Knockdown Read online

  Evernight Teen

  www.evernightteen.com

  Copyright© 2014 Brenda Beem

  ISBN: 978-1-77130-870-0

  Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

  Editor: JC Chute

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  DEDICATION

  To my parents, Ines and Claude Cole, the nicest people I know.

  KNOCKDOWN

  Brenda Beem

  Copyright © 2014

  Chapter One

  Eighteen Hours Before

  I’d practiced all summer. I was ready. My breathing slowed. I bounced once, twice, and soared off the diving board. My body became a tight ball, spinning backwards. On the third rotation, my feet shot out. I reached for the water. My body formed a straight line as the tips of my fingers broke the mirrored calm of the pool.

  I’d done it: a flawless dive and my first triple back. I grinned and swam along the bottom. If I dove this well at the meet next week, I’d score some major points for my team.

  I glided upward, excited to hear my coach and teammates’ thoughts. My smiling face broke the surface. There was silence. No clapping. No whoops. No cheers. Instead, the five girls on my dive team stood huddled around our coach. Something was wrong.

  Coach shoved her phone into her pocket and stared wide-eyed at the girls around her. “Go home! I have to pick up my kids. The sitter said some kind of disaster’s coming.” She turned and sprinted from the building.

  One of the freshman girls freaked out. By the time I swam to the edge of the pool everyone, even the hysterical girl, had hurried to the changing room.

  My best friend had the locker next to mine. She was squinting at her cell when I bumped into her. “Mom says we’re going across the mountains to Grandma’s.” She frowned. “What’s going on?”

  I searched my phone. There was a text from Dad to me, Dylan, and Cole. Go to the boat. Mom and I are getting it ready. We shove off at eleven. Need to get far enough out to sea to ride the wave before it crests.

  Wave? What wave? I checked the time. It was almost ten. If I was going to make it to the marina, I needed to hurry. But what was he talking about? Why go to the boat? School started in a week and I didn’t even have my supplies yet. No way did I want to go sailing.

  I called Dad back, but got a message that all circuits were busy. I tried sending a text to Mom and my brothers. My texts didn’t go through either. I glanced around and saw that everyone was having trouble with their cells.

  “Listen to this.” A senior diver I didn’t know waved her phone in the air. She read a text her little sister had sent earlier. “President’s on TV. She says in eighteen hours, tsunamis hundreds of feet high will destroy the West Coast. Flood the East. Mom’s packing. Get home.”

  “Tsunamis?” My heart pounded in my ears. I tried my phone again––still no service. I threw sweats on over my wet Speedo and grabbed my bike helmet.

  I headed for the exit. “Call you later.”

  My friend stopped me. “Leave your bike. I’ll give you a ride.”

  We stared at each other. When she and I turned sixteen and got our driver’s licenses, her parents bought her a car. I had to share one with my brothers. This morning they’d driven our car to football practice.

  “I’m not going home. We’re taking the sailboat out to sea.” I broke free and ran from the locker room.

  “No!” she cried as the door closed behind me.

  ****

  I pedaled as fast as I could toward downtown Seattle and our marina on the bay. Chlorine from my wet hair and suit wafted up and burned my eyes. My blonde hair was probably turning green. I wished I’d taken a few minutes to shower, but I hadn’t wanted to waste a second. I had to be with my family.

  The hot August sun burst from behind a cloud and blinded me. I squeezed the brakes and slid to a stop moments before smashing into the back of a stalled car. Gasping for air, I leaned on my bike and pulled out my phone. It was after ten and still no cell service. I took off again, weaving through the stop-and-go traffic.

  Sweat and pool water dripped between my breasts and down my back. Zipping between cars, I spotted the next narrow opening moments before it closed. All I dared focus on was getting to the boat fast and in one piece.

