A Different Surfin' Safari
Chapter 14

Copyright© 2010 by Frank Speaks

The ground jumped around and we could hear the rumble. We were in the open and quickly dropped to the ground and stayed down. Our Humvee was actually jumping with the shaking of the earth. This was a big one though I had no idea of the epicenter nor its strength. After what felt like hours of shaking, it stopped and we slowly got on our feet.

Jennifer said, "That was a big one, Sal."

"I agree. We need to get in the Humvee and head for high ground. There may be a tidal wave if the epicenter was off shore. Hurry!" I shouted. I could see deer running through the open areas around us. They knew instinctively that something was wrong.

We got in the Humvee and headed back to the road looking for a good spot to head inland and up. I was pushing the Humvee for speed and it was responding well. Jennifer and Felice were putting things back in place that had fallen or come loose during the shaking.

"Sal," Jennifer said, "what about Camp Pen. What will happen there?"

"I do not know, Dear One. We have to hope they felt the 'quake and will take sufficient precautions to be safe."

We worked our way north out of the Malibu area heading for higher ground. I didn't know what to expect in the way of a tsunami, if anything, but didn't want to be in its way and find out.

We had gone a couple of miles when Felice, who had been watching behind us, moaned, "Something is coming toward us from behind!" I could see mist in my rear view mirror and knew my fears were accurate. This was a big one. We were in the hills and I topped a crest and stopped.

"Why did you stop?" Felice shouted.

"There's no road any more." I replied. "We can't go around in time. Both of you, strap in and brace yourselves. I backed down from the crest to a small hill that I hoped would keep us from being washed over the edge of what was now a cliff in front of us. We watched helpless as we saw the water rush toward us. Even though the wave had crested, there was plenty of water coming.

The water hit the Humvee and slammed it against the hillside like a kid's toy. I heard a scream as we were covered with the water which was entering the Humvee. I guess it was never meant to be a submarine. That was a stupid thought but it did pass through my mind. I felt the Humvee move and turn as the water pulled at it as it receded. We came to rest about a mile from where we had stopped and everything inside was wet. Felice was lying limply in her seat. I started struggling up as did Jennifer. I opened the door and water poured out and pulled at me as it left the vehicle. Leaving the door open, I went to Jennifer first and unbuckled her seat belt and then went to Felice. She was breathing though there was a serious cut on the back of her head. I wiped it off and staunched the bleeding with pressure. Jennifer came to me with a bandage, but she looked and then left coming back with scissors to cut away her hair. After giving her a quick haircut, we applied the bandage and all of us left the Humvee to look at the situation. I had to carry Felice as she was still unconscious. I laid her down on part of the old road and walked to the crest while Jennifer made her more comfortable. What I say dismayed me.

There was water between us and the rest of California. It looked like there was even more to the east where the land was flatter. I turned around and noticed that the water's edge was only a hundred feet away from us. Two things worried me now. First, we might well be cut off, and second, we might be below the high tide line. Neither was good but the second was worse. On top of that, Felice was injured.

I went back in the Humvee and tried to start it without success. I hoped that it would dry out and crank as it had a lot of supplies that would be hard to carry by hand. Not to mention that it would be hard to carry Felice, too. "Jennifer, stay with Felice while I scout out the area to figure out what the situation is now."

"Don't be gone long, Sal. I'm worried about her. She may have a concussion."

"I won't be. I'm afraid there isn't much place to go as it looks like we might be an island now."

She nodded and I walked to the crest noticing that the water level was still high on that side. I headed along the crest going to my left watching my footing and looking at the water to my right. I went for about half an hour until I saw the end of the land ahead. That was not good. I came back along the ocean shore side. I passed by Jennifer and waved. She waved back and I trudged on along the shore. I went another half hour and verified that we were on an island. I came back to Jennifer and our Humvee.

"We're an island now. The question is, where is high tide? I don't know and don't remember where the tide was before."

Jennifer looked worried, but said, "I don't remember either. If it's low tide, we could run out of land. Is that your concern?"

"Right. After that, we will have to figure out how to get out of here. We will have to leave the Humvee unless the water goes way down. It looked deep at both ends of our island."

"Okay, why don't you get us set up for the night as high as possible. We aren't going anywhere soon."

I nodded and began to work equipment out of the Humvee and set up a camp at the highest point of land close to us. I tied the Humvee to a tree to keep it from washing off if the water came up too high. I was concerned and knew Jennifer was, too. I picked Felice up and carried her to our camp laying her gently on a ground cloth with Jennifer cradling her head. I was more worried after carrying her as she didn't even moan. I would feel better if she felt and reacted to pain.

High tide was early evening and I marked it. Jennifer finally got a fire going and prepared a light supper for the two of us. We slept with Felice between us both to keep her warm and to know if she moved. She did not move.

The Humvee did not get wet and I tried it again but still no joy on cranking. At least the starter motor worked so I maintained a little hope. The tide seemed to be low so I took a stick and walked to the western end of our island and tried to wade across. It looked to be three or four hundred yards across but I didn't see a good point to get on hard ground there. As it turned out, it didn't matter. At fifty feet out, the bottom dropped off rapidly and I came back. I reported to Jennifer and went the other way. It was wider and I got out a hundred feet before it dropped off. I came back. I told Jennifer that cranking the Humvee was no good as it couldn't swim anyway. Later that morning, we had a small aftershock but it didn't seem to hurt anything. We waited. We could use a log to float across and take some supplies but Felice would have to be conscious for us to go.

Late that afternoon, Felice convulsed twice and then exhaled. She had never regained consciousness and, I don't think, ever felt pain from her injury. We buried her close to the Humvee and began to make our plans to leave and reach the mainland. Jennifer had cried ourselves to sleep last night in sorrow over our loss. We had come to love her and her joy in sex with us made our sex life even better than it had been. Our hearts became closer to fill the gap she left in both our hearts.

Two days later, we had built a mini-raft to hold as much of our supplies as made sense to carry away. The rest would remain with the Humvee. We stripped down and floated our logs out guiding them as we swam beside them. It took us two hours to find a place where we could land and move further inland. We made the top of what was now the mainland and stopped. We were very tired and needed to rest. We pulled our goods up, found a sheltered spot, lit a fire, and snuggled together for an early evening. We woke with the dawn the next morning revitalized and knowing that we had a long trek ahead of us to return to Camp Pen. We didn't know what we would find we would finally get there but were determined to make the trip.

The devastation on the mainland was bad. Most buildings were down and we could see traces of the tsunami when we came to a lower point in the land. We had gotten used to traveling in the Humvee. On foot, we would make twenty or twenty-five miles a day compared to that or more an hour. We also had to be ready for detours if the terrain became too bad or dangerous for foot travel.

 
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