Elena's POV
By the time I got to the farm, I had already lost three workers.
Two sheds had burned to the ground. The land was nothing but scorched grass, heat, and black soil. Firefighters were still working to contain the last of it, pulling workers from the remaining structures, but it was summer. The grass was drier than it had any right to be, and the fire had moved faster and harsher than anyone was prepared for.
Everything went down.
It all came at me in fragments. Voices layering over each other, none of them fully landing.
"Miss, the fire was so unexpected. The alarms did not go off. The standby extinguishers were all faulty. It just happened so fast I—"
"Miss Elena, we need you to contact the families of the deceased."
"Miss Elena, the entire grape plantation is lost. We co
