Hotshots (Wildfires Book 1)

  There was a crackle and finally Gibs answered, “Got it—over.”

  He put the radio down and then turned to the others and said, “What do we have for supplies?”

  They pulled their stuff out of their pockets where they were stored. When they were done, there was a pile of dried fruit packs, nuts, power bars, and water.

  “Looks like we are going to have a feast.” Nix laughed and the others followed.

  “Best second date ever,” Jez said and pumped her hand in the air.

  “Shit,” Trystan teased. “Expectations are that low? Come on, baby, I am pretty sure this is better than having Bubba and a six pack while gator hunting.”

  Jez put a hand to her lips like she was trying to think and then she said, “Yeah, that would be a much better second date, sorry, guys, you need to get a beer gut and overalls for me to go out with you again.”

  “Done, sweet thing,” Gray drawled and wiggled his eyebrows.

  They ate in silence, only the sound of the radio in the background. They were all listening because even though no one said it, the winds had shifted and since they were in the smoke line, the fire was headed toward them. They needed to find out how close though.

  It was about an hour after they ate, and had arranged themselves so they were all lying down comfortably, when Nix heard it.

  “Gibs?” a woman said over the radio.

  “Yeah, girly,” Gibs replied.

  “Fire line on the north has broke, it is on the move, and you need to send some more men out to make another line. The winds have grounded the planes as well, you will have no air support until they die down, which could be tomorrow or the next day if the forecast is right,” the woman said and they all stiffened.

  Nix sat up and looked at the men, silently communicating something before turning and crawling to the opening of the cave. He disappeared only to reappear quickly.

  “Smoke is getting thicker,” he said grimly. “We are blocked by the rock for now, but if it gets much closer we are going to have to find somewhere else to go. Take shifts and watch.”

  They all nodded and Jez leaned forward. “Here,” she said and pulled out the cloths she had intended to use to wash up with tonight and handed them out. They were damp, and could be used over their mouths to filter the smoke a little. The men nodded and Nix held up a bottle of water and said.

  “This is used for the towels only.”

  They nodded and then Nix said, “I will take first shift, we rotate every two hours.”

  “I will take next,” Jez said and waited for them to protest. But none of them did, instead they began to pull out the tools they would need just in case they had to move quickly.

  Jez moaned and turned once again trying to get comfortable. She was hot, sweaty, and completely exhausted. Damn it, the fire was getting closer but still far enough away they didn’t have to move yet. They planned to be up at the crack of dawn and make their way down. Then they were going to help get this bitch under control. All night they listened to the scanner. They did not have control of it at all. The winds and the dry underbrush fueled the fire and it was becoming larger every hour. Not good since Steamboat sat in a valley surrounded by forest.

  Regardless, they needed to get down the mountain and help. Jez and the others had been restless all night and they all knew why, they didn’t like not being in the thick of things. With a sigh, she turned over once again, pressed herself against Nix with Gray at her back, and drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

  Her men were running their hands over her body. Her skin heated as they amped up the temperature. Trystan had one breast in his hands, molding it into a conical shape and sucking her nipple with such suction that it became swollen and sensitive, yet he continued to lash his tongue on the tip without letting up. Gray had her other nipple and he was twisting it and pulling it straight up from her body, as he kissed her in such a carnal mouth fuck that she struggled to breathe through her nose.

  Each man hooked her knees under his arm and held her knee close to her breasts, while Nix pulled the lips of her cunt wide and sent his tongue deep inside of her pussy. His teeth nipped at the wet slit he discovered and she felt his moan as it vibrated through her pink flesh. Two fingers slid inside of her grasping entrance and yet another finger began joining the two. She pushed up onto the fingers as Nix twisted and used his thick digits to fuck her. She gasped and continued to assist his deep penetration and whimpered when his thumbs pushed the sides of her clit and pinched the small muscle between them.

