Adam had rolled this tent and sleeping bag dozens of times over the years. He’d done it in the dark, and he’d done it in lousy weather. His hands knew what to do, all on their own. With that task finished, he strapped both the bag and the tent to the bottom of his rucksack. Then he pulled open a Velcro pocket and snatched out two headlamps.

“Take this one,” he said to Emma.

When he looked up again, he was shocked to see how far the fire had advanced toward them. The roar was unlike anything he’d ever heard. It sounded like an animal, a giant, prehistoric bear roaring into the night. As he watched, a tree exploded near the leading edge of the advancing blaze, and seconds later, tiny windblown firebrands rained down on them.

“The wind’s blowing toward us,” he said. “If it jumps the gorge, we’re done.”

Emma followed Adam’s lead by settling the tiny but wickedly bright LED lamp in the center of her forehead and flipped it on. Adam shouldered the rucksack and they took off at a run.

They’d left Emma’s 1968 Ford Bronco parked on an old fire road about a mile from the campsite. Enough Hedrick Academy guys knew of the overlook campsite that they’d worn a trail through the underbrush, but in this light, the worn patch of forest floor was tough to see. Adam had never walked it at night. Now, in the stress and terror, combined with the bouncing light of the headlamp, he’d somehow led them off the trail and into the heavy brush and thick undergrowth.

“Are you still with me?” he yelled. He couldn’t look back without risking a collision with a tree.

“Right behind you. Three steps behind.”

Running with the ruck on his back was like being the size of two people. After he plowed through an obstacle, he’d have to force the ruck through next. It slowed them down, but he wasn’t willing to give it up. He had food in there. And his only weapons. He wasn’t going to leave them behind.

The fire roared like a living beast, a monster. A blast of superheated wind pushed at them from behind. Reminiscent of last night’s bombs, the night flashed, and the air shook with an explosion as another tree exploded from the advancing flames.

“Go faster!” Emma shouted.

He didn’t answer. He didn’t figure he had to. It’s not like he was dragging his feet. His throat and lungs felt like they were on fire, each breath sucking in smoke and fallout shit, whatever that might be.

The heat blossoming behind them had become intense and was getting worse. The forest flickered and glimmered with tinges of red and yellow.

Another explosion.