by E S Richards
“It’s fine, Mia,” Jorge called up as he stood below the screen, still holding on to it for support. “You can climb down. It’s safe enough.”
Biting her bottom lip, Mia nodded and started readjusting herself on top of the screen. Shimmying her body down, she used the metal bars to anchor herself and avoid slipping into the water below. The climb down was slower than it could have been, but Mia made sure every move was the right one. Just under a minute later she plunged her feet into the water, the black liquid splashing up her legs but thankfully not exerting any powerful force over here.
“Okay,” she exhaled. “Come on.”
Wading slowly through the water, Mia made a beeline for the woman. Jorge followed behind without argument, though Mia couldn’t be sure whether it had been his intention to go to the woman right away or not. She shuffled her feet along the ground slowly, barely lifting them up and making sure as much of her surface area was in contact with the solid ground. She also crouched slightly to lower her center of gravity, giving her some more stability as she walked through the unpredictable water.
Looking around her, Mia started to notice other survivors like herself and Jorge. The people who had been lucky or clever enough to know what to do when the water broke through. There was another couple balanced on top of one of the screens like she and Jorge had. A child and who Mia assumed was her father clung to luggage rails that ran along the walls above some seating, areas to store your bags as you waited for your flight to be called. That little girl had been lucky; visions of the one she had seen drown flashed through Mia’s mind and forced her to look away. Some people had even managed to somehow make it up to the lobby balcony, three people who looked to be in their mid-twenties now trying to figure out how to get down again.
Of the thirty-seven people who had remained in Helena Regional Airport, only about ten were still alive. It was a shocking statistic. Mia had known the lahars would be deadly, but she’d expected them to be relatively safe inside the airport. As it happened, the place had potentially put them in more danger than it avoided.
Finally reaching the woman by the broken windows, Mia found her fluttering in and out of consciousness. Her body must be physically exhausted and Mia knew she would be mentally as well. Any preconception she’d had about the woman was now gone. It must have taken extreme strength to hang on through everything that was happening around her—Mia found herself harboring a newfound respect for her.
“Hey,” she spoke softly as she approached, treading even more carefully now that she was so close to the broken glass. “Hey, are you okay?”
The woman tried to turn her head in Mia’s direction but her body was too weak even for that. Her knuckles were still blanched from the grip she held on the metal pillar, her eyes squeezed shut and her face contorted in pain.
“It’s over,” Mia continued to speak. “You’re safe now. You can let go. We’ll help you.”
Even though the woman’s expression softened somewhat at Mia’s words, she still made no movements towards letting go of the pillar. It was obvious she was still scared she would be swept away, and Mia couldn’t blame her. As she inched even closer to the woman, so close that she could reach out and touch her, Mia’s eyes caught sight of what lay on the other side of the window.
A pile of bodies. Clearly not everyone who had been carried out of the window had continued on their journey with the violent lahars. A large proportion of them had been left behind, their bodies caught on something or just not picked up again in the water as it moved away and further into the valley. The sight was gruesome. People were stretched out in all sorts of ways, their limbs bending at angles that shouldn’t work and yet did. There were broken bones aplenty, alongside many more injuries that Mia couldn’t see yet she was sure were there.
Her eyes landed on Laura, the woman they had freed from the helicopter only a couple of hours ago. Her neck was broken and her throat slashed open. The sight brought more tears to Mia’s eyes. That woman hadn’t asked for this; she had boarded a helicopter because she was doing her job and had no choice about it. She had survived a crash and escaped the tomb that encapsulated her co-workers, only to be caught in a deadly slurry of volcanic ash and smashed through a glass window.
It was a horrible way to go. Mia could almost see the woman screaming as the river carried her toward the glass, the serrated edges slicing through the flesh on her neck and then the force of the drop completely snapping the bone. She couldn’t be sure if that was how it happened at all, but that was how the moment was replicated in her head. The fact she had saved and spoken to Laura only made everything more real. She wished she had never gotten to know the woman, even in the smallest sense. Sometimes complete naivety was a blessing.
“Come on,” Mia encouraged the woman, even more impatient now to get away from the windows. “Let us help you.”
With a nod to Jorge, who still stood slightly behind Mia, the two of them moved to either side of the woman. Slowly and carefully, Mia placed a hand on the woman’s shoulder, allowing her to flinch and then gradually peel her eyes open.
“It’s okay,” Mia repeated, “you can let go now.”
It took time, but the woman eventually agreed, allowing Mia and Jorge to ease her body up from the metal pillar and to walk her away from the broken windows. Most of the lobby was drenched from the activity, but there was a part of it in the far right-hand corner that the water had completely subsided from. The other survivors were gathering there and so that was where Mia and Jorge headed too, the woman’s half-conscious frame still supported between them.
“What’s your name?” Mia asked as they helped the woman, trying to keep her talking in order to stop her from passing out again. Things were much safer if she was conscious and it also made the job of moving her incredibly more difficult if the woman became a dead weight—for lack of a better expression.
