Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13 Oooomph! Jackson landed on his side on soft, wet sand. The stench made him gag. But his backpack had broken his fall. There was no boiling lava. No flames. He was not inside the mouth of a slobbering beast. He was at the bottom of a narrow pit.

It was very dark and everything was still shaking. But peering up, Jackson could see the street. He guessed he'd only fallen about six feet. Might as well be a hundred feet, Jackson thought. Because there was no way to get out. He stretched out his arms, feeling the jagged sides. If a fissure could open up, could it also slam shut? Could he be crushed? He had to get out of here! But how? He started to take off his backpack. Maybe he could signal with his flashlight. Or use his rope to somehow pull himself up. Except before he could get it off, freezing water started to seep up from the ground, soaking his boots. And then… Whooooooooosh! Jackson screamed as a blast of freezing water exploded underneath him, a spray so powerful it rocketed him up out of the pit. It was like being shot through the blowhole of a huge whale! The

water knocked the air from his lungs. It gushed into his mouth and up his nose. And then, with a sickening crunch of his ankle, his body landed on the hard, wet street. Pain exploded from the tips of his toes to the top of his leg. He lay there, too dazed to think. It took him a long moment to realize that the roaring had stopped. The ground was still. Finally, the earthquake was over. Gritting his teeth against the pain in his leg, Jackson managed to sit himself up. He was on the side of the street. Hunks of icy snow mixed with giant rocks had been coughed up from under the ground. Towers of water blasted up from some of the cracks. The water was brown and smelled rotten, like an outhouse on a hot day. Jackson tried not to think of what was in the water that he'd swallowed.

A man rushed by him carrying a crying little boy in his arms. A woman limped past. He didn't see Leonor or Chris or Nora or Mary. Had they made it off the bridge in time? Were they safe? Jackson turned and stared in horror at the harbor, blinking in disbelief. Everything that had been there minutes before was gone. All the docks and buildings. All the people who hadn't made it over the bridge in time. The Chena had broken free of its ropes and was drifting in the harbor. Except it wasn't a harbor anymore. It was a swirling sea of wreckage. Everything that had been on the docks was now part of a wild whirlpool. Everything—and everyone. Panic tore at Jackson's insides. Where were Mom and Dad and Uncle Solly? He had to find them, now! They were at the house they were building. But where was that? Jackson didn't know, and even if he did, he couldn't get there. His ankle was broken, he was sure. The pain was

sickening. He could feel it swelling up inside his boot. There was no way he could walk, or even stand. A hopeless feeling came over Jackson. His mind started to swirl. Big, hot tears hung in the corners of Jackson's eyes. He tried to brush them away. Be tough! he scolded himself. Get to work! But his panic only grew. Get to work. He said the words over and over to himself. But they just spun around in his mind like the wreckage churning in the harbor. Because what could he do? Mom and Dad had never prepared him for anything like this. He dragged himself out of the icy puddle where he'd landed. Sucking in his breath and fighting tears, he crawled slowly off the street and into a building that was somehow still standing. He sat there, shivering, his soaked backpack next to him.

A strange sound came out of his mouth. Not a scream. Not a sob. It was a weak, rasping cry. It reminded him of a sound he'd heard before. On the night of the cabin fire. The winter bear had made that sound. The winter bear. Now Jackson understood how that bear had felt when it let loose that horrible cry. Lost. Terrified. Totally alone.