25th Mile (2)
After forming a reachable goal he then marched toward the goal spending money in a planned and focused manner, only deviating from the plan when forced to. He had completed 1 year plans 8 times. And he figured he still had several years to go before he was at a level of preparedness that he was comfortable with maintaining. He also gently encouraged his extended family and friends to prepare for an interruption in their life from a natural or man-made disaster as well. Surprisingly the majority of them started preparing for the future, but several just gave the thought of preparedness lip service. Mile 4 When his mind returned from it’s wandering past trails and settled back on the traffic he realized that even with the detour to the 4 Wheel Drive Warehouse, this was going to be a longer trip home than usual. Even with his head start Doug had passed him several minutes ago, waving nonchalantly as we drove by, wielding the high powered corvette like a pro. “Oh well” he thought, “better make the most of it.” Clay had been an audio book junkie for a long time, and while still a serious reader he found the audio books very calming in traffic. Since his stint in the Marine Corps his interest had shifted from Science fiction to world history and finance. Today he was listening to a little of both. This week’s book was from the Mises Institute. It was titled the “Costs of War”. As he reached into the CD console of the Trooper for his Audio book he heard what sounded like a heavy freight train. At the same time he put the CD into the player the Trooper started to vibrate and then bounce slightly, then without warning it began to leap and jump into the air. At first Clay thought there was a mechanical problem as he tried to control the bucking Trooper, and with a sudden start he realized that the entire roadway was moving with a violence beyond description. With sudden mental clarity he realized that he and everyone around him was experiencing a the same problem he was “EARTHQUAKE!!”. Between that instant of recognizing that there was an earthquake and the fact reaching his brain he glanced to his left and for a brief second he caught sight of the driver in the car next to him. It was the cute blond that had been flirting with him. He had noticed her the first time he saw her, and had forgotten about her over the past two miles. But looking directly at her the first time he saw her eyes fill wide with primal fear, as in one sudden and maniacal moment her car disappeared swallowed into the abyss that had opened up beneath her vehicle. All that was left of her was a pitiful wail that was lost in a din of crashing metal. With stunned shock Clay looked ahead and saw what look like a ocean wave. Cracks in the earth like the one that swallowed the woman next to him sprung out in front of the wave. Some of the fissures where small cracks no wider than six inches, others obscenely wide; opened as wide as 18’. Looking closer Clay saw the wave was made of earth, cars, buildings and people and stretched from horizon to horizon. As the wave thundered closer at an unbelievable speed he could see cars flung in the air, crashing down onto their fragile cargo, killing many instantly, but maiming and trapping many more. Buildings exploded and collapsed as if knocked down by a giant hand. There was terror in the eyes of the people around him, and the air sparked with apocalyptic fear. Suddenly the rolling wave of destruction was upon him, he barely had time to brace himself as the earth began to move. In the blink of an eye the trooper seemed to shoot into the air, all four of the heavy off-road tires leaving the pavement by a good 3 feet. When the Trooper succumbed to gravity and came crashing back to the now broken earth; Clay’s chin hit the steering column with agonizing pain. He immediately tasted the coppery flavor of blood. Although he did not realize until much later that the five point harness that served as a seat belt and the solid reconstruction of the Trooper had just saved him from major injury and possibly his life. Without them he would have been thrown from the vehicle and onto the ground below. The trooper landed with on the trunk of the Toyota in-front of him and with a shriek of metal snapped the Toyotas axel like a twig and crushed everything connected to it. The giant ground rupture that had opened up across the freeway to the left of him had enlarged significantly, and several cars had been swallowed whole. Many more were partially crushed or buried with their occupants escaping to the shaking ground below, able to only crawl away in a panicked frenzy that left them dazed and shaken on the roadway. The violent shaking lasted for close to 15 minutes and even when it calmed it did not cease immediately but slowly became a low rumble. Clay had become dazed when the Trooper been thrown into the air, but had held on for the ride as the earth continued to shake with demonic violence. After an