The Dark Rift: Ascension (The Dark Rift Book Series 1) (30 page)

* * *

Mei handed the pill to Leah. "I’ll see if I can find something to wash that down with," she said, rummaging behind the seat and retrieving a bottle of water as they exited from the parking structure. Mei thought the daylight was blinding, but welcome after spending days underground. It looked like the building they came out of was located in a sparsely populated rural area. "We need to find Jodie and the other people we were with, but I’m assuming we shouldn’t go anywhere closer to Crescent City, or San Francisco, for that matter," Mei said.

"You’re right on that. It’s not safe," Abbey said.

"I can call my family and warn them, though. Right?"

"I don’t see why not," Abbey said, handing Mei a satellite phone. "Tell them to go east into Nevada as far as they can go--"

The van suddenly bucked up, then slammed back down on the road. Mei banged her head on the ceiling and she cursed. She pushed herself down onto the seat next to Leah, grappling with the seatbelt, trying to secure herself. She looked up in time to see the road ahead twist like a ribbon, one direction, then back again. Mei heard Abbey scream as a gaping hole opened in front of them and slammed shut.

The sound of tearing metal and snapping wood echoed through the van. Mei watched a billboard being ripped in half next to what was left of the road. As the road opened up again and threatened to swallow them, Abbey turned left and floored the vehicle, sending them across a field, mowing down rows of grapes, slamming through a small shed, sending rakes and shovels flying. A long spider web of cracks appeared on the windshield as the side window burst, showering Abbey with bits of glass. She wove between the widening crevasse and the homes lining the road. The van careened onto the front lawn of a house, skidded back on the road and crossed to the other side, smashing through shrubbery and blasting out into a field where they finally came to a stop.

"Oh, my God. What the hell was that?" Mei said. Turning to check on Leah, her heart sank. A metal stake had punched through the side of the van and shoved its way through Leah’s chest, extending through the seat behind her. A steady stream of blood flowed off the protruding end of the stake, splashing on the floor. Mei could tell by the sound of Leah’s breathing that her lung was probably punctured.

"Abbey, help me. Leah’s hurt," Mei shouted. She rummaged around in the back of the van for the first aid kit. Finding it, she pulled out gauze and tore off the paper covering. "Abbey, I need help now." Mei pressed down on the area around the protruding stake, trying to stem the blood flow, knowing what she was doing probably wasn't going to help. She looked up at Abbey, realizing the girl wasn’t moving, and grabbed for the tape from the first aid kit to secure bandages around Leah's wound.

Once she had the gauze in place, Mei pulled herself up to the front seat and gasped. Abbey sat upright, her eyes open, her head neatly severed from her body by a piece of sheet metal that tore through the van. She was gone. Mei fought to keep herself from fainting, looked away for a moment and swallowed hard to keep herself from vomiting. She reached over and closed Abbey's eyes, then looked back at Leah, who was mumbling. She moved closer to her. "What is it, Leah? What did you say?"

"It’s Kari … I can see her now." Leah’s mouth stopped moving, her labored breathing silent. Mei started to scream as the ground beneath the van started vibrating again. She shoved her way toward the door and pulled on the handle. She dove out onto the trembling ground, and rolled away from the bouncing van. Mei didn’t know if it was the earthquake or her racking sobs shaking her body to the core.

After about thirty seconds, the aftershock ceased and she brought her head up from her hands, looking at the area behind the van. The section of roadway they’d been on and the houses along the road were gone. Only a ragged trench remained. Next to it lay the ruins of a sheet metal shed and Mei knew what had killed her travel companions. No one was in sight. She could only assume whoever lived in the area had been consumed by the earth, too.

Mei wiped her face on her sleeve and stood. She stepped closer to the van and leaned against it to steady her shaking legs. She needed the vehicle to get to safety, but dreaded the idea of seeing Leah's and Abbey's lifeless bodies again. She also knew she couldn’t leave them. She’d have to move Abbey to the back seat and drive them to a police station or somewhere they could be properly cared for. Mei gritted her teeth and stepped toward the van.

