Justin stared at the pyroclastic cloud. "I guess we'll find out soon enough if any of us will get away."
Janie, who was still under Justin's arm, looked at him and then at her sister. "I can't think of two nicer people to die with."
Idaho Joe, Montana Mike, and Ernie from Washington stood with their backs to the entrance of a shallow cave they had discovered in the side of a hill. They had been crouching inside, hoping the shelter would grant them some protection from the pyroclastic flow that might sweep over them; but they had been driven back outside by a series of earthquake aftershocks, one quite violent, that seemed to threaten the stability of the roof of their hiding place.
They gazed toward what was left of Mount Yuktapah and Joe said, "Hard to say, but I think we're safe. The hot gas and ash should've been here by now if it was coming. And look, there to the northwest, the winds seem to be blowing the bulk of the cloud away from us. Couldn't do that if the pyroclastic flow had the power to reach this far."
Ernie seemed to be distracted. He mumbled a response to Joe's observation, and then said, "We should've climbed down to look for Jack."
"We called out to him over and over again," said Mike. "He fell, he died. It was hundreds of feet down the cliff. If he was still alive we'd have heard something. He was dead all right. If we'd tried to reach him, we might be dead now, too."
"He'd have searched for one of us," said Ernie.
"Doubt it," said Joe.
"I'm going back to look for him," Ernie said.
"Suit yourself," Joe said, opening his hand toward the trail. "Mike and I are going inside the cave for a while, just to be safe, and then we're heading to camp to figure out what to do next."
Ernie's protestation regarding searching for his friend was not quite as strong as his instinct for self-preservation, and he was the first to re-enter the cave.
The teenagers were now fairly certain the main body of pumice and gas could not reach them, so they began to assess their situation and to make decisions regarding what to do next. "We could wait here or climb down to the level of the lake and the cabin," said Janie. "Rex and Martha will surely be on their way soon to rescue us."
"Two problems with that," said Justin. "You can see from here that the lake keeps sinking minute by minute. I don't want to be on that level. It's the least stable ground in the area. And the cabin has sunk, too. All we can make out is the roof. It looks like it's three quarters underground already. And the second problem is the fishermen. We don't know where they are, but if we hang around here or back at the station they might regroup and come for us."
Rachel nodded. "Good thinking…but we have to climb down anyway, at least for a short visit. We need to see if we can crawl inside, find your jacket, grab our packs, fill them with supplies, look for that big tent—or at least some blankets…and try to locate someone we've forgotten about."
"Umbriago!" cried Janie. "He must be trapped in there, scared to death. Let's get started."
The hike down the trail was more difficult than any of them imagined. The plateau was gone, and in its place was a long, steep drop off that offered few opportunities for a safe descent. They finally found a spot that wasn't perfectly vertical and scooted down on their bottoms to the level below. When they got to their feet they hesitated, for though they could make out the lake and the cabin beneath them in the distance, the intervening landmarks had been displaced by the eruption and earthquake. They decided on a path through a small grove of fallen mountain hemlocks, and it proved to be a good choice. After twenty minutes spent sidestepping broken branches, tree trunks, and a wide variety of litter, they emerged with the cabin in view.
The structure had sunk more deeply into the earth than they had been able to ascertain from the higher elevation. The roof stood no more than four feet off the ground and only a few inches of the doors and windows were visible.
"Oh, poor Umbriago," said Janie.
"I wonder about the lower half of the cabin," said Justin. "Did it sink in one piece or did it hit bedrock or hard earth and compress? What we find might not be pretty."
"Can we get in?" Rachel asked.
"Think so," said Justin. "Dig around the big window, break the glass, and I'll drop in."
"You?"
"The whole thing might collapse entirely—disappear. No sense in all of us going with it. I'm the strongest. Logical."
"Who says you're the strongest?" said Rachel. But she knew he was telling the truth and making the right decision, so she didn't add to her objection, except to say, "Why are we always waiting to see if you're going to survive?"
