Eruption at Krakatoa

by Katrina Charman

  “They’re going the wrong way,” Raja growled.

  Budi watched as some of the humans, in their confusion, got turned around and began heading across the mountain rather than up.

  “We need to hurry!” Dewi said, her eyes wide as she stared behind her.

  “Dewi is right,” Budi told Raja. “There’s no time to stand and watch them.”

  Raja shook his head. “No, Budi. We need to show them the way. My eyesight is far superior to theirs. I can lead them to safety.”

  Budi stared at Raja, sure that his friend had finally succumbed to the heat and gone mad. “How?” he said finally. “You can’t tell them where to go.”

  Raja shook his head. “No, but we can show them.”

  “He’s lost his mind!” Dewi screeched.

  Raja raced off to the east of the mountain, yelling back to Budi, “You take the other side. Together we can bring them back and head them in the right direction.”

  “Budi,” Dewi protested, “we have no time!”

  Budi’s heart raced. His head urged him to leave the humans behind. They had no time to try to save everyone. The wave would be upon them at any moment, and he wasn’t sure that they were high enough yet to escape it. Then they would all be doomed. But his heart told him to stay. To help his friend, who was, in that moment, braver and more of a leader than Budi had ever seen him.

  “We have to try,” Budi said. He headed off in the opposite direction, not bothering to slow as he approached the humans.

  His plan had the desired effect. The humans stopped in their tracks, no longer focused on the huge wave, but now desperate to escape the crazed rhinoceros charging toward them. They turned as one, moving back to the path. There were loud screams from the other direction and a roar that somehow managed to be heard above everything else that was going on, and a second later, Budi saw another crowd of humans running toward him, with Raja growling and snapping at their heels.

  The two groups merged and, with Budi on one side and Raja on the other, slowly gathered together. But then they remained where they were. Huddled against one another, frozen in terror, as though they had decided to give up all hope.

  “Why won’t they move?” Raja roared.

  “They are afraid,” Budi told him. “They believe us to be as much a threat to them as the wave.”

  Raja shook his head, frustrated. “Move!” he roared. “The wave will soon be upon us. We have to move!”

  “They can’t understand you,” Dewi shouted as the humans stayed where they were.

  Suddenly there was movement from the front of the crowd, and a small boy pushed his way forward.

  “The human cub!” Budi said. “It’s the boy you saved.”

  Raja stepped forward to stand in front of the boy. The boy reached out his trembling hand and stroked Raja’s filthy, matted fur. Then the boy’s mother stepped forward and did the same.

  Budi took his chance: He walked past the crowd and headed up the mountainside. Slowly, one by one, the humans followed, finally understanding what the animals had been trying to tell them. Their pace quickened as the wave reached the base of the mountain with an immense crash. Budi ran on, not looking back now, just desperate to reach the top, or at least to get high enough that the water couldn’t touch them.

  But then another blast erupted from the island, and suddenly everything went dark. The air was thick with black smoke, and lightning flashed and pulsed through the air. Dewi screamed and huddled tight against Budi’s back. All around him, huge chunks of pumice, stone, and sand rained down from the sky. Budi charged on, running left and right, narrowly avoiding being hit by the assault from above, while the wave finally hit the side of the mountain and the ground trembled and shook. Budi felt a splash of water on his skin, but nothing more, as the water subsided.

  The threat from Krakatoa was still present, though, and Budi ran on, Dewi’s sharp claws digging into his thick hide—but all he could think of, while he choked on the thick air, was to find somewhere safe, and then, maybe, it would finally be over.

  He reached the top, or as close to the top of the mountain as he could manage, as exhaustion finally overcame him. He slumped to the ground, his sides heaving as he tried to breathe. The air was a little clearer here, but the downpour of debris from the island was never-ending. He watched as the humans joined him. Many of them were coughing and struggling to breathe. Many more were injured, limping, covered in blood from where they had been hit by the missiles falling from the sky. Their faces and skin were red, burned in places from the intense heat.

