The Amazon - Part 6
Amazon Rainforest, Brazil
August 26 2032
“What if we blew the tanks?” Captain Schuler asked, shooting her head back up upon thinking of the admittedly crazy idea.
“Like, blow them up blow them up?” her lieutenant asked hesitantly.
“Yes, with explosive charges,” Schuler confirmed. “Just before the fire overtakes us we detonate charges on the sides of the tanks and release the water in them all at once and flood the entire camp’s area… Create a… a hydro buffer zone.”
“Is that a technical term, ma’am?” her lieutenant inquired quizzically.
“No,” Schuler grinned, “but it’s certainly descriptive.”
“It would be a large amount of water, that’s for sure,” said a rescue officer, scratching his forehead. “We’d just have to make sure we release the water at a point where it just wouldn’t get flashed into steam.”
“Yeah,” said Captain Parnell. “We got two tanks, each 6,000 gallons worth. And both are pretty much topped off. Plus with our trucks spraying water…”
“…It could work,” Schuler finished eagerly. “We’ll drown the fire with a manmade wave.” Schuler looked around the container unit at the perplexed and thinking faces around her. “Anyone else have any better ideas?”
No one responded.
“Didn’t think so. Let’s do it!”
…
Voelcker, Leman and Brewer ran back to the camp’s container units carrying the first of two remaining members of Captain Red’s team as Lacey and Alveraz loaded the last onto a stretcher.
“That is a crazy idea Captain Schuler has,” Lacey said, injecting the injured rescuer with a pain killer.
“Crazy is how UNIRO works,” Alveraz chuckled.
Small fires ignited by flying embers had popped up all around them. The hot air was filled with smoke and dust as the wind remained steady between thirty and forty miles per hour, the fire now no more than half a mile away. Flames could easily be seen over the camp’s far tree line curling and crackling into the dry night sky.
“Is he good to move, lieutenant?” Alveraz asked.
“Yes, ma’am!” Lacey said, zipping up her medical pack and slinging it over her shoulders.
The two women each took their places at either end of the stretcher and lifted, with Lacey in front and Alveraz behind. A huge wind gust of over fifty miles per hour tore through the camp, knocking a piece of metal debris off one of the container units. It tumbled wildly across the ground straight towards Lacey.
Alveraz saw the piece of sharp debris too late. “Lacey, watch out!” she warned just as the metal shard sliced through the lieutenant’s left leg just above her knee. Lacey fell in agony as she clutched her bleeding leg, dropping her end of the stretcher, nearly knocking the man inside of it over onto the ground.
“Lacey!” Alveraz screamed as she put her own end down carefully and sprinted over to her friend. The cut was deep. Lacey’s eyes were tearing.
“I… I can’t move my leg,” Lacey stuttered in pain. “I can’t move… I can’t move, captain.”
“It’s okay,” Alveraz calmed, reaching into Lacey’s medical pack. “It’s okay.” She took out a large syringe filled with microsponges and sprayed them into Lacey’s wound. The microsponges expanded and quickly stopped the bleeding. “There, you’re okay.”
“Captain Alveraz,” Schuler radioed. “Where the hell are you? Our recon drone is showing the fire is going to be on us in less than two minutes. Everyone else is inside except for you.”
“We’ve had an accident out here,” Alveraz responded. “Lieutenant Lacey was hit by flying debris. It cut her leg and now she can’t walk.”
“Then we’re coming out to get you - ”
“No!” Alveraz harshly replied. “No! Stay inside. Blow those tanks and stay inside. We’ll take our chances under a fire blanket.”
“Captain don’t be - ”
“Blow the tanks, Schuler! Blow them now! There isn’t any time left!”
Flames approaching the camp, now just a few hundred feet away, were at least three stories high, burning the thick jungle to a crisp. The roar they were producing was excruciatingly loud. Trees were collapsing, birds and animals fled for their lives, and smoke continued to thicken. Embers rained down as if they were rocks hurtled from an erupting volcano. “There is no time…” Alveraz sighed, holding Lacey in her arms.
“Fine. Get that blanket set up ASAP!”
…
“Damnit,” Schuler gritted. “Blow the tanks in sixty seconds. My mark,” she instructed a rescue officer. “Close all window and door fire shields. This is it.”
…
“I’ll set up the fire blanket,” Alveraz said, reaching into her own pack. “It will give us a fighting chance. Schuler is going to blow the tanks in just under a minute.”
“You really should just get back to the camp, captain,” Lacey said weakly, remaining in place. “Take this guy and save yourselves. Please. Leave me behind with the fire blanket. There is no point in all three of us dying.”
Alveraz shot Lacey an astonished look. “Are you crazy? I would never leave you behind. Besides, this is payback. You saved my life earlier today when you smashed that drone into that gunman’s face. Now I get to save you.”
…
Schuler looked down at her glass tag as a fire shield closed over the window before her. “Forty-five seconds until detonation, Alveraz.”
…
After pulling an orange cord attached a to fabric bundle about the size of a basketball a low-lying tent inflated that had enough room for four people inside of it but only rose about a foot and a half off the ground. It was made from the same shimmery heat resistant material found in silver bunker suits. Alveraz quickly staked it into the ground at each of the four corners and got Lacey and the injured UNIRO member inside one at a time.
