by Hunt, Jack
“Two. My daughter is eight, blond and wearing a red outfit, and my son is ten. They were here a minute ago.”
“Get back, I’ll look.”
He darted off into the crowd, frantically searching for anything that was red. It didn’t take him long to spot the girl standing by herself crying her eyes out. “Mommy!” she yelled.
Logan barreled towards her and scooped her up. “Where’s your brother?”
Through tears she told him that she couldn’t find him. Logan scanned his field of vision for a few seconds but he had no other choice than to sprint away as the wave was nearly upon them.
As the crowd hurried away from the shore, it was like a stampede. People tripped and were trampled underfoot. The elderly, and those who couldn’t move fast looked on in horror accepting their fate. It all happened in a matter of minutes. Logan looked back as he saw boats disappear below the wave, crushed by its power and weight. The color of the water looked different, almost a dirty brown, a stark difference from the clear waters that he was used to seeing.
The wave obliterated the dock, smashing it into pieces as the water spread inland. Those that were fast enough managed to escape into the surrounding forest. Logan looked back at the water as it washed into the parking lot, drowning people and lifting and swallowing vehicles like toy cars. All around him the sound of people’s screams filled the air.
“Don’t stop!” he yelled to those who stopped running to watch.
Carrying the young girl he raced deeper into the forest until the sound of water crashing behind them stopped. When he cast a glance over his shoulder for a third time, the water drew back into the lake. He could now see the extent of the devastation. Mangled bodies, crumpled cars, boats capsized, parts of the wooden dock scattered throughout the lot and signposts snapped like twigs. He put the girl down and she took off running. “Hey!”
Before he could get any further words out of his mouth the young girl’s mother scooped her up, crying into the crook of her neck. The relief would be short-lived once she learned that her son was gone.
He cautiously walked towards the lot to get a better look. Crouching down where the asphalt met the grass, he touched the water left behind and brought it up to his nose. It smelled like sulfur. “Oh shit.”
“Logan,” Catherine cried out as she slipped through the crowd.
He turned as she ran over. “Come with me.”
“Where we heading?”
“I want to see that fire.”
They sprinted across what remained of the parking lot. It looked like a tsunami had ripped through the area. The marina buildings were destroyed, and in the distance they could see that the campsite hadn’t been spared. Tents lay tattered, and RVs had been dragged and rolled. The lake had swept many to their deaths. Others had climbed trees. They jogged around the carnage and looked on at the horrified faces of those who’d survived until they came upon a ranger who had driven into the area to assist.
“I need to take your truck,” Logan said to the ranger. “And get these people out of here.”
“Send them where?” the confused ranger asked.
“North. We’re putting this area of the park on evacuation notice.”
“Evacuation?”
Logan couldn’t say the entire park as he needed more information and right now they didn’t have much to go on except a few abnormalities. There was a good chance that what they were witnessing was just the precursor. Within seconds they were peeling out of the campground heading around the lake on Highway 20.
Logan smashed the accelerator as they careened around a bend.
“Slow down,” Catherine said.
He reached for his phone and tried to get a hold of Superintendent Harris but it just went to voicemail so he left a message.
“William, I need you to call me immediately. Hundreds of people are dead, the lake has flooded the mainland and the smell of sulfur is in the air. I need you to—”
The phone went dead and he looked at it. “Shit!” It needed charging. He tossed it on the seat.
“You can use mine.” Catherine fished around in her jacket then looked back at him. “Oh man. It must have fallen out.”
Logan smashed his fist against the steering wheel and accelerated hard heading towards the southeast. As they got closer they were able to get a clear picture of what was happening. On the east side of the road that circled the lake, a large portion of the forest was on fire. Ranger vehicles were turning back tourists who were trying to head that way. Logan drove around them turning on his lights so they wouldn’t get stopped until he managed to get close to where the fire management team was shooting ropes of water into the forest and soaking the surrounding area to prevent flames from spreading. A wall of thick black-and-white smoke stretched across the landscape making it hard to see.
“Wait here,” Logan said as he jumped out and went to the trunk and retrieved a mask to cover his face. Flakes of ash drifted past his field of vision as he jogged over to the fire crew who were doing their best to control the hellish fire. Fires were a common danger in Yellowstone. Most of them were started by lightning, and only a small percentage by humans.
“Where’s the chief?” Logan asked a firefighter. He pointed to a guy barking orders. The firefighters were geared up in yellow jackets, dark pants, boots and white or yellow hardhats. They had formed a line and were raking the ground. A fire break was often created to act as a barrier to slow or stop wildfires. They would overturn the ground and cut through the undergrowth in the hopes of slowing or smothering the fire using the soil as a natural barrier.
The officer of fire management, otherwise known as the chief, was dishing out orders and overseeing the chaos when Logan approached. “You want to tell me what we’ve got here?”
“A nightmare.” He bellowed out a few more orders to his men as if Logan wasn’t even there before looking back at him. “What can I do for you?”
A gray and white coat of ash covered the landscape and the smoke had blocked out what little sun was in the sky.
