Chapter 2 #2
Unable to come up with another option she allowed herself time to fantasise about the dozen ways she would deal with Vance the next time she saw him, the most satisfying of which would be breaking his nose.
Sure, he’d pay for the best plastic surgeon to fix it, but his vanity would take a real kick and he’d lock himself indoors for the time it took to heal, not wanting anyone to see him as anything other than perfect.
In one conversation, Vance had destroyed her anonymity. Mila had stayed off Agus’s radar for three months. As far as he was concerned, she was a bleeding heart white woman who was finding herself by teaching English to the villagers.
Now, thanks to stupid Vance Bradley, she was in a real mess.
Her bed trembled, and she clenched her muscles to stop shaking.
A low roar filled her ears and then the frantic shouts in Indonesian pushed her up on her elbows. She wasn’t shaking, the ground was.
Earthquake.
Shit.
She leapt out of bed and threw on some shorts. What the hell was she supposed to do? Hide under the bed? Stand in the doorway? Run outside?
She stumbled to the window in time to see the long house next to her collapse. People screamed.
Fear gripped her heart.
The walls of her tiny room bowed, and she grabbed her bag, scooped up her sneakers and staggered out of the house as wood shattered behind her.
Bursting from the building, she sucked in a breath of the warm night air. Houses shook around her and the ground roared like a jet engine coming in to land. People stumbled into the streets looking as if they were drunk, and moved towards the clear market square.
Right. Get away from the buildings which could collapse. Mila threw her bag strap over her head and followed the others, struggling to stay upright. The ground felt like a carnival ride gone rogue, shifting and shaking, making it impossible to walk in a straight line.
When she reached the group, she slid her sneakers onto her feet and took a breath.
She had twenty children in her English classes, but she couldn’t make out faces in the darkness.
The streetlights went out as the shaking subsided, but the noises didn’t.
Frantic shouts, screams for help, and the scratch and crash of items which hadn’t been able to withstand the force of the quake.
Mila slowly turned, taking it all in. The front awning of her own building had collapsed, blocking the entrance and exit, and so many other structures were teetering or piles of rubble.
Where was Vance? She glanced up to the cliff which overlooked the village. From here it appeared as if the house still stood. He should be fine.
What did she do now?
“Miss, miss.” Someone tugged on her hand and she blinked away the shock to look down at one of her students, Dewi.
“My nenek is trapped. She can’t get out.”
Mila squeezed the ten-year-old’s hand. “Show me where.”
The scope of the damage became clear as people found torches or lanterns and switched them on. Nearby, a power line was sparking, dangling across the road. Streets were buckled and so many buildings had simply collapsed.
She followed Dewi to a building on the opposite side of the square. Dewi was one of five children, but she lived with her extended family, which included aunts, uncles, cousins and her grandmother, who was trapped.
“This way.” Dewi went to climb through a gap in the wall and Mila stopped her.
“It might not be safe.”
Dewi frowned at her and shook off her hand. “She’s through here.”
Before Mila could say anything else, Dewi had slipped through the gap. Fear gripped Mila, but everyone was busy digging through the rubble or searching for family members. She had to be brave. Hopefully the rest of Dewi’s family was somewhere safe.
Taking a deep breath, she followed the child into the kitchen. Two outside walls had fallen inward to form a tee-pee space, but any further aftershocks might cause them to collapse.
Mila sniffed, screwing up her nose at the gas smell. Probably from a broken pipe, but she checked the little cooker to make sure everything was off.
Dewi waited impatiently in the doorway. “This way.”
“Where’s the rest of your family?” Mila asked as she followed the girl.
“They went to visit my uncle in the mountains. He is getting married, but Nenek was too frail, so I stayed with her.”
At least there were fewer people to worry about here, but the mountain village would have been hit by the earthquake too. She reached into her bag for her phone and remembered it had been stolen. No torch.
A groan to her left made her turn.
Dewi’s grandmother lay underneath a section of the wooden ceiling which had collapsed. Mila hurried over. “Ma’am, are you hurt?” she asked in Indonesian.
“My arm is broken.”
OK. Not too bad. At least she could walk. “We’ll get you out of here.” She examined the chunk of woven ceiling. It didn’t appear to be holding anything else up. If she and Dewi could lift it, Dewi’s grandmother could get out.
Dewi had already cleared the debris away from the ceiling section and was waiting for instruction.
“Take that side.” Mila pointed to the far side, which should be slightly lighter for the child. “On the count of three, we’ll lift and move it to the side.”
Dewi nodded as Mila shifted into position.
“One, two, three.” She hefted the ceiling, grunting at its weight.
Dewi’s grandmother groaned and Dewi dropped her section of the ceiling and dashed to her side.
Mila strained as the full weight of the ceiling panel fell to her and she shoved it against the wall. By the time she turned, Nenek was standing and Dewi was helping her to the exit.
The gas stench was getting stronger.
“Is there a gas valve anywhere?” she asked Nenek as she joined them.
“Outside against the wall.”
Mila scanned the kitchen for a splint for Nenek’s arm and grabbed a couple of towels on her way out. “Take her into the square,” she told Dewi. “I’ll join you in a second.”
She made her way around the house and located the two gas bottles. One hose had been disconnected, so she turned the tap off. As she was heading back to the square, the first aftershock hit.
She swayed as the ground trembled, her heart racing and people shouting.
Crashes came from all around her and she stumbled towards the square.
Something brushed her back as she rounded the house but she didn’t stop to see what was collapsing behind her.
She didn’t stop until she reached Dewi and her grandmother.
By then the trembling had stopped.
She exhaled, breathing deeply as her heart rate came down.
“Let me check your arm.” Mila gently examined Nenek’s bruised arm.
The bone hadn’t broken through the skin, but there was an unnatural bend to it.
The nearest medical centre was a street back from the ocean.
It was likely to be inundated by people already, but Mila couldn’t help her. “I’ll take you to the doctor.”
Nenek shook her head. “No. Desa Agung.”
The nearest village was a twenty-minute drive away in the mountains. They were likely to have been hit by the earthquake as well. “The medical centre is closer.”
“No,” Nenek insisted. “Tsunami.”
Mila froze. The air swooshed out of her lungs as she scanned the area. Those who had found their loved ones were climbing onto scooters and heading east up the mountain. Only those who were searching for missing people stayed.
She should have thought of it. The earthquake and subsequent tsunami twenty years ago was why Mila’s mother had visited the island. And her mother’s memories of the place had drawn Mila here.
Back then, almost half the population of the island had died because there had been no tsunami early warning systems.
It was clear people knew exactly what to do this time.
Mila nodded and asked, “Do you have a vehicle?”
The grandmother yelled to a nearby woman and in moments they had arranged transport in an already overloaded truck.
“Come,” the grandmother demanded.
Mila had her own scooter, and she wouldn’t fit inside the truck.
“Miss Mila!” The scream made her spin around. Another one of her students, Fajar, ran towards her, eyes wide, and tears streaming down his face.
“What is it?”
“I can’t find my family.”
She glanced at Dewi and Nenek and then towards the ocean. Though every instinct told her to run, she couldn’t leave this child alone. She waved them away and turned her attention to the boy. “Where were you when the earthquake struck?”
He pointed, and she ran to the neighbouring building with him.
Hopefully they could find them in time.