15
Subsidence
The teenagers dug down to the middle of the double-glassed large window, and Justin leaned back and called out, "Might not be easy. These suckers are hard to break sometimes. Move away so I can get some leverage. I'll try to kick it in."
The girls complied and Justin braced his back against the mound of dirt they'd been accumulating. He then thrust both of his heels forward against the heavy glass, but instead of shattering as he expected, the glass yielded under the force of his attack, and the entire unit broke free and toppled into the interior.
"Amazing," said Rachel, "what can you see?"
Justin stuck his head in the opening and made a quick survey. "Squished…a lot! But not completely. About three or four feet high in there, and dark, real dark."
"Umbriago?" asked Janie.
"Can't see him or much of anything else—imagine he's hiding, scared out of his wits…I'm going in." He flashed the girls a smile and dove head first through the opening.
"You okay, Justin?" Rachel called out.
"Yeah, fine. Little light from the window, but can't see beyond. Can't stand up straight—crawling, feeling my way."
"Get your jacket and our packs," Rachel said. "Get whatever food you can."
There was no reply for several long minutes, and then Justin's dirt-smeared face appeared at the opening. "Black and low inside, but I got my jacket and a friend." He pushed Umbriago forward, and Janie grabbed him eagerly. Next he tossed out his jacket and said, "Umbriago was in the kitchen in his special place next to the stove. He moaned when he felt my touch, like I was Big Bertha come to save him. Going back in for packs and supplies."
Rachel said hurriedly, "Get the large tent if you can find it. Give us a place to sleep tonight."
"I'll try."
Shortly after Justin returned to his search, the twins were knocked off their feet by a sharp jolt. The exterior of the compressed cabin began to sway and the ground began to undulate. A deafening thunder clap filled the air, and jets of water shot into the sky from Glacier Lake, as if someone had turned on gas jets underneath.
Janie had dropped Umbriago, and she now knelt to scoop him up. He had made no effort to run away, and he responded like a small child happy to be in his mother's arms.
Rachel leapt back into the hole they had dug, and though the earth was still heaving, she stuck her head inside the opening and screamed, "Justin, Justin, are you okay? Come on, get out. Forget about the stuff—get out now! Something's terribly wrong. Please, now!"
There was no reply, and because of the grinding noises of the new earthquake, and the strange loud booms coming from the lake, she could hear no sounds of movement inside the cabin. She sucked in a deep breath of air and considered the situation. Justin might need help, might be trapped, might die without someone coming to his aid. She would be that someone. She lowered her head and dropped through the opening.
Janie watched in horror as her sister disappeared into the maw that led to what was left of the station. Now both of her companions were in danger, creeping through a dark space that could collapse at any moment. She put Umbriago on a small patch of grass, knowing he wouldn't run away. He was with his new family and he knew it, and there was no way he was going to flee into the dimly lit forest. She then jumped into the pit in front of the window frame and made ready to follow Justin and Rachel inside…if it turned out t
hey needed her.
The timbers and rafters of the building groaned, the roof inched lower and lower, and it seemed that at any moment a sinkhole might gobble up everything in sight.
Glacier Lake was now twenty to twenty-five feet lower than normal, and the water jets and geysers had not abated.
The new quake and aftershocks caused the three remaining fishermen to move swiftly, and twilight had not yet fully given way to night by the time they reached the spot where they'd pitched their camp on the Yuktapah. The river was swollen and was filled with fallen trees, scrub brush, driftwood, and scores of other types of floating debris, but there was no sign of their campsite—no tents, no equipment, no canoes—everything had been washed away.
Ernie shook his head. "The rangers were right. We chose the wrong location."
Joe said, "Didn't make sense to move to higher ground. We were leaving in the morning…with the girls tucked into the bottoms of the canoes. Who knew the volcano would blow?"
"What now?" asked Mike. "We're helpless out here. Back to the ranger station? See if the kids are there, load up on supplies. I still want that reverend's money."
