Calypso's Mast

Chapter 9 - The Serpent

The noise of the wind outside reached a distant screaming crescendo and then died off abruptly at about five o'clock in the morning.

Banning managed to extricate himself and left the two women half-propped up against each other and the wall of the cavern. Both were sound asleep. Pitcher was gently snoring and O'Grady had her mouth wide open - the wine had knocked them out. His intention was to stoke the fire and empty the billy of the collected water. 

As he breathed a flicker of life into the coals and a small lick of flame appeared, he looked over at the two semi-clad women. They were like beacons with the highlights in their tousled hair and soft curves of their exposed skin, accentuated by the flickering light against the dark walls of the cavern. 

He stiffly got to his feet and walked out to the entrance of the cave to check outside - not that he could see much in the dark. The noise of the wind and the breaking of trees was, thankfully gone. There was no doubt it was a cyclone. They were in the eye. He walked outside and looked up and could see some stars winking out as the sky became dimly lit in the east. He could also make out, in the semi-darkness, the destruction around him. 

All of the trees had been stripped. There was not a single leaf left on a tree and the crown of every tree looked like it had either been snapped off or twisted off. Everything was completely still. There was no noise, no breeze - nothing. The rain had stopped.

He felt a hand slip through his arm. He turned to see Pitcher was awake and had come out as well into the semi-darkness.

"You're awake." 

She nodded and then gasped.

"What happened to the Toyota?"

Banning looked to where the Toyota had been under the tree. There was nothing. Just a sea of green leaves and water on the ground around the bare trunks of broken trees.

"I'd say it's gone," he said. He walked out a little further to get a better look in the dim light. "You know what that means?"

"We are going to have to walk out?" 

"Uh huh. I thought that might happen. I'm glad we got all of the gear out before the storm."

As they stood silently watching for a few minutes, the sky became lighter. Off in the distance, out near the horizon, they could make out the far edge of the eye-wall, by the way the clouds were moving in the east. It was about twenty kilometres away.

"This is a powerful cyclone and it's moving quickly," said Banning. "The winds must be well up there to blow the truck away. It would be a category five system, without a doubt."

O'Grady stumbled, bleary-eyed out of the cavern, clutching the front of her shirt and stopped in shock.

"Oh my God!" What a mess. Oh... the Toyota's gone. Look at the water!"

It was getting lighter and the visibility was improving. As far as they could see, there was a mass of water.

"Is that the ocean?" O'Grady finally said in awe. "Here - so far back from the beach?"

"I think so," said Banning. "These cyclones usually come with a storm surge. The ocean level can rise up to six, or sometimes more metres, and flood any low lying areas. A lot of the vegetation here will struggle to grow back over the next few years because of all the salt water that has flooded in."

She nodded, eyes wide, as they surveyed the damage and destruction.

"We would have been killed out here," said Pitcher.