“How’d you know I was checking on them?”
“I’ve seen the same expression on Alena’s face enough times to know when a mother’s checking on her children. What were they doing?”
“Alena was holding them while your children were taking turns entertaining them,” she answered with a smile on her face.
“She just adores babies. I’m afraid she’s catching the baby bug again, and I can feel another baby in my future within the next nine mesans or so!” Bryon’s attempt at looking pitifully put out failed miserably, and they both ended up laughing together.
They sat for a few more minutes in contemplative silence, enjoying the view of the horizon. Since they were no longer moving, Amanda could feel the coolness of the air high up on the mountain. She looked up and realized with a start that the clouds which had seemed so far above were now mere feet above their head. She could see them shifting in the wind, and she smelled rain.
Bryon saw her upturned face and looked at the clouds himself. “It looks as though the weather is letting us know it’s time to start heading back. Going downhill is better and worse at the same time. It’s certainly quicker, but it’s a lot easier to trip and fall, too!”
Amanda wished he had not mentioned anything about tripping since she was notorious for that very action. She reminded herself she was older now and had not tripped the entire day, and it had to count for something! She smiled inwardly, stood up, and brushed the grit from her trousers. She watched as Bryon meticulously gathered every last bit of debris before they began their return.
He stowed the items in his small backpack and said, “I think I got everything. You’d better take one last look before the clouds obscure everything and then we need to get going.”
Amanda did as told and looked out over the vista. She prepared a photo of it in her head to remember always. A few moments later she was following Bryon back down the steep trail.
As her intuition had indicated, it did start to rain; not the soft, happy rain, but hard sheets of rain. It seemed as though the rainy season had begun in earnest.
Amanda’s hair was rapidly plastered to her head, and her clothes were becoming sodden and heavy. Her feet began skidding and sliding on the now muddy track they were following. She began to wish they had left much earlier to avoid this whole mess.
At first, Bryon was sure-footed on the trail in front of Amanda making her feel clumsier still. After five more minutes of rain saturating the soil, he, too, began to slip and slide as they descended the mountain. Each turn in the trail brought them closer to their destination, but they still had a long way to go and the steepest part was closest to the bottom.
They had just reached the steep straight stretch which would lead them to where they had parked the telepod when they felt a deep rumbling under their feet. At first, Amanda thought it was thunder, but one look at Bryon’s face disillusioned her of the idea. What she saw on his face was pure terror, and she did not know what had caused it.
“What’s happened?” Amanda asked urgently to Bryon as he started slipping and sliding to get off of the trail.
“I’ve seen the aftermath but never heard the beginning. If I’m not mistaken, the sound was the start of an avalanche!”
She did not need any more prompting. She would rather slide down the remainder of the trail on her rear than get caught in a muddy avalanche. Amanda did more falling in the next thirty feet than she had in the past ten years of her life, yet she did not care. She could see the end of the trail about three hundred yards in the distance. Hearing breaking noises behind her, she looked back, and saw a wall of mud, trees, rocks and debris fifty feet away and heading straight for them.
“Hurry, Bryon!” Terror rose up inside her, and she screamed with renewed fear.
Hearing the panic in Amanda’s voice, he also looked behind them and understood their peril. With a surge of energy, he charged down the trail, heedless of grace. Amanda was right on his heels. Without paying close attention, Bryon missed the dip in the trail and lost his footing entirely, causing him to fall flat on his face. He skidded to a complete halt.
Amanda immediately began to help him up saying over and over, “Please be okay; please be okay.”
Getting up hurriedly, Bryon overcompensated and almost tumbled into the stream beside the trail. Again, Amanda reached for him and pulled him swiftly away from the edge. Unfortunately for her, where she had planted her feet gave way, and she tumbled over the edge of the bank and fell headlong into the creek.
The water was freezing, and she soon surfaced and gasped for air. Urgently regaining her feet, she had only taken one soggy step toward the bank when the avalanche caught up to them.
Bryon could only watch as the wall of mud turned away from where he was standing to follow the lower course of the creek where Amanda had just fallen. “Amanda!” he yelled over and over as he searched for her in the swells of mud. He ran again beside the creek, keeping one eye on the trail and the other on the creek for any signs of Amanda. He thought he saw her hand surface about two hundred yards ahead. He hoped he could rescue her before she drowned.
Bryon came to the end of the trail and watched the muddy waters drain into the boiling surf of the ocean. He could hardly believe Amanda would have survived through all of the debris and boulders which were mixed in with the mud. If the debris did not kill her outright, drowning was the next hazard.
As he rounded a pile of boulders strewn on the beach, he witnessed a huge explosion. A mass of boulders fell into the ocean just where he imagined Amanda would have been. Bryon knew he was looking at a hopeless disaster. There was no way Amanda could have survived everything which had just happened. He ran back to his telepod and hovered over the zone of destruction looking for any signs of Amanda. He continued his search until the sun set behind the mountain which had taken her.
Bryon did not want to face Alena with this news. He felt guilty since this had been his idea. He was responsible for Amanda’s tragic death; her children would never know their mother. “What am I going to do?” Bryon despaired out loud to himself in the telepod.
