The last day, p.11
The Last Day, page 11
part #1 of The Last Day Series
“Damn Elli, you scared the crap out of me!”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered to him. “I scared me too.”
We sat together for a moment in silence. It felt good to feel his arms holding me. With my eyes closed and cradled in his arms, I could almost pretend that we were at home enjoying a normal afternoon before the world fell apart. Ty would have picked me up in his truck, and we would have driven to one of the state parks or lakes that were relatively close. Once there we would have enjoyed a day spent hiking or swimming. That kind of day always included some quiet cuddle time; this was undeniably my favorite part. A knock on the window startled me, bringing me back to the here and now. I looked up to see Ben, looking even grumpier than before, glaring in the window at us. Ty slowly opened his door and got out to confront him.
“Well, what the hell are we going to do now Ty,” Ben exclaimed as soon as Ty opened the truck door. “You’re the expert. You know everything, right? So, what exactly are we going to do?”
“Back off Ben! I am not going to deal with shit from you right now. I’ll figure this out, but you need to back up. Just go back to your freaking truck and comfort your girlfriend. She is crying and probably scared, and you are up here being an ass. When I figure it out, which I will, I will let you know. So just go sit on your ass and wait for me to take care of it.”
Ty turned around, got back in the truck, and slammed the door. Ty usually didn’t lose his temper with Ben, even though he was almost always an ass. He generally just ignored him and went about what he had to do.
Ty took a deep breath. “All right, are you okay for now?”
I nodded at him. I certainly wanted to be okay. I didn’t want him to have to expend energy worrying about me, especially when he had so many other things to worry about.
“I’m going to walk down the hill to see if I can see any way for us to get over, around, or through that landslide. I don’t want to drive down because, if there is another landslide, we could get trapped in an even smaller area or even worse.”
“What? No! You can’t walk down there. What if there is another landslide and you get trapped or… or…”
“Elli, I will be fine. I’m fast, smart, and in relatively good shape. I will be fine. I’m going to go look. I’ll be right back.”
I wanted to cry. He couldn’t go down there and leave me here. What if something happened to him? I didn’t want to cause him any additional stress, so I went with humor as a distraction. “Yes, you are all those things. Modest too, right?”
Ty leaned in and kissed me, then looked into my eyes. “I will be back. It’s going to be fine. Can you find that faith and optimism that you have always had? It’s one of the things that I love so much about you. To be honest, it would really help me out right now.”
Ty got out of the truck and gently shut the door. He took a second to look around, taking stock of the area before beginning a brisk jog down the hill. My eyes did not falter from their task of following his progress. He got smaller and smaller as he made his way down to the pile of rocks and rubble. He seemed so small and fragile compared to the walls of rocks that lined the road. If just one of the large boulders came loose at the wrong time, it could be fatal. I had never noticed how all these rocky hills seemed to be dotted with precariously perched boulders, resting like large, hard hats waiting to tumble down on unsuspecting victims. I wanted to hold my breath again as I watched him, but I consciously forced myself to breathe in and out slowly. Occasionally I would take a deep breath, hold it and then slowly exhale. Ty finally reached the spot where the landslide had come to rest. He seemed to study it from the middle of the road before walking to either side and examining it from each angle. Finally, he climbed to the top and stood. He took a long time to look around before I saw him raise his hand in a wave. He made his way back down the pile and started the jog back up to the truck.
I allowed myself to relax slightly when Ty finally got back to a spot where I could distinguish his features. I jumped out of the truck and ran to meet him. He was only slightly out of breath when I jumped into his arms. He held me close, whispering in my ear. “I’m okay and, more importantly, I see a way out. It’ll be okay.”
“You really see a way out? I mean, I had faith that you could get us out but is there really a way around those rocks?”
“Around them? No, but over them, yes.”
∞∞∞
“You think we can do what?” Ben exclaimed.
