Page 27

ELEVEN

Kit lost her grip on Tot after a vicious slam to the ATV.

With a scream, she grabbed for her, managed to catch the edge of her pajamas and hold on a moment before the baby would have hit the door.

Fingers clawed, Kit hauled Tot back to her.

She planted her boots against the seat and encircled the baby with both arms in a rigid embrace.

All around them rocks and branches thumped against the vehicle.

She didn’t know how Cullen was keeping them upright.

She thanked God she’d fastened her seat belt.

He yelled something at her, but she only caught “mill.” His destination was the ruins of the lumber mill Archie had pointed out, probably the only structure that could offer the slightest chance of survival.

The jutting timber boom was visible above the debris cloud.

As she bounced like a sock in the dryer, desperately trying to deflect the force from Tot, she caught only glimpses.

A corner of weathered wall and the iron skeleton of the waterwheel that had defied the centuries flashed in and out of view.

Something smashed through the rear window, and she folded into a ball with Tot at the center. Whatever it was glanced off her shoulder and sailed over the driver’s headrest in a cascade of glass flecks.

“Cullen!” she screamed.

Behind them the slide gave chase, gaining speed and volume. The ATV was being overtaken by that killer wall, and there was nothing to prevent it. Soon Cullen would not be able to navigate as the rubble swallowed the vehicle. End of the line.

She closed her eyes and held on to Tot. The baby was probably screaming, but she couldn’t hear her. There was only one thing she could think to ask.

Lord , let this be easy for her.

That was all Kit could plead for, that the little baby wouldn’t suffer like her mother likely had, on the run, scared, tired, hungry, and cold.

Annette ... Was she in the path of the landslide too?

Dead already at Nico’s or Simon’s hand? If only Kit had moved faster after taking them into her truck, traveled far enough to get them to the police.

If only...

Her arms cramped from the desperate hold. A shadow of the mill loomed ahead as the landslide pursued them. The wheels bounced and slid. Terror squeezed every nerve to the snapping point. Would it be painful?

The ATV came to a stop so suddenly she and Tot were only reined in by the seat belt.

Dazed, she forced her eyes open, uncertain if the tires had exploded or if they’d hit an obstacle.

She could see nothing but filthy air swirling by the broken windows.

The thundering all around them did not abate. They hadn’t outrun it. Not even close.

Beyond the front headrest, Cullen drooped crookedly.

Why had he stopped? Had he been hit? Hurt?

The fear was a painful punch to her middle.

All he’d done for a couple strangers, for her and Tot, jumped into their troubles with both boots and a warm chuckle.

Help him ... But her body was frozen with fear that she would find him outside the bounds of anything she could do.

Her throat throbbed with agony as the ground rumbled underneath the ATV.

She was trying to force herself to call out to him when he straightened.

She heard his seat belt unclick, and he tumbled over the front seat into the back.

He unfastened her and guided her and Tot to the floor, then curled himself over them as the shaking increased, the oncoming tumult rattling the ATV.

A noise like the end of the world screamed through space and time.

The violence was so intense she had to grit her teeth to keep them from slamming together.

How long? How much more could they endure before it was all over? But she was not alone. Cullen was with her, in it until the last.

Suddenly the roar abated, replaced by a quieter cascade of sounds.

The minutes passed in a blur, until gradually she became aware of details her ragged senses were feeding her. The sound of her own breathing. Tot squirming near her belly, her cries muffled. A soft shushing, like skis traveling over new snow. She tried to move, but a mass pressed her down. Cullen.

With a flood of terror she realized his body was a deadweight on her.

“Cullen,” she whispered. He did not answer. Did not move. She battled down the panic. With all her strength she reared back, levering Cullen’s weight onto the seat.

Tot screamed out a lusty complaint, and Kit silently thanked the Lord. The baby was alive and outraged, which meant she might have escaped serious injury.

“You’re okay, Tot.”

After a quick shake of the sleeping bag, she spread it on the driver’s seat and laid Tot there, tuning out the screaming.

Tot kicked and bucked, but Kit could see no obvious blood or broken bones.

