by Scott Todd
The implications of that statement registered with a sudden shock to both of us at once.
"This just CAN'T be happening!" she cried. "And my head still hurts like hell."
"Well it could be coming from the south or east too- I just can't tell yet. I don't believe it either," I tried to reason, "But we don't even know for sure WHAT happened yet. All I know is that it's bad. VERY BAD. I mean just LISTEN to that!"
And it was growing louder by the second. Whatever it was, it was coming in fast. Darkness was setting in, but we could still make out the horizon in the distance below us. At over 6,600 feet elevation, the mountain offered a commanding view of everything below. And on many days I had been there before, you were literally above the clouds. It was almost always cloudy there, so high up.
"It's getting closer and even louder now!" she feared with a pointing finger. "I think it's coming from over that way."
She was pointing to the south I thought, as I looked up for the last vestiges of sunlight. I tired to spot west by sunset- but it was too far gone below the horizon and all the clouds.
"Let me find my compass, and we'll see. We need to find out," I said urgently. I went back to the car to try and find it. She made her way up to the observation deck ramp.
But no sooner than I had made it back to the car, I heard a loud scream. "Oh my GOD!!! It's WATER!!!," she screamed as she came barreling down the hill towards me. "I saw it. I swear I saw it, through the trees. Way over there. It's coming into the valleys below us. We're going to die, aren't we!" She threw herself at me, desperately hugging me for some kind of comfort in her final moments.
I stroked her hair nervously and barely managed to say "Then our best hope is to stay at the top and pray we make it. That's all we can do. Quick, let's get back up there!" I grabbed her hand and yanked her with me as I ran, helping her along. It was more like dragging her along, as panic set in once again.
By the time we made the run back to the top, the sound was so loud it had become an intrusive roar. And there was no question it was water. One look down in the distance from the deck, through what lines of sight I could find through the trees, confirmed my worst fears. Even near dark, I could still make out the top whitecap of an immense wall of water.
That was the ocean, mad as hell, and not going to take it anymore. It had to be. Nowhere else was there that much water. It sounded like the biggest waterfall in the universe, and the ground shaking had intensified. The mega tsunami was coming up and over the higher peaks below us in the valley- but it did not seem to exceed our height. At least not yet. There was still hope, but it was dwindling.
"But hope for what?" I thought to myself. "What hope is there if everyone else is gone? I mean what, live starting over again from zero? No people, no nothing? Surely we are better off dead!"
I glanced at my 38, and really thought about it. That would be quicker with a whole lot less pain than getting thrashed, pummeled and crushed by broken off trees under water. I turned to look at her, and she was looking at the gun too.
"Just shoot me," she cried. "If everyone else is gone, then I don't want to live. I can't go through with this. My brother, my boyfriend, my..."
"I'm sorry. I know... But they're probably all..." I got cut off.
The sound of shoes running on pavement was unmistakable, even above the approaching roaring of the water. Someone was coming. I drew my gun, grabbed her hand, and we quickly jumped down off the observation deck over the rail. I covered her mouth. "Shh!" I whispered in her ear, looking at her terrified eyes- which had become all too familiar a sight by now. I wanted to tell her how sorry I was to see them.
"Oh MY GOD, Dad!" a woman screamed. "It IS water! You were right! I am SO sorry..." And then there was just the sound of crying. Some forty feet away, as I peeked around the edge of the small structure, I could barely make out a well-dressed man, holding what I assumed was his daughter.
They were standing right near the gravestone of Elisha Mitchell, the man who plotted Mt. Mitchell as the highest peak in the east, and who is buried there with a landmark. The scene reminded me instantly of the man-with-daughter scene on the beach in one of those big apocalypse movies, right before they got obliterated by a thousand foot wave created by an asteroid strike.
The sound was still getting louder and louder. The water WAS coming, and yet I didn't know any of these people. I was about to die, or so it appeared. I thought that at a minimum, if it had reached THIS far, that whatever happened to cause it was no less than utterly catastrophic.
The shaking got noticeably worse, and yanked me back from my thoughts. The roar of the water was nearing deafening levels. She tightened her arms around me, preparing for the worst.
"Dad? DAD! No, no, NOOO!!! It's going to kill us!" we heard the man's daughter scream, but then they ran away. There wasn't really much of anywhere to run on the top of that mountain. But it sounded like they were headed back down towards the parking lot. I didn't understand why they had not gone up to the deck even higher.
"I'm sorry," I said quietly as we peered around the structure, totally expecting the worst. "But I tried. I guess it wasn't..."
Before I could finish, we heard a massive deafening roar and a huge whoosh way below the mountain. The mountain slightly trembled with fear itself, it seemed, from the sheer impact of the mega wave. But we couldn't see because of the tree line, and it was getting too dark. All we heard was the sound of an enraged ocean below us consuming everything in its path. Trees cracked and rocks split, making horrifying noises I never knew existed.
