Chapter Twenty-Five

Levi

Following Tess, Levi sprinted for the vehicle.

He knew he was wearing his battle face, yet he had no idea what was going on.

Tess had gone to stand by the hut, a finger in her ear, looking down at the ground with concentration. As she slid her phone back into her pocket, she scooped her hand toward Levi to get him moving as she hauled ass toward the entrance, screaming for people to save themselves.

Had he seen the flash of lightning? Yes.

Beyond the fact that the tour was obviously over for them, he was running blind.

As Levi grabbed the handle, he jerked the Jeep door wide, loading Mojo. “The sun’s shining, Tess.” He shoved the key into the ignition.

“Go. Go. Go.” She pushed Mojo’s butt back toward Levi so she had space to climb in.

Her face pinched, and her muscles stiff; after pulling her seatbelt into place, Tess held her limbs tight, making herself small.

Was this a flashback? Some kind of trigger? Levi had been out of her life for a long time; maybe this was new. “Tell me.”

“I haven't felt like this since forever ago.”

“In Ghana?’ He reached over Mojo to wrap his arms around her, but as he kissed the top of her head, Levi knew that was the wrong thing, and he pulled away. “Tell me what to do here, Tess. I’m lost.”

“Flee or die is what I’m feeling. Please, Levi, drive!”

Levi glanced out past the windshield, looking north.

The speed at which the clouds raced in, with their purple and green otherworldly colors, reminded Levi of a tornado that would sweep away a beautiful Oklahoma day and leave destruction in its wake.

The sensation at the pit of his stomach was something he remembered from when he was a kid. The sirens whirred, and everyone dropped whatever they were doing to race for their safe place.

Levi sensed the same thing Tess did: flee or die .

He wasn’t on the road even ten minutes, racing away from the village, when the clouds covered the sun, turning day to night.

Even he could feel the energy stirring.

Lifting his arm, all the hairs stood on end. He turned to show Tess the electricity in the air. She held her hair in a ponytail to keep her curls from tangling in the open Jeep. But the hair that had escaped her fist was full of static. From his training, Levi knew that the atmosphere was gathering energy for a lightning strike, and they were at the point of impact.

He needed Tess safe.

Stomping on the gas, he rocketed them forward.

Lightning flashed, momentarily blinding Levi. When he could see clearly again, fire raced along the ground beside them.

Sparks flew. Glowing particles in the wind landed on the trees and bushes, which had dried over long months without water, just kindling, ready to blaze.

The fire spread at an alarming rate.

Tess reached over and scratched sharp nails into the skin on his arm. Her mouth formed soundless words. He imagined this was how she’d learned to communicate silently as a child.

“I’ve got this, Tess. I’ll get you safe.”

She reached over and grabbed the steering wheel, forcing it to the right, and suddenly, they were careening off the road toward the fire line.

As Tess locked her arms so Levi couldn’t correct the steering, Mojo’s gaze was fixed on what was ahead of them. Levi hadn’t known Mojo long enough to understand his barks. But it sounded like it might be the same kind of frustrated “Help her” bark as yesterday on the mock search and rescue mission when Mojo wanted Levi to get to Tess.

Then Levi saw it. Just ahead of them, two children raced away from the fire line.

But you can’t outrun a fire.

A quick assessment and Levi realized that they couldn’t stop to get the children. The vehicle would catch.

The heat was too intense.

“Tess, get over here. I need you to take the wheel. Put your foot on the pedal, don’t lift it. I’ll slide out from under you.

Holding the roll bar, Levi dragged himself out from under Tess and into the back seat. “Keep it steady, Tess. When the bumper is almost even with the children, take your foot off the gas, but do not brake.” Cupping his hands around his mouth, Levi tried to get the children’s attention past the roar of engine and flame.

They didn’t turn.

He called out, “Tess, lay on the horn.”

Tess pressed the palm of her hand into the middle of the steering column. The noise startled the children, and they turned their heads. Levi was standing in the back, his foot shoved under the seat, his toes curled up to brace himself. He opened his hands and leaned out.

The children instinctively reached for survival.

When Tess lifted her foot from the gas, because of the upward slope, the forward momentum was ever so slightly decreased. It was enough that he could lock his fists around two tiny wrists and heave upward, flinging the children onto the back seat.

Levi remembered how Tess described her mother lifting her by the wrist and flinging her at Abraham. What came next was destruction.

He quickly scanned the children, their chests heaving from the exertion, tear streaks where bright trails through the soot and smoke that coated their faces.

Levi climbed back over to the front seat. “Switch again, Tess. Get in the back with the kids. Make sure their clothes aren’t smoldering, then get them on the floorboard.”

He stood on the gas pedal as Tess clung to the roll bar and scrambled over the seat.

“Come here, Mojo,” she commanded, and Mojo didn’t hesitate to follow her over the seat.

“Good, Tess, get everyone down as low as possible and pull the wool blankets over you. They’ll smolder, but they won't burn.”

The first blanket she pulled out, she tucked around Levi, pulling it into a loose knot behind his head so it draped over his arms as he drove. Then she pulled her baseball cap from her pack and put it on his head before working on getting everyone situated behind him.

Catapulting forward, Levi tried to find a break in the flames. But the wind had whipped up the blaze. There wasn’t much vegetation, he reasoned, and it was dry tinder, so it should burn and stop. His hope was to get to the rocky hill, climb up into the smoke, and back down the other side, where perhaps they could find fresh air to breathe. That was his plan.

In the back, Tess was asking the children if there were any of their friends who might be out in the brush that they hadn’t seen and might need rescue.

“What did they say, Tess?”

“The school day is over. The other children are from rural homes that are too far away, so they live at the school. These children lived close enough to go home.”

“All right, let’s get them home so their parents won’t be frightened.”

“The big blaze over there,” she pointed past him, “that was their house. When they saw the lightning strike it, they turned to run away but the fire was chasing them,”

“Was their family home?”

A moment later, she said, “No. No one was there.”

Levi ducked his head to avert the embers flying around them in a gust of wind.

When he lifted his gaze again, Tess yelled, “Levi! The fire has us surrounded!”