The question was at what point would it cease giving away and breaking up?
It stopped, causing us to, as well.
A loud ‘crack’ and the RV jolted hard causing everyone to scream. We tilted back some as if on a ramp.
“Please tell me the front end is not in midair.”
“No, the front end is on the road.” Lane looked over his shoulder. “Everyone alright?”
He didn’t wait for their answer, he opened the door. “Martin, the horses. Jana, get everyone out and on to the road. Please.”
Martin opened up the side back door and stopped. “It’s rocky and wet there, everyone goes out the front way.” Even he came forward, slid over the driver’s seat and got out that way.
I could hear the rain beating down hard on the roof. I hated the thought of having the kids all go outside, but I wasn’t sure the RV was safe, neither was Lane.
The newest vibration and shaking of the RV wasn’t from the road, it was the horses. They clamored loudly enough I heard them over the weather.
“Grab what you can,” I told them. “Get what you can to stay dry as well.” I lifted my hood over my head and opened the door.
The air was so cold and the rain hitting me was frigid and stung. I stepped out on to the road. At the midway point of the RV, the road was broken and crumbled. I stayed by the door, helping everyone out, telling them to get in front of the RV.
Five children, Rosie, Liza, Anita, Rick and Skip stood at the front end of the RV. The children covered in blankets, Dooley resting on Liza’s hip.
We were officially refugees, belongings in hand, and not far from us in the backdrop was the ‘supposed’ salvation.
We were close, across the bridge was not even a mile, and I knew over the ridge before the mountain went down into the valley was a building. A welcoming center.
The safe zone was sixty miles wide, at the end of it was the resort with the bunker, nestled deep into the Allegheny Mountains.
If there really were rescue crews they weren’t that far away.
Skip walked to the front end of the RV, bending down and looking. “I don’t see any real damage. We get this thing out of here; we can be back on the road.” He then walked around to the back of the RV to join Martin and Lane.
I held Carlie and Reese close to me, the blanket that covered them was saturated. I looked up to the sky, it was worse. Thicker, darker … lower.
“I’ll be right back,” I told the kids. “Stay together. Stay near Rosie.”
Walking back, I saw the broken part of the road only extended a few feet into the berm. I was cautious as I walked, careful not to twist an ankle on the rough terrain.
When I reached the back of the RV, I saw one wheel was off the trailer, Skip, with his one good arm was reaching for the hitch and Martin stood at the back of the trailer, holding the reins of two saddled horses.
Martin looked at me as if he were hiding a secret, a shocked expression rushed across his wet face.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Hitch is bent,” Martin replied. “We can’t free the trailer.”
Lane emerged from the trailer with another horse. “That map of yours, Jana. How far to shelter?”
“Couple miles tops.”
“Good,” Lane answered. “If we need to, we’re gonna double up on the horses. Carlie and Reese can ride together. Martin will take Dooley, the rest will double.”
“How is that supposed to happen?” I asked. “It’s a good idea, but there are six horses and thirteen people. Maybe someone should hold Dooley instead of him being a rider.”
“I am hoping we won’t need to,” Lane said. “Once we get all the horses out of the trailer, it will free the weight up enough that we can move the RV forward out of the hole and get the trailer free.”
“That’s a good plan.” I nodded and reached for the rein of the horse. “I’ll help.”
“We have to move fast,” Martin said. “This storm is getting worse. Something is happening here shortly. Look at the sky.
I peered up, those wispy dark arms at the bottom of the cloud were swirling faster.
Martin and I brought the three horses to the front and I returned to help Lane with the rest. While we did that Martin explained the plan.
The horses were scared I could tell, and I wasn’t even a big horse person. Lane spoke soothingly to them, trying to keep them calm.
We got them all out, saddled up and loaded. The horses would have to make the journey on foot, there was no other choice.
Everyone, the small number of belongings and the horses moved back while Skip guided Lane from the indentation and on to the road.
We were literally fifty feet from the edge of the bridge.
Martin ran back to where Lane worked on the hitch, the rain picked up as well as the wind. Only this time, the wind howled demonically.
When Martin returned, he returned with Skip and immediately helped Reese mount the horse, then Carlie.
“We’re heading out,” Martin shouted over the noise. “We have to. We don’t have time. We have to get to that shelter on the other side of the ridge.”
As if I weren’t even there, Martin started directing who would ride which horse and who would ride with whom.
Everyone had mounted up
The only one without a partner on the horse was Anita and she looked at me, waiting.
When I saw that, I figured Lane had freed the trailer, but if that were the case, why did we risk the children riding a horse on the bridge. The horses didn’t need riders to cross.
Lane finally emerged from the back of the RV.
“Anything?” Martin asked.
Lane shook his head.
“No time. Let’s go. Jana, get up with Anita.”
“Wait. No. What about Lane? Lane rides with Carlie, I’ll ride with Reese, and Anita can ride with Martin and hold Dooley.”
“I can free it, Jana, I am almost there,” Lane said. “But you guys gotta go.” He peered up. “You have to go now.”