With nothing else left to do, he noted his coordinates in his log and then teleported to the nearest rescue authority in Cresdon. After hours of questioning, signing statements, and pouring over maps, Bryon was finally able to return to his home in Kirma. Alone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was already late, and Bryon was certain Alena would know something had gone wrong. He decided not to avoid the conversation any longer; he fixed the coordinates in his mind for home and teleported instantaneously to his yard.
As expected, Alena was waiting for him on the front porch. As soon as the telepod touched down, Alena jumped to her feet and ran across to open the telepod door. “What happened?”
“I lost Amanda,” Bryon said simply and dejectedly.
“What do you mean you lost her?”
“We were heading down the trail to come home, and then it started to rain,” he began and looked into Alena’s eyes.
“And?”
“It rained so hard, so fast, then there was a mudslide, and Amanda was swept away in it,” he finished briskly.
“Why didn’t you rescue her?”
“I tried!”
“I’m sorry, honey, I’m sure you did,” she hugged him to her tightly, released him, took his arm and steered him toward the house. “Let’s go inside and you can tell me everything.” Alena was certain they would be able to locate Amanda if she could just hear the whole story.
They sat at the kitchen table, and Bryon recounted everything which had happened throughout the eventful day. He ended by telling her about the rescue authorities letting them know if they ever found anything. Once the story was finished, Bryon felt the weight of the whole day bearing down on him; he brought his hands to cover his face and broke down completely. “What are we going to do?”
“We’re going to wait,” Alena said simply. Bryon’s tale had done nothing to reassure her. She had a ho
rrid feeling deep inside about the whole ordeal. She would do her best to keep her thoughts from her husband.
“But what about the babies?”
“We’ll keep them, of course!”
“But they’re not ours.”
“We’ll keep looking for Nealan.”
“Did Amanda ever talk about her parents?”
“She did,” Alena replied, “she told me they were dead.”
“So her daughters really don’t have anyone but Nealan to claim them,” Bryon replied simply. “Oh, Alena, I’m so sorry to bring this burden to our family. You just became a wise-woman! You should be using your vocation, not starting another family! This is all my fault. It was my idea for us to go hiking; I should’ve checked the weather first!”
“Bryon, stop this right now!” Alena scolded her husband. “You had no idea things would turn out this way. You can hardly blame yourself for this bizarre accident. Let’s wait a few days and see if the rescue authorities can find her before we start making other arrangements.”
“But I searched and searched,” Bryon sobbed and started to rock back and forth in his chair.
Alena recognized the signs of shock setting in and thought up a draught of epeny for Bryon to drink. The drug reminded her of Amanda’s ordeal with Petre. She held it to his lips and said, “Drink this, Bryon, it’ll help.” Forcing the drink through his lips, she continued to tip the cup until Bryon was required to swallow.
Once he was finished with the contents, she set the cup down on the table and helped him out of the chair. “Come on, Bryon, let’s get you to bed,” she said gently to him. She put her arm around his waist and guided him toward their bedroom.
She laid him down on the bed, clothes and all. She removed his shoes and took the spare blanket out of the closet. Alena covered him and kissed him on the forehead. She brushed the hair away from his face and said quietly, “I love you.”
She had liberally laced his drink and could see he was fast asleep. She left the room. She checked on the twins in Amanda’s room. They were both sound asleep without a care in the world. Alena began to wonder if she were going to be the one to keep them. She had seen their futures and knew she would be a part of their lives. If Amanda were truly gone, it must be they were meant to keep them. She fervently hoped Amanda would be found and be alive.
With tears of sorrow blurring her vision, Alena began to look through Amanda’s things to see if there were some sort of clue which might lead to another family member who could be notified. She wondered whether or not they should contact Barla and Captain Ahn and let them know. She decided to wait to do it since they only knew her as a swimmer. Neither one of them had mentioned any next of kin to Bryon when they asked him to protect Amanda.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jose was walking along the beach heading back to his home in Cancun. His girlfriend was mad at him again, and she had told him not to come back until he gave up his drinking. He had tried so many times to give it up, but his friends always had a party going on where it would be readily available, not to mention, rude to refuse.
With his head down he kicked at a rock on the shore watching as it skipped along the sand and landed in an incoming wave. His attention was caught by a flash of fabric beside a boulder and then what looked like a human hand. He rushed forward hoping it was not a dead body.
He hurried around the outcropping of rock and through the small stream which came down off of the highland spilling into the ocean. At first, he was not sure if the woman he saw were alive or dead. She was unusually dirty and quite still. He spoke as he got near her, “Señora, ¿estás bien?”
He reached forward and touched her cheek. She was cold, but her skin was soft, and her eyelids started to flutter. Relief rushed through him as he realized she was indeed alive. He shook her shoulder and said, “Despertarse. Déjame ayudarte.”
The sound of a voice roused Amanda from her stupor. She felt horrible, every part of her body hurt. She could feel the water of the stream flowing around her, and she wondered why she was lying in the river. Try as she might, she could not remember how she ended up where she was. She felt hands pulling on her, and she tried to sit up, pain coursed through her body making her cry out and remain flat on the ground.
