Running through the kitchen, I nearly trip over the dogs rushing at me before I lean over the sink and peer out the window. My stomach rolls.
“Oh, fuck,” I gasp.
“Kaleb!” I shout, whipping around and running for the front door. “Fire in the barn!”
The animals. The barn is right next to the stable. Shit!
I pull on the sweatshirt hanging on the back of the closet and slip into my boots, grabbing my gloves out of my coat pocket.
“Kaleb!” I yell again. “Hurry!”
His footfalls hit heavy from above, and I hear him charge down the stairs, but I don’t wait. Whipping open the front door, I race outside, almost slipping on my ass as I grab the railing and rush down the steps of the deck. The snow crunches under my boots, some falling inside, because we got another six inches today, and I didn’t have a chance to fasten them.
But I don’t care. I stop and look up at the barn, barely able to move for a moment. What the hell? Flames engulf the ridge of the roof, and it’ll be a miracle if the hose isn’t frozen, otherwise we lose everything. How the hell did this start?
Kaleb grabs my collar, and I suck in a breath, meeting his eyes. He scowls and jerks his chin toward the barn, snapping me out of it. I nod.
He runs for the shop, opening the bay doors, and I race for the barn. I run inside, the smoke thick and stifling as I try to catch a breath. Covering my nose and mouth with my arm, I yank out Tiernan’s tires, the chickens inside squawking and flapping their wings. Coughing, I dive back inside and grab a rope, slipping a loop around the cow’s fucking head and dragging her out. I try to get air, but I can’t stop coughing. Everything stings and burns as I struggle to find my way out through the smoke.
A whine echoes from above, and I look up just in time to see a piece of the loft floor break away, dangle, and fall. I run, the board hitting the animal as I pull her out into the cold night air.
Kaleb pulls the fire hose out of the shop, and I work to move everything as far away from the barn as possible.
“What happened?” Tiernan cries.
I look up, seeing her standing in the snow in her boots but nothing covering her T-shirt and sleep shorts.
I turn to Kaleb, watching him fuck around with the lever, but nothing’s coming out. No water.
“Fuck!” I growl, fisting my hair.
“Go check if it’s frozen!” Tiernan shouts.
I look over to see she’s yelling at Kaleb and pointing to the water tower.
I shake my head. We had a warm day yesterday. It might not be frozen, but there’s no way that’ll help. What are we going to do? Fill buckets and launch them at the flames from down here?
Kaleb goes anyway, dropping the hose, and I’m about to follow, but Tiernan rushes past me, and my heart lodges in my damn throat.
“The horses!” she yells.
Debris from the loft falls into the barn, and with all the wood and hay, it’s only a matter of time before it reaches the stable. She leaps inside, disappearing.
“Tiernan, no!” I shout.
I run after her, but before I can get inside, she’s pulling Rebel out, struggling to get him to move as her hair flies in her face and the wind whips against us.
Dumb fuckin’ horses. They can be so smart, but they’ll damn well sit there while the building falls down around them.
I help her, both of us yanking the harness and then…I hear a slap, and the horse bolts out of the stable and into the night.
An engine fires up, and I look around the corner, seeing Kaleb sitting in the digger and trying to move through the snow, toward the water tower.
I freeze. He’s going to…
Oh, shit.
“Kaleb!” I yell, but then I fall silent, knowing he’s right. It’s the only way. We have to get the horses out of here, though.
Tiernan dives back inside, and I follow her, going for Ruffian as she hurries for Shawnee. Heat engulfs us as the crackles of the fire surround us, and I hear a moan in the barn as the rafters probably start to give way. Jesus.
“Tiernan, go!” I bellow. “Get out of here!”
I slap Ruffian, sending him running out the door, but a loud scream pierces the air, and I whip around, seeing Tiernan pinned in the stall doorway as Shawnee squeezes past her. Smoke billows as blood trickles down the wood, and she cries out, slapping the horse again. Shawnee goes running, and I leap out of his way as he races past me and then scurry over to Tiernan. Blood pours down her left arm, and I grab her, wrapping my arm around her.
We cough, spilling out of the stable, and Tiernan falls to the ground as something creaks and tips behind me. I spin around just in time to see Kaleb slam the digger into the wooden water tower, giving it more and more power until the tank tips over and water sloshes, and then it spills, cascading over the barn and stable and dousing the flames.