Okay,Kit. Whatcha gonna do now?
She peeked cautiously through the broken window.
The wreckage around them had begun to settle enough that she could make out their surroundings. Cullen had somehow managed to drive them into the confines of the ruined lumber mill. The ATV had come to rest under the protective steel beams of the timber boom, and the onslaught of tree trunks, rocks, and soil had been diverted neatly around the beams, which split the flow, funneling the load on through the valley. She looked up at the aged steel that had saved their lives and then down at the still, silent man who’d done the same.
“Cullen.” She stroked his cheeks and forehead. “Wake up, okay? I don’t know what to do next. I need you to open your eyes and start being bossy.”
And she needed his warm smile, and the kindness that came off him in waves, and the unexpected, rare gentleness that spoke to her soul. He remained immobile. She looked helplessly out the wrecked windows at the smothering moonscape of ash. What was she going to do? How would she care for Tot and Cullen? Get help? Survive?
When the panic flamed, she forced it down.
You’renot a quitter. God must have saved you for areason.Cullen would say she should leave room for the “what if.”
What if God would give her the strength to survive this? What if she could figure out what to do even though thereappeared to be no way out? She eased Cullen onto his side and folded his arm in front of him in the recovery position she’d read about in her first aid book. His breathing remained regular so she redirected her attention.
Tot still screamed, her eyes swollen, the tears making tracks in the ash on her skin. She’d cried so hard her chest heaved in shuddering gulps. Kit climbed over the seat to her, and with some creative seat belt and blanket usage, she managed to secure her in an upright position. With a tissue from her inside coat pocket, she wiped Tot’s face. Tot was still enraged, her arms and legs rigid, but at least she wouldn’t be cut or slide off, and her breathing was better. Kit remembered the pacifier in her other pocket. She fished it out.
“Here, baby girl. How about this? Just for a minute until I can help you better.”
Tot turned away at first, but Kit persisted and eventually Tot accepted the offering. The sudden cessation of howling enabled her to pick up other sounds, the creaking and groaning of the debris outside the ATV, which could be an ominous predictor of what was ahead. Would they be swept away? Might the steel and brick of the lumber mill suddenly fail?
Nothing youcan do about that right now, she told herself savagely. Order. She had to restore some sort of order.
Everything was a jumbled mess, the contents of the duffel bag strewn about.The proof against Nico,she recalled with a start. But what did that matter in the face of survival? She’d find it, though; if it was still in the vehicle, she’d locate and secure it. She spotted the arm of her teddy bear and snatched it, shaking off woodshavings and a few pine needles. The ear ripped slightly as she freed it.
“Here, Tot. You can play with this, but no chewing.” Tot instantly gathered up the toy and clutched it to her. A quiet baby playing with a teddy, and Cullen resting comfortably. Good job so far.
She began to pile the baby supplies atop one another and eased them to the cleanest part of the floor, since Cullen required the whole seat. She checked his pulse again. Steady.
“Ready to wake up now?” she suggested hopefully. “No? A short nap then.”
She spent a few minutes craned over the back seat to check the supplies in the rear. They seemed intact, the ATV having protected them from being crushed. God’s provision. It could be nothing else.
Supplies. You’ve still got them. Water. Food. First aid.
The issue next on the priority list was air quality. Ash and debris were infiltrating the vehicle in spidery wisps. With a bone-cracking stretch, she managed to snag the small bag she’d packed at the library with Archie’s help. Her breath caught as she thought of him. Where had he been when the mountain let loose?
She would not stop hoping and praying for Archie until she had proof positive he hadn’t survived. Until then, Archie was no doubt problem solving like she was.Do the next thing. Right now.
She located the roll of clear plastic bags and the duct tape. Her dad would have smiled. Duct tape, in his opinion, was the single most useful tool in the history of tools. She ripped off pieces and sealed plastic over the brokenplaces of the window. Not perfect, since some of the cracks spidered out to the far edges, but it would keep most of the foul particles out.
Until when? They starved to death?
Nope. She wasn’t going to go there. They had a fragile bubble of safety, and that was her goal.
Sweat collected on her brow. She scooted over and repeated the treatment on the other window, finishing up by gingerly gathering the bigger chunks of wood, rock, and glass in the vehicle and wrapping them in a paper bag before shoving them under the seat. With a wet wipe, she sponged off all the surfaces she could reach. Done. The sterile scent made her feel better.
She checked Cullen’s pulse again and found it strong. She cleaned his face and hands with a baby wipe. Then the angular planes of his cheeks, tanned, stubble speckling his chin. His fingers were long, strong, calloused from hard work.
Was his condition a temporary thing? She knew firsthand how a head injury could be a game changer. After the crash, she’d lost her entire memory of meeting Annette. What if he didn’t wake up? There were no answers to her question in the formless miasma floating past the ATV, only fear unless she figured something out fast.
The one positive thing about their current predicament was that she was completely confident Nico and Simon hadn’t followed them. Their best chance of escape had likely been to tear up the trail and get sideways of the lethal landslide. They might not even have made it that far. Determined not to think of Archie vulnerable and alone, or their murderous pursuers, she set to work returningthe envelope she hadn’t had time to investigate and the supplies as neatly as she could into the duffel bag. Tot was still relatively calm, sucking her pacifier and wriggling and stroking the teddy bear’s fur.
There was nothing more she could do inside the vehicle. It was time to determine exactly how stuck they actually were. If the mill had created some sort of gap, a clearing in the debris field ... if the tires weren’t blown ... if, if, if.
She opened a package and looped a medical mask over her ears and fit it over her mouth, then shoved open the rear door and got out. She immediately pushed it almost closed but not completely in case the door locks might malfunction. Instantly, her feet sank in several inches of debris, branches imprisoning her ankles. It was a shallow dusting compared to the massive bulk of the slide, but enough to make her unstable. Awkwardly, as if she were wearing snowshoes, she climbed to the front of the ATV. The view froze her in place.
Their position under the sturdy beams provided an oasis of clearance, a wedge of safety. Outside that defined space was a wall of wrecked trees and earth that still rose and fell as the mass continued to move downslope. It was as if they were a tiny toy boat secured by a thread in the raging ebb and flow.
