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  Sally stared at her for a moment. Sending Justine out to Aimee would save her a fair amount of time, besides, the bike would be useful to help Aimee herd the sheep southward. Nodding, Sally turned to Justine and hoped Aimee wouldn’t permanently maim her for sending Justine out there on her own. “You’ll find Aimee here.” Sally traced a path with her finger along the most prevalent road heading north-west. “Stay on that until you reach a windmill. You’ll find a track going off towards the western hills with the lone tree on it. A couple of k’s up, and you can start looking around for Aimee. Give her a hand with the sheep and take one of these,” she said, pulling a handheld radio from a charger. “I’ll refill the boys and come back. Amber, ask Robbie and Aaron to mind Rolly.”

  “Aye, aye,” Amber said, saluting.

  Giving her a wry smile, Sally led Justine to the shed.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Come on, come on,” Aimee said to the sheep as they continued to panic with the renewed smell of smoke from a north-easterly gust. The storm to the west had grown and looked to tower over her in the early morning light. It flickered and slashed light through the air as currents swirled and charged the particles within the clouds. Greedily sucking in oxygen, the winds had increased from the direction of the fire front and had rained ash and smoke around the slow-moving herd. The glow on the horizon had gone, replaced by air thick and grey. Aimee’s stomach felt loaded with rocks at the dread that created.

  “Mitsy!” Aimee whistled loudly and urged the panting dog to tuck in the wandering sheep at the left flank. The flock, nearly six-hundred beasts thick and containing three-month-old lambs, was stubborn and panicked. Climbing down from her vehicle, she ran to the right wing of the flock to drive them forward with shouts and claps. It was futile. The smoky air, the nipping dog, and the blast of the car horn had dazed them all. Wandering around aimlessly, a few took off behind her, another group went west and some bolted forward. “Shit,” she muttered to herself. With the strong northerly winds expected soon, she knew she needed help.

  No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than a quad bike crossed the paddock to reach her.

  “Sally. Thank God,” she whispered, waving the person over. When Justine’s figure appeared as she approached through the smoke, Aimee’s heart stopped beating. “No,” she said under her breath and glanced at the fire front behind her. “What the hell are you doing out here!” Aimee screamed when Justine stopped beside her with a smile. The smile slipped off her face instantly. “Turn around. Get your stuff and leave!”

  “I will not,” Justine said, climbing off the bike.

  Aimee grabbed her shoulders, spun her around and pushed her towards the bike. “Yes, you bloody well are. Get out of here.”

  “No!” Justine shrugged her away. “I’m here to help.”

  “I have everything under control. I don’t need your help,” Aimee said, unable to stop glancing at the fire front. The black smoke marking its presence was starting to flicker along the horizon line. Flame. Aimee swore under her breath. If she didn’t move fast the flock would be caught by the fire when the winds changed again. Aimee huffed. “Fine. You take the car, push the mob from the centre and Mitsy and I will drive the edges. We’re going that way.” Aimee pointed to a tree line in the distance. “If we get across that creek, it should give us enough of a firebreak to push the flock south-east to the bottom paddocks.”

  Justine nodded. “Here,” she said, handing Aimee the helmet she had been wearing.

  Aimee shook her head. “I need to be able to shout and whistle.”

  Justine handed her a water bottle and a sandwich instead.

  “Thanks. Let’s go.”

  The storm on the horizon flashed and grew, widening the fire front behind them as winds rushed to the epicentre of the thunderclouds. As long as that storm continued to build, their hopes remained high, and finally, the smoke thinned as they broke free of the front. Breathing a sigh of relief, Aimee mustered the sheep another hundred metres before calling Mitsy over for a break.

  “Hey, girl,” Aimee said, rubbing Mitsy’s head fondly and tipping some water into the dog’s greedy mouth. “Good girl.”

  Justine climbed from the vehicle and jogged over to them. “Are we getting there?”

  Taking a sip of water, Aimee wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and said, “Slowly. Any news over the radio?”

  “Amber relayed—”

  “Amber?”

  Justine nodded. “She’s back at the homestead.”

  “Where’s Sally?”

  “Running food to the rest of the guys.”

