by E S Richards
For nearly five years Mia had worked side by side with Jorge. They had never been the closest friends within the university, but they had always been civil. She had invited him to the big cookouts that had occasionally been held at her parents’ farm, she had written him a Christmas card every year, and she had given him advice on his various lady friends month after month.
Then since Yellowstone erupted, she had helped to keep him alive. She had shared his worries and his fears, talking with him into the early hours of the mornings as they planned how they were going to make it back home, how they were going to survive the long-term effects of the eruption that they both knew would eventually come. Mia had thought she and Jorge had grown much, much closer. Their relationship hadn’t always been perfect, but they had been improving it. All the way up until they stumbled upon the fracking site, things had been getting better.
Now she looked upon what he had done and felt nothing save anger and hatred toward the Spaniard. He had betrayed her. There was no other word suitable for it. He had known that Mia was pinning all her hopes on that car and using it to get back to her family. He had taken that away from her without a second thought, without even turning his head to look back at her. In fact, it was even worse than that. Jorge had stared her in the eyes as he drove out of Lois’s driveway, looking at Mia and knowing that he was taking her future and her family away from her. And yet, he had still done it. He was pure evil in Mia’s mind now, and she would never forgive him for what he had done. Even if he came back to her and begged for it, their relationship was over. Mia refused to spend another minute even thinking about him. She had to focus on how to get home now and she had to think of a way quickly. Without a car it would be difficult, but that didn’t mean it was impossible. She had vowed that she would get home to her family and one selfish move from a former friend wasn’t going to stop her.
“That old Beetle around the back should work,” Lois commented again, also trying to distract Mia from her anger. “Danny used to take it out once a month or so.”
“Even if it doesn’t,” Marcus offered, “we’ll find a way. We won’t end up stuck here, no offense,” he added to Lois, feeling guilty that they were all so desperately trying to leave her house while she was stuck there.
“Yeah.” Jadon sat down on the couch beside Mia, placing a cautious hand on her back as he spoke to her. “We’ll figure something out, Mia. Please talk to us. Tell us what you’re thinking.”
Mia shifted in her seat, causing Jadon’s hand to fall from her back. The human contact didn’t feel comforting, as she was sure he’d intended it to. Instead it just reminded her of Jorge for some reason. Squeezing her eyes shut, Mia tried to force herself to stop thinking about him. After what he had done to her it should’ve been easy, yet she knew it wasn’t possible to just remove someone from her thoughts as easily as that. Especially someone who had become so important to her.
“I’m thirsty,” Mia eventually whispered, her voice cracking as she spoke. She knew she had inhaled a lot of dust and dirty air in her time outside and knew her lungs were likely damaged as a result. She just hoped that it wasn’t enough to cause any serious damage, her health something she didn’t have the time to worry about at present.
“I’ll get you some water,” Lois offered in reply immediately, taking the opportunity to excuse herself from the awkward atmosphere in the room. Mia wasn’t the only one who had lost something when Jorge drove away; Lois had been counting on Mia looking for her family as she traveled over to Houston. Now that wasn’t going to happen, and Lois felt like the tiny bit of hope she had let herself feel had been instantly dashed away.
“Are you okay?” Jadon asked once Lois was out of the room, Marcus and Jesse both hovering as far away as possible, giving Mia the space she needed. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine,” Mia replied with a shake of her head. “I just can’t believe he did that.”
“I know,” Jadon sympathized. “He’s a total whack job. A self-obsessed, selfish whack job.”
Mia smiled at Jadon’s words, agreeing with him wholeheartedly. “I really thought he was my friend, you know,” she sighed, feeling an itch at the back of her throat as she spoke that concerned her slightly. Surely something bad couldn’t have happened to her lungs that quickly? Mia shook the feeling off, putting it down to nerves and hypochondria. “He sure proved me wrong.”
“We’re better off without him,” Jadon decided. “That car was on its last legs as well anyway. I didn’t want to say anything before, but I had my doubts it would’ve made it all the way back to Houston. We’ll probably pass it abandoned on the side of the road at some point. Better off without that as well.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Mia chuckled; impressed that Jadon was actually making her feel better about the whole ordeal. “A car on its last legs is still better than no car at all.”
“You really don’t think Lois’s Beetle will work?”
“No,” Mia replied with certainty. “Not if it’s been sitting outside since the eruption. There’s no chance.”
“So we walk,” Jadon shrugged. “We’ve all got legs. We can do that.”
“It’s a long way.”
“So? It’s been a long way from the start. That’s not stopped us before. We’ve come this far already, Mia. We’re not going to let a little car trouble stop us now.”
Mia looked at Jadon, seeing the resolve on his face and admiring him for a moment. She was grateful not only for his humor and kind words, but also for his continued support. Of the three college students, he was the one who had been by her side through the most of the disaster. He had proved himself to be a resilient young man and Mia didn’t want to let him down. The same was true for Marcus and Jesse on some level. She had thought the same about all three of them when she first met them in the airport: immature, childish, and unwilling to take things seriously. Now her opinion had changed dramatically. They were all fine young men and she had vowed to them that day in the airport that she would help get them home. She was going to live up to her word now. Vehicle or not, she was going back to Houston.