“And you’re gonna stay behind and work on the RV?”
“Yes.”
“The hell with the RV, Lane,” I said. “Let’s go.”
“Jana, everything we have. Any means of survival is in that RV.”
“And Ares is coming.” I pointed up. “This has to be it. The start. Leave it.”
“Then what?” Lane asked. “Everything you said is true. The world is wiped out and what do we have to survive? What if this resort isn’t an option?”
“We’ll figure it out.”
“We’re wasting time arguing when I could fix this.” He leaned into me and kissed me. “Get to safety. If I can’t get it, I’ll run for it or take cover in the woods. I’ll be fine.”
He spun around and raced to the back of the RV.
He was right, there wasn’t time. After growling in frustration, I ran to the horse with Reese and Carlie. “You guys need to go.” I told them, reaching up and grabbing each of their hands. “Across the bridge and over the crest is a stone building. A town is another five miles. Go. I love you guys.”
“Aunt Jana …” Carlie wept.
“I’ll be there. I will. I can’t leave Uncle Lane.”
Carlie nodded.
I looked at Reese. “You got this. You’re the champ, my little man. Take the lead.” I backed up. “Go!”
Reese gave a snap of the reins and the horse took off.
“Go!” I waved my hand to the others
Martin stopped before me. “What are you doing?”
“Get them to safety. We’ll be there. I can’t leave him, Martin. I can’t.”
“Don’t waste time,” he said.
I shook my head. “I won’t. I promise. He’ll free it. I know it. Where’s your radio?”
“Inside my coat.”
“Let me know when you’re safe.”
Martin didn’t say anymore, he stared at me for a few seconds, nodded, snapped the reins and trotted off. He picked up
speed to be in a leading position with Reese.
Hurrying back to the RV, I opened the door and grabbed my radio, clutching it protectively inside my jacket
I stood there frozen, my other hand over my mouth, holding my breath the entire time they crossed that bridge.
The wind rustling the hood of my jacket was so loud, and with each gust I watched the horses fight the elements, swaying in their stride across the wide open area of that bridge.
It seemed like it took forever for them to cross even with them moving at a good speed.
Waiting and watching, I didn’t move, I didn’t stop looking until I saw them disappear over the crest.
Static.
“We're over the ridge,” Martin said.
I wheezed out, mouthing the words, ‘thank you.’
“There’s no rescue I can see. Maybe they’re ahead. We’re aiming for that building you talked about.”
“Thank you,” I replied. “Keep me posted.”
I backed up, slipping the radio into my coat. I went from watching the road to looking at the cloud.
“They made it across,” I said to Lane.
He did a surprised double take. “Jana, what the hell are you doing here?”
“I wasn’t leaving you.”
“I needed you to be safe!” Lane yelled.
“And you need someone with eyes on the sky. I wasn’t … leaving you. So, drop it and fix the damn hitch.”
“Give me fifteen minutes.”
Judging by the sky I wasn’t sure we had fifteen minutes, then again, if it was Ares, it was building and maybe we did have more time. “Fifteen minutes and you’ll have it fixed?”
“No, fifteen minutes then we make a run for it.”
Agreeing, I walked toward the front of the RV. Using my thumb, I swiped the moisture from the face of my watch to get the time. The wind was mainly coming from the south and that was where I focused, even though my eyes kept drifting to the bridge and then beyond. Thinking of my family, my new friends, hoping with everything I had they did make it to safety. I felt in my soul they did. I envisioned Reese leading the way, pointing to the building ahead.
Eight minutes. Eight minutes had passed.
It was cold, my body shivered out of control, that cloud seemed to droop lower, and time was flying by.
Four minutes.
“Jana.”
How I heard Martin’s radio call through all the noise, I’ll never know. Clumsily, I grabbed for it. “I’m here. He’s still working. We’re leaving soon.”
“Good. We’re in the welcome center. It’s not as …”
Martin’s transmission broke up.
I called him a few times, but nothing.
They were safe in shelter. That was what mattered most.
I put the radio in the inside pocket of my jacket.
The rain was no longer just cold it was freezing, quickly forming ice on whatever surface it landed on.
Not only would we have to battle the wind, but a slick road as well.
It never hit the one minute mark when I heard it.
The haunting, echoing screech, the fast snapping and cracking of trees. It was almost like a monster’s growl, King Kong making his way through a forest.
It came from my left and from behind. Slowly, I turned and looked.
When I saw it, I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe.
That huge ominous cloud, reached down and with all of its force, sucked up the contents of the river, creating a huge water funnel as wide as the gorge and nearly as high as the mountain.
“Oh, God. Oh, God.” In my haste to get Lane, my feet slipped and for a second, I lost footing. Holding on to the RV, I ran to Lane.
He must have heard it. He was making his way to me. Lane reached for me, then he too finally turned and saw it.
“We have to go. We have to go now,” he said.
For a split second, his eyes widened in horror, then he grabbed my arm, held on to me as we ran on the slippery surface away from the RV.
We were running. We needed some place safe, somewhere to hide.
