Kimbra Wulfe stared at her phone screen, wondering what the hell she had just read. At three in the morning, her phone went off. It was the middle of summer, and the current heatwave had already made her cranky. Being woken up this early wasn't helping her mood either.

River: What dating app do you think is better? Bumble or Tinder?

It took a beat for her to absorb the question. She didn't reply for several minutes. Unsure of what to even say to that .

Kimbra: It's three in the morning

River: Just answer the question

She put a hand over her face, as if she had a headache. Typed out another reply to the feline.

Kimbra: I don't know? I don't use dating apps so ask someone else? Gnite

River: Gnite? What are you a preteen?

Kimbra: I'm going to bed GNITE

A text bubble of … popped up. Going on for what felt like several minutes. Kimbra narrowed her blue eyes at the screen, wondering what the cat could possibly be typing. Grew tired of waiting and set her phone back down on the nightstand. Rolled over onto her side, squeezing her eyes shut. Hoping she'd be able to gain a few more hours of sleep before she had to go into work.

Ding.

Finally, another message from River came through. She didn't even want to bother checking it this time. Part of her wanted to send the fashion design a few harsh texts, but she pushed that thought aside. Tell him to take his money and find some other project to sponsor.

She really couldn't wait for the Wellings project to come to an end.

Everything should have been fine. And it had been for the most part that day. Working in an office, relatively similar to any other office. It had been quiet for most of the day, save for the sound of fingers clacking away at a keyboard. Stacks on stacks of paperwork to sign and file. All in all, a day like any other.

Today should have been fine.

But then it happened.

Ten o'clock at night.

That's when all hell broke loose. It started with a phone call that awoke the scientist. Urgent enough to force her out of bed in her pajamas and out the door. By the time Kimbra had arrived at Echo Hills, the entire area had been set ablaze. The clear starry night was largely obscured by billowing smoke.

Kimbra was so stunned, it took her a moment to convince herself it was really happening. Unmistakable horror colored her expression.

No, no, no. This was not happening. Why were the hills on fire? Why were the wind turbines burning?

Two SCFD fire engines were already on scene, busy shooting powerful jets of water to extinguish the flames. A tall, broad, dalmatian with a name tag Jesse pinned to his coat, had been barking out orders to the men. They worked swiftly to keep the flames from spreading into the surrounding fields.

God-damn it.

Watching it all made Kimbra's stomach twist like a wrung-out rag. She let her chest softly rise and fall as she tried to make sense of the situation.

A few of the wind turbines were finally set up a few days ago. Things had been going according to plan. But now here they were, engulfed in flames. One had completely folded in on itself, possibly what had sparked the fire to spread throughout the hills. Something about it didn't sit right with the scientist.

She didn't like this. She didn't like this one bit.

Even from a safe distance, Kimbra could feel the intense heat of the flames. Racking her brain, she tried to think of anything that would have caused this. Just mere hours before, everything was fine. The turbines were going up without an issue. 'Right on schedule', the crew had said.

And now all of that was up in flames.

She exhaled, the breath leaving her in a heavy way.

Her ear twitched at the sound of the tall dalmatian shouting out orders once again. Kimbra glanced over, her eyes falling upon the person in question. The scene around them was a mess of confusion. But the firefighter stood tall, continuing his work in a professional fashion.

Clearly having earned his reputation through smoke and ash.

Light from the fire cast a warm glow across the canine's name tag, revealing a last name.

Jesse Gantry

He barely glanced up when he sensed Kimbra's sudden presence behind him.

"What happened?" Kimbra sensed an immediate shift into discomfort from the man.

Jesse gave a small shrug, and didn't look at her. "Dunno yet. Could have been a technical malfunction with a turbine that started the fire. Arson. Lightning could have hit it since a storm rolled through earlier."

Another question. "Is any of it salvageable?"

The hills. The turbines. Just… anything.

EcoTech's reputation.

His gaze finally slid up to meet hers. Behind his glasses were saddened brown eyes.

The firefighter hesitated, debating whether to share the awful truth, and then decided against it. "We'll do our best." He said, a hint of tiredness creeping into his voice.

He wanted to tell her no. That it would be hours at least before the fires were doused completely. That nothing around them would be salvageable. So, he opted to tell her that SCFD would do their best. It was close to the truth. Wasn't it?

But she already knew it was too late. The damage had been done. Dr. Ainsley wouldn't want to continue the project after all the bad publicity they were about to receive. She knew that, of course.

He's going to fire you, you know. Kimbra dismissed the thought almost as soon as it arrived. As far as bad ideas went, this one had been a disaster. And the world outside was harsh and unforgiving.

She really couldn't catch a break.

It had been an entire week since Echo Hills was set ablaze.

Seven days.

One hundred sixty-eight hours.

Ten thousand and eighty minutes.

Six hundred four thousand and eight-hundred seconds.

Really, Kimbra barely paid attention the entire week. Her mind constantly replayed the fiery mess over and over in her mind. Not even the city's local paper would let her forget it.

'EcoTech Project Sets Fire to Echo Hills' by Blaine Edlin.

Kimbra huffed as she glanced through the article for the fifth time. Her mouth tugged down into a deeper frown. Of course, the Apollyon newspaper covered the story. The leeches, just waiting for the slightest hint of someone's downfall to profit off of. Even worse, the journalist had gone to SpecCorp for their input. And of all the staff there, he just had to get their founder's comment. SpecCorp stepped in before EcoTech had the chance to do anything. The company offered to pay for the damages in full, and restore the hillside to its former state.