“I don’t think, I know,” Ty replied calmly. “My truck has been customized to be able to go places and do things that other vehicles cannot. My truck is a converted military H1 pickup. Dad has this thing customized with anything and everything that I could possibly need in this type of situation. It wasn’t the truck that I wanted, but it is the vehicle that he insisted that I have. It has airless tires that will be able to make it up and over the landslide.”
“I will not leave my truck here. Are you crazy?”
“No, I’m very sane and trying to get us all to someplace where we will be safe in the coming months. A little cooperation from you would be greatly appreciated. We can all fit in my truck.” Ty turned to look at Jules. “Jules, get your clothes and Elli can help you fit them into my truck.”
“I am not leaving my truck,” Ben screamed at Ty.
Ty walked to where Ben stood and began to talk to him quietly. I went to Jules and helped her grab her things. I could hear small snippets of their conversation.
“… Think about Jules’ safety… It’s just a truck...”
“… Let me try… Can’t hurt…”
When we had gathered all of her things, Jules and I took them to Ty’s truck. It was a bit of a challenge to find room for them, but we were able to shove them into the bed. I felt slightly guilty for packing so much. My suitcases were taking up an inordinate amount of space leaving little room for the additional things we were trying to add. When Ty walked over, I asked him if I should take out some of my things to make room for some of the other things from Ben’s truck.
“Babe, you leave your things right where they are. Other than their clothes, there is nothing that we will need to bring from his truck. He brought boogie boards, kites, and Frisbees. We won’t need any of that for this journey or once we get to the cabin. You keep your things. I’ll make sure his clothes and the things that he really needs will fit. He wants to try to drive his truck over. I think its wasted effort even to try, but I suppose that I don’t have the right to tell him no. I’ll do everything I can to help him, but I won’t let him risk your life, or Jules’s life either. You know how he is. He’s not going to just get into my truck and come peacefully. Go ahead and get Jules settled into the back seat of the truck. I’m not letting her get in there with him while he’s behaving like an idiot. The only life he gets to risk is his own.”
I walked over to make sure we didn’t have a bunch of crap piled in the backseat. I heard Ty tell Jules to get in our truck. She gave Ben a quick hug and called back to him to be careful as she walked away. I could see the worry in her eyes. Ben tended to let his stubbornness get him into situations that he was incapable of handling appropriately. He had a problem with authority, didn’t like to be told what to do and always had to be right. Even though they had been friends for years, it seemed to irritate him the most when Ty seemed to know more about something than he did. It was often a point of contention between them and had been the cause for more than one fight over the years.
Ty spent a few more minutes talking to Ben, and when he walked back to join Jules and me, he was shaking his head. “All right ladies,” Ty said with fake brightness when he settled into his seat, “buckle up and hold on tight. It might get a little bit rough, but we will get over. Once we are up and over, I am going to climb up to the top and motion for Ben to try to make his way over.”
Ty started the truck, and we made our way slowly down the hill. When we reached the landslide, Ty slowly eased the truck forward. We barely seemed to be rolling but inch by inch we made our way up the rocks and rubble that were blocking the road. The process felt like it took forever. Once or twice the truck tires seemed to lose grip and slip, but they caught again almost instantly. Finally, we reached the top. Ty slowed the truck down even more, which I wouldn’t have thought was even possible. We crested the hill and started the trip down the other side. The journey down proceeded much as the trip up had, slowly and carefully. Ty maneuvered the truck with precision, seeming to know exactly where to go, when to speed up, and when to slow down. Once we were on the actual road again, we all seemed to take a deep breath and slowly release it.
Ty pulled the truck forward a bit, presumably to leave room for Ben behind us. We all climbed out and looked up at the enormous pile of rocks that we had just conquered. It looked even more daunting from this side of the road. Jules and I found a comfortable spot on the side of the road where we could sit in the shade. Ty started his climb up the pile. Occasionally I would see the rocks slip from under his feet, yet it looked like he was seamlessly making his way up to the top. When he eventually reached the top, I could see him standing to one side of the peak. He seemed to be yelling directions to Ben, but the wind was blowing away from where Jules and I sat, and his voice was being carried in the opposite direction. I could hear Ben’s truck engine revving. It didn’t sound as if he was approaching the mountain of debris with the same caution that Ty had.