Stomach clenched, she turned to Cullen. The daylight was weak and almost obliterated by the debris cloud.

The meager gray was not enough to check his condition.

Hands shaking, she pulled out the flashlight from her jacket pocket and flicked it on.

“Cullen.” She wiped the sooty film from his face. “Can you answer?”

Even if he was conscious, he wouldn’t have heard her above Tot’s crying. But his eyes remained closed, his long limbs frighteningly still.

Frantic, she ran her hands over his arms, legs, head. There was a bump on the side of his skull where he’d been slammed by something, possibly whatever had flown through the rear window. The passenger side front glass was broken too.

“Cullen,” she said again, her fingertips cold with fear as she sought a pulse under his chin.

Nothing. She repositioned, her mind spinning frantically.

How would she do CPR when he was too long to stretch out on the seat?

With no hope of access to medical care anytime soon?

She’d bend his knees, lay him as flat as she could. ..

But then she felt the strong, steady beat. The air whooshed out of her in sweet relief.

He was alive. That would have to be enough for now. Completely foreign to her nature, this was a moment-by-moment situation. Not ideal for a woman who planned out her days in different-colored ink right down to the vending machines she’d visit on each of her routes.

Okay , Kit. Whatcha gonna do now?

She peeked cautiously through the broken window.

The wreckage around them had begun to settle enough that she could make out their surroundings.

Cullen had somehow managed to drive them into the confines of the ruined lumber mill.

The ATV had come to rest under the protective steel beams of the timber boom, and the onslaught of tree trunks, rocks, and soil had been diverted neatly around the beams, which split the flow, funneling the load on through the valley.

She looked up at the aged steel that had saved their lives and then down at the still, silent man who’d done the same.

“Cullen.” She stroked his cheeks and forehead. “Wake up, okay? I don’t know what to do next. I need you to open your eyes and start being bossy.”

And she needed his warm smile, and the kindness that came off him in waves, and the unexpected, rare gentleness that spoke to her soul.

He remained immobile. She looked helplessly out the wrecked windows at the smothering moonscape of ash.

What was she going to do? How would she care for Tot and Cullen? Get help? Survive?

When the panic flamed, she forced it down.

You’re not a quitter. God must have saved you for a reason. Cullen would say she should leave room for the “what if.”

What if God would give her the strength to survive this?

What if she could figure out what to do even though there appeared to be no way out?

She eased Cullen onto his side and folded his arm in front of him in the recovery position she’d read about in her first aid book.

His breathing remained regular so she redirected her attention.

Tot still screamed, her eyes swollen, the tears making tracks in the ash on her skin.

She’d cried so hard her chest heaved in shuddering gulps.

Kit climbed over the seat to her, and with some creative seat belt and blanket usage, she managed to secure her in an upright position.

With a tissue from her inside coat pocket, she wiped Tot’s face.

Tot was still enraged, her arms and legs rigid, but at least she wouldn’t be cut or slide off, and her breathing was better.

Kit remembered the pacifier in her other pocket. She fished it out.

“Here, baby girl. How about this? Just for a minute until I can help you better.”

Tot turned away at first, but Kit persisted and eventually Tot accepted the offering.

The sudden cessation of howling enabled her to pick up other sounds, the creaking and groaning of the debris outside the ATV, which could be an ominous predictor of what was ahead.

Would they be swept away? Might the steel and brick of the lumber mill suddenly fail?

Nothing you can do about that right now , she told herself savagely. Order. She had to restore some sort of order.

Everything was a jumbled mess, the contents of the duffel bag strewn about.

The proof against Nico , she recalled with a start.

But what did that matter in the face of survival?

She’d find it, though; if it was still in the vehicle, she’d locate and secure it.

She spotted the arm of her teddy bear and snatched it, shaking off wood shavings and a few pine needles.

The ear ripped slightly as she freed it.

“Here, Tot. You can play with this, but no chewing.” Tot instantly gathered up the toy and clutched it to her. A quiet baby playing with a teddy, and Cullen resting comfortably. Good job so far.