Higher Ground by Becky Black (notion reading list txt) 📗

we can get around it and back to the waterfall on the other side.”

“Should I radio in?”

“Nah. Let’s surprise them on your next check-in.”

“Best to save the battery anyway. Lead on, then. And stay away from the edge.”

Adam didn’t need telling. They walked for almost an hour beside the crack in the ground. It narrowed to the point they might be able to jump it. But the rest of the group wouldn’t be able to manage that, so they had to get to the end of it and lead the group there, then on to the water.

“It’s getting dark,” Simon said as they at last reached the end of the crack in the ground. At least a kilometer and a half back toward the waterfall on the other side. “I don’t think we should—” He broke off with a gasp at the familiar rumble. The ground shook. Loose rock clattered down the slope and into the crack in the ground.

“Get away from the edge!” Adam grabbed him and pulled him away from the ravine. They ran, stumbling. Adam lost his footing and fell to one knee, but Simon dragged him up and they ran a few more steps before the shaking grew violent enough to make them drop to the ground, grabbing on to rocks.

If Zach was here, he and Adam would be clinging together, but all Adam could do was grab for his walkie-talkie and open a channel. Simon clearly had the same instinct, and he had his out and was calling his wife’s name already. The radios connected at the same time, and in stereo they heard the sound of children crying and dogs howling. Adam shuddered, but Simon called out, apparently able to pick out Amina’s voice in all the others.

“Ami, baby, Daddy’s here. Don’t cry, sweetheart. Don’t be frightened.”

“Adam?” Zach’s voice, pained, scared. The shaking began to ease.

“I’m here,” Adam gasped out, his throat closed, choked. “I’m okay. Are you okay?”

“It’s stopping.” The rumbling noise died away. The ground stilled. In the background over the radio, the crying of children went on. Adam tried not to listen in on Simon comforting his daughter, tried not to hear the trembling in his voice.

“Zach. Are you okay there? Any injuries?”

“No…I don’t think so. Adam, you should come back. I can’t stand this. You can’t stay out there for the night.”

“It’s nearly dark.” He glanced across at Simon, who must have heard Zach’s suggestion and looked as if he very much wanted to agree with it so he could go be with his wife and child. “It’s too dangerous,” Adam said to both of them. “We found the stream.” He took a breath, tried to get his mind back on the job. “We’ll bivouac here. You can join us in the morning, and we’ll lead you to the stream.”

”But…Amina’s very upset. She needs—”

“Don’t,” Adam snapped, seeing the anguish on Simon’s face. “We’re all very upset. But this is the only smart thing to do. We’re fine. And we’re not so far away. I can see your lights.”

“I just wish…” His voice dropped. “I wish you were here with me, that’s all.”

“I know. I feel the same. I’d better sign off,” Adam said. “You go get everyone calmed down there. Set up camp before it’s too dark.”

They signed off reluctantly. With barely a word exchanged, Adam and Simon set about making camp.

“I’ll make the dinner,” Simon said when they had a fire going. “You go set the rest up.”

There was little else to set up, but Simon clearly wanted to be alone, so Adam left him to it. He unrolled their sleeping bags on either side of the fire and sat down on a rock that had a view of the distant lights of Zach’s group.

Beyond that lay the yawning blackness of the flooded basin. No lights. He’d climbed this mountain before and sat at night looking at the lights of the town. Now it was all washed away. So hard to picture it. Everything gone. The town, the Institute, the farms. The farms people had invested so much of their lives in. Eva hadn’t joined them on the climb. Few of the farmers had. He’d looked for her and others as the crowd gathered that first morning of their journey, scanning the crowd in vain. She was gone. All of them were gone. It took him in the gut like a medicine ball, and he dropped to sit down. Shock and denial gave way to reality at last.

Simon came over a few minutes later, carrying a lantern, and sat down beside him. He handed a bowl of soup and some crackers to Adam, making no comment as Adam scrubbed a hand across his eyes to dry them before he took the bowl.

“Sorry,” Adam said. “I should have come and helped.”

“You can do breakfast.” They ate their soup in brooding silence, Simon’s grim look matching Adam’s mood well. Ridiculous, he thought, to compare the anxiety he felt at being parted from Zach with what Simon felt. He’d met Zach only days ago. Simon and Visha had been together for years. Had a child together. He couldn’t claim to have the same thing with Zach, could he?

In the back of his mind, a soft voice spoke.

Not yet.

Chapter Twenty

“Did you get much sleep?” Zach asked Adam over the radio the next morning.

“Not much.”

“Well, get some rest. It’ll be a couple of hours before we reach you, so you and Simon can—”

He stopped as a shout came from the camp. Several people yelling at once, voices triumphant.

“What’s going on?” Adam asked. “What’s that yelling?”

“I don’t know. Stand by.”

Korrie came running up to Zach. “Come on!” She grabbed his arm and pulled him along.

“What is it?” Zach asked, as they ran. “Is something wrong?” Her laugh in answer to him made realize it was a ridiculous question. Clearly, triumphant yelling wasn’t about anything being wrong. “Is something…right?”

“Contact,” she said, laughing as she spoke. “We made contact.”

Zach stared at her