Firestorm Read Online Free PDF Page A

looking
at.
    “Geez, Ali,
it’s so hot out here and I can’t picture two old men moving that
fast in this heat, even though they were probably cooled down a bit
from the water initially.”
    “Yeah, I know.
And the heat has dried up any wet marks so we can’t even see where
they came up out of the water. And I assume they came out because
his message said something about a hole in the boat and that’s
likely why his message was short and choppy – they were in a hurry
to get out of it.”
    “For sure –
they’d be scrambling to get the heck out of there.”
    Ali motioned
for us to follow as he and Brad led the way with Meagan and I right
behind them. The trail was unusually quiet and then suddenly, a
rupture of birds came screeching above us as they flew over and
away from the forest. There were hundreds of them forming a massive
dark cloud above us that made Meagan and I both jump.
    “Wow, that
happened this morning, too. Remember, Meg? We were seeing Grandpa
off when the birds did the same thing.”
    Meagan looked
up as she yelled over her shoulder.
    “And there were
so many animals, too, like deer and ground critters. It was like
they were running for safety or something.”
    We continued
along the narrow path and talked about the outburst from the
wildlife as we ran. When we caught up to the guys Meagan moved in
close to Ali while Brad grabbed my hand and we edged closely along
the riverbank.
    “I’ve seen that
before, Sarah. Usually means there’s something wrong like a
    hunter in the
forest or something. The sound of gunfire scares them enough to
stampede out like that, although I didn’t hear a gun shot.”
    As we climbed
the weedy slope, Ali signalled for us to be quiet.
    “Listen! Do you
hear that?”
    We all froze in
our tracks as our eyes scouted the area in every direction. I
held
    my breath and
waited and then I heard it.
    “Yeah, I hear
it. It’s whimpering and it’s coming from over there.”
    We edged our
way back down towards the riverbank and my insides jumped
    when I saw Don
laying facedown with his feet dangling in the water. The guys ran
ahead of us and squatted to speak to him without moving him.
    “Don. I’m Ali.
Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
    Don began
moaning loudly and then he lifted his head off the ground slightly
to
    look at
Ali.
    “I’m okay, just
sore. Really sore.”
    “Don, can we
move you? We need to move you away from the water.”
    “Yeah, don’t
touch my hands. They’re sore.”
    Ali and Brad
gently pulled Don forward and then rolled him onto his back. A few
seconds later they helped him to sit up and Don held his hands in
front of him. His face was etched with agony and I felt sorry for
him as he stared at his cut and bloodied hands. I leaned in to him
and tapped his shoulder.
    “Don, where’s
Grandpa?”
    Don didn’t
answer me. He just kept turning his hands and complaining that they
hurt. I moved in closer to him and sat beside him.
    “Don, where’s
my grandfather?”
    “They hurt,
that’s what happened.”
    The tension was
rising inside me and I had to contain myself from getting angry
with him.
    “How did you
hurt them?”
    Don lifted his
arm to show us a cut that stretched from his wrist to his elbow and
then shook his head as brought his knees up to his chest.
    “Can’t explain
it. The animals went crazy. We finished fishing and Luke drank his
usual gallon of water and had to go, you know. Well, he has to do
it on land so we brought the boat close to the bank and he climbs
out.”
    Don’s
methodical words were making my insides churn. He seemed to take
forever to just tell us what happened and I just wanted him to get
to the part where he’d tell us where Grandpa was. Both Meagan and I
were restless and hung on his every word but my impatience grew and
I cut him off.
    “Don, where’s
my grandfather?”
    Don looked up
at me and shook his head.
    “You city kids,
you’re all alike. You have no respect for anyone except yourself.
I’m trying