Firestorm (5 page)

Grandpa kept me
awake for half of the night with his groaning from the pain that
was rippling through his leg, and the other half of the night I
spent in fear, worrying that the wolves would come in. In fact, no
one slept well as the guys took turns being on watch just in case
we had unwanted visitors during the night.

I was thankful
when the sun came up and shone brightly outside the cave because
the darkness of the night had kept me trembling in fear. We needed
to check Grandpa’s wound and since it was still dark inside, Meagan
turned the lantern on and held it over his leg. I unwound the
bandage on his wound and gasped when I saw it. My nostrils flinched
at the rotten stench from the growing infection and my stomach
wanted to heave.

“Grandpa, it’s
really infected. We need to pour more alcohol on it.”

But Grandpa was
stubborn and he got a bit snippy as he pushed my arm away.

“I’m fine, just
leave it. Let’s just get home.”

“Well, at least
let me wrap it back up.”

The pain from
his injured leg that he tried so hard to hide was evident in his
face, and yet through that torment I could still see the twinkle in
his hazel eyes. I loved him so much and it made me just want to cry
to see him hurting like this. But as usual, Grandpa could always
sense my emotions.

“Sorry, Honey.
I’m just old and cranky. Do what you think is best and then we
better get going. I’m starving and Nana will be a nervous wreck by
now.”

I poured some
more alcohol over his wound and he stiffened his whole body as the
pain ripped through his leg even more. I stopped for a second and
waited for him to relax and then I gently wrapped the bandages back
around it. But our talking disturbed Don and he growled at us to be
quiet. I saw the cut on his arm and his scraped hands and offered
to wrap them but he just growled more and told me to leave him
alone.

Meagan and I
stepped outside the cave a few minutes later to join the guys who’d
been out there discussing the best route to get home. The morning
air was cool and damp and nostalgic of a dead campfire.

Ali looked at
Meagan and then back to Grandpa.

“Okay, we’re
going to need to really help these guys along. Meg, maybe you and I
can each support your grandfather and Brad and Sarah can walk with
Don. We can change positions along the way so that no one gets
burned out with carrying your grandfather because we’re going to
have to almost carry him and he looks a bit heavy. He sure can’t
walk on that leg.”

Don was as old
as Grandpa, but he had a loud voice and great hearing.

“What are you
pointing that way for? We’re not going that way. We’re going this
way.”

Ali took a deep
breath and crept back towards the cave where Don was standing.

“With all due
respect, Sir, both you and Grandpa are badly hurt and we have to
get you home and to a doctor as soon as possible. Now, we’re
familiar with that route and once we get to the other side of the
river, Brad is going to run ahead to the house where he can call
for help.”

“No! We’re not
going back that way. I know what way you’re planning on going,
along that swing bridge, that’s where. Well, I don’t like swing
bridges, and besides that, there’s a better way by boat.”

By boat? Meagan
and I looked at each other in surprise. I wondered if Don had
forgotten that the boat is gone.

“Don, the boat
is gone, and besides that, we know this route. It’ll be easy and we
can have you home in a couple of hours.”

Grandpa waved
for Brad to help him up and then he hobbled outside and faced the
cave.

“Don has a
friend over that way who keeps a boat tied up at a little dock down
in the water. I think what he wants to do is to borrow it so we can
scoot right across the water and be home in less than an hour.”

We all looked
to where he was pointing and I could see that there was a lot of
climbing over rocks and along brush land just to get passed this
cave and back onto the trail. I knew that a trek like that would be
hard on all of us, let alone on two old and injured men.

“Grandpa, where
is this boat?”

Don pushed his
way past us and pointed behind the cave.

“It’s over
there a little ways and it’s tied to this little dock. I know the
guy who owns it so he won’t mind.”

Meagan brushed
her hair back up into her clip as she moved in close to us.

“And what if
your friend is using it and it’s not there? That’s a long way for
you two to go for nothing. What if two of us run on ahead to check
it out first? You can rest here and we’ll get the boat and bring it
here?”

