They darted out of the barn door just as a sharp earthquake hit. There was a loud crack and then a slow groan. Jack looked over his shoulder. A full moon hung above the roofline of the barn. His eyes hadn’t adjusted after the bright light inside the barn, but he could see enough to know they were in trouble. The entire side of the barn was falling over in one piece. And it was headed right for them.
“Go! Go! It’s coming down.”
They scrambled away as the barn wall gathered momentum. The shadow of the wall chased them across the ground. Lauren screamed as Jack covered her with his body.
The wall slammed into the ground behind them. Dirt and splinters of wood flew through the air. They huddled together as the debris fell around them, coughing from the dust cloud that engulfed them.
“Are you O.K.?” Jack asked.
Lauren coughed. “Yeah, I’m O.K. How about—”
“We’re here,” Sorenson said, appearing behind them covered with dust. He shouldered most of Lonetree’s weight as they staggered forward. Sorenson’s face was covered with deep cuts. He blinked away the blood from his eyes.
“We’re right over the cave here,” Lonetree said. “These tremors are small compared to what they’ll be when the main cave goes.”
Jack understood. When the main cave below them collapsed, they would be in the center of a giant sinkhole. The seismic force of such a collapse would be incredible.
“The Land Rover is mine,” Sorenson said. He pointed to a cluster of cars by Huckley’s house. “Key’s in the ignition.”
The group ran for toward the Rover. Sorenson and Lonetree lagged behind. Jack carried Sarah. Once they reached the beat up vehicle, Jack transferred Sarah to Lauren’s lap in the back seat. He climbed into the driver’s seat and turned the engine over. It roared to life just as Sorenson opened the rear gate and piled Lonetree into the back. He jumped in next to him and shouted that they were clear. Jack jammed on the gas. The tires churned through the gravel, found traction and the car lurched forward.
He fumbled to find the lights, almost careening off the dirt road as he did. Once he got the lights on, he almost wished he hadn’t found them.
Fissures were starting to open in the road in front of them. The cave system was collapsing layer after layer in a massive chain reaction. He bounced over the first ruptures in the ground, thankful for the ruggedness of the Land Rover. The next fissures were deeper and wider. The tires slammed into the gaps with the force of hitting speed bumps at fifty miles an hour.
Jack pushed the truck faster and tried to steer away from the largest gaps opening before them.
Lonetree cried out from the back.
Jack chanced a quick look in his side mirror. Huckley’s house had sunk down into the earth up to the roof line. The subterranean underworld was being destroyed and soon a giant sinkhole on the surface would be its only testament. Jack just hoped they wouldn’t be in it.
“Faster. Faster.” Sorenson shouted.
The ground behind them was falling away, disappearing into blackness. The edge of a crumbling fissure followed behind them, as if a dark shadow was chasing them out of the valley.
Jack twisted to look at Sarah in the back seat. Lauren was holding onto her whispering to comfort her. He turned back and squinted into the night. The tremors had kicked up dust and the headlights turned the particles into a thick fog. Then the dust cloud cleared and revealed a massive fissure opening in front of them.
With no time to stop or turn, Jack floored the accelerator. They hit a natural ridge right before the ten foot wide chasm and the Land Rover launched into the air. They hit the other side hard on the back right tire. The Land Rover tilted to the right, but the metal beast corrected itself and landed back on all four tires. The tread dug into the ground and they sped down the road, the fissures falling away behind them.
“Lauren? How is she?” Jack cried out.
“God, Jack. I’m losing her. Just get us to the hospital. Just get us there.”
Jack nodded and gripped the wheel, listening to Lauren whisper words of encouragement in their daughter’s ear. He pushed the car as fast as he could and still keep control on the dirt road. They turned onto the main road, the asphalt like smooth air after the turbulence they’d been through. He jammed the accelerator to the floor and headed for Midland Hospital. Regardless of what they had endured in the last few hours, and the impossible odds they had overcome, it was all for nothing if Sarah didn’t survive.
EIGHTY-EIGHT
Jack leaned forward and put both hands flat against the shower wall. He lowered his head until the hot jet of water hit the base of his neck. He reached up and kneaded the thick knots bunched across his shoulders. He cranked the heat up higher and braced himself for the scalding water. Steam filled the shower. He breathed in deep and savored the hot, moist air.
After fifteen minutes, he forced himself to get out of the shower and towel off. A quick look in the mirror showed the last five days had done little to heal the bruises that covered his body. He dragged a comb through his hair and plodded into the bedroom.
Lauren had laid a suit for him on the bed. Charcoal grey with a black silk tie. Appropriate. He sat next to it with the damp towel wrapped around his waist. The house was silent. Lauren must be outside, he thought. Or sitting in the living room with a cup of coffee, staring out of the window. She spent hours doing that. Even at night when there was nothing to see.
He didn’t want to put the suit on. Everything had finally started to fade and today promised only to make it real again. But Lauren had extracted his promise that he would go. So he grabbed the suit pants and got dressed.
When he walked down the stairs, Lauren was in her chair, coffee cup in hand. Buddy lay on the floor next to her, helping to keep vigil with his master, somehow in tune that something was wrong. His thick tail pounded against the wood floor when he saw Jack. Lauren looked up.
“You look nice,” she said. She was dressed in a grey dress, her hair pulled back conservatively.
“Thanks,” Jack said. He waited at the base of the stairs. The last few days had been strange for them. Neither of them knew what to say, how to comfort each other. Lauren had approached him when they when they had a few moments alone and apologized for not believing him at first. He told her not to worry, that he understood, that there was nothing to forgive. Still, things were different between them. He wondered if it would get better over time, if somehow they would learn to deal with it. To get past it.
“Are you ready for this?” he asked.
Lauren stood up and crossed over to her husband. She leaned forward, snuggled into his chest, and pulled his arms up around her. He held her tight and brushed her hair with his fingers. They stood there for a full minute, rocking softly. It would get better, Jack thought. They would get through this together and remake their lives. He leaned down and kissed her forehead.
“Ready?” he asked, fully aware that the meaning of the question had changed.
“Yes, I am,” she said.
EIGHTY-NINE
Half of Prescott City turned out for the funeral. Every pew of the Presbyterian church was filled and massive floral arrangements drenched the altar in color. The pastor consoled his congregation and lamented the thoughtlessness of life taken so prematurely. Heads nodded in agreement. Discrete hands wiped away tears.
After a song that Jack barely heard, the pastor invited him to speak. He had been told he would speak first, but he was still caught off guard, lost far away in his own thoughts. Lauren nudged him with her elbow to get his attention and he rose to walk to the podium next to the altar.