by E S Richards
Blake nodded and made his way back into the main store. Vic continued to mumble to himself under his breath as he looked through boxes, most of it in English but some in a language Blake couldn’t understand. He guessed Russian, but he couldn’t be certain. After all these years he still didn’t know where Vic came from aside from it being somewhere in Eastern Europe. He could be Ukrainian, Blake supposed. Or maybe Slovakian? Hungarian? If they had the whole disaster period to get to know each other, Blake was sure he’d figure it out eventually. It seemed rude to just ask after all this time.
Doing as he had been instructed, Blake picked up the little radio from underneath the counter. The shotgun that Vic had pointed at him earlier still lay across it, the muzzle aimed directly at the door. For the millionth time in such a short space of time, Blake reminded himself how lucky he had been. He was in for the long haul with Vic now; just the two of them hunkered down in the old store for however long it took. Blake hoped it wouldn’t be forever, but he knew they had to do whatever was necessary in order to survive. He was just making his way back to Vic when a flurry of loud bangs on the shutters outside echoed through the store, the noise drowning out whatever safety Blake had momentarily felt. Someone had found them.
Chapter 15
“They’re coming,” Mia whispered to herself, watching the scene unfold outside through a pair of binoculars she’d found in one of the airport offices. “They’re coming!” She then repeated louder, alerting everyone else to the impending doom. The visibility outside was still extremely low, but it was impossible to miss the massive slurries of water and ash that were tumbling toward them at high speeds.
The group inside the airport had done their best to block the hole in the side of the building. They’d piled everything from chairs and tables, to display cases and luggage carts in the way. Smaller holes had been plugged with clothes—taken from people’s suitcases, the various airport shops, and the uniform rack that someone found when they were searching through the rooms. Mia hoped it would be enough. It looked strong. You couldn’t see through it to the outside, which meant there were no obvious gaps. But she still had her doubts. She had studied the effects of lahars in detail and while she’d never experienced one herself, she knew how powerful they could be.
In fear, the people grouped together. They still gathered in the large lobby, Mia and Jorge both determining it was the safest part of the airport to be in. While there were several rooms and areas that didn’t have a huge gap to the outside world, they also all lacked exits. The scientists both knew that if things didn’t go to plan and the slurries did make it inside the building, they would want to get out as quickly as possible. Being trapped in an office would mean certain death; the water would fill them quickly and doom whoever was inside.
The rain outside showed no indication of slowing or giving up as the group of them waited. There was little else to do. They watched the weather as it continued to deteriorate and held one another. Those who had been traveling alone had found companionship, while those who already had some support clung to them dearly. Mia caught sight of the woman with the dogs who she had spoken to earlier, crying in her husband’s arms. While she had little understanding for what was going through that woman’s head, Mia still found herself managing to sympathize with her to some extent.
“Are you ready for this, Mia?” Jorge whispered in her ear, his hand finding the small of her back and resting there as he spoke to her. It was a somewhat unfamiliar and uncomfortable feeling. She and Jorge had worked together for many years, but they had never been too close. They had never been affectionate with one another. They were colleagues. For Mia, that was where the relationship ended.
She didn’t comment on it though, nor did she move to signify she felt uneasy with the action. Jorge was likely just as terrified as the rest of the group. Who was she to berate him for trying to find comfort? So long as a hand on her back was where it ended, Mia could deal with that.
“Ready as we can be, I guess,” she replied with a tense tone. “It can’t be long now.”
“We’ll be fine,” Jorge replied softly, his hand inching around her back to hold on to her waist. “I’ve got you.”
Mia didn’t know what to say. She didn’t need Jorge acting strangely and making the situation even more difficult to deal with. But still she didn’t say anything, reluctant to make the atmosphere awkward between them or bring any more complications into the mess they were about to experience. There were much bigger problems to deal with than the overly friendly Spaniard.
“Oh my…” Mia exclaimed to herself as she saw the first lahar burst through the shroud of ash that hung in front of the airport. The force of the water was so powerful. So violent. It smashed into the side of the building with a loud crash, causing everyone inside to gasp and step back slightly. Immediately the water started to swirl and slither along the building. The floor to ceiling windows that were designed to give civilians a view of the planes taking off meant everyone could see what was happening. There was no escaping the sight.
The first lahar had crashed into the glass at the far end of the building, away from the hole the helicopter had created. But as more kept coming, they worked their way closer to the gap. Forging forward to the entrance to the lobby. It was incredible to watch, in a way. Mia couldn’t take her eyes off of it, mesmerized by the sheer power of the water and also the magnitude of it. It was like a dam had burst, hundreds of gallons of water frenziedly trying to find a new place to rest.
Black water. It wasn’t the comforting blue-green of the ocean or the translucent water that tumbled out of a faucet. This water was black in color, mixed with the volcanic ash cloud and filled with toxic material, rock sediment, and whatever else it had picked up along the way. Mia was certain there would be large bits of rubble floating through it; water had the power to move buildings if it wanted to. It wasn’t a force to be taken lightly.
