Page 36 of Ash on the Range
I can't stop. We can't stop.And inside my arms the bundle of two, baby and mumma hummed.
All without coughing. A miracle if I could pull off any of that. But the material draped around Eve, protecting her and her baby, started to dry. The mud kept the material wet somewhat around her head, heavy adding to my burden but it didn't matter. I held her anyway and I kept trying. Something crashed behind me but I kept my foot steady, pushing through.
A burning pain seared through my legs that went numb when oxygen no longer mattered. Because I could see it.
Fuck, I could see the damn house and it was not on fire.
I had maybe a field to go to get there. The one I walked across with a Cass last night before we started our nighttime picnic.
Travis stood somewhere on the roof and every piece of equipment that Red Hart owned stood in the center of the big field, near the barn. The whole thing looked wet. By the time I broke through the trees and stumbled across the paddock through the herd he must've emptied every water tank Red Hart owned around the house and the barn, protecting the herd and the house. And all the farm equipment—tractors, the irrigation system, everything. It was all safe.
"Travis." My voice finally gave out as my legs did. Someone saw me, maybe Jude or Gage, I couldn't tell from the stinging inmy eyes, and started to sprint towards me. "We made it." One leg turned to jelly. I dropped a knee. I peeled the material back from Eve's face where she still sang quietly against my chest. Someone pried Eve’s form out of my arms. I looked up into Travis's tear stained face.
"You brought her back.” He stared at me. “We didn't know where she was. She hadn't taken a truck but she fucking walked in, looking for something she’d left out there the day before. I didn't know –" His throat closed up the same as mine.
"Yes sir," was all I could get out.
Rough hands gripped my shoulders. My feet found dirt and miraculously stayed standing. I stared at Jude, his jaw locked.
“Looks like the fire stayed over the hill and all we got was smoke. Some of the back fields might be fucked but we got the car.”
“Car?” I frowned at him.
"That way.” He pointed to the north western boundary that I knew they shared a common fence line with a neighbor they didn’t always get alone with. “Looks like someone set something alight on purpose. I've been chasing those bastards for fucking hours." Jude's usual animosity came out to play as he joined us. He frowned at me. "Where's Cassie?”
I blinked and held out a hand, turning. “She’s right –"Here.
The last word died on my lips as I surveyed the space behind me and stared back at Forest.
Fuck.
"Where's my sister?" Austin charged up to us, resembling the carnage of the night before.
Gage’s fist caught him dead centre in the chest and knocked him back half a dozen paces. "Not the fuck now, Maguire. Wait your turn.”
I turned back to the fire even as my legs wobbled. The smoke thickened with a breeze that brought the heat with it, toward thehouse. "There was a crash," I said as I stumbled forward. “I don't know what happened. Maybe something came down. I gotta find her." I surveyed the forest, trying to pick out where the hell I came out of the tree line but the smoke obscured everything. “I think I came out there.”
“You’re not going back in there, Will.”
Behind us, Eve puked on the ground.
“Christ, she's bleeding," Travis panted.
Jude glanced between us. “I'll help you," he gripped my hand, lifting me off the ground with a simple grip when I could barely help myself stand.
I shook my head. “You’re needed here," I snapped. “I've got Cass.”
The heaviest weight I'd ever felt pressed on the back of my neck like a morality check before it slammed into my spine. "We've got Cass." I'll cast a glance sideways at Austin and nod.
"We do."
The muscle of my legs had one more ride in them. I took off towards the fire that came running down the hill towards me.
Slower, or faster – I had no idea. Pinpointing on the place I wanted to go because that's all I had to do. “She's gotta be there. She's got to be there,” I chanted.
Two sets of footsteps pounded the ground beside me. I didn't have words left in my lungs as my eyes streamed to fresh. The tree line came up faster than before and then we were back in the thick of it. Running into the smoke was nothing like running from it. I didn't even know where she was. The crash I was looking for didn’t just pop up. I searched for something that had a fallen pink cardigan. The one with strawberries on it – I bent down at the ground level scattering about my hands trying to find her. A hand grabbed my neck, yanking me back up right away.
“Fuck off. Get down here and help me." Finally, Austin got the message, getting to his knees beneath the layer of smoke and helping. My hands burnt my fingertips screaming at me. My jeans tore and singed at the knees. Something landed on my bare back. I yelped and tasted iron but I didn’t stop, not until my hands came across something soft, something almost damn cuddly. "Cassie.”
