A Shadow in the Desert

Chapter Eight

The acrid smell of smoke still permeated the air, several weeks after the wall of flames had pushed through the brush that lined the hills southeast of Eden. He walked across the scorched ground that stretched on for miles and remembered how the afternoon winds had really moved the fire forward at an alarming pace. He listened to the sound of burned wood, nothing more than charred bits, crunching under his boots. He shook his head at the memory of the inferno licking at the ground and rearing high into the air as it searched out more life to feed on.

He felt a surge of excitement at the destruction he alone had caused as he surveyed the blackened landscape, ravished by fire. He took another deep breath of the heady scent and felt the warmth it stirred in him spread to his groin and caress his erection, giving him great pleasure.

Named the I-20 fire, it became more than he or anyone could have imagined. Two firefighters were injured when a tree fell on them, and a house along with three out buildings had been destroyed. The investigators thought it was caused by a car or motorcycle backfiring, although they never found the vehicle in question, and they never would. He smiled at his cunning. He had worked with both the Sheriffs and Fire Departments and he knew what they looked for. He'd been lighting fires in this area for the past two years and no one had a clue as to his true motives.

He was moving west, getting closer to Eden. The fire he had tried to start, no, had needed to start, had needed to feel and smell and taste as it exploded within him – had been ruined by that dog and his family. Why they had been camping outside the campground, he would never know. If they had been in the designated area, they wouldn't have seen him as he got ready to set the fire. They probably would have been caught in the inferno and burned, although the dog may have warned them in time. That stupid dog had tried to attack him. He was lucky to get a shot off, even if it alerted the others. Bad luck, but he made sure there weren't any witnesses left to ruin his future plans. This fire more than made up for it. Yes, this was his crowning achievement so far.

*

The last two weeks had kept Laurel busy both at home and at the hospital. Satdo was showing great improvement and Laurel began to take him on short hikes around the house and down to the river. Satdo loved the water and he enjoyed retrieving branches that she threw into the shallow, slow moving current, although he would never give them back to her.

The sight of the diminishing flow from the main river worried her, even though she had never seen it when it flowed with great gusto, cutting its way through the pastures and meadows. She knew that the previous poor winter and the hot, dry summer that had carried the now hot, dry dog days into October was a bad sign. The bleak outlook would be a severe water shortage for the region if fall and winter didn't produce at least an average snowfall, and time was running out.

The fire from two weeks ago had devastated the parched hills outside of Eden and sent several firefighters and numerous residents to the E.R. Laurel had been kept busy working longer hours to help out with the many respiratory ailments that came in for days after the I-20 fire.

*

Today Laurel was beginning three days off after having worked seven shifts in a row. After enjoying a morning of sleep, she groped her way to the kitchen to make a strong cup of coffee. She sat down at the little table to enjoy her potent brew and found herself caught by the scene that greeted her out the window.

Autumn was arriving in earnest. The yellows, oranges and ambers that adorned the trees were stunning. Gathered along the hillside, their plumage, with the sun as a backdrop, stood out like a colorful neon sign. Feeling a strong pull to be out among them, Laurel looked over to find Satdo sitting in the doorway intently staring at her.