Shandi Mitchell - Under This Unbroken Sky

“Go to the water, wait for me there.” Maria throws a cold wet blanket over her shoulders. “Go!” Katya stumbles a few steps toward the lake, then turns back looking for her mother. She sees the fires of Hell bursting from the earth. “Go!” Katya runs.

Ivan and Petro fumble to untie the knot that the cow has pulled tight, anchoring itself to the tree. Their small fingers tear against the twine. “Cut it,” Petro wheezes. Ivan scrambles for the ax. Maria reaches the chicken coop and pries open the door. She grabs a squawking hen and stuffs it into a gunnysack.

The horse and cart burst from the darkness. The horse’s head is pulled back, its teeth grimacing, as Myron reins it in hard. It fights to keep running, but Myron holds on and the cart rumbles to a stop. Water drips through the floorboards.

Maria scans the sooty faces and wild hair. “Where’s your father?”

“He wouldn’t come.” He spits the words.

Behind them the horizon flares white and they feel its hot breath. Maria tosses the gunnysacks into the wagon. Lesya jumps off and her foot gives way under her. She crumples to the ground but slaps away Dania’s proffered hand and scrambles to her feet. Sofia, huddled in a corner of the wagon, doesn’t budge. She grips the sides, her arms shaking from the exertion, her eyes fixed on the fire chasing them.

Maria and Dania throw utensils, shovels, pots, and blankets wildly into the back of the cart. Myron warily gauges the speed of the fire. “We have to go, soon,” his voice cracks. Mice scamper wildly around them. Birds scattershot into the sky, screeching their warnings. Grasshoppers catapult and ricochet.

“Get that cow out of here!”

Ivan chops through the rope. “Let’s go!” Petro grabs the halter and pulls. The cow plants its feet and refuses to budge. Ivan slaps its rump as Petro hauls on the rope. “We have to go,” Ivan pleads with the cow. He talks to its eye, trying to make it understand. “You’re going to die here.” He can see that it can’t hear past its fear. He grabs its tail and twists with all his might. The cow jumps, kicking its heels, and lurches ahead. Ivan and Petro chase it, clapping and whooping, herding it forward.

From the wagon, Anna calmly watches the chaos. A blur in the bush catches her attention. The rustling branches part and a coyote steps out. It freezes at the sight of the humans and the noise and commotion. It looks back to the bush, its ears and nose twitching, and back at the humans blocking its path to the water. Anna stands and slowly steps down from the cart. She walks toward the wild dog. The coyote growls, it lowers its head and snarls. “It’s me. Don’t be afraid.” She holds out her hand, but the coyote bolts back into the bush. She hears it crashing through the undergrowth, skirting the water, and she follows.

KATYA STANDS AT THE WATER’S EDGE, WAITING FOR HER mama. The smoke hangs low, obscuring her view. The sky throbs red and orange. She holds Christ cupped in her hands, wishing she had more of him and if he was going to wake up and save them, now would be a good time. She hears a whishing sound. “Mama?” The long grass sways. A stick falls onto the shoreline, and then another, and another. They wriggle alive and glide across the bog toward her. It is not until they are a few feet away that she realizes they are snakes.

She backs into the water, up to her ankles, then her knees… still they come. Slithering toward her, thin golden streaks, curling and uncurling. A tightening in her lungs reminds her that she can’t swim. Her dress hem touches the water and she instinctively lifts it up. The snakes reach the water and keep coming. Katya stumbles backward to her waist, her chest. The snakes float on the surface, their heads arched up, their tails and bodies propelling them forward. The water ripples behind them. Katya stops when the water reaches her neck. The snakes’ heads level with hers, she raises her hand and holds up the doughy ball of Christ. A white paste oozes between her fingers, drips down her arm, and spills into the water. Jesus dissolving all around her. The brigade of snakes part and dart past her ears, their tiny wake lapping against her chin.

MYRON STRUGGLES TO HOLD BACK THE REARING HORSE. “We have to go now !” The fire surges toward them in long strides, smelling its prey.

Maria throws on the last of the load. “Where’s Lesya?”

Lesya fights to shove another chicken into the sack. It kicks free and the birds tumble out. “Leave them!” Maria screams at her. The hens careen in all directions. She drops to her knees and crawls into the coop to retrieve Happiness. The bird pecks at her hands.

“Leave it!” Dania pulls on her legs. Lesya grabs the hen by its feathers as Dania drags her out. She tucks it under her arm and they run. Myron snaps the reins and the cart hurls past them. Maria glances back to see the flames bleed across the clearing, searching for the woods. She runs faster, her arms laden with pots and pans clanging wildly.

From the safety of her holy water, Katya sees her family emerge from the smoke and flames. The horse charges for the lake. The wooden wheels slog through the mud. The horse lunges against the harness, driving it forward. A few feet from the water’s edge, the wheels mire down completely in the bog. Myron jumps off and pushes. The cart rocks an inch and rolls back. He sees Sofia still crouched inside.

“Get off.” And when Sofia doesn’t respond, he drags her out. She lands hard on the dirt. “Push!” Myron yells and his fury shatters her paralysis. Dania, Ivan, and Petro join them. The fire funnels toward them. Maria sees her children, feet away from safety. “Leave it, get in the water!”

Myron jumps into the cart and hurls the empty barrels, shovels, and supplies into the water. “Push!” Maria drops her pots and pans and throws her weight against the back. The wagon breaks free and rolls a few feet into the water, before bogging down again. The horse’s hind legs sink in the slimy bottom. It loses its footing and falls on its side, flailing in the water. The cart slowly tips over, twisting the horse’s head underwater. Myron splashes to the front of the cart, knife in hand, he gropes underwater for the harness. He saws at the wet leather. The wagon slams down. The horse rises from the water in a spray of moon and flames. It spins around and swims to the opposite shore. The fire roars behind them.

“Go deeper.” Maria herds her brood. She counts her children’s heads, momentarily panicked that she has forgotten one.

Myron refuses to go. “I have to keep it wet,” and ladles water over the wooden sides, jutting high past the waterline. Dania plows through the water to help him. Her feet sink in the murky slime. She loses her shoe. Ivan, Petro, and Katya climb onto the cart’s shafts and take refuge behind the front board. Lesya wades in with her hen held high over her head. Sofia hugs her body as she forces herself into the cold water, imagining eels and leeches clinging to her skin.

Maria sees the fire creeping through the bush and Anna still on the shore, as if waiting its arrival. She splashes toward her. But Anna doesn’t hear her. She is listening for the coyote. The baby kicks and writhes. Her knees buckle and she sinks to the ground. Maria is beside her. “Do you hear it?” Anna asks. Maria hears the fire ripping through the muskeg.

“Yes. We have to go.” She tries to pull her to her feet.

Anna fights her off. “I have to stay. It’s come back for me.”

“Get up!” Maria screams and drags her into the lake. She feels her own body cringe in pain. The fire swings wildly around, the flames race along the south shore, up the trees, swinging from branch to branch. The water glows red, and in its light, Maria sees a deer, a cow, and a horse standing in the shallows. Mice, rabbits, and chickens veer up and down the shore, throwing themselves into the lake. The children scream as the fire flares toward them. Anna shakes herself loose from Maria, falls, and sits motionless in the water. “Stay here,” Maria warns her and wades back to the wagon.