"So, where are you guys heading next? Are you planning to stay at the shelter, or come back live here again?" Ali was curious about Seth's family connections. That private bunker which was built on a thick concrete, and then it was camouflaged as a garage. It looks like a simple building, but that was worth millions of dollars to construct.
Ali climbs over a fallen tree and he looks over Seth. Looking at Seth not responding to his questions, Ali switches the topic, "Anyways, we will get you guys out from Hilo to a shelter that is in South Kona earliest next morning. That is of course, once we found your daughter. ...Or whenever you want to leave..." Ali smiled at Seth. He knew that leaving Hilo without finding Mia would be equal to abandoning your loved ones behind. The family probably would not even leave Hilo until they find Mia.
"Let us find Mia first, then only we will discuss again if we are going to settle down in Hawaii, or we are going back to California." Seth smiled.
"Okay then. Don't worry, we will find your daughter soon. Right, once we walked passed over that house over there... well, we can stop walking on foot. The fire trucks were parked just beside it."
They have been walking downhill for over an hour now. Due to the road was severely damaged by the earthquake, the rescue team was forced to abandoned their trucks downhill and walked over to Ben's garage.
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Seth decided that he will start searching for Mia from the areas around his house.
Back to the place where his house used to be, Seth was stunned. After the tsunamis and earthquake, what was left behind, was only some pillars that are sticking out from the ground. His front porch was smoking from a pool of harden lava.
"I-I never expected that our house could look like this..." Seth stutters.
"Do you, do you know what happened a few days ago? Which volcano is it, that has erupted?" Seth looks at Ali questioningly. He was surprised to see there is a blob of magma on his front porch!
"We are not sure ourselves. We are a team from San Francisco based in Honolulu. The USGS informed us that our mission is to rescue people from a tsunami. While we are on the sea, the Mauna Loa erupted. After a few hours, we received news that Kilauea also has erupted. That probably explains why the situation was this bad."
"What..?" Lucy was stunned. She knew the situation was bad, but she did not expect that is was this bad. Not even one, but two volcanoes erupted.
"What are we going to do now dad? Our house is gone... where are we going to live next? " Lucy walked over to Seth and hold his hands. Her tears fall silently as she speaks.
Seth could not say anything. He just smiled at her daughter, and hugs her. To be honest, his mind was blank when he looks at what is left from his house. Nothing is there.
"Dad, I've remembered. Mia is probably having a date with Josh somewhere around the playground when the tsunami hits us. I-I think I saw a message from Josh in Mia's phone about the date..." Suzy said suddenly. She suddenly remembers about the text message when she saw the torn down house. She blames herself for not remembering earlier. Her bad habit of peaking her sister's messages from their phone suddenly was useful during this moment.
"Why didn't you tell us sooner, Suzy?! If you did, we wouldn't have left here without her in the first place!" Jane snapped at Suzy. She would blame herself if anything happens to her daughter. She left her daughter.
"I'm sorry... I-I forgot Mom. That night, I panicked, and-and I can't think of anything.... Mom, I'm sorry, its all my fault.." Suzy's apologies died down as she crouched down on the ground and wailed loudly. Her mother threw a furious glance, at Suzy and she ran from the house.
Jane ran frantically towards the playground. Looking at Jane in the manic state, Seth follows behind her.
"MIA!! Mia honey where are you?!" Jane shouted as she reached the playground. There was nothing on the ground. All the exercise equipments was uprooted from the ground, and all was left was a muddy flat ground. No cars or trees were found, within 500m from the playground.
"Jane, Jane, you need to calm down. We can find her. I will go up and look on the north side, and you can go and look over here. She-she might be somewhere around here." Seth wipes away his wife's tears and hugs her before he left in a hurry. He was worried about her daughter too. His priority was to find her daughter. There is no time to be angry or grieving.
Seth ran up north until he saw few fallen structures, trees, and cars piled up on the ground. He quickly ran towards the pile and his eyes scanned everything that was on it.
It looks like the tsunami washed everything along its way and pushed them in one long pile. Seth was stunned when he arrived on the site. He gagged and vomited on the spot.
The rotten smell from the pile was so sickening that he can't stop vomiting. He tried looking up at the mountain of debris again, and he saw few dismembered body parts were visible underneath a car. It has been almost a week after the tsunami, and bodies are still lying around buried under the pile.
"No, no. No... MIA!!" Seth rushed to the place where he saw the bodies. The bodies were overlapping with trees that were uprooted, and some of the bodies can be found stuck under the fallen debris and cars. The bodies that he saw lying under the pile was not whole. Most of them have missing limbs.
Seth vomits again on the spot. He has never seen any dead bodies that have been badly bloated before, and he never has seen the brutal scene like in front of him now.
Birds were pecking on the dead bodies that were on the pile. Seth falls on his knee dumbfounded.
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"Sir, are you okay?" Seth was jolted awake when he heard someone was talking to him. That man was wearing a camouflage combat suit, complete with gloves and a surgical mask.
Seth stares at the man. "Sir, you are not supposed to be here. Are you here to find someone?"
Leo, the volunteer council worker speaks softly to Seth. He has been observing Seth for quite some time now. He saw Seth was kneeling beside the pile without doing anything for a long time now. He is sure that, the guy was looking for someone.
"My-my... my daughter.. my daughter Mia." After a long while, Seth spoke up.
"...Come with me sir. We have gathered some of the bodies found within a mile radius from the sea, at the church there." Leo grabs Seth's arm and he forced him to stand on the ground. Seth's leg was shaky and unstable as he walks beside Leo.
Leo was holding Seth's arm until they reached the church. There are lots of people around the church. Sounds of wailing, and sobbing was heard everywhere.