"And run into the returning rangers?" Joe said. "Besides, we'd never get there tonight. It'll be pitch black before long. We can't hike back there in the dark….I want the money, too. Boy dead, twins in Whitehorse. That's what the Prophet wants. Earthquakes and volcanos won't cause him to pay us out of the goodness of his heart."
"What heart?" said Ernie.
"We'll head down the Yuktapah, down to the camp of those hunters, Bilboa and Barnes. See how they made it through this disaster. Maybe they have some extra equipment and supplies to loan us."
Mike and Ernie smiled. "I'd guess they do," Mike said.
Rachel and Justin met in the hallway between the kitchen and the living area. Neither could see more than a few inches, and they collided with some force. They reached out for each other. "Rachel? Janie?" Justin said.
"It's Rachel. We've got to get out of here. The aftershocks are tearing the place apart, and the ground…the lake, the whole floor of the canyon is sinking. We'll go with it if we stay."
"Then let's roll."
They inched down the hall and out toward the faint light coming from the opening where Justin kicked out the window.
"Hurray!" Rachel said.
"Must be three, maybe two, feet high in here now," Justin said. "Not too easy to hurry."
"If we don't we'll die."
They increased their pace and soon reached their escape hatch. Justin took Rachel by the waist and hoisted her up.
Janie shouted from the outside, "Oh, good!" and pulled her sister the rest of the way to safety.
Justin followed and soon the three friends had retrieved Umbriago and had moved ten or fifteen yards away from the cabin. The earth was still shaking violently, and a cloud of steam now covered the lake.
"We're not far enough away," Rachel warned. "Let's move to higher ground as fast as possible."
No one argued.
They raced through the fallen hemlocks, climbed on their hands and knees up the incline they had previously descended where the plateau used to stand, and then hiked higher and higher until they arrived at a point that seemed to be safe from whatever was going to happen to the cabin, Glacier Lake, and Yuktapah Canyon.
The hillside was now relatively still and for a moment they thought that the worst was over and their escape had been unnecessary; but as they watched the panorama below, the canyon seemed to fold up like a zipper bag, the lake vanished (at least the part they could see), and the cabin, roof and all, slid into a giant sinkhole. Soot, silt, and steam saturated the air, and when it began to clear they looked down in wonder.
Not one familiar landmark was visible. It was like they were staring at an entirely new section of the preserve—one they had never seen before.
"Rex and Martha will fly right over," said Rachel. "They'll think they overshot the station. They'll backtrack, change their headings, and think their instruments are malfunctioning."
"We're on our own," said Janie.
"We've been on our own before," Justin said.
The girls stood straighter. "Yes, we have," said Rachel. "What now?"
"Inventory," said Justin. He showed what he'd recovered. "One pack—shoved eight or nine cans of something into it. Don't know what—too dark in there—we'll take a peek in a bit. Found the small tent, the big one was too bulky…and I got one blanket."
Rachel rolled her eyes. "One blanket and the small tent. Where are you going to sleep, Justin?"
"Between you two. It'll be nice and warm."
They distributed their meager supplies and Rachel suggested they move a greater distance away from the collapsed canyon before they made camp for the night. "Did you get a can opener?" she asked Justin.
He shook his head and pointed to the sheath on his belt. "We've always got my knife."
As they began to hike deeper into the wilderness toward the eastern edge of the preserve, Janie asked, "Tomorrow?"
"Maybe head for the Bilboa and Barnes camp," said Justin. "They shot one of our sows…maybe two, but they'll protect us. They're not criminals like the fake fishermen." The ground rumbled beneath their feet and he added, "I'd guess those killers are halfway to Fairbanks by now."
16
Missoula and Deer Lodge
At the Western Montana Mental Health Center, the twins' mother had improved somewhat in clarity of thought and now remembered that her two daughters had come to visit. She couldn't recall precisely what it was they wanted, but she knew they wanted something—everyone wanted something from her. No one loved her for herself. No one came to see her or called on the phone without an ulterior motive.
