by Akart, Bobby
Levi joined in. “Based upon everything we’ve seen, and what Chapman and Isabella have taught us, this whole no-power thing could last years, if not longer.”
“Basically, it’s like starting from scratch,” added Kristi.
Tommy set down the scythe and wandered over to the handles of the till. He gripped them and pushed down, feeling the weight of the implement. He turned back to the group. “Which brings me back to my original question. With all due respect to the owners of this place—who aren’t here, I might add—this stuff could save our lives down the road. Depending on how bad things get, or stay, we’ll need most of what I see here to rebuild and, more importantly, feed ourselves.”
Kristi stood and joined her boyfriend. “Is it stealing or foraging? Do we need to take what we need without regard to ownership?”
Sarah wrapped her arms around Rachel and Jesse and gave them a hug. As was often the case, her opinion weighed heavily on any decision. “Taking care of these two precious children, and all of you, my family, outweighs anyone else’s opinion of our actions. One day, I’ll have to answer to God for what I’ve done, and I plan to argue my case the best I can. If He points His finger at me and shouts, Thou shalt not steal! Well, I’ll argue I was doing what was necessary to save my family, and if He sentences me to an eternity in Hell, I’ll voluntarily do my penance without remorse.”
Levi immediately thought about logistical issues. He walked over to the mare who was recovering from having the metal roof impaled in her side. She was happily eating hay that had been stored in the corner of the barn. In the dim light from the lanterns, he studied the wound, which was airing out without a bandage. “I can’t see that well, but is she doing better?”
“Absolutely,” replied Kristi. “We’re very lucky she recovered at all, much less this quickly.”
Levi walked back to the group. “Good enough to walk behind the wagon with Wonky Donkey?”
Kristi thought for a moment and looked at Tommy, who shrugged. “Yeah, I think so. She’s a tough old girl.”
Levi turned to Tommy. “You’re our car guy. Can the van pull these tools in the horse van?”
Tommy laughed. “That’s exactly what I was thinking when I picked up the back of that tiller. Honestly, I think they weigh less than the horse. There’s a lot of stuff in here, but we could put nearly all of it in the trailer, and the Scooby van might actually thank us for it.”
The group laughed. Excited, everyone began to gather the tools and bring them closer to the fire they’d built amongst a circular pile of river rocks. Levi, who’d learned about primitive tools from his grandfather, explained what most of them were used for as they were loaded into the trailer that Tommy backed up to the barn doors.
Everyone settled into their sleeping bags or on a pile of uneaten hay to sleep. Levi took the watch and spontaneously began to sing old pioneer songs. The pioneers spent a lot of slow-moving time on the trails as they created settlements and moved from one part of the country to another.
To pass the time, numerous songs and ballads were made up and sung along the way. While “Home on the Range” mostly applied to the Western settlers, it was a favorite of Levi’s, and he’d often sung it to his kids when they were younger to help them drift off to sleepy land.
He sang a few lyrics for his family.
Home, home on the range,
Where the deer and the antelope play.
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day.
Despite the fact that the weary travelers had all fallen asleep, Levi continued to sing softly, closing his eyes as he hearkened back to days gone by. A time in which he secretly wished he could have lived, just like his ancestors.
He didn’t fall asleep, but his daydream had a mesmerizing effect on him. One that carried him away for a moment, which resulted in him missing the tremor felt along the Kentucky border with Virginia, from Middlesboro to Big Stone Gap, as the Pine Mountain Thrust Fault grumbled out of its slumber.
Chapter 42
Outskirts of Middlesboro, Kentucky
Until the pole shift, which brought the penultimate disaster to modern civilization, an earthquake was a common theme in disaster movies. A quake struck, causing the ground to rip open and swallow buildings, cars, and people. The gaping crevasse created in the earth made for high drama on the big screen, but geologists had long held there were other scenarios potentially worse.
They began to research thrust faults around the world. Hundreds of millions of years ago, when the planet went through a stage of mountain building, enormous convulsions occurred below the surface. During this cataclysmic process, the Earth’s crust succumbed to the movement of the tectonic plates. Stress was placed upon bedrock near the surface, and the friction caused ridges and mountains to appear.
Some of the more prominent examples of thrust faults are the Himalayas, the Alps, and the Appalachian Mountains. The Appalachians, once as tall as the Rockies until erosion took its toll over the millennia, stretched from Northern Alabama beyond the tip of Maine.
On the western edge of the Appalachians stood the Cumberland Mountains, running in a northeasterly direction from Middle Tennessee into West Virginia along the Kentucky-Virginia border. The Cumberland Mountains had been created in part by what geologists called the Pine Mountain Thrust Fault.
Like many faults, it was relatively benign compared to its more well-known counterparts on the West Coast of the United States that consistently garnered news headlines—San Andreas, Calaveras, and Hayward. However, after the pole shift, the planet had changed. Like the human body retains water in different places, the planet was taking on unfathomable water weight, resulting in an upheaval below ground.
