When he turned, Joker was already piggybacking Mila.
Dobby pushed down the jealousy that he didn’t have her smooth legs wrapped around his waist.
He’d find her some shoes at the village.
Dobby drove them closer to town while Joker checked the comms.
“Wave’s coming in now,” Radar reported.
Dobby stopped at the closest point to where Joker needed to get out which was also just beyond the highest water mark.
The roar of the wave made him jump and Mila flinched.When Radar said, “It’s receding,” Joker jumped out of the car.
“See you in twenty.”
It took no time to reach the edge of the town.Piles of debris were in every direction and the roads were blocked.Dobby drove as fast as he dared over the debris, hoping not to get a flat tyre until he couldn’t go any further.He pulled the car off the road, turned it to face back up the hill and then got out.“Which way?”
Mila pointed.
As they picked their way across the broken wood, bits of coral and assortment of household appliances he put a gentle hand on her arm.“This isn’t going to be pretty.We might see dead bodies or hear people calling for help.I need you to stay focused at least until we get to the medical centre.”
She hesitated and then nodded.“All right.”She hurried through the debris, shoulders slumping as she took in the total devastation.
Dobby’s heart went out to her.She’d lost everything as well.
Mila hissed, hopping on her shoed foot and rubbing at her bare foot.
He scanned the area and trapped between two bits of wood was a muddy sandal.
He picked it up and handed it to her.“See if this fits.”
Her smile lit up her face.“That’s mine!”She slipped it on and did up the buckles.It would protect the bottom of her foot at least.
“Come on.”They had to keep moving.
They had another hour before sunrise and the village was dark and silent.Mila moved with determination, climbing over roofs and walls, heading towards the beach.
Christ, the devastation was complete.A bomb wouldn’t have destroyed this much.
It was starting to smell, a combination of dead fish, damp wood and forest decay.
As he followed Mila, his gaze roved.It was eerie how silent it was.He’d expected to see more death, but perhaps the residents had learnt from the last tsunami and hadn’t stuck around after the earthquake had hit.
Closer to the coast, the way was clearer.The waves had pulled the debris with them and the ocean was now full of flotsam and jetsam.A lot of fish had been helpless to resist the force of the wave and had been stranded on land when it had receded.
“It’s up here.”Mila stepped around a pile of rubble.Her eyes widened.“It survived.”
The building in front of them was the only concrete building in the town.The door had vanished and the glass windows were gone, but the building stood.
Now to discover whether the water had left any supplies inside.
“Let me go in first.”He gently pushed ahead of her.
It was unlikely anyone would risk coming back before the all-clear, but someone might be as desperate as they were.
“All right.”
He appreciated he didn’t need to waste time arguing with her.The floor was damp and full of mud and rubbish.Anything on the shelves was gone, but at the back of the room was a door into a hallway.He scanned the ceiling.It wasn’t just the tsunami that had hit.The earthquake may have done some damage as well.
