Escaping Yellowstone

by Larry LaVoie

  “Why do I have to stand?”

  “You can get the hell out and I’ll take Mike instead,” Cody said angrily.

  Blake got the message and wrapped the rope around Catherine’s torso and around his waist. Cody watched, and as soon as he tied it off, revved the turbine and the craft lifted off in a flurry of snow. He saw Lisa standing by her father. He knew every trip he made decreased the odds of saving all of them. The weather was changing rapidly and he was already running low on fuel.

  Cody had the GPS coordinates for the two locations memorized. He didn’t have auto pilot, making it necessary to watch the instrument closely. As he approached Norris a strong wind blew him off course and he banked the helicopter making another attempt to find the building. As he dropped close to the ground, a whirlwind of snow put him in white out conditions and the chopper dropped to the snowpack hard enough to bury the struts. The spine jarring drop caused Cody to bite his lip. He tasted the warm blood and realized how cold his lips were. “Everyone okay?” He had no choice, but to kill the engine. The rotor was too close for anyone to get out without the risk of decapitation.

  He unsnapped the safety belt around Catherine and told Blake to wait until the rotor stopped spinning.

  “Sorry for the rough landing.” He pointed to the shed. By now a path of packed snow had formed and a stream of light made it clear the direction they needed to go. Again, Wendy was standing in the door with their mother this time. Susan met Catherine halfway and helped her into the shed.

  Cody checked his fuel gauge and calculated how many more trips he could make. He was well aware the maintenance shed didn’t have the aviation fuel the helicopter required. If he couldn’t make three more trips, all of them wouldn’t be saved. Lisa, Nathan, George, Mike, and Chase still remained in Madison. He lifted off and watched the ground quickly disappear.

  In Madison, the snow was coming down heavily. He couldn’t see the circle of light until he was nearly on the ground. He set down and motioned to Nathan.

  “You and Lisa go next,” Cody yelled.

  “I’ve already told Mike and Chase, they’re next,” Nathan said. “Let’s stick to the plan.” His father was standing beside Nathan. Cody nervously glanced at the fuel gauge. He saw Mike coming toward him bending over to avoid the spinning rotor.

  “Hurry up. One of you in the seat; the other behind it.” He tossed the rope to Chase who let Mike take the seat. “Get behind Mike and tie yourself in.”

  “Make it quick,” Cody snapped.

  Chase was still cinching the rope tight as Cody lifted off. “Wait,” he protested struggling to get the knot tied.

  Cody hovered for a few seconds so Chase could finish tying the rope. He nosed down and banked sharply intent on making the shortest possible route to Norris. All the while, he kept one eye on the fuel gauge the other on GPS. The single flood light in the nose of the craft showed the snow blowing from the bows of the lodge pole pine as he skimmed just above the tree tops. At Norris he set down, more gently this time, but anxious to get back in the air. As soon as Mike and Chase had cleared the spinning prop, Cody lifted off.

  The snow kept falling in Norris and the wind had picked up. Visibility was zero and every move he made was in response to the instruments. It was growing more difficult to keep the helicopter on course, and even worse he was burning fuel he needed for two more trips. When he set down he missed the makeshift landing spot and one of the struts sank into soft snow causing the craft to tilt. It required him to shut down the engine again.

  Cody got out and gathered George, Lisa and Nathan in a circle.

  “I don’t have the fuel for two more trips. I’m going to try and take four of us out this time. It’s the only way we’ll all get out. I have to tell you it’s a big risk. We may not make it.” Cody looked each of them in the eye. “Dad?”

  George said, “I know these things are always designed with a safety factor. Let’s hope we’re not exceeding it. How do you want to do it?”

  Cody looked at Nathan.

  “I have to trust you on this. If you’re that low on fuel, we don’t have a choice.”

  “I’m in,” Lisa said. “Let’s get out of here, I’m cold.”