Jose could see he would need to leave her to bring back help so he said, “Está bien, la señora. Permanezca donde usted es. Yo le traeré ayuda a usted.”
Amanda could not understand what he was saying, but since he nodded to her all the while he spoke she nodded back as best she could. She watched with more than a little concern as he stood up and ran away from her. She closed her eyes and prayed he would bring back help.
She must have fallen asleep or passed out because the next thing Amanda knew people were swarming around her. They were asking her questions, and she finally recognized the language as Spanish. She did not know why this idea made her so happy, yet she felt a sudden rush of joy.
The medical crew had her strapped to a board and lifted her from the stream. She was carried by the six men, three on each side of the stretcher until they reached an emergency vehicle. They lifted her into the back of the sport-utility vehicle. Four of them got into the back with her while the other two ran around to the front to drive her to the hospital.
Amanda only caught a fleeting glimpse of the first man she had seen as they were shutting the doors. She wished she had had the opportunity to thank him for bringing help. As they drove away from the beach, Amanda wondered if he would come to the hospital to check on her. Was he someone I know?
Everything happened swiftly once she arrived at the hospital. The staff finally brought someone over who spoke English. The man in the white coat was holding a clipboard and a pen as he faced Amanda and said, “Hi, my name is Dr. Flores. Can you please tell me your name?”
Amanda was relieved to hear his almost perfectly spoken English, “Yes. My name’s Amanda Covington.”
“Amanda, can you give the name of someone I can contact to let them know you’re here?” he asked kindly as he wrote down her name.
Amanda thought about it for a minute and then realized she did not know why she was there herself. She shook her head in frustration and answered, “I don’t remember.”
“It’s okay,” he assured briskly then continued, “Do you know the name of the town or the state you’re from?”
Again, Amanda wracked her brain and came up with nothing. She shook her head.
“It’s okay. Can you tell me where you hurt?”
“Everywhere, really,” she answered and then reassessed her body. “My left arm hurts really bad as well as my shoulder and ribs on the left side as well. Everywhere else just feels really banged up and bruised.”
Dr. Flores nodded, set down the clipboard, and moved over to her left side to feel the indicated areas for damage. He nodded and spoke something in Spanish to a waiting staff member. He then spoke to Amanda, “I’ve ordered a set of x-rays for your whole side and a cat-scan of your head since you’re having some difficulty with your memory. Nurse Bota will take you right now to get it done and then bring you back. Once I’ve taken a look at the films, I’ll let you know what we’ll need to do. Okay?”
“Okay,” Amanda replied. “Can you give me something for the pain or do I need to wait?”
“How bad would you rate the pain on a scale of one to ten?”
“It’s at least an eight, bordering on a nine.”
“I’ll instruct Nurse Bota to give you something to take care of it. Are you allergic to anything?”
“No. At least I don’t think so,” Amanda replied with less confidence, yet relieved with the idea the pain might subside soon. She heard Dr. Flores speak again to the nurse, presumably ordering her drugs. Dr. Flores walked away to another emergency as Nurse Bota filled a syringe full of liquid. Amanda watched as the nurse injected the contents into the I.V. drip attached to the back of her right hand.
Amanda could feel dizziness on the edges of her thoughts as the drug began
to take effect. She watched disconcertedly as Nurse Bota moved to the head of the stretcher and began to steer her toward the x-ray room. The ceiling lights began to blur together as her eyes drifted closed.
She never remembered getting the x-rays, the scan, or talking with Dr. Flores afterward. The next thing she recalled was waking up alone in a white, sterile room, flat on her back with the covers pulled up to her chin. Her left arm felt heavy, and her chest felt compressed. She blinked her eyes open and discovered her left arm was in a cast. Upon inspection with her right hand, she found her chest was tightly bound with bandages.
She remained lying in the bed for a few minutes before a nurse realized she was awake. Before Amanda could ask for someone to speak with, the nurse hurried away. In a few moments, she returned with Dr. Flores and a broad smile on her face.
“Ah, I see you’re finally awake, Amanda,” he said as he settled a hip onto the side of her bed. “How’re you feeling today?”
“I’m still really sore, but a lot better than when I got here a couple of hours ago.”
“It’s been more than a couple of hours, Amanda. You’ve been unconscious for forty-six hours,” he replied gravely.
“What?”
“With as much trauma as your body had sustained, I instructed the staff to monitor you to make sure your vital signs stayed strong and let your body heal itself. How’s your pain level right now?”
“It’s probably about a four,” she replied. She was still trying to process the idea of being asleep for almost two whole days; it had only felt like a few minutes.
“Good,” he replied easily. “I’ve got good news for you as well. We’ve contacted your family in Florida. They should be arriving within the next couple of hours.”
“How on earth did you find my family?”
“I contacted the local police department and asked them to do a search on your name to see if anyone had reported you missing in the last twenty-four hours. From the extent of your injuries, I thought it had been at least that long since you had last seen anyone.”
Ascension Discovery Page 26