“Any idea how this started?”
He knew there hadn’t been any lightning or rain for the past few days, which meant either someone had started it, or something had. He was hoping, praying even, that the chief would tell him that a ranger had spotted kids playing with matches in the area but instead he shrugged. “No idea right now. We can’t get close enough to even see what is going on. Whatever it is, it’s bad as this is spreading fast and the wind isn’t causing it.”
“Who notified you?”
“A ranger by the name of Dawson.” He pointed to a truck farther down.
Logan took off to get some more details. Although what had happened with the lake was enough justification to evacuate people within the surrounding area, he had to know what had caused the fire. If the caldera was responsible, that might give them enough proof to overturn the hesitation of his boss and the superintendent.
It was hard to see because of all the smoke. If he wasn’t wearing the mask he wouldn’t have been able to breathe. He could hear the crackle of wood as tongues of fire spread across many acres of woodland consuming it like a disease. A column of smoke poured up above the forest billowing out and darkening the sky. Once Logan reached the ranger who was sitting in his truck he was out of breath. He placed a hand on the side of the truck and took a second to catch his breath.
“Dawson.”
He turned, his face and ranger’s outfit blackened by smoke. “Yeah?”
“You were the first on scene. Did you see what started it?”
He nodded. He looked as if he was just about to tell him when they heard a large explosion, and saw several firefighters running out of the forest, one of them covered in flames. He dropped and one of his colleagues threw a large silver blanket over him to extinguish the fire. The fire swirled and twisted devouring the trees and everything in its path.
Dawson looked on with a slack jaw.
Shock set in.
“Dawson. W
hat did you see?”
“I… I was taking a group through the forest on a tour when the ground started shaking.” He looked visibly shaken as he said it. He blew out his cheeks and inhaled deeply as if struggling to get air or reliving the moment in his mind. “The next second it split open. It happened so fast. Four hundred, maybe, five hundred foot fissure? It stretched across the forest floor then split wide, maybe fifteen feet.” He wasn’t even looking at Logan when he said it. “I tried to help them but it was too late. Some of the visitors lost their balance and fell into the gap. I…” He dropped his chin. No tears fell but shock had got the better of him. Logan placed a hand on his shoulder and thanked him. He waved over a couple medics and told them to get him out of there. He wasn’t going to be of use to anyone in this state.
Armed with that new information he dashed back to the chief of fire and asked to use his phone. He tried again to get through to the superintendent but didn’t have any luck.
“Damn it. Where are you?”
Catherine was patiently waiting for him when he returned. He ripped off the mask and hopped in, firing up the engine. The tires spun wildly as he reversed out and did a U-turn.
“What did you find out?”
“The earth split open. The heat from the ground. That’s what caused this fire. We need to get back to Mammoth and have them contact the National Guard, and put the entire park on evacuation notice.”
“I need to find my son.”
Logan looked over at her as the truck roared down the highway. As much as he wanted to reassure her, he couldn’t. The park was too vast and if this disaster had occurred here, what other tragedies had happened in the park? Overwhelmed by the situation he headed back to the campground and searched for another ranger to use their phone. Catherine told him he’d have more success trying to reach the USGS team. As long as they were aware of the situation they could handle it from there on out.
“You trust her?”
“She might be a bitch but there is one thing that she values more than anything else — her own life.”
“No I mean, do you think she’d make the call?”
“She’ll have to.”
Ten minutes earlier, Rebecca had been talking to one of the lead scientists from NASA about the project to drill down and cool the area around the magma chamber. While she didn’t make it clear to Catherine, she would have been lying to say she didn’t have concerns surrounding the task.
It was touted as a three billion dollar project, and one that hadn’t come about without scrutiny. Drilling into Yellowstone had been one of several dangerous solutions included in a report that she and higher-ups in the USGS had received several years ago. Even back then she thought it was a crazy idea. In her mind the potential for it to go wrong was huge. But unlike other projects she was involved in, this one was out of her hands. A year ago she’d learned the decision had been made by the NASA Advisory Council on Planetary Defense and as they got closer to the date of implementation they were told the park would be closed and communities in the area would be placed on alert.
None of that happened.
Since the proposal had been made, all talk of a date when drilling would commence went silent. Rebecca concluded that the idea had been scrapped.
It hadn’t.
It was only when the increased activity of geysers in the park made headlines that she began to hear through the grapevine that NASA had decided to move ahead with the drilling project and had received the go-ahead from the president himself. Again, she assumed they would clear the park.
They didn’t.
“Run that by me. Why hasn’t the park been cleared?”
David Parkinson was the lead scientist heading up the project.
“It would have attracted too much media attention and then turned into a political fiasco and the president wanted to avoid that,” David said.
“But you can’t be sure that the events in the park aren’t being caused by this drilling.”
“It’s highly unlikely. We haven’t penetrated the magma chamber and there is only a small percentage that is actually molten lava inside. Seismic studies have shown us that it’s mostly solid, made up of crystals that form as magma cools. So even if it did erupt we don’t expect there to be any…”
Before he could finish what he was saying, the ground started to shake.
