by E S Richards
What worried Mia was the fact that they would be driving right through the kill zone. She wondered whether the roadways would even still be there, unable to guess at what the blast had done. It was something on everyone’s mind as the drive continued, no conversation flowing through the vehicle as everyone focused on what was potentially to come. Mia made it out of Washington State and onto the highway in record time, nothing but open road now between them and where everything had all begun.
Signs of the eruption began to appear after only a couple of hours. For the time being the highway remained intact, though it felt like they were driving through a desert or a warzone of some kind. All the vegetation had been stripped back to its barest form, the trees without leaves or greenery and the grass dead and straw-like by the side of the road.
Dark patches charred the surroundings, left behind like condensation rings on a table in the absence of a coaster. It was eerily quiet too, not a single other car on the roads or bird in the sky. Things only got worse the farther they drove, everything becoming dark gray as it was covered in a thick layer of ash. It was like someone had dumped a beach in the middle of the country, nothing left uncovered by the dusty layer.
“This is crazy,” Jesse remarked from the back seat, pressed up against the window as he watched the world pass by outside.
“I can’t believe it,” Jadon whispered in response. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
The fields that lined either side of the road were filled with black sludge. They were so close to Yellowstone now that it was possible the pyroclastic flows had burned through this area, destroying everything in their path. That was what it looked like, at least. Everything had a charred and ashy look to it, the kind that was marked into the grass after a bonfire, only much, much larger. This hadn’t been some controlled bonfire to celebrate a birthday or another school year. This had been a raging wildfire, burning through every last living thing until nothing remained but a barren wasteland. No greenery, no trees or animals. Nothing lived.
Mia and Jorge looked at each other knowingly. They had seen it before. The only way Mia could think to describe it was like the first snowfall in winter that nobody expected. It was like that moment when you first pulled back your drapes and saw that blanket of white outside, covering everything with a thick layer of powder. Except this sort of powder wasn’t the type you could run outside and play in. This sort of powder was a dark charcoal black, staining everything with its color. You couldn’t just stomp it off your boots and retire inside in front of the fire, basking in the happy memories made outside. This powder was dark and deadly and had already killed millions of people across the country. It was not one that Mia wanted to see ever again, despite how she had devoted her life to it.
“What’s that?” Jorge suddenly sat forward, noticing something in the distance that looked strange to him. A huge tower—sort of like a crane—had been erected in the ground, pointing several hundred feet in the air. “That couldn’t be what I think is it, could it?”
Mia looked over at Jorge as he asked the question, the very same query filling her head. As much as she wanted to get home to Houston, now that they were so close to Yellowstone again, she wasn’t able to just drive past what they were looking at without giving it closer inspection.
“Do you think we should stop?” Mia asked, relaying to Jorge with her question and her expression that they were thinking along the same lines.
“I think so,” he nodded, edging forward in his seat as they approached the strange construction.
Marcus, Jesse, and Jadon exchanged confused expressions in the back, unaware what the volcanologists were thinking. They had no idea what the structure ahead was related to, but Mia and Jorge were very much on the same wavelength. They’d spoken about it before and Jorge, in particular, was almost beside himself at the chance to investigate their theory further. Fracking. They closed the distance quickly, one of the largest fracking sites that both Jorge and Mia had ever seen somehow erected just around the corner from Yellowstone. The ground here was unstable at best, so this operation could very well have been the catalyst for the eruption and both of them knew it.
“This is massive,” Jorge exhaled as Mia turned off the highway and started to bounce along a much newer and less maintained track. It had clearly been built only as access to the site, their car jiggling around on the suspension as it hopped along the dirty lane.
“There’s no way this was sanctioned,” Mia declared as she finally brought their car to a halt at the entrance to the site, the gates closed and locked with a thick chain. “The environmental board would never allow it.”
“Allow what?” Jadon asked from behind, leaning forward now that the car was stationary to ask the question of the scientists. “What is this place?”
“It’s a fracking plant,” Jorge explained. “A place where they drill down into the Earth and inject liquid into the rock in an attempt to draw out oil or natural gas.”
“Oh yeah,” Marcus remarked. “I’ve heard of that. There was a rally against it a couple of years ago.”
“Yeah,” Jorge nodded. “It’s a pretty disputed method. It causes more damage than good, in my opinion. This is the prime example.”
“Hold on,” Jadon latched on to what Jorge was suggesting. “You don’t think this plant was the cause of the volcano erupting, do you?”
“I do,” Jorge nodded. “Maybe. At the very least, I think it contributed to it somehow. Mia?” Jorge turned his attention back to his companion in the driver’s seat, Mia wrapping her scarf back around the lower portion of her face. “What are you doing?”
“Stay here,” Mia instructed. “I’m just going to go and check something.”
Climbing out of the car as quickly as possible so as to not let any toxic air inside, Mia stepped out onto the ashy ground and started walking towards the gate. There was no way she was going to get inside, she could see that clearly, but something that was attached to the gate had caught her attention. She powered toward it, her boots leaving heavy footsteps in the ash that had settled on the ground and her movement kicking a large amount of it up into the air around her.
