The Year Without Summer: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller Read online

  Suddenly the truck exploded, and both of them looked back shielding their eyes from the intense glare of the flames.

  “You’ve got quite a gash on your chin, Billy. Can you walk?” Wyatt asked.

  It took him a minute or two to feel confident to sit up, as he was still feeling sick to his stomach, dizzy and unsure of what bones he might have broken. He motioned to Wyatt who helped him up. Back on his feet he grabbed his left side. He’d definitely broken at least one rib, maybe two. He hobbled for a second until he found his feet.

  “Okay, I’m good.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah.”

  Another shake, this time of epic proportion. And this time it wasn’t from the truck. In the distance, beyond the forest they saw a mushroom cloud of gray smoke rise into the atmosphere.

  “Holy shit,” Billy said.

  “Look, we’ve got to get out of here. Let’s go.” Wyatt tried to pull him away.

  Billy gave a nod to Jordan. “What about the kid?”

  “He’ll slow us down. There’s nothing we can do for him.”

  “There was a first-aid kit back at the ranger cabin.”

  Wyatt walked back to him. “Are you out of your mind? We are not going back there. That’s several miles from here. We’ll be lucky to make it out of here alive.”

  “There was a radio there.”

  Wyatt frowned. “What?”

  “Yeah, in the rear of the cabin. It was covered up with a sheet. Looks old but it might work.”

  “And it might get us killed. No, I say we go now. Maybe we can get to Fishing Bridge and catch a ride with someone before…”

  Another explosion and the earth shook even harder. Huge boulders broke away from steep slopes nearby and barreled down slamming into trees like bowling pins. Before they were able to make a decision, Jordan started coughing. Billy made his way over and crouched down. “Hey kid, you okay?”

  It took him a second to realize where he was, and then he nodded.

  “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

  Billy turned to head northeast when Wyatt came running over. “Billy. Billy.”

  “Look behind you, Wyatt. We aren’t getting down to Fishing Bridge, it’s cut off, and the caldera is exploding in that area and we have no transportation to get us out of here. Our best bet is to head back to the cabin and try that radio, and hope to God search and rescue finds us.” Wyatt attempted to argue. He suggested they head north but it was too risky as it would take them up to a higher elevation and he didn’t think he could make it that far. Billy was sure he was suffering from internal bleeding. The pain was excruciating with every breath he took.

  “Screw it,” Billy said. He helped Jordan up and they began the trek away from the wildfire and explosions. He wasn’t an idiot. He knew the chance of them getting out of this mess was slim but after all he’d done in his life, if it ended here, he was willing to accept that. Wyatt cursed under his breath as he looked back at the burning truck and the glow that was getting closer by the second.

  Chapter 22

  “I can’t have this bird in the air long,” Tom yelled as the helicopter swooped over the vast ocean of trees. Now they were up, Catherine could see the size of the devastation. Thousands of acres had already been turned into a blazing furnace by the initial fire just west of the lake, and since the last explosion, the wind was forcing it north of Fishing Bridge. But that wasn’t the worst threat. Her eyes widened as she saw where the eruption had occurred. The water in the lake was no longer there, in its place was hot lava spewing out, overflowing in every direction and moving outward, destroying everything in its path. Though devastating to see, it was clearly a small eruption compared to what could have happened. Still they weren’t out of the woods yet. If an eruption had started here, where in the park might another occur?

  “Tom, what are we getting on the FLIR?” Logan asked.

  “See for yourself,” he said moving the device around so he could look at the screen. FLIR, which was short for forward-looking infrared allowed them to see anything that emitted heat. But it wasn’t just heat it detected, it could pick up small differences and display them as shades of gray in black and white.

  “How do you make sense of that? I mean tell the difference between the fire and people down there?”

  Tom veered the helicopter to the left. “Everything gives off thermal energy including cold objects. But the hotter something is the more energy it emits. We call it a ‘heat signature’. Even if two objects are close together and both have different heat signatures they will show up clearly on the FLIR. You see that,” he said pointing to what appeared to be a crowd of ants moving along. “Those are people. And that over there is a vehicle, and the rest is wildlife.” He exhaled hard. “All this ash rising into the air is going to affect the blades. Where am I going, Logan?”

  Logan gave him directions and Tom shot him a concerned look.

  “That’s where this eruption is boiling over.”

  “It’s also where they might have gone. The east would have been the closest way out of the forest.”

  “And what if they went west?”

  “Then let’s take a look.”

  The drone of the rotor blades was almost hypnotic. Outside the thin windows they could barely see where they were going. It was like they were in a snowstorm, except it wasn’t snow falling.

  “You said it was a black truck?”

  “Yeah,” Logan replied.

  “There are countless black trucks out here. I’m gonna need something more specific than that.”

  “Look, just take it back around one more time over to the east side and if we can’t see anything we’ll head out.”

  Catherine leaned forward from the back and slapped Logan on the arm.

  “I’m sorry, Catherine. But Tom’s right. We are already risking our lives being up here. These birds can’t handle these kinds of conditions.”

