Макс Брукс - Devolution - A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre

Mostar had no idea. She even said so. “No idea.” She confessed that she’s a “lifelong city girl” and that the only plant she’d ever taken care of was a tomato vine on her windowsill, which she managed to kill, by the way. And none of that seemed to bother her. Confidence, clarity. “We need to try.” She said this as I poked the last pea in mud. So satisfied, chubby hands on her broad hips. “We need to try.”

And now I’m with her. The needle’s moved again. I’ve been listening to the radio. A lot.

I just wanted to learn more about what’s going on, get a better picture. Especially when I saw that Tony’s car was missing today. Maybe he pulled it into their garage but I’m pretty sure that’s their gym. He couldn’t have been gone long. When I came out of our garage/garden this morning, his Tesla was still there. He must have driven off when I was showering. He must have tried to go for help. But if a lahar really has covered the valley, how far can he get?

But what if the road’s clear? Vincent only thought he heard that story. Maybe Tony just wants to see it with his own eyes. Go Tony!

And yes, I admit, I feel kind of adrift, vulnerable now that he’s gone. I was hoping to ask him about the news before going to Yvette’s class. I could really use his grounding voice. Yvette must be so worried about him. I could hear the edge in her voice today, the slight rush in her timing. I guess that’s also a kind of courage, staying here to keep us all happy while Tony risks his life out there. That’s another reason I started listening to the radio, to maybe hear some good news I could tell Yvette to make her feel better.

Okay, that’s not true. I started listening just for me.

And wow, do I regret it.

It’s been about an hour and I’m more frazzled than ever.

If our valley isn’t covered, a lot of others are. They act like funnels, channeling the mudslides. My nightmare scenario, picturing people trapped in their cars. That’s exactly what happened. They don’t know how many people were buried. And not just in their cars. I was also right about people being killed at home, either in their beds, or else up and awake without ever being warned. That’s a huge problem now, getting the word out in time. They did this whole story on how most people get emergency messages from their cellphones instead of landlines the way they used to. A lot of people turn off their phones when they go to bed, or forget to charge them, or else ignore unknown callers because they think they’re telemarketers.

And what’s this about being cut off from the south? One of the slides reaching all the way to Tacoma, cutting the 5, the way we drove in? Something about rerouting to the I-90, and trying to organize evacuees north to Vancouver. What’s “contraflow”? [17] Contraflow lane reversal: A term commonly used in natural disasters by which all lanes of a road are used to channel vehicles in one direction. They keep mentioning that, and how people trying to drive out are getting really frustrated and angry.

Tacoma must be an important port. A lot of ships are jamming Puget Sound. A lot of accidents, especially with the little private boats. Ferries can’t get out. Something called the USNS Mercy can’t get in. I’m only catching snippets about why nothing’s flying. Something with the ash in plane engines and covering the airports, but also something about a crash, a drone hitting a helicopter. Everyone was killed, including some rescued hikers. I’ve heard two different stories about where the drone came from: an army type looking for people or a private one trying to get pictures to post on social media. Both stories talk about “suspending UAV supply drops.” Is that why I haven’t seen a plane or helicopter, or even a drone, since all this started?

We might be cut off from Seattle, but it sounds like Seattle might be cut off from the world!

I don’t get how this could have happened. There’s too much coming at me. One report on budgets and politics. Budget sequestration? Shutdowns affecting “long-term talent retention”? What does it mean to “destroy the administrative state”? And what is the USGS? Someone from there complaining about local businesses not wanting to hear the warnings, accusing them of “another Mammoth Lakes.” [18] Mammoth Lakes, California: On May 27, 1982, a false-eruption warning damaged both the town’s economy and confidence in the United States Geological Survey.

The USGS guy is also trying to dispel what I guess are rumors going around. Lots of rumors. He sounded really frustrated the way he talked about Rainier not exploding sideways toward Seattle or triggering a tsunami or setting off a chain reaction where all the other volcanos erupt as well. He must be hearing these rumors a lot. And the reporter wasn’t helping. She kept bringing up these horrible eruptions in history, Krakatoa, Fuji, Vesuvius. She asked about how many people “could die” and “hypothetically, what’s the worst-case scenario,” and when she tried to get him to imagine what the “Yellowstone super volcano” would look like, he said, “Jesus, why are we even talking about this!”

Anger. And violence.

A local station, 710am, talking about a shooting at a Whole Foods on Denny Way. Where is that? More about long lines at other stores, fistfights, a hit-and-run at a gas station. A truck driver was pulled out of his cab and beaten almost to death. It was a bread truck. It was looted and burned.

I’m listening to a press conference now. The signal’s going in and out. This woman, I think she’s the governor, trying to answer all these questions coming at her. So many of them, the reporters, the things they’re asking. It can’t be true that rescuers are focusing on “corporate assets” like Boeing and Microsoft. They can’t be choosing rich neighborhoods like Queen Anne over middle-class ones like Enumclaw. That’s what one reporter asked, along with another one who shouted, “Isn’t it true that the USGS intentionally withheld warnings so the eruption would clear these towns for high-end development?”

A question about martial law. Oh my God! I’ve heard that question! Earlier today! When I got in the car, I flipped past some rant, not a news station, I think, maybe talk radio. Some guy, gravelly, frantic voice, railing against the “deep state,” and how this was all a conspiracy of withheld warnings to cause this catastrophe “as a pretext for using federal troops to disarm the public.” Those are the exact words I’m hearing now. Is the reporter just repeating the same rant we both heard?

The governor’s talking now. She sounds mad. Writing as I hear it:

“Settle down! Please, all of you! We need you to listen carefully to what we’re saying now. We cannot afford rumors. We cannot afford speculation. A lot of people are in real danger. They need accurate, honest reporting. They need the facts. You need to be responsible for what you’re putting out there! You don’t want to cause a panic! Please, think before you speak. Think about the consequences of your—”

Tony!

In my rearview mirror! His headlights, pulling back up to his house!

From my interview with Frank McCray, Jr.

Again, you can’t just blame Tony, or even the whole tech industry, for not being prepared. They all should have had emergency supplies on hand, but, really, who does? How many people in L.A. have earthquake kits? How many midwesterners are ready for tornadoes or northeasterners for blizzards? How many Gulf Coast residents stock up for hurricane season? I remember partying in New Orleans before Katrina and people talking about “when” the levees fail. Not “if,” “when!”

And that’s just the dramatic stuff. How many have a fire extinguisher in their kitchen or emergency flares in their car? How many of us have opened the medicine cabinet in the middle of the night to find that one pill bottle we so desperately need has a long-expired label?