FX: The Series and its characters are not mine. I'm just borrowing them for
fun - no profit involved. They belong to Winterset Productions, Inc.,
Orion Pictures, Fireworks Entertainment Inc. Productions, Rysher
Entertainment and Hallmark Entertainment. Based on characters created by
Robert T. Magginson and Gary Fleeman.
Rollie pulled Angie closer as he leaned back against the dirty wall. How?
How had they managed to get themselves into this deadly situation? It was
suppose to be a quiet day, no problems. Come up into the foothills and check
over the location. Finish laying the plans for the effects for their latest
movie. No big deal. Instead... instead they were trapped and faced with
death! Their options were limited. Make a run for it and probably burn to
death... or stay here and have smoke and the heat from the raging brush fire
probably kill them. Fire or smoke and heat? Some choice! Please, he prayed
silently to whatever power would listen - be it the God of his mother or
the
animal and earth spirits of his spiritual father, Mangela. Take ME if you
must but let Angie live! She has her whole life ahead of her! She should
have children one day, a husband, a family, a full career. Please let her
live! Take me instead! Please, he called silently, I can't live without
Angie! LET HER LIVE! Rollie shivered as sparks filled the air outside the
window and pulled the precious form huddled in his embrace closer. PLEASE!
Soon, too soon, the Aussie knew the brush fire would surround their refuge.
Soon it would be eating the dry thick grass and brush that he had not had
time to clear away. No time, no hope. Soon - one way or the other - it would
be over and they would die. The Aussie had grown up with the threat of brush
fires. He knew their ways and the deadly results. Rollie had no illusions
about their survival. Flame, smoke, heat. They would die - together. The
best he could hope for, their only hope, was that it would be quietly,
smothered by smoke.
Please, Angie prayed, PLEASE God, let Rollie live! The world needs him, his
spirit, his laughter, his joy of life! Take me if you must, but let Rollie
live! His father needs him, I know that, without Rollie, Dingo will become
a
bitter man preying on everyone around him with no consideration at all
anymore. Rollie has Dingo and Mangela, he has friends counting on HIM! Me,
I
have nobody... Nobody except Rollie! He deserves a family, children, a wife,
a home! Let him live, take me! Please please please take me and let Rollie
live! I can't live without Rollie, take me instead! Oh God! How had they
gotten themselves into this? It had been such a beautiful, perfect day! How
could it end... like this? The blonde felt Rollie's arms tighten, pull her
closer. As if he could pull her inside of himself and keep her safe from
the
fire raging closer and closer. Please! If he had gone when she told him to
leave her, he would have been safe. Not here, not with her, not to die!
Angie didn't want to be the cause of Rollie Tyler's death. NO! Please!
How had they come to this life and death point?
Angie Rameriz remembered her enjoyment of the early morning California sun
and how she had considered the odds of their getting to the beach while
working on their newest movie. It was quite an honor for Tyler FX to be
imported from the East Coast, when there were so many good special effects
companies readily available in Southern California. She drove the rental
pickup the studio had supplied them and hummed quietly to the low sound of
the radio. The blonde glanced over to where her partner dozed, held snugly
in place by his seat belt. Rollie Tyler, Australian special effects wizard,
had been up with the director and producers most of the night and was
exhausted. She really didn't want to wake him up again. Not that he would
be
mad, oh no! But he deserved all the rest he could get. After all, Rollie
had
let her go to bed, while he dealt with the "big shots" personally. Neither
one of them relished the task and he allowed her to escape, while wistfully
wishing he could escape as well. That was the price Rollie paid for being
the senior partner of their little two person special effects company. Small
though they were, Tyler FX had a big rep as one of the best independents
around, thanks to their SPFX knowledge, Rollie's imagination and Angie's
computer abilities. It was that unbeatable combination that made Tyler FX
the success it was.
When Rollie knocked on her door before the sun was even up, Angie knew today
would be a long one for her, but especially for her boss, partner and best
friend. Filming would start in two days and the "powers that be" wanted them
to look over the location and finalize the special effects sequences
required well ahead of time. Angie deliberately took her time so the lanky
Aussie could sleep as long as possible. She slowed the truck as she reached
the dirt road that meandered up into the dry foothills to the tiny abandoned
town where most of the filming would be done. The road was barely wide
enough for the silver pickup and as she shifted gears and steered carefully,
Angie wondered how the studio intended to get the larger equipment trucks
to
the site.
Rollie woke when Angie finally hit an unavoidable pothole. He stretched
lazily and looked around at the thick dry grass and brush. "How close are
we
to the site, Ange?" He didn't like the dryness or the look of things. He
remembered... and shivered as he pushed the memory away. Except it was
almost like a premonition. It was just a memory, nothing more, Rollie told
himself and sat up straighter.
