The television showed the continental shelf exposed to the open air. All manner of crustaceans and fish lay unmoving on the ground. When the camera panned, the dead sea life formed a slick, silvery blanket on the newly-exposed land. About a half mile out from the shelf, the water lapped lightly against the ground. On this new shore, fish, still a bit wet, flopped about desperately searching for the tide, popping into the air like spring toys where seagulls swooped down and caught them in their bills. "Yeah," Scott replied. "It's still here but it's lost of lot of water. It'll be gone in a day or two at this rate."
"So will we."
"Must be the salt keeping it from disappearing as fast as the fresh water."
"How's that?"
"Wish I knew. Water is water. Like the food in the fridge, it can evaporate out of a substance, leaving the remaining ingredients behind. My guess is that dry ocean floor is covered in salt."
"Doesn't tell me why it's taking longer for the ocean," Cam replied.
"Nope. But it doesn't matter either. You can't drink seawater."
From the bedroom, Cobe started crying. Cam and Scott looked at each other. Their glance spoke of the need to find the baby some water.
Becky appeared a moment later with Cobe in her arms. "Please, give him some water."
Scott just shook his head; he couldn't say the words.
Maybe that was worse than not hearing it outright, because Becky began trembling, shaking her head back and forth, "No. No no no no! He needs to drink. He needs water or juice or something!" With the baby in her arms she went to the fridge and took out a jar of baby food. When she opened it and looked inside she swore and slammed it on the counter.
Scott had never seen his sister like this, not even when Cam had cheated on her and broken her heart. Not that she didn't let her emotions out when she had to, but now she was on the verge of hysteria. She was losing it, and he couldn't really blame her, could he? He went over and looked in the baby food jar, saw the hard, dry food. All the moisture had gone out of it. It looked like dried paint.
"What are we going to do?" Becky asked.
Cam ran to her and hugged her and the baby. But despite her breakdown she was still holding her grudge and shrugged him off. Instead of testing her anger, he gently led them to the couch and told her they'd figure something out. Scott was glad that little scene hadn't erupted, considering Becky's mental state.
Eventually, they sat and watched the television, and Cobe fell asleep.
Time passed, like water from the earth.
For the next several hours, the news confirmed what everyone already knew. The earth's water was simply disappearing; in fact, much of it was already gone. The ice caps were receding by the minute. The oceans were faring better, but were still shrinking into nonexistence.
People were dying.
Scott didn't know the exact facts of how long a person could live without water, but he knew it was pretty damn short. A few days at most. Beyond a week and you were denying your cells the fuel they needed to live. Beyond a week and you were a goner.
"You cannot destroy matter," Scott finally said. "You can't just get rid of it."
"What's that mean?" Cam asked.
"It means...the water has to go somewhere."
"Where?"
"Usually...into the air."
"Oh, yeah, I remember that from school."
"Considering the amount that should already be in the air, it should be a deluge outside."
"It's not."
"I know."
Becky looked up from where her son lay on the couch next to her. Apparently, there was still enough moisture in her body to make tears. "Scott...please?"
What? What did she expect him to do? He was doing his best to work this out but he was just a geologist. The planet had thousands of brilliant scientists far more qualified to solve this than he. How come they weren't on television telling everyone to remain calm? Did they know something the rest of the world didn't?
Jack. He had to speak to Jack.
The cell phone was still on his nightstand. He rushed to his room, snatched it up and dialed his boss. This time, Jack answered.
"Jack, where have you-"
"Scott, I'm at the La Posta aquifer! They're going crazy-"
The line went dead, but not before Scott heard someone screaming.
Adrenaline flushed Scott's system and he dialed 911, pressing the buttons so fast he botched the call and had to redial. The phone rang and rang but no one answered. Finally a message came on saying that an operator would be with him as soon as possible. "Shit. Everyone's calling."
He ran into the living room, grabbed his car keys off the table. "Jack's in trouble."
"Who the fuck is Jack?" Cam asked.
"My boss. I called him and he was screaming and...he was at the La Posta site. I think there may be water there."
As if jolted by electricity Becky stood up and grabbed Scott's shoulders. "Are you sure?"
"No. Not at all. But it sounded like he was in a fight. It's possible that...see, the La Posta site is miles deep. The water seeps through the continental shelf and floods this large underground cavern."
"And the ocean is still here at a certain level," Cam said, following the logic. "But wait, you can't drink ocean water."
"Not straight you can't. But there are machines at the University that'll purify it."
"So if we can get some-"
"Which is what I think Jack was trying to do."
"Won't it disappear quicker if you make it regular water?" Cam asked.
"Don't know. I bet Jack was testing that theory. Or was about to, anyway."
"How do people know about the site?" Becky asked.
"We work with the city. Lots of people know about it. Could be it's our own workers, could be those workers told people. I don't know. But I'm going to find out."
"I'm coming," Cam said.
Scott waited to see if Becky was going to protest, but she remained silent. He could see she wanted to say something, wanted to tell Cam to stay. She was still hurting from Cam's infidelity, and she wasn't going to let him off the hook that easily. For now she was letting pride control her. Damn, she was stubborn, just like their mother had been.
"Okay, get your shoes and let's go."
CHAPTER 16.
Cam didn't know rocks but he sure as shit knew cars, and right now the engine in Scott's SUV was pinging and ponging like someone had left a handful of ball bearings under the hood.
