CHAPTER TEN
Buster woke up to the sound of rushing water. He ran down the steps only to find water up to the third step. He looked outside into the dim morning light to see the condo complex with a foot or more of water covering everything. A small skiff with three men on it, all of them in orange life vests, moved slowly through the complex. They were looking at the water, checking the depth with a long pole.
Buster was nearly transfixed until he realized his situation. He had to pack, fast, and get out of there. But where would he go? He pulled on his jeans over his pajamas and grabbed his cellphone from where it was charging. He then texted his mom and let her know what was going on. Bitzi told him to stay upstairs and wait. A boat was coming to get residents and take them to a shelter at George Washington High School across the city.
"Why there?" Buster asked. Bitzi told him the bad news: A dam broke north of Elwood City, and now even the high school closest to them couldn't help. People were being evacuated on ferries as soon as the water was deep enough to support them. To get on one, all he had to do was wait on an upper floor for them to come. He told her people were scouting, and she told him to wait. She would meet him there later.
A few blocks away, Arthur's parents stood at the edge of their sandbag wall. The Molina's had also made a wall, and they too stood at the edge. They were watching water flow past, murky water with strange objects floating past. DW pointed out a plastic lawn chair, and Alberto cried out that he saw someone's blue recycling trash can. Their parents didn't take glee in this. They had to figure out what to do.
Like in Buster's condo complex, a few guys in orange life vests moved up in a small skiff. They used poles to check the depth of the water. Between readings they used a megaphone to tell families to pack one bag per household. A ferry would come by later to pick them up and take them to shelter. This was mandatory for anyone who wanted to survive.
SURVIVE hung in the air like lightning, shocking through the residents. They were stunned to realize things had progressed so quickly. Yesterday the waters were rising, and adults were keen to remind the kids about that flood ten years ago that Mrs. MacGrady mentioned. With this new development, this flood was now worse. In fact, it was the worst flood the region had ever seen in recorded history.
As the Read's packed a bag, which was mostly filled with diapers and supplies for Kate, Arthur heard the news story. A geologist from Elwood City University explained that silt settlements in a nearby rock formation showed that the area had seen great floods at various points in ancient history, but due to a lack of humans and records, we could only estimate how bad it was. But there were gaps in some of the settlements as if a giant wave had washed it away. GIANT WAVE struck Arthur the same way as SURVIVE. He knew it then: This was the end of the world.