Making sure to keep her breathing shallow and trying to cover her eyes as best she could, Mia finally reached the gate and wiped a covered forearm across the sign that was affixed to it.
Prohibited activity—forced closure effective immediately.
Mia peered at the date that was printed in much smaller font at the bottom of the sign and gasped. The shutdown of the fracking plant had been issued over three years ago, meaning the place should’ve been out of commission long before it could’ve caused Yellowstone to erupt. But something didn’t seem right. Looking through the gate, Mia noticed several things around the site that made her think its operations hadn’t been shut down three years ago. In fact, it looked like it had been active right up until the moment the volcano went off.
Analyzing what was in front of her, Mia quickly realized that she could be looking at the cause for the biggest natural disaster in her lifetime. If this fracking plant had caused Yellowstone to erupt, then there was someone, somewhere who could’ve prevented all of this from happening. Now all she had to do was find some evidence that pointed toward that person and figure out if—somehow—the world could’ve been saved.
Chapter 18
Linda was in a state. Her body was completely spent and drained; she had barely enough energy to keep her eyes open, yet she knew she had to. There was much more that Linda had to do now than just stay awake. She had to keep her husband alive too, and ensure that the two of them continued to survive until Chase and Riley came home. She didn’t even have the energy to worry about her grandchildren anymore. Linda just had to believe that they would come home eventually and until then, focus her efforts closer to home.
When Jerry had let his eyes close and his body collapse on the ground in Riley’s old bedroom, Linda had suddenly seen her life for what it was. Her entire existence revolved ar
ound her family. Without them she would be nothing. She couldn’t lose Jerry. She wouldn’t ever give up on him.
Old resuscitation lessons she’d had over thirty years ago very quickly came back to her, the old woman moving faster than she had in years and grabbing hold of her husband’s limp body. She repositioned him on the floor and tilted his neck back, breathing long, slow breaths of air down into his lungs. She did chest compressions, her frail body finding strength from somewhere to push down and try to restart her husband’s heart. She did it all and eventually, it worked.
When Jerry abruptly gasped for breath, Linda felt like a new life had been given to her. She looked into her husband’s eyes and saw that he was there. He was back. Collapsing onto the ground beside him, Linda struggled to catch her own breath through the tears that shook her body. She wept and wept, terrified by how close she had come to being alone.
“Don’t you dare ever do that to me again,” she whispered in Jerry’s ear, her face so close to his it was all the man could see.
Jerry coughed and tried to force a smile, his breathing still ragged and desperate. He felt incredibly weak, quickly working out what had just happened. The last thing he ever wanted to do was leave Linda without anyone to look after her; he needed to take better care of himself. Jerry was quite literally on the brink of death and he refused to let his wife watch that happen to him ever again.
Now, as Linda sat on the edge of their bed and watched her husband sleep, she finally let all the fear pour out of her. For a few short seconds, she had been completely alone. She had no idea how she would survive in a world that didn’t have Jerry in it—even if everything was perfect around them. In their current situation, things were made even harder, but Linda knew that it didn’t matter where she was or what was going on around her. If she didn’t have Jerry things would be impossible to cope with. He was her rock through everything and she couldn’t stand to watch him fade away. She had to take care of him now and she had to get the pair of them through the storm until their grandchildren returned and they could tackle everything as a family.
That meant one thing: she needed to buck up her outlook and stop worrying about every tiny little thing. Yes, their predicament was bad, but while there was still air in her lungs, Linda refused to stop fighting. Wiping the tear stains from her cheeks, she leaned down and kissed her husband on the forehead before creeping out of their bedroom and down the hall.
“Okay then,” she nodded to herself as she looked at Riley’s bedroom, refusing to let her eyes linger on the patch of floor where her husband had nearly died. “Let’s do this.”
The buckets which they had replaced under the hole in the ceiling were only a few inches full, the rain outside slowing down to just a faint patter rather than bouncing off the ground. It was the wind which was the biggest problem now, and the toxic air that was being circulated through the old farmhouse. Not willing to take any chances, Linda attached a Re-Breather to her face, thinking fondly of her granddaughter as she did so, and set to work.
The first task was emptying the clothes from Riley’s closet and removing the books from the shelving units so they could be moved against the broken wall. Linda knew she wasn’t strong enough to rearrange the furniture by herself as it was. Rather, she believed that if she stripped everything down it was possible. It would take longer, but what were a few extra hours when her husband’s life literally hung in the balance?
Emptying the closet turned out to be a lot harder than Linda had originally anticipated. Her body didn’t have any physical problems, however, she found her mind struggling with her emotions as she worried about Riley and Chase. It was now the third day that she hadn’t seen them. Living with the kids again had been a breath of fresh air for Linda; she hadn’t realized how much she missed having activity in the house until it was back again.
For a woman of her age, Linda had lived a very full life. She’d been busy from day one, never taking the backseat and always giving her all. Whether that meant on the farm, in her marriage or with her children. She’d been to every school play, every swim meet, and listened to every recital—even when she thought her ears might bleed. She had held Brogan, Mia, Chase, and Riley when they were hurt and cradled each one of them in her arms. Her family was the beating heart of Linda’s life and she refused to let that heart die.
