He continued. “Yeah, I tried to get them back to their cars, and an old man told me I couldn’t make him. Then he spat on me and hobbled away.”
“It sounds like he was senile,” she said seriously.
“I don’t know. Some of the people around him apologized for it…”
Grace half-listened to the rest of his explanation. Motion in her broken side mirror caught her attention; a red sports car was about to pass using the opposite lane. At first, she didn’t think it was a big deal, but at the last second, a black car veered left and blocked him, causing the red car to have to slam on its brakes.
“Jeez, look at that!” she exclaimed.
The red car shot around the side of the black sedan, which put it into the far shoulder. Rather than give in, the black car sped up and got alongside Grace. It put the three vehicles side-by-side on the two-lane highway. She death-gripped the wheel to keep her truck in the proper lane.
The sleek red car shot ahead as if it was in a race, its engine roaring, followed by the black car making almost as much motor noise. As she watched them cruise along the flat section of road, more vehicles broke away from the convoy and pursued the leaders. In seconds, her NPS truck was forced onto the shoulder. “Why are people going insane?” she cried out.
A blue Mustang roared by as part of the charge, and it scraped the side of a giant red pickup truck. White smoke belched out where their tires met, both vehicles veering away from each other. It looked like one of them was going to lose control and run into the ditch next to the road, but they recovered and sped away like it was no big thing.
“You want me to flash my badge at them?” Asher joked.
She wasn’t in the mood for humor. “I was going to pull over in a mile or two anyway, so their rush to get around me is for nothing.”
Grace straddled the right shoulder as the convoy continued to break apart. For several minutes, people made their choices. Most chose to keep up with the speed demons. They went by in pairs and small clumps, each going as fast as they dared. A big RV went by, towing a Jeep behind it. It was followed by a small school bus and some additional passenger cars.
She pulled over and stopped as the vehicles drove off. “I guess they didn’t want to wait for me.” The smell of forest fire smoke was still on the breeze, but they were in between tall hills; the dark plumes were out of sight and therefore out of mind. Was that why everyone shot ahead?
Asher turned to see behind the truck. “Some wanted to wait.” A number of cars had pulled over to the side of the road, keeping at least a small part of the convoy intact. He reached over and chucked her on the shoulder. “See, they know you’re the real deal. They respect your authority.” He held up his watch and touched one of the tiny buttons to take a picture.
“I’d like a copy of that,” she laughed, before hopping on the CB. “Tessa, stay here for five minutes. I’m getting out.”
After checking a couple of extra times to be sure no other vehicles were going to pass and run her over, she pushed open the warped door and climbed out. “Come on, Ranger Asher. I have to check on one more thing before we can leave the park.”
“Where the heck are you going? The fire is still coming.” They’d parked a hundred yards from a bridge over a small river, but she went onto a narrow gravel path, not unlike the one up to the alpine hut. Unlike that, this one went down toward the stream, and then into a steep valley with few trees.
“Remember when I instructed those tourists to take cover in the canyon?”
He hopped out. Ahead, a small group of people were gathered where the trail met the river. “Yeah. It was Gardner Canyon, I think.”
“Correct. We’re here, and that’s them. I have to let ’em know they can leave.”
Kentucky
On the way back to Happy Cove, Ezra managed to start one of the cars on the highway and listen to the radio. None of the frequencies had a signal. There were likely no intact televisions in the area, nor was there any power, even if he did locate one. After studying the surrounding countryside from the water tower and talking to survivors in the fire station, Ezra figured he knew enough to leave the relative protection of his neighborhood and start out on his journey to Grace. If he could get down south to Murray, it might be possible to get a rental car.
“You sure you want to come with me?” he asked Butch for the second time. Walking twenty miles to Murray wasn’t going to be difficult, but it would be boring, and perhaps a little dangerous. He didn’t want the kid going into it halfhearted.
“It’ll be easy, E-Z,” he said, laughing at his wordplay.
The pair left the county road and turned onto Happy Jack Avenue. “Well, I hate doing it, but if we’re going out on the road, we need gear. If you see anything we can use while we’re walking back to the house, grab it. We need backpacks, water bottles, and anything survival-oriented. A tent would be nice, in case this takes longer than we plan, but I doubt we’re going to find one lying around.”
He could have outfitted both of them with packs, tents, and every manner of outdoor survival gear, had it not all burned up in his living room. The only things he had left were the two rifles, a carton of ammo, and the small first aid kit. Unfortunately, the kit was in the basement of Roger’s house, and it had been used and abused the previous night by the other survivors. At the time, all he cared about was Susan, so he didn’t complain when it was picked clean. Now he cared.
“Let’s take fifteen minutes to search around,” he told Butch. “If you find anything useful in a yard, try asking the owners if you can take it. We don’t want any confusion about what we’re doing.” With everything blown around the street, almost nothing would be where it belonged.
“Got it!” the other man acknowledged as he trotted off.
Ezra put his hands on his hips as he glanced around at what was left of his neighbor’s homes, then steered clear of their properties entirely. He did most of his scrounging in the common ground behind the rows of houses to ensure he wasn’t trespassing or stealing. It was grisly, soggy business, seeing people’s lives all over the forest.
