Under the best of conditions, they could run maybe a mile in ten minutes. But given their exhaustion and the debris that would be littering the way, that estimate was way too optimistic. And with waves this size, the water would surely reach more than a mile inland.
Kai studied the buildings around him. About five blocks away from the beach was another apartment building that was about twice the height of the Seaside.
'That building is 20 stories tall. If we make it up that one, it's a little farther inland. We can sort of leapfrog our way up to the Punchbowl as the next wave recedes. That's the closest point that's safe.'
It wasn't a great plan, but it was all he had.
The smell of sea water was strong, much stronger than it should have been this high up. It reminded Kai that they were still in mortal danger.
He looked to the sky, trying to will one of those distant helicopters to come their way. He wanted to do something, but couldn't. Only 20 minutes until the next wave, and he was completely helpless.
Chapter 35
After Brad finished filling Rachel in on their situation, she had a last word with Kai and then signed off to deal with her latest problem.
There was no way a helicopter could land on top of the Akamai Tower to rescue the family across from Rachel and Max. The architects had made sure of that when they designed the spire topping the building. The only way for the family to escape was to go down. But with the dredging barge impaled in the building, probably blocking the stairwell in the center of the structure, they might not be able to make it all the way to the ground.
'Do you think they can get out?' Max said.
'There's no way to know from here,' Rachel replied. 'They'll just have to try it.'
'Even if they get all the way down, can they get to safety? You said there's another wave coming, and it's even bigger than the last one.'
'There's one other possibility,' she said. 'They might be able to go across the skybridge.'
They searched for signs of the sixth floor skybridge, but the water level was still well above it. The skybridge, designed like a suspension bridge, hung from cables that extended up to the eighth floor. Sixteen cables, eight anchored to each side of the bridge's floor, held it in place, with half the cables attached to the Moana Tower and the other half attached to the Akamai Tower. The cables were still intact, but it was impossible to tell whether they still connected to anything substantial enough to walk across.
'The skybridge?' Max said. 'Do you think it's still there? That would be convenient.'
'Convenient? You think anything about this morning is convenient?'
Max dropped his head in embarrassment. 'I just meant that it would be lucky for them,' he said sheepishly.
Rachel sighed. 'I know, Max. I'm sorry. I shouldn't take it out on you. Look, we won't know about the skybridge until the water recedes, but if it is still there, they might be able to get to it and get across. It'll take them a few minutes to get down 20 stories.'
The family didn't budge. They just looked at Rachel and waved frantically, not knowing what to do. They were in a panic.
'We have to tell them to move now.'
'But how?' Max said. 'With the power out, we can't use the hotel phones.'
'We'll write it on something.' Rachel looked around, and then realized what they needed was right in front of them. She ran over to the maitre d's desk and grabbed the grease pencil he used to mark the seating plan. She took it to one of the dining tables, threw the glasses and utensils on the floor, and began scrawling on the white table cloth in huge letters.
In a minute, she completed the crude message.
'Help me,' she said to Max and whipped the table cloth off. They carried it over to the window. It said, 'Go to skybridge 6th floor.'
'Wait a minute,' Rachel said, keeping the tablecloth out of view of the window.
'What?' Max said.
'We need to make sure the skybridge is actually there.'
The water had begun to flow back toward the ocean, carrying anything that floated. In another minute, the level was down to the sixth floor. They held their breath to see whether the skybridge was still intact.
As the water dropped further, the debris started to get caught on something. When it began to pile up in a line between the buildings, Rachel knew the skybridge had survived.
'OK, let's put the sign up,' Rachel said. 'And let's hope they speak English.'
They held the tablecloth against the window so that the family could read it. After seeing it, both the man and woman nodded furiously and gave a thumbs up. In a second, the whole family was gone.
'Looks like they got the message. Max, you need to get everyone here up to the roof. It won't be easy because of the stairs. You'll have to leave the wheelchairs behind. Keep calling for a helicopter. And take some of the tablecloths to wave as a signal.'
'You're not going down there, are you?'
'They may need help getting across. Besides, once they get over to our building, they may try to go down instead of up. I think that would be a bad decision. Max, do whatever you have to do to get that helicopter.'
He nodded. 'Be careful.'
'You too. I'll see you in 20 minutes. If I'm not back by then, that means…' She let it trail off, not wanting to actually say that it meant she and the others hadn't made it.
'You better be,' Max said.
With that, Rachel ran to the door marked by the emergency exit sign and started down the stairs.
Over the skies of Honolulu, Kai saw more types of helicopters than he even knew existed. Army Blackhawks and huge Navy HH-53s were the biggest, but there were news choppers, scenic tour helicopters with their logos emblazoned on the side, and everything in between. At one point, he counted over a dozen helicopters buzzing around the city in all directions. All seven of Kai's group waved their arms wildly, but even with that many helicopters, not one of them came in their direction. There were just too many other people clamoring for their attention.
The only other option was to go down. The water swirling below made that an unpleasant prospect. Along with the inorganic wreckage, Kai now saw bodies being drawn back to the ocean. Most of them were face down, so he was spared looking at their last expressions, but he could see the tsunami had been indiscriminate.
In the short time that the water had begun to withdraw, Kai saw at least 30 bodies of men and women, some still in their flowered shirts or bathing suits, others stripped completely naked. But the most horrible sight was the children. The first one was a girl about Lani's age, her long blonde hair floating next to her. Kai felt the urge to jump in and pull her out, but he restrained himself, knowing it would be a pointless gesture that would not only get him killed, but would also mean he'd no longer be there for Lani. Each time he saw a child float by, Kai looked for signs of life in the hopes that he might save one of them, but each of them remained still. He told Lani not to look, but he knew he couldn't protect her for long. Eventually, they would have to go out in that.
Almost as horrible was seeing the pets that had been taken by the wave. Dogs and cats mixed with the people. Some of the dogs even still had their leashes on. It made Kai wonder for the first time how Bilbo was, but he realized with relief that if Reggie was OK, his dog was too.
Then they saw another carcass, one so out of place amidst all of the other carnage that Kai blinked several times before realizing what it was.
'Is that what I think it is?' said Brad.
'Dead giraffe,' Kai said.
Below them, swirling next to a Volkswagen Beetle was an enormous orange and white giraffe, floating on its