  Cody had Nathan sit in the seat with Lisa on his lap. George stood behind the seat hunched over. They wrapped the rope around them. Cody got in and started the engine. The fuel gage was on empty.

  Cody tapped the fuel gauge. The needle was in the red zone. He lifted off concentrating on keeping the helicopter from capsizing in the cross-wind. He could feel the sluggish response from the extra weight. He ascended above the trees.

  “We’re going here,” he yelled above the whine of the turbine and the thumping of the rotor. He pointed to the GPS. They had been in the air five minutes when a warning light came on and an alarm sounded at the same instant.

  Lisa and her father, both having their pilot’s license, recognized the sound as one they never wanted to hear while they were in the air. They braced for what they knew would be an emergency landing. George had one hand on the roof and the other on the back of the seat. There was no mistaking it, they were going down.

  Cody nosed the craft forward and brought it down as close as he dared to the treetops. He no longer was looking for the shortest line to Norris, now he was looking for a way out if they survived. “Brace for a rough landing,” he yelled. In the storm it was difficult to see where he was. Below him, in the single light shining from the nose of the helicopter, he saw only white. He didn’t know whether it was snow blowing off the tops of the trees or the storm. The engine stopped and he released the rotor gear in an effort to auto-gyro to the ground. For a moment it was eerily quiet. The wind was pushing them sideways. They were dropping rapidly. The rotor caught a tree and they fell, spinning wildly and hitting the snow with a dull thud.

  It was several minutes before Cody woke. Lisa was touching his face. He could see her blue eyes looking into his. A halo of light illuminated her head. “Am I dreaming?”

  Her face seemed to glow.

  “Cody, wake up,” Lisa said, patting his face with her mitten.

  As his eyes focused, Cody saw Nathan standing behind Lisa, his flashlight shining on the back of her head and in his eyes.

  “Are you okay?” Cody asked. “Where’s Dad?”

  “I’m fine,” Lisa said. “Dad cracked his knee. He says he’s okay. Your father hit his head on the roof, but he says he’s fine.”

  “How long have I been out?”

  “Only a few minutes. We got you away from the helicopter in case of fire, but it looks like that’s not a problem.”

  Cody sat up. “Help me up, we need to get out of here.”

  “How far are we from Norris?”

  Cody looked around. He had anticipated they might run out of fuel and took a route close to the road. He knew they would need markers if they were forced to complete the trip on foot.

  “Only a few miles.” He kept looking around. He took Nathan’s flashlight from him and swept the area. “There,” he said. He trudged over to a marker sticking out of the snow. He wiped the snow and checked the identification printed in black on the yellow marker.

  “They have the location printed on them just in case someone gets stranded and calls for emergency service,” he said. “Cool, they thought of that.” He read the numbers written on the pole. “We are three-point-two miles from Norris. We follow the markers, we’ll get there.” He pointed the light in the direction they needed to hike. He took a step and fell down.

  Lisa helped him up. “Are you sure you can walk?”

  Chapter 23

  Elliott was an hour into his trip back to Norris Junction when the satellite phone rang, breaking his concentration. Because the dozer required two hands to operate, he stopped the vehicle before slipping the phone from the breast pocket of his parka.

  “Elliott here.”

  “This is Gallatin County Deputy Sheriff Clarence M. Nolan,” a gruff voice said. “I received a strange cal
l from a Mary Bennett. She said you were trapped with some others in Yellowstone National Park? The park was evacuated last night.”

  “That girl is a real kick,” Elliott said. “I thought she’d blown me off.”

  “Pardon me. If this is a hoax, I got a hundred better things to do on Christmas Eve. My kids are expecting Santa Clause to come tonight and I’m still at the office.”

  “Don’t hang up. It’s true. We have fourteen people who are trapped in the park and are in danger for their lives.”

  “What’s your location?”

  “They’re gathering in the road maintenance shed at Norris. In about four hours we hope to have made it to Mammoth. Can you have a helicopter there to evacuate us?”

