E S Richards - The Eruption

Turning back one final time to look over the park before she boarded the small airplane that Texas A&M University had hired for them, Mia swore she felt the ground shake beneath her feet. Miniature earthquakes had been growing in frequency over the past few days, leading to the research trip to the supervolcano, which had more than paid off in the amount of data she had collected.

Things seemed off in Yellowstone, no matter how you sliced it. There shouldnt be so many microquakes, no matter how small each seemed, and even the geysers were hotter than usual. Plusalthough Mia couldnt back this up with evidenceshe could swear the ground had risen slightly since shed last been there just under a year ago. After the state senate allowed fracking and drilling operations to commence in small sections of the park, Mias trips had grown more frequent as researchers grew worried about the environmental effects on the national landmark.

Did you feel that? Mia asked Tyler, one of her research partners who had yet to climb the few steps up to the plane, which waited for them at the small Yellowstone airport. Jorge, the other researcher theyd traveled with, was already in his seat, settling down with a bag of peanuts and a bottle of iced tea plucked from a small cooler.

Yeah, Tyler furrowed his brow slightly, Im sure its nothing though. Weve got all the data we need already. Lets just get back home.

It made Mia laugh that Tyler referred to Texas as his home now. From hearing him speak she would never have guessed hed even set foot in the state, let alone lived in Houston for the past seven years. Hed come over to the university on a research scholarship from England and stayed there ever since, but try as he might, he still couldnt get rid of the British accent that had girls falling at his feet every night. Even if that was the complete opposite of what he wanted.

All right, Mia smiled, admitting to herself that she was desperate to get home, too. Her niece and nephew were expecting her and she couldnt wait to see them again.

Are you guys coming or what? Jorge called just as Mia resumed climbing the stairs to the aircraft. Id like to get back sometime this century!

Shaking her head, Mia pulled herself through the door and shot Jorge a sarcastic eye roll. He smirked in response, kicking off his sneakers and stretching his legs out in front of him. Looking past her friend, Mia could see the pilot up front making the final checks before takeoff. Once everyone was aboard, the pilot flicked a switch over his head, bringing in the stairs and closing the plane door.

Seats for takeoff, he called out. Belts on, blinds up.

Mia took her seat by the window, choosing one where she would still have a view over Yellowstone as they took off. She had always disliked flying and her hatred had only grown after what happened to her brother just over a year prior. She tried not to think about it as the engine started to rumble and the plane jerked forward, but it was impossible to get her brothers face out of her mind. Hed been such a brilliant man, taken from the world far too early.

With the plane quickly picking up speed along the short runway, Mia gripped the armrests of her seat. She squeezed her eyes shut as she felt the plane rocking beneath her, more so than it usually seemed to do. The pilot was skilledshed flown with him beforebut this takeoff didnt feel like any of the others she had experienced.

Forcing herself to open her eyes, Mia looked out of the window just as the planes wheels left the tarmac and they began to soar up into the sky. She stared at the rolling hills of Yellowstone in the distance, marveling at how beautiful it was in spite of the dangers lurking just out of sight. Their flight would take them right over the park, giving her one last chance to admire its beauty that year.

Mias research had, for years, been focused on Yellowstones supervolcano and the potential risks it posed to future generations. Tucked away beneath the surface of the Earth, it was quite active, but never so much that it would breach the surface. Yellowstones famous geysers, dangerous pools of superheated water, and rich, diverse landscape all grew from side effects of the supervolcanos presence.

Experts predicted that the supervolcano would erupt at some point but despite ebbs and flows in microquake activity, geysers popping up in new locations all around the area and other odd activity, the same experts assured any interested parties that there was no danger of an eruption anytime soon.

As with so many other situations, however, Mother Nature had a mind of her own.

As Mia gazed over the peaceful, breathtaking landscape of the park, a flurry of trees sinking into the ground caught her attention. As she watched, the ground in the center of the park split open and swallowed the trees and rocks alike. It took Mia less than a second to understand what was happening. The rock roof of the Yellowstone super volcano collapsed and, with an ear-splitting bang, a violent gust of bright orange lava and ash shot upwards into the sky, filling the clouds with terror.

Immediately the alarms inside the small plane started blaring. The scanner was recording the eruption as a large collision point, something that would be nearly impossible to avoid. Lights flashed in the cockpit and along the small runway between the seats. Jorge was up and into the co-pilots seat in an instant, his few years spent training to be a stunt pilot in his youth filling his body with a need and an instinct to help control the plane. They were only a few hundred feet up but Mia kept her eyes glued to the eruption in the distance.

A gorgeous view of Yellowstone had, in mere seconds, been completely covered by the dark ash cloud with the occasional spit of lava shooting out from the side. She could already feel the plane rocking from the force of the blast and the ensuing winds. The ash cloud was vast and as it grew the density of it quickly changed the surrounding air pressure.

We need to land! Tyler screamed, terror etched behind his eyes as he swung his head between the view from the window and the two men wrestling to control the aircraft in the cockpit.

We cant land! Jorge called back, his demeanor completely changed from the happy-go-lucky man he had been ten minutes ago. We need to get as far away from here as possible! As he spoke, Jorge took the controls and yanked the control wheel as far to the right as possible. The plane echoed his movements, turning in a large arch away from the pit of fire they had been heading toward.

Mia shook her head in disbelief, her eyes growing wide. The impossibly tall ash cloud was already rolling out thick and fast, a blanket of death that would utterly destroy their plane if they couldnt somehow outrun it, though paradoxically that was the least of her worries. She knew how far the pyroclastic flow could reach, how far the ash cloud would spread, how far the lava could flow and how far the jet streams would carry the debris from the eruption. Shed read all the papers and written countless ones herself. All theorysupposedly. Scientists smarter and more experienced than she was were confident that it wouldnt happen in her lifetime. The supervolcano begged to differ.