The team drove away from their site with more relief than any kind of satisfaction. In fact, Lysa felt a strong sense of failure deep in her gut. It was absurd, but she hated that their near-death experience robbed them of a success.

If the world was going to fall on their heads, she at least wanted something productive to come of the catastrophe.

Instead, they were rumbling along the ridgeline roads with little to show for their last site visit. They had lost one of their LASER rigs, the crushed sensors would never be useful, and it was uncertain if other sites had lasted through the quake.

There was an extra kick of anxiety over that fact. Their entire trip might be made pointless by one of Mother Nature's fits. That wasn't entirely unexpected, but the inevitability of natural disasters didn't lessen their sting.

Danielle hit a particularly wicked rut in the road and the three of them were jogged from side to side in the truck. The truck could take the punishment, but it hurt.

"Gods, did you even try avoiding that one?" Lysa winced. "I still ache all over."

"Oh come on, don't blame the shitty roads on me," said Danielle. She grinned despite her claim of innocence. "I am trying though, honest." Her tone made that honesty suspect.

"It is a bit insane to call these roads." Liam repositioned in the back seat of the extended cab. He was almost lying down and had slipped himself under both sets of the back-bench's seatbelts. "They're trails at best."

"Trails, roads. They're shitty versions of either. You really can't expect me to give you a smooth ride when none of this has been maintained in years."

"We're taking the long way, right?" asked Lysa.

"Yeah, we'll be at 89 soon. I don't trust going down the switchback after an earthquake. Half those roadways were already crumbling when we came up."

"Huh, skies are clearing up to the south." Liam had his head propped on his backpack as an uncomfortable-looking pillow. "That should be a good sign. Maybe it's blown itself out."

"We can only hope. I bet they're living a real nightmare down there. Best case, they've got a new island. Worst case?" Lysa shook her head. "Too much can go wrong."

"I'm just hoping Prescott has some open restaurants. I'm tired of granola and that dehydrated garbage." Danielle wove the truck around several boulders in the road. They had certainly not been there before.

Then they rounded a spur of the hilltops and reached an overlook to the highway below.

They stopped.

Liam sat up. "Shit."

Their trail of a road ended in three-hundred meters. A whole chunk of the hillside was missing. No, it wasn't missing. It was perfectly clear that it had simply moved.

Below them, highway 89 was covered in rubble and debris from what used to be a hill. They saw bits of highway peeking out, but there was a large swath of missing road.

"So, westbound looks mostly clear," noted Lysa. She could see the highway continue interrupted after a kilometer of the slide.

"Eastbound is in shambles though." Danielle slipped the truck into reverse. "Oh, I hate backing up with a trailer."

"Have something in mind?" asked Liam.

"There was a fork in the road about two klicks back. We can make our way to the highway west of here."

Lysa groaned. "Which means we'll have to go through Wilhoit. All of our stuff is in Prescott."

"That's okay. Once we get into the valley, we'll head north and try to get around all this shit. Iron Springs is a better road. Not so winding."

"Okay, well, let's hope," mumbled Lysa.

Danielle leaned over and squeezed Lysa's shoulder. "Hey. We're okay. We're alive. That's worth a lot. I'm just so happy that you two are okay."

Liam chuckled from the back. "Dani, you are such a softie."

Lysa smiled, but she rubbed her shoulder. "She might be, but damnit, you really need to remember how strong you are. I think you left a bruise."

"As if you'll notice one more among the rest we got."

"Would you two hush," grumbled Danielle. "I'm trying to concentrate here."

The three of them shared a laugh as they made slow progress turning the all-wheel drive truck and trailer to head back up the trail.

#

It felt marvelous to be on a proper road again. They had their windows down, there weren't constant bumps jarring their organs every five seconds, and they could see city lights in the distance. Though, Wilhoit was hardly a city. Town was appropriate, though even that was generous.

Danielle drummed on the steering wheel as they sped around the final curves out of the hills. The radio had, in fact, returned once they got out of rough terrain.

It was just one A.M. station so far, but it was music, and they weren't being picky at the returned sign of humanity.

"Did y'all still want to eat?" asked Liam. He glanced up from his phone. None of them had gotten signal to return yet, but he was trying. He would probably drain his battery pack before nightfall at the rate he was going.

