Trial by fire was putting it mildly. They were quickly running out of time and land. The back burn
had been successful in slowing the fire, in this area anyway, but it could do nothing to prevent
the wind from carrying embers and dropping them within yards of where they wanted to be. They could
hear the roar of the flames, feel the superheated wind being pushed out by the fire, see nothing as
the smoke thickened to the point of blindness. Irritated that their last chance might be stolen
away by a whim of nature, Alyx reached out with her mind and cleared the air about them, brushing
the smoke and ash away, allowing them a view of their target that was so very near.
This was perhaps a mistake, for when she saw how close the flames would be she very nearly plunged
into another panic attack. Her slight hesitation, and the instantaneous loss of control over the
smoke, alerted Garrett that something was wrong. "Talk to me Alyx. Tell me what's wrong."
"My parents," she said. She kept moving. Not letting the images that came unwanted to her mind stop
her. "They died in a fire. Just like I told them. It was my fault."
"You said something like that before. How did they die?" It was obvious she found this almost
impossible to talk about, but he didn't question it. He somehow knew if she didn't get this story
out, the fire about them would not allow her to escape. She would let it consume her to stop
whatever was driving the panic attacks.
"Car accident. The other driver was never caught, even though his car burned as well. But it was my
fault." Alyx barely got the words out past the tightness in her throat that threatened to cut off
her air.
"How could it have been your fault?" he asked.
"I told them not to come. The same nightmare, every night for two weeks, but they wouldn't believe
me. Insisted it was nothing." She was nearly shouting now.
"That doesn't make it your fault," Garrett insisted. "They made their choice. You did everything
you could."
Alyx stopped. They were standing over the spot where the hoped for ledge was, their time nearly
out. "They were still alive in the car when I got there."
"What?" he said taken aback.
"I was driving back from the store and came upon the crash. My parents were still alive in their
burning car, screaming in pain and terror, and all the fire crew was doing was hosing down the
car." Her voice sounded far away as she relived that horrific day in her life. "I tried to get
them out, watched as their hair burst into flames before my eyes, watched as they gave up the fight
to free themselves as the heat burned out their lungs, listened to their final screams as I tried to
open the door, tried to free them." She fell to her knees in tears she didn't even know she was
crying. "They dragged me away, kicking and screaming, moments before the car exploded."
"Alyx," he said kneeling down and wrapping his arms about her. "It wasn't your fault."
"Why not? I saved you, didn't I? Why not them?" she shouted, pulling away from him and towards the
edge of the cliff.
"Did you have your abilities then?" he asked.
"No," she answered quietly.
"Then what could you do?" he said, walking towards her.
"I...I...Nothing." For the first time in her life, she realized that it had not been her fault.
She'd been sixteen, with abilities she admittedly didn't know she had, and had done everything she
could to keep them from coming. The fact that she had happened upon the accident was coincidence,
or perhaps fate. She saw exactly what she had dreamed, but she had caused neither. And if she
wasn't at fault, someone else was. The question was, who? She was going to have a little talk with
the Official when she got back. Not if, when. There was no way either Garrett or herself were going
to spend their last moments out here.
Looking off towards the fire, she was not thrilled to discover that it was nearly upon them.
"C'mon, Max. Time to fly." Behind him a bush burst into flame. Alyx didn't hesitate but jumped off
the edge of the cliff, spinning in air to face it. Reaching out, she used a combination of her
powers and her hands to slow herself and ended up standing somewhat shakily on the ledge.
She looked up seeing the flames flying overhead driven by the wind. "Jump!" she shouted.
Garrett had watched her go over the edge with a combination of fear and astonishment. For moment he
was afraid she was committing suicide, but when he looked down he saw her standing on the ledge
below. He felt the burst of extreme heat behind him as the wind blew the flames overhead, so when
she yelled jump, he did without hesitation.
He fell, trying to slow his descent by grabbing at anything on the wall, but there was nothing. He
hit the ledge far harder than he intended to and it crumbled beneath his weight. Alyx, by some
miracle, grabbed his arm and held on. For a moment it looked like she'd be able to hold him until
he got a secure footing on another section of the ledge, but it was not to be.
