The Trip to Raptor Bluff (4 page)

“I packed a solar charger in the storage compartment by the bus door.  It wouldn’t fit in the emergency kit.”

“We lost the bus, Joshua.  Thankfully, we were able to collect the food and baggage before the cliff it was on broke away.”

“Oh my god! Where in the hell are you?”

“Calm down!  And we need to make this quick!  We are in a picnic area at Hammer Mountain State Park.  I pulled in when the earthquake started.  101 and half of the picnic area crashed down to the coast just a few seconds after we got the bus unloaded.  What happened?  What in the hell happened?”

“The entire Cascadia subduction zone ruptured, and the only reason I know that is because my brother in Nevada has a satellite phone and can keep me posted.  I just confirmed it with the Fire Chief here in Cleardon City. The power is out here, the water mains are broken, all of the cell towers are down, the phone and data lines are ruined, most of the bridges are out, half of the town was wiped out by the tsunamis, and what buildings are still standing are on fire from ruptured gas lines.  Hello?  Hello?”

“I’m here,” said Rick, collapsing on the wet ground, oblivious to the water soaking into his shorts.  “Was everyone able to evacuate the danger zones in time?”

“That’s what we are trying to find out.  My employees who work on Saturdays all survived, and we have enough emergency supplies for all employee families to live here at the office warehouse for a week or so.  Some of the staff and I are out on bicycles now with lists of everyone’s home address.  We have the addresses for the kids from St. Mary’s, too.  Thank God we can tell their families that everyone is OK!”

“My family?” whispered Rick.  “Have you been able to contact them?” 

“Lynn is cycling to your house as we speak.  We all took a list of names…  Rick, Cleardon City is destroyed.  What the quake didn’t ruin, the tsunamis did.  We just now decided it was safe enough to brave the streets on bicycles and even so, we have to carry the bikes more than we can ride them.  The tsunami debris is blocking every road that didn’t crumble. Just hang in there, OK?  We are going to try to reach everyone’s family before dark but it may take longer than that.  The bottom line is this: we don’t have any news on employee families as of now.”

“Your family?” 

“Lucinda and my boys have satellite phones so I was able to reach them all.  Everyone is fine; they are hiking to the office warehouse right now.  Their worlds will be righted when they hear that Lucy and Dakota are OK.”

“Listen, Joshua.  We need to cut this short to save battery power.  I’ll call you first thing tomorrow morning for a status on our families. Lauren and my three daughters were probably all at home when the quake hit.”

“I’ll wait for your call.  We will keep looking for employee families through the night if we have to.”

“I’m shit out of luck when this battery dies.  How long should it last?”

“Turn off the phone and leave it off unless you need to make a call out.  The battery will last a week or more if we limit our calls to once a day.  Talk to you tomorrow, Rick, and God bless all of you.  Hug Lucy and Dakota for me.”

“You take care too, Joshua.”

Rick shoved the phone in his jacket pocket and tried to quell the sickening sensation rising in his chest.  “Damn you and your stubborn streak, Lauren,” he said aloud.  “You damn well better have evacuated our children by my plan and not by yours.”

Brenda was counting the food supplies when Rick returned from his call.  “Lucy and Andrea are sitting with their kids while everyone else is gathering wood,” she spat.  “They scream the loudest when the aftershocks hit, then sit on their useless asses the rest of the time. This is getting
really
old
really
fast.  Plus, Andrea has been drinking her damned boxed wine.”

“Leanna and I will ask them to help the others gather wood,” said Abby, who was piling stones for a fire pit. 

“I’ll go with you and be the spokesman,” said Rick.  “I doubt it will do any good but I can try.” 

Lucy’s thin brunette hair was in a sloppy knot at the back of her neck, exposing a long profile comprised of jutting points.  Her protruding forehead rose like a straight wall above her eye sockets, and her chin and nose sloped sharply outwards at the exact same angle.  She eyed them coldly from beneath heavy brows as they approached, “What’s up, Rick?” she asked, ignoring Leanna and Abby.

“We need some help gathering firewood, Lucy.”

“I’m not leaving Dakota here by herself.  We don’t know when another aftershock will hit.  We’ve been having them all day.”

