The Trip to Raptor Bluff

by Annie O'Haegan

  “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.”

  “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.