18
“Hey, Helitack. you still with us?”
The voice came out of a dream and slid around Jeannie’s thoughts like a caress. She tried to turn toward it.
“Not yet, Helitack. Lie still.”
And she did. Lying there in the dark cocoon of… her fire shelter. The roar was gone. The searing heat had passed as well. The occasional gust snapped her shelter loudly, but it wasn’t the constant tearing and tugging that had made her fear its loss at the height of the fire.
Connie said something from the far side.
“We made it,” Jeannie repeated for her.
“We did, Helitack.” Cal’s voice sounded inches away through the two thin shelters.
She let herself wallow in the sound as his deep voice soothed her.
“We need to let the area cool down. Maybe five or ten more minutes, but we did it.”
“And you love me.”