“Come on, Lucy.  Dakota is old enough to help and you can stay by her side and work together.”

Dakota began to rise from her seated position but Lucy yanked her back to the ground.  “We are staying here.  There are more than enough people gathering wood.”

“Yeah, and you will grab the seat closest to the fire after everyone else does all the work,” Abby muttered under her breath as Rick steered them towards Andrea.

“Listen, Abby.  I’ve been studying people my whole life and I can tell you straight up, you can’t win with people like Lucy.  She believes… she
really
believes that she is some kind of nobility.  Other people do the work and feel the pain but not her or her kid.  Just let it go, OK?  There’s nothing you can say or do to get through to her.  Andrea is going to react the same way Lucy did.  In her mind, her friendship with the Zeems makes her nobility, too.” 

“So why are we even bothering to ask for Andrea’s help?” asked Leanna.

“Because when we get back to Cleardon City, I will be sure to mention to anyone who will listen that I personally asked Andrea and Lucy to help with the survival work and they refused.  That will be the best payback.”

Andrea was sitting on a poncho with her back against a boulder when they approached.  A box of wine sat beside her.  The tears that streamed down her flaccid cheeks left trails of mascara and shimmering eye shadow.  Half-moons of smeared mascara showed beneath her puffy eyes, and leftover lip-liner from the morning’s careful application bled into the slight wrinkles around her mouth.  A water bottle half-filled with red wine rested between her legs.  Tara was curled in a fetal position beside her.  She was restless and agitated, and held a paper napkin to her runny nose.

“How are you feeling, Tara?” asked Rick. 

Tara shut her eyes and ignored the question.

“How do you
think
she’s feeling?” spat Andrea.  Her lips were pulled back in a sneer, exposing two elongated front teeth that looked like they were better suited to a rodent.

“We need your help collecting firewood.  You can keep an eye on Tara as you work.  She doesn’t seem to be in any danger.”

“Are you fucking kidding me, Rick?  Get the hell away from us.”  Andrea dismissed them with a flick of her heavily bangled wrist and looked away.

**********

Abby and Rick worked silently to build a fire pit while the others piled wood beside it.  By the time darkness began to fall, there was a large fire shooting sparks at the sky.  Brenda spread three of the four tarps on the ground and laid out food in buffet style.  She instructed everyone to form a line and take a bottled drink, a bag of chips, a power or candy bar, and a piece of fruit for dinner.  “Eat slowly,” she warned the teens as they collected their meals and settled by the fire.  “We don’t have a lot of food but it should last for a while if we are careful.  The Zeems know where we are and I’m sure they are doing everything in their power to get us help as soon as possible.”  The words were already out of her mouth before she remembered that Rick was trying to keep the satellite phone a secret.  She shot him an apologetic look. 

“What do you mean?” cried Lucy, jumping to her feet.  “How can my family know where we are?”

Rick pulled the phone from his pocket.  “We have a satellite phone but no charger.  I’ve already spoken to your father so he knows we are in Hammer Mountain Park…”  The barrage of questions that flew at him forced him to hold up his hands and demand calm.  “Listen to me, all of you.  Joshua knows everyone is OK, and is seeking out your families at this very moment.  He and I have agreed to talk again tomorrow morning, at which time he should be able to tell me how your families are.  I’ll pass the news on to you as soon as I get it.”  Once again he held up his hands to quell the erupting questions.  “Listen up, OK?  I mean it.  Just stay quiet until I finish.”  When the group was finally quiet again he said, “Joshua and I also agreed to limit our calls to one short conversation a day since we don’t have a phone charger.  Unless there is an emergency, we do not turn on the phone except for my one morning call to Joshua.” He scanned the faces around him and was pleasantly surprised to see Lucy nodding in agreement; he was afraid she would demand the phone to keep for herself.  “You need to know that the earthquake originated from the ocean floor and hit the whole Pacific Northwest.  The entire coast got quakes and tsunamis.  Cleardon City was hit, but keep in mind that we have a good tsunami warning system and there was plenty of time for evacuation.  Remember, our city got the highest rankings in the Pacific Northwest for earthquake and tsunami preparedness.” 

