Joaquin had been looking forward to some relief, but if Silver could stand it, then so could Joaquin. Hawke needed it more than they did. The man’s lower right leg was badly burned. Without him, Joaquin might not be alive right now.
The pilot looked miserable. “I’m sorry I couldn’t keep us in the air.”
“You did … one hell of a job … landing that wounded bird.” Hawke’s voice sounded a million miles away. “We’d all be dead … if not for you. What’s your name?”
“John Wright.”
“Thanks, John.”
A cottontail rabbit hopped by, seemingly unhurt.
Silver pointed to it. “That little guy hid in the shelter with me.”
“Good.” Joaquin watched the rabbit. “For a moment, I thought I was seeing shit.”
He glanced around at a changed landscape, forest replaced by blackened tree trunks and smoking ash, the blue sky hidden. The clothes he’d put on this morning lay against the ash, charred black, synthetic fibers melted. The fire had moved eastward, toward Scarlet.
All at once it hit him—how close they’d come to dying. He trembled uncontrollably now, whether from shock or stress he didn’t know.
Mia.
Had she heard? He hoped to God no one had called her. If she heard his helicopter had gone down in front of the fire…
Hell.
He needed to call her. He tried his phone again.
Nada.
Silver glanced over at Joaquin’s camera bag. “Did your camera make it?”
Joaquin took it out, turned it on, looked at the lifeless screen. “Nah.”
“Bummer.” Hawke said. “Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Joaquin set the camera down, reached inside the front of his underwear, and pulled out the memory card. “My photos are safe at least.”
The other men stared at him.
Joaquin held up the memory card. “I figured if my dick melted, photos wouldn’t matter much anyway.”
The others burst into laughter, interspersed with coughing fits, Joaquin laughing—and coughing—with them.
Holy Mother of God, they were alive. They were alive.
What about Rossiter?
The thought ripped away Joaquin’s momentary euphoria.
Rossiter and the others with him hadn’t had fire shelters.
Silver pulled shelter fabric over Hawke, who had begun to shiver. “We’re probably all going to get a little shocky. Keep warm. If you’ve got water, drink it.”
No one had water.
Joaquin needed to get to Mia. “Maybe I should hike out, get help.”
Silver shook his head. “They had our position when we went down. They’ll find us as soon as they can get a rescue chopper in the air.”