It pressed up against the glass like it was begging to be let in. Its dark fingers curled around the edges of the building, wrapping the airport in its grasp and refusing to let go. Mia held her breath. A massive bang shook the building as something inside the lahar smashed into the glass, cracking it and causing a splintering effect to take place.
People started to scream. The tightly knit group of them quickly faltered, panicked tourists and airport workers alike running in different directions. Trying to escape what was about to happen. Mia remained frozen in place. She watched as a spiderweb of cracks made its way up the glass window in front of her, the water pounding on the weakened structure with a relentless force. Nothing could stop it now.
The structure they had built to fill the hole collapsed, water exploding through it like a burst fire hydrant. People scattered further, fleeing the lobby as water started to soak the floor they stood on.
“High ground, Mia!” Jorge shouted in her ear, pulling on her arm as he too scrambled backwards. “We need to get off the ground.”
Jorge made sense. Mia snapped out of the trance that seemed to claim her whenever something like this was happening and sprang into action. High ground. But where? The airport lobby wasn’t designed to have people on different levels. There was another floor above it and a sort of balcony that overlooked the lower lobby, but she knew they needed to stay near the exits. That severely limited their options.
“Come on, Mia,” Jorge urged her forward. For all his faults, he was an extremely good person to have around during a disaster. Through all of this, Mia had been able to rely on him and if it hadn’t been for his help, she likely wouldn’t have made it this far at all.
He dragged her to below one of the electronic screens, the type that in the days before the disaster would have showed the times of flights and their departure gates. Now it was just blank. No static, no signs of life, just a blank screen.
“Climb, Mia!” Jorge shouted, the water now rushing around their ankles and pulling on them with more strength than even Mia had imagined. She grabbed the side of
the screen, using her upper body strength to pull herself up and out of the water. Protruding out of the back of the screen were a couple of white metal bars that attached the screen to the wall. She used them for support, placing her feet on them and allowing herself to climb higher.
Jorge jumped up after her no more than two seconds later as the sound of shattering glass filled the lobby. Mia barely turned her head in time to see what happened. The entire wall of windows that looked out onto the runway—where the helicopter had crashed earlier—was broken. The water had splintered enough of it that the glass just couldn’t hold out any longer. In the battle between the natural elements and manmade structures, the powers of Mother Nature were certainly winning.
“Mia!” Jorge cried, the man still dangling off the screen at an angle, his feet not yet secured on the piping. “Help me!”
Adrenaline coursed through Mia’s body like the water moving around them as she reached down and grabbed Jorge’s wrist. Using all the strength she had inside her, she heaved, pulling his heavy frame up toward her until their faces were practically touching. They both panted heavily. Jorge’s pants wet from the knee down, the lahar nearly pulling him down and stealing him away.
Screams echoed around them as countless others found themselves not as lucky. Those who weren’t prepared or didn’t know what to do fell, the water sweeping them away and carrying them over to the other side. Due to the way that the airport was built, the slurries of water and ash smashed through the windows on one side and immediately tried to force their way through the glass on the other. The lobby was essentially turning into a deep river, more and more water rushing through from the landing strip and tumbling into the windows that looked out to the valley. The glass on that side hadn’t been weakened by the impact of the helicopter crash and so it stood strong, resisting as the water tried to find a way out of the building.
Very quickly, people started to drown. Mia could only watch in horror as people were thrown up against the glass, their faces smashing into it and bones breaking from the contact. They tried to fight against the powerful current, paddling as best they could to absolutely no avail.
Once they were pressed up against the glass, there was nowhere to go but through it. As more bodies slammed into it, a few faint cracks started to appear. Mia found herself willing them to increase. Surely the glass breaking and people being sucked out of it onto the other side was a better fate than slowly drowning as they were pressed up against it.
An extremely high-pitched scream drew Mia’s attention as her hand clutched Jorge’s, for support in both a physical and emotional sense. Her eyes carried over to the owner of it and Mia choked on a sob as she saw a little girl being pulled underneath the water. Her body was slammed up against the glass, with nothing for her to grab hold of and nothing to help her stay afloat. As the water level continued to rise from the unstoppable rainstorm, her head bobbed under the water more and more frequently. Every time she surfaced, she gasped for air and let out a high-pitched scream, but there was nothing anyone could do. The little girl was going to drown. Ashamed, Mia forced herself to look away, unable to watch the girl die.
The sight she turned her attention back to was no better though. Tens of people were now being crushed against the glass, the water pulling them under no matter their age or height. It was the force of the current that did it, combined with whatever was swimming around in the water itself. It made it impossible to find footing. Even if the level didn’t reach above most people’s heads, it was impossible to just stand up, meaning everyone was starting to struggle.
“We have to do something,” Mia cried to Jorge, squeezing his hand in fear. “They’re all going to drown.”
“What can we do, Mia?” Jorge shouted back over the other screams that penetrated the air. “If we go down, we’ll die too.”
