Curtain Fall: Second Edition, Disaster, Preparedness, Survival, Awakening (The Gatekeeper Book 1) (34 page)

Finally, after what seemed like hours to John, the ground stopped shaking. He looked at his family, saw they were taking the earthquake in stride, and said, “Let’s sit here a little longer and see what happens. Usually . . . after a big earthquake like this . . . there’s a few smaller aftershocks. The shaking’s probably not done yet.”

“Mommy, are you cold? You need your clothes. Daddy, can’t mommy get dressed?” asked Abby, as she wrapped her arms around her mom and held her close.

“He can get her clothes, but she can’t dress in the yard,” said Adam.

“I’ll go get her something to wear, but I want you guys to stay put . . . understand?” asked John.

They nodded and John got up and ran to the house. All but one of the front windows was cracked and broken, but John felt confident the house was safe to enter. He heard something fall and break as he walked down the entryway, and turned into the kitchen to see what it was.

Several of the kitchen cabinets were resting open, and broken dishes littered the floor at their base. John ignored the cabinets and stepped over broken ceramics to close the refrigerator door. It too had swung open during the quake and spilled a nearly full carton of orange juice onto the floor. John controlled an urge to mop it up, and turned back to the bedroom to get Jenna’s clothes.

He grabbed her running outfit and shoes from the master bedroom closet, and then dashed back out to join his family in the yard. John took
a knee next to Jenna and handed her the clothes and shoes. She quickly dressed under the robe, and then took it off and draped it around Abby’s shoulders before pulling her in tight with a hug.

“How’s it look inside?” asked Jenna.

“A few broken things, but nothing serious,” replied John.

“How long should we wait before we go back in?”

“I wanna walk through the entire house first. Let me inspect it for damage, and if it looks safe, and no more tremors come, then it should be safe to go back in. Can you guys wait for me to do that?”

Everyone nodded or said yes, so John stood and said, “Adam, come with me to inspect the exterior.”

Adam jumped up and followed John. When they were around the corner of the house, and out of earshot of Jenna and Abby, Adam asked, “What are we looking for?”

“I’m looking for major structural damage, something that would make the house collapse if another earthquake comes,” said John, as he ran a hand over one particularly long crack that ran the length of the lower stone façade.

“I thought earthquakes didn’t happen in Texas,” said Adam.

“Me too,” replied John, as he led Adam around to the back of the house.

When they reached the back patio, John began to inspect the slab under his feet. Adam watched him closely, as if taking in the details of John’s inspection. Adam reminded John a lot of himself. When he was young, he would watch his father’s every move, especially when he was working.

“Do you think the earthquakes are done?” asked Adam, as he inspected a broken family room window with a finger.

“Careful not to cut yourself,” said John, and then added, “And I don’t know if they’re done, but I have a pretty good idea what caused them.”

“Really?” asked Adam.

“Yeah. I think the Caldera blew. I think the first shock wave . . . or ground tremor we felt was probably the Caldera erupting. The others . . .
those were definitely earthquakes. I think the eruption probably triggered earthquakes all over the US.”

“Wow. So you think the eruption set off the earthquakes?” asked Adam.

“Yeah, among other things,” replied John, as he continued his external inspection circuit around the house. “You’re right about Texas . . . earthquakes are uncommon, but they’re not impossible,” he added. “In fact, earthquakes happen around the world, it’s just that some places are more prone to them than others.”

John ran his hand tenderly over another crack on the side of the house and said, “One of the biggest earthquakes in American history occurred in Missouri. It was called the New Madrid earthquake, and it was so powerful that it actually reversed the course of the Mississippi River for a while.

“When was that?” asked Adam.

“1811 or 1812,” replied John.

“When you were a boy,” teased Adam.

John punched Adam lightly on the arm and said, “Very funny, smart guy.”

They cleared another side of the house and returned to the front. After waving briefly to Jenna and Abby. John completed his external inspection when he reached the front door, and walked down the path to join Jenna. While he walked he said, “Adam, I want you to wait out here with your mom and sister while I check inside. I’ll be quick, but I don’t want you coming in for me if the ground starts shaking again . . . got it?”

