Chapter 421: Chapter 421: The Rainstorm Strikes Again (7)
Christina Thorne and Claudia Schultz were thrown against a tree trunk, while Raymond Shepherd and Chet Lawrence were flung into the muddy water. Ronan Kendrick yanked the raft aside just as a boulder scraped past them. It crushed several trees before disappearing from sight, but the flattened trees suddenly sprang back up, spraying mud and small rocks all over Raymond and Chet.
"Everyone, hurry! More rocks are rolling down behind us!" Evelyn Ford shouted. The mudslide was nearly on top of them. Another thirty meters and they should be clear of it. Evelyn paddled with all her might, and the others didn’t dare to hesitate. The raft was difficult to steer through the trees, so everyone jumped off and started pushing it.
They had just reached a safe zone and hadn’t even had a chance to catch their breath when the surging mudslide obliterated a huge swath of the forest behind them.
With a CRUMP, a ridge ten meters away suddenly collapsed. Ronan Kendrick gave a mighty shove, pushing the raft several meters forward. Evelyn Ford held down her two dogs, terrified they would fall into the water.
The others slowly made their way over. Some were on the rafts, others were in the muddy water. The group inched forward with great difficulty. The mud underfoot was incredibly sticky, and it sucked the shoes right off Nathan Xavier and Peter Owens.
"Hey, my shoes!"
Peter Owens tried to go back for them, but Miles Vaughn grabbed him by the collar from behind, stopping him short.
"Don’t go back," Miles said. "They’re lost in the mud, and the water’s so murky you’ll never find them. I have an extra pair. I’ll give them to you later."
Quincy glanced at Nathan Xavier. "I have an extra pair, too. I’ll get them for you later."
They were a team now, and a team had to stick together.
"We’ll find a place to rest soon," Evelyn Ford announced loudly. "And I’ll say it again: use rope to tie your pant legs to your shoes. Tie them tight. It’ll make it easier to move, stop rocks and branches from scratching your legs, and keep your shoes from getting lost."
"The thunder has stopped for now. Let’s go another hundred meters, then we’ll rest."
Forging a path through the muddy water in the forest was an agonizing ordeal for everyone. They fell time and time again, only to struggle back to their feet. By now, the sky was slowly darkening, and the temperature was plummeting. Rain pelted their faces, heads, and bodies, and everyone was so cold their faces turned a sickly pale.
"ACHOO! ACHOO!" From behind, Wendy was so cold she couldn’t stop sneezing. Evelyn Ford looked back and handed her a cup from her bag.
Since it was a thermos, Wendy didn’t question why the water was warm. She took a sip and handed it back to Evelyn.
After another hundred meters, they found a spot with several massive boulders that were not yet submerged. Evelyn Ford handed the tarp from the raft to Ronan Kendrick. With help from Ethan Dawson, Nathan Xavier, and Drako, Ronan centered the tarp over the boulders and tied it to several trees, creating a simple rain shelter. With trembling hands, Evelyn chopped some branches from a tree and pulled a lighter and a bottle of gasoline from her bag.
She placed the branches on one of the boulders, dripped some gasoline on them, and they quickly burst into flame.
All the rafts were tied together and secured around the boulders to keep them from drifting.
The branches were damp, so they produced a lot of smoke even as they burned. Everyone crouched on the boulders. As a little warmth began to radiate from the fire, they instantly felt much warmer, though it might have just been a psychological effect.
"It’s not going to start thundering again, is it? If it does, we’re right under these trees. We’d be toast."
Everyone turned to stare at Quincy. Evelyn Ford was in a foul mood and resisted the urge to slap him.
"Shut up."
He quickly covered his mouth, not daring to spout any more nonsense.
"I wonder how Aunt Crane is doing."
"We left her a raft, plus food and water. If she decides to leave, she has more than enough supplies."
"She’s so old. How could she leave on her own? I tried to convince her several times, but she refused to go. She said she would rather die than keep fleeing."
"I can actually understand her," Taylor Vance said suddenly.
"For one, she was afraid of holding us back. For another, she was afraid of dying on the road, with no dignity."
Everyone fell silent. Honestly, the elderly and children suffered the most on the run. Although Aunt Crane always appeared cheerful, she was a very proud woman. If she were to die and her body be left exposed in the wilderness, she would likely be unable to rest in peace.
While fleeing, you had to believe in your chances of survival, but you also had to accept the possibility of death. Everyone, no matter who they were, had to be ready to die at any moment. It was a high-stakes gamble: win and you live, lose and you die.
Under this torrential rain, not an inch of land was safe. Perhaps after death, there wouldn’t even be a place for a burial. You would just end up like those floating corpses they had seen before, drifting wherever the current takes you.
Wyatt Vaughn grabbed the kettle from one of the rafts. None of them had packed water, so they had to collect rainwater to drink. Once it was boiled, he tossed in some dried radish, some Dried Meat, and a pinch of salt to make a makeshift meal.
"Should we keep moving?"
The sky was completely dark by now. Although it was still raining, the downpour had lessened.
"We’ll rest here and leave at dawn," Evelyn said. "If we try to travel in the dark, we’ll just keep falling, and we won’t make it more than a few kilometers anyway."
Chet Lawrence started another fire nearby, and everyone gathered around it. As they warmed themselves, their clothes began to steam. Their skin, long soaked in muddy water, was now both itchy and sore, and the soles of their feet were pruned and wrinkled. Evelyn Ford glanced at Zoe, who was already asleep. ’That child is certainly tough,’ she thought. ’After everything she’s been through today, she hasn’t cried or fussed, and she hasn’t even gotten sick.’
To Evelyn’s left sat Ronan Kendrick; to her right were her two wolfhounds. They had eaten their fill as well. The dogs had no idea what ordeal they were going through. As long as their trusted master was near and their bellies were full, they were happy and felt secure enough to loll their tongues and wag their tails without a care in the world.
Evelyn pulled out her pocket watch and glanced at it. It was already ten-thirty. Fortunately, she had earlier instructed everyone to make a sheepskin cloak. These cloaks were warm and waterproof, much more so than any down jacket or cotton coat.
Wendy was already sleepy, her head resting on Officer Graham’s arm as she began to snore. Ronan Kendrick chopped down a nearby tree, adding more wood to the fire. Christina Thorne and Claudia Schultz were so cold they couldn’t stop sniffling. Everyone looked utterly wretched and exhausted.
By the time midnight rolled around, Evelyn couldn’t hold out any longer. She leaned against Ronan and fell asleep. At four o’clock, Ronan woke her. The sky was still dark, but it was light enough to travel.
Evelyn woke the others. Everyone gnawed on some compressed biscuits, ready to get back on the road. Quincy and Miles Vaughn untied the tarp, folded it, and placed it on Evelyn’s raft. Evelyn took Wendy and Wyatt Vaughn to a nearby ridge to relieve themselves, and only then did the group set off again.
Evelyn took out an old-fashioned flashlight. As usual, she and Ronan took the lead. Ronan didn’t need any light, so Evelyn strapped the flashlight to her head to illuminate the path for the rest of the group. The beam was powerful, clearly cutting through the white mist and lighting up the individual raindrops.
Amid the PIT-A-PAT of the rain and Zoe’s GIGGLING, a new day began.
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