The Trip to Raptor Bluff (3 page)

Rick was digging frantically in the large storage compartment above the driver’s seat when the bus began to tip cliff-wise at a slow but steady rate.  He jumped from the groaning mass of metal and sprinted across the ground seconds before the earth beneath the bus gave way.  The gravel parking area collapsed and fell downwards to the coast, taking the bus with it.

His legs were shaking so badly he could barely walk when he approached the others who had already moved to the far edge of the picnic area. A cluster of pale, terrified faces confronted him.

“Everyone is accounted for and OK,” Lucy said as she wiped away tears.  “I don’t know what we are up against going forward, but I’m counting my blessings at this moment.” 

No one responded.  Instead, people looked around in dumb shock as they tried to comprehend what had just happened.  Whimpers and the sounds of soft crying melded with the noise of a deceptively calm breeze wafting through the trees.

Brenda’s thoughts were the first to travel towards surviving in this altered universe.  Her composure began to gather and she asked the teenagers to find their bags and place them by the trees at the east edge of the clearing while she separated the coolers and boxes holding food and drinks. When she and Rick were alone, she said, “This seems to be the safest spot in the area.  We need to stay away from the southeast side of the clearing, though. I’m afraid another landslide will hit.” 

Rick surveyed the area and took a shuddering breath.  “Let’s stay right here and figure out a plan.”  He eyed the growing stack of unperishable snacks Brenda was tossing into a haphazard pile.  “And Brenda, I apologize for giving you so much grief for buying six weeks’ worth of snack food for a two week trip.” 

“Yeah, well now we are even.  I gave you grief for warning us that a massive earthquake could happen at any minute.”  She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and sniffed.  “Rick, how much trouble are we in?” 

“There’s no way to know the full extent of the earthquake at this point.  I see a trailhead sign at the northeast end of this area and it’s at the base of an incline.  I’m hoping the trail leads to the summit of Hammer Mountain.  If it does, we should be able to see how Port Fortand fared.  I thought I would take Abby and Leanna along as lookouts.”

“Here, take these with you,” replied Brenda, tossing him three jumbo-sized candy bars.  She also set three sports drinks at his feet. 

Rick started to tuck the candy into his pocket but was hindered by the bag of OxyContin he had placed there earlier. “Crap,” he muttered.  “Uh, Brenda, we have a big problem.  We need to get Lucy over here,
without
Dakota.”  He whistled sharply and beckoned for Abby and Leanna to join him.  When Lucy glanced his way, he beckoned to her also.

Brenda looked up from her sorting task and rose quickly when she saw the expression on his face.  “What’s up, Rick?”

Lucy approached with Dakota tucked protectively under her arm.  Rick met them halfway, whispered something in Lucy’s ear, and then turned to Dakota. “Hey, Sweetie, I need you to do me a favor.  Will you be my messenger and tell everyone with cell phones to turn them on and look for coverage?  Tell them if they don’t see any bars, to turn their phones all the way off and leave them off.  Once their batteries wind down, there’s no way to recharge.”

“Go with Dakota, Sweetheart,” Brenda told her daughter Shelly, who was standing a few feet away.

Rick waited until the youngsters were out of earshot before he reached in his pocket for the bag of OxyContin. 

“Hold it,” hissed Leanna.  “Here comes Tara’s mother.”

“Send her away, Lucy,” Rick said under his breath. “I mean it.  You will understand why in a minute.”

Lucy gave Rick a questioning look before she said to the approaching Andrea. “We are having a private conversation, Andrea.  We will be done in a minute.”

“I’m a chaperone and I’m not allowed to hear what you are saying?”  Andrea crossed her arms over her chest and threw a searing glare at Abby and Leanna. “How come
they
get to stay?”

“Leave, Andrea.  I mean it,” Lucy said in a tone that dared argument. 

“This is bullshit!”  Andrea muttered as she stomped away.

“What’s this all about, Rick?” Brenda asked, perplexed.  She also wondered why Abby and Leanna were allowed to stay.

Rick pulled the bag of pills from his pocket and held it up.  “This is Tara’s OxyContin.  It’s the reason why she didn’t want to leave the bus without her luggage.” He turned to Leanna.  “You knew about this all along.”