Which just made the city council adore the tech giant even further.

EcoTech had been careless this time. It cost them their reputation. The city's trust. Their sponsors' trust. It cost them potentially everything.

They would not make that mistake twice.

Kimbra snorted derisively. She sat back in her office chair, as she dropped the papers on the desk. Needing a moment to process this.

The question is, what if it's true? What if they weren't doing any good for the community? What if the company only made things worse and harmed people?

That brought down all the happy walls that Kimbra had built over the past few months. She had been completely and utterly screwed over. There was nothing to do now but accept her fate.

Kimbra pressed the heels of her palms to her eyes. She'd really been looking forward to her next day off. That was out of the question now. She felt a familiar twinge of childish self-pity. She wanted to sink through the floor in mortification. What possible reason could there be for her to have to deal with all of this?

Then, her thoughts were interrupted by a polite knock on the door.

"Kimbra."

Something in her boss's voice forced her eyes to his. She met his gaze. His expression was serious. Steady.

Beneath his glasses, she could see that Ainsley was very, very tired. Dark shadows under his eyes and a tautness to the corners of his mouth implied he was likely close to losing his shit entirely. It was strange to see him actually bothered by something.

What was she going to say? She hadn't thought this far ahead.

"We're having an emergency meeting in an hour," his next words were so quiet she almost didn't catch them. "I want you to be there."

When he told her they had needed to talk, she quite nearly froze.

"Yes sir, is that all?" Her voice got quieter with each word.

"Yeah, that's all." The man in the lab coat rubbed his forehead over his glasses, where his brows pinched in annoyance. "If… if reporters try to hound you on your way out, just tell them no comment."

"Of course, sir." Kimbra replied, unable to say much more around the sudden lump in her throat.

He left as quickly as he had entered. And Kimbra felt her stomach tighten with anxiety.

God, he deserved anything other than this.

She sank into her chair in a sulk. What was she supposed to do now? Sit around and wait for things to get better? The best she could do was find Ainsley someone better to run the project department. Yeah, that's what she'd do. Put in her two weeks resignation and find him someone better. Someone who wasn't a complete screw-up.

Ring ring.

Kimbra frowned, pulling her phone out of her lab coat pocket. Irritated that she couldn't even sulk in peace.

She thumbed to accept the call. "Hello?"

"I have a question."

River, of course. Who else would it be?

"Okay…?"

"Is the big fan–"

"Turbine." Kimbra corrected the feline. Squinting at the mental image of a big fan farm.

A grunt came from the other end of the phone. "Turbine. Is the big turbine farm supposed to catch the entire hillside on fire?"

She made a frustrated noise at the back of her throat. "No. No, it's not supposed to catch on fire."

"I have another question."

"I don't want to answer any more questions," Kimbra said. Full of disbelief and borderline annoyed. "Please."

"Well… I just wondered what we're supposed to do now." River murmured, voice barely audible. But still, Kimbra caught his words.

"I… I don't know." She paused, and finally, her shoulders fell. "They'll probably cancel the project. Pay back what you had invested. Pay for damages to Echo Hills. And who knows what else."

A silent beat before River said—

"It wasn't your fault."

"I'm the project director, it's always my fault." Her tone fell a little as she spoke through the phone.

A scoff. "No, it's not. Don't be an idiot."

Maybe it wasn't completely her fault. But she sure as hell wasn't going to admit that over the phone.

Kimbra let out her breath with a soft, "alright," and felt stupid. It was hard for her to remember that he was only trying to help. She had gotten used to River being a pain in the ass or pressing her buttons. Sometimes she forgot he was a friend.

"I guess this means we aren't working together anymore."

Was that disappointment she heard in his voice?

"I guess not."

"Anyway, I'll talk to you later, okay? Try not to beat yourself up too much over it."

Kimbra went quiet. Breathed out a small, "okay." Which, it wasn't okay. None of this was.

The pair said their goodbyes, and Kimbra hung up the phone.

Now the office was painfully silent.

A sigh left the Samoyed's mouth, and she slipped the phone back into the pocket of her lab coat. Covered her face with her hands. The harder she thought about the incident, the more worried she became. After all, it was her name on the project. Dr. Kimbra Diane Wulfe.

Why did it have to be like this? Why do you just screw up every opportunity that presents itself?

Her hands slid down her face a little, as a new realization set in.

You really are just a failure. A joke. You're dumb for ever thinking you'd be more than that. Dr. Winston was right about you. Dr. Spector was right about you. EcoTech's administration was right about you.

Thinking about it was pointless. She couldn't go back in time and change what happened. If she had it her way, EcoTech wouldn't have bothered with the stupid wind turbine farm in the first place. But since that was impossible, she'd settle for fixing what she could. Try to salvage what career she had left. Maybe sleep in her office tonight to avoid the swarm of reporters outside. At the very least, not make things worse than they were.

Kimbra wasn't sure if she'd be able to sleep tonight. Her brain and those awful awful thoughts wouldn't let her.

There had to be something that she could do. Some way to salvage the company's reputation and her dignity. Nothing came to mind at the moment. She wasn't even sure if there even was anything that could be done at this point.

All things considered, her life couldn't possibly get worse than this.