The Trip to Raptor Bluff (19 page)

“You have
OxyContin
?
”
 

“I will get it for you right now!  I also have tons of candy and power bars to help with the food.  Just let me use your phone…”

Colonel McCoy’s eyes were narrowed in disbelief when he cut her off. “Did I just hear you correctly?  Are you really telling me that unless I allow you to use my phone this very minute, you will withhold pain medication from people who are in agony?”

Dakota stared with incredulity as Lucy crossed her arms over her chest and stated loftily, “That is
exactly
what I am telling you.  I will trade my pain pills for one minute on your phone.  Now.”

“What is your father’s number?  I will call him for you.” 

Lucy smiled triumphantly and handed over the slip of paper with Joshua’s number on it.  Colonel McCoy strode into a small room across the hallway and disappeared around the corner.  A few minutes later, he brusquely beckoned for Lucy to join him.  The expression on his face was one of utter contempt.  When Dakota followed her in, he put his arm around her shoulders to let her know that he did not hold her responsible for her mother’s behavior.  “I put the phone on speaker, Ms. Zeem.”

“Dad?  Dad?” Lucy’s voice broke and she began to sob.  “It’s horrible here!  We had to walk through miles of dead bodies and now we are sleeping on the filthy floor…” 

“Lucy!” shouted Joshua so loudly that his voice was audible in the hallway.  “Shut up and listen to me!  Is it true that you have pain medication?”

“Yes!  I have a bag of …”

“Lucy, you will send Dakota to get that medicine right now.  You will not utter another word until those pills are in Colonel McCoy’s hands.  Have I made myself clear?”

“Yes!  But Dad…”

“Silence!” thundered Joshua. 

“Go get it, Dakota!  It’s in the side zipper pocket of my backpack!”

“Wait!” said Colonel McCoy.  “We want the candy, too.”

“Bring the whole backpack!” Lucy shouted at Dakota’s quickly retreating form.

Dakota returned with the backpack in less than a minute.  Lucy unzipped the side pocket and handed the bag of OxyContin to Colonel McCoy, then opened the large compartment to show him the candy and power bars.  Colonel McCoy politely asked Dakota to leave the room, turned off the phone’s speaker function, and handed the phone to Lucy.

“Dad?  He has the pills!  When can you come for us?”

Joshua’s voice was smoldering with fury when he said, “Colonel McCoy assured me that you and the students from St. Mary’s are in good physical condition. He also told me that Dakota’s help with the youngest orphans has made her indispensable to those poor children: that she and Kate entertain and comfort them in ways the overburdened military staff cannot.  For those reasons, I will
not
send a private helicopter your way.  Colonel McCoy explained the evacuation process to me, Lucy.  The sickest people are air-lifted out first, followed by the orphans and the families with small children.  Everyone else is evacuated in the order in which they signed the refugee list.  I told Colonel McCoy to evacuate Dakota when her name comes up on the list, and to send her to us. I told him to put your name at the very bottom of the list and to keep it there, no matter who signs up after you.  You will be the
very last
person out, Lucy, and while you are there, you will take instruction from Colonel McCoy.  I told him to put you to work helping the military and medical staff.  If you defy me on this, you will never step foot in my home or my business again.”

Lucy stared dumbly at the phone, her face draining of color as Joshua continued through clenched teeth.  “It
sickens
me to know that you threatened to withhold pain medication from desperate people because you feel you are too good to suffer hardship with the rest of humanity.  Where is that Christianity you have been shoving down our throats for the last year?  Well, here is your opportunity to practice
what you preach.  You will stay right where you are and help Colonel McCoy take care of those poor people who lost their loved ones, their health, and their homes.  Shame on you, Lucy Zeem!  Shame, shame on you!”  Joshua hung up the phone.

“Sit down, Ms. Zeem,” said Colonel McCoy icily.  “Let me tell you about the catastrophe our Pacific Northwest is currently experiencing.”  

Colonel McCoy stood before Lucy with his hands on the table.  He leaned forward to emphasize his words when he said, “Ms. Zeem, you walked through the Drowning Fields and saw the horror with your own eyes.  Now imagine that same scenario in every coastal city from Northern California, through Oregon and Washington, and up into Southern British Columbia.  Those coastal cities, most of which are much larger and more populated than Port Fortand, are going through this same catastrophe. Entire communities - communities full of residents, workers, and summer visitors - are just gone.”