By the time they were ready to go, he still felt grossly unprepared. They’d both found small backpacks that probably once belonged to grade-school children. His was light blue with numerous pandas on it. Butch’s pack hung over his left shoulder; it had a giant sports logo plastered on the red material. He’d found some odds and ends, such as cotton T-shirts, an unopened toothbrush, and a whole container of AA batteries. Butch found a butane lighter, a small axe, and a fold-up shovel. They shoved in the finds with the big boxes of ammo he’d salvaged.
“I guess I’m the latrine digger,” Butch joked. “I’ve got lots of experience already.”
The last thing they took was the tarp from over Roger’s stairwell. Most of the people had moved out; the rising waters sent them running. If they couldn’t find a tent, the big tarp would give them some protection from the elements.
When they had it secured in his pack, he sloshed through the flood waters, then stopped in the street in front of Roger’s place. “Last chance to bail on me. I’m not coming back.” Ezra looked up the hill to Susan’s resting spot. “Not until I have my daughter.”
Butch motioned for him to proceed. “I have even less attachment here than you do. My mom’s gone. I can’t go back to see what’s left. Lead the way.”
They walked slowly down Happy Cove Avenue, noting the destruction of each house along the way. Some of the owners were good friends; a few he didn’t care if he never saw again. He waved to the survivors and briefly told them where he was headed, but he wasn’t in the mood for long discussions, so he kept moving. When he turned the corner onto the road up the hill, he again saw a familiar pink.
“Good Lord, give me the strength.”
Isla Socorro
His friend in the “federal family” was bought and paid for by Tikkanen Kinetic Mining. Secretary of Homeland Security Stricker had been in his office the day before, but he had no ide
a where he’d gone from there. Petteri had warned him to get somewhere safe, and he hoped the guy took his advice; he needed him alive, so he’d still have a finger on the pulse of the government response.
Fortunately, Mr. Stricker picked up on the first ring. “Hello, Mr. Tikkanen.”
“Ah, it’s good to hear your voice,” he cooed. “I was worried about you last night.”
“Your secretary told me to get into a shelter. I appreciate it.”
Petteri was elated. Dorothy had called him last night to be on record as having tried to warn someone in authority. He didn’t actually count on actually saving the man.
“Were you in Texas when the accident occurred?” He referred to the meteorite impact as an accident on the advice of his high-priced lawyers.
“Yes. I stayed near your launch facility and dined with them in the evening. When I got the message, my security detail got me to a nuclear fallout shelter. It’s a good thing, too. One of the rocks came down near us.”
Petteri cringed without saying a word. If a rock came down in the southern tip of Texas, it meant the spread was much larger than he’d anticipated. Dorothy was out trying to get him hard data on where the pieces had come down. He wished he’d gotten it before his call with Stricker, so he wasn’t taken by surprise.
“I’m glad you came out okay,” he said in a cheery tone. “Tell me, what can I do to help you clean up this mess?”
There was silence on the line. “Now, look, I appreciate all you’ve done for me, but I don’t think we can continue our, uh, partnership. We’re in the middle of a serious crisis.” Stricker spoke with surprising aggression, a trait he’d never shown in person. “It might be best if you let us do our job. Then, after the country is getting back to normal, we can talk about what you need.”
Petteri returned the favor by keeping silent for a ten-count. “My dear Mr. Stricker. TKM has the resources and the know-how to be on the ground in under twelve hours, wherever you need us. I have men at two dozen mines throughout the affected area and each has a contingent of security and recovery vehicles. They—”
Stricker cut him off. “With all due respect, this is above your pay grade. Our arrangement doesn’t cover anything like this.”
He pounced. “Oh, but it does. I’ve made a very generous offer to you, and I insist you take it with good grace.” His words were calm and measured, as always, but he put some emphasis on the word insist.
“Or what?” Stricker countered.
If the disgusting man would have been in his office, he never would have tried to be so insolent. It seemed the distance gave him courage. However, they both knew the long reach of TKM. He didn’t need to yell, or bang the desk, or even make overt threats. “You know what happened in Vladivostok?”
The line seemed to go dead, but it wasn’t quite the same tone. Petteri assumed the other man had muted his line and was probably shouting curse words. Vladivostok would remind the sniveling government cog that there was nowhere on Earth he could hide if things went sideways with their arrangement. The last government peon who tried to back out had fled to the distant Russian city on the far side of the planet. One of Howard’s men tracked him down…
Stricker came back on the line only long enough to say, “Welcome to the recovery effort.”
Chapter 7
Yellowstone National Park, WY
Grace and Asher jogged toward the survivors at the edge of the canyon. The gravel path was well-worn, as if vehicles had recently driven through, and the lower part of her trousers were white with dust by the time they reached the waiting people.
“Ahoy!” she called out as she approached.
A few adults came to meet her. Behind them, more people and vehicles were parked along the creek. The blast had tipped over some of the pines near the top of the tall hillsides about a hundred feet above the water, but lower down the trees appeared normal.
“Are you all right in there?” she asked, breathing hard from the short run.