  “Leaving Amber to mind the radio and the kids? Is she insane!” Aimee climbed down from the bike and gestured to Justine to get on. “You’re going back to the house.”

  “What? No, I’m not.”

  “Amber shouldn’t be left alone back there.”

  “She’s perfectly capable.”

  “She’s a city slicker! She has no idea what she’s doing!”

  “No, Aimee. She’s an independent, competent woman who is about to become your sister-in-law. She’s got just as many degrees as you, so put away the preconceptions and insults already.”

  Aimee averted her eyes and nibbled on her lip. “Fine, but if you hadn’t noticed, this place is on fire. I’ve never seen anything like it before and I want someone I trust manning the radios. I don’t care how competent Amber is, she’s never had to deal with something like this before.”

  “You just said you haven’t either.”

  Aimee scowled. “Maybe not, but I know how to—” Aimee stopped and cocked her head as a crackle came from the car. Running over to it, she heard the end of the transmission.

  “—do you copy?”

  Aimee picked up the receiver and waited.

  “Aimee, do you copy?”

  “I copy. Go ahead.”

  “The front has beaten the west firebreak and made it into Bowl Paddock.”

  Aimee’s eyes widened. The fire front had spread significantly. When the winds shifted northerly, the fire was going to cut a swath down the guts of the entire property. They’d be lucky to stop a quarter of it from going up in flames. “Copy that,” she said into the mike to Joey.

  “Where are you?”

  “Half a click from Steven’s Creek.”

  “Okay. Get the animals across and head to Middle Bore. I want to push the flock there as far east as possible.”

  Aimee pinched the bridge of her nose. Having lambed in the past few months, the majority of their stock was in the middle paddocks getting fat. A thousand sheep lay in the path of the fires if the firebreak at the stock route failed. Considering Joey was asking her to move the stock meant he wasn’t confident. “Roger that,” she said, looking to the north and seeing smoke thickening from one side of the horizon to the other.

  “Everything okay?”

  Jumping at the sound of Justine’s voice, Aimee tore her eyes from the carnage in the north. If Joey didn’t think the firebreak was going to work, then the homestead lay unprotected if the fire made it through the middle paddocks. “No. You need to go back to the homestead. Get the kids and head to town.” Justine was about to shake her head when Aimee grabbed her shoulders. “I need to know you’re safe. That the kids are safe. Please. The fire is heading straight for them.”

  Justine looked over her shoulder and a northerly gust hit her face, bringing with it the smell of smoke. The winds increased into a full-blown breeze making Aimee turn back and frown. Glancing to the storm to the west, she noticed the clouds that had once been strong and thick, had begun to break up. The storm was easing and with it, so were the winds dragging the fire to the west. Now, the fire was coming for them.

  “Get in the car and go,” Aimee snapped, running back to the bike and whistling to Mitsy.

  “You’re coming with me!”

  “I can’t. I need to get this lot across the creek and go and help Joey.”

  “I’m going to help you.”
/>
  Running out of time to argue, Aimee quickly kissed Justine on the forehead and started her motorbike. Pushing the flock south once again, she clenched her teeth as Justine resumed her role in the centre to help drive the beasts across the creek.

  With Justine’s assistance, the flock was easier to control; however, the pace was still too slow for Aimee’s liking. Her voice, hoarse from shouting and whistling at Mitsy, was beginning to be impeded by the thickening smoke.

  This is hopeless.

  ***

  Eight hours and forty-five minutes, Aimee noted when she checked her watch. That’s how long they’d been outrunning the fire. Exhausted, covered in ash, and barely able to talk, she panted as she sucked down as much water as her stomach could hold. Beside her, Justine slumped down against the car with her head in her hands. She looked as dejected as Aimee felt.

  All impressions of control over the hungry flames had vanished the instant the fire jumped the firebreak in the stock route an hour ago. Barely noon, and the fight was already over. Life was in the balance and so was the century-old livelihood of the property. Gone in one lightning strike, Aimee thought to herself. Poof. Up in smoke.

