Escaping Yellowstone

by Larry LaVoie

  “Yeah, I do.”

  Cody handed him the crowbar. “Try this.”

  The crowbar wouldn’t fit between the door and the jamb. Elliott tossed it to the concrete and it bounced with a loud clang. “Stand back, I tend to get messy when I get angry.”

  Cody stood back, not knowing what would happen next. Elliott climbed up on the bucket loader and stared inside the closed cab for a minute. He climbed inside. The roar of the diesel engine vibrated the building. Black smoke billowed from the stack as he revved the engine.

  “Shit,” Cody said, as Elliott moved the loader and lifted the bucket. He bumped the door with the bucket and the whole building shook. Elliott backed up a foot and rammed the door again, this time buckling it in the middle and snapping it off its hinges. It hung half open.

  Elliott jumped down from the loader. “Well, what are you waiting for, an invitation?”

  Cody slipped through the mangled opening. The generator was also diesel. He fired up the generator. The halogen lights in the building came on. Then the earth started to shake. At first the lights swayed back and forth, but soon began to arc and pop. Cody grabbed Elliott and threw him to the floor as one of the large fixtures crashed down and bounced off the bucket loader and landed right where Elliott had been standing. In a minute it was over.

  “The generator is still running,” Elliott said, getting up and dusting himself off.

  “I saw some jerry cans against the wall. We can fill them and transfer the fuel.”

  “That will take forever,” Elliott said. “How about we open the doors and I drive in?”

  “I’ll pump,” Cody said.

  Elliott climbed up the snowbank to the dozer. It took a few minutes for him to make a ramp so he could enter the building. He stopped beside the pump and Cody removed the fuel cap.

  “We can fill a few of these cans and take them with us,” Cody suggested.

  “As long as it doesn’t take more time. I’d hate to be in here when the building comes down. Was that a quake or an aftershock?”

  “No way of knowing without my equipment,” Cody said. “so far, I think all of them have been centered at the south end of the caldera.”

  “You think?”

  “Hey, if we had internet service, I could tell you where they were centered and how deep they were. Right now, I’m a civilian like everybody else.”

  “You knew this was coming. You and Doug were discussing it one day in the hotel bar.”

  Cody’s jaw dropped. “How the hell would I know the moon was going to be hit by an asteroid?”

  “I’m talking about the earthquakes. Doug told me you had a theory that the moon’s gravity triggered earthquakes in the Yellowstone caldera just like the tides of the oceans.”

  “So much for having just enough knowledge to be dangerous.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean.”

  “I mean, I was looking for a tidal effect, but it was so minute the instruments barely detected it. There wasn’t enough evidence to call it an effect. Doug dropped the paper he was doing and went back to his original paper. What we’re seeing now is a hundred times greater. I had no way of knowing about the asteroid, other than it was supposed to harmlessly pass by the moon. The event was supposed to be nothing.”

  “You’re saying it isn’t a tidal effect that’s creating these quakes?”

  “I’m saying it might be, and if it is, it’s going to get a lot worse. Do you think I’d bring my family here for Christmas knowing this was going to happen?”

  “The tank is running over,” Elliott said. “I think your idea of bringing along some extra fuel is a good one.”

  Cody stopped pumping and put the cap on the tank. He looked around, found a shop rag and wiped up the spill. He filled several cans with diesel and put them into a compartment in the back.

  They sat in the dozer looking up at a wall of snow. “You think we can make it up that without flipping over?” Cody asked.

  “I made it down. Only one way to find out if we can make it up.” Elliott gunned the engine and they crawled ahead until they were nosed up looking at the sky. The treads churned away at the snow and Elliott stopped and backed down to take another run at it. After several tries, they popped over the top of the snowbank and were on their way again.

  “Mammoth or bust,” Elliott said.

  Cody checked his watch. It was nearly noon and they were only halfway to Mammoth. From there they hadn’t even discussed a plan. “What are we going to do when we get to Mammoth?”

