It Was 2052, High Haven (18 page)

He relaxed and let his sister take
Cole's legs, moved up to where Taylor led. Lindsey placed a kiss on
Bubba's cheek and the parade continued. Taylor looked back at Cissy
for just a moment, plenty of unsaid words between them.
No wonder
I love that woman. She's tough and she's loyal to her brother.
They
moved on carefully forward. He was worried, afraid for Cole and for
all of them. He had no idea where they were, the thick gray mass that
was stinging their lungs allowed no visibility. If he could even
recognize a landmark, some clue as to their location, they would have
to run right up on it. He hoped he wouldn't lead them right into the
blaze or worse, that it wouldn't surround and trap them. They could
only follow the stream like Cole said.

“
Here,” said Kevin, “the
water is going off this way.”

They struggled on, nauseous and
weakening with every footfall. Taylor moved to Cissy and insisted
that she let him take over. Kevin took Bubba's hold. Bubba lifted
Lindsey to his back, her cough had her near unconscious. Cissy kept
clinging to the path of the water. Then the water grew a little
wider, a few more steps and she lifted her head, “I think I
see---look, it's the wind turbines. We're nearly into town, we've
missed the area of the church.”

Taylor said, “Keep going, we
need to get Cole some help.”

They stumbled into the town, the cloud
followed overhead. Secret appeared to be deserted, jalopies setting
still on the street, no sign of residents. Pausing to catch a breath,
the carriers lowered Cole as gently as they could, Taylor said,
“Everyone must of evacuated, I don't see a soul. We've still
got to get Cole to the clinic, maybe someone stayed or at least we'll
have some supplies.”

Bubba said, “Lindsey's not good.
Let's go, get them to the clinic.” He moved nearly at a jog
with the limp woman on his back.

As Taylor forced himself to his feet,
lifted Cole again, he said, “Cissy, would you go check at the
cafe, maybe Cole's aunt is still there.”

They barreled straight through the
empty waiting room and down the hall, looking for gurneys or tables
to put Cole and Lindsey on. The doctor, his wife right behind him,
appeared in a doorway, “HERE! Bring him in here.”

The town doctor's wife was his nurse,
when the painter was layed out on the table, she said, “Oh God,
it's Cole.”

The doctor lifted the wet curls from
Lindsey's face and slowly pulled her from Bubba's back, put her on a
cot. “How many of you are hurt?” he scanned the pitiful
looking group.

“
We're okay. It's Cole, he was
shot. He's loosing a lot of blood.” The doctor immediately
moved to him and began to tell the nurse what to do. Over his
shoulder, he said, “All of you, wash yourselves up at that
sink. Get a wet towel and put on the woman.”

Cissy's voice shouted,
“Taylor---Kevin? Where are you?” she found them in the
room, the doctor hovering over Cole and Bubba putting the towel on
Lindsey. “No one at the cafe.”

The nurse said, “Some have left
but practically everyone went over to the church. If the fire looks
like it's going to take the church, they'll be sure to get the pastor
away safe. I'm sure Cole's aunt went to see if she could find him.”

Lindsey sat up on the cot, “Oh
lord, Cole will be devastated if he looses all of his paintings and
supplies.”

“
Doc,” said Taylor, “how's
he doing, is he going to make it?”

The artist looked pale and hadn't
moved or regained consciousness since he got into the clinic. “I
don't know. It doesn't appear that the bullet hit anything major and
it went all the way through. He's lost a lot of blood, I can only do
my best. It wouldn't be good to have to move him.”

Cissy said, “We've got to try to
get to the cabin and all of our things are at the church.”

“
Get three of those blankets,”
said Taylor. Bubba, you stay with Lindsey and Cole. We're going to
try to make it to the church and cabin---get what we can.”

Cissy gathered the blankets and Kevin
went to Bubba, placed his hand on his shoulder, “Listen, pal,
if this fire moves into town, you and Lindsey get away. You hear me?
Get Cole, the doctor and nurse to safety. Even if we're not back,
you clear out and we'll catch up.”