"Another couple of miles IF the map's right, boss."
Rollie nodded and watched the scenery go by. The sun was up and it was a
beautiful day. He pushed the unease further away. He reached over and turned
up the radio just as the song changed to "California Dreaming". Angie and
Rollie looked at each other and laughed. It was a good day, a beautiful day.
They had work to do today, true, but no biggies. It would be long, but there
wasn't any reason they couldn't enjoy themselves and have fun. Rollie hid
a
bigger grin as he remembered the picnic he had snuck into the pickup's
equipment box. Angie was expecting sandwiches and a thermos of tea or coke,
not the full spread Rollie acquired from the hotel's kitchen before he woke
her up. Yes, it was a perfect day.
Finally, Angie pulled the silver rental to a halt and they shared their
first look at the movie location. It really was a tiny place, no more than
ten buildings. Most of them were small and all of them were brick and wood,
except for the large building on the other side of the town. It dominated
the place, like a bully, huge and ugly, a five story building of brick and
cinder blocks. There was no grace to it and it was filthy, but it was also
exactly what the studio wanted.
Rollie frowned as he saw the singe marks on the buildings still standing.
There were signs that once there had been more to this town than these few
pitiful remnants. He saw the outlines of foundations and suppressed a
shiver. Fire had passed this way more than once, he recognized the results.
The lanky man pushed away the feeling and looked to the shorter woman on
the
other side of the truck. "Ugly place," Rollie spoke quietly, "now." Once,
he
thought, it would have been nice, a home and workplace for several families.
Now, it was just... ugly.
Angie stared at the sight before them and nodded. "Yeah, now," she spoke
dryly. "Weird place for a movie. I wonder how they found it."
"Doesn't matter, let's get to work." Rollie looked at the dirt road. "I want
to be gone before dark. That road's awful tiny. It'd be hard to follow at
night."
The special effects team set to work with accomplished efficiency. They took
measurements and made their calculations. They thoroughly explored each
building that the studio had indicated would be used in the movie. The last
one they'd check would be the huge one on the other side of town. That was
where most of the interior scenes would be shot. That was where most of
their effects would be used.
Rollie stretched and looked at the sun directly overhead. He was starving!
"Hey Ange! Let's eat!" Breakfast was now a faint memory for the hungry man.
Angie agreed enthusiastically and Rollie went to dig out the picnic. The
look of surprise on his best friend's face, made the effort of getting up
early and pleading with the kitchen staff at the hotel more than worth it.
They settled down to the delicious lunch of fried chicken, potato salad,
cheese and crackers, deviled eggs, lemonade and more. For desert, there was
devil food cake, moist and wonderful. Aptly named considering the sinfully
delicious taste.
Rollie leaned back on his arms and moaned, content. "Oh, that was good. I'm
full."
Angie licked some icing from her fingers and grinned. "Yeah, me too. Thanks
for the picnic, Rol." She rolled her head around and stretched lazily. "Me,
I could use a nap now."
"Good idea, sweetie. I could too." He looked at his watch and checked the
position of the sun. "We've got time. All that's left is the big building."
He looked at the abandoned hulk. "I wonder what it used to be." Rollie
stretched and laid down, he folded his arms under his head. "I wonder," he
muttered as he closed his eyes.
Angie glanced at the ugly building, and picked up the red and white checked
tablecloth that had come with the picnic basket. She shook it out to remove
the crumbs of their feast and spread it on the ground next to Rollie. "I
don't know." She stretched again and laid down on the cloth, her head
resting on the Aussie's chest. "And I don't really care." She closed her
eyes and fell asleep as Rollie smiled at the warmth of the shorter form at
his side and the weight on his chest.
"Neither do I," the brown haired man whispered and followed his blonde
partner into dreamland.
Almost an hour later, Rollie's nose twitched and he sat abruptly up in
alarm! What? Something had woken him. What?!? He looked around, desperate
to
find whatever had disturbed him.
Angie muttered imprecations against her boss for spilling her off of her
comfortable pillow. Her complaints died in her throat as she caught the
frantic look on Rollie's face. "What's wrong, Rollie? Bad dream?" She
touched his arm, reminding him of her presence.
"No, not a bad dream. Something else." Rollie looked anxiously around. He
froze as he caught the scent that had waken him. Smoke! "I smell smoke!"
Angie shrugged, not catching the implication. "So, someone's burning trash.
So what?" She asked puzzled.
"In this dryness?!?" Rollie stared at his partner. They had to get away from
here! "I don't think so. This tinderbox is just waiting for a spark to set
it off into an inferno. Let's get out of here! NOW!"