  “No way am I going to get a helicopter in there. All of our helicopters have been loaned to California for the evacuation of the coastal areas on account of the flooding.”

  “We have twelve adults and two young kids who will die in the next twenty-four hours if you don’t get us out. It’s forty below and we are experiencing major earthquakes.”

  “I’m not promising anything. Find someplace out of the weather. Tell us where you’ll be and I’ll see if I can put a party together. I’m not sure there’s another helicopter in the state, and because of a massive slide South of Gardiner, the roads are expected to be closed for at least a week.”

  Elliott was growing impatient with the excuses. “I’ve got to go. Get someone in here and call me back when you have good news.”

  “Wait.”

  “What?”

  “How do I know this isn’t a hoax? I can’t send a rescue party on the basis of an unverified phone call.”

  “Contact USGS and check out Cody Street. He’s the park geologist and he’s with the survivors. A massive quake destroyed Old Faithful Lodge. If that isn’t enough, check out Catherine Lancer, she works for the US Post Office in Mammoth. I’m telling you this is critical. We need help.”

  “Okay, good luck to all of you.”

  “Thanks,” Elliott said. He disconnected and stared at a red light blinking on the phone. What the hell does that mean? Written in tiny white letters below the light was, Low Battery warning.

  ***

  Norris Road Maintenance Shed

  Mike checked out the generator. Incredibly, the shed had plenty of electricity, but no means of heating. It was a large building with ample area for everyone to gather together away from a dump truck and a giant front loader, but the building was no better than taking refuge in a freezer. The temperature displayed on a large clock hanging above the entry door read - 39 degrees in a bright red digital display. He pulled Chase aside. “I saw a nature program on penguins in Antarctica. They kept from freezing by huddling together and rotating those on the outside inward from time to time. We need to find a way to keep us all from freezing to death.”

  “I know what you’re trying to do, Mike, but do you really think Blake will cooperate. He’s been fighting everything we try and do. He seems to be more interested in his own preservation than helping the rest of us.”

  “He’s only one man. We need to keep the children as warm as possible. At least we can make sure the rest of us are huddled together.” Mike pulled some candy bars from his pocket. “Pass these around. We need to keep our energy up.”

  “I’m going to build a barrel heater,” Mike said. “There’s a drum over there and we have plenty of diesel fuel.”

  Chase thought about it. He had considered a fire, but was afraid it might build up carbon monoxide in the air. “You think there’s enough ventilation and we won’t burn the place down?”

  “This place has more holes in it than a sieve,” Mike said. “I have some experience with barrel heaters.” He was glad he could contribute to those who had saved him. He dumped the trash out of the drum and rolled it out into an area large enough for everyone to gather around. Chase filled a five-gallon container with diesel and set it next to the barrel. “This could be dangerous if it gets out of control.” He still wasn’t certain how they were going to construct a stove.

  “I saw a hammer and some screwdrivers on that workbench over there,” Mike said. “We need to poke some holes around the circumference near the bottom for air. As long as it’s free to breath it should work. Think of it as a large can of Sterno.”

  “Sterno. I remember it as canned heat. You are either a camper or a hiker.”

  “Both when I was younger.”

  Using the hammer and screw driver as a punch, they poked holes around the circumference about six inches from the bottom.

  “Okay, let’s give it some fuel,” Mike said, picking up the can and pouring its contents into the drum. He took out a match, made sure it was burning and tossed it into the drum. Chase was backing away in anticipation of an explosion, but Mike stood fast. The diesel caught fire and flames climbed the inside and danced lazily around the top of the drum. Soon the side of the drum was radiating heat.

  “Where’d you learn to do that?” Chase asked.

  Mike smiled. “I was homeless for a while a lifetime ago. I never thought it would come in handy.”

  “I’ll get the others.”

  An hour later, when Elliott pulled up in the dozer, everyone was gathered around the drum at the far end of the building. No one had noticed his arrival.

  “You all ready to go?” Elliott called out from behind them.