The friend took the hand on his
shoulder and clasped in both of his, “I gotcha. You be
careful.” He reached over to shake Taylor's hand, “It's
just stuff you know, not important.”

“
I know, but it's important to
Cole and the pastor has been very kind to us. I want to be sure he's
safe.”

The three tied some soft rags around
their nose and mouths and in moments were on their way out of the
town towards the church. In the main street, weaving around the
abandoned cars, two large elk moved and many smaller animals could be
spotted, not interested in each other or anything else, only their
panicked escape. The trail to the church was much more familiar to
Taylor, they found their way there without trouble.

When the three appeared in the doorway
of the chapel, Peaches pushed through the crush of activity to greet
them, Pastor Poe right behind, “Oh dear, my friends. I'm so
glad you're safe. In spite of all our prayers, it appears this hell
won't spare the church or the town.” The minister held a
crucifixion cross that had hung on the wooden pulpit to his chest,
his sweaty face filled with anguish. Behind him, there was a bevy of
activity. The citizens were already packing up what they could from
the church and making ready to evacuate.

Cissy touched his arm, Taylor watched
her move down the chapel aisle to Cole's aunt. He couldn't hear the
conversation but the aunt's hand went to her mouth, she dropped the
things in her hands, grabbed onto a friend and they ran out of the
church.

He looked back at the pastor, “I
hate to say that Cole's been hurt---sorry but I'll have to explain
later. We're going to get our things here and try to get to his
cabin, we'll gather all of his paintings and things that we can.

“
Hurry, hurry on, I think we
have little time,” he turned to help the other citizens, once
again the big dog stayed at his heels. As the three moved toward
their small rooms, the minister raised his hand in the air, “God
speed, my children.”

They threw everything they could that
belonged to the five of them into their packs and hurried down the
hall to the kitchen. Kevin wet down three of the blankets and each of
them took one, throwing them over their shoulders, they exited out
the back door near the kitchen. No ears listened beneath the window
today, those ears would never eavesdrop on a conversation again.

Cole possessed very little as far as
clothing and such, they carefully placed as many of his paintings as
they felt they could carry in two more blankets. Kevin raked paints,
brushes and supplies from the tall shelf into the pillowcase from his
pillow. The shed was already filled with smoke, they pulled the rags
over their mouths and the wet blankets up over their heads and moved
through the super heated air. Soon they were among the streams of
people that were leaving the church.

The flames were visible behind them
now, a hungry monster devouring the landscape. An explosion of sound
seem to shake the earth under their feet and they looked up to see
the fiery column of one of the wind turbines crash down into the edge
of town. The sheriff was beside them, “It's too late to go
into town! Stay with us---we have a place to go, we know where the
other towns people have evacuated to.”

“
No-o,” Cissy's voice was
muffled and broken as she tried to argue, “we have to get to
our friends at the clinic.”

“
Cis, I told Bubba to get them
out if the fire moved their way. We can trust him, I promise. They
have gone.” Kevin pulled her along.

Each of them hung on to their load as
well as they could and moved with the mass away from Secret.
Gradually, the refugees created distance between themselves and the
disaster, it still raged behind them but at least the air wasn't
quite as smothering. The exhausted friends didn't talk, just
followed the stumbling thread of men, women and children over the
rough terrain.

It was still so smoky, hard to tell
what time of day it was. Cissy knew it had been hours and she kept
thinking,
I can't go another foot, I've got to stop.
She kept
putting one foot in front of the other and somehow kept moving.
Taylor lifted her up after she tripped on a root, he shifted his
bundle and put his arm around her waist. Oh, how she wanted to just
melt against him and quit struggling forward.

Then they came out in an expansive
clearing, it was a valley, the craggy peaks enclosing it. Ahead, in
the center of the valley was a large lake and there on the banks
spread the surviving residents of Secret. Their supplies were in
piles, they milled around, watched the horizon and now many rushed to
greet the trail of their friends and family that led Cissy, Taylor
and Kevin to this safe retreat.

