaningful containment in sight. His first thought went to Annie as the public-announcement warning on the radio screeched its awfulEEEEEEK EE EE EEthat always made your stomach flip and your heart rate spike, even when it was just a test of the broadcasting system. But upon hearing the wordsLevel 3spoken by the radio DJ in the same sentence asHighline Road, that spike became his new baseline, and for the first time since this nightmare had begun, Sam’s fear expanded to the physical safety of his entire family. Astor was at risk. Claude. Sam himself. Mel, somewhere out there. He squinted through the kitchen window into the abyss of heat that was now Flatiron, absorbing the reality that this fire actually could, with reasonable probability, even take the house.

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