  My family wouldn’t shove off before I got there. I knew that. But sailboats are really slow. If I arrived at the marina late, or didn’t show at all, I didn’t know what would happen. Part of me couldn’t believe what I’d heard in the locker room. I kept hoping it was all some giant joke, but the panicked people I passed were very real.

  Cars began to spill into the oncoming lanes. I shrieked as a truck ran a red light and hurtled head first into a taxi. A McDonald’s arch went dark. I glanced at the downtown buildings. The Space Needle’s external elevators weren’t moving.

  My leg muscles started to cramp. Ignoring the pain, I pressed on. I found my water bottle, squeezed the last drops into my mouth, and checked the time again. I clenched my jaw and fought down the tremors that racked my body. I had less than thirty minutes.

  Brakes squealed. Horns blared. Traffic around me came to a complete halt. A frantic young man climbed on top of his car, searching for an opening. A woman cradling a baby inside the car yelled for him to get back inside. The baby cried. Their car was trapped. I slid to another panicky stop, yanked off my sweatshirt, and tied it around my waist.

  “Hey, darlin’!” A pudgy old man standing on the roof of his van motioned to me. Sweat darkened the pits and sides of his T-shirt. “Aren’t you a pretty little thing? Come over here for a second, will ya?”

  The perv stared at my bike. A shiver ran down my spine and I rode away, fast.

  A mile later, I began to slow down, running on empty. I took a break behind a cement barricade. My cell showed I had fifteen minutes. I glanced around. The sign for the Magnolia Bridge pointed to the right. A wave of relief washed over me. I was almost there. A grassy knoll sat at the bend in the road. Deserted-looking homeless tents were pitched on the green. Gulping in air, I pumped toward the encampment, hoping to gather the speed I’d need if someone tried to ambush me. But pedaling uphill on grass was too hard. Exhausted, I jumped off the bike and jogged alongside it.

  I was passing the first tent when a Latino girl about my age scrambled out.

  “Wait! Please wait!” She waved her arms.

  My heart raced. I turned my head from side to side. Was this a trick? Was some guy sneaking up behind me to steal my bike? I started to run.

  “Please. Tell me what’s going on!” the girl said. “Nobody will tell me anything. The buses stopped coming.”

  I kept moving. I couldn’t take a chance. Once I’d gone a safe distance, I yelled, “You gotta get out of here. There’s going to be a mega-tsunami. Get to higher ground.”

  She glanced up the hill from where her tent sat.

  “Nowhere here is high enough. You have to get out of Seattle. The tsunamis will be over a hundred feet high. Go to the mountains.” I swung my leg over the bike and heard a tiny voice.

  “Sissy, I’m hungry.”

  A little girl, around four years old, crawled out of the tent. Her long dark hair flowed in loose warm curls. Her eyes were large and brown. She was a mini duplicate of her beautiful older sister.

  Sissy pulled the little girl onto her lap. “I’ll find us something.” She raised her eyes
to me. “I don’t understand. How…?”

  I sucked in air. “All I know is that tsunamis are headed this way.”

  Sissy shook her head. “We don’t have a car or …”

  “Cars aren’t much good anyway. The roads out of town are blocked.”

  She closed her eyes.

  The little girl stroked her big sister’s cheek. “Don’t cry, Sissy. I’m not that hungry. See!” She pulled her shirt up to expose her little belly.

  Swallowing the lump in my throat, I checked the time. I had ten minutes. I’d lost time talking.

  “Damn!” I muttered. “Dad will kill me.”

  I spun around. “I’m meeting my family and heading out to sea on our sailboat. It’s moored at the marina below the bridge here. If you’re there in ten minutes, you can come with us.”

  Sissy tilted her head. “I don’t understand. Won’t you get killed by the tsunamis?”

  “Not if we get beyond where the waves crest. If you close a sailboat up tight, it can ride out any storm. It can even go upside down and come back up again. But it’s a long way to the open ocean.”

  She glanced back up the hill. “I—I—don’t know.”

