Rainbow (Ruthless Kings MC Baton Rouge #1) - K.L. Savage Page 0,6

and shake him. “We can’t go back. They’re gone, Greer. Gone.”

“No!”

“Yes. I’m sorry.” A sob catches in my throat as Dad’s pleading eyes beg me to run. “I couldn’t save them.”

“No,” he repeats, but this time his shoulders tremble as he cries.

I gather him in my arms, holding him tight as he mourns our parents. How could everything be fine one minute and the next… our lives are changed forever?

Life likes to be unpredictable, but until now I’d yet to experience the cruelty—and damn, it’s a cruel bitch.

“We have to keep going, Greer. Come on.” I tug him to his feet. “I know it’s hard, but it’s our only option if we want to live. While we walk, try to get a signal on your phone. Call 9-1-1.” Twigs snap as we walk, echoing into the empty smoky forest.

It won’t stay empty long.

The fire is right behind us, and if it’s as unforgiving as it was when it took my parents, I have no doubt it will burn us to the ground, too, if we don’t hurry.

Death has a funny way of showing when it will come around. But I guess that’s the point; you never know when it will.

And when it does, you’re never ready.

I wheeze, and my mind begins to drift as my vision sways.

“Nathan?” Greer’s voice is hoarse from the smoke. “Are you okay?”

I try to answer, but I can’t. I just don’t have it in me. I’m too tired. I trip over a tree root protruding from the ground and succumb to my exhaustion.

Maybe a minute of rest is okay.

“Nathan!” Greer falls to his knees and kneels by my side. “Please, be okay.”

“Just-need-a-minute,” I manage between the struggled breaths.

“Please, don’t die. You’re all I’ve got.” He takes my hand in his, and as easy as it would be to close my eyes and maybe let nature take its course, I can’t leave him behind.

I dig deep for my willpower. Past the devastation of losing my parents. Past the fear. Past the exhaustion. I try to find the little bit of strength I have left. I squeeze his hand and sink into the dirt. It’s comfortable for the most part, almost soft and cushiony, reminding me a lot of the leather seats in the Ford I just left behind.

“I can’t get through to 9-1-1,” Greer says. “I’m going to keep trying.”

Time seems to crawl and fly at the same time. It’s getting hotter. The orange glow of the fire is getting brighter, and it’s only a matter of time before it’s here.

Suddenly I hear something different. A steady whoosh that reminds me of a heavy-duty fan chopping up the air. The air begins to swirl. Something falls from the sky between the trees, landing with a loud thud onto the ground. A flurry of voices shouts around me, and then I notice Greer’s hand is gone.

“Greer,” I choke, watching as someone puts him in a basket.

I think. I might be dreaming.

“Hey, kid,” a man greets me, crowding my face. He’s wearing a fireman’s mask, and he puts one that looks similar over my mine too. A gush of oxygen hits me, and my lungs expand. “There you go. Breathe.”

Breathe.

I don’t think I can remember how.

“Greer—”

“—He’s fine.”

“Who are you?” I want to say guardian angels, but I know that isn’t the case.

“Smokejumpers, firefighters, whatever. We’re here to get you to safety. You did good, kid. You did really good.” And then I’m weightless, and the firefighters get left behind.

When I’m inside the helicopter, and I see Greer’s relieved face, I know what I want to do.

No more coasting.

No more average Nathan.

I want to be a smokejumper. For Greer. For me. But primarily for Mom and Dad.

Maybe if I knew what I was doing, I could have saved them.

I close my eyes, at last, hoping when I wake up, Dad would have listened to me.

And we wouldn’t have gone anywhere.

Present Day

“They’re calling it the storm of the century. Hurricane Jeffrey has idled in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. The longer it remains in the middle of the ocean, the stronger it becomes. It’s gathering the warm waters, soaking it up into this powerful circle you see spinning.”

The woman creates a circular motion with her hand around the storm’s green, red, and yellow parts. The eye of the hurricane is enormous, but so is this storm. I’ve never seen anything like it.

“We are projecting Hurricane Jeffrey will make landfall in New Orleans, Louisiana. That’s where the eye of