Reese looked over the side of the boat and watched the water flow past the hull, heading out to the open sea. The Charming Betty settled in the exposed muck and listed to starboard. As the water slipped away, the hull sunk further into the muck on the exposed seafloor.
An eerie silence enveloped them, marked only by the sighing of the water as it slipped past the hull, racing to meet the tsunami, still just a hazy smudge on the horizon.
Reese narrowed his eyes. It was a much clearer hazy smudge than it had been just a few moments before.
"We don't have time for doing things by the book," Reese announced. He leaned over the rail and dropped down into the muck. The water was shin-deep and tugged at his legs, threatening to topple him over, but in seconds. It dropped almost to his ankles. "Come on! We have to move!“
Ben landed next to him with a splash and a curse, perhaps the most ungraceful thing Reese had ever seen. "Go figure," Ben said sputtering as he stood. “I make it through all those waves on the way here, and I'm still pretty dry. Then we reach land, and I fall overboard and get soaked."
Reese helped him to his feet, then turned to leave. “You can dry off up there,” he said, pointing at the foothills of Cadillac Mountain.
"Lavelle! I didn't give you authorization to leave this vessel," Eddie yelled over the side. A line of heads popped up next to him, SafeTech’s top sales reps. Two of the crew hopped over the side and landed with splashes. Monty followed them.
Reese waved over his shoulder. "Suit yourself—I’m not dying out here.” He slogged through the water, about as hard as walking through deep snow. The mud and sand threatened to suck his shoes off with every step, but he clenched his jaw and pushed forward.
Eddie and the captain began arguing with each other, but Reese was gratified to see at least a few other people jump over the side, throwing nervous glances at the menace on the horizon.
By the time Reese struggled free of the water and was able to make better speed on the exposed seafloor, almost everyone on the boat had jumped overboard and struggled toward dry land.
Reese turned to catch his breath and spotted the true form of the wave. He was gratified to see that it wasn't some thousand foot monster, but still, a wave that reached at least 40 or 50 feet high and stretched the entire length of the horizon was nothing to sneeze at.
“That thing’s massive…" Ben muttered.
"Come on, we can't slow down now,” Reese warned.
“How fast do you think it is?” asked Ben.
“Tsunamis slow down when they get close to land, I remember that much from what Cami’s told me,” Reese replied as he struggled through the mud. He risked another glance over his shoulder. It was coming in fast, but not as fast as it would in open water. “I don’t know…maybe ten minutes?”
“What?” Ben blurted. “At this rate, it’ll take us that long just to get out of this muck!”
By the time they’d made it to dry land, clawed up the gravel beach, and smashed through the loose vegetation lining the shore, Reese and Ben were panting hard and soaked with sweat and saltwater. They’d used up more of the time Reese had guesstimated than he would’ve liked, but they’d made it to dry land.
Ben doubled over and gasped for breath. He looked up at those still mired in the exposed sludge. “We should…help them…”
Reese shook his head, unable to speak at first. “Can’t…” he wheezed. “No time!” He pointed at the wave in the distance. It was still perhaps a half mile out, but the shimmering, mirage-like quality had vanished. It was grew taller as they watched, foot by foot, the water piled up into itself and transformed into a massive, horizon-stretching wall of water.
Despite the calls for help from those who floundered in the mud behind them, Reese and Ben pushed forward into the undergrowth at the base of the hill just west of Seal Harbor. “Run!” Reese hollered.
Ben glanced over his shoulder and sprinted past Reese. “There it is!”
Reese looked—the wave was only a hundred yards behind the Charming Betty, and it was easily as tall as the beached fishing boat. People streamed over the sides now, though most were already half way through the mud on the way to the shore. Reese turned away. They’d never make it—his co-workers were doomed.
A low hiss rolled in off the coast with the Atlantic breeze, the sound of the tsunami as the wave grew taller as it slowed. Tsunamis didn’t hit with explosive power, they landed with sustained momentum and simply pushed, uprooted, or flattened everything in their path. Reese swallowed. The wave might push them right off the hill if they didn’t get higher.
Reese and Ben redoubled their efforts to scramble up through the pine trees and maple saplings jutting out from the side of the hill. They clambered over rocks and loose soil, and used branches and anything they could get their hands on to pull themselves up whenever they foundered. "Keep moving," Reese gasped, "It looks like we're even with the top of the wave," he said, pointing east. "But when this thing hits land, it's going to go way up—that fjord out there is going to funnel it.”
“Right…right behind….you,” Ben said around deep breaths.
As Reese pulled himself up another few steps, he strained to see through the tree trunks and bushes. The top of the hill was still hidden in greenery. That was a good sign, but bad news at the same time. The longer it took them to reach the top, the closer the wave came, and the closer it