  “I’m hoping headquarters have a way of contacting the outside. We need a helicopter or some major equipment in here. Traveling on the ground just won’t cut it. The snow is too deep and there are too many obstacles.”

  “Helicopter. Take me to the pad and I can bring them out by helicopter.”

  “I’ve seen that thing. It only has room for two people. I’m surprised it even gets airborne at this altitude.”

  “It’s rated to carry three people, but the back seat was removed to make room for my equipment. I don’t see a fixed wing being any good. There’s no place to land.”

  “When we get to Mammoth, we can switch to your Jeep and drive into Bozeman. I know a guy there that fights fires. He has a helicopter that carries a lot of water. Maybe he’ll loan it to us.”

  “You think everyone would fit in it?”

  “It might take two trips, but it would beat the alternative.”

  “Try the radio and see if they’ll patch you through.”

  Elliott tried the radio, but they were still too far out. “How far do you think Mammoth is?” he asked.

  “Hard to say, the terrain is so different in the winter.” Cody looked out the front window trying to find a feature he recognized.

  There were seven ranger districts responsible for law enforcement in Yellowstone Park. For none of them to answer a distress call was almost unheard of. The fact that it was near a holiday couldn’t explain it. By now the station in Mammoth Elliott had talked to earlier, should have raised an alarm. What they didn’t realize was a lot was going on in the world outside the boundary of Yellowstone. They continued north in a race against time. Elliott edged the dozer up to twenty-two miles per hour. Snow was flying from the tracks.

  The trip from Norris Junction to Mammoth was the longest stretch with no facilities. They had no choice but to drive until they could reach someone on the radio. Finally, they heard a message on the radio coming from Park Headquarters. It appeared to be a computer driven announcement regarding road conditions in and out of the park.

  After the message stopped for a few seconds, it started to repeat. The message shocked them.

  “I can’t believe they could evacuate Mammoth by helicopter and not evacuate the rest of the park,” Elliott said. “It doesn’t make sense.”

  “It does if they surveyed the rest of the park and found it devastated. We’ve had no communication and as far as we know, we may be the only survivors.”

  “But they knew we had taken the snow taxis to go after you.”

  “If they sent a helicopter looking for you what would they find? Two abandoned snow taxis and minus forty-degree weather. You do the math. If they didn’t see any survivors, they weren’t going to risk losing more people in the search.”

  “The report said all roads in and out of Yellowstone are blocked by slides from the earthquakes.”

  “We may be able to use the Ranger Station radio to call for help,” Elliott said.

  “Let’s make that our first stop. Maybe we can reach the Sheriff in Bozeman.”

  “I still have my friend in Bozeman,” Elliott said. “We need to get some helicopters in here. I can’t believe they searched the park and found no survivors. They missed us, they could have missed others.”

  “I can’t argue that,” Cody said. “It doesn’t add up. We need to get hold of someone who can answer some questions.”

  It was 3:23 in the afternoon when Elliott stopped the vehicle in back of Park Headq
uarters. As Cody had expected, the back door was open and he and Elliott ran straight for the ranger’s office. After finding the door locked, Cody used his elbow to smash the glass in the door.

  “Next, you’ll be hot wiring cars,” Elliott said.

  “I’m thinking a helicopter,” Cody said. He knew where the key to the helicopter was kept, but it might require another break in to his old office.

  The message being broadcast on a continuous loop was coming from the radio in the Chief Ranger’s office. Elliott cut it off and turned to an emergency channel. He got no response. Cody checked for any equipment they might use to communicate, but found nothing.

  “So, it appears they evacuated the town after you took off last night,” Cody said. “They must have tried to evacuate the rest of the park.”

  “Where are you going with this?” Elliott asked. “I thought we already went over that.”

  “Why did they leave the road report on the radio? If they thought the park was evacuated, why not just lock up and leave?”

  “I wouldn’t burn too much energy trying to figure out their logic. It’s probably protocol in the Ranger Manual.”