Their combined weight caused the section beneath her to give, and together they fell. Alyx produced
another miracle by grabbing a hold of the remaining section of the ledge. It held. She dangled from
a small piece of ledge, holding it together with her mind, and held Garrett with her other hand.
Alyx moaned as her shoulder was nearly dislocated when she stopped their fall.
Garrett noticed it was getting not only hot, but damned hard to breathe. Looking up, he saw the
flames jumping the ravine and the brush on the far side beginning to catch. The fire was so strong,
so powerful, so demanding, it was drawing the air from the ravine up to feed itself.
"Hold on Max. I'm going to do something," Alyx shouted down to him. She knew exactly what was going
on. First she trapped a bubble of clean, fresh air about them, filtering in more as it became
necessary. Second, she lifted Garrett up slightly with her mind, reducing the strain on her arm.
Third, she quicksilvered the two of them, hoping that the insulating and cooling properties of the
quicksilver would protect them from the inferno that was going to be around them for the next few
minutes. The waiting had begun.
Darien was pacing yet again. This time, though, he was outdoors next to the Humvee. The fire crew
was arguing with Hobbes about letting them through to look for Alyx and Garrett. Patterson had been
as good as her word. She had been waiting for them out in front of the building with everything they
could need. First aid gear, water, food, ropes, shovels, small extinguishers, masks, air tanks, and
those bright yellow jumpsuits and helmets the fire crews wore. She already wore one and ordered
them to put theirs on. Remembering what Hobbes had said about dressing for conditions, Darien said
nothing and put the ugly thing on. The sizes were approximate but would do for the time being.
The fire had looked impressive enough from the Visitor's Center; from here it looked like hell
itself. You could hear the flames as they destroyed everything they touched, could smell nothing
but the smoke, see nothing but the ash falling like snow about them. The fire crew was trying to
make a stand here at the head of the dry creek bed. In seasons when water flowed here, it formed a
shallow lake that covered acres here where the cliffs ended. If they didn't divert the flames here,
the fire would run free straight to the Visitor's Center itself, and from there across the Ventura
Freeway and into more populated areas.
Darien wandered over to listen to the argument.
"Look, I can't let you go," The fireman was saying. "Even if they did make it to the riverbed, we
got reports that the fire has already jumped the ravine. They would have suffocated when it passed
over, if the heat didn't kill them first." He looked honestly upset. "I'm sorry for your friend.
Garrett was mine and there is no way I'd go in after him. He knows this." Another fireman came
over and said something in his ear. "Yeah, pack up." He said to the man. "Look we're pulling out.
We've lost this fight. The fire has cut us off to the south. We're going to try and get around it
and hopefully save HQ. I recommend you follow us." He didn't wait to see what they would do, but
rushed off to help his men get the equipment packed and ready to go.
Patterson joined the two men. "They're pulling out."
"Yeah. We know. Question is, do we follow them or go after our friends?" Hobbes said.
"It's nearly nightfall. If they survived this long, they should make it through the night," she
said to them.
"Do we want to take the chance?" Darien asked.
After a moment of silence, they answered as one, "No!"
"Let's help these guys get packed and then we'll book it. Maybe we'll luck out and they'll walk out
on their own," Hobbes said.
"Yeah, good idea," Darien said. They walked over to where the crew was rushing to get packed and
added their shoulders to the work. "You know," Darien said to his partner, "We may save the free
world on a weekly basis, but these guys are the real heroes."
"You said it, my friend, you said it," Hobbes agreed.
For the next hour, they worked their butts off to get the fire crew out of there in time to
hopefully do some good elsewhere in the park. The crew chief once again tried to convince them to
leave, but they refused, saying they were going to wait as long as they could in hopes their
friends would show. He shook his head as he walked away, knowing that they were going to go after
their friends, unable and a little unwilling to stop them. Silently, he wished them luck.
They watched as the last of the trucks rumbled away, taillights flashing in the semi-darkness. It
was full dark, but you'd never know it due to the orange glow just north of them. They weren't
quite sure what to do next. They drank some water, grabbed something to eat, and waited for a sign.
Bobby just about jumped out of his skin when his cell phone went off. Answering it, he got the shock
of his recent existence.
"Kid, where the hell are you?"