Chapter 5: New Company in Hell
Then the unworldly noise and the ground shaking started lessening. It was still there, but it was less. Noticeably less. She looked up and noticed it too, obviously, from the inquisitive look on her face. Then within several minutes, it subsided still more until all that was left was an eerie silence- save for the sounds of agitated water way below us. The slight breeze carried that smell... The smell that lets you know the ocean is not too far.
She looked a bit relieved, but she still trembled with fear. And I was just left dumbfounded. "You guess it wasn't...what?" she wanted to know.
"I was going to say...I guess it wasn't enough," I mumbled, slightly relieved myself, but still very much shaken.
"Well maybe it was..." she said quietly, with a slight detection of hope in her voice. And I thought I saw a faint smile that tried to break through, but it was suppressed by the sheer magnitude and implications of what we were going through.
Then she quickly un-clung just as quickly as she had clung, almost as if she couldn't believe she had gotten anywhere NEAR that close to me. She looked embarrassed. "Sorry, but..." she started to say, looking down.
"No, it's ok," I quickly interjected. "I'm glad that at least... At least..." I couldn't finish. I think she understood. She seemed to, and we both went quiet.
I made a mental note of how much more I understood the terror in the famous wave scene in the movie, and quickly focused back on the immediate situation.
There were other people there. He could be armed. It was dark now, and all we could see was distant, moonlit highlights of the water below us, peeking through distant sight lines in the trees. It looked to be several thousand feet below us. I thought I saw one of the highest other peaks above it, but there was going to be no way to tell for sure until morning. It was just too dark.
"Oh, THERE you are, thank God!" said a man's voice right behind me suddenly, rattling me loose from my thoughts. I gripped the 38 in my hand tighter. As I went to turn around, I saw a flashlight spot on the ground, and he said "We were wondering who's car that..." The sight of the gun immediately silenced him, and in an instant on sizing him up, I quickly put the gun back in my pants. I saw no gun in his other hand.
What I saw appeared to be a man in his mid 40's or so, with that look of a businessman. Or maybe a teacher. But he was unraveled, sweaty, and had clearly just been through a lot. Even as a man myself, I noticed he was particular
ly good looking- in the strange way men sense this about other men without any other meaning.
His daughter appeared to be in her late teens or early twenties. She had shorter, auburn red hair, and was very good looking- despite being just a bit overweight. But she didn't resemble her father much. She was just as unraveled, and also was wearing no bra- obviously- as her nipples were sticking straight out through her shirt. Even in the near darkness I could see them by the reflected flashlight. I guessed it must be from all the excitement, I surmised, but "What is it with these women and no bras all of a sudden?" I thought to myself. As thoughts go, all of that occurred in only about two seconds.
She was just staring at the two of us by the reflected light off the building from his flashlight, and still trembling. Putting the gun away appeared to ease the awkwardness of the moment, but the atmosphere was still tense.
"Is that your car down there in the parking lot?" I asked nervously. I wanted to know exactly how many people we were dealing with here.
"Well that depends on which one you are talking about," he answered. "Because I think there was another car in the parking lot when we got here. And we saw yours on the way up. I mean I assume that's your car right there?" he asked, pointing at my SUV.
They must have just gotten here right before the water, I figured. I was still wondering where the people from the other car were. But I had more pressing matters.
"Yeah, that's mine.... Do you have any idea what just HAPPENED?" I asked back with a pressing tone. "We tried the radio, calling from a cell, and all we heard were EBS tones...You know, the Emergency Broadcast System..."
"I might have an idea of what happened," he said in a very meek voice, but with a tone that immediately commanded interest. Just from the way he said it, I suspected he knew more about this. "And no, it's not good. Not good at all I think," he continued. "We are all very lucky to even be alive right now. And if it hadn't been for a last second phone call from a friend of mine in California, we wouldn't be here either. We'd be dead, and there's no question about THAT." He put his head down and went silent, drowning in further realizations.
"California?" I questioned. "What does Cali..."
"It was his good friend Marty, that weird scientist guy he's talking about," his daughter interrupted with a trembling voice, and still buckled over in fear. "My Dad's known him for years and... And well, they went to UCLA together. He was always talking about CRAZY crap. 'End of the world' stuff... Looks like I guess...I should have...Listened when he...." she concluded without finishing, and then went silent.
Almost as if on cue, we heard a whoosh in the distance of water breaking against something, which brought a brooding silence upon the group. What I wanted to know, was how far away. Everything was strange this high up. My sense of distance was distorted and I could feel it. The not knowing was killing me, if a heart attack didn't kill me first. Dying was not coming easy.
And then I realized I was getting cold. "It didn't seem quite as cold when she was hugging me for dear life a minute ago," I thought to myself. Another part of me immediately threw up a red, internal caution flag: "Easy there, Romeo." I did have a jacket in the car I remembered. I had long ago figured that I'd need one if I ended up on a mountain in desperation- no matter what time of year. One motorcycle ride on the Parkway in fall had taught me that years ago in a most uncomfortable way. But that was the last time I was cold on ANY ride. I made damn sure of that.
