Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 110757 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110757 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
“They’re gone,” I whisper, my throat tightening.
“Who’s gone?” Amira asks.
It’s so much quieter now. Not silent, but the absence is staggering. They lost so many, both young and ancient.
“Plants. Trees. So much destruction.”
“You felt it, didn’t you?” Amira asks softly.
“I was dying.”
“You just felt like it because they were.”
I reach for the T-shirt covering my face, but someone bats my hand away.
“There’s still a lot of ash in the air,” Amira says. “Keep it on.”
If she can see me, she doesn’t have her face covered, but it’s not a battle I have the energy to fight right now.
“Did everyone get out?” I ask.
Amira doesn’t answer, but finally, Niran does.
“No. We don’t know how many we lost yet because we can’t see through the ash cloud. We’re in the water because it’s as far as we can get from it.”
“Nova. Ellison,” I murmur.
“They both made it.”
“You saved me, Niran.”
His chest rises and falls with a heavy sigh. “You would’ve done the same for me. Try to rest. We might not have a camp to go back to.”
We spend the next full day at the beach, the ash cloud still keeping us in apocalyptic darkness. Wendell, our new dentist, and Ellison are helping people as much as they can, but there’s not much they can do for the people who are dying from the gas and ash they inhaled.
We hope there are more survivors hiding in the jungle, because Nova’s count of everyone at the beach is one hundred thirty-seven people, and we could still lose more.
All the kids are here, their laughter out of place but still welcome. Three- and four-year-olds don’t understand what’s happening.
I’m aching for all the plants and animals that died from the volcano’s fury. So much life snuffed out in a matter of hours. Marcus will be gutted that he wasn’t here to help.
“It could be worse,” Niran announces when he comes back to the beach after climbing a tall tree to check out the island. “There’s ash everywhere, but the lava didn’t get much farther than Rising Tide.”
“It took out Rising Tide?” Adele asks.
“The Rising Tide camp is gone,” Niran confirms.
“Silver linings, right?” Adele says.
No one responds. Sickness rises in my throat. All those children. So many innocent people who were made into violent perversions of themselves by a power-hungry regime. It’s all tragic.
“Nova’s back,” Niran says.
I stand up from my spot in the sand, where I slept for a solid ten hours. Nova took a few people to scout our camp and assess the damage. We all gather around for her report.
“The Sub’s reinforced walls held,” she says. “It seems to be fine.”
I exchange a relieved look with Amira. That means there’s shelter for everyone.
“The kitchen’s roof was damaged by the weight of the ash,” Nova continues. “There’s a layer of ash on everything aboveground. We still have the livestock in the underground area at the farm, which has a ventilation system. They seem okay. A calf was just born in there. The garden is covered with ash. We didn’t go all the way to the solar panels, but there’s power to the Sub, so we still have at least some power.”
“Are you saying the shield still works?” Niran asks.
Nova nods. “It’s up and running.”
There’s a murmur of relief. Everyone is devastated about the people we can’t account for, because we all know they likely didn’t make it out. Hindsight being twenty-twenty, we should have sheltered in the Sub, but with the seismic underground shifting that comes with a volcano, Nova, Stella, and I all voted against it. If it had collapsed, everyone inside would have died.
I’m still so weak that it’s all I can manage to walk back to camp, leaning on Amia for support. Once I get there, I sink to my knees on the ash-covered ground, needing to rest.
We have a lot of work ahead. Our garden is probably a total loss, and we’ll have to clean the ash from everything. The mood as cleanup begins is somber, because the volcano’s toll was heavy.
All we can do is move forward, though. The lives of everyone who survived depend on it.
The sky is still dark gray from the ash cloud, so we take turns cleaning up and sheltering in the Sub so everyone gets a break from breathing the contaminated air.
I’m nodding off during one of my breaks, sitting up against a concrete wall in the main Sub area, when someone gently kicks my foot with the toe of their boot.
“Huh?” I look up and see it’s Nova, her expression unreadable.
“We have a visitor,” she says. “Let’s go.”
I get to my feet, my arms still looking like I rolled around in a fireplace. I’m sure my face and hair look the same, but it’s not time to shower yet. Cleanup comes first, with a little time allotted to eating and resting.