As the tectonic plates began to adjust due to the rapid pole shift and the tremendous volumes of water created by rains and melting ice caps, the massive slabs of rock that created the Pine Mountain Thrust Fault pressed against each other. Friction was created, generating tremors all along the Cumberland Mountain range. At some point, this immense pressure wouldn’t be satisfied with friction for relief. Eventually, the pressure would overcome the friction.
This can happen slowly or, as was the case in Tohoku, Japan, years ago, it can happen very quickly. Scientists marveled at what happened in that earthquake. Subsequent research revealed that the Tohoku earthquake rupture multiplied along the entire fault. Once it neared the surface, it caused one continuous slab of rock to twist away from the other for miles, opening a gap that for several hours removed any friction between the two walls.
The result was a one-hundred-fifty-foot chasm, a thousand feet deep, to open up in the earth. Then, what happened was a phenomenon that geologists once believed could not happen. After the gap relieved friction along the fault, it closed up. Years later, seismologists, tectonists, and engineers recreated this unusual event at Caltech using high-speed optical diagnostics and advanced technology.
Today, Mother Earth was going to repeat what researchers tried to replicate in the lab, with utterly devastating consequences.
Once again, the downpours continued, but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the Boone party. They casually traveled down U.S. Highway 25E, dubbed the Wilderness Road for obvious reasons.
They met a small group of refugees, mainly women and children, who were pushing shopping carts with their belongings north, away from the town of ten thousand residents.
“Y’all might as well turn around,” a teenage girl said as the two groups met head-on.
Levi and Carly were just about to take the Mustang on their morning scouting expedition, but they wanted to get the group on the road first.
“Why’s that?” asked Sarah, who sat high atop the wagon.
“The levee holding back Fern Lake washed out. A lot of the town’s flooded,” one of the older women responded. “The water filled all the nearby creeks and flooded the forest. They say it looked like a tsunami when it rolled into town.”
“Yeah,” the young girl added. “But the town was pretty much flooded anyway. Yellow Creek started to overflow a couple of weeks ago and never stopped.”
“How’s the road up ahead?” asked Levi, who stopped the car and got out so he could question the refugees.
“It’s pretty good until you get to one-eight-eight at the fork.”
“By Faith Temple Church,” one of the women interrupted. “You gotta stay on this side of the four-lane is all. You know, ’cause of Yellow Creek that’s more like a river now.”
Levi reached inside his jacket and pulled out the map. “Can you show me?” he asked. Disregarding the rain, he wanted to take advantage of this group’s local knowledge. He unfolded it and tried to find the road she was referring to.
The women looked at the map, but it was an elderly man who spoke up. “Them’s country roads and ain’t on no map, prob’ly. Just go down to the church and hang a left. You can’t miss it.”
Levi looked at the women for some sign of confirmation and they nodded. “He’s right. By the way, where ya headed?”
“Cumberland Gap,” replied Levi. “Can we get there from here?”
The old man responded, “Yup, if you don’t mind climbin’ the mountain, and then goin’ back down, only to have to go back up agin. Ain’t nuthin’ up there but woods and hills and a skinny two-lane road with no guardrails.”
Levi sighed. Nothing was ever easy. “All right, we appreciate your help. Where are y’all headed?”
“Manchester,” responded the woman. “We heard they’re settin’ up a FEMA camp there.”
Levi smiled and wished them good luck. He checked with the rest of the group to confirm they were on board with continuing their journey south. They were, so he and Carly took off toward Middlesboro in search of the fork in the road.
Chapter 43
Outskirts of Middlesboro, Kentucky
They continued on until they reached the church where the highway forked. They met a few refugees leaving Middlesboro who’d congregated in the parking lot, but none were interested in conversation. Their expressions revealed their feelings—defeated, broken, and hopeless.
The first leg into the Cumberland Mountains was grueling for the horses pulling the covered wagon. At one point, to swap out the horse team, the group stopped at a scenic overlook, which on a clear day would provide them an unobstructed view to Middlesboro and beyond toward the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. Today, like all the many days before it, the constant rain and cloud cover created a stereotypically gloomy, London-like day in any given November.
They continued forward, choosing to stay together as the cloud cover began to make visibility difficult. They didn’t want to risk sending the Mustang out ahead, as there was only one way to go at this point anyway.
Eventually, as the climb along the ridge peaked and they began a downward slope as the old man had advised, the visibility cleared because they dropped below the low cloud ceiling. Rounding a sharp curve, Levi suddenly stopped the car.
“Doggone it!” he exclaimed as a massive logging truck came into view.
The large tractor-trailer rig was pulling a flatbed with supports on both sides that contained cut pine trees. Sixty to eighty tree trunks had been stacked within the braces, and the truck must’ve been delivering the load to a local sawmill when the geostorm hit. Now it was disabled and parked in the middle of the road on a curve, effectively blocking their progress.
“What are we gonna do?” asked Carly.
“Let’s grab the guys and have a look,” he grumbled as he exited the car.
He waved to Chapman and Tommy to come forward. The two guys kicked their horses and they moved quickly past the van and the wagon.
“Crap!” exclaimed Chapman as he arrived next to the car. He dismounted and tied the reins of his horse to a tree protruding out of the side of the hill.
