Scraping, skittering, crumbling rock. Weight shifted, and there were moments of clattering sound. Something groaned, distantly, and there was a repetitive muffled tap.
Tap. Tapping. Scraping. Clunk, clatter, and a rumbling scrape.
More rumbling thumps.
Lysa blinked herself into proper wakefulness, though it did nothing to help see her surroundings. She remembered, just barely, that she shouldn't see anything.
The first few times, she had woken in a panic. Groggily convinced that she'd gone blind.
An absence of light had created an absence of time that made it easy to forget. The absence of time led to an absence of space. Existence itself seemed sucked in by the all-encompassing darkness.
Lysa took a moment to count herself through a breathing exercise. She made an effort at reassuring herself that she was conscious. She was alive. The emptiness could easily be a dream. Maybe she was just floating in the nothingness of sleep.
Yet, she could feel Liam leaning against her side. The slow rhythm of his breathing was a touch of sanity. An external reassurance that the rest of the world existed.
They had decided to huddle together through an unspoken agreement. It had made sense, for warmth, for peace of mind, but it hadn't been a conscious process. The darkness had pressed them together with the gentle inevitability of gravity. A millennium of fears pushed them to seek comfort and companionship in the face of hopelessness.
Fumbling around her neck, Lysa found the switch for her headlamp.
Click.
A cone of sanity revealed the truth of her nightmare. The rock still surrounded them. The cave-in had not disappeared.
Scrape. Scrape. Clatter.
Yet, the noise had not been a dream. Something was moving. Something was happening beyond their confines.
"Liam?"
He stirred against her side. "Mmm?"
"Do you hear? Something? Please tell me you hear something."
"Uh, I think-"
"No, wait. Don't tell me. If you don't hear anything, I don't want to know. Let me believe I'm still sane."
Somewhere, beyond the cave-in, there was a muffled thud.
Liam sat up straight. He blinked in the light of Lysa's headlamp. "No, no. Don't worry, we're probably as sane as we've ever been. I hear it too."
"Then, what in the world?" Lysa squinted as soon as she asked that question. She must've been imagining things. "Liam. Do you see? Something?"
There was a hint of light. That, or something was reflecting from her headlamp. She switched it off.
"Oh, whoa! Now I sure as hell do!"
Somehow, some of the rocks were outlined in the featherings of an external light. Toward the mine's entrance.
Lysa turned the headlamp back on and sprang to her feet. She shook her head. "There's been nobody up here except us these last few weeks. That has to be Danielle."
"Oh shit! The tractor! I bet she drove the tractor in here!"
That would be absurdly dangerous. The site had a little miniature backhoe, small enough to look like a toy, that had belonged to the mine owners.
"Dani!? Danielle!? Is that you!?" Lysa yelled as if any sound would make it through the noise of machinery and a meter of rock.
There was no response, just more noise. More of a grumbling grinding rumble.
"Oh wow, I hope it is her," said Liam. Then he winced. "But maybe we should get back some? Away from the potentially-deadly pile of debris?"
"Yeah, probably a good idea." Lysa held out her hand. "Come on."
Liam used her help to get to his feet. They both retreated to the far end of the chamber.
The light from outside got brighter. Showed in more cracks and gaps in the rock. They watched, and Lysa felt proper hope flutter in her chest. "Oh, gods, please let the ceiling not cave in."
There was an especially wrenching sound, a groaning growl of metal on stone, and then something gave. The wall blocking them in broke apart in a tumultuous release of pressure. A boulder-sized slab of basalt tumbled into the center of the room. Scrabble and chunks of the old ceiling scattered where the two had been sitting.
They coughed in the sudden influx of dust and debris. Lysa waved the air in front of her face as she choked on the vile cloud of ground earth.
Four brilliant beams of light cut through that cloud. Headlights, on the front of a small digging tractor, filled the cave with shadows.
A figure hopped down from the vehicle. She was shouting. "Oh hell! Yes, yes, yes. Yes! Lysa! Liam!"
Lysa stumbled forward, feeling faint, and ran into Danielle's arms. "Oh, gods, you saved us!"
Liam joined in the sudden group hug. "Oh, Dani, you absolutely marvelous woman!"