Jodie and Isaiah sat on the roof of the SUV, watching the city grow dark. They had traveled far enough inland to avoid the major impact of the explosion Jodie's dad triggered, but were still surrounded by destruction on all sides. They drove, weaving between the cracks in the road and downed trees, until it started to get dark, and parked on a rise overlooking San Francisco Bay.

There were no words to describe what they were seeing, so they sat silent, drinking warm whiskey they purchased from a convenience store when the lights were still on. Half of the Golden Gate Bridge stood as a monument to what remained of San Francisco. As the sun slid lower on the horizon, it illuminated plumes of smoke rising from the burning remains. A huge trench severed the city from the land to the west. Seawater filled the trench, turning the city into an island. They watched as sections of earth calved into the water, reducing the size of the remaining city by an acre at a time. At least an hour had passed since they heard the last screams of terror rising from the wreckage. There was no way to get into the city to help, so they watched it continue to disappear.

Jodie could not bring herself to speak. The thoughts racing through her mind earlier, the hatred for her mother and the gluttonous Gypsum Corporation, the extreme sadness at the loss of her father and friends, took over her mind, overloading it, threatening to shut down all thought and feeling. Isaiah had tried to keep her talking while they raced away from washed out roads, rockslides and burning civilization. But, she was past talking, past crying, beyond feeling anything except a volcanic rage. The news on their radio was still coming strong out of the mid-section of the country, describing the carnage along the east coast. They listened to fragmented reports of a massive pyramid rising in the ocean, north of where Cuba used to be. In the Bermuda triangle ... the devil's triangle. How appropriate, Jodie thought. My mother, the devil, caused this.

Isaiah reached over for the whiskey and refilled his and Jodie's cups to the brim. "What I don't understand is why the explosion was so catastrophic. Your dad said he was going to send the train further inland, didn't he?"

"Yeah, but I think it was just a guess on his part of where it would cause less damage. That bomb must have been enormous to trigger this," Jodie said, motioning toward the imploding city in the distance. "Probably my mother's idea to build a bigger bomb, so it wouldn't matter where it went off."

Jodie felt her throat tighten as her eyes filled with tears. She'd called dozens of times, trying to tell Maria about Bob, getting nothing in return except a recording telling her the circuits were busy. She wondered if Maria had joined Bob in death, knowing the area where Bob lived was now completely submerged under seawater. She glanced at Isaiah, whose expression was sympathetic.

"We'll have to wait for daylight to see if we can find a way out of here," Isaiah said. "There's nothing for us in the city. We can re-group at Nick's and see if we can derail whatever contingencies Gypsum has put into place. I have no doubt they have an alternate plan."

Jodie nodded and let Isaiah put his arm around her shoulders. She thought if someone was watching them from a distance, they probably would have looked like teenagers stealing a peek at the drive-in screen on a warm summer night. Up close, they wore battle weariness, anger and sorrow. Jodie knew tomorrow would be the first day in their journey to even the score with Gypsum. She walled off her emotions and closed her eyes.

* * *

Mei opened the driver side of the van and tried not to throw up. The dome light shown off the sheet metal that severed Abbey's head from her body. A steady stream of thick, greasy blood flowed off the metal, glistening. Mei walked around to the side of the van and opened the door. She grabbed two blankets from behind the seat Leah was impaled on. She gently draped one over Leah's head, then wiped the tears clouding her vision away. "I'm gonna miss you so much, Leah," she whispered. Mei took the second blanket and placed it over Abbey's head. She pulled the blanket tight, and tied it behind the seat. Then, she reached down and unhooked Abbey's seatbelt. She jumped out and walked around the van by the driver's side, back to Abbey's body. "I'm so sorry this happened to you. You saved our lives. I wish you could've saved your own."