“Oh dear!” Suddenly remembering the extensions of her family, Linda looked outside and assessed the weather. The cows were still out in the barn and they hadn’t been tended to since Chase and Riley left. “Those poor girls,” she tutted to herself, padding out of the bedroom and down the stairs to the kitchen.
Passing by the mudroom, Linda remembered the chickens as well. It was remarkable how quickly she had become complacent while having Chase and Riley around, trusting that their chores would get done every day and she needn’t worry about tending to the animals every day. Linda realized that if she was going to keep the house in working order by herself, she needed to snap back to the woman that she used to be. Water would have to be pumped from the well and food would have to be stored and rationed out properly. The animals had to be looked after every day and on top of all of that, the house needed to be rebuilt. It was a lot, but it was possible. She’d tackled bigger problems before—nothing could stop Linda Clarke when she put her mind to it.
***
“Linda?” Jerry awoke upstairs to find the bedroom empty, his wife nowhere to be seen. Rolling over onto his back, he inhaled a deep breath and felt a sharp pain in his chest, his lungs protesting the air and threatening to make him cough again. Forcing his breathing to become shallower, Jerry concentrated on it for several minutes until he found a comfortable pattern, his body able to breathe in and out without trying to reject the oxygen from his lungs.
Tossing his legs over the side of the bed, Jerry continued to focus on his breathing as he moved first to a sitting and then a standing position. Every motion was harder work than it had ever been before and he hated the feeling, cursing himself internally for being so weak. Jerry felt like he was failing in all aspects of his life. His mind wasn’t even strong enough to be there all the time anymore, and now his body was giving up on him too.
Catching his reflection in the mirror, there was suddenly a large part of Jerry that felt like surrendering. What was the point anymore? He was nothing like the man that he used to be; nothing like the man that he wanted to be. Peering closer in the mirror, Jerry barely even recognized the man staring back at him. He was ashamed of himself and felt sorry for Linda for having to put up with him. He was nothing more than a burden.
Hearing the kitchen door below his bedroom window open and close, Jerry thought of his wife again and walked over to the window, looking down. There, rushing across the yard outside was Linda, a Re-Breather strapped to the lower half of her face as she made a beeline for the barn. Jerry watched as she slammed the door closed behind her, making sure that not too much of the cold, deadly air could join her inside.
Furrowing his brow, Jerry wondered what she was doing in there for a second, before he was reminded of Milk and Shake. The two cows had been almost completely forgotten about in the last few days, worries for their grandchildren and the farmhouse itself taking precedence. Jerry chastised himself again at the realization. He had once been one of the biggest independent dairy farmers in the country and now he couldn’t even look after two cows.
Pulling a sweater over his head and ignoring the pain in his chest, Jerry readied himself to go outside and join his wife. All thoughts he’d just had of taking things easy a moment ago flew out of his head, Jerry reverting quickly to the determined and resilient man he had been when he was younger. It was the need to protect people that drove him and that need was never as strong as it was when he was thinking about his wife.
The layers of ash from the cloud seemed to have grown even deeper overnight as Jerry looked outside again. His fields were no longer verdant with green grass and potential crops, now covered instead by dark and dan
gerous layers of grime. He knew it wasn’t just ash, but dirt and rotten fragments of whatever had been carried to Houston on the wind. The days of rainfall had done little to remove it either, turning the ash to a sticky and dark substance that meandered its way through his fields like a snake through grass.
It was dangerous and Jerry didn’t want Linda to be out there alone—even if she was technically inside again. Ignoring the pain in his chest once again as he moved down the stairs into the kitchen, Jerry scooped up the latest Re-Breather that Linda had made herself. It was slightly different from the others, as it didn’t have Riley’s delicate touch to it, but it still did the job and helped to save Jerry’s lungs from the poisonous air. A part of him thought there was little point in wearing it at all, the damage almost certainly already done. Despite whether he had given up hope for himself yet or not, Jerry knew he had to try and remain positive for the sanity and safety of his beloved wife.
“Jerry!” Linda cried out when her husband appeared in the barn behind her, his appearance startling both her and the cows. “What are you doing? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Jerry replied as Linda closed down the distance between them, wrapping her husband in a brief hug before looking at him carefully and trying to assess his wellbeing. “Really I am,” Jerry tried to reassure her, breathing as normally as he could manage between his painful chest and the fact the Re-Breather was still fastened to his face. Tugging it off, he gave his wife a quick peck on the cheek, her skin soft and warm against his lips. “What are you doing out here? Is everything all right?”
“Yes, don’t worry,” Linda nodded. “I just remembered that we’d left Milk and Shake out here for quite a while without checking in. The poor girls must’ve been starving.”
“I know.” Jerry stepped away from his wife and went to stroke Milk’s face, the old girl nuzzling into him like a dog its owner. “Pretty shoddy work from a dairy farmer isn’t it? They desperately needed milking as well. I feel like such a failure.”