“Twenty seconds, Alveraz. Are you secure?”
Before answering Alveraz zipped up the tent’s opening, seeing the camp’s far perimeter become engulfed by flames as she did. “Secure!” she radioed. “Blow them! The fires here!”
“Can this thing withstand the force of the wave they are going to make?” Lacey asked, lying flat on her back.
Alveraz didn’t answer her question. “Is our friend here secure?”
“He’s out,” Lacey said. “Lucky for him he won’t remember a thing.”
“Oh I don’t know,” Alveraz grinned. “I’m having fun. Aren’t you?”
Lacey smiled as best she could. “So much… Do you think we’ll ever be allowed to come here again after all this?”
“Cooler heads than mine run UNIRO,” Alveraz said, crawling beside Lacey. “So, probably not… at least for a while. But if it were up to me I’d return here next week after getting all the injured home and keep on fighting the good fight.”
“Ten seconds, Alveraz!” Schuler radioed.
“We have to be more than our fears, Lacey,” Alveraz said. “Otherwise we’ll never live beyond them.”
Lacey wiped a tear from her cheek. “Well, this is it captain. Good luck.”
“Five seconds! Brace! Brace!”
Alveraz gently took Lacey’s hand and nodded.
“Four… three… two… one… Mark!”
Two explosions bellowed across the camp, instantly rupturing its two large water tanks, their metal skin peeling away as nearly 12,000 gallons of water poured out. The rush of water drowned out the sound of the fire, which had begun to make its way across the camp’s clearing. A wave three feet high swept across the ground, crossing under each raised container unit picking up dirt and debris.
The muddy wave rocked parked vehicles, pushing some over that were closest to its origin point. Within seconds the water had fanned out in every direction. Alveraz and Lacey could hear it coming towards them. They braced for its impact.
“Hold on!” Alveraz warned.
The tent suddenly collapsed, pinning everyone to the ground. Alveraz felt the tent shift, rise up off the ground and then slam back down. She tumbled over Lacey and into the injured man’s stretcher. She felt water on her face. Looking back towards the tent’s opening she could see the zipper had failed. Brown water and mud began pouring in. Alveraz grew dizzy and disoriented. Up was down and down was up. She lost all sense of direction as the tent continued to tumble and fill.
And then it all stopped. The water drained away and the mud settled. Alveraz could barely move, her legs encased by thick sludge. She could not see anything. The tent has completely collapsed around her, pinning her in place.
“Lacey, are you okay?” she asked loudly.
She didn’t answer.
“Lacey, can you hear me?”
“If you come back out here… You’re coming back out here yourself,” Lacey chuckled, nudging Alveraz’s right side.
“That wasn’t fun?” Alveraz laughed.
The sound of people talking and shouting grew louder above them. “Captain Alveraz!” Schuler called. “Captain Alveraz, where are you!?”
“Down here!” Alveraz yelled. “We’re down here!”
“Down here!” Lacey joined.
A bright ray of light came down over Alveraz as a series of hands grabbed her and raised her towards it. Once her eyes adjusted the captain saw dozens of rescuers running in her direction carrying medical supplies and flashlights.
“We made it,” Schuler smiled, grabbing Alveraz’s shoulder. “The plan worked. The fire skipped us.”
“It was a good plan,” Alveraz nodded happily, wiping mud off her face. “You saved our lives. Thank you.”
“You stepped up and held us together,” Schuler said. “Thank you.”
“Let’s call it a team effort then and go home, huh?” Lacey quipped as she was helped up and out of the mangled fire blanket.
“Get Red’s last team member inside for treatment,” Schuler ordered one of her men. “Get stretchers for Captain Alveraz and Lieutenant Lacey as well.”
“I’m fine,” Alveraz said, waving her arm. “Just bring one for Lacey. She needs it.”
Then, through everyone’s earpieces, came a faint but welcoming call. “Amazon Base Camp- Phoenix 2-5. We are making g- time to your positi- ETA is thirty minutes. What is- status, over?”
“Thank, goodness!” Lacey said, her arms slung over two UNIRO members shoulders who were supporting her weight. “They’re finally close enough for communications.”
“Phoenix 2-5, this is Captain Alveraz of Wildfire Firefighting Squadron 4. Your transmission is weak but we read you. It’s good to hear from you! We have several dozen injured UNIRO members who need immediate medical assistance. Long range communications antenna was destroyed. It’s been,” Alveraz sighed, looking into the smolding woods around her. “It’s been a long, long day. We’ll be waiting anxiously for you.”
“Copy that, Captain Alveraz. Medical teams are stand- in our cargo bay, as well as UNIRO security personnel; full contingent. You gave us quite a scare. We’ve been tr- to contact you for the better part- an hour. Makes sense if you lost your antenna though. You guys are deep in the bush.”
“Too deep some might say now,” Alveraz replied. “Radio us when you’re five minutes out. We’ll clear an LZ for you.”
“Doesn’t the base camp already have one?” the pilot radioed.
“Yeah, well, the one we had was kind of… washed away,” Alveraz responded, smirking at Captain Schuler. “It’s a long story. Get here faster and we’ll tell you all about it. Alveraz out.”
Cover Photo Credit: