Escape - Short Story Collection

Stranded

By daybreak, the rain had slowed from a downpour rivalling Southeast Asian monsoons to regular drizzle. A short walk from the parking lot, rivers had sprung up overnight, overtaking parts of the road. Itching to leave, we ventured back to the path to retrieve our tent, only to find a rushing river to cross in place of last night's path. Ethan tried to get through it, but water came up past his knees. We turned back to play the waiting game. Water receded eventually, didn't it?

For attempt two, we wore swimwear under rain jackets, charging through the forest with enough enthusiasm to startle the only other people camping in the park, who carried their gear up the path. Maybe the scary backpacker moniker fit us just right. They confirmed that they'd seen our tent upright at the campsite, not floating kilometres away in a field as we'd expected.

In our initial panicked attempt, we'd failed to note that the overrun stream was actually still quite crossable. Ankle-deep water disguised the bridge we couldn't find in dimmer light.

"The bridge is out!" Ethan said, a little late, in his best Schwarzenegger voice.

I shook my head but a smile crossed my lips. Our tent was safe and things weren't as bad as they seemed.

The river at the bottom had swelled substantially, taking down large trees, which got tangled in the nooks of the shore that we'd explored last night but were now impassable. Each minute we watched, the water crept further up the path. Best get that tent!

Back at the parking lot with our dripping tent and other gear, the other campers, who we learned were teens from Hobart, informed us that a tree was blocking the only road back to town. Wanting to see it for ourselves, we drove through a few of the shallow rivers and past a home or two until we reached a large fallen tree. It wouldn't budge despite pushing it with all our might and nudging it with the Outback Beast once before deciding it wasn't worth the potential damage.

We had some food and water, so we could comfortably survive two to four days. Although when we went to drink our water, it tasted like paint thinner. Our reward for refilling our water jerry can at a gas station. Thankfully, this was a flood, not a drought, so we filled up some empty juice bottles up with stream water, picking out a leaf and branch or two, and popped in some purification tablets.

The teens were busy calling their parents, parks, police and anyone who could help. Their sources conveyed no hope for today. Even if we moved the tree a deep river flowed over another section of road. We spent the day playing cards and killing time while rain pitter-pattered on the car.

I thought I heard something hum under the hood of the Beast. "What's that sound?" I asked.

"Nothing, they're just playing music." Ethan glanced at the teens' car.

"You sure? It sounds like it's coming from us."

"Keys aren't in the ignition. Can't be our car."

By evening, we and the three teens set our tents up in the parking lot and crossed our fingers for drier weather. Ethan went to lock the car, only to discover our car battery was completely dead. The engine wouldn't turn over at all. No interior lights. We figured the fan had been running on and off all day. Not only was more rain coming, but our home on wheels was useless for an escape.

The teens had a brand new car with jumper leads and a computer set-up that they weren't sure would remain undamaged if they gave us a boost. Ethan, a panel beater, was pretty sure it would be fine, but we didn't want to force them. When they called their parents about it, they recommended letting someone else jump us. The car owner apologized, but we weren't too bothered. We'd figure it out tomorrow.

To our good fortune, the night was relatively dry so we expected good news. Yesterday we'd gotten 200mm of rain, and the community uphill had gotten 400mm, explaining our flooding situation. We weren't sure how long it took that kind of precipitation to flow back to the ocean, but we thought most of it should have gone by now. Yet, the road river levels were still high.