  “Your decision. I have to go.” I jumped on my bike.

  “How do I find you?” the girl yelled as I reached the top of the hill.

  “C Dock, Slip 31. The boat’s name is Whistler.”

  ****

  There were only a few cars in the marina parking lot––very strange, for the end of summer. I spotted the lime-green Volkswagen my brothers and I shared. They’d made it. I exhaled and realized I’d been holding my breath. It was ten fifty-five.

  I rode through the lot, and noticed a red pickup that seemed a lot like the truck Nick, one of my brothers’ friends, drove. Then I saw a little sports car I was sure belonged to Zoë, my brother Dylan’s girlfriend. What were Nick and Zoë doing here? I scanned the lot. Where was Dad’s car?

  I coasted down the ramp to the dock and hopped off at the bottom. My knees trembled and I leaned on the bike for support. I passed boat after boat along the dock, all secure in their slips and deserted.

  “Mom! Dad!” I was so out of breath and thirsty that my voice barely croaked.

  A group of people were gathered at the far end of the pier. The closer I got the more faces I recognized. The guys were all from my high school. I shook my head and searched for my brothers. They weren’t around, but in the middle of the crowd, I spied Zoë.

  “Toni?” A cute Asian guy with dark eyes and black hair ran up to me. He reached for my bike. “It’s okay. I’m with your brothers. You can let go.”

  I gripped the handlebars and searched the crowd. Nick nodded at me.

  I handed off the bicycle. Without its support, my legs gave way. The Asian guy dropped the bike, scooped me up, and sat me on the corner storage box.

  My cheeks burned. “Where’s my family?”

  “They told us to stay out of their way until you got here.” He searched the way I’d come. “Are your parents still unloading their car? Do they need help?”

  My voice squeaked. “They’re not here?” I scooted off the box. My legs felt like rubber as I climbed aboard my family’s sailboat.

  Cole popped out of the opening from the deck to the cabin below. “Toni, you made it.”

  “What’s going on? Where’re Mom and Dad? That guy—”

  “Get down here so we can talk.”

  I grabbed the teak handrail and climbed down to the main cabin. I leaned on the wall and waited for my eyes to adjust to the dim light.

  Cole gave me a quick hug. “Dad was gone when we got here. He left us this.” He shoved a sheet of lined green paper at me. I recognized the paper from the ship’s logbook.

  Shaking hard, I tried to focus on the writing, but gave up. “Just tell me what he said.” I handed back the note.

  Cole laid it on the chart table. “Mom went to pick up Aunt Susan and the girls. Uncle Bob is away on some business trip and Susan called Mom. On their way back to the boat, someone crashed into them.”

  My hand flew to my mouth. “Are they…?”

  “Mom told Dad they were all fine, but her car’s a mess. Then cell service went down. Dad couldn’t call or text us. He left around nine to rescue them. If he can’t make it back to the boat by eleven, he’ll turn around and head to the mountains. He told us take the boat and sail south.”

  “He wants us to sail into a tsunami without them?” I collapsed on the couch.

  “He wants us to take the boat far out in the ocean, prepare it for a knockdown, go below, and ride the tsunamis out.”

  “Oh. My. God.”

  Dylan came out of the bathroom. “Toni. You made it. Took you long enough.”

  I slammed my helmet down on the seat.

  He held up his cell. “It’s after eleven.”

  I stood. “I don’t care what Dad said. We aren’t going without them, right?”

  My brothers stared at each other. I hated it when they did that. I swear they could read each other’s minds. I always felt left out.

  Dylan put his phone away. “We need to finish up down here and shove off.”

  “No way!” I paced from one side of the cabin to the other. “If Mom and Dad are going to the mountains, we should go too. We don’t know how to sail a boat by ourselves. And what are we going to do with all those guys you brought?”

  Cole stopped me. “Dylan and I know a lot about sailing. We’ve helped Dad race the boat.”