  Budi watched and waited helplessly, wishing there were something he could do to aid them. Then he realized that there was no sign of Raja. The fastest creature he knew. He gently stood, allowing Dewi to slide down to the ground.

  “Where is Raja?” she whispered, her entire body trembling.

  “Stay here,” Budi ordered. “I will find him.”

  Budi made his way through the increasing crowd of humans. They moved aside, silently allowing him to pass. Their heads were bowed, their hearts and bodies broken. He followed the path until he saw two solitary humans standing side by side, hand in hand. A woman and a small boy. Their heads, too, were bowed as they gazed down at something lying still and broken on the ground. Budi moved closer, his heart racing and his head spinning. It couldn’t be… not Raja… the strongest, fiercest creature he knew. How could it be?

  But as he drew nearer, his worst fears were confirmed. The woman and her cub moved aside to allow Budi room to stand over his silent friend.

  Raja.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Melati

  August 27, 1883

  6:15 AM

  Ketimbang

  The moment the door to the cabin was flung open by the captain’s crew, congratulating him and thanking him for saving their lives, Melati took her chance and flew out. She was exhausted, but the only thing on her mind was reaching her friends and making sure they were safe. She raced through the humid air, ignoring the explosions behind her from the island, dodging the volley of red-hot rocks that pelted down all around her. She focused on one thing: the wall of water in front of her. She knew she would never be able to catch up with it—it moved faster than even Raja. But she couldn’t turn her back on her friends. She needed to make sure that Johanna and her family had somehow made it out of Ketimbang, and that Dewi and Budi and the others were safe.

  The wave seemed to have spread out even farther now, and Melati could see nothing of the coastline of Sumatra. She hoped it might slow down, or change course… anything but hit the land. But she had already witnessed one miracle that day. She wasn’t sure she would live to see another. She was still a few miles out from Ketimbang when the wave hit the land. The noise was louder than the explosions. Or at least that was how it sounded inside Melati’s head. It washed across the land without pause, wiping out everything and anything in its way. Boats, trees, buildings.

  In its wake it left nothing but utter devastation. The sand was stripped from the beach; in its place lay massive chunks of coral dredged up from the ocean’s depths and lumps of rock that had broken away from Krakatoa. Where there had once been a thriving village called Ketimbang, there was nothing left. Not even the pretty white house on the hill.

  A few tree trunks stuck out of the ground, looking as though they had been cut down by a giant ax. Broken wooden planks lay here and there, and, sticking up out of the mud, the foundations of some of the few houses that hadn’t been completely swept away. It was as though Melati had gone back into the past to a time before the village even existed, when it was just mud flats and jungle. Except there wasn’t even a jungle to speak of. No animals remained, no humans. No sign of any life at all.

  Everything was just gone.

  Melati’s strength faded. She felt as destroyed as Ketimbang itself. The only thing that stopped her from just letting herself fall and be taken by the water was the thought that her friends might still be out there. Might need her help in som
e way. She mustered up what little energy she had left and looked to the only thing that was still standing. Mount Rajabasa.

  Rajabasa was high enough that the wave, as enormous as it was, didn’t reach anywhere near the top. There was a chance that, if the humans and animals had had enough time, they might have made it. So that was where Melati decided she had to go first. She looked out to sea for a final time at her old home. Krakatoa continued to spurt out smoke and fire, rock and pumice, and Melati knew she would never be able to return. She forced herself to turn away and flew onward for the summit of Rajabasa, but as she flew, an eruption, louder than any that had gone before, blasted out from Krakatoa.

  Melati fell from the sky, stunned, landing in a pool of seawater and thick mud. She shook her head, disoriented. She couldn’t hear anything. The world around her had suddenly gone deathly silent. There were no crashes or rumbles or explosions from the island. No sounds of the waves smashing against the shore, no cracks of lightning from the clouds above.