But on the open highway with the colossal water funnel threatening to make landfall, was there really anywhere safe at all?
TWENTY – HOPELESS
Because of the bend in the highway, the river ran perpendicular to the road for about a mile just before it cut across and under the Mary Draper Ingles Bridge which was connected to Interstate Sixty-four.
We were trapped.
We couldn’t go forward to the bridge because the funnel would follow that course, running back would head us into it.
The water funnel would follow the river until it broke, either on its own or landfall.
The RV was positioned right at the foot of the bridge where the east and west lanes divided.
The funnel howled louder the closer it came. The dark low cloud carried it like a puppet through the trees. In its own way it was an attacking beast, and we were in the path.
On our side of the highway, just over the guardrail was a steep tree filled hillside.
I know Lane was thinking the same as me as we raced that way.
Running as fast as we could up the hill and into the woods.
The elements had a different plan for us.
The funnel blasted a fierce wind the closer it drew, kicking us off balance on the already slick landscape. I could barely get a footing once we were off the road.
Not even a hundred feet from the guardrail, barely up the grade, the incoming devastation roared, knocking us both to the ground.
“Stay low. Chest to the earth!” I screamed to Lane. “It’s our only chance!”
I dropped to the ground and immediately felt a sense of relief when I sank into the mud. I wanted to protect my head, but I was fearful of breathing in the liquified dirt.
As fast as I could, chest sinking in the mud, I put one hand on my head, while the other propped under my cheek and I turned my head to keep my nose clear.
I expected Lane to do the same, to lay next to me. Instead, he covered me with his body, pushing me deeper into the mud.
The ground shook and rumbled, vibrating beneath my chest. Before I closed my eyes feeling it nearly upon us, I looked and saw Lane’s hand by my head, gripping the mud, fingers dug in.
“I love you, Jana, hold on,” he said. His voice so close to my ear.
It was coming any second.
The shaking ground, howling wind. I knew it was there, right behind us, passing us. There was no denying it by the noise level.
Louder, louder … deafening … fading …
Everything decreased just as fast as it started, the noise, the shaking and the wind.
We were safe, I thought. We made it.
Boom!
The earth rocked, it sounded like an explosion. Like everything around us just erupted.
I closed my eyes as tight as I could, hearing the thuds as objects landed around us. Fast and furiously, ‘thud-thud-thud-thud-thud’, right before it happened.
The water funnel burst.
The eruption was unmistakable. Like a water balloon bursting, only instead of a pop it was a boom.
The crash of the water hit the ground and the rumble of it rolling our way filled me with a sense of doom and fear, and there was absolutely no time to brace.
I don’t know why I thought to hold my breath, but I did.
Within a split second it was upon us.
At first the water dropped down and then it slammed hard, encompassing us.
The momentum was overwhelming.
My muddy indentation, my safety spot filled with water. It uprooted me and took me with the current. It was fast and furious. I heard the muffled sound encompass me. Swept away, my body floated out of control and my hands reached and clawed in desperation.
Something.
My fingers grabbed something. It felt like a branch, I wasn’t sure, but whatever it was, didn’t move or budge. I grabbed it with two fingers then my entire hand. Once I
realize the water was moving and I wasn’t, I swung up my other arm and grasped it as well.
I held on so tight, the edges of whatever I grabbed cut into my hands.
Sixty seconds.
From start to finish it couldn’t have been more than sixty seconds.
The momentum of the wave slowed down and I no longer felt the pull trying to get me and drag me along.
I held on to whatever it was, my eyes closed until it stopped.
And it did.
The sound of the water rushing was still loud, but it faded as it moved further from me.
Not knowing how far I traveled or where I was, still holding on, I opened my eyes.
Both my hands clutched tightly to the silver object. It was the leg of a road sign. It had bent but never fully lifted from the ground. The rectangular green sign attached to it had bent up and folded upward, catching me in the newly formed ‘L’ shape.
That sign saved my life, saved me from flowing forcefully with the water.
Finally feeling it was over, I looked around. I was glad I didn’t let go because I was a couple feet from the ground cusped in the folded sign as if it were a chair.
I slid down, letting go and planting my feet firmly on the ground.
I wasn’t injured. Instead of being carried by a wave of water, I felt as if I had just gotten off of some extreme amusement park ride, my legs wobbly, body quivering like a bowl of jello.
In a snap of a finger, everything had stopped.
The wind, the rain. Even the ice that formed was gone, the water washed it away that fast.
Turning around to face the highway behind me, I could see the water moving and drifting to pour back over the side of the road toward the river.
Trees uprooted, lay about the road.
Yes, I was safe. But at that moment, amongst all that devastation my survival didn't matter.
Where was Lane? Where was my husband?
I wasn’t overwrought with panic, not yet. Not until I turned to see the RV and it wasn’t there. A few steps forward and I realized … neither was the bridge.
The divided highway bridge was crushed, and the lanes extended out broken and busted, the metal wires that ran through the concrete dangled out.
Winds of Ares: An Apocalypse Thriller Page 14