  Screwing the lid back on her bottle, Aimee walked to the refuelled quad bike and stashed her water bottle in the holder. Staring at the smoke-filled air, she took a deep breath, tasting the ash and smell of burning gums on her tongue. They had driven the flock in their care south-west and out of immediate danger, however, they had thousands of head of sheep in the path of the flames. The dozers had been abandoned to be replaced by stock trucks to cart away sheep when the possibility of halting the fire had become impossible. Small, and only able to ferry eighty head at a time with panicked woollen animals, the mass exodus of the flock had only just begun. They needed help. They needed to keep working the dozers. With a sharp nod to herself, she turned to face her girlfriend. Justine wasn’t going to like what she was about to do.

  “Okay. Here’s what’s going to happen now. You’re going to take the car, get Aaron and the kids as far away from here as possible.”

  Justine lifted her head up and squinted into the smoky light. “No.”

  “I’m leaving you no choice,” she said as she climbed onto the bike, securing the helmet. “You need to get back to the homestead and make sure everyone evacuates.”

  “But—”

  “It’s not up for discussion!” she shouted. Starting the bike, she pursed her lips, hating the wounded look on Justine’s face. “Go! Take Mitsy with you.” In a swirl of kicked-up dirt, Aimee floored the bike and spun the wheels, racing at pace to the epicentre of the disaster. She hoped with all her might that Justine would take her cue and return to the south-east, away from the devastation.

  ***

  The sun disappeared behind thick, black smoke, basking any remaining visibility in a curious yellow-orange haze. I’m on Mars, Aimee thought to herself as she tore across the unburned paddocks. Ash rained down in little flakes and filled her mouth with the taste of devastation. Coughing to clear her airways, and brushing the particles from her eyes, Aimee made it to the middle of the chaos.

  Sheep were being herded, with little care for being gentle, onto the waiting flatbed trucks. Running over, Aimee watched her brother pick up a lamb and all but throw it into the truck. The mother bleated pathetically at its ungraceful journey and soon found herself shoved over the short rails to join it. Opening her arms and shouting, Aimee helped the boys load as many sheep as the truck could carry. It began its journey away from danger before Joey realised she was there.

  “Aimee? Where are the—”

  “Safe across the river. I sent Justine home to evacuate the kids.”

  “Amber?”

  Aimee shrugged. “With Sally back at the house?”

  Joey shook his head and pointed to an arriving truck. “Sally is here.”

  “Then I don’t know. Probably manning the radio still.”

  “I want her to go with Justine.”

  “So call them up and say so. We have a fire to deal with right now.” Aimee pointed to the thick smoke to the north. Flames, angry and hot, were visible only one hundred metres distant.

  Joey grabbed her arm. “I want you to go back to the homestead. Get them out.” Aimee started shaking her head and opened her mouth to speak when Joey squeezed her arm. “I need to know she’s safe.”

  “Justine—”

  “Do you really think she’ll leave you behind?”

  Aimee gritted her teeth. She willed Justine to leave but had a nasty feeling that the stubborn woman would likely stay until the death to assure she was safe. About to answer in the negative, she was interrupted when a strong gust of wind hit them, bringing with it a rainstorm of burning embers. Just as Sally pulled up in the truck with Danny, the dry grass around them burst into flames, scattering what was left of the flock.

  “Go! Now!” Joey screamed at Danny as he floored the truck out of danger. “Aimee, leave!” Joey turned and ran for the four-wheel drive parked nearby, but stopped as little brush fires continued to light up from the embers on the wind. Hissing and brushing off the ones that hit her arm, Aimee watched as her brother made it to the vehicle safely and started south. Hopping on the bike, Aimee looked around as if the world had slowed. Sheep ran in haphazard lines, the truck and four-wheel drive kicking up dust as the wheels spun with urgency, abandoned vehicles slowly becoming engulfed in smoke and flame, and nearby, the dozers were backlit by the oncoming rage of fire. Fleeing were her siblings, brother-in-law, and co-workers. Safe, for now, was her girlfriend, family, and dog. Alone she sat on the bike wanting nothing but to make sure they remained that way.

  Aimee bit her lip and stared at the dozers, then her eyes widened. Running to one of the machines, she climbed in and started it up. Heading south as fast as she could manage, she made for the one thing that might save the homestead and all that were in it. She had to make it.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Sally’s heartbeat refused to slow as Danny gritted his teeth and outran the smoke and embers. They were less than five kilometres from the homestead, but it felt like it was too close. Far too close. The fire ridge had gained momentum faster than predicted, and they should have evacuated the kids before now.

