by Byron Tucker
They reached the north shore of Yellowstone Lake a few minutes later, and had a wonderful view across the large body of water past the other shore, where snowcapped mountains could be seen in the far distance. Noticing Jimmy filming away with his camera, he said, “Sure is beautiful around here, isn't it?”
“Yeah, that's why I'm filming it. I hope the geysers will put on a good show for us, too.”
“Oh, I'm sure they will.”
Excitement coupled with a bit of nervousness, dominated Sam's mood when they ran into a bit of traffic as they approached the nexus of the Park, the site of the famed Old Faithful Inn and Lodge. Even before they reached the parking area, he spotted plumes of steam blasting high into the air, several of them visible at the same time.
Jimmy shifted in his seat with obvious impatience. “Come on, Dad, let's get this thing parked so we can see these things. Looks like things are going crazy over there.”
Matching his son's impatience, Sam swooped into the first RV space he could find, ignoring the steady stream of traffic leaving the sprawling parking lot. Behind him, his wife and daughter had just finished their game, with Eliza proudly proclaiming herself as winner. Looking at her as he stepped over to the doorway, he asked, “So, how's your breathing so far?”
Still smiling, she took in a deep breath and exhaled it with vigor. “Never better. I haven't breathed this good in ages.”
Sam looked into the twinkling eyes of his wife and said, “Looks like bringing her out here was the right thing to do after all.”
She rubbed her hand on Eliza's back, smiling. “So long as this place doesn't blow up under us, yes, I think we did the right thing.”
Not knowing if his wife was just trying to be funny, he said, “Let's get out there and see some cool geysers, shall we?”
A few minutes later, Sam and his family found themselves in a scene of near-bedlam. Not only was Old Faithful going crazy, apparently shooting twice as high as normal, there were no less than a half dozen geysers going off at the same time, a couple of them shooting even taller than Old Faithful. Numerous Park rangers moved through the bustling crowd, cautioning people to stay clear of the active eruptions.
Sam noticed Jimmy was no longer with them, and he whirled about in a frantic effort to locate his wayward son. A moment later, Jimmy reappeared suddenly, holding a map in his hand. “I got this, so we can see where to go. A ranger suggested that we go up Geyser Hill, so we can get a good view of these things while keeping a safe distance. He says that he's never seen it like this before. It's totally crazy.”
Turning towards his daughter, Sam asked, “Do you think you could manage a small climb up a hill? We can turn around if it gets too hard.”
Eliza shot him an offended glare. “Yes, Dad, I can walk up a small hill. I've got my inhaler anyhow.”
A wave of mist blew over them, forcing Sam to wipe his eyes. “Let's go, then. This is a bit too close for comfort.”
They walked down the trail a few hundred yards, stopping when the ground started shaking under their feet. It started out as a low grumble, escalating to series of low booms, causing Eliza to cling to her mother in fear.
“Another earthquake?” Irene asked, looking concerned, but not genuinely afraid as her daughter appeared.
Jimmy pointed behind them. “Damn! Look at that!”
Sam looked in the direction of Jimmy's pointing finger. A new geyser had sprung to life, and it loomed about three times as large as any of the others they'd seen. The eruption seemed quite violent, the sound like a military jet on takeoff. “Maybe we should turn back.”
Jimmy sprinted further along the trail, waving vigorously with his hands. “No, Dad, let's go up the hill so we can see more of this. This is like the coolest thing ever!”
He looked at Irene and Eliza. “Is that okay with you? I'm sure it's not that far, and we won't be so close to these things.”
Irene nodded. “Sure, since we're here, we might as well.”
Sam knew Irene probably felt scared, especially for Eliza, but she had on a brave face, at least for the moment. Spotting Jimmy moving farther up the trail, he shouted, “Wait up, I want us to stick together as a group.”
Things grew quieter when they moved deeper into the woods away from the roaring of the new geyser, and both Irene and Eliza seemed more relaxed, which put him further at ease. If his family was continuing to have a good time, he didn't want to be cutting things short, crazy geysers or not.
A few minutes later, with Eliza running ahead to catch up with her brother, they reached a clearing where they had a clear view of the geyser basin, situated about two hundred feet below their current elevation. Sam's eyes widened at the sight of seven geysers shooting off at the same time He stood, shaking his head in amazement. The other members of his family were enthralled by the spectacle as well, with Jimmy doing his best to capture professional-grade footage of the stupendous nature show with his camcorder.
Then the earthquake hit.
A tremendous, deep-throated boom came in advance of the shaking by a few seconds, resembling a huge bomb going off nearby, and then the ground lurched with incredible power under their feet, knocking Eliza directly to the ground. Irene fell on top of her as the ground shifted again, even more violently than before. Somehow, Jimmy managed to keep filming while pointing at the valley floor. “Look, Dad, it's moving!”
Sure enough, the entire geyser basin sloshed about like a giant swimming pool, the solid ground actually undulating in waves. A second or two later, the earthquake hit in full force, knocking both him and Jimmy to the ground, the pine trees tilting madly around them. The ground shook in different directions, both sideways and vertically. It was all Sam could do to latch on to his wife and daughter as the ground shook relentlessly beneath them, Eliza letting out one ear-piercing scream after another.
