She clung to the banister, praying it wouldn’t give way beneath her. She heard screaming, and then realized she was hearing herself. Somewhere in the distance she heard other people screaming, as well. There was another loud crack and the whole staircase separated from the loft, lurching crazily. Suddenly there was a foot-wide gap between the top step and the second floor. Kristi fought to keep her balance.
She looked up at the loft. Mr. Andrews stood at the top of the stairs, staring at her in shock. He had made a dash for the stairs when the shaking began and nearly stepped on that first step just as the stairs had come apart. He looked like a trapped animal now as the crashing and shaking went on. Behind him, the walls suddenly bulged and a huge crack appeared across the ceiling of the loft. One of the walls gave way and snow flooded the gaping hole. Mr. Andrews whirled around and stared as cracks continued to split the walls and the floor of the loft suddenly heaved upwards. Would it ever stop?
Beneath her, her mother had leaped from the couch and run toward the stairs. She saw Kristi clinging to the banister and screamed, “Hang on, Kristi! Hold on!” Robyn and Anna ran out of the kitchen and stood looking up at her, clinging to one another in fright. All around them things had fallen from the walls and shelves. It looked like an earthquake had struck, alright, but the truth suddenly dawned on them. Avalanche!
“Steve! The boys!” Rachel suddenly screamed. She leaped for the door and flung it open just as Jake, Dan and Pete tumbled up onto the porch. They rushed inside. “Where’s your dad, Dan?” Rachel cried frantically. “Where’s Skeeter?”
The guys looked behind them, shocked to see that he was not there. “I thought Dad was right behind me, Mom!” Dan said in a panic. “He was right there! He was the one who told us to run! Where is he?” He turned around and ran back out the door again with Pete and Jake right on his heels.
Rachel would have followed hem but Kristi’s next words stopped her in her tracks. “Skeeter was upstairs, Mom! I saw him just before it happened!” Kristi said urgently. They stared at the bulging walls and the snow that filled the gap and spilled out of the hallway. The avalanche had taken out the entire second floor except for what was left of the loft.
Rachel’s heart was torn in two. Steve was missing somewhere outside. Skeeter was upstairs under the roof and all that snow. She didn’t hesitate, though. The guys would look for Steve. She had to find her child. She headed for the stairs.
“Wait, Mom!” Kristi called down. “Let me get off the steps before you come up. They’re really wobbly. I don’t know if they’ll hold both of us.” Kristi turned and cautiously went back up the steps.
“No, no, Kristi! Come down! It’s too dangerous up there!” Rachel cried.
“I have to help you look for Skeeter!” Kristi made it to the top step and slowly reached for the railing at the edge of the loft. She pulled herself up, praying the railing would hold.
Rachel started up the stairs the moment Kristi was safely off of them. Kristi reached out to give her a hand as she got to the top. The old man stood there just watching.
“Mrs. Cameron! Kristi!” Anna suddenly called from down below. “Liz and Jenny and Cody are up there, too! Remember? They went to take naps!”
Rachel and Kristi looked at one another, their hearts sinking to their stomachs. In the first few panic-stricken minutes they had forgotten the young mother and her two little children. “Oh, God, help us!” Rachel groaned. “Help us get to them in time! Save my husband and son, Lord, and Liz and the babies. Please, God!” They didn’t say another word but rushed to the mountain of snow that spilled out of the hall and began to dig with their bare hands. It seemed like an impossible task. Even if they could get to them, could they get there in time?
“We have to help them!” Robyn said to Anna and started to run for the stairs.
Anna nodded but said, “Wait! We need something to dig with!” She ran to a kitchen cupboard and pulled out several pans. “Here! These will work better than our hands. Let’s get our gloves, too. We can’t work if our hands are frozen.” She handed a couple pans to Robyn and the girls dashed to the hall closet where they finally managed to dig out enough gloves and mittens for them all.
Robyn went up the stairs first and Anna followed as quickly as she could. They pitched in right away, handing Kristi and Rachel their gloves and pans. “You girls shouldn’t be up here,” Rachel groaned. “It’s too dangerous!”