“
KEVIN! CISSY!” came from
somewhere in the shoreline population.

Cissy had dropped to her knees, her
bundle on the ground and Taylor knelt and held her.

Lindsey, with Bubba right behind ran
toward them, “Oh, God---you're here, you're safe.” She
dropped and joined the embrace.

Kevin reached for Bubba's hand, “I
knew I could count on you, bud. What about Cole? The doctor and
nurse?”

“
We all got out. It was rough on
Cole, getting him here but he's still stable, the doctor says.

Peaches came leaping across the beach
to check them all out, welcome them with his long wet tongue. Taylor
looked up in the direction the dog had come from, the pastor raised
his hand and he raised his back in a slight wave.

***

The wildfire raged away from them, the
coming days would reveal that the town of Secret had been reduced to
mostly ashes, only a few scant areas that weirdly the flames had
danced around. Fortunately, there were only two deaths, an elderly
couple and few more citizens were injured and recovering. Pastor Poe
led them all in a memorial to the lost and a thankful appreciation
for their safe exodus.

A large encampment was growing here,
on the skirt of the lake. The talk recently leaned toward rebuilding
their community here in the valley. Their mountain town was
decimated and it would take years for the vegetation and animals to
recover, it would be practically impossible to rebuild on that site.
For now, once again the secrets of the town were buried and covered,
perhaps to be discovered again someday. Taylor had no doubt that
those that coveted the treasure of the old mine would not forget. He
didn't agree or perhaps didn't really have an opinion about such
spiritual things, but the pastor insinuated to him that Hell had come
down on them in punishment for the greed of some and that this new
sanctuary was his will.

The friends recounted their story of
going to the mine, the men that followed and the bear to the sheriff
and mayor. The mayor was visibly displeased that Cole had taken them
to the mine. Several questions from him proved his suspicion of their
story. “So, you say you were just curious?” said the
mayor.

“
I read some stories of lost
treasure and a gold mine somewhere on this mountain. I thought it was
interesting,” said Cissy.

Kevin said, “The men had
obviously followed us from the city. They and some others attacked us
and we managed to get the best of them. They must've heard about the
gold mine at some point and that's why they hadn't gone after their
revenge sooner. I'm sure you won't have to worry about them. We
believe the bear got one and the other probably didn't stop running
until he got back to the city.”

“
Okay then, good riddance to
bad seed,” said the sheriff. Bubba and Lindsey didn't add to
the story the fact that they had pocketed some tiny nuggets. Nothing
more was said about the incident.

The painter improved, very weak but
not lethally wounded and no infection. He sat on a blanket, propped
up. The five friends sat around him. It was warm today, but the
evening before a few small flurries of snow had peppered the lake.
The winter was creeping in. The refugees of Secret were all busy
building shelters to get them through the coming season.

A small fire burned nearby, the aunt
walked over, put a heavy pot of stew across the rocks at the edge.
“Help yourselves,” she said, setting down a stack of
bowls and spoons and pointing a finger at her nephew, “You eat,
Doc says you've got to get your strength back.” She nodded to
Cissy and she got up to fill a bowl for her recovering friend.

Cole said, “I can't believe you
guys went to the cabin and got my paintings. That was a dangerous
thing for you to do.” Cissy scooped up a bite and pushed it
toward him. “I can feed myself,” he took the spoon from
her and swallowed.

“
Hey-y,” smiled Lindsey,
“my bird painting was in there---couldn't loose that
masterpiece,” she made fun of herself. Then they all broke into
laughs, Cole held his side and the petite jokester punched at
Bubba's arm.

“
Anyway, I really appreciate
you. I have my paints and many of my paintings. It means a lot to
me.” He looked up into the huge blue sky, for the first time in
weeks it wasn't hazy or smokey. “What're you folks going to
do, now? The winter is coming, you going to try to get down off the
mountain, back to your community?”