Danielle coughed and rubbed at streaming tears on her cheeks. "Oh, fuck, am I glad to find you two. Let's get this hell out of this dump!"
Lysa nodded eagerly. "ASAP for sure!"
#
"It felt like we were down there forever!"
"I literally lost all track of time."
"You could've checked your phone!" Danielle laughed. She rubbed her eyes for the fifth time in as many minutes. They'd all had an emotional afternoon, and it seemed like tears sprang up for the silliest reasons.
Lysa shook her head. "My phone died after the first few hours. I should've put it on airplane mode or something, but I was so hoping I'd get a moment of signal. Or just something to get a message out."
"Mine was almost dead even before the earthquake. Was listening to music all day." Liam shrugged. "Hell though, that was wild."
"What has the news said? Heard anything about how bad it was? It felt too strong to be localized to this ridgeline." Lysa bit the side of her tongue. "It was so freaky."
Danielle's face stiffened and wrinkled into a scowl. "Not a damn thing. My phone signal was always bad up here, but now it's just dead. I'm getting nothing."
"Hell, but what about the radio?" Liam looked up from his own phone, still charging, as he chewed on a granola bar.
"There's nothing but static." Danielle glanced to the southeastern skies. "Ever since that started springing up, really. Whatever hit us was big."
"Hit us?" asked Liam. "You think, like, an asteroid?"
Lysa cringed. "Well, shit, I hadn't even thought of that. I sure as hell hope not."
They all looked to the southeast, and for a moment they shared a silent contemplation of what could be. Their horizon was incredibly close because of a sinewave line of hills covered in scrubby trees. Above those hilltops, the world was growing dark.
A darkening swath of clouds was spreading into the brilliant blue of Arizona sky. The cloud front was distant, but that made it into an unnerving beauty. What could cause such a towering cluster of ejecta?
Lysa shaded her eyes as closer, normal-looking clouds, moved from blocking the sun. She shook her head. "That can't be an asteroid impact. Or anything from space. It's growing, right? That's not just my imagination?"
"I mean, it's so far away," said Liam, "but I guess it could be volcanic. But the nearest faults are, what, bottom edge of the North American, Caribbean, and, ah?"
"Cocos," said Danielle. She rubbed her chin, staring at the ground with the look of someone lost in thought. "But that's two, three thousand kilometers from here. If that's volcanic, it's beyond big."
"How long did you say it's been?" asked Liam.
"Almost three days, now. So, it's been going for a while."
Lysa turned west and squinted as she faced the sun. "And that one's been building since the same time?"
"I think so, but it's closer, so it could've happened first." Danielle shrugged. "That's why I first thought impact. Like maybe something huge entered orbit, broke up, and we'd see a few minor meteorites and one major."
"But if this is volcanic? A shifted plate and a bit of a chain reaction? But then one must've triggered the other." Lysa glanced at Liam. "Didn't you work with Berkeley once? Got any contacts over there?"
"Yeah, if my phone was working." He swiped through a screen as he spoke before pulling up a compass. "Though I can almost guarantee that they're busy with all this shit." He glanced at the heading, then flipped to a map. "That's definitely south California. Somewhere between San Diego and the Gulf."
"Fuck, this is a nightmare." Lysa shook her head. "Well, we can't do anything more here. We'll have to call this site a loss."
"Maybe we'll get signal back once we're in town. Could be one of the towers got messed up in that quake." Danielle nodded. "Yeah, that's probably it. All the relays through these hills are bound to be shit for months."
"Alright, well lemme get my equipment from the shack. I left a few rangefinder parts, and my pack of snacks."
"Ah! I'd wondered where you hid them," grumbled Lysa.
Liam scowled. "You kept eating my fruit rollups!" He started toward a small metal building on the side of the lot. It was a storage shed, but there hadn't been anything interesting left inside.
"Well, it can't be healthy, you eating them all alone."
"So you're a thief out of kindness?" asked Danielle.
Lysa smirked. "Aren't all the best ones? Anyway, I'm gonna pack too. Let's hook up the trailer."
"I'll park the tractor. Damned glad they left that thing."
That sobered Lysa and punched away her good humor. "Yeah. Saved our lives." She smiled at Danielle. "You saved our lives. Thank you."
Danielle blushed. "I had to. No fucking mine is taking my friends."