  Chase looked at Mike. “Cody was coming back here, wasn’t he? He wouldn’t have flown ahead to Mammoth.”

  “Cody’s still making flights? He should have finished by now,” Elliott said. “How long has it been?”

  “None of us were keeping track,” Chase said. “We’re still waiting for Lisa, Nathan and George.”

  “You guys look pretty cozy here,” Elliott said. “I’m going to look for him.”

  Blake approached Elliott. “Wouldn’t it be better for you to wait here? There are more of us here than out there and you have the only transportation out of here.”

  “You make me sick,” Elliott said. “Anyone want to go with me?”

  “I’ll come,” Chase said.

  Inside the dozer, Elliott said, “I got a call from the Deputy Sheriff in Bozeman. He says all the helicopters in the state have been sent to save the people in California. He was going to check around and see if there are any left to come for us.”

  Chase said, “Why can’t they send help by ground? They keep the roads open year around.”

  Elliott shook his head. “All the roads have been blocked by slides. The deputy says it will be a week. They have evacuated the park. It looks like we are all that’s left.”

  They had traveled less than a mile. “I never thought Hell would be this cold,” Chase said, looking out at the blizzard. “Hey, what’s that?”

  Four people were waving frantically in front of them.

  “Holy shit,” Elliott said, bringing the dozer to an abrupt stop. “I nearly ran over them.”

  Chase got out and helped Lisa get in followed by Nathan and George. He hugged Cody. “God, I’m glad to see you.”

  Cody didn’t say anything. He climbed in slowly. Chase got in behind them, closed the door. “You were late. What happened to the helicopter?”

  “Cody hit his head when we crashed,” Lisa said. “We were overloaded but able to fly until we ran out of fuel about a mile down the road. Cody got us to the road so we could find our way out, but… Chase, you and Elliott are a godsend. I didn’t have a clue how much farther we had to go or if we would ever find you in this weather.”

  Chase smiled. “Believe me everyone will be thrilled we found you.”

  Cody sat with his back against the wall of the dozer, bouncing roughly in the canvas seat as they backtracked to Norris. Suddenly the dozer shook violently, throwing George, Nathan and Cody out of their seats. Chase managed to hang on to a strap, but slid slowly from his seat. Elliott remained in the driver’s seat, held in place by his seat belt. He was looking down at the icy road through the windshield
. The dozer was tipped up on its nose, the blade was the only thing that kept it from flipping over on its top. Elliott started to laugh. The engine was still running, but at the unusual angle, Elliott knew he had to act fast, before something mechanical failed. He brought the blade down digging into the snow until the vehicle rocked back and landed hard on its tracks. He was still laughing when he checked on the passengers.

  None of them saw the humor in the situation, especially Cody, who knew what had caused the incident: Another major earthquake. In the history of the park, he couldn’t remember a time when as many major earthquakes had happened so close together.

  ***

  Norris Maintenance Building, same time

  All those in the maintenance shed were gathered around the drum when the earthquake struck. The fire in the makeshift stove had done little to raise the temperature inside the large open room. Staying close to it was the only relief the survivors had from the frigid air. With hands extended out towards the heat, everyone struggled to keep their footing. The drum began to bounce across the concrete floor. Wendy grabbed her children and pulled them out of the way. As it vibrated along the floor the fuel began to spill out the air vents igniting a river of diesel along the floor. It continued to bounce until it hit the wall with enough force to splash the fuel out of the drum and up the wall catching the building on fire.

  Incredibly, none of those warming themselves were caught in the conflagration. It was impossible for anyone to stay on their feet. Wendy and the kids hit the floor hard, and then Catherine piled up beside them. Hilda and Blake ended up on top of Susan and Mike and Nathan. They were barely aware of what had happened, when the lights arced out and the roof beams splintered, sounding like gunfire, broke and fell in an avalanche of snow and sheet metal.

  Again, they escaped serious injury, saved by the heavy construction equipment that kept the roof from crashing all the way to the floor. The building continued to burn.