  She was being stretched to the max yet wanted more. Gray’s mouth refused to give up her lips no matter what she did and she tried nipping at his tongue to get him to loosen her mouth long enough to scream out in pleasure when the orgasm violently crashed over her. She began shoving her hips up harder and harder until she felt Nix add his pinky finger tucked in with the others and they continued to give her what she begged for without words. The fingers slid easily back and forth as deeply as they could up to the knuckle. The heat hadn’t gotten better, it had intensified, and she ground her pussy on the hand that offered her such pleasure.

  The men at her breast and mouth began kissing each other while continuing to torment her nipples, pinching and twisting them. At times, they pulled a nipple up from her body, and squeezed the nubbin harder. Watching them distracted her from the slight pain that only made her feelings of need double. It was sexy and she wanted to add her own mouth to their open mouthed kiss. She slid a hand between both men’s knees and slid her fingers slowly up and down the cracks of their asses. Her finger teased each small wrinkled opening, she felt the men above her shudder, two cock heads were suddenly within the reach of her lips, and she gave each a lick. She alternated licks and sucks on the heads of their cocks.

  The added pressure at the opening of her pussy made her raise her hips even higher and she felt Nix’s entire hand slide through and inside of her cunt. It was too much, yet she continued to move with the wrist covered in hair began to slide back and forth inside of her pussy. The hand splayed his fingers and explored her vagina at will as she screamed in ecstasy. Her mouth and cheeks of her face felt the throb of the two cocks squirting cum over her lips and tongue. There was too much liquid for her to swallow and she was so thirsty, only swallowing the liquid could quench her thirst.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Jez,” she heard someone say and she refused to open her eyes, she liked the dream too much, damn it.

  “Jez,” another voice said and she moaned and turned slowly. She hurt, everywhere. How was that possible when she felt so good a minute ago? “Come on, honey, open your eyes, we gotta get moving.”

  Finally, it penetrated and she sucked in a breath and instantly began coughing, smoke, a lot of it, filled her lungs. Shit. Her eyes flew open and she looked around in the soft light of the cave. Obviously, the sun was up, but a thin layer of haze hung in the air, it was smoke from the fire.

  “How close is it?” she asked gruffly and struggled to sit up.

  “About a mile away,” Nix said and ran a hand over her hair. She was hot, shit, she needed a shower and to brush her teeth, they felt gross.

  “Okay, give me a minute and I will be ready,” she mumbled and struggled to stand. Sleeping in the smoke-filled room had made her dizzy. She stood and swayed back and forth while Nix and Trystan held an arm. “Shit,” she muttered and both men whispered encouraging words.

  “Steady,” Trystan said.

  “Yeah,” Jez said and then pulled away. “I wasn’t prepared for that.”

  “Carbon monoxide is beginning to rise,” Gray said from the entrance to the cave. He was holding a small detector they used to determine, heat, carbon monoxide, and other levels of toxins in the air during a fire.

  “As soon as we are out in the air, you need to put your towel over your mouth. It is too thick out there, and we need to move quickly,” Nix said and held out a wet towel to her. She nodded but didn’t say anything—the smoke was intense.

&nb
sp; The men pulled their towels out, wrapped them around their neck, and tied it in the back making it look like they were wearing a kerchief. She grinned and did the same thing. When she was young, the neighbor boys used to use washcloths like these for the same thing. Her mother would be pissed every single time she found one of her clean washcloths in the dirt after she had been playing with them.

  They exited the cave and her eyes began to water, yeah the fire was closer, and the smoke was thick. This was not going to be fun without their helmets and masks. Usually a firefighter would have oxygen and a mask, in addition to a helmet and a jacket to protect them from the fire and the elements. Going three miles straight downhill through the smoke was going to be a challenge. Jez hoped they reached The Shack before the fire cut them off.

  “Come on,” Nix said and looked around as they pulled their packs on their backs. “We need to make time, the fire is going to move between us and the way out if we aren’t careful.”

  “Did you call into Gibs yet?” Trystan asked and Nix held up the scanner.