#
The team drove away from their site with more relief than any kind of satisfaction. In fact, Lysa felt a strong sense of failure deep in her gut. It was absurd, but she hated that their near-death experience robbed them of a success.
If the world was going to fall on their heads, she at least wanted something productive to come of the catastrophe.
Instead, they were rumbling along the ridgeline roads with little to show for their last site visit. They had lost one of their LASER rigs, the crushed sensors would never be useful, and it was uncertain if other sites had lasted through the quake.
There was an extra kick of anxiety over that fact. Their entire trip might be made pointless by one of Mother Nature's fits. That wasn't entirely unexpected, but the inevitability of natural disasters didn't lessen their sting.
Danielle hit a particularly wicked rut in the road and the three of them were jogged from side to side in the truck. The truck could take the punishment, but it hurt.
"Gods, did you even try avoiding that one?" Lysa winced. "I still ache all over."
"Oh come on, don't blame the shitty roads on me," said Danielle. She grinned despite her claim of innocence. "I am trying though, honest." Her tone made that honesty suspect.
"It is a bit insane to call these roads." Liam repositioned in the back seat of the extended cab. He was almost lying down and had slipped himself under both sets of the back-bench's seatbelts. "They're trails at best."
"Trails, roads. They're shitty versions of either. You really can't expect me to give you a smooth ride when none of this has been maintained in years."
"We're taking the long way, right?" asked Lysa.
"Yeah, we'll be at 89 soon. I don't trust going down the switchback after an earthquake. Half those roadways were already crumbling when we came up."
"Huh, skies are clearing up to the south." Liam had his head propped on his backpack as an uncomfortable-looking pillow. "That should be a good sign. Maybe it's blown itself out."
"We can only hope. I bet they're living a real nightmare down there. Best case, they've got a new island. Worst case?" Lysa shook her head. "Too much can go wrong."
"I'm just hoping Prescott has some open restaurants. I'm tired of granola and that dehydrated garbage." Danielle wove the truck around several boulders in the road. They had certainly not been there before.
Then they rounded a spur of the hilltops and reached an overlook to the highway below.
They stopped.
Liam sat up. "Shit."
Their trail of a road ended in three-hundred meters. A whole chunk of the hillside was missing. No, it wasn't missing. It was perfectly clear that it had simply moved.
Below them, highway 89 was covered in rubble and debris from what used to be a hill. They saw bits of highway peeking out, but there was a large swath of missing road.
"So, westbound looks mostly clear," noted Lysa. She could see the highway continue interrupted after a kilometer of the slide.
"Eastbound is in shambles though." Danielle slipped the truck into reverse. "Oh, I hate backing up with a trailer."
"Have something in mind?" asked Liam.
"There was a fork in the road about two klicks back. We can make our way to the highway west of here."
Lysa groaned. "Which means we'll have to go through Wilhoit. All of our stuff is in Prescott."
"That's okay. Once we get into the valley, we'll head north and try to get around all this shit. Iron Springs is a better road. Not so winding."
"Okay, well, let's hope," mumbled Lysa.
Danielle leaned over and squeezed Lysa's shoulder. "Hey. We're okay. We're alive. That's worth a lot. I'm just so happy that you two are okay."
Liam chuckled from the back. "Dani, you are such a softie."
Lysa smiled, but she rubbed her shoulder. "She might be, but damnit, you really need to remember how strong you are. I think you left a bruise."
"As if you'll notice one more among the rest we got."
"Would you two hush," grumbled Danielle. "I'm trying to concentrate here."
The three of them shared a laugh as they made slow progress turning the all-wheel drive truck and trailer to head back up the trail.
#
It felt marvelous to be on a proper road again. They had their windows down, there weren't constant bumps jarring their organs every five seconds, and they could see city lights in the distance. Though, Wilhoit was hardly a city. Town was appropriate, though even that was generous.
Danielle drummed on the steering wheel as they sped around the final curves out of the hills. The radio had, in fact, returned once they got out of rough terrain.
It was just one A.M. station so far, but it was music, and they weren't being picky at the returned sign of humanity.
"Did y'all still want to eat?" asked Liam. He glanced up from his phone. None of them had gotten signal to return yet, but he was trying. He would probably drain his battery pack before nightfall at the rate he was going.
