by Perrin Briar
Zoe began cutting the salt beef into strips, from the top to the bottom. Some of the slices would have peanuts in, some wouldn’t. It would be a matter of luck. But it would only take one to have an effect.
Zoe added some washed leaves and plants she’d picked from the forest, and boiled vegetables from the previous day. Bryan took a sandwich and held it on his lap as he got comfortable on the grassy knoll.
Cassie felt a tightening in her chest, a moment of panic at what she had done. She saw the same panic on Aaron’s face, but to stop her father now would be to admit what they’d been up to. Before any other solution came to mind, her father bit into his sandwich. Cassie’s panic only heightened, and she stared, frozen and useless, as her father chewed the sandwich with relish and swallowed. Cassie watched with grim determination, prepared to spring into action at a moment’s notice.
“Cassie,” Zoe said, holding a sandwich out for her.
Cassie took it, but kept watching her father.
Finally he was done, and seemed to suffer no ill effects. Cassie was secretly relieved but at the same time disappointed at the lack of response.
Her father looked at her, his eyes shifting to the untouched sandwich in her lap.
“Aren’t you hungry?” he said.
She really wasn’t.
“Wrap it up for later,” Bryan said. “Knowing you, you’ll be hungry the moment we get to bed.”
Cassie gave him a weak smile. How could she have done something so heinous to someone – perhaps even the only – person who loved her? She wrapped her sandwich up in a broad leaf plucked from a tree.
Bryan coughed, a dry wheezy thing like at the end of a cold.
“Let’s get the tents up,” he said, scratching his throat like he’d been bitten. “After last night, I’m still exhausted.”
He coughed again. And again and again. Zoe slapped him on the back.
“Are you okay?” she said. “You must have eaten too fast.”
Bryan looked up. His eyes bulged out of his head, bloodshot red in the corners. He pulled at the fabric of his shirt. He was gasping, his airway blocked.
“Oh my God!” Zoe said, slapping him on the back harder.
She thought he had something stuck in his throat, and was doing more harm than good by striking him the way she was. Zoe got behind him in the Heinrich maneuver and exerted pressure under his ribcage. Bryan tried to bat her away, but she wouldn’t let go.
Cassie was frozen, staring at the horror she herself had produced. Finally she snapped out of it.
“He’s not choking!” she screamed. “He’s allergic to nuts! He must have eaten some.”
Zoe laid Bryan down on the ground.
“What do we do?” she said. “He’s going to die!”
“He’s got some medicine in his bag,” Cassie said. “Aaron, can you get it? It’ll be in the front pocket.”
Zoe sat with Bryan’s head in her lap.
“I didn’t know he was allergic!” she said. “He never told me! But there shouldn’t have been anything in his sandwich to cause this! Maybe it was something from the forest I picked? Oh, Bryan. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
Cassie’s heart went out to Zoe, but she reined it in. It didn’t help their cause to empathize. Aaron handed her the auto injector. She pulled the end off and pressed it to Bryan’s leg and held it there for ten seconds. Her father’s chest juddered and heaved and wheezed.
Cassie looked at the medicine in her hand.
“It’s not working!” she said.
She reached for another vial.
“No, wait!” Zoe said.
Bryan’s body began to move in smooth movements, and though his breath still rasped through his teeth, he was alive.
“We’ll need to set up camp,” Cassie said. “We’ll do it, if you keep an eye on Dad.”
“I will,” Zoe said. “Thank you.”
She ran her fingers through Bryan’s hair. He seemed calm now, his breaths relaxed.
“We have to tell them we did it,” Aaron said to Cassie as they erected their tents.
“No,” Cassie said. “We’ll never tell them. This is between you and me.”
“But-” Aaron said.
“No ‘but’,” Cassie said. “If I hear a word of it from anyone else, I’ll make your life a living hell.”
She couldn’t help looking over at the crumpled figure on Zoe’s lap. She had done this to him. She felt a pang of regret and then forced herself to turn away and concentrate on the tent.
30
IT WAS A FULL HOUR before Bryan’s face returned to its normal size. He was still unconscious, his breaths low and deep. They sat around him as the darkness pressed in on all sides.
Bryan’s eyes flickered open.
“Well, that wasn’t very pleasant,” he said.
“Bryan?” Zoe said.
She hugged him, the angle making it awkward.
“What happened to me?” Bryan said. “I thought I was a goner.”
“You almost were,” Zoe said. “You must have eaten a nut, or something like it.”
“That’ll explain it,” Bryan said.
“I’m so sorry,” Zoe said. “If I’d known I would never have picked random things in the woods.”
“Now you know,” Bryan said.
“If it wasn’t for Cassie you’d be dead,” Zoe said.
Bryan turned to Cassie.
“I knew I had you for a reason,” he said with a wry smile.
Cassie smiled back, but it was weak and without mirth.
“Try to rest,” Zoe said to Bryan.
“I can’t,” Bryan said. “I’ve got a camping trip to enjoy.”
He forced himself up into a sitting position.
“You should rest,” Zoe said. “We’ll head home once you’re all better again.”
“Home?” Bryan said. “You don’t think I almost died for nothing, do you?”