Lucy nodded blankly, still stupefied after hearing that she was placed last on the evacuation list.

“We don’t yet know how many thousands died in the tsunamis, or from collapsing structures.  Countless others lost their homes, or cannot live in their homes because there is no clean water, sewage processing, or electricity.  People cannot even pick up a phone to check on their loved ones because communication systems are down. They are digging through rubble or searching refugee centers for people they may never see again.” 

Lucy buried her face in her hands and sobbed.  Colonel McCoy’s frustration level heightened and he worried about maintaining his own grip on reason during times too terrible to fully comprehend. He took a deep breath and tried to explain the Great Cascadia Earthquake and its impact on the Pacific Northwest.

Some 50 miles offshore of the Pacific Northwest coastline, the Explorer, Juan de Fuca, and Gorda Plates stayed locked beneath the North American Plate until the tension became too great.  When the locked zone ruptured, the North American Plate flexed and dropped. The resulting 9.0 magnitude earthquake rocked the ground throughout the Pacific Northwest for almost five minutes.

The worst of the shaking was felt at the coast, the area closest to the subduction zone.  The intensity of the shaking varied depending on the soil type and geological conditions, and many inland areas, including the cities of Seattle and Portland, were in full crisis due to soil liquefaction that collapsed buildings, bridges, dams, communications equipment, and electrical and water distribution systems.  Even structures that were built or retrofitted to seismic standards were rendered unusable by the long period of intense shaking, with glass shattering, fittings breaking loose, partition walls and elevator shafts falling askew, and air handling systems tearing away.  Soil liquefaction also caused underground pipes and tanks to break or even rise to the surface.  Hazardous material drained unchecked into the earth around the failures.  Graveyards in liquefaction zones regurgitated their dead and left them half-buried or fully exposed. 

The first of three tsunamis reached shore within eighteen minutes of the earthquake, rising to over forty feet as it met land at the shallow coastline. The colossal power behind the wave moved water miles inland, pushing boats, docks, buildings, bridges, cars, telephone and power poles, trees, and boulders with it. Untold thousands did not evacuate in time, or evacuated to unsafe buildings that could not withstand the force of the tsunami.  Many who tried to outpace the wave in their cars were caught on roads or bridges rendered impassable by the earthquake.  The list of the confirmed dead was at thirteen thousand and climbing hourly.

The first aftershock occurred less than 30 minutes after the initial earthquake and registered a magnitude 7.8.  Still standing buildings, bridges, dams, and overpasses already made vulnerable by the first quake, collapsed.  Roads buckled.  Coastal communities were cut off from each other and from roads heading inland that could take them to safety.  Locations around Seattle that relied on bridges or water transportation to reach other areas were totally isolated.  Seattle and Portland went dark and their faucets ran dry.

As water systems failed, clean drinking water became impossible to get.  Fires that started at ruptured gas pipes and downed power lines burned freely; even if fire departments could get to the fires, there was no water to put them out.

Landline, cell, and wireless communications halted when antennae and cell towers fell and underground cables snapped.  Broken undersea transpacific cables halted communications to East Asia and Alaska. 

Electrical power systems failed far inland, with coastal areas experiencing complete blackouts that were predicted to last throughout the winter and perhaps throughout the spring.  Hospitals near the coast did their best to evacuate their patients to inland facilities, but because of communication failures, fuel shortages, and impassable roads, the attempts were chaotic and futile.  Fuel for backup generators ran out and hospitals could not function.  Despite the heroic efforts of exhausted medical staff who tried to save the critically ill without clean water, adequate staffing and supplies, and electricity to power medical equipment, patients died in droves.  Patients who were non-critical before the earthquake quickly became critical, and they began to die as well.

All coastal airports were rendered unusable, and although larger airports further inland remained mostly intact, liquid fuel storage and distribution equipment was damaged, causing critical fuel shortages for aircraft and vehicles.

Ports around Tacoma, Seattle, and Portland did not become inundated by the tsunamis but were devastated by strong currents and collapsed structures in soil liquefaction zones.  Tsunami damage at the mouth of the Columbia River, along with underwater landslides and detritus from fallen structures, stopped shipping through that route.  Alaska was bracing for severe shortages of food and other necessary commodities that could no longer be transported from the Pacific Northwest.