“I wasn’t sure but I really suspected that Tara was using.  I’ve suspected it for a while now: since I started at St. Mary’s in September, actually.  Tara is always either scratching or nodding off during classes, and she’s been getting a lot of hassle from the nuns over her grades dropping.  Then, when she freaked out over having to leave the bus without her bag, I knew for sure.  I mean, we were in the middle of an earthquake and her bag was more important than her safety?  I dug the Oxys out before I let Rick pass her bag off the bus.”

Rick was counting the pills as Leanna talked.  “There are forty-five in the bag, all stamped with 40 on one side and OC on the other,” he said.  “She has a stash that allows her three pills per day throughout the trip, with a few left over.”

“I’m not sure, but I think those are time-release Oxy.  You are only supposed to take one every twelve hours.  She’s probably crushing them to kill the time release so she can get high.”  Leanna glanced at the aghast faces around her and shrugged.  “What?  I know about Oxy because I went to public schools in the Bay area for most of my life.  Oxy is like candy out there in the real world.  It’s everywhere.”

“Oh my god!” cried Lucy.  “No wonder you didn’t want Andrea to hear this!”

“Well, she’s on her way over here now, charging at us like a mad moose,” Brenda said under her breath.  “What do we do?”

“What’s worse?” Rick mused aloud. “Trying to hike out of here with a drugged up kid, or holding up the whole group while we wait for her to go through withdrawals?  She’s going to be as sick as a dog if she doesn’t have her drugs, and just plain dangerous if she’s high.  She’ll be a huge liability either way.”

“Tara says there are some personal items missing from her bag,” stormed Andrea.  “She thinks Abby or Leanna stole some stuff while they were unloading.”  The look she gave Abby and Leanna was a blatant accusation.

“Yeah, right, Andrea!  Abby and Leanna risked their lives going into that bus just so they could rummage through everyone’s personal belongings and take what they wanted,” said Rick between clenched teeth.  “Go get Tara.  I want to hear what she has to say.”

Andrea glared at Rick before she flung her hair over her shoulder and went to collect Tara. Tara had moved away from the others and was standing by a boulder with the contents of her bag strewn around on the sopping ground.

“We have more important things to deal with here,” seethed Brenda when Andrea was out of earshot.  “Andrea behaves like a two hundred pound, overtired toddler when she doesn’t get her way, and now we have her addict daughter to contend with, too.”

Rick took three pills from the bag and zipped the rest in his pocket.  “I’m handling this now, my way, and the rest of you just stay quiet and listen.  Brenda is right.  We don’t have time for this.  We need to worry about keeping these kids safe through the night, and then we have to find a way out of here.”  He stared into Lucy’s eyes and said, “It’s your job to keep Andrea under control, Lucy.  I mean it.  You are the only person she won’t defy.”

Tara was sobbing and Andrea was shaking with anger when they joined the group. Rick opened his hand to display the three OxyContin pills and Tara’s reaction was instantaneous.  She snatched at them but Rick was prepared and pulled his hand out of reach before she could grab them.  “The treasure in your daughter’s bag was a stash of OxyContin,” he said, handing the three pills to Andrea.  “They fell out of her bag when it was tossed to me on the bus.  I took out these three pills so I could see what they were, and that’s when the cliff started to give way.”  He looked into Tara’s panicked eyes. “The bag of drugs went down with the bus, Tara.  Your Oxy is gone.  The three I was able to save are to soften your withdrawals.  There is no more.”

Andrea was staring open-mouthed at her daughter.  Tara’s desperate lunge for the pills when she saw them in Rick’s hand had negated any grounds for denial.

“Give Tara half a pill tomorrow morning, and the second half the day after,” Rick told Andrea.  “Then start using quarter pills to wean her off completely.  That might temper her withdrawals somewhat.  Tara is going to be miserable and sick during the weaning process but it won’t be nearly as bad as cold turkey.”

Andrea was still too stunned to speak.  Without saying a word, she gripped Tara’s upper arm and dragged her away.

“Throw the other pills over the cliff,” muttered Brenda.

“I’m keeping them, but that’s our secret.  These pills might be useful if we run across other earthquake survivors,” said Rick solemnly.  “Abby and Leanna, let’s go.  We have to find higher ground with a clear view of Port Fortand.”  Looking at Brenda and Lucy, he warned, “Count on aftershocks.  They are more frequent right after an earthquake and will diminish with time.  The earliest ones are the worst.  Keep the kids away from the cliffs and the landslide area.  We should be back in a couple of hours.”