  “I know where there’s a satellite phone,” Cody said, walking over shattered glass as he left the Chief Ranger’s office. He ran down the hall and tried the door to his office and found it open. He pulled open a file cabinet drawer and pulled out a satellite phone. He turned it on. “Battery’s good.” He handed it to Elliott.

  After three attempts, Elliott reached one of his friends in a bar in Bozeman. “Peter, I thought I’d find you there.” He switched to speaker so Cody could hear.

  “Elliott, you son-of-a-bitch, I thought you’d be collecting an early Christmas present from your new lady friend.”

  “I’m in Yellowstone.”

  The phone went silent.

  “Are you still there?”

  “The news said Yellowstone was evacuated. They have a fifty-mile area around the park on red alert for volcanic activity.”

  “We have a dozen or so survivors who need rescue.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “I need for you to find Jack Junaman.”

  “Shit, I haven’t seen Jack since he ran off with that black witch. What’s her name, doesn’t matter, I’m not sure he’s still in the area.” Elliott recalled the black witch he was talking about cracked a bottle of Budweiser over Peter’s head when he had made a pass at her.

  “Her name is Irma, and I’m sure Jack is still in Bozeman. I need for you to find him and give him this number.”

  “You know it’s Christmas Eve. He could be out of town visiting relatives. You know there’s a lot of problems in the country.”

  “I’m in the middle of one. Who’s bartending, let me talk to them.”

  “Mary! He wants to talk to you. Merry Christmas, Elliott, here’s Mary.”

  Elliott put his hand over the phone. “If it’s Mary Bennett, she may hang up on us.”

  “Mary speaking.”

  “Mary, don’t hang up, it’s Elliott Post.”

  “If you’re calling to wish me a Merry Christmas you can take your greeting and shove it up your ass.”

  “Mary, I need your help. Can you call the Sheriff and give him this number? Better yet, give him this message. Fourteen people trapped in Yellowstone and need immediate help.” The phone went dead.

  “I think she hung up on me.”

  “That’s the best you can do, call a bar and tell a drunk and a former girlfriend and tell them we need rescued? Jesus, Elliott, she probably hopes the place will blow up with you in it.”

  “She’s a good woman. I think she’ll come through.”

  “Give me the phone.” Cody took it from him and called the airport in Bozeman. He had the number memorized from the many flights he had taken from there. He got a busy signal.

  He grabbed a phone book and dialed a number. “Cody Enterprise. If you know the number of the person you are calling you may…”

  Cody put his hand over the phone. “The local paper should have someone on duty. He punched a button and the call was transferred to another line that began to ring endlessly.

  “This isn’t going to work,” he said, handing the phone to Elliott. “I’m going to get the helicopter and start bringing them out two at a time.”

  “That’s going to take forever,” Elliott said.

  “I’m not waiting for a miracle. Someone had to tell them there was danger of volcanic activity. We’ve got to get everyone in one place and find a way out.” Cody reached for a key hanging on the wall.

  “Wait a minute. You’re going to need to refuel and that’s a long way. I can gas up the dozer and meet you back at the road maintenance shed at Norris Junction. There’s plenty of fuel for the dozer there and we can bring them all out.”

  “That makes sense. I’ll meet you at Norris in two hours,” Cody said. “I should have most of them transferred by the time you arrive.” The plan made sense. Transporting people two at a time by helicopter all the way to Mammoth would take too much time and where was he going to get aviation fuel? He worried that they had made a fatal error in bringing the dozer to Mammoth in hopes of getting a rescue helicopter. They were running out of daylight and out of time.

  Cody lifted off into clear skies, but knew the rescue would become increasingly more difficult as the daylight hours diminished. It was 4:12 when he landed at Madison. He found everyone crowded together in the store. The heat had been off for over an hour. No one came out to greet him. He ran inside and quickly gave them an overview of his plan. It wasn’t necessary for him to mention the urgency of the situation. No one wanted to stay where they were.

  “Wendy, you and the kids are going with me first.”