But before
Meagan could finish, Don ambled over to Grandpa and yelled loudly
at Meagan.

“No! Typical
city kids. You visit here once a year and all of a sudden you know
more than we do. And you two fellas have never even been here
before and suddenly you’re experts. I’m not gonna sit here and wait
for that wolf to come back. We’re all going down there together and
that’s that.”

Everything went
very quiet. Ali rolled his eyes and looked at Grandpa who had moved
over to rest against a large rock. Meagan became persistent as she
spoke loudly.

“Yeah, well
Don, Grandpa can’t walk that far on his leg. I think it’s best if
two of us just run ahead to see if the boat’s even there and if it
is, we’ll bring it back here.”

Grandpa waved
at us and then hobbled over to where we were standing a few feet
away.

“Look, I’m
okay. It hurts like heck but I’ve climbed bigger hills than this
and in a lot worse conditions.”

Then he leaned
in and whispered as he pointed back with this thumb.

“Him, on the
other hand, he’s as stubborn as a mule and we’ll be out here for
days arguing if we don’t go along with him.”

Meagan and I
looked at each other and then at the guys and I knew she felt as
uncomfortable as I did. They didn’t think twice about coming out
here to rescue Grandpa and Don, yet Don didn’t care what he said or
how he offended them. Instead, he just kept talking.

“You boys
haven’t been here before and I live here. I know there is a boat
that will get us home fast so why are we standing here wasting
time? Luke, they’re your kids. Tell them to move their butts and so
we can get to the boat.”

Grandpa hobbled
a few feet onto the open grass and then looked back at us.

“What do you
think? I’m game for walking and Don will be grouchy no matter which
way we go.”

My stomach was
screaming for food and I was sweaty and dirty and I just wanted to
go home and take a shower and eat something. I knew that arguing
with them was getting us nowhere and I looked at Meagan to say
something, but she beat me to the punch.

“You know what?
If that’s what you want and you two are obviously not going to let
us spare you the pain, then I say we just get going. I’m hungry and
I want a shower and I’d just like us to get back to the house.”

Ali shook his
head and Brad smirked as he stuffed the blankets back into his
backpack. We knew that the sooner we headed back, the sooner we’d
get there, so Brad and I threw the packs on our back and walked
with Don as Meagan and Ali propped Grandpa up between them. We
headed slowly and painfully up the slope as Don yelled out the
instructions.

“We’re just
going along this path a little ways until we see a big tree that
looks like a question mark and then we head back down to the water.
That’s where we’ll find the boat.”

It sounded a
lot easier than it was and we almost lost it with Don as he had a
stubborn tendency to just wonder off when he wasn’t whining. One
minute he was angry and yelling at us because his hands hurt, and
the next minute he was stopping to admire a branch on the ground
while trying to find the bug that disappeared under it.

We stopped
about ten minutes later so that Ali and Meagan could let Grandpa
rest for a minute. That was Don’s cue to start complaining about
his hands again, and then finally Meagan lost it. She opened Ali’s
backpack and pulled out the long bandage wrap.

“Look, I’m
going to wrap your hands in this whether you like it or not. No,
no, don’t fight me on this because I’m going to do it anyway. As
long as your hands are not covered, you’re going to get more and
more dirt in them and they’re going to hurt more so I’m wrapping
them up.”

Don watched her
wrap each of his hands and growled at her the entire time. She
zipped up the backpack and pulled it onto her back.

“There, now
maybe we can move along a little faster towards the boat, now that
you aren’t looking at your sore hands.”

Suddenly, there
was a loud crunching sound that caught our attention as we all
gasped in amazement. About fifty feet to the left of us there a
mixture of every forest animal imaginable bursting out of the
forest and running aimlessly across the far side of the terrain
that ran beside us. I’d never seen deer run with the foxes and
skunks, only away from them. Brad turned in surprise as he watched
them.

“Wow, something
sure scared them. Look, there’s hundreds of animals - and deer,
there’s got to be a hundred or more. Where are they headed in such
a hurry?”

Grandpa rubbed
his chest and shook his head.