“Please be careful, you guys,” whispered Brenda. 

“Notice how much Lucy cares about me,” Leanna said sarcastically as the threesome started up the summit trail.  “She’s completely forgotten that I’m her foster kid.  She’s been hovering over Dakota like a mother hen, but she hasn’t said a word to me since before we got on the bus this morning.”

“It really bothers you, huh?” asked Rick.

“Nope.  She’s given me the best foster home I’ve ever had.  My feelings aren’t hurt.”

“Liar,” said Abby.  “You wouldn’t have mentioned it if it didn’t bother you.”

“OK, how about this?  It hurt my mind for a split second but it doesn’t hurt my heart.  What I don’t know can’t hurt me, right?  I have no idea how it feels to be somebody’s kid.”

“What are you expecting to see at Port Fortand, Rick?” asked Leanna, huffing as she tried to keep up.  Rick was moving up the long trail at a near running speed, regularly glancing to the west to find a view of the coastline below. 

“I have no idea what to expect.  Anything…” Caleb’s frenzied barking alerted them to the aftershock before they felt it.  The ground shook beneath them as they fell to the ground and covered their heads.  Rick listened for landslides over the rumbles of the quake and said a silent prayer of thanks when the rocky and heavily wooded area above them remained stable.  When the tremors finally died down, he hugged Caleb from his kneeling position.  “Looks like we have a custom warning system; Caleb started yowling at us right before it hit.  Is everyone OK?”

Both girls nodded and scrambled to their feet.  “I didn’t hear any more of the cliff crashing down to the coast so the others must be OK,” said Abby shakily. “Do you think we will be safe where we left our stuff?”

“I don’t think there is any accessible place that is safe right now.  We’ve been unbelievably lucky so far, so stop worrying, OK?  Now hurry up.”

“What’s the rush?” puffed Leanna after ten more minutes at Rick’s rapid pace.  “Geez!” 

Rick ignored her and sprinted up the final stretch of the mountain’s balding summit.  Abby, who was close behind him, took one look at his shocked face and forgot her screaming muscles and overtaxed lungs.  She raced to where he stood and covered her mouth with her hands.  Leanna was the last to arrive and stopped dead when she saw the sight below.  The quaint town of Port Fortand, so picturesque from high above while they were approaching on the 101, was unrecognizable.  

“It looks like the whole town was smashed and then swept into a bunch of rubbish heaps!” Leanna cried.  “The long docks where all the boats were are gone, along with every single boat!  And where is that big marina?  Was the whole town washed out to sea?”

“I don’t remember the beach being so wide,” whispered Abby, beginning to shake. 

Rick didn’t answer.  He stared at the ocean for a long time before he pointed, “There.  There it is.  See that white line of breaking waves out on the horizon? You can barely see it from here. That’s another tsunami making its way to shore.  It looks like at least one small one has already washed through town and retreated back to the ocean.  That’s why it looks like someone piled the wreckage into rubbish heaps.  The tsunami grabbed everything in its path on the way in, and then dumped what it couldn’t carry on its way out.”

“The beach is getting bigger right in front of our eyes!” cried Abby.  “Rick, what’s happening?”

“An earthquake is the first warning that a tsunami could be on the horizon, and an extreme tide change following the quake confirms it,” he said while his eyes stayed trained on the approaching wave.  “It’s called drawdown.  When the water retreats from the beach that fast and that far, then the people on land had better run for the hills because there’s big one heading for shore.”  The three of them stood on the hilltop and watched the harmless looking band of breakwater move towards land. 

“But that wave isn’t big at all,” said Abby. “It’s barely even a wave!”

“Tsunamis are tricky.  They can travel at hundreds of miles per hour, and unlike wind-caused waves, they look small from the surface.  The enormous force that powers them is under water and invisible to the naked eye.  When a tsunami gets close to shore, the shallow water and coastal land compress all of that monster energy and the tsunami rears its ugly head.  The wave slows down but rises in height.”  Rick’s voice was hoarse and all the color had drained from his face.  Even his lips were gray.

“Yeah, the average size of a tsunami is a thousand feet tall,” said Leanna.