The shaking went on for what seemed like forever, although realistically it lasted just a couple of minutes. However, when the violent shaking finally stopped, he noticed something else going on. He spotted it the same time as Jimmy did. An enormous geyser towered above them like a giant skyscraper, the pinnacle of steam blotting out the sun as it spread out high overhead. The noise it made was incredible, vibrating in Sam's chest. “Holy hell, that's a monster!”
Jimmy looked at him with a deadpan expression. “Dad, I think Uncle Ryan is right about Yellowstone going off as a volcano.”
Sam looked at him and then at the geyser, not answering for a few moments. When his gaze met his son's eyes again, he said, “I think you might be right. Let's get the hell out of here.”
Chapter 7
Ryan covered his mouth with his hand as the data streamed across his monitor. Eight point four, located nine miles due south of Old Faithful. Exactly where Sam and his family were planning to visit. Probably at this very moment.
The truly scary thing, however, was how Yellowstone had suddenly taken center stage on all the major news outlets, with plenty of footage of cracked roads, super-sized geysers and the total disappearance of wildlife. While few were saying the word “supervolcano,” it was rapidly becoming public knowledge that something huge and exceedingly dangerous was about to take place in the famed park.
Ryan tried calling Sam again, and as he expected, he got the “overloaded system” recording. He just had to hope that they were in a position to get themselves out of there, as time really was running out for them. Some of his sources were still saying a week, possibly even a month. Others stated that a forty mile-wide bubble of mantle was in the process of exploding to the surface at this very moment, with the big boom expected in a matter of hours. Splitting the difference, Yellowstone would explode in two to four days, which he hoped, desperately, would give his family enough time to leave the park in safety.
Ryan slammed his fist against his desk, startling Shelly and nearly knocking his half-full coffee mug onto the floor. Goddammit, I should have done more to keep them from going out there.
Despite his guilty fee
lings, he knew deep down that his little brother was his own man, and that he was going to do what he felt was right, not what Ryan said. It'd always been this way, with Sam holding deep disregard for being told what to do by his older brother. There was nothing that could be done about that family traipsing out to Yellowstone, there really wasn't. But the gods be dammed, why in the hell did they have to go out there, right when the thing is about to blow its top? Talk about some impeccably bad timing.
Ryan flipped the TV on, just to see what the talking heads were saying. Since the TV was already tuned to one of the cable news channels, it didn't take long for him to find out that the Park was in the process of being shut down, with everyone within its boundaries undergoing the process of evacuation.
He breathed out a long sigh. Now, they'll have no choice but to come back east. However, his relief didn't last long as they went on-location, where a frantic-sounding reporter blathered away about the chaos all over the park, the most serious of which was the cut roads. Both the South and West entrances were cut off, leaving just three remaining routes out of the Park. The recent earthquake had apparently inflicted a good deal of damage to park facilities, such as the Old Faithful Lodge and the Inn, with some reports of casualties.
Ryan chewed on his fingernails, a habit that he spent a decade trying to break. Oh God, no, please let them be somewhere else. Unable to tear his eyes away from the TV, he kept watching the non-interrupted broadcast with one newscaster after another accusing the government of attempting to cover up what was really going on with Yellowstone and, when they did an actual segment on the potential effects of a supervolcanic eruption – little ice age and all – he flipped the TV off, realizing this really was it. The horror of what was about to happen was being unveiled in front of the entire world.
Soon, possibly within hours, the panic would begin. Stores would be cleaned out. The stock market would crash and chaos would reign, all before the big explosion occurred.
A high-pitched howl issued forth from the kitchen. In a rush, Ryan darted across the room over to where Shelly held her head in an upturned pose, howling as vigorously as any wolf ever did at the full moon, loud enough to hurt his ears. He dropped to his knees and threw his arms around the emotionally distraught animal, rubbing his face against her head in a bid to get her to calm down.
“It's okay, Shelly, it's okay. It's going to go off, yes, but we'll be okay.”
Shelly relaxed, and her howling soon diminished to a soft whimpering. Speaking to himself, he said, “We might be okay, but my brother's family...” He let his voice trail, afraid to openly admit what he thought.
For the first time in years, Ryan began crying, his tears mixing with Shelly's soft fur as he continued to hold her in a tight grip.
* * *
It had taken most of the day, but they had finally made back to their starting point, the Canyon camping area. Despite his intense desire to leave Yellowstone altogether, Sam had an even stronger need to get out of the infernal crawl of traffic moving toward the North Entrance. And since the gas tank was running low, it was good to have the chance to fill up while they pondered what to do next.
Holding the pump handle to feed the large-capacity fuel tank of the motorhome, Sam looked over at Jimmy and said, “Why don't you try calling Uncle Ryan again. Maybe you'll be able to get through this time.”
Without delay, Jimmy reached into his pocket and pulled out his smartphone, holding it up to his ear as soon as he dialed his uncle's number. A few seconds later, he brought it back down again, frowning. “Nope. All circuits are busy.”
“I imagine a lot of towers were knocked out in that earthquake.”