“But we can’t just watch them drown!”
“Mia, we have to!” Jorge let go of Mia’s hand and grabbed her face, forcing her to look at him rather than the suffering people. “There’s nothing we can do!”
As tears started to fill her eyes, Mia yanked her head out of Jorge’s grasp and turned to look back at everyone else. Her gaze fluttered in the direction of where the little girl had been and she saw her body bobbing up and down in the water, her head face down. She wasn’t moving anymore. Her battle had been lost.
“Arrrghhhh!” Mia let out a strangled cry, unable to keep her emotions in check any longer. She should’ve done something. She shouldn’t have just sat back and watched a young girl die.
“Look, Mia!” Jorge refocused her, understanding Mia’s rage. “The glass is breaking!”
With a strange feeling of relief, Mia saw what Jorge was seeing. The combined pressure of the water and the sheer number of bodies and other things—chairs, suitcases, display cabinets—that were pushed up against the window was finally starting to splinter the glass. Cobwebs of cracks slithered along it like a snake, just as they had on the other side of the lobby before it finally gave way. Holding her breath, Mia willed for it to hurry up. There were still several people who were fighting for their lives in the water, their lungs still capable of filling with air. But they all looked weak. They didn’t have much fight left inside them and Mia knew if the glass didn’t break soon, they would all have to give up.
“Please,” she muttered to herself under her breath, too quiet for even Jorge to hear. “Please break. Please break.”
It didn’t happen immediately, but her silent prayer seemed to work. The cracks in the glass grew and grew, slowly but surely filling each pane until there was nothing left for the glass to do but splinter and break away. Shards of it rained down into the water like glitter, covering everything below. But it didn’t matter. As soon as the glass gave way enough, the water surged forward, breaking free to the outside world and sucking the people out with it. Mia gagged as she watched it happen. Bodies became caught on the jagged glass and the water turned an even darker shade as blood pooled through it. It was harrowing.
In a matter of seconds, the level of the water inside the lobby lowered considerably. The lahars moved through the building, the raging river quickly reduced to a steady stream as it finally had somewhere to go. Rain still continued to feed them, meaning the flow of water remained constant. But the danger lessened considerably. It was over. But how many had died? With the lower water level, the bodies that it had claimed became apparent. They littered the airport like the killing fields of some terrible war.
Chapter 16
Mia didn’t know what to do. In reality, there wasn’t anything that she could do. Those who hadn’t been able to survive the lahars were long gone and those who had been trapped against the glass didn’t have much life left in them. She wanted to help them, but as she looked at the two remaining bodies that had become stuck on the jagged glass that marked the exit of the lobby, she knew there was no hope for them.
An elderly man was one of them. The sight of him alone was blood-curdling. The part of glass that he had been pressed against had shattered like the rest of it, but only from the water level down. Somehow—in a way that Mia couldn’t even begin to understand—the top three quarters of the glass had remained intact. That meant that when an opening had appeared, the man’s legs had been sucked through the opening in the window while his chest had got caught on the sharp glass that still remained in place.
He was effectively hanging there. Blood poured from his chest and his head lolled at an angle, his forehead resting against the pane of glass. It was like his body was being ripped in two, the steady stream of water that still flowed through the lobby constantly tugging his legs out of the building, while the rest of his body remained immoveable. Occasionally his arms twitched—the only thing that signaled he was still alive. It wouldn’t last much longer; Mia could tell that he was doomed.
She wanted to help him, but knew it wouldn’t do any good. Removing the man’s body from where it was impaled would likely cause him so much pain that it woul
d kill him. In a way, Mia decided it was less cruel to just leave him there to die. With each second that passed more life faded from him; no one would have to wait long to say goodbye.
The only other survivor from the glass was someone Mia recognized, though she didn’t know her name. The woman with the dogs.
Unlike the elderly man, this woman had been a whole lot luckier. Mia watched as she tried to get herself to her feet, pushing back off the metal window divide that she’d been pressed up against. About every ten yards or so, there was a metal pillar that stood a foot wide and split up the windows from floor to ceiling. This woman had been lucky enough for the lahar to push her aching body up against it, so she was able to hang on as the glass broke around her and avoid being pulled outside. Perhaps her life could be saved. If there was even the slightest chance, Mia knew she had to try.
“Come on,” Mia said to Jorge, the Spaniard also taking in the few survivors who remained in the lobby. “We can help now. We’ve got to get down.”
Eventually Jorge nodded, shifting slightly where he was balanced on top of the departure screen. “Okay, but be careful.”
Allowing Jorge to completely climb down, Mia watched anxiously as he stepped into the slowing lahar. The water was below ankle height now and moving at a much gentler pace, but they both knew it could return to the treacherous levels in a heartbeat. It was only because the slurry had found a path to travel beyond the airport that the stream wasn’t as intense. If something else blocked its route like the lobby had for a time, things would quickly return to chaos. They could have hours to get things resolved and figure out their next move, or they could have mere minutes.