  Nothing.

  Melati began to panic, flapping her wings and trying to get free from the thick mud she had sunk into. Her feathers and wings were coated, and in the heat the mud started to rapidly dry, stiffening every part of her body. Without her hearing, Melati felt completely lost. Any sense of direction or of where she was or of how she was going to get out of the mud completely left her.

  She closed her eyes, trying to rely on her other senses. She could smell the smoke and the foul gases emitted by Krakatoa. She took a deep breath despite the stench, and her heart began to slow and calm down. She could feel the warmth of the air all around her, and the stickiness of the mud. She could taste the dust and ash in her mouth, and the salt from the ocean.

  She opened her eyes again and looked around her. Nearby, caught around a felled tree, was a tangled fisherman’s net. She craned her neck, reaching out her beak as far as she could. The tip touched the net, but she was not quite close enough to catch hold of it. She took another deep breath, wriggling herself back and forth in the mud, then tried again. The movement had shifted her body slightly, and as she leaned out, pushing herself to go as far as she could, her beak caught the edge of the netting. She quickly clamped down on it and pulled. To her relief, the netting remained firmly attached to the tree. Slowly, inch by painful inch, Melati used her beak to pull her body out of the mud. She dug her claws into the ground and pushed herself up.

  Finally, she eased herself out, with a loud squelching, sucking noise, and realized that she could hear again. There was a loud ringing deep inside her head, but she could hear. Enough that she knew there was likely to be another big explosion coming. She shook as much of the mud from her wings as she could, using her beak to scrape off the worst of it; then, despite her heavy wings, she clumsily took to the sky, hoping she would find survivors on Rajabasa.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Budi

  August 27, 1883

  8:00 AM

  Mount Rajabasa

  Budi nudged the woman and the boy aside, trying to get closer to Raja. He couldn’t be… Budi couldn’t bring himself to even think the word. He leaned over his friend and gently pushed at him with his nose. There was no response. Raja looked so small suddenly. The way he had when he was a cub. His body lay limp and silent.

  “Raja,” Budi whispered, “can you hear me?”

  Raja didn’t react.

  Budi nudged him harder with one of his horns. “Raja!” he bellowed. “You let me beat you to the top of the hill, but I’ll give you a second chance now, if you wake up.”

  Budi watched and waited. There was a movement, ever so small, in Raja’s chest. A breath. The tiniest breath, but that was enough for Budi. His friend was still alive. Barely. Budi wouldn’t let him die here on this filthy mountainside. Not when he’d come so far. Not when he’d saved so many humans. Budi knelt down on his front legs with some difficulty and wedged his front horn, then his head, beneath Raja’s body.

  Then, with trembling legs, he lifted. Raja stayed still at first, the heaviness of him weighing Budi down. But Budi refused to let him go.

  “Stand up, Raja!” Budi ordered. “Otherwise you will have to face the indignity of me carrying you up the mountain, and you know Arif and Intan will never let you live that down.”

  Budi’s voice cracked as Raja stirred slightly. He looked over to the woman and the boy, who watched them both silently, in awe of the rhinoceros and the tiger. The woman shook her head suddenly, as though coming to her senses, and told the boy to fetch something. The boy raced off and returned a couple of minutes later, moving swiftly but carefully back down the hill, carrying a coconut shell.

  When he reached them, the boy held it out to Budi, and he saw what was inside. Water. It wasn’t much—the shell was barely half full, and the water was murky and had a layer of dust on the surface—but Budi knew that it was water the humans could ill afford to spare, and he felt so overcome that he almost dropped Raja.

  The boy moved closer to Raja while his mother brushed his fur away from his face. Raja’s huge jaws hung open, and the boy gasped at the sight of Raja’s long, sharp teeth, but he didn’t shy away. He held the shell up to Raja’s mouth and slowly let some water trickle out. Raja’s tongue moved, and he lapped at the water, his eyes flickering open.