Angie Rameriz may have been blonde, but she was definitely not dumb! Fully
awake now, she recognized the wisdom in Rollie Tyler's words. Hastily they
gathered their picnic together and ran to the pickup. Angie tossed the
things into the truck bed, no time to worry about putting things away. Angie
headed for the passenger side, as Rollie scrambled into the driver's seat.
As Angie fastened her seat belt, Rollie shifted the gears into neutral and
turned the key. Nothing! The engine wouldn't turn over. "Bloody hell!"
Rollie popped the hood and fell through the door. They didn't have time for
this! They had to get out now!
Angie watched anxiously as Rollie checked the engine. When he slammed his
fist against the truck, she climbed out of the pickup and joined him.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know. It might be the starter, but I don't know." Rollie pulled
his
Leatherman tool out to try to locate and fix the problem.
"I'll see if there are some tools in the back." Angie dashed around to look.
She remembered Rollie pulled the picnic from the driver's side so she went
to check the passenger side of the equipment chest. Angie reached into the
chest, and pushed some of the stuff around. Most of it was junk.. "OW", she
yanked her hand back.
"Angie?" Rollie peered around at her. "Are you all right? What happened?"
He
hurried over to where she was rubbing her left hand. "Ange? What's wrong?"
"I think something bit me!" Angie rubbed where it hurt.
"Let me see, sweetie." Rollie took her left hand in both of his and looked
carefully. "I think you got stung." He peered into the chest, trying to see
what had gotten Angie. The corners were too dark to see, so he pulled out
his small penlight and looked again. Something scuttled away from the light,
but then he spotted it again in one corner. "A scorpion."
"A scorpion?" Angie echoed, suddenly scared. "Aren't... aren't scorpions
poisonous?"
"Yeah," Rollie looked back at Angie and realized how frightened she was.
"They're not that poisonous, Ange." He hastened to reassure her. "You'll
be
okay. You're too big for that little thing to kill." He shrugged as she
relaxed a little. "The scorpions here are too little and not poisonous
enough to kill a healthy adult, unless they had a heart condition or
something." Or you're allergic or you do something stupid, his mind reminded
him silently. He couldn't mention that to Angie. He'd just have to keep a
close eye on her, watch for any reactions. "Bet it hurts though."
"Yeah, it does." Angie rubbed absently at the spot where she'd been stung.
"Rollie? The engine?"
" I'm afraid it's a lost cause, unless you found a parts shop." Rollie
informed her. "Let's get some ice on that sting, it'll help."
"But what about the fire? Shouldn't we get out of here?" Angie looked
around, certain she would see flames close by.
"I'll check on it after we put some ice on that sting and you lie down."
Rollie looked around the area. It was full of dry and highly combustible
plant life. He eyed the largest building thoughtfully. It might be their
best chance, IF it really was a brush fire. All brick and cinder block, it
shouldn't catch fire. It had already survived several fires intact. He
pushed the thought of what killed most people in a fire away - the smoke.
After all, without the truck, they didn't stand a chance of outrunning the
fire!
"Rollie? Lie down? I thought you said it wouldn't kill me." She shifted
nervously as she looked up, her blue green eyes peered deeply into his
bright brown ones. "Rollie?"
"It won't, but you need to lie down. Bed rest and no food for eight to
twelve hours." Rollie told her. "You may feel weak for a while. The pain
may
be followed by numbness or tingling. Or nothing whatsoever." He shrugged "It shouldn't swell though." He didn't add the potential muscle spasms,
breathing problems or any of the other symptoms. A lot of people got stung
and never experienced the other ones anyway. And the scorpions in Southern
California were less poisonous than a lot of others.
Angie regarded Rollie with surprise. What had Rollie done? Swallowed a
complete first aid book as a child? He was always pulling out odd bits of
information like that. Was there any first aid treatment he didn't know?
She
could understand his knowing about breaks, bruises, concussions, burns and
the like, even snake bites, but scorpion stings?
"Yeah, well it won't make any difference if we burn to death, Rol." She
reminded him about the very real dangers of a brush fire.
"We'll hold up in that big building, it won't burn. You'll be safe there
while I check the fire out. Maybe you're right, maybe they're burning
rubbish from a construction site or something." He fished the picnic
supplies from the back of the pickup. After glancing in the equipment chest
one last time, Rollie decided that was all the useful things they would find
in the rental. It wasn't a lot. He grabbed his cell phone from the glove
compartment. After he checked and made sure there really WAS a fire, he
could call for help. Surely, it would get there well before any brush fire.
Rollie shoved the memory of another brush fire aside, long ago and far away,
it had moved with deadly, frightening speed. At least, there's not a lot
of
wind, he thought.
Rollie settled Angie inside, on the first floor. Smoke rose, they would have
to ride the fire out on the ground level. He put an ice chip on the sting
and had her hold it there. "Replace that when it melts. I know it's cold,
but it'll take out the pain." Rollie looked around. He found a rusty faucet.