“Bryan…” Zoe said.
“I’m okay,” Bryan said in a calm voice. “Really. It would do me some good to get moving.”
“Get moving?” Zoe said. “It’s nighttime. We’ll be going to bed soon.”
Bryan peered around at the dark, at the twinkling dots in the sky.
“I must have slept for a long time,” he said, before lying back on his elbow. “Though I still feel a bit tired. I don’t think I’d wake if even a dinosaur got the drop on us.”
31
“IT’S NOT WORKING,” Aaron said.
“I tried almost everything I could think of,” Cassie said. “But none of it worked.”
“What else did you have?” Aaron said.
“Fireworks,” Cassie said. “I was going to put them under their tent.”
Aaron levelled his gaze at Cassie.
“You’re crazy,” he said.
“Now you know why I decided not to do it,” Cassie said.
“Looks like we’re going to get stuck as stepbrother and sister,” Aaron said.
“Never use those words,” Cassie said. “Ever. But there must be something we can do to stop them…”
But for the life of her, she couldn’t think what.
32
ZOE DIDN’T SLEEP well that night. She kept tossing and turning, her dreams centered on a man with his back to her, never turning around. He was on the phone, and she got the feeling he would forever be on it. There was a tapping noise, soft like a dog’s nails on a hardwood floor. Her conscious mind tried to match it with the image before her, but couldn’t.
Zoe started awake. She peered through puffy eyes at Bryan’s sleeping bag. It lay flat and discarded. Zoe arched her neck to look at the corners of the tent, as if Bryan had curled up there somehow, but he wasn’t there either.
She got to her knees, stretching her back and shoulders and arms. Her neck made popping sounds as she worked it around. She unzipped the front flap of her tent, poked her head out and peered around. Maybe he’d just gone to the toilet.
The sky was dark and the
stars were bright, the moon casting a silver tint on the world. The kids’ tent was silent too. But the tents’ shadows were cast twice, once by the moon, and once from another source, a bright glow that faded and returned again from behind their tents.
Zoe edged between the two shelters. There was a soft tapping noise – the one from her dream. Only now, she recognized it for what it was long before she saw Bryan at the keyboard of his laptop, hammering away at the keys.
“What are you doing?” Zoe said in a low voice.
Bryan started, and turned to look back at her.
“You made me jump,” he said. “I was just doing some work. I figured it was best to do it now as opposed to tomorrow when we would all be together.”
“This trip is meant to be a family trip,” Zoe said. “Not you working by yourself while the rest of us get closer.”
“I know,” Bryan said. “But I’ve got a company to run. And this fracking enterprise could have a huge impact for us.”
“I understand that,” Zoe said. “I helped work on it, remember. But if this is the way it’ll be when we live together I’m not sure I want that kind of family.”
“What do you mean?” Bryan said. “I’m a busy man. You knew that when you met me.”
“I know,” Zoe said. “But if you can’t keep away from work for just a few days to spend time with your family…”
“All right, all right,” Bryan said, turning the power off on his laptop. “It’s off.”
“I thought you were going to be more attentive than this,” Zoe said. “I thought we had a deal? We were going to use this time for us and our kids to get to know each other.”
“We are,” Bryan said.
“And you weren’t going to use your laptop or phone,” Zoe said.
“There was a very important meeting today and I need to keep tabs on it,” Bryan said
“Then why didn’t you tell me?” Zoe said. “Instead of creeping off into the night like that?”
Bryan held up his hands, prepared to make excuses, and then thought better of it.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I should have told you. But if we weren’t out in the sticks so much I could still get some work done.”
“Don’t blame me for this,” Zoe said.
“Why not?” Bryan said. “You’re the one who insisted on coming to the country. I wanted to go to a city.”
“And a grand old time we would have had too,” Zoe said. “We could have spent all our time separate and never get to know one another.”
They were silent a moment.
“We’ve had nothing but bad luck ever since we came on this trip,” Zoe said. “You almost died, and have more bites than I thought it was possible for one man to get. I’ve lost my bodyweight in liquids, and keep getting angry at you for bringing your tech. I think we’re cursed. Come on, let’s get some sleep.”
They went back into their tent, not saying a word, neither of them happy with the situation.
Ring ring! Bryan’s phone went off.
“It’s Rosetta,” Bryan said.
Zoe ground her teeth, defeated by her own rules. Bryan answered the phone and turned from the campsite, becoming the unflinching figure in her dream.
Was she being too harsh on him? He had dedicated his life to his company, after all. But he wanted to have a family, and for her to be a part of it. A person needed to know when to work and when to relax. It was the only way to have a relationship worth anything.
“Don’t let him get to you.”
Cassie stood at Zoe’s shoulder. Zoe was so lost in her thoughts she hadn’t heard her approach.
“Who?” Zoe said.
“My father,” Cassie said. “He’s always been more interested in his work than anything else. It’s what comes with the territory.”
“This trip was supposed to be about us all getting to know each other better,” Zoe said.
“For Dad, everything is really about work,” Cassie said. “Even the things that don’t seem like they are.”