  “Drink, Raja!” Budi encouraged, lowering his friend back to the ground.

  Raja lifted his head, and the boy crouched beside him, laying the coconut shell on the ground. Raja greedily gulped down the rest of the water, and Budi felt a flash of longing. He was so thirsty himself, he could barely swallow anymore. He hoped there might be more water where that had come from—otherwise, it didn’t matter how safe they were from the waves or the island, they would all die from dehydration before the day was over.

  Raja licked the coconut shell clean, then gave Budi a small smile.

  “I just needed a little rest, that’s all,” he said, seeing the concern on Budi’s face.

  “I told you I was faster than you,” Budi teased. Then his voice became serious. “I thought we had lost you, Raja. Can you stand?”

  Raja nodded weakly, then, leaning against Budi for support, he stood on trembling legs and surveyed the mountain. “How much farther do we have to go?”

  “Not far,” Budi said. “The humans are making camp near the top.”

  “What about the island?” Raja asked. “Is it over?”

  “I don’t know,” Budi admitted. “I fear not.”

  The falling debris from the last eruption had eased off a little, Budi thought, but the sky was still dark, and the island continued to grumble. He wondered how there could possibly be anything left of Krakatoa. So much of it seemed to have been blown apart and into the sky.

  “I think we are safe from the waves at least,” Budi said finally.

  The two friends made their way with painful slowness up the mountain, both unable to move much faster than a shuffle along the path.

  “Maybe the others will have made it?” Raja asked hopefully. “The tigers and the other animals?”

  Budi didn’t answer. He had neither the energy nor the desire to lie to Raja and raise his hopes. He had sent the other animals up the mountainside hours before he had met up with Raja in Ketimbang. If they had made it, they should have been there already on top of Rajabasa, awaiting his arrival. But apart from him, Dewi, and a few other animals belonging to the humans—horses and a donkey—there had been no sign of any animals from their jungle.

  They arrived at the camp, and Dewi ran over to Budi, clinging to his leg with such ferocity that Budi had to shake her off.

  “Budi! Raja!” she cried. She stepped forward eagerly as though about to hug Raja, too, then seemed to remember who she was and who Raja was and think better of it.

  “Where are the others?” Raja asked, looking around.

  Dewi lowered her head. “There is only me,” she said. “And the humans.”

  Budi followed Raja’s gaze around the makeshift camp. There were tre
es still standing that provided shelter from the falling ash but little respite from the heat. Many of the humans had gathered around a small wooden house and had already started building shelters from fallen branches. They shared what little food they had, and Budi’s stomach gave an involuntary growl.

  “We should go higher,” Budi suggested, despite every bone in his body screaming at him to lie down and not move. “We don’t belong here with the humans. No matter how grateful they might be now for our help, that will soon wear off.”

  Raja and Dewi slowly followed Budi as he trudged along. Maybe the others were hiding somewhere away from the humans, having heeded Raja’s warnings. There were so many humans gathered together that their scents would have been overpowering had it not been for the noxious gases that filled the air, smelling like rotten meat.

  “I think I’ve got something,” Raja called out suddenly. His ears pricked up and he lifted his nose to the air.

  “One of the tigers?” Budi asked, hope blooming through his chest.

  “Perhaps,” Raja said. “Or perhaps it is something else altogether and we are invading their territory.”

  Dewi gulped loudly beside Budi.

  “Stay close,” Budi told her.

  When they reached the summit of the mountain, however, there was nothing but rocks and scrubby bushes, and a thin layer of white from where the ash continued to fall, blown across the ocean by the hot winds. There came another massive explosion from Krakatoa, and the three turned together to look out over the tumultuous ocean at the island in the middle of the Sunda Strait. From their vantage point, it looked smaller than it had from the beach. It glowed, red-hot and angry, as the sky flashed all around it. Budi remembered Melati telling him about the three mountains of Krakatoa and realized that he could now see only one mountain peak, which roared out fire.