Hundreds of thousands of people whose homes remained intact were without water, electricity, sewage, and gas.  Those who could not move in with friends or relatives in unaffected areas were forced to relocate to bulging refugee centers until utilities could be restored.  They could not get cash from banks and ATMs, and credit card processing was impossible.  Looting of vacant homes and businesses was rampant, but because many police and security personnel were themselves stranded or unable to work, the looting continued unabated.

Economic damage to the Pacific Northwest was immeasurable.  In addition to damaged, destroyed, or looted businesses, the transport of goods was interrupted indefinitely.  Small and medium sized businesses could not survive the prolonged disruption of utilities and transportation, and tens of thousands lost their livelihoods. 

And then there were the dead.  Innumerous rotting bodies lay under collapsed structures and in tsunami debris fields, while others began to wash up on beaches.  The military and civilian volunteers were doing their best to recover, tag, photograph, bag, and transport the remains to cold storage facilities so they could be identified without the help of forensics.  Mobile morgues were set up as close to the disaster zones as possible, but with the roads and bridges in ruins, transporting the remains before they were too decomposed to identify by sight was impossible. Forensic specialists were setting up disaster victim identification centers so that fully decomposed remains could be identified by dental records or DNA specimens.

“And that, Ms. Zeem, is what we are trying to cope with at the moment,” spat Colonel McCoy.

“Is there a place where I can wash up at least?” Lucy was crying so hard that each word came out as a gasp.

Colonel McCoy groaned inwardly when he realized the abhorrent creature sitting before him had not listened to a word he said: either that or she just didn’t care.  “If I catch
anyone
using our clean water for
anything
other than drinking or medical purposes, they will be dealt with harshly.  If you want to wash, find a creek or a stream, but you had better check upstream for dead bodies before you touch the water.”

Headquarters sent a rescue helicopter for Ryder thirteen days after his arrival in the small farming community east of Port Fortand.  They came prepared to collect Ryder, Rick, Abby, Leanna, and four dogs.  The kind pilot arrived with a large bag of submarine sandwiches, a bunch of bananas, a cooler full of ice cream bars, and ten cans of premium dog food.  He also brought four leashes so the dogs could be kept under control when they returned to civilization.

When the four, dirt encrusted and smelly humans arrived at an eastern Oregon airport, they did not cause even a whisper of a stir; the terminal was teeming with the recently rescued, many of whom were in much worse condition than they.  Abby and Leanna walked in with their arms around each other. 

Joshua Zeem handled the arrangements for Abby to fly to Wisconsin where her father’s brother lived.  Her family was still on the waiting list for evacuation from Cleardon City, and remained among the refugees housed in one of many Red Cross shelters.  They would eventually join her in Wisconsin.

Leanna was scheduled to fly to Nevada, where the Zeems were living in rental properties until Cleardon City was rebuilt.  The Zeems were among the lucky few who could afford to hire private air or water transportation to evacuate, and Lucy and Dakota would join them in Nevada after their evacuation from Port Fortand. 

Rick said nothing about his plans except that he would rent a car big enough to hold four dogs.  When he and Leanna escorted Abby to the terminal wing leading to her departure gate, Abby lost her hard-fought battle to hold back tears.  Rick took her shoulders to say goodbye and the tears welling in her eyes caused his own eyes to fill.

“So you do know how to cry after all,” he choked.

“Rick, thank you for everything,” Abby said, falling against his chest.  He held her while she cried.  “I will look you up as soon as Cleardon City is livable again.”

“I’m not going back, Abby.  There is nothing there for me except memories too hard to face.  If the bodies of my wife and girls are recovered, I will go back long enough to identify them and have them cremated.  If I am lucky enough to get their remains, I will bury them on my mother’s ranch in Idaho.  That is where I plan to live.”

“You are moving to Idaho?  I won’t see you again?”  Abby staggered as though the ground beneath her had shifted. 

“Mom has lived alone on Mutti’s and Granddad’s ranch for a while now, and she is getting up there in years.  She will appreciate my company, and I need the time and space to adjust to my new life.  It’s a good place, Abby.  It is big, with lots of space for my new family to roam.”  He nodded at the four leashed dogs at his side.  “With me there to help, Mom can keep the horses she loves so much; she was planning to sell them because they are too much work for her.  She loves animals of all kinds and won’t have a problem with my plans to start a dog rescue.  She will love it, in fact.  Besides, Mom is peaceful and solid company, Abby.  She is just like you, remember?”