One turn told him there wasn't any water. The table cloth would be useless,
it would just burn. Most of the picnic supplies were useless too. Just the
lemonade and melting ice were any good to them and neither would last long.
He discarded the picnic supplies on the other side of the large empty room
and returned to Angie's side. "You stay put, I'll be back as quick as I
can." He brushed her hair back and kissed her temple. "We'll be okay, sweet.
I'll be back soon."
Angie leaned against the wall and called softly after her best friend.
"Rollie? Be careful!" He looked back at her and smiled. Then he was gone
and
Angie sighed, worried, as she fished another ice chip out of the lemonade.
She hoped he would be back soon - with good news.
Rollie returned to her in a rush, his face stained with soot and his eyes
wide. Angie took one look at his face and knew that they were in deep
trouble. The Aussie looked at her and told her the truth. Angie would want
the truth and Rollie respected her enough to give it. "The fire's all around
us, there's no way out. I tried to call 911 on the cell phone, but we're
in
a dead zone. I can't... I can't call out."
"Maybe from the roof, Rol?" Angie offered the hope, tentatively. "It's the
highest point. Maybe the phone will reach out there."
Rollie nodded silently and climbed the stairs. Once there, he had tried,
once, twice, a dozen times. No response. The phone was useless. HE was
useless. He surveyed the land surrounding the building. Smoke and flames
were visible from up here. The fire was burning closer. The main road was
out of sight. Besides, they were well away from any major traffic. It might
be a long time before the fire was spotted and reported. Too long for them.
Soon... soon it would be here. He peered over the edge. If they were going
to survive, he would have to clear away the brush and grass from around
their refuge as best he could. The dry plants would make more smoke, that
was their biggest danger now, not the flames.
One look was all Angie needed to tell her of Rollie's failure. He knew and
hugged her gently. "I have to clear away the brush and grass. Make a break,
if I can. It'll help."
Angie moved as if to get up.
"No, you stay there. Remember, bed rest for eight to twelve hours, Ange."
Rol held her down with firm hands
"I can help." She pleaded.
"Not enough to make a difference, but I have to try. I can't just sit here
and wait for the fire. You rest. I'll be back before you know it, sweetie."
Angie felt cold as she realized the Aussie felt bound by her and the sting
to this place and the danger. "Rollie?" He turned back at the door to look
at her with serious eyes. "You can get out without me! Go! Get help, get
out
of here! You can do it, I know you can!"
Rollie silently shook his head and slipped outside. Angie slumped, defeated.
If SHE went out and helped, HE would just pick her up and bring her back
inside. She knew with sick certainty that Rollie could escape if he wasn't
worrying about her, protecting her. And there was no way for her to change
his mind, Rollie would stay and fight and die - for her. Tears fell silently
down Angie's cheeks. Rollie Tyler would DIE for her!
Two hours ago, they hadn't known the full extent of their danger. Two hours
ago, there had been hope. Two hours ago, Rollie had gone to check and now
there was just flames and smoke and heat. Rollie pulled Angie down, forced
her to lay flat on the dirty floor. He carefully draped his longer form over
hers. Protecting, even though there was no hope left. Please let her live,
he prayed silently. Take me, just let her live. PLEASE!
Angie choked back the sob she felt as Rollie protectively wrapped himself
over her. NO! Angie prayed silently. Please God! Let him live, take me, just
let him live! She had stopped the earlier tears before Rollie had returned.
Angie refused to let him see her tears. He wouldn't die with her tears in
his eyes and his mind. It was all she could give him now. Please...
please... please... please...
Smoke filled their lonely refuge. Flames crackled outside, so close, so
beautiful, so deadly. Heat built, robbed the friends of their strength.
Rollie hugged Angie close as he coughed in the smoke. Tears filled his eyes,
tears of despair and smoke. No hope. Now they would die - together. At
least, Angie wasn't alone, he was with her and they would join Manny, his
mum, her mum, Leo and Rick. A small piece of him, whimsically and
ridiculously, hoped her mum would like him and that the others would forgive
him for failing his Angie. As if he could ever forgive himself.
Angie coughed and wept silently. Eyes stung by smoke and fear for Rollie.
Now, they would die together. Soon they would see their mothers, her father,
Leo and Rick. All the loved ones who had gone before them. Soon....
Smoke and tears filled the best friends' eyes and darkness claimed them.
Soon. The last thing Rollie felt was the stillness of Angie's body as she
surrendered her consciousness to the smoke and heat. The last thing Angie
felt was Rollie's strong grip loosen his hold on her as the smoke and heat
overcame his body's last strength. Soon...
