Page 83 of Waves of Fury

“Hell no,” Aaron grits out. “It’s a graze. Just glue it closed and wrap it up.”

Hope fishes out our dwindling supply of ibuprofen and pushes them into Aaron’s mouth. He gratefully accepts. Judy is there in time to pass a water bottle to him.

Maybe we can sit here for a bit and rest.

I consider erecting my tent but decide against it, instead lying back on the extremely soft ground for a quick nap.

And it must be lightning quick because in what feels like a couple of seconds later, I hear Tyler shouting at me—again—to get the fuck up.

We’re sinking.

Tyler

Ihadn’t noticed it at first, but when I get up to stretch my legs after dressing Aaron’s wound, I can hardly get my boots unstuck. Everyone is in various states of sinking into the marshy ground.

At first, I’d chalked it up to the storms softening the earth, but then I get a sinking feeling—no pun intended.

Something’s not right.

It takes some effort, but with Jesse’s help, I’m able to pull Kellen out of the mud. His entire backside is completely covered. The longer we stand around, the more we sink.

“Keep moving,” I instruct to everyone. “We need to wind our way back over to a road and get out of this muck before we have problems.”

Wayne, the heaviest in our group, moves the slowest because he sinks down past his ankles with every step. Dan sticks by him, though, offering his arm to help tug him anytime he has trouble.

“Veer away from that,” I shout, gesturing toward a soupy, bubbling area of the earth. “I don’t like this one bit.”

We all continue to move as quickly as we can. What little energy we had left is completely drained as we physically exert ourselves just to walk. After my shower with Kellen last night, I was too amped up to sleep and ended up keeping Aaron company until we saw the people heading our way. Now I feel like my adrenaline is nothing but fumes at this point, and I’m quickly fading.

Stay focused, man.

Kellen rummages in his pack as we walk and then pulls out a granola bar. He rips it open, tears it in two, and then hands me one half. “Eat, Ty.”

I wolf down the meager meal in one bite, barely chewing. My mouth waters for more, but time is of the essence.

Dan and Wayne fall farther and farther back while Hope and Aaron trek way ahead. Judy and Silas aren’t far from Dan and Wayne. Jesse, Hailey, and Pretzel are somewhere in the middle, closer to Hope and Aaron. I’m lost in my thoughts of what could be waiting for us in St. George, Utah—our next destination according to Kellen—when I hear Judy’s panicked yelling.

“Dan! Wayne! I need help!”

Me and Kellen both swivel around, sinking past our ankles to see Judy tugging at Silas’s arm. He’s nearly waist-deep in the muck.

Vibrations rattle through me and it takes me a second to realize we’re having an earthquake. For fuck’s sake. Again?

Kellen grunts, struggling to make his way over to Judy and Silas. The ground around us is jiggling like pudding in a bowl. I think about an old movie I saw when I was a kid where the hero nearly dies in quicksand.

Is that what this is?

The ground rumbles again and toward the soupier area of the park, it starts to sink—like shit being sucked through a half-clogged toilet drain. Within seconds, I can see a huge sinkhole has formed.

“There’s a parking lot that way,” Jesse calls out. “I’m going to see if I can get any of the vehicles going. I can see a road near it too. We just need to get over to it.”

More trembling from the ground has me falling to my ass in the muck. Kellen takes hold of my arm, yanking me back to my feet with a grunt. The ground continues to shake as more holes open up around us.

One gaping maw is not ten feet away from us and at least thirty feet in diameter. I can’t see how deep it goes, nor do I want to find out.

A piercing howl makes my skin crawl. I follow the sound to where Judy seems to be struggling near the mouth of one of these sinkholes. Dan and Wayne are almost to them, both of them trudging as fast as they can. Me and Kellen are too far away to make a difference, but we keep making our way to them anyway.

Dan reaches Judy first and barely grabs her arm before she disappears from sight. He almost plummets with her if not for Wayne snagging hold of his backpack.

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