"Yeah, I think so." Lysa glanced at Danielle. "You?"

"Oh definitely. Food sounds so good right now. I am famished, and I'm really look forward to a shower. Maybe we should hole up somewhere?"

"Does Wilhoit even have a hotel?" asked Liam.

"I really don't think they do." Lysa looked out the window. She stared toward the clouds to the west. They were still looming, growing. It had to be an eruption.

Yet, like Liam pointed out, the southern clouds seemed to be breaking up. It could be caused by weather patterns, wind currents, but that seemed unlikely. That would've dissipated the dark ejecta earlier if it was just wind.

"Well," she cleared her throat, "Maybe things will calm down now. The big one really is clearing up."

"The big one?" Liam started sitting up. He stared out the window as they entered town. Looking for someplace to eat.

"One to the south?" asked Danielle. She slowed as they hit the city speed limits. Her eyes swept back and forth as well. "Oh yeah, there's this Saloon place."

"Yeah, the one to the south," agreed Lysa. "It's further away, so it had to be enormous for us to even see hints that it existed. And sure, this place looks fine."

"We went here when we first got to the mine, actually." Liam smiled as they pulled into the parking lot. "They have good beer. Shitty food, but still better than what we've been eating."

Danielle maneuvered them along fencing to the side of the metal-sided building. It was small and one-storied, with wood trim and cinderblock placements for an awning's wooden pillars. A hand-painted sign proclaimed it to be the, "Burro Saloon Bar -n- Grill."

"Quaint little place," said Lysa. She raised a brow at a gathering of bikers in front of the main door. "Guess that's a good sign. They must have power and something to serve."

The truck quieted as Danielle cut the engine and put it in park. "Look, they could have nothing but water and nuts and I'd be happy. I need a bit of normalcy to settle me down. That drive was nerve-wracking, and that's after the cave-in."

Lysa winced. "Right, no, you're right. Thank you for driving too. I love you for that. Those roads are terrifying."

Danielle smirked. "Don't say what you don't mean, girl. Now come on, drinks are on me."

They walked to the bar entrance and Lysa gave a polite wave toward the bikers.

Most of them didn't look away from their discussions, but a few nodded or turned to watch the newly-arrived group.

One, a gray-bearded bald man, raised his chin by way of greeting. "Where you folk coming in from?"

Lysa paused to answer. "Just up 89, one of the mines halfway to Prescott." She waved toward Danielle and Liam. "You two go ahead. I'll be in soon."

The biker looked at her friends, then looked back to Lysa. He seemed confused. "You three came through that shitfest? The roads are all blocked. We've been riding round trying to find survivors, but we haven't seen anyone come in from anywhere around here."

"Survivors? Was the earthquake that bad?"

Another biker turned his head. "Lady, we got pounded by that thing. You'll see inside, but half the damned west coast is sinking or in flames it seems. What with that Gulf of Mexico nonsense and the Salton Sea fucker? Damned near the end times."

"Salton Sea?" Lysa winced at the name. She recognized one of California's geothermal sinks. "So, it was a volcano?"

"Huge fucker," chimed in another biker.

Apparently, she had garnered the whole of the group's attention. "And the Gulf of Mexico? That was a volcano too?"

"Fuck, even worse. They're calling that thing some kinda super eruption. There ain't much news direct from them, but it's looking bad. A few of us are being recalled to go assist, National Guard, but that'll take a while."

"Oh gods," mumbled Lysa. She heard herself give a nervous giggle. "Well. I suppose things could be worse here then."

"Yeah, that's very true," said the gray-bearded bald biker. He had a large patch on each shoulder, it seemed, and everyone quieted down more when he spoke. Their leader, perhaps. "But you three stay safe. Okay? There's not many places to stay here in Wilhoit, but we can talk around and see who has free rooms to set you up."

That caught Lysa's attention. She had been about ready to turn away and go inside. "Set us up? We were going to head around to Prescott."

"Oh, not for some time you won't. Sorry. Whole damned valley is covered in slides right now. We're pretty much penned in right now."

Lysa felt herself getting dizzy. She reached down even as she felt her legs giving way. It wasn't pretty, but she managed a controlled descent to sitting on a concrete curb. "Shit."

"Yeah, that about sums it up," grumbled the biker.