“Dumb kids driving like freaking bats out of hell.” Dale motioned toward the empty highway.
“Anyone ever tell you that you’re well on your way to becoming a crotchety old man?” Fred laughed, enjoying the burn, as he himself was two years older than Dale.
Dale gave him the finger and motioned toward his unit, all of them soaking the trees at the most western part of the blaze. He looked at the black smoke rising up into the sky, blocking the blue. The woods were filled with an eerie mist, thick despite the wide open spaces. The heat from the fire had died down once they were pulled from the heart of it. Hundreds of fireman from Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana were fighting the blaze from all sides. Not to mention the hundreds of volunteers from all across the country. Dale’s unit, Engine 23 from Billings, had been stationed in the park for the past six days. To say they were exhausted was an understatement. They were grateful for the absence of visitors. The extra available space in the park made it easier for them to rest while staying within close proximity to the fire. He himself had slept in a cabin at Fishing Bridge for three nights and then three nights at the hotel in Lake.
It was a sad affair when it took a devastating fire to get him to spend a night in the Lake Hotel. He’d wanted to stay there ever since he was a teenager. He and his father had gone to the park to do some bonding while fishing the Yellowstone River. They spent most of their time fifteen feet or more apart or fighting. But when they entered the hotel, it always put him in good spirits; a nice peaceful building. He was glad now it was safe from the fire, unlike the Old Faithful Inn. He was fond of that building as well, amazed by its grand woodwork. It would be such a shame to have any damage befall such a landmark.
“Dale!”
“Yeah.” Dale wiped the dirt from his facemask and turned toward the sound of Paul’s voice.
“We’ve been ordered up to the Inn,” Paul yelled, nodding to the north. “They need additional clearing up there.”
“I wouldn’t really say we’ve contained bullshit here.” Dale shook his head, not wanting to leave until they’d cleared and soaked the entire west line beside the highway. An impossible task, but it had been assigned to him and his crew.
“Here comes the drop!” Fred yelled, waving to the helicopter carrying a large flexible bucket full of twenty-six hundred gallons of water as it flew overhead.
Dale looked up from Paul and watched as the helicopter carried the heavy load over the fire and released the water, the dump barely making a dent. He lowered his head and saw only smoke. He turned from side to side and saw no trace of Paul, no one walking away, or even standing camouflaged by the forest.
“What the hell?” Dale felt like an idiot, as if he were suffering from Alzheimer’s and likely losing his mind at the age of forty-eight. Had he told Paul to okay the orders and he ran off as he watched the drop? Not likely. Especially when he saw Arnold Gaines with the radio and Paul was nowhere to be seen. “Hey Arnold,” Dale yelled, but Arnold didn’t turn. Dale ran the distance and tapped him on the shoulder.
“Hey, are we heading out?” Arnold’s voice muffled through the mask.
“Did Paul come over here?”
“Yeah, that’s when I told him to give you the orders from HQ.”
“But he hasn’t been back since?”
“No.” Arnold cocked his head to the side, trying to understand what Dale was getting at.
“What the hell is going on?” Dale pulled off his mask and rubbed his eyes, the smoke instantly causing irritation. “Paul!” he yelled. “Paul!”
The rest of the men lowered their hoses and axes and took notice, wondering why he was yelling Paul’s name in the middle of the group. Dale looked from one face to the next, hoping he’d miscounted or perhaps misread the names on the back of their jackets due to the smoke. It did have a way of playing tricks on them, making them see things that weren’t really there, damaging the eyes they couldn’t focus. But this wasn’t the case, couldn’t be.
“What’s going on?” Fred ran over, turning to look for Paul before Dale could even fill him in. “What happened?”
“Has anyone seen Paul in the last minute? Other than when he was speaking to you, Arnold?”
The men shook their heads. A steady murmur began to rise between them as they took off their helmets and began to call out. Eleven grown men yelled Paul’s name at the top of their limited lung capacity in the smoke, and still there was no sign.
“Okay, he may have fallen into an underground thermal vent or geyser. I want a search line, but keep it tight.”