“Okay,” she announced, pushing herself to her feet just as Lois returned to the front room. “I’m not going to let Jorge stop us. I’m walking to Houston, and I’d be honored if you all would join me.”
The three boys erupted into a cheer that made Mia smile, believing fully that they could actually make it to Houston. They weren’t that far from the border of Texas, Lois’s house nestled just south of the border between Colorado and New Mexico. So much ground had already been covered since Yellowstone first erupted, and now that they were less than a thousand miles away, Mia wasn’t going to give up hope of reaching home.
“Who has a map?” Mia asked, an idea popping into her head. She had said before that cars which had been left outside since the eruption would be useless, but she hadn’t considered those that had been sorted safely in warehouses and showrooms. “Where is the nearest car showroom?”
“Yes, Mia!” Marcus celebrated, encouraged by Mia’s idea and grabbing a map that he had left on the side the evening before. “Great idea.”
Together the two of them poured over it, Lois leaning over and pointing to areas where she thought they might be able to find a car that would still work. Mia knew realistically that the only way she could guarantee to make it to Houston within the week was if they drove. She was sure that car dealerships and showrooms would’ve been targeted a great deal in the days immediately after the eruption, so it was likely they’d have to visit a few. But she also knew it was the only option they had. A car simply kept in someone’s garage wouldn’t be guaranteed to start or run properly, only one that had been kept in display condition would have been given the protection necessary to survive the eruption. Providing the whole building hadn’t collapsed.
“What about you, Lois?” Mia asked after several minutes of reviewing the map and circling possible locations where they could find another vehicle. “Do yo
u want to come with us?”
“I can’t,” Lois shook her head. “I’ve got Isabelle to look after. She can’t go outside in this. Besides, I don’t want to leave the house in case Danny and the others do eventually come back.”
Mia nodded. She could understand that desperation. The feeling where she was reluctant to do anything other than the first idea that had occurred to her in case her family returned to the house and found that she was gone. Mia had almost forgotten about Lois’s daughter as well. Isabelle kept to herself upstairs almost all of the time, frightened by the new people in her house and likely scared about what was happening and where the rest of her family were. Mia felt bad that they had come into Lois’s house and disrupted her life so much, barely even sparing a thought for the issues she was already dealing with.
“I understand,” she replied, feeling guilty about the way she had acted toward the woman. Earlier that morning she’d told her she’d search for her family even though she’d known she didn’t really have any intention of doing so. Now—even though little had changed—Mia felt like she owed it to Lois to actually do that. Their journey to find a car would take them past where Lois had said her family had gone camping. Looking for the four lost men was the very least Mia could do now.
“When do you want to go?” Jadon asked, looking outside at the weather. Technically it didn’t make a great deal of difference what time of day it was anymore, though it was slightly warmer through the day. Daylight was limited at all hours, the thick mass of clouds that hung low in the sky blocking out all sunlight and warmth. It made the air frigid and hazy, a constant dusk that never thinned and made them feel like they were constantly fighting their way through fog.
“As soon as possible,” Mia replied. “We should figure out what gear we still have here and what we’ve lost with the car. I want to leave as soon as we can after that.”
Everyone nodded, understanding that time was now of the essence. If they were going to be outside, then they needed to be prepared and they needed to get out before it was too late. Things were only going to continue to get worse and none of them wanted to doom themselves by staying in a comfortable and safe house longer than they absolutely needed to. It was nice to have luxuries, but they were all aware those would have to wait.
Watching everyone move off to go and review the gear they’d each brought into the house with them, Mia found herself gazing out of the window and down the highway once more. She imagined seeing the little Mazda driving back toward them, Jorge behind the wheel with an apology already prepared on his lips. The thought made her smile, but she knew it would never come to pass. Jorge was gone, and Mia would likely never see him again. Good riddance. She had bigger fish to fry now, and finally, the Spaniard wasn’t going to slow her down anymore.
Chapter 20
“Ready?” Mia couldn’t help getting flashbacks to leaving Helena Regional Airport many days ago as she stood by the front door of Lois’s house, Jadon, Marcus, and Jesse behind her as they prepared to leave. While the group she was departing with was considerably smaller, the purpose of it was exactly the same. Escape the devastation of Yellowstone and find a way back home.
“Let’s do this,” Marcus replied, Jesse and Jadon both nodding beside him.
“Good luck,” Lois encouraged. “I hope you make it home.”
Mia didn’t turn to thank Lois; she had already said everything she wanted to the woman. There was nothing more left to do at the house except leave. Thankfully they all still had the high-quality breathing masks they’d found at the fracking site and so, in unison, the four of them pulled them up over their faces. Then with a smooth motion, Mia reached forward and pulled open the door, exposing them all to the outside world and the horrors that it brought with it.