I stood and walked to the bottom of the rock pile. It sounded as if Ben was causing rocks to come loose from the mass and crash down to the ground below. His truck engine appeared to be growling. Ty was yelling at him to stop. The engine noise ceased abruptly, and I heard Ben’s truck door slam.
“Damn it, Ben! You aren’t going to make it up the pile that way. Just wait. I’ll hook you up to the winch; then I can pull you up.”
“I can do this myself, Ty. I’ve got this. I definitely don’t need you to save me.”
“Stop being a stubborn ass and let me help.”
I didn’t hear Ben answer, but I caught the sound of the truck door slamming again. The truck roared to life once more, and almost immediately the growling started. Ty was looking down at him shaking his head but seemed to have given up trying to convince Ben to approach the situation differently. The sound of falling rocks increased. I heard Ty yell out, panicked, for Ben to stop. The noise that followed was horrific. Nothing good could have happened after a sound like that. It was the sound of a loud crash intermingled with crunching metal.
I saw Jules look in horror towards the pile of rocks. I felt my feet begin to move of their own accord towards the pile of debris. Before I could even think to do so, I was climbing up the loose rock pile. I could feel some of the rocks slipping out from under my feet as I tried to make my way quickly to the top. When I looked up, I saw that Ty was no longer standing at the peak. I quickly scrambled my way to where he had been standing just seconds ago. When I looked down the other side, I saw Ben’s truck upside down at the bottom. The truck was a mess. The cab was so crushed down that it appeared almost flat.
Ty slid to a stop at the bottom of the rubble pile and stood by what remained of the truck. He was yelling for Ben, but there was no answer. He bent down and looked into the cab. I saw him reach into what remained of the cab and try to pull what appeared to be Ben’s arm out. Just then the world began to shake again. The shaking was even more severe than the other two quakes that we had felt.
“Ty!” I screamed. When he looked up at me, there was a look on his face that I had never seen before. Was it fear? Panic?
“Elli! Get back down and get to the truck. Get Jules and drive it to the top of the hill. NOW!!!!”
I hesitated, he didn’t. I saw him try to pull Ben out of the truck one more time. When the thunderous sound of rocks began again, he turned away from the truck and the rock pile. He ran away from them, up the opposite side of the hill. Seeing Ty run away from Ben’s truck kicked me into motion. I turned back towards Ty’s truck and started back down the rock pile. There was no way to get down the pile of rocks and rubble quickly and safely. I ended up sliding, and at one point rolling, down the rocks. I felt cuts and scrapes as the jagged rocks cut through skin, but didn’t let it stop my progress.
When my feet hit the pavement, I started running and screaming. I could hear the rocks behind me picking up speed and mass. The sound was deafening. Making everything worse, the ground was still shaking violently. It was so hard to keep running, but I knew that I couldn’t stop until I got to the truck.
“Jules! Get in the truck! Get in the truck now!” Jules was still sitting on the side of the road and seemed to be in shock. “Jules!”
Finally, the sound of my voice penetrated her fog. She turned to look at me, appearing confused. “Get in the freaking truck, now!”
Jules started moving and, by the time I was able to throw myself into the driver’s seat, she was in the passenger seat with her seatbelt buckled. I started the truck and threw it into gear. Tires squealed as I took off to the top of the hill. I could hear the rocks crashing behind us but, by some miracle, nothing hit the truck. When we reached the peak, I slammed on the breaks and put the truck in park. I quickly jumped out. Jules remained sitting in the passenger seat, seemingly back in her trance. I knew that Ty would have told me to stay in the truck because the ground was still shaking, but I needed to see what was going on.