“You are starting a dog rescue?”  Abby could barely get the words out. 

“Absolutely.  We found three abandoned animals in two days, just in one tiny town.  The Pacific Northwest shelters will be overflowing with animals in need of good homes.  They will be desperate for help, and I will be desperate for something to fill my time.  Joshua Zeem already agreed to let me work from Idaho, but it will be a while before Zeemercise is up and running again.”

“Then I am going with you!” blurted Abby.  “I want to be where you are.  I want to be with you and Caleb and Dante and Joey and Rambo!”

“Abby, you have your own family waiting for you,” Rick said gently.

“Rick, no!  I barely even know my uncle!  And when my family is evacuated from Cleardon City, Mom will be a basket case and everyone will be tiptoeing around her!  I can’t even stand the thought of all of us crowded together in my uncle’s house!”

“They are your family, Abby, and living with your uncle will be temporary.  You know that.”

“You, Leanna, and the dogs are more of a family to me than my real family ever was.  I am going with you, Rick.  You can’t stop me.  Even if you refuse to take me with you now, I will be eighteen in two months, and I will run away and land on your Idaho doorstep!  That is a promise!” 

“I am already eighteen and I am going with you, too!” cried Leanna, who had watched the exchange with tears running down her face.  “I don’t even know the Zeems.  I barely know Lucy and she’s my foster mother.  I want to live with you guys.  Please, let me go with you.”

The look on Rick’s face was a mixture of uncertainty and joy.  “Do you think we can work this out with your parents, Abby?”

“We don’t have to.  I will tell them I am spending the summer as ranch help on your mother’s property.  They won’t object at all; it will be one less person jammed into my uncle’s house.  When I am eighteen, it becomes a non-issue.  I won’t go to Wisconsin and they can’t make me.”

The grin on Rick’s face spread even as his tears flowed, “Honestly, Abby?  I was dreading the drive to Idaho with Dante crying his eyes out over you.  You too, Leanna.  Rambo has adopted you as his new mother.”

“Is that a
yes
?” cried Abby, hardly daring to believe that this could actually happen.

“It suits every human and animal involved, and it will bring light into my mother’s life,” smiled Rick. “It sounds like a plan to me.”

“I just have one request,” said Leanna, throwing her arms around Rick and Abby.  “We have to stop at a clothing store and spend one night in a hotel.  I don’t think I can stand to get into a closed car with all of us smelling the way we do.”

**********

Joshua Zeem spared no expense when trying to rescue the employees and students who were on the trip to Raptor Bluff when the Cascadia subduction zone ruptured.  Even so, the demand for rescue helicopters, combined with the fuel shortage, caused a seventeen day delay in his rescue plans for the two groups who were still stranded in the area near Hammer Mountain. 

Thanks to the GPS pings sent from Rick’s satellite phone on the day of the quake - before Andrea knocked the phone in the fire - the helicopter crew knew exactly where to look for the pile of abandoned luggage left at the rest site by the Zeemercise chaperones and St. Mary’s students.  From there, the pilot and two emergency medics hiked to the spring where Rick told Joshua to look for Andrea, Tara, and Reba.  They were carrying shoes and socks in the hope that the women could walk out on their own.

Andrea, Tara, and Reba had eaten nothing since their food ran out after six days, and the rescuers found them sitting on their ponchos and huddled together beneath the tarp, dull-eyed and shaking in the chilly mountain air.  Reba shouted with joy and tottered towards them with her arms wide open.  Andrea stared at the men, mystified for a few seconds before her mind registered that help had arrived.  Her hysterical reaction required the larger of the two medics to grab her from behind and hold her arms at her sides while the other administered a mild sedative. 

“What did you give her?” asked the listless Tara, still sitting under the tarp and peering up at the men between clumps of greasy hair.

“Whatever it is, you don’t need any,” shot Reba. 

The medics cut eyes at each other, and Tara glared at her with squinted eyes. 

Reba was able to walk out, thanks to shoes on her feet and significant support from the pilot.  She waited alone at the helicopter with a bland nutritional drink while the pilot went back to help the medics retrieve Andrea and Tara.  Andrea arrived next, quietly weeping as she clung to the two medics literally holding her up.  Tara followed, leaning on the pilot and complaining of terrible back pain.