“We all need to help, Mrs. Cameron,” Robyn said. “There’s no way you and Kristi can do this alone. And that includes you, too, Mister!” she said to John Andrews. She handed him a pan and a pair of pink mittens.
The old man grumbled, “I should have stayed down in my car!” but he tugged at the mittens that were too small and finally began to help.
* * *
Steve saw he wasn’t going to make it. The snow had reached the cabin and was pouring over it like a waterfall. He would be buried before he could reach the porch.
He dove under the SUV. Maybe the car would be buried, but at least he would have a shelter over his head and air to breathe—for a while, anyway. He saw one of the snow shovels on the ground next to the vehicle and managed to grab it just in the nick of time and pull it under with him. They were going to need it—if they came through this alive. He had seen the boys make it to the porch, but he did not know if the cabin walls and roof could bear the brunt of the massive force and weight that was descending upon it. Entire homes had been pushed off their foundations and moved by avalanches before, if they weren’t crushed altogether.
It was over in a matter of minutes. Snow was packed around the bottom of the SUV. Steve was thankful the car had large tires and stood high off the ground. He would not have fit under a normal vehicle. As it was, it was difficult enough to move. The tires had also blocked some of the snow from spilling under the car.
Steve did not waste any time once the avalanche had stopped. He had to get out somehow and find his family! The snow on the side of the car closest to the cabin was packed as hard as cement. It would take forever to dig himself out from there. It was a different story on the other side. He kicked at the snow, and kept kicking until enough of it had been shoved away so that he could swivel around on his belly and start digging with his hands.
He had only been going at it for a couple minutes when he heard Dan yelling, “Dad! Dad! Where are you?”
“I’m under the SUV!” he shouted.
“Dad! Mr. Cameron!” both of the boys were calling now.
They couldn’t hear him. “Here!” he yelled, louder this time. “Under the car!” He kicked at the frame above him, hoping to make the vehicle jiggle a little so that they would see it. It didn’t budge. “Under the SUV!”
Dan stood on the porch looking at the scene before him. The house had stopped much of the avalanche that slid down directly above it, but on either side it was a sea of freshly turned snow and tumbled rocks and trees. Even directly in front of the cabin the snow on either side of the porch reached nearly to its roof. The SUV was almost buried.
“Dad! Dad!” he shouted, almost in despair. Where should he start looking in all this mess? He knew where his father should have been, but wouldn’t the avalanche have carried him down the slope like it did everything else in its path? Every minute counted if he was going to reach him in time! And what if it had carried him right over the edge of the ridge? He couldn’t think about that now! They had to start looking!
“Pete, get the snowshoes!” he said now. “We’re going to need them.” Pete nodded and ran inside. “Dad! Where are you?” he called again. Where is he? His heart cried to the Lord. “Lord, please help us find him in time!” he prayed aloud.
Jake looked at him strangely. “You better quit praying and start digging!” he said. “God’s not gonna put an arrow in the sky to point you to him!”
“The best thing I can do for my dad is pray first—and then dig.” Dan didn’t say anymore but reached for the snowshoes Pete had brought out and began to strap
them on. The others did the same.
They were just about to step out from under the porch when suddenly something caught their eye. “Look!” Pete said. “There he is!” They watched in disbelief as Steve suddenly appeared on the far side of the SUV!
“Hey!” he called. “Can you guys help me get out of here?”
“Dad!” Dan shouted joyously. “Whoo-Hoo! Thank You, Lord!” He lifted his arms to the sky in praise. “Yeah, we’re coming, Dad!
Steve looked at the three guys on the porch, thankful to see them all safely there. He was thankful, too, to see the cabin still standing. Whew! That had been a close call! “I’ve got a shovel here,” he called to them, “but no room to use it. I’ll hand it to you when you get over here.”
“Here’s the other shovel!” Jake held it up. “I still had it in my hand when I ran for cover.” He turned to Dan. “I guess you were right,” he said quietly. “Maybe it does pay to pray first. Come on. Let’s go dig him out.”