"So what the hell are we supposed to do NOW?" my "friend" blurted out, almost mad sounding. "I have no clue who you people are. I just got kidnapped and then almost killed, and you people are telling me the world just ended?"
So much for "friend" I figured, with a verbal sigh. "That's not exactly true..." I countered.
Chapter 6: Ben and Beast
"Well I'm Ben, and that's my daughter Terry" he said, offering up a reserved introduction. But again he went silent. I could tell his wheels were turning in an endless sea of deep thought, like he had much more important things to think about. He glanced up at us briefly with suspicious eyes, silently asking our names- and on alert after the kidnapping statement.
"Well I don't even know this guy's name. He...He kidnapped me at gunpoint and brought me up here," she muttered lowly, in an accusatory but subdued tone, choking back tears. "But I guess...I guess he saved my life," she said- realizing it at the same time like another wake up slap in the face.
The awkwardness of not even knowing her name either at a time like this, after what we'd just been through, underscored the irony of the situation. I didn't even know what to say. But I gathered my thoughts best I could.
"Well, it turned out to be the right thing to do I think, and my name is Brian," I replied regretfully. "I just wish it didn't have to be like that. I am really sorry," I said, begging, and looking at her dead straight in the eyes. The message was clearly received, and she knew I was meaning every ounce of it.
She paused a while before she finally said "I'm... Janet...or just Jan if you want... I don't care," as she tried to muster a faint smile.
"Well I need a minute to explain," I said nervously. "Yeah, I kidnapped her, but not to hurt her or anything. I just didn't know if there would be anyone left... And well, to be honest, if we were going to continue as a species, and I was the only one left, well... I mean, you see the problem? That just wasn't going to work. But hey Jan, yeah feel free... I mean the water is right down there. Feel free to leave any time you want."
Jan just looked at me, with an "I don't appreciate the sarcasm at all" warning look. And I realized that she was right. That was a little much. "Alright, I'm sorry one more time, I mean REALLY," I begged. "But we've GOT to move on. Please?" She was having a hard time forgiving me. It was just going to take some time.
"We may not be out of the... Out of the water yet," Ben said, quickly realizing how almost insulting it was to be caught saying that at a time like this. But it completely diffused my awkward situation with Jan, bringing us all back again to grim reality. "I mean... What I mean is it might not be over," he continued. "I don't know- I'm still trying to figure it out... I... I teach... Or well, I guess I did... Teach geophysics at a local college, so I've got some ideas about what might have happened, but I really don't know. Not yet."
"Dad?! What do you MEAN it might not be over," shrieked Terry, shocked and disturbed. She echoed our sentiments with the question, as I looked at Jan, who was wide-eyed once again, looking back at me and desperate for answers. She took a step closer to me, stalled and reconsidered, unsure... But I quickly reached out a hand, and went to her. This was about humanity I thought. At least, that's what I told myself. I hugged her this time in sympathy, loosely, like friends.
Her warmth eased the cold, but not the pain in my shoulder. I tried rubbing it but it still hurt like mad. I needed more pills. And I was betting she did too after that nasty smack in the head. As if she read my mind, she broke out the bottle of them she still had in her shirt pocket and handed me two.
"Geophysics huh...?" I said, popping down the pills and making sure Jan took two. "Like what kind of geophysics?" And then it struck me...Geophysics! He used a broad term. This guy might know something about what I saw. He might know about earthquakes and seismology, which is the term used for the scientific study of earthquakes. Stuff that I had been doing as a hobby for years.
Ben looked up with a morbid curiosity and said "Several kinds. I was teaching a seismology class, as well as geology and other classes, and have interests in some other related things... Marty and I had always tossed ideas around about scientific theories, and..."
"Wow," I interrupted with a subdued fascination- like when you meet someone you have great interests with- but tempered by the events at hand. "So you might know something about what I saw on my program that made me leave so fast. I've been into earthquakes and seismology for years. But only as a hobby...It's just that...Well, it was a serious kind of hobby, and frankly I was obsessed with real-time data... Which is why I was..
."
His eyes got wider and wider and he stared at me in total attention. His scientific mind quickly deduced how and why we managed to be where we were. He was way ahead of me. I could already tell. The real-time data I was referring to was the near instant data received from the many seismometers there were all over the earth. They were used to measure earthquakes for the most part.
"Which is why I happened to be watching a zillion stations all over the Pacific at the time this happened," I finished saying.
He looked shocked. "So then YOU must have seen what Marty saw, for him to call me like that in total panic," Ben surmised. "Well I'll be damned. And so...What...You took off too and came up here after you saw... Saw... Just what exactly? What did you see? Cause Marty and I had just started discussing it, but then the line went dead. I was very frightened though at the little he did manage to describe. And I trusted his accuracy. But I quickly realized that what he described was impossible...UNLESS...unless...." Then he paused back deep in thought.