“No.  That’s an extreme exaggeration,” said Rick, feeling his whole body start to tremble. “It’s not like in the movies where a towering wall of water as big as a skyscraper comes slamming into shore.  Tsunamis hit land as a series of waves that can be hours apart.  Just imagine several walls of water, some as high as forty or fifty feet, that just keep pushing inland.  Sometimes the wave can move forward for close to an hour before it begins to recede.” He looked again at the innocuous looking line of breaking water.  Defeat and despair were in his voice when he said, “God help anyone who is still standing down there.  If they don’t suspect that another wave is on the way, it will be too late by the time they see it.  Look at the length of it!  It goes north and south for as far as my eyes can see.”

They watched in horrified silence as the wave approached shore.  Rick put his arms around both girls and was glad their bodies were there to support him when the water hit land.  Most of what little structure still remained from a previous tsunami was swallowed by the surge that rushed forward as though it was never going to stop.  The water turned black as it entered town and was pushing what looked like acres of debris in front of it.  Countless tons of construction materials from demolished buildings, along with cars, yachts, small buildings, and even some large trawlers surged forward towards a bridge that allowed drivers to cross a coastal inlet.  As the moving tower of debris hit the bridge, pieces of concrete began to fall down into the crawling beast.  Three pillars on the bridge crumbled and then two more crashed down.  Within less than twenty seconds, the entire structure had collapsed. 

“There were cars on that bridge!” cried Leanna.  “There were tons of cars just stopped up there with nowhere to go!  And look!  The water is still moving forward.  It looks like it has traveled miles inland!”

Rick dropped to his knees and covered his face with his hands.  “We can only hope the people in Port Fortand prepared themselves for tsunamis the way Cleardon City did.  Otherwise, there are thousands of people dead or dying right now.”

Abby and Leanna collapsed on the ground beside him, both too stunned to speak.  “What do we tell the others?” croaked Abby.  “I don’t think they need to know about this just yet.”

Abby’s question jolted Rick from his crushing thoughts and he rose stiffly to his feet.  “Let’s keep this to ourselves for now.  I’ll talk it over with Brenda and Lucy later tonight.  It won’t help anything if we upset the other kids any more than they already are.”

Abby laid a shaking hand on Rick’s arm.  “Rick, do you think our families were affected?  I mean, we are hours north of Cleardon City.”

“I don’t know,” rasped Rick, but the look in his eyes contradicted his words.  He glanced at both girls and shook his head. “I shouldn’t lie to you.  We felt a small quake in Cleardon City yesterday.  If it was a foreshock to today’s quake, then Cleardon City was hit, too.  We already know that Cleardon City is vulnerable if the Cascadia Fault ruptures.  All we can do is hope that only a small portion of the fault blew.  If the whole thing unzipped – if today’s quake was a Cascadia subduction zone megathrust earthquake, then every low-lying coastal town from the northern end of California to southern end British Columbia will be experiencing what we just saw happen in Port Fortand.”

**********

Brenda was on the north edge of the picnic area when Rick, Abby, and Leanna returned.  One look at their blanched faces confirmed her worst fears. “Tsunami,” she said when they were close enough to hear.  She covered her mouth as tears began to slip down her cheeks.  “Our families…”

“Port Fortand is gone, Brenda.  We saw what I think was the second or third wave come in.  If anyone is still alive down there, they had to be standing on the fourth floor of an earthquake-ready building.” He shook his head.  “The 2011 Tōhoku
earthquake
in Japan was a wakeup call for the entire Pacific Northwest.  I just hope the folks in Port Fortand prepared for a tsunami the way Cleardon City did.”

Brenda approached the two girls and pulled them to her chest.  “I’m so sorry you had to see that.”  She squared her shoulders and wiped her eyes.  “If the quake hit Cleardon City, everyone knew to run for higher ground. They knew the quake itself was the first and best tsunami warning.  There was enough time for everyone in our low-lying areas to evacuate, and the evacuation routes are posted at both ends of each street.  Our families will be fine.  I really believe that, and you have to believe it, too.”

“We need to concentrate on keeping ourselves safe.”  Rick sank to a sitting position on the grass and then jumped to his feet as he swatted at the back of his shorts.

“Yeah.  The water has stopped seeping out of the ground but the whole area is soaked.  We are in pretty good shape except for that.  There is no way the kids can sleep on the ground even if we put their plastic rain ponchos underneath them. The ponchos are fine to sit on but they aren’t big enough to lie on. It’s just too wet.  I have no idea what to do about it.”