  “We’re too late,” she said in a burst of panic.

  “No, darlin’. We’re not,” Danny said, letting go of the steering wheel and reaching across the wide cab for Sally’s hand. She took it with desperation. “We’re going to get the kids, and everything will be okay.”

  Oh, how she wished that was the truth. She’d do anything to make everything okay again. For the past few months of emotional confusion to be over. For Danny to be hers again. Only hers, and not be soiled by some random trollop in Wagga. Sally couldn’t help the sob that came out of her mouth. She’d been so strong, so resilient, but today, with everything she held so dear balancing on the edge of destruction, she couldn’t take it anymore.

  “Sal? Babe?” Danny asked, squeezing her hand.

  “How!” she yelled. “How is it going to be okay? Our property is nothing but ash, Danny! Our family is falling apart, and now we have nothing. Nothing!”

  Danny’s grip remained tight on her hand, and as silence filled the cab, they held one another like a lifeline. They knew that once they let go, everything would crash down around them. And it did.

  “Where’s Aimee?” Justine shouted across the yard as they pulled up.

  Sally looked behind them, seeing Joey’s vehicle entering the yard, and waited patiently to see Aimee arrive. In the slower vehicle, it was safe to assume she wasn’t too far behind. Joey pulled up and jumped out. “Are the kids ready to go?” he asked Justine. “Where’s Amber?”

  “Inside.”

  “Joe!” Gav yelled from the machinery shed. “I’ve got the lads making a firebreak out the back.”

  “No. Forget it. The fire is jumping. It won’t matter. Maybe if we had the dozers.” Joey sighed and stepped towards the house.
/>   “Joe,” Sally said quietly. When he looked over at her, she continued. “Where’s Aimee?”

  “She was right behind me,” Joey said, swinging around to look up the road. “Wasn’t she?”

  Sally’s skin prickled. “You don’t know?”

  “She was on the bike as I left, I assumed—”

  “Assumed!” Justine screamed as she yanked violently on Joey’s arm. “Where is she!” Justine spat at him before glancing over at the truck. Sally and Joey latched on to her arm as she made to bolt over to it.

  “No,” Sally said, shaking her head.

  “Let me go! I have to find her.”

  “It’s too dangerous. Aimee will be okay.”

  “How do you know that? She’s out there where the world is burning down.” Turning on Joey, Justine lashed out viciously. “How could you! How could you just leave her out there?”

  “I didn’t—”

  “You did!” Justine shrieked. “You abandoned her again! You turned your back on her once more, thinking about nothing but yourself. You bastard!” Justine screamed as she began to pummel the man’s chests with her fists. “How could you?”

  Danny and Sally leapt into action, pulling the flailing woman away from Joey, who shook his head lamely, looking lost and shocked.

  “Joseph?” said Amber as she joined the group, warily eyeing the restrained woman struggling against Danny’s chest.

  “Let me go,” Justine said quietly. Releasing their grip, Sally and Danny stepped back. “Call her,” Justine said to Sally. “Get her on the radio.”

  “She was on the bike. She doesn’t have one,” Joey said.

  “So she’s alone. Cut off from her family. Again.” Justine’s eyes held reams of accusation as she stared resolutely at Joey. Joe was unable to hold her gaze for long before his eyes dropped away guiltily. Aaron ran to his mother and wrapped her in a hug, stealing her resolve.

  As Justine broke down, Sally’s hand covered her mouth as she hid the sob held there and felt Danny’s arms come around her in a comfort she had long missed. Joey allowed himself to be held by Amber, crumpling into her outstretched arms. To the side stood Justine with Mitsy by her side and Aaron on the other, staring up the road waiting for her partner to return. Sally could pinpoint the moment Justine snapped. Her eyes hardened and her fists clenched. A moment later, she was gathering her son in her arms, she whispered words of love. “You need to leave,” Justine said, directing her son to the car Robbie was helping to pack. “Stay with Robbie and mind what Sally says. Okay?”