“Well, usually
it means there’s a hunter up ahead scaring them. Sometimes visitors
will come back in here and use this forest as a hunting ground and
it scares the critters half to death - so they run.”

I watched
inquisitively as the animals passed by without even caring about
us.

“Together like
that? I mean, there’s a fox mixed right in the middle of the
deer.”

We watched in
amazement and then as usual, I began to worry.

“Grandpa, are
we going to be okay going this way when there may be hunters up
ahead? Does Don’s friend have a gun?”

“Oh sure, we
all have guns here. We’re all hunters but we know when to hunt and
how to hunt so that the whole forest doesn’t go bonkers. But oddly
I haven’t heard any gunshots and with the animals this close, the
shooter would be close enough to hear the shots. Kind of
strange.”

Meagan stepped
beside Ali and watched as more animals came out of the dense forest
beside us and ran across the terrain to the adjoining forest.

“Well, Grandpa,
I hope we’re going to be safe going to the boat without having
someone shooting at us.”

But before
Grandpa could answer, Don stood up and huffed.

“Can we just
get going instead of wasting time like this? I can smell campfire
so the hunters aren’t too far away, and it’s probably just Joe,
anyway. So, let’s forget those stupid animals and get to the boat
before he decides to use it himself.”

Don didn’t
care, but I was worried that there could be someone with a gun up
ahead who just might accidentally shoot at us. I couldn’t smell any
campfire so I figured that Don was just being impatient again, but
Grandpa seemed sure that we were safe so we decided to keep
going.

The sun beat
down on us in hot waves and at this point I didn’t really care
which way we went just as long as we were going home. Brad and I
took hold of Grandpa and we continued along the grassy path towards
his friend’s boat. After ten or fifteen minutes, we stopped for
another break and Ali took his cap off and rubbed his head.

“So, where
exactly is this tree that looks like a question mark?”

Grandpa took a
deep breath and closed his eyes as he rested on a nearby rock.

“Can’t remember
where it is from this path but I don’t think it’s too far from
here.”

About an hour
and a half later, we still hadn’t found the tree and we were
exhausted and collapsed under the shade of a big oak tree. My legs
were stinging from the sweat that dripped into scratches from the
dried bushes and branches along the way. Brad got up a minute later
and ran ahead and then disappeared into a group of trees while the
rest of us tried to catch our breath. Grandpa’s face was pale as he
rubbed his leg and told us that it was really hurting.

“We’re close to
the boat now, though. Won’t be long and we’ll be home.”

Several minutes
later Brad returned and dropped onto the ground in the shade to
rest and catch his breath.

“Found the
tree. It’s up there about a city block.”

I sat down
beside him and he was restless, almost as if he knew something that
we didn’t.

“Brad? Are you
okay?”

“Yeah, I’m just
beat. Anybody else notice that there are no birds around? I mean,
usually they’re everywhere and they’re noisily chirping away, but I
don’t hear any.”

We stopped to
listen and Brad was right. We were practically the only noise in
the forest. Don coughed as he pointed to the sky.

“That’s because
there’s no wind, and when there’s no wind you don’t hear much. When
there’s a wind it carries the sounds from all over the forest.”

That didn’t
make a lot of sense but he was quiet after so we didn’t argue with
him. Instead, we opened our water bottles and took a few swigs.
Meagan sighed as she wiped her forehead with her hand.

“You’re right,
there isn’t a breeze. No wonder I’m sweating so much. What time is
it anyway?”

Ali looked at
his watch and commented that it was only about ten o’clock.

“So early and
yet it’s so hot - and so dry. When’s the last time it rained
here?”

Grandpa
snickered as he looked up at the sky.

“It’s been a
few months, in fact, nothing so far this year. This is the driest
summer I can remember since we moved here. Anyway, let’s get going.
I’m getting too hot out here.”

We continued
slowly along the dry path and reached the tree shaped like a
question mark about half an hour later, and by then I was ready to
collapse again. Meagan pulled out the water bottles and being only
three left, we had to share them sparingly except that Don grabbed
one and drank the whole thing down.