Page 12 of Everybody Needs a Hero

“Yep,” she said. “Floyd, hop into the back like a good—” Even though Bev didn’t finish the sentence, the dog obeyed in a flash. “—oh God.” Not sure what was wrong, Ashley followed the woman’s stare. She heard Lou swearing or praying or something, and it took her a minute to comprehend what she saw. The water was rushing out like a super low tide, while in the distance, the ocean was swelling.

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As Bryce slammed the pickup truck’s tailgate shut, she heard Ashley say her name. The woman’s trembling voice sounded like a mixture of awe and fear. Turning to look, the last sight Bryce wanted to see was happening two hundred feet in front of her. An ocean swell like a monster rising from its depths was forming offshore.

“Ashley, get in the truck,” she said, forcing her voice to stay calm but already in motion. “And everybody, grab ahold of something. We are getting out of here in a hurry.” She saw Bev grab Floyd by the collar at the same time Bryce threw open the driver’s side door to climb in. Suddenly, Floyd started to bark furiously in the direction of the ocean.Not a good sign,she thought, knowing when they were all safe again, she would be buying Floyd a huge T-bone steak dinner. As Ashley got in on the other side, Bryce cranked the key. The engine roared to life.Thank you.Bryce was grateful they weren’t in the middle of some kind of adventure story where the cars never started.

Someone started slapping a hand on the rear window between the cab and back. “It’s coming!” she heard the group behind her all yelling. “Go! Go! Go!”

Not bothering to check for herself, Bryce threw the truck into gear. “Hang on,” she said and hit the gas. The tires screeched as the truck shot forward, racing down the block. Glancing at the rearview mirror, Bryce saw the beach beyond the boardwalk. A wave was cresting as it ran toward shore. An already big wave. Everything she learned about tsunamis in her training raced through her mind. The thing would slow down when it hit the sand but rapidly grow taller. What looked to her like a ten-foot wave coming in could easily triple in height in seconds. At over thirty feet, anything less than two stories high would be entirely washed over. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Ashley watching out the back window. From her experiences in the military, Bryce’s instinct was to tell her not to look, but that was an impossible ask. Turning away from impending disaster was nearly impossible.

Racing in a straight line down Rose Avenue, Bryce estimated they would be at least three blocks away when the wave hit land. It wasn’t nearly enough. Moving up to a hundred miles an hour when it crashed into the beach, the water could overtake them. They would have to stay far enough ahead of the water for it to slow and then recede. She pushed the pedal harder into the floorboard, watching the red arrow on the speedometer climb past seventy. In response, the truck began to shudder. “Oh my God,” she heard Ashley murmur, and Bryce didn’t have to check the mirror to know what was happening. She focused on their sprint through the neighborhood to safety. People on sidewalks who fled their homes after the earthquake turned to look as the truck raced past them. All Bryce could do was lay on the horn to keep them clear and hope it served as a warning about the wave coming. There was no time to slow down and yell at them to run.

Blasting past another intersection and then another, Bryce started to think their head start might be enough. Then, as she blew through a red light at the next intersection of a busier street, the sound of a horn blaring warned her in the nick of time to swerve. The car coming from the cross street narrowly missed them, but the swerve forced the truck to sideswipe a parked vehicle. Stupidly not haven taken time to put on her seatbelt, the impact slammed Bryce’s head against the door’s window. Momentarily dazed, she struggled to drive. Screams from the truck bed had her thinking the worst. “Bev? Kim?” she yelled. “Are you still there?”

Someone started slapping the window divider again. “We’re okay,” Lou yelled. “Go!” With a shake of her head, desperate to clear the cobwebs, Bryce hit the gas again only to feel the truck list hard to the left and barely respond. Creeping along at a walking pace, the truck wouldn’t go any faster, and she guessed the sidewall had been crushed against the tire. Any minute the thing could blow, and it would be game over.

“What’s wrong with the truck?” Ashley asked, a hint of panic in her voice. Bryce looked at her, and tears streamed down the woman’s face. A glimmer of something was in her eyes, and Bryce recognized the look from combat. It was dread.