Jimmy stepped closer to him, watching the flashing numerals of the fuel pump. “I think we should go up to Highway 212, like the last ranger told us.”
Sam bit his lower lip. “But the traffic just isn't moving regardless of what road we try. I feel like we're going around in a big circle, with no way of getting out of here.”
Jimmy paced to the end of the RV and looked at the traffic passing by. Walking back to him, he said, “It looks like everyone's going south, toward the lake and the East Entrance. I think if we go north up to 212, it'll be a lot easier.”
The pump finally shut off. Seventy gallons at five-fifty a gallon. Ouch. But he had bigger things to worry about. Like getting his family out of Yellowstone. He knew he should have just stuck it out in the traffic for the North Entrance instead of making the turnoff to come back to the Canyon area, but sitting in that gridlock was proving to be too much for not only him, but for the rest of his family as well. For the first time since they'd left Chicago, Eliza was wheezing again, having to puff on her rescue inhaler repeatedly and when that didn't help, a session on the nebulizer was required, which finally did put her breathing back on an even keel.
Once Sam got the receipt from the pump, he waved his son back into the vehicle, arrowing to the driver's seat. Putting on his seatbelt, he said, “We're going to go north, and out of the Park by way of Highway 212.”
“Good,” Irene replied from the dinette area. “I thought you wanted to go back to the campsite and leave in the morning, when things cleared out more.”
“No, I don't think we can afford to wait that long. The time to get out is now, so we're going to push on.”
They headed north, the bright afternoon sunlight belying the seriousness of the situation they faced. The experience of the huge earthquake back at Old Faithful made it more than clear that something was gravely wrong under Yellowstone, and the announced closure of the Park meant that the officials were willing to admit that people within the Park's boundaries really were in danger.
But what he couldn't understand was how they couldn't keep the South and West access roads open, since both of those routes would have provided quick and easy access out of Yellowstone. Instead, his family and thousands of others had been directed up Highway 89, toward the North Entrance, and that was when traffic slowed to a crawl, leading to Sam's decision to bail off 89 and head east to the Canyon area. But they'd been able to fuel up at least, so that was one less thing Sam had to worry about, like getting themselves stranded along the side of the road with an empty fuel tank.
Amazingly enough, traffic began to thin out a few miles up the road, with the road clearing even more as they began the slow climb up to Dunraven Pass. The scenery was truly spectacular, and Sam did his best to enjoy it. Jimmy was even doing some more filming with the camcorder, although Sam suspected that he did it out of nervousness more than anything.
Just after cresting the nine thousand-foot elevation of the Pass, another major earthquake hit, rocking the motorhome so violently that Sam feared it would tip over on its side. He extended the stabilizers in a rushed panic, hoping that it would be enough to keep the vehicle upright.
Just as the struts made contact with the roadway, providing much-needed stability, Jimmy shouted, pointing out the windshield. “Dad, the road is falling in!”
Sure enough, the road just a few dozen yards ahead caved downward, with about fifty feet of pavement collapsing out of sight.
The shaking stopped, and Sam cut the engine. Looking back at Irene and Eliza, he knew they were downright frightened, fear etched on their faces. Attempting to reassure them, he said, “We're just going to step outside and see if there's any damage to the motorhome.”
Eliza pointed toward the front with a trembling finger. “But with the road gone, how are we going to get out of the Park?”
“Don't worry, sweetie pie. I'll get us out of here.”
Sam walked up to the jagged edge with his son, taking a moment to peer at the jumbled mess of asphalt slabs below. “Looks pretty bad, huh?”
Jimmy pointed back down the road they had come from, the line of cars and RVs growing longer by the second. “I guess we should turn around and try and go out another way.”
Sam shook his head. “Roads could be cut all over the place. I think we should stay put right here and wait for some
rangers to show up. We'll find out from them which way we can go to get out of the Park.”
Swiveling his head around, Jimmy said. “Yeah, I guess you're right. Maybe they'll send helicopters and airlift us out of there or something. I just wish we could get hold of Uncle Ryan.”
“Me too. He's probably worried sick about us. This is the one time I should have listened to him.”
“But you didn't know, Dad. None of us did. And I bet even Uncle Ryan didn't think it'd get this crazy, this fast.”
Sam turned to walk back to the RV, dodging other people walking up to look at the gap. “Come on, let's see if we can find out anything on the radio.”
Sam flipped the radio off as the recording from the National Park Service ended and began anew. Turning his chair to face the rest of his family, he said, “Well, you heard what they said. All of us just need to shelter in place overnight while they get the roads open for us.”
“But Dad, what if they're just saying that to keep everybody from panicking?” Jimmy said.
Sam shook his head. “I'm inclined to think they're telling the truth. At this very moment, they're probably mobilizing resources from all over to get everyone out of Yellowstone.”
Jimmy shot a finger toward the gap in the roadway. “But it'll take days to fix that.”
“Not if they can just run a bulldozer along the bank there and allow passage around it. Or they could lay down one of those portable bridges they use in the military. And since we're at the very head of the line, we'll be the first to get across and on out of here.”
Jimmy looked away, apparently accepting his father's explanation.