“Hey, Pete—there are only two shovels. Would you go in and tell my mom we found him and that he’s okay? I’ll start digging. Thanks.” Pete disappeared into the cabin once more and Dan and Jake stepped out into the snow to shovel Steve out.
Pete was back in only a minute. He looked upset. “The avalanche took out the whole upstairs!” he said. “The roof collapsed and the bedrooms are all buried under snow!” The others stared at him in disbelief. He paused for a moment, trying to find the right words, but not knowing any other way to say it, he finally blurted out, “Skeeter and Liz and the babies were up there. They haven’t found them yet.”
The whole world seemed to stop. The moments of rejoicing turned to fear and Steve said urgently, “Hurry! I’ve got to get up there!” It took only minutes but it seemed like an eternity as they all dug frantically with their hands and with the shovels until finally Steve could break free of his snowy prison and make his way back to the cabin.
They rushed inside. “Rachel!” Steve called. He could see from the doorway what was going on up in the loft and the destruction that had occurred when the mountainside had slid down onto the log house. He ran for the stairs.
“Careful! The staircase is broken!” Rachel called over her shoulder. “One at a time!” She was sweating and panting and her arms were on fire with pain already, but she continued to frantically dig. “Oh, thank God you’re alright, Steve!” she said now as he joined her. “Skeeter—he—he’s buried in there somewhere!” She began to weep now that her husband was at her side.
“Have you heard anything? Have you been calling?” He didn’t wait for an answer but bellowed, “Skeeter! Skeeter!” There was no reply.
“We’ve called and called, Steve. We haven’t heard a thing.”
Steve stared at the wall of snow and debris that filled the hall. “We’ll never get through that in time. Come on guys, let’s go around outside and see if we can get in from up above.” He turned to Rachel and lifted her to her feet. “Don’t worry, Sweetheart. We’ll get to him, and Liz and the kids, too. You’re not going to be able to dig through all this, Honey. Just stop now and pray, okay”
“I’ll pray, but I can’t stop. I have to do something, Steve.”
He nodded and hugged her closely. “Okay. We’re going to go out and try to find a different way. Jake, grab those old snowshoes off the wall by the ping-pong table. They’re meant for decoration, but they’ll work, and we’ll need every pair of hands we can get. Let’s go, guys. Kristi, stay with your mom, okay? Thanks, Sweetie.”
Kristi nodded. She wished she could have gone with them to find Skeeter, but her dad was right. Her mother needed her. She and her friends bent back to their work, digging alongside Rachel.
John Andrews waited until the other guys were out of sight and then he quit. He went over to the sofa and brushed it off. It was hopeless. The man had said so. Why put himself out any longer?
* * *
“Skeeter! Skeeter!” Skeeter could hear Liz calling him from the other room. He stood up and looked around one more time for some way out. There was nothing. Even the window was useless. A tree had crashed through and filled the entire opening.
“Skeeter? Are you okay?” Liz called once more.
He made his way back over to the loft and reached for the rope. “Yeah! I’m fine! I’m coming!” He wiped his face again with his sleeve. He didn’t want Liz to know he’d been crying. A draft blew through and he shivered a bit in the cold. Ignore it, he told himself. Be a man. He flexed his muscles in a Superman pose and smiled sadly. Robyn would hoot at that one!
Skeeter climbed the rope and pulled himself back into the little hideaway loft. He untied the rope and put it back into his spy kit and then scooted back to the opening in the wall and peered through. “Hey, Jenny! Peek-a-boo!”
The little girl looked up and clapped her hands in delight. “Skeeter!” Cody clapped his little hands, too and then reached up for the big funny boy. Skeeter came through headfirst again, acting like a clown as he tumbled down at their feet.
“Are you getting warm now?” he asked Jenny as he tousled her hair.
“Uh-huh. Thanks for letting me wear your jacket!” Jenny flopped the long sleeves that hung way past her hands at him and giggled as he pretended to be hit in the face by her.
“Well?” Liz asked.
“Nothing,” Skeeter said. “I can’t see any way out of the other room.”
“What are we going to do?” The young mother looked to the teenager for direction.
