In The Dark Together

This is my recollection of that day when I was ten. It was about three months after the volcanoes in the Ring of Fire erupted almost simultaneously. Then, unexplainably, new volcanoes grew and erupted in a matter of weeks, sometimes days. I called them pimple volcanoes. The worst part was that they kept growing farther and farther inland from the Ring of Fire.

My whole family had spent the prior years prepping for a time when we would have to survive a society-ending disaster. Thinking back, it was kind of fun. We met a bunch of other preppers and I learned so much science and politics from them alongside survival methods. Unfortunately, massive volcano eruptions didn't quite make it onto anybody's scope of imagination because, although the Ring of Fire was a known threat, the pimple volcanoes were unexpected, which made our escape that much more hopeless. Dad died a couple of eruptions earlier while getting us to safety. He stopped to pull a boy from under a burning tree, but neither of them made it. So, it was just me, Mom, Grandma, and my dog, Petey.

Well, on this particular day, us three and Petey had been holed up inside an abandoned lake house for a couple of days. Mom and Grandma started out our escape healthy and in great shape. By the time we found the lake though, Mom had developed a nasty, unrelenting cough that kept her awake. She constantly hacked up globs of green stuff. When she did manage to sleep, she wheezed & snored so bad that it kept the rest of us up. Grandma stopped talking for the most part after Dad was killed. She moved slower too. I think she was just too sad and scared.

I was always scared. To distract myself, I drew. I drew on my arms and legs with a mixture of ash and my own spit. I drew on ash-coated windows and abandoned cars. I drew on the dirty floor. Memories mostly. The house we were in had a window overlooking the lake. In the center of the lake was an unmapped island. We figured it to be a pimple volcano and knew we couldn't stay long. So, since I could, I traced the outline of the volcano each day. And each outline was bigger than the last. That morning, the outline was significantly bigger than the last. I couldn't know for certain, but it sure felt to me that volcanoes shouldn't grow that quick, not even the pimple ones. But I didn't want to wake Mom and Grandma just yet.

I went outside to pee and noticed a ripe stench of farts in the air. Petey was with me and he made a low growl in his throat, while the hair on his back stood up like a mohawk. A panic set in. I bolted inside, woke Mom and Grandma, showed them the outlines, and we bugged out.

Not even a few blocks down the road, the final warning sign of imminent eruption gave my heart a jolt. The earth growled like an angry lion. The growl grew deafening in only a few seconds. Then, we all felt dizzy, which meant only one thing. Earthquake. With our packs on our backs, water bottles, knives, and hatchets belted to our waists, we rattled onward as quick as our feet would take us. The golden heart-shaped locket Petey dug up from Mom's flower garden last year and kept tiny photos of Mom and Dad hidden inside tapped lightly against my throat.

Grandma was the sprinter of the family. She and Petey ran ahead to locate a place to get us out of the path of the ash cloud and boiling lake water. We weren't too worried about lava, because those pimple volcanoes killed with their ash and fumes, while the lava flowed pretty slowly. One could escape the lava, but the blast and ash was another story.

Mom held my hand, sweat dripping down her face, blending with her permanent tear streaks. As we ran, she looked back. I didn't need to ask why her eyes got so big. I heard it. An ear-drum bursting boom from behind told me we were too late. But I turned my head to look anyway.

The top of the volcano disintegrated as most of it flew in pieces into the sky, along with a column of the killer ash. Mom and I managed to pick up speed, even though Mom was now coughing with every breath. I moved ahead of her. She released my hand. I spotted Grandma ahead. She was waving her arm frantically and yelling something. But I couldn't make out her words. I could also see Petey barking beside her. I guessed that she found a safe place. There was a bridge a little ways past her.

In a few seconds that seemed like an hour, I got to Grandma. She pointed at the bridge and told me to find the drain pipe underneath. I didn't know how we could all fit into a drain pipe, but I told her I would and ran toward the bridge with Petey. He moved much faster and disappeared behind a concrete support. I fell forward suddenly as the hot blast from the eruption knocked into me. A little winded, I rose to my feet and continued running.

When I reached the bridge, I heard an unnatural screech and twirled around on my heel. Grandma was face flat on the ground. Mom dove for her. The ash from the volcano was so close now that it looked as if it was diving for Grandma too. It would smother us in minutes!

I pushed my legs as quick as I could and ran back down the road. I heard Petey barking at me. The blast had knocked Grandma face-first onto a tree branch. Mom had Grandma lifted mostly to her feet when Grandma tilted her head up. Her face was slimy red with only the white of one eye showing. I barely glanced down at the gore on the road, but my stomach flipped. Mom had blood on her face too, but only on her chin and down her neck.

Mom noticed that I had turned back, and screamed at me to get back to the bridge. Stopping for a brief second in exasperated indecision, I saw the looming ash fill the entire horizon and sky and it was closing in. Bolts of red lightning shot through the cloud. We weren't going to make it unless I helped. But, I promised my family at the beginning that I would run when told, no questions asked. But we were so close to safety! So, I made my choice and bolted to Mom and Grandma. As I was putting Grandma's other arm over my shoulder, both she and Mom smacked me and pushed me away. The tears came. I was so helpless.

"Get yourself to the bridge, baby girl. Grams and I are right behind you. I love you so much", Mom gasped out between coughs.

Reluctantly, I turned my back to them and sprinted back to the bridge. Petey was waiting for me, wagging his tail. He jumped down into the ravine and waited for me again, barking.

I had to see how close Mom and Grandma were. So, I turned around. I don't know what exactly I was expecting; I thought for sure they would at least be on my heels. Instead, Mom was pretty much dragging Grandma instead of carrying her. Grandma's head hung limp to one side. Mom's back was heaving, her shoulders hunched, cheek to cheek with Grandma. I could see the anguish on Mom's face. But, Mom laid Grandma down and turned to sprint toward me. Something was terribly wrong with Mom though. Her face was purple, blood sprayed from her mouth with each breath. She slowed, slumped, and fell to her knees.

"MOM!" I screamed.

Grabbing my knees for balance because all the strength left my legs, tears poured down my cheeks, and snot ran from my nose. I could have helped!

The last thing I remember was a split second of Mom's floating face, framed by angry gray, but there was a glint of light dancing on Mom's sweaty forehead. It was the lightning reflecting off my locket. Then the ash swallowed her up.

I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. Nothing existed except my sorrow. Until, a sharp pain in my leg made me look down. Petey was barking at me, growling and pulling on my pant leg with his teeth. The ash was only a few feet from my face! I snapped out of it enough to jump into the ravine behind Petey and follow him into a large gray water pipe built into the ground. We crawled in as far as we could. Some ash got in too, but we still had plenty of clean air. I snatched Petey, plopped down with my arms around him, and buried my face in his fur. He tucked his head between my back and the concrete. My tears soaked through Petey’s ash-caked fur, but he remained nestled against me. That is how we were discovered some time later, curled up in the dark together.

THE END