intolerable long and excruciatingly painful period of time the earthquake waned. And as it did Clay’s brain shook off the mental cobwebs of fear and went into overdrive. Surviving that was sheer terror, he had been through 5 or 6 earthquakes but this was very different – this quake seemed to have expelled all the explosive violence contained in the bowls of the earth in just a few minutes. Without knowing much about earthquakes Clay knew this one had been big, maybe even off the Richter scale. Remembering his college geography class, Clay recalled that the effect they were experiencing was called Amplification; he also remembered his professor saying that in some situations a resonance can occur deep in soil layers, magnifying the shaking resulting from an earthquake causing more damage than usual. In the aftermath, Clay looked around and took inventory of his immediate situation, and while his thoughts went directly home to his family he forced himself to look at his situation - ensuring that there was no life threatening danger in the immediate area, he then inspected himself physically. With the exception of a deep cut on his chin, a severe headache and general bruising he was fully functional. Using a bandana he kept in the center console he put a compress on his chin. Looking around the Trooper he first saw that all the windows had been blown out. The gear box’s in the back were bolted to the body of the vehicle and had survived unscathed. However, before driving anywhere he would need to perform a mechanical inspection and removed the cars from beneath and behind the trooper. Smoke and ash where everywhere and a smell he did not immediately recognize lingered in the air. Suddenly he knew what the smell was, it was sulfur gas. Gagging at the rotten egg smell that had been forced up from the bowls of the earth the sulfur had risen up as a mist during the earthquake. The sun had been blotted out and he had to fumble in the dark to undo his seat belt and reach over to the passenger side of the trooper to disengage the fuel shutoff. Avoiding as much glass as possible he opened the driver’s side door. The ruggedly re-constructed Trooper’s door opened about half way, but the damage from the heavy landing had smashed the outside panel, preventing it from opening completely. Exiting the car Clay lowered himself slowly and gingerly onto the corner of the trunk of the Toyota in front of him and then down to the cracked and broken ground. Sinking to the ground he found himself unable to stand, his equilibrium punished by the shaking of the earth. Sitting on the warm and cracked pavement with the earth still shivering underneath him he regained his composure and again tried to stand. This time he was successful. His first course of action was to check on the driver of the Toyota that the Trooper had crushed. Clay found him badly bruised but conscious, he like Clay was dazed but was able to climb out of his car and stand. Looking around in the semi-darkness Clay and his fellow commuters were faced with a surreal and eerie landscape that contained only death, destruction and mayhem. The destruction had been as tremendous in its fury as it was complete in its destructive force. Along the side of the freeway the buildings were there were not just damaged, they were completely destroyed with only a wall here and there standing. Anyone with just a cursory glance could tell that tremendous casualties’ were created by collapsing walls, flying glass and falling objects. People around exits and directly outside buildings had little chance of surviving. Many more casualties were created by people running out of the buildings for safety only to be killed by falling debris. Buildings that were still standing looked like they had been molded into the form of the wave. Their foundations broken they had taken the curvature of the earth and were strangely bent and obviously uninhabitable. However through the dust people could be seen climbing out of the ruins. In several areas power lines had fallen onto the freeway and across several vehicles, and for the brief second Clay wondered if any of the power lines were live, when he saw the occupants of several cars start to jerk like animated marionettes in the seats of their cars for the last seconds of their lives when they tried to exit their vehicles. Clay yelled at the living to stay in their vehicles and racing over to a overturned work truck, whose owner was decidedly deceased. Grabbing one of the 8’ 2x4s scattered around the truck Clay used it to remove the power lines from across the remaining cars. It was dangerous, but with the power lines now out of the way he told the people they could now exit the cars. Many of the people were in a state of shock and stunned disbelief from the suddenness and force of the earthquake. They were not mentally prepared to handle this type of situation. Surprisingly however, few people were having major emotional breakdowns, and while most