Donna wiped ash and sand from her eyes and pushed herself onto her knees.
The earth gave another series of shrugs but she didn’t lose balance.
Surtsey saw another crack jolt into existence behind Donna, one side lifting suddenly to make a giant step a hundred feet long and ten feet high, dust and sand and rocks falling in the chasm between, sliding into the bowels of the earth.
Donna said something while looking at her, but all Surtsey could hear was the rumble and thrum of the earth and the volcano erupting and rocks falling.
She lurched to her feet as another jolt burst through the ground, throwing her off kilter.
Donna was on her feet as well.
Lava sped down the hillside in their direction, two hundred yards away. Dust and ash filled the air, black and grey, coating everything, stinging Surtsey’s eyes, settling in her hair. The sulphur stench of rotten eggs was everywhere. Stones thudded into the sand from above, and more rocks bounced down the slopes further up, heading east.
‘It’s over,’ Surtsey said. ‘Look around.’
Donna didn’t take her eyes off Surtsey, just stared, shaking her head.
Surtsey began to run round the coast.
The ash cloud towered over the island now, cloaking them in darkness. The sky behind was still blue in the east where the sun would be coming up soon above Berwick Law. But overhead was blackness, dark snow falling over the land, clogging her nose and throat. Surtsey tried to pick her way over the rocks but more tremors threw her balance every few seconds. It had been going on so long now it felt like the world would never be stable again.
A boulder bounced down the hill to her left, clipping the edge of the torn bothy and crushing one wall to nothing. It bounded on, five, six bounces then tumbled into the sea. Surtsey turned to see Donna getting closer, then she set off again, trying to find the hard, smooth ground she needed to get her speed up. But the judders kept coming, and now she saw a lava flow spreading westward, a river throbbing down the hill from the nearest vent, red pushing through the black crust as it tumbled over itself. Up above, sparks and ash were still spilling into the sky, volcanic lightning bolts dancing inside the towering black cloud.
The earth still shook, the equilibrium of the land shifting one way then the other. Surtsey lost her balance as she clambered around more rocks then found the bottom end of the crevice that had split the hut in two. She ran to the narrowest point and jumped, just a couple of feet but the fissure into darkness beneath made her sweat.
Her eyes and nose stung and she coughed up dirt from her lungs as she heaved more air in, tried to catch breath. She looked behind and Donna was still following, it was easier for her, able to follow in the path Surtsey had cleared.
Surtsey ran on, soft sand under her feet now sucking at her ankles. She kicked along, the beach to her right frothing and slapping against the shore. The earth tilted and the slab of land she was on swung upwards to her left, pushing her towards the water which flipped up and slapped the land in retaliation.
Visibility was low now as Surtsey rounded the corner into the cove. Thick ash rained down on everything, bloody rivers cascading down the steep corrie surrounding the cove. She had a flash of Tom’s body lying over there, the gulls pecking at his eyes, then she stumbled and fell, smacking her temple against a jagged rock, blood dripping onto the sand. She wiped at it, dizzy, then staggered on.
She felt the air leave her lungs as Donna crashed into her from behind, a tackle to the ground, sand cramming into Surtsey’s mouth and eyes as her face planted in it.
She spat and tried to shake Donna free, managed to wriggle herself onto her back, blinked the ash out of her eyes and saw Donna sitting astride her, smiling. Donna lifted the hammer in her hand and began swinging it down when a shower of scree hit her in the head, knocking her over, the hammer dropping somewhere to the side.
Surtsey staggered up, heart crashing, gasping, and turned again.
The lava was fifty yards behind and heading towards them.
She looked past it. The shape of the vents was different now, much lower and wider. Another blast of rock and dirt launched into the sky above her head, billowing upwards. The ash drifting down on her now was hot, singeing her clothes and skin, and she could feel the heat from the lava like an open oven door. She turned to look at Donna lying on the sand, then beyond that to the sea.
Then she saw it.
Her boat.
Pushed up just past the waterline in the corner of the cove. It was a few hundred yards away across a channel of clear sand, but Donna’s body lay in the way. She seemed out cold, pebbles and dirt sprayed across her back. Surtsey couldn’t see the hammer, but Donna’s hands were empty.
Another jolt and Surtsey’s knees went from under her. The land to her left sank away as if it had melted, black rock disappearing into a widening rift. The tilt of the ground threw Surtsey towards the chasm, but she righted herself and ran.
The crevice was spreading to her left, narrowing her way forward. A boulder thudded in front of her. She stepped around Donna’s body but felt a hand grab her ankle and pull her to the ground. She kicked out behind, saw Donna clawing at her, the lava pouring down the hill behind them, the heat from it shimmering the air like a furnace. She kicked her other leg into Donna’s face, caught her in the eye with her heel and felt the hand let go of her ankle. She scrambled backwards then dragged herself downhill, away from the lava and