It had to have been one of the longest thirty minutes of her life as she hung there from the ledge,
holding on for dear life to Garrett while the fire raged overhead and the wind in the ravine blew
past them, causing them to sway. Somewhere along the way Garrett managed to shift and get his feet
secured against the wall, easing the strain on her arm. With a little help on his part, she pulled
him up until he had climbed onto an undamaged section of the ledge. Alyx didn't dare let go of him;
the quicksilver would no longer be flowing across him if the connection was broken, and that would
leave him exposed to the swirling heat and embers that were flying around the two of them.
Thankfully he wasn't asking questions, not yet anyway.
With his help and a couple of false starts they got her up next to him. Pressed against the wall,
she created a barrier around them that allowed air in but kept out as much debris as she was able.
"How much longer?" she asked him, her voice raw from breathing in the hot dry air that surrounded
them.
"Don't know. Soon I hope." He squeezed her hand tightly.
It seemed like forever. The flames, the heat , the smoke, they all merged into one long agonizing
blur. Then the wind died, no longer whipping its way down the ravine, and their breathing became
easier. They both looked up to see smoke but no flames. The orange glow had moved to the far side
of the ravine. Hot embers from the burned area still whipped about them, but the worst had passed.
Alyx desilvered them and dropped the wall that had been protecting them. She nearly passed out in
relief.
"You'll explain later, right?" Garrett said.
"I promise," she said, realizing that it had gotten dark out while they had been waiting for the
fire to pass. "Good lord, what time is it?"
Garrett looked at his watch. "Dead," he said shaking it. "Let's get to the bottom." He led the way
along the ledge which did lead them down closer to the bottom. Where it ran out, it sloped, not
exactly gently, to the ground. "Ladies first," he said gesturing at the slope.
Alyx grinned at him. "First, gee thanks. Second, I'm no lady." She hopped off the ledge, landing
sideways on purpose, and allowed herself to slide down the hillside. Her hand trailed on the ground
to add some attempt at balance. She made it to the bottom upright for the most part, her palm a bit
scraped and raw, and a brand new collection of rocks in her boots. She backed a couple of steps
from the base and sat down, hard, her legs deciding that they had had enough excitement for now,
thank you very much. She waved up at Garrett and began pulling off her boots to return the rocks to
their natural environment.
Garrett had watched her little slide down the slope with mixed emotions. One the one hand, it was a
rather impressive display of athletics. On the other, she had to be nuts. Using a bit more caution,
he followed her down, finding the slide easier then he imagined it would be. That was because Alyx
was helping him, supporting him, seeing that he kept his balance, moving any overt obstacles out of
his way. Arriving at the bottom, he sat down beside her.
"Gods, I am so tired," she muttered emptying her other boot. "And I can't recall ever being this
thirsty before."
"I know both feelings. Any chance you have another water bottle hidden in that pack of yours?"
Garrett ran his hands through his hair, knocking up a cloud of ash and dust.
Alyx chuckled at the sight fully realizing that she probably looked worse than he did. "I don't
think so, but I'll check." She put the bag between her knees and dug through it. No water, but she
pulled out her cell phone to check the time. It was after eight at night, full dark except for the
eerie orange glow over everything. Just for the hell of it she dialed Bobby's cell number.
"Alyx, that won't work down here. Unless he happens to be standing at the end of the ravine,"
Garrett said.
She heard the phone ring at her end and then it connected. "Bobby you there?" she said her voice
filled with hope.
"Kid, where the hell are you?" Bobby practically shouted in her ear.
She laughed in relief. "Did that already today. Think we could arrange a rescue?"
"Hold on a sec," Bobby said. Alyx heard the sound of the phone changing hands.
"Agent Silver, is Garrett with you?" It was the voice of Ranger Patterson.
"Sure." Alyx handed the phone to Garrett. "It's Patterson."
"What's your location Patterson?" he said, suddenly businesslike, into the phone. "Perfect, we're
about ten miles north of you. We'll start heading your way and we'll meet somewhere north of the
middle." He handed the phone back to her.
"Hey Bobby," she said.
"Alyx, you okay?" It wasn't Bobby.