  “What about me?” Blake asked. “I should go with them.”

  “Women and kids first. Try and stay warm until I get back. It should be twenty minutes tops.”

  “You can’t fly us back to Mammoth?” Nathan asked.

  “I don’t have time to explain. I’m transferring everyone to Norris about ten miles north of here, but I can only take two adults at a time. You can help organize, women first, then the men.” He ushered Wendy and the kids into the helicopter. He strapped Wendy in the only seat and used a rope to tie the children in. “Wrap that scarf around your face,” he said to Tyler. This is going to be a cold trip.”

  The helicopter had a single turbine engine, a large Plexiglas bubble nose, and no doors. The landing gear consisted of two skids. The elevation of Yellowstone was close to the operating ceiling for the helicopter, so weight was critical. Two adults would be pushing it.

  He lifted off on the first trip to Norris. Cross winds caused the small helicopter to bounce and twist as they rose above the treetops. Wendy screamed, scaring Tyler and Meghan and both joined her. Cody wrestled for control. He ignored the panic and cries from Wendy and the kids. In ten minutes they were setting down in a whirlwind of snow just outside the road maintenance shed in Norris. One light in the building was still shining. He powered down the turbine and heard the generator clattering in the background. He got out and guided her into the building.

  “Keep out of the wind. I’ll be back with others in a few minutes. Elliott will be arriving in about two hours to bring all of you out. Keep out of the wind.” He spooled up the turbine and lifted off. It was already getting dark and he had four more trips ahead of him.

  Twenty minutes earlier in Madison, Lisa had watched Cody come and go so quickly she didn’t have a chance to speak to him. She approached her father. “Dad, what is happening? He was here less than a minute.” She looked concerned. “Is it true he’s only moving us to another location, not out of the park?”

  “He’s moving us to a safer place where we can be picked up. I’m going to send your mother and Susan out next, then you and Catherine.”

  “Send Blake instead of me. I want to wait and go with you,” Lisa said.

  Nathan had the women waiting when Cody landed ag
ain so he wouldn’t have to waste time shutting down and starting up the helicopter. He knew time was precious and every stopping and starting wasted fuel.

  With his mother and Hilda aboard, Cody said, “Hold on, it’s a short flight.” The turbine screamed and the blades whipped up the snow. In an instant they were off the ground.

  When they arrived in Norris, the shadows were dark and long. He could see the light from the open door of the maintenance building. Wendy was standing by the door and shielded her face from the blast of wind from the rotor as he set down. He reached over and unsnapped the wide belt that held Hilda while his mother untied the rope securing her. He noticed Hilda was crying.

  “Mom, take care of her. I need to run.” As soon as they had cleared the rotor, he lifted off again. He checked his watch. The snow had started falling and the overcast sky made it unusually dark for the hour. He knew the each of the remaining flights would become riskier.

  By the time he reached Madison on the first leg of the third trip it was dark and there was no moon. Nathan had anticipated the problem darkness would bring and had a dozen flashlights positioned in the snow shining up in a circle. He had stuffed his pockets with extra batteries and had nearly every flashlight in the store in use, either in the hands of the others, or now making a landing circle for Cody to hone in on.

  Cody saw the circle and smiled through weathered and cracked lips. He settled down in the center of the circle. He noticed the snow was falling harder. His hands and feet were numb, his face burned from the cold even though he had goggles and a ski mask pulled down. Catherine and Blake were in the next load, because Blake had insisted he needed to be with his family. Catherine was terrified of getting in the helicopter. She couldn’t function and Blake wasn’t helping. Cody said. “Blake, help her in.”

  “I should get the seat,” Blake said.

  “She gets the seat, you stand behind her.”

  Blake started to say something, but Cody interrupted before he got a word out of his mouth. “Argue with me and you will be the last one to come out of here,” Cody yelled above the whine of the engine.

  Blake lifted Catherine into the seat. “You stand behind and tie that rope around you and Catherine.” He reached over and snapped the safety belt over Catherine’s lap.