“Don’t give her anything stronger than aspirin for pain, no matter what she says,” Reba whispered to the medics.  “Please.  Just don’t.”

Reba confirmed Joshua’s instructions to the rescuers when she relayed what she remembered of Brenda’s plans to hike south, and the pilot flew over the demolished neighborhood where Brenda’s team was sheltered. 

**********

Diana was the first to hear the helicopter rotors and shouted to the others to run outside.  Those inside the helicopter looked down to see Brenda, Shelly, Libby, and Pepper waving their arms and screaming at the sky from the steeply sloped front yard of a mostly intact house.  At Reba’s instruction, one of the medics quickly scribbled a note that said, ‘
Be at the spring early tomorrow morning
’, and tucked it in a bundle of food and water that he dropped from the helicopter’s lowest possible elevation.  It was terrible to see the dejection on the women’s faces as the helicopter flew away.

Brenda woke Shelly, Libby, and Pepper at dawn, packed their few remaining crackers and some water in their backpacks, and told them to wait at the spring until the promised help arrived.  She also instructed them to have the medics bring pain medication and a stretcher for Diana.  Diana was in agony, having taken the last pain pill days earlier.

The three girls made the walk to the spring a little weak from poor nutrition but in singing spirits.  When the rescue team arrived, the pilot escorted them back to the helicopter site, and then hiked south with a folding stretcher strapped to his back.

It was late morning before the paramedics arrived at Diana’s house, and mid-afternoon before they were able to carry the stretcher, with Diana strapped in, over the difficult terrain and to the helicopter where Shelly, Libby, and Pepper waited.  Mercifully, the strong pain medication had rendered Diana nearly unconscious and she did not feel the jolts as the men carried her.  Brenda walked silently at the rear.  It wasn’t until she saw the helicopter beside the pile of abandoned luggage that she allowed herself to cry, and then she couldn’t stop.

********** 

Dakota, Kate, and Sarah were on the evacuation list on the twenty-first day after the earthquake.  Dakota was dirty, tired, but well-fed and in good spirits as she said her good-byes to the medical and military staff.  Her last stop would be to say good-bye to Lucy, but first she had to say good-bye to little Molly.  None of the unaccompanied children’s parents were found, and all except three-year-old Molly were already evacuated to the homes of relatives.  Molly had no one, and was in the care of a couple who had lost both of their teenaged children in the tsunami.  Dakota had the whole tragic Molly story ready to relay to her Grandpa Zeem when she finally saw him again.  He, she knew, would see to it that one of his married sons would make good on Dakota’s promise to Molly: Molly would become a Zeem as soon as Dakota could make it happen.

Dakota’s relationship with her mother had transformed into a strangeness that neither one could transcend.  Colonel McCoy did not tell anyone that Lucy tried to bribe him with critically needed pain medication, but Lucy’s attitude made her unpopular with everyone.  She did the work assigned to her quickly and efficiently, but her sullen demeanor and her propensity to treat the others as inferiors was well known.  She was also the only person among the medical, military, and civilian staff who did not participate in the ritual of placing her hand over her heart and bowing her head when body bags were evacuated.  Dakota felt sharp thrusts of embarrassment on Lucy’s behalf, and deeply resented her for demanding that she stay with her during meals and rest periods.  Dakota also hated listening to Lucy’s non-stop complaints about the living conditions.  She was ashamed of her mother.

Lucy bawled when it was time for Dakota to board the evacuation helicopter, and pleaded with her to work on Grandpa Zeem’s sympathies.  “Tell him I am living in conditions so disgusting that he would be ashamed if he understood what he is putting me through!  Tell him that Colonel McCoy makes me log the id numbers on the stinking body bags, and that the ids are right on the photographs of the rotting bodies inside!”

Dakota had her own thoughts on what would and would not shame Grandpa Zeem, but she kept them to herself.

**********

Lucy’s final day at the Port Fortand refugee center was thirty nine days after the earthquake, after the last of the body bags were airlifted out.  She had piled up the indignities she had suffered and planned to recount every single one to her mother in excruciating detail. She was unprepared for the curt response she received when she tried to weep on Lucinda’s shoulder.  “I don’t want to hear your horror stories, Lucy, and I forbid you to discuss them within the family.  We are among the lucky few who didn’t lose anything that can’t be replaced.  Imagine those poor souls who don’t have a home, a livelihood, or an intact family to return to.”