Rebecca latched on to one of her team members in front of her. She was inside a trailer that was being used as a command post. It was full of monitoring equipment and about eight NASA workers. David shot out of the trailer just in time to see the ground begin to crack. People began yelling, and Rebecca moved across the trailer and hung on to a table, fearing for her life.
“Turn it off!” someone yelled. She couldn’t tell if it was David or someone else.
Everyone inside that trailer hung on for dear life as the ground shook and the sound of rock splitting dominated. She had visions of the trailer being swallowed and her last moments on earth being burned alive.
No sooner had the earthquake started than it stopped and the only sounds that could be heard were men yelling outside and drilling. She glanced up at the seismic monitor and watched as the activity decreased, then increased, then dropped off again.
“What strength was it, Kyle?”
“5.2.”
Rebecca moved quickly to the door telling them to follow her as she exited the trailer searching for David. That’s when her phone started ringing. She glanced at the caller ID. She didn’t recognize it but answered it.
“Rebecca, it’s Catherine. I need you to listen to me.”
Chapter 18
It was the stench of smoke carried on a northwest wind that reached them first. Billy was the first to notice. The sun had begun to wane behind the trees when Billy stepped outside to have a cigarette. They’d already stashed the truck in the forest and covered it to avoid being spotted. He’d promised the kid they would drop him off on their way out and that despite his animosity for his mother, it was best he stay with her. Despite all their flaws, and the initial idea to keep him as a form of insurance, they weren’t assholes and they understood she was probably going out of her mind with worry at that very minute. Leaning against the porch post, Billy lit a cigarette and looked out at the final remnants of another July day. He lifted his nose and sniffed. At first he thought it was just cigarette smoke but then he noticed the faint glow of orange beyond the pines. “Hey, Wyatt.”
“Yeah?” Wyatt said from inside the cabin.
“Come take a look at this.”
Wyatt muttered something to Jordan and strolled out.
Billy gave a nod in the direction of the glow. “Does that look like fire to you?”
His eyes widened and Wyatt squinted then nodded.
“I’ll get the truck. You get the kid.”
He dropped his cigarette and stomped it out before moving at a quick pace away from the cabin. It wasn’t uncommon to see fires in Yellowstone but he knew enough about wildfires to understand the threat. Wildfires were erratic. One minute they could be heading in one direction and then the next going in the other. It wasn’t just the flames that were the problem, it was the smoke. More people died from smoke inhalation than being burned alive. A forested area like this was the worst place to be, and having only one or two routes out only added to the danger. It would be easy to become trapped.
Billy didn’t bother dragging off the large fir tree branches covering the truck. He hopped inside and gunned the engine, tearing out of there and heading to collect Wyatt who was now outside with Jordan in his grasp.
He slammed the brakes on and Wyatt tossed Jordan in, and they tore away leaving a cloud of dust in their wake.
“What’s going on?” Jordan asked.
“Shut up, kid,” Billy said yanking the wheel hard to the left and leaving the wild meadow. The truck bounced onto a dirt trail. With the trail’s northern passage cut off, they only had a few other options: go south and return to Highway 20 and hope to
God that the checkpoint for the rangers was gone, go west and try to find a way through the forest, or attempt to find some way around the mountainous region. It wouldn’t be easy as it was quickly becoming dark and some areas of the terrain were too dense for a truck, and too steep. Beads of sweat formed on Billy’s brow as they headed back the way they came, hoping to go through Fishing Bridge and then north on Grand Loop Road.
“Billy. What if…?” Wyatt didn’t need to finish what he was saying. Billy twisted in his seat and reached for the rifle and handed it to him.
Chapter 19
Roads in every direction around Yellowstone Lake were clogged with traffic as fear turned into panic and survivors with working vehicles tried to evacuate the area. Logan honked the horn but it was pointless — he was boxed in on either side by bumper-to-bumper vehicles. Some of them had tried to go east but the lake’s water had snapped trees and washed in capsized boats. Highway 20 was now blocked off, so drivers had taken Howard Eaton Trail, which cut through the western section of Yellowstone.
“We’re not getting through here. Damn it!” Logan said. He got out of the vehicle while Catherine watched visitors do the same. Many left behind their vehicles and decided to hike out. Already Catherine could see on a small scale the lack of organization that existed. There was no plan; it was every man for himself.
Her conversation with Rebecca had gone better than she thought it would.
Whatever hesitation she had before was now gone. She’d promised to contact the superintendent, update him on the latest changes and hope to God they could get the National Guard in to help with the fire soon.
“Logan!” she yelled but he couldn’t hear her. Catherine unbuckled and got out. The glow of fire nearby lit up the night and a heavy smoke wafting across the lake was already making visibility low and breathing difficult. She coughed, and then covered her mouth with a handkerchief. Squinting into the blur of ghostly white smoke, Logan emerged holding a radio up to his mouth.