I Escaped the California Camp Fire: America’s Deadliest Fire by Peters Scott & Brown SD

Author:Peters, Scott & Brown, SD
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Best Day Books For Young Readers
Published: 2019-06-23T00:00:00+00:00

The opening lyrics to Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now burst out of his mouth. A little muffled by the face-rag. Usually, he only sang in the shower, but he couldn't help himself. The town limits were just ahead. It felt like they were going to make it.

Emma let out a whoop and joined in. "We're on the move!"

Chapter Sixteen

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2018

AROUND 11:15 A.M.

They were flying down the road now, but inside the car, it felt like an oven cranked up to broil. Troy kept two car lengths between the Bronco and the ambulance in case it had to stop suddenly.

Both vehicles were doing forty miles per hour, and it was the fastest he'd ever driven.

"You should go on America's Got Talent," Emma said through the rag that covered her mouth. She bounced on the seat like a hot potato. "You could win. And get rich. And we could go somewhere cool. Like Africa. We could take Rascal and Midnight. They could meet their cousins. You could ride an elephant. I'd pet a lion."

"Africa's hot," he said. He swiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. "The equator runs right through it. I'd rather be somewhere cold."

"Oh." Emma stopped bouncing. And although he couldn't see her mouth, he knew she'd lost the smile he'd heard in her voice. Instead, she stared out the windshield at a giant piece of ash gusting and swirling in the headlights. "Me, too."

Troy could have slapped his head except he was afraid to take his hands off the steering wheel. Why did he have to ruin Emma's daydream? She'd forgotten the danger they were in for a moment and he'd brought her back to reality.

"Let's pretend," he said. "It's snowing real snow out there. Like in, what's that movie?"

She shrugged.

"You know," he said, playing dumb. "The cartoon. The one with that weird-looking snowman with the funny name. Otis? Oopsie?"

"Olaf," Emma said, sitting straighter. "And he's not weird looking. He's cute. And he's funny. The movie's called—"

"Wait. Don't tell me. I got it," Troy said. His eyes were trained on the gap between the Bronco and the ambulance. "Chilled."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Frozen. It's called Frozen."

"Chilled. Frozen. Same thing." He forced a laugh. An annoyed Emma was preferable to a terrified Emma. "That's what I'd like right now. A gallon of frozen cookie-dough ice cream."

Emma said nothing.

"What would you like?" he asked her. "If you could have anything right now? This second."

A shower of flaming embers dropped from the sky, igniting trees and vegetation.

"For this to stop."

"Emma," Troy said. "Wet down Rascal and Midnight again. And splash more water on your face-rag. Save enough for mine."

She went to work, focusing on her task instead of what was going on outside. Flames engulfed the east side of the road, devouring trees like a starving dragon.

A shower ball of embers landed on the ambulance. It slowed and seemed to weave in the lane. Had the driver taken in too much smoke?

Troy tried to stay calm as he steered his vehicle through the smoke and flames.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.