They stood four feet apart and walked from the line of trees toward the highway, moving slowly so as not to miss a single inch of ground. It was very possible he’d stepped onto a loose patch of soil and the ground gave out from beneath him. Hopefully they wouldn’t find him lying in some hole with jagged rocks poking through him, or simmering in a thousand-degree pool of water. Dale shook the image from his head and kept walking, moving toward the trucks until they’d walked up the shoulder, where they stood blank-faced. All the vehicles were accounted for and they could see Paul wasn’t inside any of them. Dale turned and faced the forest, looking through the smoke to the trees beyond and the red glow of the fire. Somewhere between where he now stood and those flames was the youngest member of his crew, a man with a wife and a newborn daughter.
“What’s going on here?” Fred leaned in close so the other men could hear him.
Dale shook his head, unable to comprehend what might be happening. He’d lost one of his men in broad daylight, right out from under his nose. It wasn’t possible.
“Everyone…” Dale rubbed his chin, deciphering a plan. “We’re going to head back down toward the front and we’re going slowly. I want everyone scanning the ground for anything.” Dale set his mask on the ground along with his helmet. He needed clear vision if he was going to find Paul. No matter how much his eyes or lungs burned, he wanted to do his own hunting. “Let’s go.”
For over an hour they marched up and down the same stretch of earth, often getting down on their knees to thumb through a thick patch of grass. They didn’t find a thing; not so much as a single clue to where Paul could have gone.
12
T
here had been a heavy silence over them the entire drive back to Old Faithful. Stew had been traveling ten and sometimes twenty miles over the speed limit, taking corners blindly without concern. He was completely aware that he was driving and where he was going, but his mind was still back at the campsite. Doug and Rowena were gone, leaving all their belongings there on the ground as if they’d just left without them. It brought a sickening acidic taste to the back of his mouth. Stew didn’t care much for Rowena. In fact he thought she acted like a stuck up snooty bitch half the time, her face buried in a book as if she were better than everyone. But he had secretly liked Doug. It hadn’t really dawned on him until a few minutes ago, but he genuinely cared for the butterball.
Doug had been the first person he’d met in the park. Stew had driven from Oregon all by his lonesome, tired and hungry. He’d stayed in Gardiner the night before orientation, some crappy hotel without cable. He hadn’t slept but for two hours or so, lying in bed with sore legs from the drive and his mind full of woe. His mother’s final words kept circling his mind like an infant’s mobile. Her exact words had been, “Get the hell out of this house, then. Go on and leave. Lousy good for nothing, just like your father.” He knew she was only saying that out of sadness. His father had left her only a year earlier for a much younger woman in his office. So when he’d told his mother he was heading out to Yellowstone to work, she felt abandoned. Betrayed, even. But he had to leave. He was drowning in responsibilities and never had time to himself. They needed more money; he went out and got another job. Someone needed a ride somewhere; he got behind the wheel. So he understood her anger, if not surprise, when he told her he was going and that was that. Deep down, beneath her tears and harsh words, he knew she only wanted him to be with her. She just didn’t want to be alone.
The next morning he’d headed into the park bright and early, a little too early. He’d gone and left himself four hours until orientation. So he took a seat on a bench across from the mineral deposits in Mammoth and closed his eyes. This had eaten up twenty minutes of his time.
“Hey,” Doug had said, waving his hand. “You want to play some basketball?”
“Where?” Stew stood from the bench.
Doug pointed behind the Mammoth hotel to a building shaped like a barn. Stew nodded and followed him inside, so thankful he’d listened. Inside was the employee recreation hall. A full-sized basketball court, two pool tables, and some video games. He and Doug had played horse and pool the entire time. It had been fun, too. Stew thought Doug had a crude personality with perfect timing. Aside from his overly aggressive, stalker-like qualities, Stew thought he was a great guy. Remembering that day made him feel even worse, remembering his kindness and then picturing him wandering the woods…or worse.
“Slow down or you’re going to kill us.” Sonia leaned forward and slapped his shoulder.