An older man in jeans and a flannel shirt stepped in front of the others. “We’re fine. We don’t have to leave, do we?”
His words surprised her. “No, you don’t have to leave, but you should. The meteorites impacted farther south in the park. Fires are spreading to the north. It will probably come here in the next little while.” She had no way of seeing beyond the walls of the canyon; there was no smoke blowing around up there, which was a plus, yet it didn’t mean the flames weren’t approaching. The safe move was to get them out of the tight spot.
He nodded. “A ranger told us to come here to be safe, which was true, though that’s as far as anyone trusted the park service. A few went out last night as soon as it was clear we weren’t going to burn up. Some others left at first light this morning. The rest of us aren’t sure what to do. We came out when we heard you and your convoy come through. They sure were moving fast. Is that because of the fire?”
She didn’t know if it was fair to say the fire caused them to speed up, or if it was good old-fashioned panic. Whatever the source, maybe she could use it to her advantage. “The fire has reached Mammoth Hot Springs. We all came from there.”
“So it is heading for us,” the man replied.
“Yes,” she agreed. There was no point in hedging her bets. People’s lives were in danger, so she had the obligation to lay out the worst-case scenario.
The man glanced over to Asher as if to see if he’d back her up. He touched the brim of his hat and flashed a little salute to the tourist. The guy turned back to her. “I’ll get my family.”
Another man joined the conversation. “We’re staying here. It’s the only place to stay safe if another of those rocks come down.”
A few other adults had gathered nearby, and some of them seemed to nod in agreement with him. The fire was to the south, which was upriver in the valley. If the flames continued north, and got into the constricted walls of the canyon, it would burn the people out of their tents.
She spoke as loud as possible. “Ladies and gentlemen. We’re with the National Park Service, as you can see.”
“I’m new,” Asher said in an anxious voice.
Grace sighed. “Yes, he’s the new guy. We both advise you to leave here and head east. It’s the only road still open on account of all the fires.” She refused to send them back toward Mammoth, as there was no way to know if the fire had engulfed the road.
“There won’t be any more falling pieces,” Asher interjected, “because the asteroid already broke apart and fell to Earth. That means you should fear the fire, not the impacts of junk from space.”
“How do you know?” a woman shouted from nearby.
Asher flashed a smile. “In addition to being with the, uh, park service, I have a sister who works in the aerospace industry. She has access to all manner of science and technology. She’s the one who told Ranger Grace and me about the approaching pieces, then we told you.”
“Hey, she’s the lady ranger who told us to come here!” A young teen boy pointed at Grace, giving her some sense of satisfaction at being recognized. It was so disorganized last night; she was surprised anyone made it to the canyon.
Asher went on. “That’s her. She’s done some amazing things to keep me alive, including getting me out of a huge forest fire. If she’s telling you to leave, you should listen.”
The teen boy stepped closer and spoke to Asher. “Aren’t you rangers supposed to know how to stay away from fires? Did you mess up, or something?”
Grace chuckled.
If you only knew.
She jumped in to save Asher before the truth leaked out. “That’s how crazy these fires are. Even rangers get caught in them. It’s the reason why you have to get out of here, right?”
Her argument got most of them moving, so she and Asher started back to the main convoy. By the time they reached the pavement, a small fleet of about twenty different cars and trucks, plus a couple of RVs, lined up on the dirt path behind her. Even with those numbers, she didn’t
think it could possibly be everyone from the valley.
“Should I go back and try to get the rest of them to come?” she asked Asher.
He shrugged. “I’m glad you got the ones you did. They seemed pretty content inside their happy little canyon.”
“They’re scared to leave. I guess I know how they feel.” When people found places of safety, they tended to want to stay there. It was why she didn’t want to leave the safety of Bay Bridge campground two nights ago, it was why the survivors had stuck around the visitors’ center until the morning, and it explained the wary tourists in Gardner Canyon. Unless they could see the disaster looming in front of them, they’d hunker down.
She got back in her truck, unsure if there was a protocol for what was happening. She could send the convoy ahead and try to catch up later, but there were more people to worry about in the cars than in the canyon. The harsh reality was she’d presented herself as the leader of the convoy to get them to follow her, so she had to do some leading.
Behind her, and on the intersecting gravel road, she counted about fifty vehicles, give or take. Ahead, the lightning storm was obscured by a nearby ridge, the gray skies charged with energy. The glare of multiple lightning strikes bounced off clouds all around them.
Grace started the motor and revved the engine.
“Time to make tracks,” she declared.
Kentucky
Brenda Bowden’s authority had withered on the vine at the top of the hill yesterday, thanks to his intrepid wife, but Ezra still wasn’t comfortable around her. He tried to keep walking as she came across a nearby lawn, knowing he couldn’t get away without appearing like he feared her, so he stopped to let her approach.
“I heard you went out to find help for me.” Babs looked around. “Where’s the ambulance?”
He sighed heavily. “You’re going to have to wait a little longer, Babs. The ambulances are all out on other calls. Lots of people are injured worse than you are.” He tried to walk away, but she grabbed his arm.
Impact Series Box Set | Books 1-6 Page 25