Marie looked up as the helicopters passed overhead, images of metal flying past and reflecting the light of the fires surrounding the house. She cradled Sally’s head against her chest, feeling doom.

  Neither Sally nor Barb could build the courage to descend the ravine after they saw the body lying in the flames and the struggles of the rest to climb away from the wreckage. The two women seemed to collapse at the lip of the ravine and lose their will to survive.

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  Marie wanted to run, to seek safety in the woods, but she remembered the words of the man in the house. They had to stay near the fire if they wanted to stay unnoticed.

  She felt exposed with the expanse of the yard to her back and empty air ahead.

  Oddly, she wished she had the camera.