  “Yep,” they will be on the lookout, radio is turned on and ready to use if we need it. One of the teams laid a line down last night below. We just need to get there.”

  The others nodded and Jez motioned with her head to start walking. Nix went first with Trystan at his side, and Gray stayed with her. There were several large rock ridges to get by and some would have to be crawled over. It made her pant more and they had to stop and put more water on their towels. It was a process they got used to. The smoke was thicker in some areas and she could see the white towels had already turned black on the guys where their mouths were sucking in clean air.

  Three miles didn’t seem like a lot, however, three miles in rocky mountainous terrain was like twenty miles of flat land walking. You had to go slow, you had to pay attention to each step or you would fall, and most of all, you had to make sure you were going in the right direction, because the smoke was so thick there were times they could have gone off track and ended up lost.

  Nix held the map and the compass. Every fifteen minutes he would check them both and then adjust their path or carry on. She could hear the wildlife fleeing. Hooves beating on the ground, and birds making noise, talking to each other it sounded like. Shit, it meant the fire was moving closer, not that they needed the animals to realize that. No, the heat and wind was making it known. They had been walking for hours; they had to be getting close.

  Nix paused and looked up and they all did the same and Jez sucked in a quick breath at what she saw. FUCK! was her only thought as she saw the flying embers, this was not good.

  Nix turned and looked at them and said, “We are about three quarters of a mile away, there is about a thousand yards of rocks in the middle. We need to move, after the rocks it is a straight shot to The Shack, I am pretty sure we will encounter some of our people on the way. Drop the packs, they will slow us down.”

  Everyone nodded, yeah this was going to suck. The smoke was thick, the ground uneven, and every fucking bone in her body hurt from exertion. Yeah, she was taking a bath tonight.

  Trystan grabbed her hand and pulled her with him. Nix took the front and Gray the rear and then began to move as quickly as they could down the last bit of the mountain.

  Yeah the fire had moved quickly, she could see the flames in the haze of the smoke. It was getting hotter, and it had obviously traveled laterally below them like they had feared while they walked down. Essentially, they had to go through some of the flames to get to safety. The forest ahead wasn’t fully involved in the fire, which was a good thing, but the way it was moving, they didn’t have much time to get through.

  Jez didn’t think of anything other than putting one foot in front of the other. She wasn’t looking up, she was looking down, she didn’t want to trip. She almost giggled aloud when she started to chant to the beat of their footsteps. It was stupid she remembered this, but the guys her dad trained with when she was young used to sing it, and when she was going through PT, Jeb reminded her of it. She started singing in her head as she kept pace with Trystan, before long she was singing it quietly and then Trystan laughed and joined her. Soon they were all singing it as they ran through the forest trying to stay alive.

  When my granny was ninety-one

  She did PT just for fun

  Two—she could do it better than you

  Three—she got up before dawn to do PT

  Four—she ran 3 miles, then she ran 3 more

  Five—she could beat any Jumper alive

  Six—she did PT just for kicks

  Seven—she up and died and went to heaven

  She met St. Peter at the pearly gates

  She said, “St. Peter, hope I’m not too late”

  St Peter said with a big grin,

  “Get down Granny and knock out ten”

  They ended the song abruptly after singing it through three times when they heard a crackle, they were a few yards from the rock ridges, which had trees scattered throughout. Nix frozen and looked around, they all did because they all had heard that sound before. It was a tree about ready to explode, shit.

  “Pay attention,” Gray yelled loudly. “More than one tree will be on fire, do not run toward the rocks, they will propel you onto them. If it is a tree in the rocks, you are trapped.”

  “It is the only way out,” Trystan said.

  “Shit,” Nix growled and she heard another crackle, this one louder.

  “We don’t have much time, figure it out,” Jez said calmly.