Mei reached up for the edge of the sheet metal and pulled. It was stuck in the seat, so she pulled again, harder. Finally, it gave way and she slipped backwards as it released, falling to the ground. Abbey's head slumped in the blanket, still bound to the seat. She stood and pulled Abbey's feet out of the door and yanked. The body fell over in the seat and Mei yanked again hard, knowing she had to do this now or she never would. She tugged on the headless body until it fell out of the van. Mei turned to vomit, then lay in the field, sobbing until her tears ran dry.

She returned to the van and wrapped up the contents of the blanket that was still secured to the seat, placing it in the back with the supplies. She rummaged in the boxes, finding large black garbage bags and duct tape. Once she'd wrapped up Abbey's body, she dragged it to the back of the van and pulled it in, draping it on top of the supplies. Mei covered the driver's seat in plastic bags and sat. She hoped the rest of the group had made it out of the area safely. She felt like she might lose it completely if anything bad happened to them.

Mei looked out at the only roadway left, tears still flowing down her cheeks. "Okay, ladies, we're going on a road trip now. If we don't find anyone around here to help us, I think we'll head to Lake Tahoe. It's the only place I can think of that Nick would be. It's beautiful there. You'll love it." She turned the key and started the van.

* * *

Evan was aware of the pain in his ribs even before he fully regained consciousness. He woke with a start and gasped for breath, opening his eyes slowly, trying to get a sense of where he was. The ringing in his ears droned on. It was clear he wasn't on the ground and he didn't know why. Then he remembered. The explosion. The realization that he stopped the plan brought him incredible joy, yet his immediate situation was dealing out a rather complicated set of issues.

He was suspended on a tree branch about fifty feet above the ground. He was aware he was bleeding from somewhere, not bad, but bleeding nevertheless. The pain in his ribs concerned him most of all and he reached down to his right side and found a sticky mass of torn flesh. He continued to probe, thinking he must have at least two or three broken ribs. Not bad for being shot out of a cannon, he thought.

Evan pulled himself toward the tree trunk, and tried to swing his leg over the branch, only to be stopped by a shooting pain, so sharp it stole his breath. He lay still for several minutes, waiting for the pain to subside. He tried again, successfully pushing his leg over to straddle the branch. He screamed out in agony, small white dots clouding his vision, threatening to send him into darkness. He talked to himself, trying to remain conscious, knowing that passing out would likely result in falling from his perch. Once again, he recovered his clarity and sat up, straddling the branch. "Just like riding bareback. Nothing to it," he mumbled to himself.

Now that he was sitting, he could see the extent of the wound on his side, the odd angle of bone and pulverized flesh his rib cage had been battered into. Evan pondered whether he might have internal injuries, but pushed the thought to the back of his mind. One thing at a time. First, get down from the tree, and then worry about finding some help.

Getting down to the ground would be simple on any other day. Branches protruded from the tree almost all the way to its base. However, just breathing today was a monumental feat and Evan said a silent prayer he would make it down without falling. What he was most worried about was the approaching darkness. If he set off in the wrong direction, he might be lost and die of exposure. Best to get down and see what he could do to wrap his ribs up, then set off in the morning. At least he would know what direction east was when the sun rose. Fueled by a desperate need to find Jodie, Evan pushed on and started his descent. There was still so much she needed to know... about Gypsum ... about other locations ... and he might be the only person left on the outside who knew about any of it.

* * *

It was a beautiful morning in Lake Tahoe. Skies were clear and the smell of wood smoke lingered in the crisp air. Nick pulled in the driveway and parked. He reached over and opened the passenger side door for Hunter. "There you go, buddy. Thanks for keeping me company."

Hunter diverted his attention to Christy, who was headed in Nick’s direction with a steaming mug of coffee.

"I thought you might need this," she said, handing the mug to Nick as he got out of the SUV. "Wow, it looks like you were successful last night," Christy said, pointing to the stockpile of food and water crammed into the vehicle. "What does it look like out there?"