First, I started scanning the hill for Ty. Panic set in when I didn’t see him. I expected him to be at the top of the other hill, but he wasn’t there. Had he been hurt? Had he been hit by one of those boulders that were currently rolling down the hill and crashing into the rubble left by the last landslide? What was I going to do if he was hurt or worse? I knew screaming for him wouldn’t help. He wouldn’t be able to hear me over the crashing rocks. All I could do is continue to look. I knew that he had to be somewhere, didn’t he? I refused to acknowledge the evil, little voice in my mind that whispered that Ty could be trapped near Ben’s truck, under the new rubble that was starting to cover up the entire area. If the rocks kept falling we wouldn’t even be able to see where the truck was laying. I couldn’t think of Ben. I knew that I couldn’t help him right now. Ty would know what to do. He would know how to help Ben. We wouldn’t survive without Ty. We would never make it to the cabin. I was overwhelmed with panic and anxiety. I finally gave up, sat down on the ground, and cried.
When the shaking stopped, I tried to pull myself together enough to come up with a plan. Tears were still streaming down my face, but I stood up again and started scanning the other hill. Ty had to be there. I refused to think that he was somewhere in the massive pile of rock and rubble. He wasn’t standing at the top of the hill, so I slowly scanned from the right side of the road to the left down the entire hill. Finally, about halfway down, I saw movement in the trees on the right side. It was Ty’s arm waving in the air. I screamed his name but doubted that he could hear me. I turned and ran back to the truck. I told Jules that I needed to check on Ty, but I didn’t think she even heard me, so deep was she in her stupor. I hesitated for just a moment before turning to run back down the hill. I started to make my way over the rubble.
I am not a runner by any stretch of the imagination, and I am definitely not an athlete, but I think I made world record time getting back down the hill. Of course, gravity was on my side since I was running downhill. I got to the rock pile and started working my way over. The new rocks made the climb even more precarious, but it didn’t matter. There was nothing that was going to stop me from getting to the other side where Ty was. I picked my way up the pile carefully, but quickly. There were a few times during the journey when I was sure that I was going to go crashing back down onto the pavement and rubble below. Luck must have been on my side because I made it to the top of the pile.
I paused and looked back to where I had seen Ty’s arm. It was no longer waving in the air, and I couldn’t see him at all in the tall grass. I yelled his name as loud as I could but didn’t see an arm or any other indication of a response from Ty. I tried to not look at the spot where I knew Ben’s truck was buried and specifically made my way down the pile of rock and rubble away from where small bits of red paint were barely visible through the newly fallen rock. I made my way quickly, yet cautiously, down the rocks. Even with the cautious approach, I slipped and slid about halfway down the pile, scraping knees and hands once again. As soon as I hit the ground, I turned and ran up the hill. Pain from a fall and scrapes did not stop me from sprinting as fast as I could up the hill to where I thought Ty was.
I tripped and fell over rocks and other debris in the road as I tried to get up the hill. Finally, it was just one fall too many, and I just couldn’t physically or emotionally get back up. I lay on my back on the road as tears streamed down my face. Staring up at the sky, I whispered a prayer. How could the sky still be so blue and the clouds still be fluffy white cotton balls? This cannot be the way the world ends, I thought, and the world cannot go on unless Ty is in it. He promised me he would keep me safe, but where was he now?
I’m not sure how long I lay there, praying and staring at the sky. It could have been thirty seconds or hours. I was lost to the world and my surroundings. Maybe I’ll just lie here forever, I thought. The pavement was warm and smooth under me, which was nice since the area around me was littered with rocks or clumps of dirt. I wondered if anyone would ever find me here, trapped between two landslides.
The logical part of my brain kept telling me to get up. For every self-defeating thought that popped into my brain, the little, rational voice in my mind came up with a reason that I needed to get up and keep going. The pavement was warm, but Ty was out there somewhere, and he needed me. The world was ending so why bother, but I told Jules that I would be back. What was the point because we weren’t going to make it, but Ty needed me. My woe is me brain was arguing with the logical voice. Through the haze of all the internal noise in my head, I head a faint shuffling sound.
