Chapter Fourteen–THE FIRESTORM

 

 

Morning dawned too soon. Their bruised bodies rested poorly. They were laden with fatigue and the knowledge that they stood four days from the essence of life altering forever, four days from exile, four days from the brink of madness.

Ari assessed the situation. "We must be in Yutanius by nightfall."

"We just have to go all out," Yu asserted.

"Did you notice something odd about our friends' treatment of us? Why plan a trap for us, when they have swifter, surer means?"

Yu's thought vein barely palpitated for a moment. "They wanted it to look like an accident."

"That's just what I think. It gives us a bit of an advantage. We know they won't kill us outright."

"We can also assume that they don't know I lost my Yutan headgear."

"Right. Let's go."

With those fragile assets in mind, they were back on the trail. By midmorning they broke into open country. The land became arid with rocky areas lining the trail and less and less vegetation.

"This isn't a good spot for us," Ari mumbled, feeling too exposed.

They had no choice. They hiked on.

Yu noticed the sun fading in and out, at times veiled in blue and pink haze. The Yutan studied the shifting mist. It wasn't a passing cloud or a cloudbank. A smoky, fast-moving mass was racing at them.

They heard roiling, malevolent hissing. Yu cocked an ear, evaluating, as it grew louder.

Ari shouted, "What is that? Smoke?"

Yu glanced skyward and started running. "Worse. Fine-grained ash with gases and particles of magma polluted within it. We've got to get away! Let's go!"

"Hot steam. Under real pressure," Face agreed, spurring on the urgency. Yu's assessment had impressed them. "Let's move it! Fast!"

In the distance, a gray-blue and reddish cloud of gas and ash erupted in mushroom bursts. Like a beast with a mind of its own, it moved toward them. All three sprinted urgently forward.

A roar with greater force than the death screech of a thousand Carnotaurus bore down on them at hundreds of kilometers per hour. It accelerated mightily and hit a ridge, uprooting whole copses of giant redwoods, whirling them up into the sky. An entire stand of forest crashed down behind them. The thunderous, cracking boom reverberated, sending out massive shock waves.

Lightning ripped the sky. It was as though heaven and earth were launching secret arsenals targeted at them.

"Sonic boom," Face explained.

"Supersonic bursts," Yu added.

Ari flung his arms overhead to ward of the constant rain of deadly debris. It was a futile reflex of self-protection.

Dense dust and ash turned day to night. The young Atlantians coughed as they ran, their wracked chests aching from great lungs full of foul air. Layers of sticky dust layered everything. It quickly rose a couple of inches deep in some places, making running ever more difficult. It stuck to their feet, dragging them back.

All three stopped under the cover of an overhang. They doubled over, bracing hands on knees, panting hard.

"It's them!" Yu gasped. "They're the only ones who can cause an eruption or direct forces like this from the North Continent."

Ari could only nod, choking. As he rubbed his aching tearing eyes, he saw a hillside. "Look. Up there. Is that a cave?"

Face shouted, "Yes! I see it."

"Where?" Yu couldn't spot it.

Ari made a fast assessment. If he was wrong, heading toward the illusory cave would cost them vital minutes and their lives. He knew Face could run at more than 25 kilometers an hour and easily outdistance them. He barked a command decision. "Face, you first. Check it out."

Face was already out of sight.

Yu searched, but clouds of fine gritty ash blew across her line of vision. Finally there was a clear gap. "I see it too. Let's go for it."

They took off, following Face. Each quick step was painful, as the hot dust swirled around them creating a nightmare of condemned eternities. With tears blurring their focus on the hillside cave, they ran for their lives.

Nearly halfway there, Yu tripped. Thick dust covered her instantly. Ash fell so heavily that even the protective surface of her suit could not repel it fast enough to keep it from sticking to her as she sprawled on the ground.

She called to Ari, but the roar overhead muted her shout. Ari looked back and against all odds spotted her. Doubling back through hell, Ari saw Yu had sprained her ankle. He hoisted his friend to her feet and braced her against his shoulder. He ran, half dragging the limping Yutan.

They might have felt some greater hope had they known that Face had reached the shadow on the mountain and discovered it was a cave. He was veiled from them by the ash curtain. Although he was relatively safe inside the cave, he didn't pause to rest. Instead he carefully searched it, forearming himself with all he could learn about it.

To the fleeing friends, the cave entrance was no more than a dark smear on the side of the hill. They ran toward it. The hammering of the debris shower and the roar of the dust blasts were deafening. Another supersonic boom blasted. Adrenalin propelled them to race for the cave, as the deadly rain of rocks battered them.

As they bore the stone hailstorm, each normal step became four agonized ones. Their legs shook with far greater exertion than that exacted by slogging through the worst mud.

Finally, they stumbled inside the mouth of the cave. Gasping and choking, they ducked and dove forward. As though angered by their escape, a roar mightier than summer thunder shook the earth. A crushing shower of debris poured down for an eternity.

The downward slope of the hill they had climbed helped protect them as boulders avalanched. The cave's mouth was sealed.