  Dylan grimaced. “And it’s too late to make it out of Seattle now.”

  I went back to pacing. “The roads are totally blocked. I was angry you had the car, but it was actually easier to get through the traffic on my bike.”

  Cole hurried to the bow and threw a pile of heavy coats onto the bed in the front bedroom. “Without cell service we’d never find Mom and Dad, even if we made it to the mountains.”

  Dylan raced to the bathroom with a pile of towels. I glanced around the boat. Empty boxes and bags were scattered all around. My brothers had been busy stowing the gear Mom and Dad had left behind.

  “Where’s this giant tsunami coming from, anyway?” I asked.

  “A whole bunch of volcanoes erupted in Indonesia.” Cole checked his phone. “We gotta go.”

  I held my hand up. “Wait! Why sailing?”

  Dylan spun me around to face him. “Ash and sulfur will block the sun. It will get really cold here in the north. The roads south are already jammed. Sailing is the best way to travel. Dad promised to call us when cell service is back and we can pick them up. Now, come on.” He pushed me towards the stairs.

  I held tight to the railing and paused. “This is insane, but if we’re going to do it, we need more stuff. Can’t we have another half-hour? Find supplies for the extra guys and give Mom and Dad a little more time? They’ll be here. I know it.”

  Dylan and Cole were silent.

  Finally Cole said, “She’s right. We need more supplies. A half-hour won’t make that much of a difference.”

  I faced Dylan. “And why is the entire football team here?”

  Dylan shoved me up the steps. “It’s not the entire—”

  I climbed out on deck. Dylan followed close behind.

  Cole grabbed the empty boxes and handed them up. “The guys out there opted to stay home for football practice when their families left on vacation. When coach told us about the tsunami, they asked to join us.”

  “And Zoë?” I asked. “What was she doing at football?”

  Dylan glared at me. “She helps the team, and had cheer practice. Her parents are in Hawaii.”

  I couldn’t imagine how she could help the team, but before I could ask, a girl close by screamed.

  “Zoe!” Dylan ran and jumped to the dock below. Cole rolled his eyes.

  Chapter Two

  Seventeen Hours Before

  I leapt off the boat to the dock where Dylan and Cole stood. Their friends were moving towards them.

  “H
ere’s the deal,” Dylan told the group when they had gathered. “This is my dad’s idea, but he might not be coming.”

  “What do you mean?” The team quarterback glanced around, searching for our missing parents. “What do you mean? He might not show?”

  “We’re going to wait until noon, then shove off even if Dad isn’t here,” Cole said.

  “If you want to bail, you still have time to go to the mountains or back home. But you have to decide and you have to decide now.” Dylan spoke slowly and looked at every face in the crowd.

  Zoë moaned. “Your parents might not make it?”

  Dylan nodded. “That’s right. Mom went to get our aunt and cousins and got in a car accident. Dad went to rescue them. He said that if he couldn’t make it to the boat by eleven, we were to leave without them. Cole and I know how to sail. Dad wrote out his plan. But once we shove off, there’s no turning back.”

  My brothers draped their arms around my shoulders. They were shaking almost as much as I was.

  “I’m not going without your parents. That’s suicide,” the quarterback snarled. “I’ll take my chances on land.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of car keys. “Who’s coming with me?”

  Zoë studied the guy waving his keys. “Dylan, I don’t know—”

  “We’re all scared.” Dylan took a step, but then stopped. “It’s your decision.”

  The team’s running backs, one white with freckles, the other African-American, moved beside the quarterback.

  “We’re leaving too,” Freckles said.

  “Anyone else?” Dylan focused on Zoë.

  Tears streaked Zoë’s cheeks. “Why’d my parents go to Hawaii?” she asked. “It’s not fair.”

  She threw herself into Dylan’s arms. “I’m going with you.”

  “It’s settled, then.” Cole reached out to the guys who were leaving. “Good luck.”