Nevermore – What happened to everyone else
"Ohmigod!" I scream, "What's going on!?"
"Hot," Gazzy yells simultaneously "it's so hot!"
"Calm down everyone!" Doctor Martinez (Max's mum) shouts to be heard over the confused yells from the children assembled in the cave.
Ella squeezes Iggy's hand, "We're going to be OK, these caves were built to survive."
Iggy could feel the intense heat inside the caves, and felt like Ella was wrong, that she was lying, putting on a brave face for all the other children. After what seemed like a long time, Iggy broke the silence. "Where's Max!? Nudge, where's Max?" Iggy panics.
"I haven't seen her since she told us to come here!" I reply.
Gazzy pipes up, "And where's Angel? Fang? Dylan?"
"Oh, God, I hope they're OK!" Ella looks really stressed, her face full of worry. Iggy pulls her into a hug and she manages a half-smile. Suddenly the heat fades away and we hear a faint rushing sound, like a waterfall…
"Max knows what she's doing, they'll be fine, don't worry," Doctor Martinez reassures us all, "I'm monitoring satellite connection all over the world and…" She trailed off.
I lean over to look at the computer screens she is looking at. I gasp. Instantly there are three more pairs of eyes staring at the screens. It appears that whole countries may be covered in water, ash and flame – or all three. Gazzy starts crying and wailing for Angel. Ella and I immediately go and give him a hug, acting on our maternal instincts. Gazzy hugs us both back, then looks embarrassed.
"What do we do now?" Gazzy voices the question we were burning to ask. We all turn to face Doctor Martinez.
"We wait."
Suddenly, there is a commotion near the cave entrance. The faint rushing suddenly becomes magnified in volume and we hear screaming and shouting from further along the caves. Then we hear a colossal crashing sound that echoes through the rock. The sounds become louder and we hear through the commotion that the caves are collapsing and there is lots of water. I run towards my family and grab Gazzy. Iggy brings Ella close to him and assumes a protective stance in front of me, Ella and Gazzy.
"Well, I guess it all comes down to this." Iggy says sadly. We all link arms and brace ourselves as we see the water gush towards us in a violent, all-consuming wall. The cave roof collapses and water fills my lungs, the salt burning as it enters my nose and mouth. Gazzy is torn from my grasp and I find myself all alone, for the first time in my life. I try to scream, but I can't breathe. I try to reach the surface, but all my energy is gone. The roaring in my ears is immense – I can hear nothing else. Then, like someone hits the mute button – silence. I feel strangely calm. I think about how peaceful it is. I think about everything that happened to me and –