“Joshua packed some waterproof tarps in the emergency kit he sent with us.  We will have to sleep close together but we will need the body warmth, anyway.”  Rick’s breath came out in a shaky
whoosh
before he said, “Wow, I didn’t even remember that the kit was in the compartment over the driver’s seat until the bus started tipping over the cliff.  How lucky was that?”

“One problem solved, then,” said Brenda.  “Our next priority is drinking water.  The bottled drinks we have will only keep us for another thirty-six to forty-eight hours if we ration them.”

“Less than that,” said Rick, pulling two bottles of water from the supply pile. 

Brenda shrieked and rushed at him as he began pouring the water into Caleb’s dish. “Didn’t you hear what I just said?”  She tried to snatch the bottles from his hands.  “You can’t give our water to your dog!”

“Back off, Brenda,” Rick snapped, pulling the bottles out of reach.  “Do you want to trust our dumb luck to find fresh drinking water?  Our best chance of finding water is Caleb.  We are keeping him hydrated tonight.  I’ll feed him his dry-food breakfast tomorrow without water, and then walk him south towards the area where we saw the falls coming down the mountain.  If water is available, he will lead us straight to it.”

Brenda let her hands drop to her sides and nodded.  “OK, sorry.  That makes sense.” She gazed around the area.  “Any ideas on how to start a fire?  That’s another thing.  There’s lots of dead wood in the forest but there isn’t a smoker among us so we don’t have any matches.  It’s going to get cold tonight.”

“There are some matches in the emergency kit, along with a flashlight, batteries, and a first aid kit.  Where did you put my stuff?”

“Right over there,” she pointed at a neat stack of belongings.  “Oh!  I found a bunch of toilet paper in the bathroom wreckage.  I stacked it with the food and drinks.”

“The things we take for granted,” muttered Rick wanly.  “Who would have thought that toilet paper could be so valuable?”

“Leanna and I will gather everyone to help collect wood and rocks for a fire pit,” said Abby.

“Lucy is holding a prayer meeting with Sarah, Kate, and Dakota.”  Brenda rolled her eyes and gestured to a small circle of girls, all sitting on ponchos and holding hands.  “Andrea is babysitting Tara, and don’t ask me how Tara is doing because I don’t know and I don’t care.”

“I’m going to join the prayer circle,” Leanna said, beginning to walk away.

“You are not!” declared Abby, stomping her foot.  “Tell everyone that we need help getting rocks and wood for a fire.  You can pray while you work!” 

“OK!  Geesh, you don’t have to go off on me like that!”

“Well, Rick and Brenda shouldn’t have to do all the work around here!  Why is everyone else just sitting around?”

As Rick went through the emergency kit that Joshua insisted they take along on the trip, he suddenly shot to his feet and yelled for Brenda to hurry over.  “A satellite phone!” he whispered.  “Joshua packed us a freaking satellite phone!  And he has one too!  I remember when he bought them and I remember when he had me program them for emergency contact info, but then I forgot all about them.  Brenda, we can make calls from here even if all the cell towers are down!”

Brenda hugged him as she laughed out loud.  “I apologize for every pound of ridicule I heaped on your and Joshua’s heads.  I never thought we would actually need the disaster plans you guys kept harping about!”

“I have to call Joshua right now.  The poor guy is probably frantic over Lucy and Dakota.”  He pressed the phone’s power button and glanced up at Brenda.  “We don’t have a charger and the phone won’t last forever.  I’ll call Joshua and get whatever news he can give us, but we don’t have the juice for others to start making calls.  I know Joshua ordered solar chargers with the phones but I couldn’t find one in the emergency kit.”

“Yeah, we need to keep this quiet,” agreed Brenda.  “That phone is our only link to civilization.”

When the phone was live, Rick saw that there were twenty-four voice messages, all from Joshua.  He opened the first missed call and the phone began to ring immediately. 

“Rick?  Rick?  Is that you?” shouted Joshua.

“It’s me.  I’m so sorry! I forgot about the satellite phone and just found it in the emergency kit…”

“Is everyone alright?” Joshua’s voice cracked when he asked,  “Are Lucy and Dakota OK?”

“We are all fine, Joshua.  Everyone is alive and uninjured, thank God.”

“I need to talk to Lucy, Rick.  Her mother is frantic!”

“We don’t have a charger.  We are in the middle of nowhere and this battery won’t last. This phone is the only thing we have to connect us to a rescue.  Believe me, Lucy and Dakota are fine.”