"Darien, I'm okay. A little worse for wear, but okay." Alyx's voice softened as she answered him.
"Get moving bub. We'll see you in a while."
"Right. See you soon," Darien said, his voice sounding a bit stiff. She heard the dead air as he
shut off his end and did the same with hers.
"Do you always get that lucky?" Garrett asked, getting to his feet. He held out his hand and she
took it, letting him help her up. She wasn't kidding when she said she was tired.
"Not always. But I try not to complain when I am," she said looking into his eyes.
For a moment, he was tempted to take advantage of the situation, knowing that not long from now
they would be reunited with their friends, with reality, and forced to take up their lives and
duties again. But he decided against it. He would rather wait until after and find out if it was
anything more than just a side effect of the situation they had been in. He was pretty sure about
his feelings, but he wanted to give her a chance to sort out hers. Placing a hand on her shoulder
they started their walk towards safety.
Darien handed the phone back to Bobby, a look of consternation on his face. The relief he felt
knowing she was alive and all right took a huge weight off his mind. The fact that she had sounded
fine, a little tired maybe, but well enough to joke with him-well, it bothered him for some reason.
They all climbed into the Humvee, Patterson behind the wheel since she knew the area the best, and
they got moving. With the terrain and conditions, it would probably be close to an hour before they
met up with Alyx and Garrett.
"Hold on guys. We might have a problem," Patterson said slowing the vehicle a short time later.
"What's the problem?" Hobbes asked looking out the windshield. he couldn't see much because of the
smoke everywhere. They were far enough into the ravine that the walls were well above their heads.
"Look up," she said.
He did and saw the flames flying over head, jumping across the distance driven by the wind. "What
now?"
"We can wait for it to pass or try to go ahead, risking suffocation, burning, death. You know, the
usual," she answered lightly.
"They made it through. How bad can it be?" Darien said. "Look, they busted their butts to make it
this far. I say we go for it and get them out of there."
"I have agree with my partner here. Let's go for it," Bobby said, much to Darien's amazement.
"Good. I was worried I'd have two screaming men when I drove through," Patterson said, revving the
engine. "You can call me Alisha. Two cute guys calling me Patterson all the time is annoying." She
hit the accelerator and they jumped forward. For a few minutes it got very warm in the vehicle as
they bounced over the ground. Visibility was reduced to near nothing. It became difficult to
breathe. And then they passed beyond the fire line.
Alisha slowed the Humvee and sat shaking for a moment. "You know, I never want to do that again."
"Neither do I," Darien muttered from the backseat.
She started moving again, at a much more reasonable speed this time. It wouldn't be too much longer
before they found their friends.
Alyx didn't know how long they'd been walking and didn't really care anymore. She just kept
plodding along, her spike of energy at knowing they were going to be rescued long since worn away.
Garrett couldn't be doing any better than she, yet he didn't seem to show it. She had been using
powers he didn't have, which added to her exhaustion. She stumbled over something in the dark. She
was no longer able to focus, much to her dismay. She made it a few more feet before stumbling
again. Catching herself, she watched Garrett's back as he continued walking. Sighing, she
stretched, hoping it would help get her senses working something like normal again. A few steps
later she found herself on her knees, without being quite sure how she had gotten there.
"Crap," she said, her voice barely audible even to herself. She cleared her throat. "Garrett," she
called as loudly as she could manage.
He stopped and came back to her. "You could have said something sooner," he said kneeling down
beside her.
"By the time I figured it out, I was down here wondering what happened," Alyx said. "Gods, I feel
sick."
"You're dehydrated. Alisha will have water with her. It shouldn't be too much longer." He helped
her to sit instead of panting on her hands and knees. "You just rest for now."
"Yes sir," she said setting her chin on her knees. Although she tried to stop it, her eyes drifted
shut. She managed not to fall asleep and just dozed, thinking. Somewhere along this nightmare day
she had changed. The wall she had put up between herself and the rest of the world had crumbled. It
had nothing to do with the fire or the past and everything to do with the man sitting beside her.
For the first time in a very long time she trusted someone. Although she wanted to, tried to, she
still was not able to trust anyone from the Agency, including Darien and Hobbes. This was a big
part of why, no matter what she felt for him, she and Darien would go nowhere. Garrett, on the
other hand...