were in shock some of them had accepted what had happened and on exiting their vehicles got down on their knees and prayed for the safety of those around them, thanked the Lord for sparing them, and then got to work helping those less fortunate then themselves. Clay found himself among those accepting the reality of the situation; several like minded people had naturally come together. They had prayed, and given each other hugs of encouragement and then got to work assisting the survivors. Clay helped organize them as best he could, with leadership skills honed in the crucible of combat. He had those with medical experience assisted the wounded, those with strong backs helping with the wreckage. One older couple, to weak to help physically just gave out hugs and encouragement to the injured With everyone working to the best of their ability to assist, Clay broke away and raced back to the trooper for the trauma kit he had stuck behind the drivers seat of the trooper. Logically looking around at the destruction Clay knew that any assistance they could offer was a pitiful attempt and relatively worthless, but his faith in God would not allow him to abandon those around him in need. So holding nothing back, he worked with the others as saving as many lives as possible. However as he started back to the Trooper the ground suddenly rose up to meet him. AFTERSHOCK!! He crashed down and instinctively rolled the short distance over the ditch to seek cover. As he started to stand he noticed off in the distance a gigantic mushroom cloud of flame had appeared, it roiled into the air and even from several miles away he imagined he could feel its heat. What he saw told him instantly that it wasn’t and aftershock, the Gas storage facility by the stadium had exploded. He waited for a secondary explosion for a few seconds but there was none; so he collected his thoughts and picking himself up out of the dirt he walked around to the passenger side of the Trooper. Looking around he saw that there was not quite enough room behind him to open the rear cargo door. The car behind him had wedged itself against the rear of the Trooper, and although there was no apparent damage to the Troopers ability to move, cosmetically it was a disaster. Both tail lights were broken, and the back was covered with minor dents and dings; and the rear window was shattered but still in place. Moving rapidly yet with what to the casual onlooker would seem to be detached determination Clay unlatched the drivers side rear door and removed the Trauma Kit that he kept behind the seat. Quickly examining himself in the reflection of the tinted rear window, Clay patched his own wound and quickly checked for additional physical damage. It was then Clay had second thoughts about using the Trauma kit on so many people, he knew that realistically using the Trauma Kit on those injured around him was too little to late, however not being swayed in obtaining and completing his original objective he girded himself to help as many injured and wounded as long as the supplies in the Trauma kit lasted. The Trauma kit had been packed based on his experiences from backpacking, river rafting and Combat. As an added measure, Clay had taken the time to consult with a family friend who was an Emergency Room Physician on the contents of his Trauma Kit. The doctor had made some minor modifications, and once packed the Trauma Kit the doctor commented that is was more complete than most Emergency Medical staff outside of a hospital had access to. He had recommended several drugs as well, and although he offered to put them in the Trauma Kit, Clay refused the kind offer not wanting to jeopardize his friendship. In any event the drugs were easily obtained in Mexico and over the internet. The trauma Kit was housed in a 2000cu. Inch Camelback tactical bag that he “inherited” from the Marine Corps. The contents of the bag were type written on a laminated card located at the top of the backpack. The card read as follows: List of Contents: 2 ea ½” adhesive tape, 5 yards 1 ea ankle brace 5 ea triple antibiotic, single use packets 5 ea first aid cream, single use packets 5 ea 2” bandage 10 ea 1” bandage 10 ea ¾” bandage 5 ea butterfly bandage 5 ea fingertip bandage 5 ea knuckle bandage 2 ea Red-Z 1 ea scoop 1 ea biohazard bag, sealable 2 ea antimicrobial towelette 2 ea biohazard bag, sealable 1 ea blood pressure cuff, non-latex 1 ea 1” co-flex self-adherent wrap 1 ea 2” co-flex self-adherent wrap 4 ea cold compress 1 ea 2” elastic bandage 1 ea 3” elastic bandage 3 ea eye pad 1 ea eye wash, 4 oz. bottle 3 ea finger splint 1 ea penlight, 2 AA battery 25 ea 4”x4” non-sterile gauze pad 10 ea 2”x2” sterile gauze pad 10 ea 4”x4” sterile gauze pad 2 ea 5”x9” sterile gauze pad 1 pr safety glasses 4 pr surgical latex gloves, extra-large 1 ea hand cleaner, 4 oz. Bottle 2 ea hydrogen peroxide, 2 oz. Spray 1 ea rescue breathing shield/mask
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