Page 10 of Everybody Needs a Hero

Ashley frowned. “I don’t think that’s a good idea with a head injury,” she said. “Bryce is inside calling 9-1-1.” She glanced in the direction of the smashed doors but couldn’t see her friend. “Maybe wait until the paramedics get here, and they can look at you too.”

Leaning her head back, Kim stayed where she was. “That works for me,” she said. “Did you get ahold of your mom?”

“I did,” Ashley said. “A call finally came through.” Then she realized she was being selfish. “Is there someone you want to call? I can go in and get your phone.”And then maybe I could check on Bryce, she thought, but the woman started to shake her head before catching herself and grimacing.

“Not really,” she said. “Maybe my boyfriend, but it can wait. He works construction in the valley, so I’m sure he’s fine.”

“Okay. Let me know if you change your mind,” Ashley said before glancing at the boardwalk. People were milling around the different storefronts, and she recognized some of the neighboring business owners she was friendly with. “I think I’ll go down the boardwalk a little bit and see how other people are doing.” She refocused on Kim. “Will you tell Bryce where I went if she comes out?”

Kim looked about to answer when Ashley heard Bev calling from the boardwalk. “Ashley,” she said, huffing and puffing from her effort to get to the coffee shop. “Did you feel that?” Ashley looked to see the disheveled homeless woman shuffling down the boardwalk with Floyd loyally on his rope leash at her side. A black plastic bag of what looked like would usually be trash but was likely Bev’s most treasured possessions was slung over her shoulder. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been so scared in my life.” She shook her head. “I thought a wall was going to tip over and crush me.” Panting from the exertion, Bev dropped the bag at her feet as she reached Ashley. “And now those waves are freaking me out.”

Furrowing her brow, Ashley wasn’t sure what the woman meant. In the chaos, she hadn’t been paying attention to anything much beyond the boardwalk. “What do you mean?” she asked while turning her focus on the ocean. Her eyes widened at the sight. There was something weird going on. The usually mild waves that Venice Beach was famous for were surprisingly higher than she was used to and seemed to roll in with more velocity. As she watched, one of the white-capped waves ran clear up the beach to the edge of the children’s play area to swirl around the legs of the swing set. In the three years she had been working on Venice Beach, that had never happened. “They are freaking me out too,” she murmured to Bev, not sure what to think, but her instincts told her what she saw was bad news.

Bryce waitedin the coffee shop for medical help to arrive. Continuing to scroll the internet on her phone, she flipped through report after report emerging about the LA earthquake. Finally, her call to 9-1-1 had gone through, and all they said was all available emergency personnel were already dispatched to the area.I could have figured that out myself,she had thought as the call disconnected. All she could do was wait and hope Lou remained stable. She frowned as she read that the earthquake’s epicenter was supposed to be a few miles offshore.Could that trigger a tsunami?Then Lou groaned, and Bryce let the thought go. Surely, there would be a warning if they should be concerned. “Where am I?” Lou asked, lifting his head to look around. “And what was the number on the bus that hit me?”

“Take it easy,” Bryce said as she knelt by his side, putting a hand on his shoulder. “There was an earthquake, and some shelves fell on you.”

With a groan, Lou rolled slowly onto his back. “No kidding?” he asked. “I don’t remember anything other than getting ready to order a strawberry smoothie.”

Bryce nodded. “I think you had a hard blow to your head, and the memory will come back to you. But it might take a little time. How are you feeling otherwise? Anything really painful?”

Rubbing his neck with a beefy hand, Lou flexed one muscular leg, then the other. “My neck hurts, but I don’t think anything’s broken if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“That’s exactly what I was worried about,” Bryce said, happy to hear the man wasn’t in any extreme pain. “Do you think you can stand up? I’d kind of like to get out of the building, just in case.”

Lou winced as he started to move but made progress getting up. “Why? Do you think there’s going to be more earthquakes?” he asked standing.