Nick briefly contemplated not telling Christy what he'd seen while on his supply run, but thought she would find out soon enough anyway. She needed to know what they were up against. She needed to know why they had to be very careful from now on. "The lights are out everywhere, not only here. I did get some propane ordered from a buddy in town. He should be here this morning, yet, to do that, and then he's closing up shop until things calm down a little. There's a lot of crazies out there."

If she only knew, Nick thought. He'd gone inland as far east as he could to find a store for supplies, and got to the outskirts of Salt Lake City. What he experienced there made him sick. Damage from the earthquake extended as far as he could see, destruction consuming the buildings, devastation written on the faces of everyone he met. He'd finally found a store open in a small town miles off the interstate and bought whatever they had, especially happy to find food for Hunter, too.

"We've been trying to get a signal on the radio, but can't find anything local. There's a station out of Vegas, though. It sounds pretty bad there. And the Glen Canyon Dam, that environmental disaster, is finally down. Unfortunately, a lot of people were in the way when it went. I wonder why the explosion did so much damage. Didn't Jodie tell us her father was going to set it off in a location to prevent this?"

"I don't know. I've been trying to figure that out since I saw the mess around Salt Lake City," Nick said. "It doesn't make any sense, unless that bomb was a lot bigger than anyone figured."

"It wouldn't surprise me if that was the case. Gypsum probably didn't want to leave anyone alive," Christy said.

Nick nodded. "You know, they're looting out there. I had to take the SUV on a forest road to outrun some of them. They saw I had some supplies and came after me. We have to be on watch now. We can't trust anyone. I found some ammunition for my dad's hunting rifles, too."

Nick could see exhaustion taking its toll on Christy, for a moment. Then, it looked like she found strength from somewhere and said, "Tell me where it is. I'll get the guns loaded while everyone else helps you unpack all this stuff. I'll go get the others."

Watching her walk away, Nick didn't have to remind himself why he was falling in love with this woman. His eyes were fixed on her as she opened the front door of the lake house, trailed by Hunter. In the back of his mind somewhere, he heard a vehicle approaching and turned, expecting to see a propane truck. Instead, a white van parked at the end of the driveway. On the side, a familiar emblem shone back at him, flipping the switch on whatever anger he had left. He heard the sound of footsteps behind him and turned to see Christy approaching with two rifles in hand. Nick quickly opened the door to the SUV, grabbing the box of ammunition.

Christy grabbed his arm. "Nick, wait. That looks like ... it looks like a woman," she said.

The van door swung open and someone jumped to the ground. Nick held the gun firm as the figure approached them. Blood-covered and bathed in caked mud, Mei was hardly recognizable. As she moved closer, Nick could see the tears streaming down her face, her body threatening to crumble, her arms reaching out. They ran to her and Nick held her up from falling to the ground. "What happened to you? Is this your blood? Are you okay? How did you know we were here?" Nick asked, feeling joy at seeing his friend and anger at the same time over what she must have gone through.

Mei wiped her face with the back of her hand. "I thought you would come here ... if you could make it. It was the only place I could think of."

"What's the blood from, Mei? Are you injured?" Christy asked, as she bent to at Mei's back, searching her body for any outward sign of a wound.

"It's not mine. It's from Leah and Abbey, a woman who helped us ... they were killed. They're in the van."

Nick exchanged glances with Christy. "You brought them ... they're inside the van?" he asked.

Mei took several deep breaths. "We got in an accident. Abbey helped us get out of that hellhole. We escaped in a freight elevator. She was driving and there was an earthquake and the road ... it twisted and disappeared. She was decapitated by a piece of metal from a shed we hit. And Leah ... she ... a piece of metal ... she--"

"Let's get you inside. We'll take care of them," Nick said. "David will help me."

Mei stopped, looking up at Nick, who recognized the desperation in her eyes. "Jodie ... did she make it? Is she here?"