Chapter 5

My phone dings with a new fire assignment in Oregon.

“Shit.”

Not surprising with the unusually dry autumn. We’re due for some rain. A wildfire can eat up those crunchy brown leaves in the blink of an eye. I get to work tidying the end-of-season paperwork I’ve been trying to get caught up on since we returned from the last fire. Peering down at my watch, I’ve got about thirty minutes to get loaded up and on the road.

Normally, I’d be thrilled. One more roll before the season closes out? Sign me the fuck up. Getting an assignment used to make my dick hard, but ever since that deadly season years ago when we lost Garrett and Jacob, there’s a looming sense of dread on every mission. Every close call since has compounded into an underlying uneasiness that never goes away. It steals my sleep, my thoughts, my peace. It’s hard to work through trauma when you keep getting reintroduced to it. I still love the fire; I always will, but it’s just different now. I suspect Xander is going through something similar. He lost so much more than I did that day. No wonder he never goes home.

While grabbing my red bag, I realize the date night I had lined up with Scottie will need to be rescheduled. Making plans was a surefire way to jinx myself. It’s a long-standing superstition that the best way to get a roll is to make plans or buy groceries. However, things tend to settle down toward the end of a season, so I took my chances.

Not sure what’s driving my attraction to Scottie, but it’s the most effort I’ve put in for a woman in a while. Probably the prospect of something new. It’s been months since I’ve gotten a good chase, which might contribute to Scottie’s appeal. Finding a woman to hook up with, especially between assignments, has never been difficult. And while that’s convenient, what fun is it if there’s not a challenge? The push and pull is the best part. I fish my phone from my pocket and shoot off a text to her.

Really sorry. I’ve got to head out of town for work. Going to have to cancel our dinner date for Saturday. Can we reschedule?

Scottie

No worries.

Another text comes in from Xander, the superintendent.

Xander

Heads up, I’ve got a buddy on the Mahonia fire, heard they’re ordering the world.

Sounds fun. Boys are getting loaded up. ETA?

Xander

1535

Copy

Before long, Xander rolls up, and we pack the supe rig. As the captain, I ride shotgun, Xander takes the wheel, and the rest of the guys split between the two buggies.

The sky grows hazier as the hours go by. As we approach the GPS coordinates, smoke is rising into a massive plume, mixing with dusk and making the entire sky glow orange. After three and a half hours or so of driving, we pull up to the temporary base camp.

Our phones ding with a notification from the group chat. I open it up, chuckle, and shake my head. Word slipped about all the resources on the fire, and a few guys in the other buggies are already betting on the odds of hooking up with a hot medic. I roll my eyes.

“Christ, the ambo isn’t even staged yet and they’re already talking about getting their dicks sucked.”

Xander scoffs at me for being a hypocrite. Fair point, I’ve had my share of hookups on a fire. Usually, a hot helitack girl or female volly firefighter. Never a medic—well, at least not while on a fire assignment—but I know a few guys who have. It lends itself to the old stereotype: nurses and firefighters go together like tequila and poor choices. We’re a match made in hell.

As far as I can tell, there doesn’t even seem to be an ambulance on site, so maybe it’ll stay that way. I just love sharing a fire camp with a bunch of rookie medics who’ve never been near a wildfire before. It’s my favorite.

I’m guessing more resources will be showing up tomorrow or later tonight, depending on where they’re coming from. Based on what Xander heard, I expected to see more of them here already, but I’m glad we can get staged first. The sky is growing dark when we climb out of the truck and stretch. The shots pile out of the buggies and everyone grabs their shit, working quickly to get settled. Xander and I find the division supervisor to check in .

By the time we’re finished meeting with overhead, I’m beat. I lay out my sleeping bag on an area of the cold ground that looks soft enough and crawl inside. It’s not as much soft as it is hard and unforgiving. It takes several minutes before my sleeping bag is warmed by my body heat. There’s no light pollution this far out, but the stars aren’t visible through the smoke, so I shut my eyes and use what time I have left to sleep. It will be an early morning.

The sun is barely up when I spot the ambulance a ways over. They must have gotten in late last night. I sit up in my sleeping bag and squint. It reads SKY RIDGE on the side. Another shot wakes up and sees the same thing.

“Hey.” I nod to Xander, who’s sipping coffee from a steaming tin cup. “Did you know it was a Sky Ridge resource?” My breath comes out in a fog in the early morning air.

“So much for fucking a hot medic,” Tex interrupts from somewhere behind us. “That’s the EMT named Preston or Prescott or some shit, right?”

I chuckle and unzip my sleeping bag, wincing as my joints pop and click when I stand. Staring out at the horizon, I take a moment to appreciate the sunrise, then turn my head toward the fire we’re going after today. We’ve got our work cut out for us.