Bryce grabbed his arm when Lou started to weave back and forth. “Maybe aftershocks,” she said. “You’re sure you are okay to move?”

“I’ll live. Let’s get outside,” Lou said, and the pair moved toward the busted door.

Before they made it outside, Ashley was in the doorway. A look of relief passed over her face when she saw Lou. “You’re awake,” she said to the bodybuilder. “Are you okay?”

Lou limped past her. “I’ll be okay,” he said. “But damn my head hurts.”

Bryce helped him a few more feet onto the boardwalk and then paused when a wave of water splashed over her feet.What in the hell?she thought, looking around. An ocean wave receded across the large expanse of beach, but there were more coming behind it.

“I think we might want to get out of here,” Ashley said from behind Bryce. “Because those waves keep getting higher and higher.”

Swallowing hard, Bryce was ready to kick herself for not taking her original thought of more danger seriously. An earthquake close to the coastline was bad news. As part of Marine Corps reconnaissance training, they learned about all kinds of catastrophic scenarios.And one of them was tsunamis, she thought, moving into action. Unlike what most people believed from watching blockbuster movies, tsunamis weren’t necessarily one giant wave of water coming out of nowhere. Instead, they were a series of large waves, each with increasing intensity. The ocean water lapping at Bryce’s feet might be as high as the tide would get, and they would be fine.Or they are the precursor to something bigger.She wasn’t going to risk it. Even a five-foot wave running ashore could do serious flooding and damage.And drownings.“Start telling people to move inland. Right now,” she said to Ashley. “But meet me at the truck in five minutes. We don’t want to be anywhere near here if these waves keep rising.”

9

Riding in Drew’s Pathfinder with the late morning freeway traffic, Tess tried not to be frustrated at the slow-moving progress. All she wanted to do was get home and hug her daughter. When there were signs for another exit, she considered suggesting going down onto the surface streets to see if the going was more accessible. Unfortunately, the line of cars waiting in the exit lane told her a lot of other drivers were going to try the same. As restless as she was, Tess would simply have to be patient.At least Ashley is safe, she thought, settling into the leather seat to get more comfortable. At the rate they were moving, they wouldn’t be at her house for a while, so she let her thoughts wander. In all the years raising Ashley, Tess couldn’t think of a scarier time than that morning. When she didn’t know if her daughter was safe, she had found it hard to breathe and not fall apart.Thank God Drew kept a level head.She glanced at the woman who drove with her hands at ten and two on the steering wheel.Calm and cautious. And nicer than she pretends to be.

“Thank you for helping me this morning,” Tess said, keeping her eyes on Drew. “I don’t know what I would have done without a car.”

Drew shrugged. “Someone else would have helped you,” she said without even a glance in Tess’s direction.

“Maybe,” Tess said. “But you were the one to act first. You instinctively knew what I needed before I even expressed it.” She reached to touch Drew’s shoulder. “So don’t act like it’s not a big deal. Because it is to me.”

Braking to stop for traffic again, Drew finally looked over. “I’ve spent my life helping people,” she said. “It’s a hard habit to break.”

Smiling, Tess shook her head. “You’re something, Drew Andersen,” she said. “And I’m not buying that you don’t care about what happened today. You were worried about Ashley too.” Tess watched as Drew searched her face, her eyes questioning.Does she think I’m insincere?she wondered, trying to think of what to say to convince her, then Drew smiled. It was tentative and small but reached her brown eyes.

Turning to refocus on the traffic which had started to move again, Drew sighed. “Maybe a little bit,” she said. “You seem like a good person, and I can’t imagine what it must have felt like not to know what happened to your child.”

Tess sobered. “It was horrible,” she said, not wanting to think about the million scenarios that ran through her head.Everything is okay, she reminded herself, but she wouldn’t be able to fully believe it until she had her arms around her daughter. They would meet at the house. She hoped they could get there soon.

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