"You've got no water in your radiator. You're going to overheat and warp the head. You're probably out of oil as well."
"I'll take the chance," Scott said, pressing the accelerator to the floor, backing out of the driveway.
"Stop! Seriously, the car won't get further than a mile or two tops."
"Mineral oil might work. They use it in some computers."
"Mineral oil? Did Becky go through all that baby oil we had? We bought a box of it at Costco."
"No. I don't even think she uses it. It's in the bathroom in the linen closet. You know it has mineral oil in it?"
"Yeah. Used to read the bottle when I took a shit." Without hesitation, Cam rushed inside and returned a moment later with a handful of BeeBee's Baby Oil bottles. He held them up to let Scott see that they still contained liquid..
"Thank God you're cheap," Scott said, knowing that the expensive brands these days substituted the mineral oil for water and plant extract.
As soon as Scott popped the hood Cam unscrewed the cap for the radiator and emptied a couple of bottles into it. When he was done, he put the remaining full bottle in the car and climbed in. Scott turned the ignition and let the thermostat heat up, waiting to see if the car would stall. The needle rose toward the red but stopped just beneath it. "Hang on," Scott said, "not sure how long this is gonna last."
They drove with the radio on, neither of them talking. Every station was addressing the water problem and the consensus was not good; none of the authorities had any fucking clue what was going on. FEMA, DOE, DOA, even radical groups like Greenpeace were dumbfounded, though they certainly were making their theories known about it being retribution for raping the land.
"Water has to go somewhere," Scott said. "It has to."
"Huh?"
"The water. After we find Jack I think we should swing by the university and track the weather patterns over the Pacific."
"Don't you think the weather people are doing that?"
Scott shook his head, the kind of shake that said Cam wasn't following him. "Weather over the Pacific is hard to predict. They don't have the satellite setup here they do on the east coast. They can't really predict the storms until they see them. All I'm saying is, the water can't just be going nowhere. If we can find some storm fronts-"
"And if not? Look, there aren't even any clouds in the sky."
"I've noticed."
Again they shut up and listened to the radio, Cam studying the blue sky for any trace of clouds, anything that might constitute a storm. Finally, Cam turned it off and said, "I don't feel good. I mean, I'm really frigging thirsty, Scott. It kind of...it kind of hurts."
"I know. My gut is tight and my head is beginning to pound. It's dehydration, like being drunk."
"Being drunk ain't so bad. I've gone days being drunk."
"It's not supposed to be a badge of honor, you know."
"I'm just saying, I can deal with drunk."
"This will be more like when you have the flu."
"Oh, that's bad. Will it hurt to die like this?"
"We're not gonna die."
"But if there's no water..." Cam didn't finish the thought. He was sure he was right in this-they were going to die-but maybe this wasn't the best time to dwell on it-not when they were on a rescue mission. When the ache in his stomach grew so bad he couldn't ignore it any longer, then he'd bring it up again.
An abandoned car sat in the middle of the road like some giant sleeping metal animal. Scott cut around it and watched it recede in the driver's side mirror. "Must have broken down," he said.
Sure, thought Cam, everybody leaves their cars in the middle of the road when they break down. A quarter mile later he saw an elderly man lying on the side of the road, his appendages splayed out and bent like spider legs. The man's face was sunken, the crotch of his pants stained brown. One of his shoes was further back in the middle of the road, like the guy had walked to his grave.
"What the fuck," Cam said, "is he dead?"
Scott pulled the SUV over to the side of the road and got out, leaving the motor running. He approached the body carefully, felt for a pulse before confirming to Cam the man was dead.
"He shit himself?" Cam asked as Scott climbed back in the truck.
"Yeah, your bowels release when you die. He was old, maybe already ill, had no fluids to get better." Scott took out his cell phone and dialed 911, but again there was no answer. After a minute he put the phone away and strapped on his seatbelt. "We gotta get to Jack."
For the next ten minutes they drove well above the speed limit, racing to get to the La Posta site. There were a few cars out driving around (no doubt running on a variety of different coolants), including police cars, but Cam was willing to bet nobody was getting a ticket today for speeding. Once all the cars stalled, how much longer would the police even patrol? Officers needed water too, and unless they had a secret stash of it, they'd soon be getting sick like everyone else.
What then? Chaos? Every man for himself? How was he supposed to help Becky and Cobalt when that type of shit hit the fan?
"Check that out." He pointed through the windshield.
Scott followed the trajectory of Cam's finger to a supermarket where hordes of people were throwing bottles and rocks into the store through the front window. Many of them looked sick, their faces starting to wrinkle. One of them put a hand to her head and fell over.
"Shit, did you see that?" Cam yelled.
"They're looking for water. They're blaming the store for not having any. It's starting."
"What's starting?"
"Mob mentality. Anger displacement. Panic. It's gonna get bad."
Through the broken window a group of men pulled the manager out of the store, shoved him to the parking lot pavement and circled around him. The man sat on his knees, blood running down his head, pleading to be left alone. Someone picked up a shopping cart and brought it down on his head with the force of a crosstown train. The man's skull split wide, spit something gray onto the pavement, and he fell to the ground as the people kicked him.
"Jesus Christ!" Cam yelled.
"Yeah, let's get outta here."