It had been a long time since the four of them had been walking outside for extended periods of time. They’d found vehicles shortly after leaving the village beneath the airport, covering a vast distance in them that would’ve been impossible on foot. It felt strange that they were their only method of transport now, the four of them fighting against the elements on a quest to reach Mia’s family.
Thinking back through everywhere they’d traveled so far, Mia wondered about everyone who they had left behind. First it had been Michael and Angelica, both refusing to leave their village because of their dying mother. Mia was certain that their mother had passed away by now and sadly she believed the same was probably true for Michael, Angelica, and everyone else who had stayed there as well. Not only was the air incredibly toxic that close to Yellowstone, but they had no supply of clean water and the lahars had all but destroyed all their homes. To stay behind had effectively been a death wish; Mia was disappointed that she hadn’t managed to convince more of the residents to join her.
After that, the next separation point had been Tanner. Their group had lost so many in that town, Patrick and Allie wanting to find their way back home to Seattle, while Stuart, Deb, Ethan, Miles, and Billy tried to make the town their home. Mia wasn’t even sure whether Patrick and Allie had left in the end, their decision not yet certain as their friends who lived there were slowly dying. Mia wondered what had become of Tanner by now; there was little chance its original residents were still alive, their lungs going the same way as their larynxes had. Still, there was hope that the others might still be living there and surviving. Mia liked to think that she had helped to save at least a small percentage of the people she had met.
Jorge was obviously the last member to leave her group, the key difference between now and when Mia had walked away from the airport all those days ago. She tried not to focus on that fact though, thankful for the three young men that surrounded her. They were worth more to her than anyone else now and she knew they would stop at nothing to help her get home.
However, as much as Mia tried not to think about it, it was difficult not to get lost in her thoughts as she walked. The weather around her was like white noise. The wind howled in her ears like a pack of angry dogs, all yapping and growling and fighting for attention. Ash spun in the air like a dancer on the stage, limbs flying in different directions and drawing the eye around with it. There were particles of dirt and dust constantly thrown against her body, along with larger pieces of gravel, broken twigs and branches, and other things that Mia couldn’t even identify. It was too dark to see everything clearly, leaving Mia only able to guess what was ahead of her and hoping that they were going the right way.
The four of them walked like shadows, each of them nothing more than a blur in the cloud. Mia and Jadon walked slightly ahead of the other two, their group walking in a perfect square to make sure they didn’t lose sight of anyone in the mist. They all knew that it would only take a few steps in the wrong direction for them to become completely lost, with no way of finding their way back to the others. Their flashlights did little but bounce back off of the fog and blind them, useless unless there was a solid object they were focused on. Their voices were immediately lost in the wind as well, leaving them stripped completely bare and left vulnerable.
It was a very strange sensation, being forced to navigate without the use of your senses. Mia could hardly see, she couldn’t hear anything over the wind, her nostrils were constantly accosted by the smell of burnt ash, and when it came to taste and touch, there was nothing she could do to aid her.
Pulling the map from her pocket, already folded to the specific page she needed, she clicked the button on her flashlight and stopped to read the page, Jadon and the others stopping with her. Assuming that they had been walking in a straight line—which Mia was sure they had because of the road to guide them—and taken the correct turnings—which, again, she was confident about—then they should already be in the vicinity of the first car dealership that Lois had identified. She showed the map to the boys and hoped they read it properly, a nod from Marcus showing that he too believed they had made it to their first destination. Now all they had to do was find it.
“Which way do you t
hink?” Mia shouted over the wind, hoping the three boys could hear her as it felt like her voice just got thrown back in her face.
“We should go to the side of the road and try to find a turn,” Marcus yelled back at her. “If we can find a sign that should help us locate exactly where we are!”
Mia nodded, Jadon and Jesse also agreeing with their friend’s suggestion. Together, with everyone holding on to the person ahead of them in some way, they started to shuffle over to the side of the road, Marcus leading as he searched for any identifier that might tell them where they were. It was a horrible task walking blind into a blizzard, the weather getting worse seemingly by the second as they walked through it. Mia willed them to find the car dealership; too much longer outside and she was going to start worrying about their health. She decided there and then in her head that even if they couldn’t find a working car where they were, they would have to stay inside for a few hours anyway. She had never seen a storm rage like this and she knew it was too dangerous to be outside in it for very long. She wanted to get back home, but she knew she shouldn’t risk her life unnecessarily to get there.
“Watch it!” Marcus called from ahead of her, suddenly bringing their procession to a halt. “The ground is slippery here.”
Mia passed the message back to Jadon behind her, the group forced to communicate like a game of telephone due to how loud the wind was around them. Mia felt her boot slip on something and looked down, trying to determine what it was. The ground all looked the same: dirty, gray, cloaked in dirt, dust, and ash. There was no way she could ascertain what was down there, the thought causing her to shudder.
“Yes!” Marcus shouted, lurching forward and pulling everyone with him. They had no choice except to follow, though peering through the darkness Mia could see the faint outline of a sign ahead. Letting go of Marcus, she withdrew the flashlight from her pocket and angled it toward the solid structure, slowly seeing the printed letters illuminate.