  Catherine placed her head in her hands and began to weep. Her son meant everything to her. It had nearly destroyed her when she lost him in a custody battle and then to see how his father had turned him against her was even more heartbreaking, but if she survived this and he didn’t, she wouldn’t be able to live with herself.

  She looked out towards the plume of ash stretched across miles of landscape. Tom flew the helicopter around the eruption site, keeping a good distance. The rhythmic thump of the blades was steady as it displaced smoke all around them.

  Far below the fire had burned its way through the forest leaving nothing but scorching hot ash. The flames crept forward in every direction. Where there was once a lake, thick lava, mud and debris flowed out rolling over everything in their path and consuming it. To the north it was dark, not even the glow of a fire could be seen, leading Catherine to believe that the USGS team were still alive and functioning. Had Rebecca followed her instructions? Had the superintendent called the Wyoming National Guard to assist in the evacuation? As it stood it no longer mattered. She looked out into the darkness then back at the FLIR camera.

  “Anything?”

  “Nothing. Just the wildfire,” Logan said. “Tom, we’ll circle back around one more time but…”

  “Wait. What’s that?” Catherine said pointing to a heat signature that seemed out of place from the inferno that was marching across the landscape like an army. Tom looked and nodded. “Looks like we’ve got something down there.”

  “Could just be a crashed vehicle,” he replied.

  “Bring it down, Tom.”

  “Roger that.”

  Tom flew the helicopter through a cloud of debris, skimming the tops of subalpine trees until the landscape opened up and he brought it down on a flat area a short distance away from where the earth had cracked open. Out the window, Catherine could see a truck had turned over on its side. He steadied the helicopter until they felt it bounce slightly on the earth.

  “Don’t be long,” Tom yelled.

  Logan and Catherine hopped out and
double-timed it over to the fiery wreckage. Catherine was beside herself with worry. The thought of Jordan being inside made her shake. More explosions erupted from off in the distance. It was like being in a war zone.

  “You see anything?”

  Logan raised an arm and tried to get close but the heat coming from the truck was too much. All they could make out was the charred steel bones, and flames licking up inside, eating the truck up.

  “I don’t see him but that’s the truck.”

  Logan had pulled out a pad of paper and was comparing numbers. He pointed to the license plate that was barely intact. Paint was bubbling and dripping, and the windows were smashed.

  “Maybe he got out.”

  Logan stood there shaking his head, looking at the torn earth, and all the fire blazing away.

  “Catherine, we don’t know if he was even in the truck. For all we know it could have been someone in the park who took the vehicle for a joyride.”

  “No. My boy’s alive. I can feel it in my gut.”

  Wyatt was the first to burst through the door of the cabin. The other two stumbled in after him, out of breath and in pain. Although Jordan had been unconscious the longest, he appeared to have scraped through it with just a few cuts and bruises. Billy hadn’t been so lucky. The pain in his stomach had intensified leading him to believe that he was suffering some form of internal bleeding from smashing into the steering wheel.

  “Where is it?” Wyatt asked.

  Billy threw up a hand and Jordan assisted him in taking a seat.

  Wyatt shot into the rear room and threw off the sheet. He pulled out the flashlight Billy had given and shone it over the aged ham radio. It was a piece of junk. Wyatt ran his hand over a thick layer of dust searching for the on switch. He’d never used one before but how hard could it be? He figured it had to be tuned into a frequency that all the rangers were on, wouldn’t it?

  “Any luck?” Billy asked.

  “I’m looking for the plug.”

  He dove under the table and batted cobwebs out of his face until he found a plug. He jammed it into the wall, hope filling his being as he came up to find the on switch. He must have tapped every button until a light blinked on. It lit up like a Christmas tree, and a faint static came over the receiver.

  “Oh sweet God, thank you!” He scooped up the black microphone and tried to get someone. “Hello. Hello. Come in. Can anyone hear me?” He released the button but nothing came back except static. He turned several knobs, each time repeating himself.

  “Come in. Mayday. Mayday. If you can hear this we are northeast of Yellowstone Lake in a ranger’s cabin. We have an injured ranger. Come in. We have an injured ranger.”

  He glanced back and Billy gave him the thumbs-up. He knew they wouldn’t respond unless it was one of their own but then again under the circumstances was anyone left in the park?

  A sudden tremor began, and the entire cabin shook. Outside a portion of the porch collapsed and Billy yelled for him to hurry up.

  Chapter 23

  On the north side of Yellowstone, efforts were already underway to evacuate visitors in the park. It was a monumental task that would no doubt draw a lot of critics after the event. However, little thought was being given at that moment to the consequences or backlash from the public. That would come in time. As it stood, getting the word out was every bit as hard as Harris believed it would be. The ten visitor centers, and seven ranger stations throughout the park had been notified by radio, and instructed to alert visitors in the twelve campgrounds. It wasn’t that he didn’t think they would be unaware, the earthquakes throughout the day and eventually the mushroom cloud looming over the park had already forced people into escaping, but they couldn’t leave anything to chance. The political fallout would be horrendous if he didn’t ensure that he had done everything within his power to get people out.

