Theo could smell the fire before she saw it. At first, she thought Caleb must have left the stove on, and stopped pulling weeds to go and check on it. She only made it halfway up the porch steps before she saw the smoke rising into the air, painting the sky a choking black. She tilted her head as she looked at it, her brain struggling to comprehend just what she was seeing. Only a second, however, before she was back down the steps and sprinting as fast as her feet would carry her. She arrived in town panting, dust clinging to her sweaty skin and work overalls. A good majority of the townsfolk were out on the streets at that point, talking worriedly among themselves. They only spared Theo a glance as she bolted past them and made a beeline for the stables. She thanked God to find the place abandoned and quickly mounted the first horse that she could free. The town disappeared behind her and the scenery became a blur of trees as she urged her newly acquired horse towards the Bleakburn L&L Lumberyard. As soon as she neared the camp, the air became filled with the same thick smoke she had spotted before. It nearly blinded her with how sudden and suffocating it was. Her horse reared back and she nearly slipped off completely. “Sorry,” she said softly, patting the horse’s side. The horse neighed in displeasure, but let her gracefully dismount. “Stay here, alright?” she asked, sparing one more pat before she disappeared into the smoke. For a moment she thought she was lost in the inky haze until she saw the distinctive glow of fire. Her lungs burned with exertion and smoke, yet she pushed herself forward, only pausing to pull the bandanna she wore around her neck up over her nose. She quickly realized that the camp itself, not the forest, was on fire. Cut logs burned, one of them even rolling across the camp. The tents were nothing but their poles now and she could feel the heat of it all on her skin. Still, she searched frantically for Caleb, calling his name over and over until her throat felt raw. The sudden movement of what she had thought was a burning pile of rubble startled her hard. Her burning eyes narrowed to see it was in fact a man, specifically a man who seemed to be burning as if made of coals himself. He opened his mouth as if to scream and reached a red hot hand out to her. She leaped back and stumbled on, leaving him where he lay. She kept shouting Caleb’s name. She somehow wasn’t surprised when she found him with another man’s arm slung around his shoulder in an attempt to evacuate him. The man’s arm burned with that same ember way as the other man, the effect spreading like disease onto Caleb’s back. He grimaced and took a weak step forward before their eyes met. “Theo?” he said weakly before his knees suddenly buckled and the two men went down like a pile of bricks. Theo was at his side in an instant and shoved the man off of her husband, careful not to touch his burning arm as he went. She dropped to her knees and, as gently as possible, cradled Caleb’s head in her lap, careful to keep his back exposed to the open air. He clutched at her, his otherwise gentle face contorted with pain. “You can’t be here!” he said, his voice laced with desperation, “T-those men, they came out of the woods and attacked us. They-” Caleb suddenly broke out into a fit of coughs that wracked his body. Without a thought, Theo untied her bandanna and tried to tie it to his face. He weakly tried to stop her, fighting to say no between his coughs and gasps for breath. Now it was her turn to be desperate. “Please,” she pleaded, “please.” He finally relented and let her tie it. Slowly but surely, his coughing ceased and Theo moved him off her as easily as she could. The smoke and heat made her muscles feel exhausted, and it took all of her effort to pull him up with her. Caleb leaned on her heavily, her arm around him, and she could feel the heat creeping up his back. She choked down panic, or was it smoke, and looked around frantically before she spotted the burning mill, its flames reflecting off the gleaming surface of the river it had used for power. “Come on,” she said, pulling him as best as she could towards the cool water. Though she was all height and muscles, he was the same and by the time they made it to the shore she was coughing so hard she saw stars. His head lolled on his shoulders and he leaned almost all of his weight on her. Her feet wobbled unevenly in the sudden-shifting river rocks, and they tottered into the water. For just a moment Theo’s world went still and quiet as if the burning camp had been a dream. But then she surfaced just in time to see Caleb screaming and struggling upright, the water around his back boiling fiercely. Theo did her best to hoist him up onto the shore, but it only took him a few moments of hoarse screams until he suddenly fell unconscious. She staggered with him in her arms and pulled him to the opposite shore where the air seemed to be fresh. By the time she managed to drag him onto the bank, careful to lay him on his side, his back no longer burned, instead resembling charred wood. She collapsed next to him, panting and heaving for a few pained moments. But then Caleb was groaning next to her and she was snapped back into focus, coming to his side in an instant. “I have a horse, I’m going to go and get it. I’ll be right back, I promise,” she croaked, her voice nearly giving out entirely. He grabbed at her and she could see the fear in his eyes. Don’t leave me here alone, they pleaded, and she choked up again, this time fighting tears. “Don’t worry,” she soothed, brushing back some wet strands of hair from his forehead, “I don’t think those things will risk crossing the river. I’ll just be a moment.” Caleb sagged back to the ground and closed his eyes before nodding. Theo felt her heart tear apart as she pulled away from him before taking off in the direction of her horse. She prayed hard that it would still be where she had left it, only slowing to slosh across the river again. She found it a few feet from where she had left it, lazily grazing on the grass on the side of the road. She was on it in one moment and taking off back to Caleb in the next. Much of what happened next was a blur. She knows she found him where she had left him, drifting in and out of coherency. She had managed to get him on the horse and back to town, going straight to the town doctor. The man had seen to Caleb's injuries, though only after she had threatened to kill him. She knew she had watched him like a hawk as he tended to her husband. It wasn’t until the doctor nervously announced that he had done all he could that she let him leave. Sleep did not come easy. She fought it violently, afraid that Caleb’s condition might change or that someone might come and try to drag her to jail. Eventually her aching body won, and she fell into a restless sleep, her hand still clutching Caleb’s as she drifted.