Eruption

“Is that a skull?” I ask pointing toward the sky. Turning around to look in the direction of my finger, Marcus exclaims, “What the hell?” Clutching my heart-locket with my right hand, I reach down and grasp his arm. “I’ve seen this before,” I tell him. Still catching his breath, he asks, “What does it mean?” Shaking my head, I try to remember where I’ve seen it. Taking his phone out of his pocket, he clicks on the internet, “Is it the devil?” Laughing, while hitting him on the chest, “Really? The devil?” Scrolling through the internet, he yells, “This is creepy!”

Grabbing the phone out of his hands, I look through the pictures, “Wow, it does look like the devil or at least means something bad is going to happen!” Looking back at Marcus, “What is that sound?” Below the clouds, I see lava coming from a volcano. “Holy shit! I thought it was dormant!” Feeling Marcus pick me up from behind and throwing me over his shoulder, snaps me back into reality. Sprinting toward the car, he places me in the passenger seat, while he runs to the driver’s side. Putting the car in drive, I yell, “Put on your seatbelt!” Chuckling as he holds my hand, “Okay sweetie.” Turning around in my seat, I place my phone on video, as we watch lava spurt from the volcano.

Looking in the rearview mirror, Marcus exclaims, “Babe! Did you see that?” Leaning over I kiss his shoulder, “Yes, I have it on video.” Shaking his head, he asks, “How far should we go?” Putting my phone down, I turn back around in my seat, “As far as possible!” I can’t believe how fast it’s moving. “Turn down that street,” I yell pointing down an alleyway. Steering off into the alley, Marcus puts the car in park and jumps out, “I think we need to get to the highest point possible!” Palpitations increase, pounding through my ears, “Won’t the lava take the bottom of the building?” Marcus turns back to look at me, “You’re probably right. Okay, get back in the car and we will try to go this way.” As we drive further down the alley, I turn around and see the lava filling up behind us, taking buildings with it. “Try to get to a highway,” I burst as Marcus drives even faster.

Finding the nearest highway, I turn around, watching buildings crumble behind us. Picking up Marcus’ hand, I kiss it gently, “What do we do?” Focusing on the road, Marcus ignores my question. Trying to think about the best option, I rub my heart-locket again as tears trickle down my cheeks. “All those people,” I whisper as Marcus grabs my hand. “We are so lucky.” Taking a deep breath, Marcus finally gets off the highway, “I think we should be safe for now.” Nodding, we pull into a parking lot and he puts the car in park. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I kiss his cheek and then his lips. As his tongue parts my lips, I pull him in closer. Opening my eyes as the car rumbles, “It’s not over!” Releasing him quickly, he puts the car in drive as we leave the parking lot. Ash falls around us, which quickly turns into rain. Flipping the wipers on high, he races toward the road.

The sky darkens around us as the clouds create a new formation. “Tornado! We need to find a ditch!” Marcus nods and continues until we find a low point to hide in. Sitting in the car, we hold each other while the seatbelts are still intact. Whispering in his ear, “Babe, we got this.” Marcus nods and holds me tighter.

As the storm passes above our heads, the car shakes, but luckily doesn’t move further than that. Marcus releases me and bends down to look out the window, “Looks like it has cleared. That was quick!” I also look out the window, “Do you think it’s actually over?” Marcus nods as I take out my phone to search on the internet, “There are already reports saying the lava and storm took out most of the island.” Getting out of the car, Marcus looks around, “Some vacation.” Following his lead, I also get out of the car, “There’s barely anything left!” Tears flow down my cheeks as I turn to Marcus, “What do we do?” Attempting to make light of the situation, he reminds me, “Don’t worry, Terminator and all those other crazy movies prepared us for this!” Laughing, I hit the car with my hand, “You’re right. Does the car still start?” Bending down in the car, Marcus is able to turn it over. “Yes!” Squealing as I jump up and down thankfully. Getting back in the car, Marcus presses down on the accelerator to get out of the ditch. Hitting the roof of the car, “Great job! Now what?” Marcus takes a deep breath, “We survive.”

Rolling my eyes, “Way to be dramatic, but our phones still work, so it can’t be that bad.” Marcus pulls his phone out, “Can you try to call my mom? I just want to talk to our daughter, so she knows we’re safe.” Attempting to make a phone call, I look over at Marcus, “It’s not working.” I switch and pick up my phone to do the same, “Fuck, they were working a few minutes ago! I’m assuming the towers are down. How much gas do we have?” Marcus hits the steering wheel, “Half a tank. I’m pulling off at the next parking lot.” Nodding, I hold his hand, secretly praying we will see other people.

Pulling into the nearest convenient store parking lot, I peer over to my right, noticing half the store destroyed by the storm. “Damn, I can’t imagine how many lives were taken. We’re so lucky!” Marcus puts the car in park and we both get out, “Yes, we are. Now we just have to figure out where to go from here.” Opening the door, we walk inside, “At least we will have some shelter and food until emergency services get here.” Seeing the cashier stand up from the floor, he yells at us, “Hey!” I stop mid-tracks, “So happy to see another person! Are we able to remain here for some shelter?” The cashier steps from behind the counter, “Of course, we have to stick together.” Marcus grabs me from behind, holding me close, “Yes, we do.”

Walking down the aisle, I grab a water, “Now it’s about survival.” Marcus nods, “We need to do this for Jordyn. For now, we have plenty of food and water, but we need to continue to try to get in touch with my mom.” Agreeing, “Well, we should stay here. Hopefully it won’t be like most apocalypse-type movies.” Laughing, walking in hand, he kisses me on the cheek, “It better not be!” We decide to sit down as I place my head on his shoulder and close my eyes.

That was 39-days ago, when we were hopeful and naïve. Rubbing Marcus’ leg, “Wake up babe. We can’t keep sleeping. We need to move to the next shelter before they get us!” Marcus, jerking awake, looks around quickly as though someone was gaining on us, “All right, let’s make a move.” As we slowly get up to head to the next location, I grab his hand, again hoping this nightmare will end soon.