What happened when you saved those boys?
He focused on the boys.
“We’d been called up into the Chelan Complex.” The words came slow off his tongue. Like gears that hadn’t turned in a long time. “They were short on fighters. The fires that summer—I’d never seen anything so devastating in my career. Our crew was helping with emergency evacuations.” He remembered a few faces. People had been cooperative, but panic was always underneath.
“The fire had turned on this area outside of Chelan. The winds were brutal. We hit this nicer stretch of homes on acreages, and some parents discovered a few of their younger boys were missing. They’d thought they were with other families, but one of the parents guessed the kids had gone to their fort. My gut turned to rock when they pointed in the direction they thought they might be. We barely convinced the parents to follow the evacuation plan. We couldn’t spare the crew, so Jay and I took off with one of the dads to look for six boys, aged seven to ten.”
He sat back, rubbing his hands together, feeling Riley’s eyes on him and the heat of the flames in the grate.
“Forest fire gear isn’t the same as standard gear, you know?” He looked at Riley.
She shook her head, her large eyes pale against the dark room.
“The uniform is lighter. A shirt and pants. Smaller helmet and a backpack. Goggles, if the smoke gets bad. Out there, your main worries are heat exhaustion. Dehydration. We approached this stand of old trees in the foothills, clouds of black smoke behind.” He shook his head. “I was worried. I could see Jay was, too, but he didn’t slow. We just had the crew truck, no road. We stopped about a quarter mile out and booked it on foot.”
Riley curled her legs underneath her, and he looked back at the fire. The memory would become more intense now. It always did.
Her hand folded around his, anchoring him to the present.
“We left the dad. Told him we needed somebody there when we brought the boys out. I don’t know how we got him to stay. We headed into the smoke, following a trail into the trees—tall old pines creaking in the wind and the heat. We heard a scream, so we ran that way. When we reached the trees, the flames were already there, high in the tops and on the ground. Burning debris falling everywhere. Jay called out, and I followed. He saw what I hadn’t. Partway up one of the bigger trunks, about fifteen feet, the kids had built a platform, no walls. The tree above them was lit up and hot. One boy was already on the ground, coughing. I took care of him while Jay called out for the others.
“We heard them, above us on the platform. I don’t know how they were breathing up there. The remains of a charred rope ladder swayed from the top. Jay kicked at the part that had fallen, tangled in the burning branches near the boy. I could see Jay’s mind working. There wasn’t a tree he couldn’t climb.”
Mark pictured Jay as a kid, scrambling up the tallest pines they could find on his property, smiling and hollering like a lunatic.
“I radioed the crew and then focused on the boy—Zack,” he said. “He’d broken his leg trying to jump from the platform to get help. I bound him up best I could and lifted him, running him outside the trees. I signaled to the dad, who was running to meet me, and then I charged back in. Jay had made it up the tree. He’d tied his own rope on and had a boy over his shoulder as he rappelled down the trunk. He handed him off to me, and I ran him outside. Set the boy down, checked him over. His name was Dylan.”
Mark paused, his eyes unfocused, watching the flames in the fireplace and in his head.
“Then what happened?” Riley gently prodded.
Mark took a deep breath, still watching the flames dance. “I ran back and Jay was coming down with another boy. That was three. We were only halfway done.
“An older tree on the far side fell with a crash, taking a couple smaller ones with it and spreading flames. I yelled at Jay to hurry as I left with the third boy.” Mark’s chest knotted up, making it hard to breathe. “Stupid thing to say. He was climbing that tree like a squirrel.” He pulled his hat off and ran a hand through his hair. His leg bounced. “When I came back, he’d made it down again and tossed the fourth boy over my shoulder. I yelled at him that I’d go up. He waved me off.
“‘Are you kidding?’ he said. ‘Only two more.’
“When I got back again, things had slowed. He was shouting from above. ‘Platform’s burning! Be careful!’ Yeah, like I was the one who needed to be careful. Jay was coming down with the last two boys, one over either shoulder, and I didn’t like the looks of that treetop. The wind was whipping. Flaming branches were falling. The whole stand would be an inferno, and we were right in the middle of it. The heat would get us before the flames did.”
He felt Riley’s grip on his hand tighten. He was almost done. Nearly there.
“Jay was bigger than me. Stronger too. Not as fast but he powered through and made it down. I caught one of the boys as soon as I could reach him.”
He tried to take a breath, but it hitched. In his mind, he saw that exchange again, that nod of Jay’s—We made it. We did good.
His voice came out husky. “I remember hearing a huge crack, like splitting rock, and I fought to keep my legs under