“Cynthia,” the woman managed to mumble, her eyelids fluttering once more as she spoke. “Cynthia Jones.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Cynthia,” Mia replied. “My name is Mia, and this is Jorge. You’re going to be safe with us, okay? You’re going to be able to make it home to your dogs. Remember them, Cynthia? Are you excited to see them?”
Cynthia opened her mouth to respond again, but instead hacking coughs tore through her lungs and she lurched forward, doubling over. The sudden movement nearly made Mia and Jorge both lose their balance, their footing unstable beneath the water. They regained their equilibrium just in time, managing to stop Cynthia’s body from smacking into the ground. Two of the other survivors took note of what was happening and started wading forward to help, but the sight in front of Mia’s eyes made her question whether it was worth it.
Blood dribbled from Cynthia’s mouth, each cough bringing more and more of it up from her lungs. The woman’s body may have looked undamaged, but it seemed some serious internal injury had been caused by the lahars. After everything, her position at the metal pillar hadn’t been safe at all.
Between four of them, they managed to carry Cynthia’s body over to where everyone else was waiting. She drifted in and out of consciousness even more frequently, her skin turning pale and a sheen of sweat forming over her brow. Things didn’t look good. Mia had seen enough people on the edge of life in her time to know that Cynthia wasn’t long for their world. It was deeply saddening, but all they could do was lie her body down somewhere dry and give her some space to pass over in peace. Nothing else could be done. There was no way to save her and no way to reduce the pain. As with the little girl and the old man, Mia found herself simply having to turn away.
“What do we do now?” someone asked, as the last few survivors in the airport banded together. Their group was small, but as they looked around one another, they all felt a sense of solidarity. It was a young man called Jesse who had asked the question, one of three college students, along with Marcus and Jadon, who had been about to travel home from Montana State University for the summer when everythi
ng happened.
Alongside them stood a father and daughter, Patrick and Allie, both staring at the floor in silence as they mourned the rest of their family. The mother and second daughter hadn’t been so fortunate. Mia guessed that the little girl she had watched die had been the second daughter, though she couldn’t bring herself to ask the question or even speak to the father in any way. She knew what it was like to lose someone like that and she knew there was nothing she could say that would bring them any peace right now.
Finally, two airport workers completed the group: Angelica and Michael. They were the pair who had copied Mia and Jorge and positioned themselves on top of one of the screens for safety. They had likely spent a large proportion of their lives in the airport, though that was unlikely to have been a factor that played into their survival. Just like the rest of the group, they were stunned into silence from the events of the lahars, their bodies shivering and shaking from the ordeal.
Looking from one person to the next until her eyes rested on Jesse again, Mia wished she had an answer for his question. She understood that everyone still looked to her and Jorge for guidance, but after everything that had happened, she didn’t know what to say. In truth, she wanted someone to give her the answers. She wanted someone to hold her and tell her that everything was going to be okay. She wanted her loved ones. She wanted her parents and her adopted children. She just wanted to be safe.
Because, when it all came down to it, Mia was probably the most frightened one of them all. Everyone else was scared because of what had happened. Mia, on the other hand, was scared because of what was still to come. This was only the beginning and she knew it. Their experiences were about to get a whole lot worse.
Chapter 17
“Oh, Jerry!” Linda held her husband and wept as she did, her tears soaking through his sweater and onto his shoulder. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I was so worried.”
Chase and Riley watched the embrace silently, faint smiles on their faces. Their own reunion had been briefer, though it too had been emotional. Riley had surprised herself by how tearful she had been when she saw Chase and Pop struggling back through the haze, her brother supporting most of her grandfather’s weight on his shoulder.
She had seen them before Linda had and leaped out of her seat immediately, throwing open the kitchen door and running outside to help her brother. Grandma Linda had been right behind her, both of them completely disregarding their own safety in order to get the men back inside. Nothing had been said yet about what happened or where they’d ended up, though Riley was still eager to find all that out. For the time being, she was happy to see her grandparents back together and to have her brother by her side.
“I’m okay, Linda, really,” Pop wheezed, his breath getting caught in his lungs slightly as he spoke. He tried to resist the urge to cough for as long as possible, but the need was too great and eventually his whole body shook with them as he emptied out some of the dirt he had inhaled.
“No, you’re not,” Grandma Linda was stern in her reply, refusing to believe otherwise or here any further arguments from her husband. “Come on, let’s get you upstairs and into bed. You need to lie down.”
“Please,” Jerry looked at his wife with pleading eyes. “I’m okay, I don’t need to go to bed.” Despite how rotten his insides felt, Jerry was determined to maintain some shred of the man he used to be. He wanted to be strong and while at that time he felt more vulnerable and afraid than ever, he didn’t want his wife to worry too much about him. He almost didn’t want her to know what had happened to him, as he was both equally ashamed and embarrassed by it. The truth would have to be told though; as much as he wanted to protect his wife, he knew he could never lie to her either.
“All right, fine,” Linda eventually gave in. “No bed, but let’s go up to the den at least and sit down? Then you can tell us both what happened.”
