Vast Red Sky and Wide Blue Lake

"Nice beard." The words fell out of his mouth and on to the floor, for he didn't give much effort to toss it over to me. I nodded, and gave a small smirk. He was young, no older than fourteen, so I appreciated his attempt at small talk even if it was a poor one.

I searched for his name, "Thank you..."

"John." He gave it to me. I nodded again. I was gonna say Josh.

John's parents stood on the other end of the small dock over their supplies. The woman (Madaline I believe) gestured to some cans of rice, and the man (Andrew... or maybe Allen) shook his head. I looked up and saw the smoke crawling its way up the mountain to our south: they had better make a decision soon.

I think the man who's name started with A observed my growing agitation, because he turned around and cracked, "You try deciding what food you can let go off and still feed your kid!" He shook with his words, as if they were cold on him. His wife tried to sooth him.

"Allen please..." Bingo.

"I appreciate the gravity of your decision, Allen, but I gotta eat too." I didn't stand from the crate I sat on.

Allen looked at his wife and muttered as he turned, "The Lord will have you one day sir." I just chuckled to myself. I'm sure he will. Maybe I'll get to meet the great Mr. Smith I hear so much about around here.

Madaline handed me three crates filled with assorted things. Water, cans of food, toilet paper. I took them and thanked her. I informed my guests to get into the boat and get comfortable while I take my supplies to my home just up the hill a bit. I returned to see three bowed heads, all in prayer. I looked at the sky to see if there was time to wait until after the prayer: there was not. I clapped my hands together, "Who's ready to conquer the Great Salt Lake."

The water was calm today. Significantly better than it had been the past two weeks of business. I sat on one end of the boat next to Allen, and Madaline and John sat across from us. The boat was small, but she had served me well for a long time: many trips back and forth. John was pulling on the tarp that lay over the middle of the boat, holding supplies among other things. I gave him a glare and he received the message, removing his hand from the tarp and wiping his hand off on his pant.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Allen chewed on the inside of his cheek. I smirked.

"Come on now Allen," I held back a sarcastic wink, "the Lord is with us remember?" Allen's reply was nothing more than a stunted cough and more cheek chewing. I looked over to the south and west. The sky was seeping orange and red. The top was still the light grey, and below the vibrent colors was a black smog. All together it looked like a melting layer cake arching over our heads, hunched and peering. Me and three Mormons versus the vast red sky and wide blue lake.

A loud blooming crack over the mountain refocused my gaze. The top of the mountain erupted in fire and small coils of flame rolled over the top, fell apart, and clung to shrubbery on the side closest to us. If Allen wasn't a man of God, I'd imagine he would be screaming some choice words right now. Instead he simply said:

"Oh no."

I turned and looked ahead. There was no way we would make it onto the other side before the smoke hit us. The fire roared and crackled and the smoke began filling the air, the matter, behind us. This was too soon, way too early! Is this what the people in California saw right before they became swallowed and scorched? No time to think about that now, John is screaming. A tight and painful scream, a scream that came from the bedrock of his heart. Madeline tried to comfort him, but he started thrashing and panicking. I looked behind and saw the black mass of burnt air fall over the mountain and engulf the water near the base of it: billowing and writhing like a dying fungus.

The boat rocked as John continued to plead for life. Cans fell into the water and I quickly grabbed the tarp to keep everything from falling.

"He NEEDS to stop!"I cried. The words fell just in front of Madaline, who tried to stop her son from falling into the dark water of the Salt Lake. He plunged with a thwap and a slew of bubbles. I looked behind to see the black smoke illuminated from behind by the fire. I looked at the father, who weeped and prayed, eyes locked shut and shoulders hunched. So much for his help.

I jumped into the water. It was dark and the salt and ash burnt my eyes. The water swallowed me quickly as the boat moved over the top of me. I spun and filled my lungs with black and ashy water. as I lost control of my body. I sprawled out and attempted to right myself. The boy was still, nose barely above the water ahead of me. I heard the muffled crackles and pops of flame from under the water and bolted toward John. I pushed and pushed until I could feel his waist in-between my hands. I heaved and neither of us moved. I wrapped my arms around him and kicked my legs as hard as I could, but the water kept us to herself. Finally I feel a pull as John is lifted onto the boat by Madaline. Once he was pulled, she went for me.

I pulled myself onto the boat with her help. I thought about thanking her, but there was no time: the smoke was beginning to envelope the boat. It hadn't quite gotten to us, which gave us time. I looked around to try and get our position in the lake. We had wound up somewhere close to the same shoreline where we departed from, but I couldn't tell what was there. I needed to find the building. The Sunlight was being eaten by the smoke and I squinted my eyes. No avail. Think god damn it THINK I screamed internally. Where are we? The boat rocked and the sky crumbled and the world screamed, underplayed by prayers that seemed to fall on deaf ears. Thats when I had an idea.

I crawled to the other end of the boat and leaned over. I could see some rocks in the distance and the shoreline. I grabbed a rope keeping the tarp down, and pulled it off. The tarp slid into the ocean like a sting ray as I grabbed the rope on two ends and threw out the U shape out. It caught on a rock and I pulled with everything I had. As I pulled, the smoke reached us. Black and vivacious, hot and violent. The smoke attacked me and suffocated me. I kept pulling till I felt the boat bump into the rock. I turned and felt around for the family. I felt an arm, then a leg. I could see the faint figures of the family huddled together. I tugged on a leg and hoped they would receive the message. They followed me and we dropped from the boat into the shallow water.

We battled our way to the shore and I hunted. Where, where, where: I spotted it. A small shack on the shore, the safe-house. It's been a while since I had to visit her. I ran, through the heat and through the sand and through the hell that was this stretch of land in Utah, and busted the warehouse door open. I turned, the family was behind me. One, two, three: thank God. I fell to my hands and knees in search for the floor panel. I could hear the roaring of an angry world just outside. The fire spit at us and billowed. I found the latch, and if I had any more time I would have kissed it. I pulled open the door on the floor, and funneled the family down the hole before dropping down myself, and closing the hatch above us.

I cracked a glow stick and took some deep breathes. I coughed up smoke and tasted blood. I looked up at the family. They were covered head to toe in ash, eyes red from tears or from smoke: probably both. The heaved, and looked at me for some sort of guidance. I straightened my back.

"This is the safe house. I have a couple on different shores across the Lake, for instances like these." I paused and thought to myself, well, never quite as bad as these.

"How long will we be here?" Madaline traced the sand and dirt walls with her finger. I would be lying if I told you this was little more than a big hole with wooden supports and some bags of grain.

"I- I don't know." I searched through sack to my left. "We have to wait for the fire to move on before we head out." I pulled out three gas masks from the sack and some spare air. I set them aside for when we would travel next.

"Thank you." The words were sudden and crisp. I turned to see Allen looking into my eyes. His thank you cut through me, he looked so scared. I shook his hand.

"Everyone get settled, there is some 'bedding' over to your left if you want to sleep. We will be here for a while." I tried to pat my shirt to get rid of some of the smoke, it didn't really work. The parents moved over to the bedding, but John stayed and stared at me. He was still wet. I went back into the sack and found a heavy maroon blanket and tossed it to him. He caught it and meandered off toward the bedding.

I sat down and rested my back against the wall. I touched my beard. It was course and verging on out of control. I itched and looked up at the latch where we came from. I could still hear the faint murmurs of flames dancing around outside, probably burning the shack down. I smiled, and I couldn't tell you why. The last thing I thought of before I drifted off to sleep was of the old sky. The blue one with the cool breeze and clear sun. It had been a long time since I saw that sky.