  His staff and the rangers were told that if they left now he would understand but their assistance wouldn’t be overlooked. The National Guard had been notified and he’d been reassured they would be on hand to help. When they would arrive was another thing entirely. Harris stood with the USGS team looking up at a TV as the governor of Wyoming issued a state of emergency. Every few minutes the ground would shake, the tables would clatter and the doors would rattle.

  Rebecca had stepped out to their van to monitor activity. She was waiting on a phone call from Catherine to let her know they were on the helicopter.

  Mark leaned forward and looked at one of the four computers they had for monitoring recent activity in the park. “That seismic swarm is increasing. Those periodic bursts of gases are steady and the temperature is rising.” He turned in his seat. “It’s not slowing down, Rebecca.”

  “Ms. Lyons. A word,” Harris said looking nervously out across the parking lot. Rebecca rose from her seat in the back of the van, ducked her head and stepped out.

  “NASA has stopped drilling.”

  “Across all drill sites?”

  “As far as I know.”

  There were three sites.

  “I’m afraid it’s too late,” Rebecca said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “The damage is already done.” She glanced out at the giant plume of gray ash that continued to rise and spread, making the evening really dark. “Look, there is a very good chance we will survive this. However the death toll will still be high.”

  “But I thought you said this is a minor eruption.”

  “It is. Listen, the eruption over Yellowstone Lake is huge, though minor compared to what could happen, or may still happen.”

  “May still happen? You’re suggesting this could get worse?”

  “We don’t have a road map for how this volcano will react. Best-case scenario, this goes no further than the park, worst case, it continues to erupt until the whole caldera unzips.”

  “And if it does?”

  “It will throw us into a situation like the kind after the eruption of Mount Tambora.” She returned to the van with Harris in her shadow.

  “Mount Tambora?”

  “The following year became known as the Year Without Summer because of the severe climate abnormalities that caused temperatures to decrease across the northern hemisphere.” She turned around as she stepped into the van. “Which means, a whole lot of people would die.”

  “Well let’s hope to God that doesn’t happen.” He hopped in and came up behind them and looked over their shoulders as they continued to monitor the activity. “Where is Ms. Shaw?”

  Mark pointed on the map to the heart of Yellowstone where swarms of earthquakes were building in intensity. “The last earthquake was an M6.4.”

  Rebecca scooped up the radio and stepped back out just as another explosion shook the ground, this time it caused the Albright Visitor Center and Museum’s windows to smash, and a portion of it to collapse on the west side. Multiple lampposts sank into the ground as if some invisible force was pulling them down, and a huge section of the road disappeared causing a massive sinkhole.

  “Mark, grab whatever equipment we have now and let’s get the hell out of here.”

  “But what about Catherine?”

  Rebecca got on the radio in the hopes of reaching Logan.

  “Come in, Logan.”

  There was a slight delay before he replied.

  “Go ahead,” Logan replied.

  “How far are you from Mammoth?”

  “We’re still looking for Catherine’s son.”

  “No. Listen, Logan, you need to get out of there now. There’s no time. Based on our readings this isn’t going to get any better.”

  Another sudden shake was so forceful that it took her feet out from underneath her and caused Rebecca to fall against the truck. Fear shot through her, her pulse sped up and her forehead broke out in beads of sweat.

  “Rebecca!” Logan yelled over the radio. “Come in.”

  Breathing hard and still gripping the truck she looked down the road at the large fissure that
had opened up. A deep red glow emanated from inside as steam pushed up like dragon’s breath, full of fire and sulfur.

  “Tell Catherine I’m sorry. We’ve got to go,” Rebecca said.

  With that said she ended the communication and tossed the radio inside the truck. “Mark, go tell the rest of the team we are leaving now.”

  He hopped out and sprinted into the building.

  She turned to say something to Harris only to see him lying lifeless on the asphalt. Large chunks of concrete from buildings nearby had crumbled and toppled down crushing him, as he tried to flee.

  Rebecca hurried to the front of the van, slid through a gap that separated the back from the front and fired up the engine. Ahead of her, vehicles peeled out at rapid speeds, and park workers and visitors frantically ran to vehicles, some of which were now overturned.

  She glanced behind her and saw the readings on the computers. All of them were off the charts. “C’mon. C’mon,” she muttered waiting for the others to come out.

  Another shake.

  This time it was even stronger than the last.

  The entire van shifted to the left as the asphalt began to melt. She threw the gear into drive and peeled away trying to dodge the cracks in the ground. Behind her she thought she heard Mark yell, “Rebecca, come back.” But she didn’t look to see if it was him. Fear drove her on; self-preservation was all that mattered now.

  A large post came crashing down across Stable Street and tore through Yellowstone Federal Credit Union blocking her way out. She backed up and then saw her team running down the road trying to catch up. Turning the vehicle she pulled onto Canteen Road and drove halfway down the road when guilt kicked in. She slammed on the brakes and all the equipment in the rear flew off the counters and clattered across the floor. Waiting for the team she watched as the ground opened in areas and hydrothermal steam shot in the air burning people alive.