“Okay,” Jerry agreed. “Riley, will you come and help your old Pop up the stairs?”
Smiling, Riley stepped forward and looped her arm through her grandfather’s. She could tell something serious had happened outside, though she wasn’t certain whether it was something more than just Pop and Chase being stuck out in the storm for so long. Through helping her Grandpop upstairs and into the den she was sure she would find out eventually, understanding as well that it gave Chase a moment to prepare their grandma for what he was about to say.
“My sweet boy,” Linda wrapped her arms around Chase as soon as Jerry was out of them and on his way upstairs. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Grandma,” Chase nodded and returned the hug. “I’m sorry it took so long to get back home. Were you all right?”
“Well, I am now,” Linda smiled, giving her grandson one last squeeze before she let him go. “What happened?”
“Why don’t you head on upstairs and sit down?” Chase suggested. He could tell his grandma was tired and he knew Riley would want to hear the story as well. He didn’t want to have to tell it twice. “I’ll make a pot of cocoa and bring it up with me, then I can explain everything to you. The most important thing for the time being is that we’re all safely back inside.”
Grandma Linda opened her mouth to argue, but saw how equally tired Chase was and decided not to push it. She trusted her grandson and knew he wasn’t going to hide the truth from her. If she had to wait an extra five minutes to hear it, then where was the harm in that?
“All right,” she answered. “Thank you, Chase. I’ll send Riley down to help you carry it.”
“I’m not telling you yet either,” Chase sighed as Riley appeared in front of him no more than thirty seconds later. “I’m tired, Riley, I just want to sit down.”
“I know,” Riley replied, understanding filling her voice. “I wasn’t going to ask. I’m just glad you’re okay, bro.”
“Thanks,” Chase smiled. “It was pretty scary stuff out there if I’m honest. I hope we’ve seen the worst of this weather now.”
“Me too,” Riley replied. “I can’t move stuff around in my room any more than I already have!”
Chase let out a small laugh. He could always rely on his sister to make him smile. He was proud of her. Clearly the conversation they’d shared in the barn had sunk into her more than he’d thought it would. She seemed to have matured so much so quickly and he was sure she had been an absolute rock to their grandma while he had been out searching for Pop.
“Are you okay?” Chase asked, reaching up into one of the cupboards and pulling out four mugs for the cocoa. “And Grandma? How’s she doing?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Riley gave her brother a reassuring smile. “Grandma was pretty scared though. She tried to go outside herself a couple of times to find you guys. At one point I thought she was really going to leave me behind.”
“Aw man,” Chase signed. “I’m sorry, Riley. I really had no idea things were this bad here.”
“Hey,” Riley elbowed her brother softly in the stomach. “It’s not your fault. How could we have known all of this was going to happen? How could we have done anything to stop it? We’re just rolling with the punches now bro, and I feel like we’re doing a pretty good job so far.”
“Yeah,” Chase smiled. “Yeah, you’re right. Here,” he handed her the four mugs, “let’s get these upstairs and then I’ll tell you everything that happened.”
Once everyone was seated in the den, Chase started telling his story. Riley listened carefully to every word, watching everyone’s faces as the words tumbled from her brother’s mouth. Pop was reluctant to contribute and Riley could tell right away that he was embarrassed by what had happened; by what he had done.
Not a single person in the room—aside from Jerry himself—blamed him though. Riley had known there was something up with her grandfather’s health, but she’d had no idea it was this severe. Of course, there had been the stroke a few months ago that Mia had warned both her and Chase about before they came to stay, but beyond that nothing had been mentioned. She had figur
ed out herself that there was something else going on, though overhearing a couple of conversations between Chase and their grandma had also helped her piece things together.
Still, to hear that Pop had completely blacked out and wandered out into the storm by himself was crazy. Of course, she didn’t blame her grandfather. She loved him with all her heart and always would—but it confirmed to her that there was something wrong with him. That there was something she needed to keep an eye on. Something that wasn’t safe.
Watching her grandma react to the news was equally as difficult for Riley as it was to hear it. From sitting with her while Chase and Pop were outside, Riley had witnessed just how determined Grandma Linda was to find her husband and to keep him safe. It was almost like she was watching the woman’s heart break as Chase told her what had happened, her eyes darting between her grandson and her husband and struggling to remain dry.
It was horrible. Riley could feel so much love between them that it made her want to wrap her arms around them both and never let go. It reminded her of her parents to an extent, though she couldn’t ever remember them being as loving in her company. Perhaps it was a result of her age before things happened, or perhaps it was because of how much she’d matured since her parents died. But as she looked at her grandparents, Riley felt herself experience what true love was and it made her feel both immensely happy and sad inside at the same time.
“Oh, Jerry,” Linda repeated after Chase finally finished speaking. She shuffled along the couch toward her husband and wrapped an arm around him, nestling her head on his chest.
“I’m so sorry, Linda,” Pop replied, placing a hand on the back of her head and gently stroking her white hair. “You don’t deserve this.”