Her husband Seth was a perfect example. He had just called from the state prison at Deer Lodge. "Have you heard from the girls?"
"They were here."
"Yes, but I mean now—since the eruption and earthquake. Are they all right? Have they contacted you? They wouldn't bother with me."
"Earthquake?"
"Don't you watch the news?" He seemed frustrated, impatient.
"No." She hung up without further comment. Let him call one of his other wives if he wanted to talk about the news.
Seth Lemon left the telephone center and returned to the open cell door of the Prophet J.J. Flack. He set on the edge of the bed next to Elder Biggars and shrugged. "She's no help. Doesn't know what day it is, let alone what happened to the twins."
The Prophet nodded. "Thank you for trying, Elder Lemon."
Seth said, "Getting the girls to recant their testimony may be impossible anyway."
"With God all things are possible," said the Prophet. "But we can't begin the process if we don't know what's happened to them or where they are."
Seth left the cell, and Elder Biggars remained, slouched in the corner chair with his feet on the commode.
The Prophet's face darkened. "Satellite phones would've solved this problem. I thought we made a mistake in ruling them out. The extra money wasn't significant."
"Wasn't the money," said Biggars. "Too many prying ears. Didn't want Idaho Joe on tape in some government agency."
"Fairbanks International's doing okay," the Prophet said. "Runways open for business. Cargo plane is ready to load the crates for Whitehorse."
Biggars said, "Nothing but mining equipment in those crates now."
The Prophet got to his feet and gripped the bars beside the open door with both hands. "By the Lord God, I'll have those girls if I have to break out of here and crawl to Fairbanks and Whitehorse. And I want that boy with them buried. He frustrated God's will in the Bitterroots and God will not allow it to happen again.
"Yes, sir," said Elder Biggars.
17
The Bend in the Yuktapah
Not having a supply of milk for Umbriago didn't seem to be a problem, for he devoured everything Janie offered him. She had taken Justin's place as the official spring cub caregiver and transp
orter, and she was delighted with the responsibility. Like Justin, she traveled with the tiny bear under her flannel shirt, but unlike Justin, since she didn't wear a tee shirt, she nestled Umbriago next to her skin. She liked him there next to her heart, and he seemed to like it there, too.
They'd spent the night in the pup tent, but the girls quickly squelched Justin's plan to sleep sandwiched between them…for warmth. They relegated him to one side and insured his isolation by folding a portion of the lone blanket into a ridge between him and Rachel. He loudly proclaimed his displeasure, but laughed as he did so to let them know he admired their modesty.
Breakfast consisted of canned salmon and canned turnip greens, heated over the fire Justin started with the cigarette lighter he always kept in his pocket. The meal was not bad, but not good either. Still, the teens partially slaked their hunger and Umbriago lapped up the leftover juice and several handfuls of red currant berries Janie managed to scrounge for him.
"The sky's gray," said Rachel.
"Residual ash," said Justin. "Look at the trees and the grass—they're gray. Grind your teeth. It's in our mouths, too."
"Will it pile up on the ground?" Janie asked.
Justin shook his head. "Don't think so. Would've been like a heavy snow cover by now if it was going to build up. What we have is a dusting. Closer to Mount Yuktapah it's probably pretty thick."
Rachel had the pup tent strapped to her back, Justin carried the pack with the remaining cans, and Janie had wound the lone blanket around Umbriago and secured him to her chest. Justin made a comment about bear fur on their blanket, but Janie reminded him that Umbriago had slept with them and no one seemed the worse for wear.
Though the air was impure, Rachel felt invigorated as they trekked over the hills and through the woods toward the hunters' camp. The aftershocks and strange noises had ceased. The criminal fishermen seemed to have disappeared, and she hoped the earth had opened up and swallowed them.
Justin pointed to two arctic squirrels that were taking turns chasing each other. "More to eat up here than we had in the Bitterroots, eh?"
RUNAWAY TWINS and RUNAWAY TWINS IN ALASKA: BOXED SET Page 17