"Yeah, I think so." Lysa glanced at Danielle. "You?"
"Oh definitely. Food sounds so good right now. I am famished, and I'm really look forward to a shower. Maybe we should hole up somewhere?"
"Does Wilhoit even have a hotel?" asked Liam.
"I really don't think they do." Lysa looked out the window. She stared toward the clouds to the west. They were still looming, growing. It had to be an eruption.
Yet, like Liam pointed out, the southern clouds seemed to be breaking up. It could be caused by weather patterns, wind currents, but that seemed unlikely. That would've dissipated the dark ejecta earlier if it was just wind.
"Well," she cleared her throat, "Maybe things will calm down now. The big one really is clearing up."
"The big one?" Liam started sitting up. He stared out the window as they entered town. Looking for someplace to eat.
"One to the south?" asked Danielle. She slowed as they hit the city speed limits. Her eyes swept back and forth as well. "Oh yeah, there's this Saloon place."
"Yeah, the one to the south," agreed Lysa. "It's further away, so it had to be enormous for us to even see hints that it existed. And sure, this place looks fine."
"We went here when we first got to the mine, actually." Liam smiled as they pulled into the parking lot. "They have good beer. Shitty food, but still better than what we've been eating."
Danielle maneuvered them along fencing to the side of the metal-sided building. It was small and one-storied, with wood trim and cinderblock placements for an awning's wooden pillars. A hand-painted sign proclaimed it to be the, "Burro Saloon Bar -n- Grill."
"Quaint little place," said Lysa. She raised a brow at a gathering of bikers in front of the main door. "Guess that's a good sign. They must have power and something to serve."
The truck quieted as Danielle cut the engine and put it in park. "Look, they could have nothing but water and nuts and I'd be happy. I need a bit of normalcy to settle me down. That drive was nerve-wracking, and that's after the cave-in."
Lysa winced. "Right, no, you're right. Thank you for driving too. I love you for that. Those roads are terrifying."
Danielle smirked. "Don't say what you don't mean, girl. Now come on, drinks are on me."
They walked to the bar entrance and Lysa gave a polite wave toward the bikers.
Most of them didn't look away from their discussions, but a few nodded or turned to watch the newly-arrived group.
One, a gray-bearded bald man, raised his chin by way of greeting. "Where you folk coming in from?"
Lysa paused to answer. "Just up 89, one of the mines halfway to Prescott." She waved toward Danielle and Liam. "You two go ahead. I'll be in soon."
The biker looked at her friends, then looked back to Lysa. He seemed confused. "You three came through that shitfest? The roads are all blocked. We've been riding round trying to find survivors, but we haven't seen anyone come in from anywhere around here."
"Survivors? Was the earthquake that bad?"
Another biker turned his head. "Lady, we got pounded by that thing. You'll see inside, but half the damned west coast is sinking or in flames it seems. What with that Gulf of Mexico nonsense and the Salton Sea fucker? Damned near the end times."
"Salton Sea?" Lysa winced at the name. She recognized one of California's geothermal sinks. "So, it was a volcano?"
"Huge fucker," chimed in another biker.
Apparently, she had garnered the whole of the group's attention. "And the Gulf of Mexico? That was a volcano too?"
"Fuck, even worse. They're calling that thing some kinda super eruption. There ain't much news direct from them, but it's looking bad. A few of us are being recalled to go assist, National Guard, but that'll take a while."
"Oh gods," mumbled Lysa. She heard herself give a nervous giggle. "Well. I suppose things could be worse here then."
"Yeah, that's very true," said the gray-bearded bald biker. He had a large patch on each shoulder, it seemed, and everyone quieted down more when he spoke. Their leader, perhaps. "But you three stay safe. Okay? There's not many places to stay here in Wilhoit, but we can talk around and see who has free rooms to set you up."
That caught Lysa's attention. She had been about ready to turn away and go inside. "Set us up? We were going to head around to Prescott."
"Oh, not for some time you won't. Sorry. Whole damned valley is covered in slides right now. We're pretty much penned in right now."
Lysa felt herself getting dizzy. She reached down even as she felt her legs giving way. It wasn't pretty, but she managed a controlled descent to sitting on a concrete curb. "Shit."
"Yeah, that about sums it up," grumbled the biker.