Jacqueline Druga - Under the Gray Skies

“What about these candles?” I asked in reference to the ones we had lit. Ruth said Stevie left them for her.

“Oh, I never lit them. I was afraid I’d fall asleep and catch fire,” she said. “Yeah, in the dark, you do a lot of thinking.”

“Why didn’t Stevie bring you all into the same room?” Madison asked. “I don’t understand that.”

“I didn’t want to share a room,” Ruth said. “I like my room, or did. I don’t know why Stevie did what he did. He was young, but he tried.” She looked at Madison. “You never heard what it was? I mean you saw the cloud after each of us.”

“No,” Madison replied. “No news. It all happened so fast. The quakes we got at the same time. I was watching the news and nothing was said when the quakes hit. It’s only guessing. My first guess was a meteor.” She then turned to me. “What about you, Lace? What did you think?”

“Well, when I regained consciousness I thought it was a nuclear war, or the big one. California falling into the ocean. You know all those things we heard could happen.”

“Cascadia fault line,” Ruth said. “Runs right up the coast… could I just have one more?” she asked. “Not like I’ll stand up and it’ll hit me.” She giggled.

I reached into my backpack.

“Boy, you raided that plane.” Ruth smiled. “There was no one alive on it?”

I shook my head. “No. The flight crew had been killed in the quake. No one but them was on the plane.”

Ruth nodded. “Bet me, if lack of breathable air was actually the reason everyone dropped over, there’s a bunch of planes out there that landed with a fuselage full of people.”

“I don’t think,” Madison said. “I mean, there was an EMP of some sort.”

Ruth uncapped her tiny bottle. “I know she was stuck in a hole, but I wasn’t, neither were you. Did you see any planes fall from the sky? Cause they would drop like flies if it was an EMP.”

“No,” Madison answered.

“Neither did I,” Ruth said, “Besides, it depends on how high the EMP is. If a plane is flying above it, it’s safe. I believe. Look at it this way: did the plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima fall? Nope. It took a picture. If there aren’t any planes on the ground, they’re out there.”

“Come to think of it,” Madison said. “I haven’t seen any wreckage.”

“If oxygen is the key, there’s lots of people alive. Although,” Ruth shrugged. “I suppose those using oxygen regularly aren’t much use now. Me, they just gave it to me because I’m old. When I saw that cloud coming, I cranked it up.”

“All this ash,” I said. “The gray, the dark skies, no sun. It’s gotta be debris just floating up there.”

“Many things could have caused it. Meteor, like Madison told,” Ruth said. “What goes up comes down. The gray came too fast. And what you girls described…” she pointed to me. “You saw lightening in it. You…” She then pointed to Madison. “Didn’t. You were hundreds of miles south. It lost speed, but I don’t think it was rolling, I think it was spreading. North, south, east… west. I didn’t get a good look, but I swore it had the makings of a pyroclastic cloud.”

What the hell , was the first thought I had. Ruth just rambled off nonchalantly a word that confused me me. Pyroclastic?

Both Madison and I looked at each other when she said it.

“What?” Ruth said. “Because I’m old, I’m ignorant?” She laughed. “I was a professor at Cornell, Earth and Atmospheric Science, for twenty-three years.” She took a sip of her bottle. “Lost a little, I can be ignorant about some things. I mean I’ve been retired nearly thirty years. Some stuff slips. Not this.”

“Okay, wait,” I held up my hand. “What is a pyroclastic cloud?”

“Debris from a volcano, mostly,” Ruth said. “Although, a meteor would cause it and when the towers fell, that created one. But Volcanoes mostly.”

Madison gasped so loudly I swore she would choke. “Yellowstone?”

“Oh, hell no,” Ruth said. “That’s very northeast. But again, girls I’m guessing. Aren’t we all? It could have been nukes, It could have been a meteor, hell…” She finished the bottle. “Something could have hit the moon. It could have been a lot of things. Can I have another?” She extended her hand then stopped. “No, I shouldn’t.”

“What volcano?” I asked.

“Long Valley Caldera,” Ruth answered. “It’s due east of here and would explain why we aren’t buried. It’s big enough, probably set off the Cascadia Fault line. The suffocating, well, that has me leaning toward volcanic eruption. They say one third of all people in Pompeii died of suffocation, died holding their mouths, covering their heads. Instant death, sort of. Three breaths. Their first breath coated the lungs with a chemical ash that made like a concrete mixture in the lungs. Second breath thickened it. Third… sealed the airways. Death. I saw the bodies, I was there. Not in 79AD, mind you, I’m not that old, but on an expedition,” she exhaled. “And… there is a chance we may never know.”

“So it wasn’t Yellowstone?” Madison asked.

“Nah,” Ruth tapped Madison’s hand. “However, if everything is going to hell in a handbag, then it probably won’t be long before it blows.”

Madison didn’t say anything, I believe Ruth was scaring her and I believe to keep her quiet, was why Madison handed her another vodka airline bottle.

Hey, Ev:

I bet by now you are home from camp. I hope you had a great time. Boy, I wish you were with me. All those skills you learned in Scouts would come in handy right now. I met this woman named, Ruth. I don’t know if you remember Grandma Lucy, but she reminds me so much of her. Ruth was a teacher at a really big college. I was really glad to meet her. She is full of knowledge and she’s funny.

We can’t travel for long. Each day we have to stop because it gets too dark to see. We are taking it one day at a time. We will get there. I promise.

I love you.

It was the first morning since everything happened that it was cold. Not just chilly cold, but winter cold. The sky was still semi-dark and we waited to leave. Finding a vehicle was going to be priority in our travels. The temperature in the building had to be about forty degrees. We needed more layers than what we had. I hated to do it, but it was necessary. I rummaged through some of the rooms looking for warmer clothing. I found a few items, they weren’t fashionable, but they’d work. I also found those paper disposable facemasks, which would come in handy. I checked the phone lines. I wasn’t expecting there to be any success. There wasn’t. But I had to try.

I brought the warmer items back to the room, and then lugged our packs and the suitcase to the first floor. While Madison dressed and prepared Ruth, I then carried the four oxygen canisters down as well. They were heavy and took two trips. It was a good thing we rigged her wheelchair to carry them. Though I was pretty convinced they weighed more than Ruth.

When I returned, Ruth was looking at the map with a magnifying glass.

“Go south, southeast,” she said. “Just to be sure. Just to aim for warmth. I know you girls have to go north eventually, but stay as far south as you can for as long as you can. I am gonna suspect that the less ash, the more likelihood of finding others.”

“That might not be a good thing,” Madison said, taking back the map.

“Why do you say that?” I asked.

“Because people are going to get desperate,” Madison said. “Desperate people do desperate things. If Ruth is right and this ash and cloud thin out maybe you are right as well, and there is help out there.”