Rick answered the myriad questions as best he could, and then settled by the fire in the space Brenda had saved for him.  For the next few minutes, the solemn group ate their meager dinners in relative quiet.  Some spoke softly among themselves while others stayed lost in their own thoughts.  The teens were calm, and Rick gave Brenda full credit for that.  By organizing a simple meal, and providing a warm fire and a dry place to sleep, she had given them the sense of security they so desperately needed.

“Did Joshua say if Ron is OK?” wept Andrea.  She was the only person in the group who had cried nonstop throughout the afternoon.

“Rick just told you he didn’t know, Andrea,” snapped Lucy.  “We’ll find out in the morning.” 

Andrea, obviously stung by her idol’s sharp words, covered her mouth with her hands and cried harder.

“Get a grip, Andrea,” whispered Brenda, who was sitting beside her.  “And cool it on the wine.  We have enough going on without your drunken blubbering.  You are upsetting the kids.”

“Fuck
you
, Brenda!” bellowed Andrea. She shoved Brenda so hard that she fell into Shelly, who bounded to her feet and began to cry.  The remaining teens cut eyes at each other and squirmed nervously.

Lucy walked up behind Andrea and bent over her shoulder to whisper, “Cut the drama!  Now!  Otherwise, go back to your rock and stay there.  I mean it, Andrea.  We don’t need this right now!”  She picked up the box of wine that Andrea had placed on the grass behind her and carried it several yards away.  If full view of everyone, she held the spout open and let the wine drain into the ground.  Andrea watched submissively as her shoulders heaved. At least half of the teens had begun to cry with fear for their own families, and Brenda and Rick did their best to soothe them.  Within a few minutes, the group was quiet again except for occasional sobs coming from Andrea.

“We are sleeping by the fire tonight, on top of these tarps,” said the exhausted looking Brenda.  “It will be tight but we can share body heat.  Go and get your warmest clothes from your bags so we can settle down for the night.  Bring something to use as a pillow, too. We have a big day tomorrow.” 

Andrea waited until most of the teens were beyond hearing distance before she moaned, “I hope Ron is OK.  His job is right in the low-lying area of Cleardon City and he was at work today!  I’m so afraid that he didn’t get out in time!  Even if the tsunami warning sounded, he would have had to leave on foot!  Oh my god!  Oh my god! Oh my god!”  Her voice grew shrill as her sobbing heightened.

“Stop it or leave!” demanded Brenda under her breath.

“Andrea, I’m not going to warn you again!” hissed Lucy.  “Either calm down or get away from us!”

“Calm down?  You two don’t get it, do you?  You don’t get it because both of you live on the outskirts of town and have nothing to worry about!”  Andrea rose to her knees and reached a hand towards Rick. “I need to use the phone, Rick.  I need to see if Joshua had a chance to check on Ron.  Just for thirty seconds, OK?  Joshua won’t mind.  He considers me family.  Please!  I am begging you!”

“Even I can’t use the phone and I’m Joshua’s daughter!” said Lucy in a voice trembling with outrage.  “What is the
matter
with you, Andrea?  Why are you making this so difficult for everyone?”

“I just need to know that Ron is OK!” Andrea wailed at the top of her voice. Her last bit of control slipped away and hysteria took over.  “I can’t lie here all night worrying about Ron!  Goddammit, Rick, give me the fucking phone!”  Teens rushed back to the fire as the commotion exploded and were standing in huddles when Andrea suddenly lunged for the phone lying on the ground in front of Rick’s crossed legs.  He barely had time to grab it before Andrea was upon him.  She knocked him onto his back and was lying on top of him, using her nails to pry the phone away. It took Brenda, Lucy, and Abby to finally pull her off.  Rick popped breathlessly to his feet as Andrea, howling with rage, charged again for the phone.  She grabbed his wrist with both hands and began to twist.  Rick used his free hand to try to break her hold as Brenda and Lucy attempted to drag her away.  In a craze of fury, she sank her teeth into Rick’s shoulder.  The phone flew from his hand and landed in a glowing pile of embers and ash.