'Your hose was cut. You inhaled some sea water.'
'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 OK,' Teresa said. 'We'll just have to make sure she doesn't get pneumonia from all the sea water 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 make it 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 gave up and shot out from under the girder, bouncing around the room before it went 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 Ave.
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 20 feet high.
Kai sat on the sand surveying the now unfamiliar surroundings. The landscape of Waikiki had been utterly changed in the 30 minutes since they had entered in 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 because this was where they had come ashore with the Jet Skis. Of course, the water craft were nowhere to be seen.
'Nice job, Kai,' Brad said, squeezing the water from his filthy t-shirt. 'We're back where we started.'
Chapter 45
Jerry had fallen unconscious, his head wound more severe than Rachel had first thought. After spending a few minutes trying to wake him, they decided to attempt to carry him up the stairs. Because of his bulk, it took all three of them-Rachel, Paige, and Sheila-to pull him down the hall and up the stairs. At each landing, they stopped for 30 seconds to catch their breath. They had only made it up one flight to the 12th floor.
As they carried him, Doris kept the children occupied and told them about herself and her kids. Their last name was Wendel, and Doris had been widowed two years earlier when her husband, Herbert, had been stricken with cancer. Neither of her children were married, so they had all come out to Hawaii for a family vacation. When the tsunami warning was issued, they had returned to their room as they were initially instructed. When the warning changed, Jerry had thought it was best to stay put.
After the first tsunami, they realized that staying was a bad idea, so they got in the elevator to get up to the roof. That's when the power went out, and they became stranded. As Rachel listened to the story, it dawned on her that she was risking her life for people who had blatantly ignored her warnings to leave.
The progress climbing the stairs was slow; at the rate they were going, they wouldn't be on the roof until the next tsunami hit. But it was either leave Jerry behind and try to bring help down from the roof in time to get him, or continue their struggle. Given the time between the first two tsunamis, Rachel didn't want to risk leaving him, even though it was his ignorance that put them in this situation.
As they wrestled Jerry up to the 14th floor, they heard voices coming from the stairway above them, getting louder. People headed toward them.
Rachel stopped.
'Hello!' she called out.
The movement above froze. She saw two faces peer over the railing about 60 feet above her at the 20th floor. One of the strangers waved. Then they began coming down the steps even quicker than before.
In less than a minute, they had covered the distance. A thirty-something couple, obviously happy at finding other survivors, smiled at Rachel, their bright red faces burned from exposure to sun they obviously weren't used.
'Are you coming from the roof?' Rachel said.
The couple looked at each other and shrugged. The man in the couple then started speaking rapid-fire in a language that sounded Slavic.
'Oh no,' Rachel said. 'Are you with the Russian group? Russkie?'
The man repeated the word 'Russkie' and pointed at him and the woman. He then started speaking in Russian again.
'Do you speak English?'
'Nyet.' He shook his head. 'No English.' Rachel guessed that it was the only English phrase he knew.
They were two more of the hotel guests that had refused to leave their rooms when the evacuation was taking place. Either that, or they had gotten separated from their group when they had been shuffled around the lobby. In any case, they were going the wrong way.
Rachel pointed down and said 'Nyet.'
At this, the smiles disappeared. The man's voice became angry, even indignant. Perhaps he didn't like being