Stew looked at the speedometer and saw he was doing forty-seven in a twenty-five zone. He took a deep calming breath and pulled his foot off the gas, allowing the jeep to gradually slow itself. Everything needed to be slowed a bit. His jeep, breathing, heart, and mind all needed to decelorate. Everything was rushing as if there were a bomb about to detonate. He wouldn’t do Doug and that uppity bitch any service by crashing into a tree and leaving them out there. An odd thought came to him, something that made him smile. Doug chasing after Rowena to talk, innocent intentions, and in her attempts to avoid him, they both get lost. Moments later they stumble out of the wilderness and find the campsite deserted. Rowena would bitch and moan while Doug would drop down and thank his lucky stars. That would have been the best possible alternative, but Stew also knew it was completely unrealistic. Evidence pointed to a tragedy. Something wrong that didn’t make sense.
They looked to their right and saw the fire beside the road, maybe twenty yards into the woods. The flames were shooting high above the tree line, consuming everything in their path. The group had managed to escape most of the fire’s havoc, such as ash and smoke, by being up at the Inn. But it was getting closer; inching its way toward what had been, up until a few hours ago, their summer fun. Now it was the most unusual day of their lives. Waking up to an authentic mystery and then driving beside a historic blaze. Some moments stand out in a person’s life like a red flag amongst a jumble of collected memories. Stew knew this was indeed one of those days.
Stew had suppressed his anxiousness and fear enough to control his speed, turning right off the main highway at a safe twenty-five miles an hour. He pulled the jeep into a parking space right up front before the main entrance to the Inn and just sat there, his hands shaking on the wheel. It was an odd feeling for him, being completely out of control. The emotion throughout the jeep was the same, all of them with solemn faces.
“What’s going on?” Kelly and Richard came out the front entrance, holding hands.
“Doug and Rowena are missing,” Janice nearly yelled.
“Jesus!” Stew looked back over his shoulder with a scowl, telling her a normal tone would have sufficed.
“What do you mean, missing?” Richard asked.
“Missing…gone, disappeared.” Marco raised his hands palms up, a gesture that asked what else did they need to say. “Look, I have to get going or I’m going to be fired.” Marco hopped out of the jeep and hurried up the stairs, shaking his head. He didn’t care what they thought, or if they called him an uncaring asshole. Fact of the matter was that no matter how lame an annoying fat boy chose to be, running off after some skinny-ass girl, he still had a job to do.
“Stew’s going to the ranger station to file a report.” Sonia placed a hand on Stew’s shoulder, thanking him for taking charge. “We want to go too, but we can’t.” Sonia lowered her head, feeling tears beginning to build.
“We’ll go.” Kelly opened the passenger side door and took a seat before Richard could say yeah or nay.
“You will?” Janice asked, a grateful smile widening across her emotionally drained face. She and Rowena had become much more than just roommates over the last few months. Janice had come to think of her as a confidante, someone who would listen to her problems and offer advice, not just to get Janice off her back. Thinking of her in some kind of trouble, possibly pinned screaming beneath the fat, sweaty body of that freak Doug, made her heart hurt.
“Well, looks like we are going.” Richard took hold of Sonia’s hand and helped her out of the jeep. He took Janice’s hand and repeated the process before he hopped into the back.
“Don’t worry,” Stew told Sonia, looking her dead in the eyes with all seriousness. “I’ll do everything I can.”
13
S
tew put the jeep in reverse and peeled out of the parking lot, unintentionally spitting gravel on the girls. A moment later he turned left on the highway and drove the short distance to the Old Faithful ranger station, filling his two passengers in on the situation while he drove. He pulled into the parking lot and killed the engine, looking up at the small building.
“Just remember to speak slowly and get the full story out,” Kelly told Stew, not wanting his emotional state to get the story jumbled and ultimately slow down the process.
On any normal day Stew might have told her to get off his ass or stop being a nagging bitch, but he admitted his nerves were rattled. His demeanor was shaken, his words quicker than normal and slightly strangled. All that mattered now was finding their friends. Stew simply nodded and stepped out of the jeep, taking the briefest moment to arch his back and stretch. He’d been so occupied with the morning’s events that he hadn’t registered his back and neck were slightly out. Sleeping on an uneven ground in a thin sleeping bag had a way of doing that. Stew followed Kelly and Richard inside.