Tommy did the same and then ran back to the wagon to retrieve a hatchet. As he jogged back, he held it out for the guys to see. “In case the driver locked it up.”
“It’s probably not gonna run,” Levi reminded Tommy. The three men started walking toward the rig.
“I know, but look at how it’s positioned. I’m sure the driver freaked when it stopped, so he applied the parking brake. These things are a huge investment for most drivers. It’s his livelihood, you know.”
“It’s worthless now,” said Levi sarcastically.
“Exactly, and it’s in our way. If we’re lucky, we can put it in neutral, release the brake, and let gravity take over.”
They arrived at the rear of the truck and studied the slope in front of them. Chapman looked under the truck to the drop-off on the other side of the road shoulder.
“We won’t even have to push it,” said Chapman. “It’ll head down there, somewhere.”
“The trees will stop it eventually,” added Tommy. He stepped up on the tractor’s steps and tried the door handle. As he expected, it was locked. “Stand back!”
The guys gave him some room, and he pulled the hatchet backward and used the flat side of the blade to break the window.
“I’ll do it,” said Levi as he extended his hand to Tommy to help him down. Instead, he was given the hatchet handle.
“No, you’re married with kids,” argued Chapman. “I’ve got this.”
“Sorry, but you’re both out of the running. I have no family other than Kristi and you guys. I can afford to take the risk.”
Tommy eased into the driver’s seat and looked around the glove box and door pockets for anything of value. He pulled down the visor, and several brochures from the Cumberland Gap visitors’ center fell onto his lap.
“C’mon, Tommy,” Levi insisted. “I’ve driven one of these before. I know how to handle it.”
Tommy responded by handing him the brochures. “Here, we might need these at some point. Listen, guys, I’m not gonna drive it anywhere. I’m gonna put it in neutral, stand on the steps, and pull the parking brake release. When I jump, just make sure I’m clear of the trailer’s wheels as the thing goes by.”
Levi still didn’t like it. “All right, but don’t hesitate. If he left it in gear, he probably thought he needed that to hold back the weight. This is an old truck, and the parking brake may not have been enough by itself.”
“Got it.”
Tommy got ready while the guys stepped away from the truck. First, he kept his right foot firmly on the brake while he pushed in the clutch. The truck slid forward. Barely, but noticeable nonetheless.
He pulled the gearshift until it was in neutral, moving it freely back and forth to confirm. Then he gradually slid out of the seat, his right foot still planted on the brake pedal and his left hand on the parking brake release.
“Okay, I’m ready.”
“We’re here,” said Chapman.
In one fluid motion, Tommy slid onto the steps as his foot was removed from the brake. As Levi predicted, the truck lurched forward, but Tommy didn’t hesitate. He pulled forward on the parking brake release and then pushed himself backwards off the step platform.
The logging truck burst forward like a thoroughbred out of the gate at Churchill Downs. It rumbled past the guys, who dragged Tommy under his armpits to make sure he was clear. He jumped to his feet so he could observe the end result.
At first, the truck seemed to follow the road for a hundred feet or so until its right-side tires caught the small gravel shoulder and then made contact with the wet grass. Like a slowly developing train wreck, the logging truck began to list to the right. Its top-heavy load was soon too much, and it began to tip until it tumbled down the mountain with a massive roar of cracking trees and twisting metal.
“Wow!” exclaimed Levi. “You can feel it. The dang ground is shaking from that thing rolling down the hill.”
Chapman had slowly walked away from Levi and Tommy until he was standing on the edge of the road. He, too, felt the ground shuddering, but he was puzzled by something. The truck had already come to rest at the bo
ttom of the ridge.
Chapter 44
Outskirts of Middlesboro, Kentucky
Brooke was the first to sound the alarm. “Hyeeeaagh! Hyeeeaagh!” the chimp yelled the loudest since Kristi and Tommy had found her. Isabella was the first to notice the ground begin to give way behind them.
“Forward! Move forward, now!” she shouted.
The shuddering turned to a rumble as the ground shook violently beneath them. The rain-soaked mountainside began to break loose as trees slid downward before toppling.
“Hurry!” shouted Levi as he raced back to the car. He flung open the door and gave Carly instructions. “Go help Mom control the horses. Send the kids in here with me.”
Carly took off and he made room in the back seat for his children. When they arrived, he told them to get in the back with their seatbelts on and to lie sideways on the seat. Then he began to lead the descent down the mountain.
From what he could see up ahead, the mountain had remained stable. At the top of the ridge where they’d just left, there was already evidence of erosion from past rains. The highway department had tried to slow the soil from washing away by piling large granite rocks in place, but they were no match for what was happening along the Pine Mountain Thrust Fault.
Levi jammed on the brakes as a boulder bounded down the hill and rolled barely twenty yards from the car.
Chapman rode up next to him and told him to roll down the window. “This ridge is unstable! Take the kids down to the bottom and wait for us.”
“Should we ditch the wagon?” asked Levi. “It’s slowing us down!”
Chapman took a deep breath. Levi was right. He thought of all the food and household supplies in it, but none of that would be worth anything if they all died because they were crushed by an earthquake-caused landslide.
“Yeah, you’re right. How much room do you have?”