“I’m sorry,” Zoe said. “I know you don’t like nature. And I made you come out here anyway.”
“It’s all right,” Cassie said. “I understand. But you’re never going to get to know Dad this way. You can’t force him into something he doesn’t want to do. That’s just the way he is.”
“But I shouldn’t need to force him,” Zoe said. “He should want to spend more time with us.”
Cassie shrugged.
“I know,” she said. “But that’s the way he is. Sometimes I think it’s the reason Mom ran away.”
Cassie looked at her feet.
“Sometimes I feel like doing the same,” she said.
Zoe blinked, surprised at Cassie’s honesty.
“This wasn’t a good idea,” Zoe said. “We should never have come here.”
Bryan’s footsteps approached.
“It’s nothing major,” he said, tucking his phone in his pocket. “They’re just halting drilling for a while. They encountered something hard at the bottom of the site.”
“Bryan, can we talk for a minute?” Zoe said.
“Sure,” Bryan said. “What about?”
“Not here,” Zoe said.
She walked away from the campsite and toward the stream. They sat down on rocks that faced one another.
“I think this trip was a bad idea,” Zoe said. “Let’s draw a line under it and go back to the city.”
“What happened?” Bryan said.
“I need someone present, someone who will be there when I need him,” Zoe said. “I don’t need a robot.”
“I’m not a robot,” Bryan said. “But you have to understand that I have a company to run.”
“Then I suggest you run it,” Zoe said. “But leave me and Aaron out of it.”
Bryan fixed her with an icy glare.
“Fine,” he said.
“Good,” Zoe said. “And just so you know, I think Cassie’s hurting. You need to give her more attention.”
“I’ll take care of my own child, thanks,” Bryan said, voice spiked with poison. “We’ll come back with you to the fracking plant, but we won’t be heading back in the same car. We’ll get a lift with Rosetta.”
“Great,” Zoe said. “Maybe then you can get more work done.”
They marched back to the campsite. Everything was packed up and ready to go.
“Where are we headed now?” Aaron said. “I was just checking the map and there’s a cool-looking gorge near here.”
“We’re going home,” Zoe said.
“Home?” Aaron said. “Why are we going-?”
“Get your bag,” Zoe said. “We’re going.”
Aaron and Cassie exchanged a glance. Aaron’s held concern, Cassie’s excitement.
“You too, Cassie,” Bryan said. “Pick up your bag. We’re going.”
“I’m already packed,” Cassie said.
She scooped up her backpack and slipped her arms through the straps.
The foliage behind them rustled and a pair of deer emerged. They did not look surprised to see people there. Their eyes were wide, and darted left and right with concern, as if sensing a predator close by. They took off into the forest with a single powerful leap. Birds rose from branches and took flight, darkening the sky.
“What’s going on?” Aaron said.
“Do you think they’re running away from something?” Zoe said.
“How can they be?” Bryan said. “They’re all running in different directions.”
Worms and centipedes wriggled out of the soil around their feet and crawled away. Squirrels leapt from tree trunk to tree trunk, claws scrabbling at the bark. Bryan was right. They were running in different directions, but they all had one thing in common…
“They’re running away from here,” Zoe said.
They all shared a look.
“Let’s get out of here,” Zoe said.
The ground shook. The weight of Cassie’s backpack made her lose her footing. She fell back. Br
yan stepped toward her, but he too was shaken and fell to his knees. Zoe ran to Aaron and held him in her arms. The world was shaking and alive with energy. The sky blazed yellow like it was on fire and crows cawed high overhead. For a moment Zoe thought the world was about to end.
“Is it an earthquake?” Bryan said.
“Not in this part of California,” Zoe said. “But it might be an intraplate quake.”
The world began to slow, still shaking, but calmer now.
“What was that?” Zoe said.
“I don’t know,” Bryan said. “But we’d best get out of here.”
They got to their feet, but before they could take another step there was a loud creaking noise and a loud thump as something massive struck the earth. Then another, and another, like a giant was running toward them.
Errrr-ghhhhh!
Zoe looked up to see a giant tree sway uncertainly in the air, and then fall to one side and slam into the earth, shaking the ground. No sooner had the tree fallen than another tree performed the same ritual and it too pummeled the earth. The rocks around them began to dance, like a plucked guitar string, vibrating in place. Even the large boulders began to quiver. Then they sank into the earth.
Zoe’s eyes widened at the realization of what was taking place. She had studied them for years, analyzing dozens of reports and videos, but she had never experienced one herself before. Until now.
“Sinkhole,” Zoe said, whisper thin. Then louder: “It’s a sinkhole! Run!”
They did, instinctively away from the falling trees and sinking rocks. The earth beneath their feet jittered like the earth in a gold miner’s pan. Their feet slipped and slid underneath them. They could barely keep their feet as the earth gave way.
Zoe looked back to see a gaping hole spreading toward them. She ran as fast as her feet could carry her. She held onto Aaron’s hand and pulled him forward with her, but they slipped and fell. Bryan was on them, lifting them up onto their feet without breaking stride.
And then the earth gave way completely, and it felt like they were wading through a snowdrift. The world roared around them like they were in a waterfall.