Firefighting

Fire was common this time of year, but it never made it any less dangerous. Out on the plains, Kaiwi had seen a buzzard drop a flaming stick into the grass to flush out small creatures to eat. Now, four days later, the fire was reaching the edge of the Dead City and a gathering of volunteers had assembled along the boundary to plan for the worst. Kaiwi had raised the alarm immediately but it had taken time to mobilise the cooperative citizens of the city together. Between running around and ducking through areas already on fire, he had already scorched the edges of his wings and tail, leaving them shrivelled at the ends.

“We could lay down sand,” the tall purple Theri suggested, her voice muffled through the cloth tied around her face. “We'd need an awful lot of it though, and I'm not sure we could get enough up here from the coast in time.”

“First things first we need to clear the border of anything flammable, the stone will protect us,” Roman said sternly.

“We can't rely on that alone, and stone won't stop smoke,” Kaiwi argued. He knew Roman had his heart in the right place but the Styra could be stubborn, convinced his way was the only way.

“Both then?” Alkonost proposed, “Some of us clear the boundary and the rest go find sand?” To Kaiwi's surprise, Roman agreed readily.

“Good, two points of defence,” he said enthusiastically, “I'll join you at the beach and we'll gather the strongest amongst us to pull as much sand in one go.” Alknost blinked at his sudden change in demeanour but hurried to his side, leaving Kaiwi standing at the edge of the city with a few other raptors. Floating cinders were already landing at their feet and many of the dinosaurs around him were sporting burns of their own, though anyone with serious injuries had been sent to the basement of the mall to wait out the firestorm. 

“Well, I suppose we'll start here?”

Roman was hurrying as fast as his legs could carry him down to the beach. Logically he knew the wise thing was to conserve his strength for hauling the sand back to the city. His frill stopped him from glancing back but he knew the Theri was following him down, her claws would be invaluable for shovelling the sand. The impromptu harness around his chest began to chafe against his feathers but the smell of smoke in the air kept him moving forward within flinching. His throat was already raw from gathering the locals and breathing in the smoke from the prairie, he could nearly feel the blisters building up inside. It was why he had jumped on Alkonost's idea, get himself away from the smoke while still contributing. Maybe with a break from it he could catch his breath somewhat and be able to clear the debris too. The pulling felt easy so far, but he kept in mind that it was the easy part, and savoured the clean coastal air as much as he could before they had to return to the inferno.

Alkonost began to shovel sand the second Roman came to a stop on the beach. She felt the burns on the soles of her feet beginning to sting as grains of sand irritated them but she set her jaw in a grimace and ploughed onward. Once the Styra had shrugged his way out of the pulling harness he joined her, sticking his entire head in the sand to use his frill as a bulldozer. The metal container they had brought with them would hold a great deal of sand but it had to be light enough for them to push it back up the hill to the city boundaries. There was so little time, but Alkonost squashed her panic to keep pushing sand into their makeshift sled. 

"That will do for now," Roman said abruptly and Alkonost heard a wheeze in his voice that hadn't been there before, "Any more and we won't be able to pull it back up." Alknost winced as she ran to the front of their load and held up the harness for Roman to stick his head through. Once he had been situated she ran again to the back and leaned against the sand that threatened to spill out of the low edge. It was dense enough to pack solid against her pressure and she felt the whole container move as she pushed her shoulder into it. It wasn't efficient but if the back had been any higher they would've taken even longer to throw sand into it. She stayed leaning against the sand until Roman gave the signal and she dug her feet into the ground and pushed with all her might. With Roman pulling from the front the smooth bottom of the sled began to glide across the sand and toward the dunes leading out of the beach. Sand fell under their footsteps and shifted under the sled until they were backsliding every second step. Still, the two kept their heads down and kept going.

Once they crested the last of the dunes Alkonost allowed herself to look up, seeing the roiling clouds of smoke as the wind continued to whip the fire into a frenzy. She was already in agony but this was essential, she started to push even harder until they made it to the city and she began to scoop armfuls of sand onto the ground. It was a long, unbroken line along the edge of the grass, about a foot wide but it was still a barrier, anything counted when it came to fighting a fire of this magnitude.