Port Allen was a man-made harbor, normally filled with local sailboats and tour operators. Those on Kauai were incredibly lucky to be there while one of the large cruise liners was docked, having dropped off a boat-load of tourists a couple of days ago. It was currently in the final stages of refueling and had been scheduled for departure in another day’s time. As soon as news of Trident had found its way to the small island, that departure date was pushed forward and almost as soon as the cruise liner could leave, it was going to – with whomever was lucky enough to be on board.
Turning the corner onto Walalo Road – the single street leading up to the dock – Jessie and her family were forced to immediately slow down. The tarmac ahead of them was filled with over a thousand men, women and children: locals and tourists alike who had been in Kauai were desperately trying to get on board the cruise liner before it pulled away from the harbor and left them all behind for an uncertain fate. Crew members of the large vessel were doing everything they could to get as many people as possible safely onboard, but they knew not everyone could fit and that they would be forced to pull away in a matter of minutes. With the crowd of people rushing toward them not getting any thinner, the horn on the boat rang out once more, warning everyone that they only had a few short minutes left.
“Art! Help!” Jessie struggled to keep hold of her youngest son as the crowd pushed and pulled against them, tugging her body in more than one direction as everyone fought to get to the boat before it was too late.
“Come on, Jess! Come on!”
The noise along the seven hundred yard stretch was terrifying. With Zayn and Axel getting lost in the crowd at their feet, Arthur was forced to abandon the suitcase they had wasted valuable time packing and pick up their youngest, holding him against his chest as he ran. The horn from the boat echoed again in the distance as they made slow progress, abandoned suitcases and in some cases, fallen people obstructing their path. A woman beside Jessie screamed in response, terrified at being left behind on the island.
“It’s pulling away!”
One voice in the crowd rang out in Jessie’s head, snapping her eyes up from Zayn who ran just ahead of her to the boat and its position at the end of the Port Allen commercial pier. They were just a little over two hundred yards away from it now, the giant mass protruding up out of the water like a moving mountain – one that was certainly inching away from the pier itself.
“No! It can’t!”
“Run! Come on, faster!”
Cries of dread and fear pierced the air around them, Jessie’s own mouth opened to beg the ship in the distance not to leave. Not yet. But it was drifting away; the final hatch door slowly lifting up from the tarmac, bodies still scrambling along it, trying to climb inside before it was properly closed. But even then, people didn’t stop. Islanders threw themselves off of the pier, their arms reaching out into the distance as they tried to grab hold of the boat, slipping and falling into the crystal-clear blue waters below. The ship had left the harbor; there was no leaving Kauai now.
Hundreds of frustrated people who had watched the same scene now turned to the smaller commercial fishing boats and tour boats moored to the left of the road. They flocked like a unit, rushing for anything and everything they could take out onto the water. All flights had already departed from the airport hours earlier, the boats were the last chance they had to not be trapped on Kauai.
Looking over at them, Jessie almost started running with everyone else, until she felt her son, Zayn squeezing her hand. His hand was trembling as he hugged her lower body, people more than three times his height in some cases pushing past him without any care or concern for if he got hurt. Reaching down for her son, Jessie hoisted him up onto her waist and held him tightly, shouldering the vibrations from the herds of people running past them. Locking eyes with her husband again Jessie suddenly knew – it was time to go back. There was no chance the four of them were going to manage to get a boat out of the harbor and even if they did, they weren’t prepared for the over two-thousand mile journey. It was time for them to go home and figure out their next step from there. Forcing their way out of the crowd, Jessie and Art began to carry their two young boys home.
“Mom, what’s going to happen now?”
Shaking her head, Jessie answered her son the only way she knew how to, truthfully. “I’m not sure darling. We’re going to go home and then we can figure it out from there.”
“Do we not have to leave anymore?”
“Not anymore,” Jessie smiled at Zayn. “We’re going to stay.”
“Can we go back to the beach?” Axel asked from Arthur’s arms, the five-year-old recovering enough to join the conversation now they had walked away from all the madness. Shouting and screaming still rang out behind them, but Jessie and Art set a steady pace in order to return home. They never should have left; the outing only resulting in some lost possessions and a stark reminder of how dangerous life could be. Both just wanted to get their children safely home now; everything else could be dealt with after that.
“Maybe tomorrow,” Art