Garrett sat down next to her and pulled her over to lean against him. She sighed and mumbled
something he couldn't quite catch. He shook his head at her. "Go to sleep."
"Don't want to," Alyx said cracking open one eye to look at him. "You might try to take advantage
of me."
"It's no fun when you fall asleep in the middle," he said, smiling.
"Know this from experience, do you?" Alyx said, going along with the joke.
"Alyx, I fully intend for you to be wide awake should anything like that happen between us,"
Garrett said, leaning in to give her a quick kiss. Which didn't remain a "little" kiss for very
long.
Alyx happily relaxed into what he was doing, one of her hands moving to his shoulder while his
hands came up to caress her face. She was tempted to tell him not to, because she was sure she was
filthy, but then realized he was pretty much in the same state. She had decided somewhere over the
course of this long day to give Max a chance. There was no real reason not to, and for the first
time in a very, very, long time, she not only wanted someone but wasn't afraid to act upon it for
one reason or another.
They both looked up startled as very bright light washed across them. Alyx squinted at it and
Garrett got to his feet and stepped in front of Alyx as a precaution. It wouldn't go over too well
if after everything else she got run over by the people who were trying to rescue her.
The Humvee screeched to a halt a few feet from them. The doors opened and the two men rushed to the
woman on the ground. Alisha came around after going to the back of the vehicle and grabbing some
supplies. She handed a bottle of water to Garrett, asking if he was okay, and then knelt down next
Alyx and handed her one. When she could not open the bottle, Darien took it from her and opened it.
Alyx drank down half the bottle without stopping for air.
"Easy there, kid. Too fast and you'll make yourself sick," Bobby said to her.
"Good you see you too, Bobby," she said and turned to Darien. "Hey you, why am I betting you are
the one who got this cavalry going."
Darien smiled at her. "You'd win." He was far more relieved she was all right than anything else.
"Can you get up?" Alisha asked, taking one of Alyx's arms. Darien took her other and they got her
to her feet. "Everyone in. We're getting out of here."
Hobbes sat up front with Alisha, Darien and Garrett in the back with Alyx in between.
"I feel like a barbecue after a hard summer of use," Alyx said settling back into the seat.
"Look the part too," Darien commented. He was tying to lighten the mood. It had been a long day of
worry for all of them.
Alyx glared at him as she drank down the rest of the water.
Garrett leaned forward to talk to Alisha. "How bad is it?"
"They're pretty sure they're going to lose HQ. We had to drive through the fire line to get
here." She turned around in her seat and answered him. She noticed the exhaustion lines around his
eyes and mouth. He was going to need time to recover and he'd be getting very little.
"Go north and take the Fallow creek route. That should put us near the highway well north of the
fire line," Garrett said after thinking for a moment. "This beast should be able to handle it."
"We got to get some of these, boss. They handle so much better than the jeeps." She sounded half
in awe of the vehicle.
"When I regain consciousness, ask me to give you my contact. Might be able to arrange something for
y'all." Alyx started clearly enough, but ended with a yawn.
As the Humvee moved off into the night, Garrett sat back intending to catch some sleep as well.
Alyx was out almost immediately and Garret plucked the nearly empty bottle from her hands before it
could spill. She proceeded to lean against him, much to his pleasure and Darien's obvious irritation.
"So how bad was it? If you feel up to talking, that is," Bobby asked, looking over towards Garrett.
He tried not to smile as Alyx tipped over, her head in Garrett's lap and her feet curling up on
Darien's. "Well you got her to trust you, that's a first."
"Didn't have much choice." He rubbed his face with his hands. "I think I might like to have a word
with your boss when I get a free moment. Sending her out here had to have been the dumbest idea
ever."
"Really, and why is that?" Darien asked his tone anything but friendly.
"Ask her yourself. It's not my place," Garrett said to Darien.
"Got that right," Alyx mumbled. "Could you two manage not to butt heads for a little while? Worse
than stags during the rut." Her voice trailed off into a mumble near the end, but they all heard
her.
Alisha tried, she really did, but the laughter bubbled out anyway and she very nearly had to pull
over she was laughing so hard.
*****