The End of Eden (Water Worlds 1)

Chapter 14

Lights were beginning to come on in the pre-dawn dark, in the houses surrounding us. I tried to imagine what was going on inside. We were the first ones out the door and would likely never come back. The community gate slowly lifted as our car approached, and the klaxons continued to wail.

I looked out my window, up at the dark sky. Suddenly, a fireball arced from horizon to horizon. A half dozen more, smaller meteors followed. I'd seen shooting stars before, of course, but this was different. This was extraordinary. They were very high, and going very fast. The large one was flaming yellow and had a distinct green corona, like a gas bubble. I could see Father looking up at it too, as he steered through the waking neighborhoods.

The entrance ramp to the highway was only a few streets over on Wisconsin Avenue. It was early on a Sunday morning and the roads were quieter than they would be during a Washington weekday morning rush hour, but still, the alarm was up and now every minute counted.

Traffic would pick up soon enough, as people realized the danger they were in, and the traffic in the Washington area was absolutely the worst in the world. Virtually no road maintenance, coupled with erratic drivers, clogged throughways and ineffective public transit, made driving a challenge here, even in the best of times.

Father made it just through a changing red light and merged onto the entrance ramp of Route 270, west and north towards Frederick. The ramp had many large pot holes, and Father was going fast. The car bottomed out twice, scraping the roadway with its underside. I worried we'd break an axle or blow a tire or worse, but instead we merged with the thickening traffic onto the main road. 

"We'll try for Frederick. There are several very tall hills between here and there. It should give us the protection we need. If we can make it."

The highway wasn't too crowded yet, but it would be soon. Father punched the throttle, moved into the far left lane, and pressed the audio button on the steering wheel. 

A news reader spoke:

"...almost two hours ago. Debris continues to rain down. It appears that the largest piece of the broken asteroid Apophis entered the atmosphere and exploded over the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. The shock wave was seen and felt for thousands of miles.

"The Cumbre Vieha volcano, situated on the island of La Palma, erupted under the pressure of the blast, and split the island in two. Billions of tons of rock and dirt apparently sloughed into the ocean all at once, causing a massive surge of sea water. 

"At this time, the western arc of the mega-tsunami is rushing towards the East Coast of the United States at over 600 miles per hour and is expected to flood coastal regions. Individuals are advised to seek high ground immediately..."

Father snapped off the audio. He did a quick calculation in his head.

"Just over three hours left, now, before it hits the coast. They didn't say how high the wave would be when it hits, but it's bound to be the biggest ever seen. Perhaps as much as a kilometer high at the shore, dropping off as it progresses inland."

Father's tone was almost clinical. We sat together in stunned silence.

I thought of all the people we knew on our street, and the many, even next door, whom we didn't. I thought of my teachers and classmates and all the wonderful friends and strangers who made us feel comfortable every day.

I wondered how many of them would be alive tomorrow.

I looked into the other cars as we passed them, one by one. Families, couples, people alone. I couldn't believe a major artery like this still wasn't a dedicated autoroute. America was the last place on Earth where driving by hand was romanticized into an obsession. It was a dangerous way to think. 

But what did it matter now?

Cars from every exit piled onto the highway behind and beside us, joining the evacuation headed out of the city. About forty minutes out, the highway narrowed and traffic began to slow and then start, and stop again. We crested a hill and saw the brake lights of vehicles spread before us for a kilometer at least.

But few of them had Father's preparation or his determination, and his timing was better than theirs, too. He moved smartly between the lanes, over to the far right, onto the shoulder, and drove up a lonely exit ramp. From there, he began threading his way through back country roads away from the highway.

"Where are we going?" Joo Chen asked suddenly, breaking the silence. 

I'm embarrassed to say I jumped a little.

"Stronghold," was Father's reply. His tone silenced us but Joo Chen and I looked at each other.

Stronghold? I mouthed. Joo Chen shrugged.

Father seemed to hear us. "Stronghold. At Sugarloaf Mountain."

Of course! Father was heading for Sugarloaf.

We'd been there before. He made it a point of taking us hiking up the mountain for picnics, which was most unlike Father, who never liked to leave the house when he didn't absolutely have to. 

Now I began to think those trips were research for this very day.

How could he have known? I wondered.

We all knew about Sugarloaf Mountain, in the protected Maryland farmlands. A lone hill suddenly jutting up out of nowhere, the result of some ancient upwelling. Once, a century ago, it was chosen by the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright to be the home of a massive planetarium he designed, but the owner didn't like the plans and that dream ended.

Stronghold was the name of the original estate and it became a popular recreation spot. It had access roads snaking nearly to the top, and at a height of over 400 meters, Sugarloaf should be more than high enough to protect us from the coming wave. 

If we could get there in time.

Most cars on the back roads were heading toward the highway, so traffic was not very thick, but the few cars heading in our direction were going too slow for Father. 

He passed a loaded pickup truck on a blind curve, but the lane was narrow and Father was going too fast. I was afraid we would tip over.

Suddenly, lights in our eyes! A car was coming the other way right at us! 

I shouted out but Mother shushed me, although I could see her hanging onto the emergency handle with both hands, her eyes wide with fear. 

Father swerved back in front of the pickup truck just in time to avoid the oncoming car, and we settled back down on all four wheels.

I let out out a big sigh of relief.

Joo Chen was almost smiling.

I snugged my harness tighter and looked out the window. The sky was lightening towards the eastern horizon, giving me the first real sense of time since we left home.

The farms and neat small houses all looked so peaceful and calm, as if nothing in the world was the matter. 

It will be morning soon, I thought. Things always look better in the morning.