  A thousand yards away a small tree exploded. It was loud and shook the ground but it was a small tree, and the wood splinters flew but not far enough to reach them. All of them had been trained in what damage a tree exploding could do, the images had been graphic. They didn’t have the thick jackets to protect their bodies or helmets to protect their head. This could suck.

  “Shit, we have to chance it,” Nix said. He pulled out his radio and began snapping orders into the receiver. He didn’t even wait for a response, just told them they were coming and there could be issues because of their situation.

  “Stay close, no one drops off or we all stop,” Nix said and they nodded.

  They moved together, in a line, with Nix leading them onto the rock. A second tree exploded behind them, it was another smaller one she knew even though she didn’t look back, it was because the concussion of the blast was weak. Shit, if the little ones were blowing, the bigger ones were going to follow. They needed to get the fuck out of there. The fire line was too close and there was no air support right now, the winds had grounded the helios so they couldn’t lay down retardant where they were.

  They climbed over the first set of rocks and she felt the heat, the fire was coming faster now, the wind had picked up, she could feel the gusts now, before they had been protected on the ground surrounded by foliage, here they were wide open but for the trees growing in the rocks. The sun was shining, giving a weird brown hazy glow to their surroundings. Jez sucked in a breath, they had forgotten to wet their towels, she could feel the burn of the smoke now, shit.

  Over a second set of rock, which were larger, they heard another tree explode, this one was bigger, she knew because a blast of pressure pushed at their backs as they scrambled over the large boulder. They needed to get out of the rock and to the ground where they could run the last quarter mile. It would lead right the edge of The Shack’s property, from there they only had to repel down the wall, it was simple, they had done it a few times now. The ropes were probably still on the wall in the backyard.

  She looked up, Nix was trying to move quickly, she could see he was moving away from a large tree in the rocks, then she saw why, the top was smoldering, which meant it was burning internally. Two more clusters of rocks to go and they could run. Slowly they moved, a tree exploded once again behind them. The noise was frightening, the creaking and crackling of the wood, moving and shifting on its own. Then the splintering of the first bit of wood before the whole thing ju
st went BOOM! The ground shook, Jez’s foot slipped but Gray pushed her ass up and over the rock she had been crawling over. He followed her and they moved faster. Her breaths coming in short labored cycles. The air was smoky, she pulled her towel off her head, it wasn’t helping anyway, and Trystan had long got rid of his.

  Nix hit the ground first, then Trystan who turned and reached up and grabbed her waist and swung her off the rock and then pushed her quickly out of the way. The tree they had been trying to avoid exploded. Gray was just jumping off the rock and it was like in the movies. The concussion hit his back and he arched and then as if he was a doll he was pushed out farther than what he intended, his limbs suddenly didn’t seem to be working that well.

  “Gray!” Nix yelled and she felt a hand on her pushing her down on the ground as the wood from the tree began to fly at them like little bullets. Not cool, was the stupidest thought she had, but there it was. She hit the ground and a body covered her, later she would discover that Trystan had tackled her.

  She pushed the body and then scrambled to where Gray lay on the ground. Shit, he wasn’t moving, her ears were plugged, it felt like someone put earphones on her but she still yelled.

  “Gray!”

  Hands were moving over him and she sat back. Nix turned him to the side but there was nothing on his back, thank God, he could have been impaled with wood while in the air.

  Then he moved, his hand coming up and putting it against his head. Her ears were clearing she heard ringing as well as Nix and Trystan both yelling at Gray to open his eyes. Finally, he did, and she almost sobbed with relief. But she couldn’t, they needed to get to the wall and drop down into the yard to get off this bluff.

  “Come on,” Trystan said, pulling her arm.

  She stood and staggered behind him as Nix stood and pulled Gray over his shoulder and carried him. She could see the tops of The Shack and then there were men surrounding them. She wanted to breathe a sigh of relief but the smoke was too thick right where they were. Someone helped her to the ledge and handed her a rope. She didn’t think, she just turned and, with the weight of her body, held onto the rope and leaned back and walked her way down the wall.