“OK, dad,” replied Adam as he dropped to the grass next to Jenna.

“I’ll be out in a minute,” said John.

He turned to leave when Abby yelled, “Daddy, please don’t go in!”

John knelt next to Abby and hugged her while saying. “It’s OK, sweetie. Everything will be fine. I just need to check the house before we can go inside. Everything looks good so far, I just need to look on the inside. OK?”

Abby returned John’s hug fiercely and said, “OK.” She didn’t let go until Jenna hugged her back into her arms.

Jenna shot John a worried look, but again, John smiled and gave her a knowing nod. He said, “The house looks good from the outside. I’ll be quick. I love you guys.”

John turned at their replies and jogged up to the front door. He flipped the entryway light switch and was surprised to see the power still on. He flipped it back off and went straight to the garage to turn off the main circuit breaker, which also killed power from the solar converter. Their house was now without power.

He hit the button to open the garage door and then shook his head. “Good one, John,” he said aloud, and walked over to manually open the garage door by pulling on the red, plastic handle. He wasn’t sure why he wanted the garage door open, only that it made him feel better. There was something about natural light and fresh air that calmed him, and he wanted both to flood the entire house.

With the main garage door open, bright sunlight streamed into the once dark and dusty garage. Other than a few overturned containers, the garage endured the quakes with little trouble. He looked around the garage and started to organize when he remembered he wanted to turn off the LP to the house.

John jogged to the storage tanks behind the shop and turned off the main supply valve. He didn’t smell gas when he walked around the outside of the house, or when he passed through the kitchen, but he felt it was a wise precaution given the duration of the quake. Besides, he knew how to relight the pilot lights. He would rather go through the trouble of relighting them than have to deal with any kind of fire.

Lastly, when he returned to the garage, John shut off the water by turning the main supply valve. He knew the water wouldn’t flow when the well pump and pressure tank was off, but there was likely enough back pressure in the lines to cause problems if there was a break or crack. Besides, like the gas, it made him feel better turning it off until he completed his inspection.

John didn’t know why Abby was so upset by the earthquakes, but he wanted to make the house feel as warm and inviting to her as ever, so he threw back all the curtains while he conducted the interior inspection.

A few broken windows didn’t bother John. He planned to board them up anyway, but the glass would have to be picked up first. He did notice a few interior cracks, but they looked superficial, and mostly involved the sheetrock. None of the damage looked serious enough to warrant evacuating their home, which pleased him greatly. As far as John was concerned, after a little cleaning, their house would be as good as new.

John emerged from the front door and Jenna hollered, “Is everything alright?”

“Can we go back in?” asked Adam

“Everything looks fine,” replied John. “We can go back in . . . but everything’s off. I turned off the power, gas and water, but I’ll turn them back on in a minute. The thing is, the gas and water are ours, but the electricity isn’t.”

“Solar?” asked Jenna.

“That’s off too,” replied John, “but it’s not enough to power the entire house. That’s why I bought a generator. All I’m saying is . . . I don’t think the power will be on for much long. I’ll turn the breaker back on, but I need everyone to go in and turn everything off first. Can you do that for me?”

“So the house is safe to enter?” asked Jenna.

“Yes,” said John. “But we have a mess to clean up. After that I plan to cover the downstairs windows.”

“How many windows did we lose?” asked Jenna.

“All but a few are cracked, and a couple are completely broken out, but I think we faired pretty well considering the earthquake’s duration. It could have been a lot worse. Houses in Texas aren’t built to California earthquake standards. We’re lucky,” finished John.

“If you say so,” said Jenna.

“I believe we are. I’m afraid to check the shelter though. I don’t know if it being below grade is a good thing, or a bad thing. Still, the house is our best option right now,” said John, as he sat on the lawn next to Jenna.

“You guys feel that?” asked Adam, as another small tremor shook the earth under them. It was a very low tremor, one they probably wouldn’t have noticed it if they were up and moving around.

