someone elses when a buzzing phone roused him from sleep. At first he swatted in the direction of his nightstand before hearing Neil’s oof as his hand connected with some exposed bit of the other guy. “Sorry, dude.”
Mike blinked and scrubbed his eyes. In the background, someone was talking. “No. We’re not home. We’re out of state at a wedding. The resort is closed. Empty. It’s… It’s what?”
He was still trying to make sense of where he was and what was going on when a haunting wail cut through the early-morning peace. They probably hadn’t been asleep for more than a couple hours, the stars still lighting the woods outside as the sun peeked above the horizon.
“What the fuck?” Mike sat bolt upright, that mournful cry sending icy spears through his guts. He’d heard that noise once before, a long time ago. It was Kayla.
She’d sounded exactly that way when they’d found out that Dave had been in a near-fatal car accident, before they knew he would ultimately pull through.
He scrambled toward her in the dark, going purely by instinct in the direction of the sound.
The rest of the crew was moving too. Dave, of course, was already there, gripping Kayla’s arms and holding her up when she would have collapsed if left on her own. “What’s happened? What is it?”
“That was the police.” Kayla swallowed hard, as if she might be sick. Her usually pale skin was nearly translucent, making her tattoos seem even more vivid despite the early morning light. “There’s a wildfire. A bad one. Bare Natural is burning.”
She began to hyperventilate, breathing so raggedly and fast that Mike was afraid she’d pass out.
“Oh no. No!” Morgan was there beside her in a moment, wrapping her arms around Kayla’s waist and hugging her tight even as Dave surrounded them both in his arms. He attempted to shield them from as much pain as he could. He rocked Kayla and promised her things were going to be all right.
Mike hoped he wasn’t lying.
In the meantime, Joe fished in a basket on the side of the couch and came up with a remote. He turned the lights on very low, so dim they were almost orange. Mike cringed as the group was cast in an amber glow that made him think of sitting by a fireplace. Any other time it would have been soothing, reminding him of the huge hearth they often spread out in front of at Kayla and Dave’s cabin in the woods. Right then, it sent shivers up his spine.
Kate was there, plastered against his side. He clung to her even as he looked around at the rest of his crew doing the same with their partners. Joe flipped on the news and there, in horrific high-definition, was the truth.
The entire mountaintop where Kayla’s resort was perched, overlooking the lake in the distance, was engulfed in flames. This wasn’t a matter of containment or putting it out quickly…it was an inferno eating everything in its path.
Kayla began sobbing, as did James and several other of their friends.
Mike stared in shock. All he could think to say was, “Thank God you’re not there. I’m so grateful the resort was closed this weekend for the wedding. There are no guests, right? No one up there at all, is there?”
Dave shook his head over top of Kayla’s. She was too distraught to hear Mike’s question, never mind respond. Mike thought of his children and how they’d stayed in those woods a mere two days before. Black smoke poured from the blaze.
He plopped onto his ass and prayed, grateful that at least they were all here. All safe.
The reporter droned on in the background. “…believe to have been caused by a lightning strike in the storm that passed through early this morning…”
Mike had been there, loving his crew, hoping he was building some kind of future for them, when in reality everything that Kayla and Dave had worked toward for so long was going up in smoke. How the fuck was he going to make this right?
Kayla bolted to her feet, looking for something to wear even if it was her little black party dress, which seemed entirely out of place in their current reality. “I have to go back. I have to do…something.”
They all knew there was absolutely nothing she was going to be able to do to save Bare Natural, but no one was going to stand in her way either. Mike got to his feet and pulled