The Tsunami Countdown

FORTY-FIVE

Noon

12 Minutes to Third Wave

Kai dropped to his knees and cradled Lani’s head in his hands, his terror rising when he saw water spill from her mouth. Panic seized him. “Teresa, what do I do?” he cried out, the desperation in his voice verging on hysteria.

Without thinking, Kai repositioned Lani’s top, which had fallen embarrassingly low. That meager gesture to protect her dignity only magnified his helplessness. Despite his scientific training and his extensive education, he had never bothered to learn CPR.

“Cut me loose!” Teresa yelled, struggling to untie the rope that encumbered her.

Kai sliced through the main rope linking her to the girder, not bothering with the loops still dangling around her midsection.

Teresa bent over Lani, feeling for a pulse.

“How long has she been out?”

“I don’t know. She was fine before I went over to inflate the raft. Two, maybe three minutes. Maybe less.”

“I knew something like this would happen!” Brad said, his voice cracking under the strain.

“Will you shut up!” Kai barked at him. He pointed the knife at Brad. Kai didn’t have time for Brad’s panic as well as his own. “Do something useful.”

Brad took the knife and began to cut himself and the others loose.

“She’s got a pulse,” Teresa said, “but it’s almost gone.”

Without another word, Teresa tilted Lani’s head back and cleared her tongue, making sure nothing was obstructing her throat, then turned her head to the side to drain any water left in her mouth. Once the last of the water gurgled out, Teresa leaned over and began to force air into Lani’s lungs using mouth-to-mouth.

After two deep breaths, she pulled back and turned Lani’s head again. She pushed on Lani’s chest, forcing more water to gush out.

“She took in a lot of water. We’ve got to clear it.”

Kai was a wreck. There wasn’t anything he could do. He never felt more useless. He simply held his daughter’s hand and called her name.

“Lani! Come on! Lani! Can you hear me? Wake up!”

Suddenly, Teresa drew back. “We lost her pulse!”

Instead of slamming her fist onto Lani’s chest as Kai had seen done on TV, Teresa carefully placed the heel of her hand on Lani’s sternum and rhythmically pressed firmly but gently. After thirty beats, she breathed twice into Lani’s mouth.

“Come on, Lani!” Teresa huffed as she continued the compressions. “We’ve come this far.”

Kai felt the tears streaming from his eyes and mingling with the salt water still dripping from his hair.

“Please, Lani,” Kai said. “Don’t do this to me. Don’t leave me.”

As if answering him, Lani emitted a slight wheeze. Her eyes fluttered open. Then a small cough escaped her, and the cough became a fit. She turned over, gasping for breath. But Kai couldn’t have been happier to see her wracked with coughs. All that mattered was that she was alive.

Lani vomited about a quart of water amid the coughs. After the fit was over, Kai sat her up and gripped her shoulders.

“Feel better?” he said.

She nodded. “What happened?” Her voice was still a hoarse croak and talking started another round of coughs. Kai wiped her mouth on his shirttail.

“Your hose was cut. You inhaled some seawater.”

“Did the raft work?” she said.

“Just like you thought it would. I’m so proud of you.” Kai took her in his arms, relishing the warmth that was missing from her skin just a few moments ago.

“She’ll be okay,” Teresa said. “We’ll just have to make sure she doesn’t get pneumonia from all the seawater in her lungs.”

She turned her attention to her own daughter. Mia cradled her right leg but otherwise seemed intact.

“Thank God we got you out,” she said, holding Mia. “How’s your leg?”

“It hurts. Is it broken?”

“Let me look.” Teresa touched her leg tenderly. “I don’t see any broken bones. Can you wiggle your toes?”

Mia tried it and nodded. She repeated the same for her ankle. When she got to the knee, she winced and cried out.

“Looks like you might have a torn ligament in your knee. In any case, you’re going to need help moving.”

“Look, I don’t want to be a jerk,” said Brad, focusing the point on Kai, “but we’re currently sitting in the world’s largest game of Jenga. Can we go now?”

He was right. The condo building was precarious at best. It could collapse at any time.

“You,” Kai said, pointing at Brad, “are going to carry Mia.” He cut the dry bag loose and slung it over his shoulder. “Lani, can you walk?”

“I can make it.”

Kai applauded her guts, but he didn’t think she would get far without help. Her lungs would be raw from the near drowning, and the debris outside would make the walk anything but easy.

“All right, let’s move.”

They made it out to the hallway when Kai heard a squeal behind him. The life raft that had been pinned under the girder had been slowly sliding out, lubricated by the water. It finally shot out like a balloon from the pressure, bouncing around the room before going through the open wall and over the side of the balcony.

They all chuckled at the silly spectacle and then stopped when they heard a more ominous noise coming from all around them.

“Down! Down!” Kai yelled.

Leading Lani by the hand, he tore down the stairs, constantly sliding on the muck left behind by the water. Several times he slipped and caught himself with what was left of the railing.

When Kai got to the third-story landing, he heard Tom crash to the floor. Kai turned and yanked him up.

“No time for that.”

As they ran, the groaning of the building grew, and Kai knew they didn’t have more than a few seconds left. When they got to the first floor, Kai and Lani jumped through the open space where the windows used to be and ran in the direction that was most clear of debris: toward the beach.

Kai looked over his shoulder to make sure everyone was behind him; he wasn’t going to let anyone fall back. Brad carried Mia piggyback, with Tom in front of him and Teresa close on his heels. Out of the corner of Kai’s eye, he saw the condo building tilt at a strange angle. Lani ran too slowly, so he gathered her up like a baby and pumped his legs as fast as they would carry him across Kalakaua Avenue.

An immense bang of snapping steel erupted behind him, and Kai felt a whoosh of air pound his back. He dove into the sand of Waikiki, now covered with a slimy ooze, and shielded Lani with his body. Pulverized pieces of the disintegrating building pummeled his back, but nothing bigger than a small pebble landed on him.

When the sound died, Kai pushed himself up. His back and head were coated in fine powder that clung to his wet skin. Instead of seeing the building they were just in, all he could make out was a fog of dust and a pile of debris. The entire ten-story Seaside condominium tower was now a pancake of rubble twenty feet high.

Kai sat on the sand, surveying the now-unfamiliar surroundings. The landscape of Waikiki had been utterly changed in the thirty minutes since they had entered The Seaside. Shattered structures littered the streets like crumpled beer cans. Other buildings were nothing more than skeletons stripped bare of their innards. Massive piles of junk had been caught against the various mountains of wreckage that used to be hotels and condominiums.

But even without the landmarks, the outline of the mountains behind was familiar. Kai recognized the pattern where they had come ashore with the Jet Skis. Of course, the watercraft were nowhere to be seen.

“Nice job, Kai,” Brad said, squeezing the water from his filthy T-shirt. “We’re back where we started.”