“Yes. And that’s a good sign,” said John. “I think it’s safe to go in now. Are you guys ready to get to work?” asked John, as he looked at Adam and Abby.

Adam reclined on the lawn and said, “I think I’ll stay out here where it’s safe.”

“That’d be nice, wouldn’t it,” said John, “but we’ve got work to do, so let’s go lazy butt.”

The family returned to the house and got to work cleaning up the mess. The kitchen was the worst for damage, but it was spread pretty much throughout the house. As for Adam, he was happy the Xbox was undamaged, but disappointed he couldn’t turn it on and check for sure. “Dad, when you turning the power back on?”

“As soon as we go around and unplug everything,” said John.

While Jenna and the kids began cleaning, John went around and unplugged everything. As he passed through the kitchen, Jenna asked, “Can the power be turned back on now? It’s hard to clean in here without lights.”

“I’m gonna do that right now,” replied John. “Besides, I wanna see what’s on the news.”

John returned to the breaker box and lifted the main lever. He then walked to the kitchen and flipped the wall switch up and down several times. Nothing happened, so he returned to the breaker box and frowned. The power was out, which meant he would have to set up the generator for night operation.

He checked each individual circuit breaker while looking for the kitchen switches. They were fine, but he pushed them all to the left and
then back to the right just to be sure. Still nothing. He then reached over and reengaged the solar power inverter.

Jenna yelled from the kitchen, “They’re back on!”

John entered the kitchen and said, “Well . . . not really. I mean, the lights are on, but the power is out. That’s the solar power feeding the lights.”

“I thought the power was still flowing?” asked Jenna.

“It was when I turned it off. It’s not running now,” shrugged John.

“So we have light until the sun goes down?” asked Jenna.

“I’ll get the camping gear out, but that’s why I bought the generator. I just can’t mess with it now. For one, I’ve got to get more fuel for it, and soon,” said John.

Jenna sighed and said, “I didn’t think we’d be without power this soon.”

“You and me both,” replied John, as he walked over to turn on the small LCD TV that was mounted under a kitchen cabinet. It was a small screen, but John found it handy for keeping up on the news while he was in the kitchen.

John was happy to see cable service still operating, and he quickly switched to a local news channel to learn more about what was happening around them. Adam and Abby were debating about who would be first to use the Xbox when the cleaning was done, and John snapped, “Quiet everyone . . . listen!” He immediately regretted losing his patience, and added, “This is really important, and I want to hear it.” Jenna came over to join John, and the kids quieted and hovered a short distance behind them. Everyone was quiet and listening to the news on the television.

A diagram of the United States was on the screen, and an unseen male voice was saying, “. . . subsequent earthquakes, of various magnitudes and durations, have been reported along the Pacific Coast and across the Plain States.”

Red pulsing circles began to radiate from multiple points on the map around California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Oklahoma and Missouri. The man’s voice said, “What we are seeing now
is the location of earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.0 or greater. Many more earthquakes of lesser magnitude have been reported all across the country,” he continued, “but reports are in that the largest, and still unofficial epicenter was in Idaho near the Yellowstone National Park.”

The map was reduced and moved to the lower left hand corner of the screen in order to show the news anchor. A distinguished looking, middle-aged man, continued with the report. “Other major epicenters, with quakes measuring eight or nine on the Richter scale, have also occurred near Los Angeles, San Francisco, Anchorage, Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City, St. Louis and Memphis. We have limited contact with our affiliates in those areas, but we’ll continue to keep you informed, so stay tuned.”

Despite the fact that so many big earthquakes occurred all at once, John was actually relieved the new report didn’t say anything about the Caldera erupting. But he wondered if other news channels were saying the same thing.

John switched to a different news channel and stopped. What he heard sent a chill down his spine. A sharp looking blond woman was interviewing a scholarly looking man in the newsroom. She said, “With me now is the former deputy director for the USGS, Mr. Richard Ward. Mr. Ward, what can you tell us about the eruption at Yellowstone National Park? Is that eruption responsible for the rash of earthquakes that occurred across the country this morning?”