Watchingthe giant ocean wave hit the Venice Beach boardwalk was something Ashley would never forget.All those people who wouldn’t listen, she thought.My friends…She had to stop thinking about it or go crazy, so she focused on what Bryce was telling her. “The tire is stuck,” Bryce said, reaching for the door handle. “I’m going to try and pull the metal away from it.”

Ashley grabbed for her arm. “No,” she said, desperately trying to keep herself together. “Stay inside. Keep driving as long as we can.”

Relenting, Bryce pushed on the gas, and the truck did nothing but limp along. “It’s no good,” the woman said before glancing over her shoulder. “I have to get out… oh shit.” Ashley looked too, and the wall of churning water already carrying debris channeled between buildings was gaining fast. “We need to get inside somewhere. Right now!”

Scanning the street, Ashley had no idea what to do. “There’s nothing but businesses here,” she said. “And it looks like everyone has evacuated.” Suddenly, the truck veered, throwing her against the door, and Ashley thought the tire blew. Looking over, she saw it was actually Bryce driving toward a familiar multi-story orange and white building. A Los Angeles Public Storage.

Before she could ask what was happening, the truck hit the black metal gates, which looked to hold at first but then snapped open. Bryce rolled them to a halt beside the main building. “Get out and get ready to run,” was all Bryce said before jumping out of the truck.

With no time to argue, Ashley climbed out while Floyd leaped out of the back and spun in a frantic circle at her feet. “What are you doing?” she heard Bev yell, and then Bryce ran around the front of the truck with the woman over her shoulder in a fireman’s carry. Kim and Lou were hot on her heels.

“Come on,” Bryce said, sprinting toward a pair of glass doors in the front of the concrete and otherwise windowless building. “We need to get in there.” Not sure what Bryce was thinking, but knowing they were out of time, Ashley followed everyone into the building with Floyd right behind her. The door opened into a foyer. No one was behind the counter, and aisles ran in every direction, each lined with orange doors for dozens of storage lockers. Apparently not what Bryce wanted, the woman kept moving. “We need to find the emergency stairs and climb higher. They should be in the corner. Everyone, look for an exit sign.”

“What?” was all Ashley got out before they were off and running again.

Bouncing around while Bryce ran, Bev seemed as baffled from where she hung upside down on the woman’s back. “Exit?” she asked. “Why are we going back outside?”

“We’re not,” Bryce said, then slowed to point. “There.”

Ashley saw the metal door marked STAIRWELL and ran to yank it open. Floyd flew past her, his toenails clattering on the metal stairs, with Bryce and Bev right behind him, then Kim and Lou, and finally Ashley could go.

“Close the door tight,” she heard Bryce yell from somewhere already up the stairs.

Acting on nothing but faith, Ashley did and then started to run up the first flight after the others. They were only to the second landing when she heard things hitting the side of the building and the roaring start. The wave had caught up to them.

Suddenly, the lights went out, and Kim let out a scream. “Bryce,” Ashley yelled, her heart racing while she forced herself to slow enough to make sure of her footing. Any minute she expected to hear water rushing up the stairs under her.

“Keep coming,” Bryce said. “Trust me. The stairwell is high enough it will be pressurized for safety. We are going to be okay.”

As the roaring continued, Ashley had to keep from freezing with fear as she imagined the water going around their building. She couldn’t believe she heard Bryce correctly and replayed her words in her mind as she climbed.We are going to be okay,she thought, although that seemed impossible. Yet Bryce sounded confident.Can this building really save us?

Sittingin the Pathfinder while Drew stood outside pumping their gas, a wave of unexplainable dread rolled over Tess.Ashley, she thought, somehow knowing without even a shadow of a doubt her daughter was in trouble.Terrible trouble.“Drew,” she said, unable to keep the sound of desperation out of her tone as she opened the passenger door to lean out. “We need to go. Please.”

“What?” Drew asked as she removed the nozzle from the vehicle and put it back in the cradle. “Did something happen?”

“Yes,” Tess said, then shook her head. “Maybe. I don’t know. Please hurry. I need to hear the radio.”

Thankfully, Drew was quick climbing back into the car. Pressing the ignition button, the radio came back to life. “…substantial flooding from the tsunami,” the radio announcer said. “Again, authorities are asking people to stay out of the area until all threats have passed.”

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