“I don’t know. I guess we have two choices. The quickest thing would be to try to get outside and go down that way.”
Liz shook her head. “The snow has got to be ten or twelve feet deep—maybe even more. If we sink down into it we are in big trouble. I can’t take that chance with the kids.”
“The other thing is to try to break through the door somehow and see what’s on the other side. Maybe we can tunnel through or something. It will take longer that way and be a lot harder.”
“But it’s safer.”
“But my family is out there somewhere. I have to find them.”
Liz looked at him sadly. “I know, Skeeter. I want to find them, too. But I am sure your mom and dad wouldn’t want you to do something dangerous. Can we just try my way first and see what happens? Once we get the door open we’ll know better what we are facing.”
Skeeter hesitated and then nodded his head. “Okay. We’ll do it your way. We have to find some way to get the door open or break it apart or something.”
They looked around. There wasn’t much to choose from. The beams from the roof were too big and heavy for them to handle. The tree branches were probably too soft. “I know!” Skeeter said. “A bed post! Those things aren’t usually attached very securely. I’ve broken one or two bedposts in my time just jumping on the bed! If we can get one off, it will be as hard as a bat and we may be able to put a good-sized crack in the door—enough to get our fingers through and pull, anyway.”
Skeeter was right. Between the two of them they managed to yank one of the bedposts right off the frame. “Stand back!” he said as he got himself into position to take a few good swings at the door. He faced the door like a batter with the bed post over his shoulder. “This should be easier to hit than a ball,” he remarked. “At least it’s not moving!”
He swung as hard as he could. “Ow-w-w-w!” he yelped as the post hit the door and bounced back. “That hurt!” His hands were stinging.
“Try swinging it like an ax instead of a bat,” Liz suggested.
It worked. A few good whacks like that and a large crack appeared down the inside panel of the door. Skeeter chopped away a few more times. Finally he said to Liz, “You push on that side of the crack and I’ll pull on this side and maybe we can pull it apart.” He slid his fingers between the two sides of the panel and said, “Okay—now!”
Sure enough. The panel came apart in his hands with a loud tearing noise. Skeeter pulled out first one side and then the other. The hole in the
door was easily wide enough for them to climb through. There was just one problem. A solid wall of firmly packed snow blocked the way from top to bottom. Skeeter and Liz both pushed on it. It didn’t flake, crumble or crack. Digging through that wall would take forever.
Liz sat down in the snow as if her legs would not hold her up another minute. She pulled both her babies into her lap. A few tears trickled down her cheeks. “Mommy’s crying?” Jenny asked.
“It’s okay, Baby,” Liz said. “Mama’s just tired.” She looked up at Skeeter as if she was ready to give up completely.
“It is okay, Liz,” Skeeter said. He sat down next to her. “You and both your kids are alive and well! That is something to be praising and thanking the Lord for! And we will get out of here eventually! Snow doesn’t last forever you know! We just might have to wait a while. And hey—I’ve got some candy bars here in my spy k—er, in my old ski cap to get us through while we wait! Why don’t we all share one right now! A little bit of chocolate will make us feel better and probably help us to think better, too!”
Liz laughed and divided the candy bar he handed her among them all. “Thank you, Skeeter. You’re right. Chocolate is good, but what you said first about praising the Lord is even better. Your mom told me earlier that she prays about all her problems. I have a hunch prayer is even better than chocolate!”
“Prayer and praise? You bet!” Skeeter said. “Would you like to pray and ask God to help us, Liz? He will! He especially loves to help His children when they come to Him with their problems. And you become His child when you ask Jesus to save you from your sins and come into your heart.”
“Yes, I really would like to do that, Skeeter. Dear Lord,” she prayed. “Thank You so much for saving our lives today. Now I am asking You to save me from my sins, too. I want to be Your child. Thank You, Jesus, for what You have already done for me. Please, Lord, could you help us now to be rescued? Please be with Skeeter’s family and all the other people that were in this house, too. Please keep us all safe. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
Mystery on Majestic Mountain (Kristi Cameron Book 9) Page 7