Page 47 of The Wild Beneath

“Some of us had outhouses. We dug two latrines.” Ruth’s head is foggy. She needs to sit down.

“Anyone with acute medical concerns you’re aware of?”

She pauses. “Kyle Tonkin is diabetic and running short on insulin. And Gabrielle Stitt is thirty-four weeks pregnant.”

“What about you?” Evan says quietly.

“I’m fine.” She isn’t sure she is fine, but she guesses she’s fine enough. The last transfusion should hold for a month at least. She isn’t about to leave Annie here alone. Not today.

“Would anyone share a sound bite for the news tonight?” Harvey says to the wider group. “I’ll call it in.”

A chorus of voices:

“We haven’t had power in two weeks.”

“How can you leave us here?”

“Do you have a list of survivors?”

“We’re bathing in buckets.”

Harvey scribbles. “One at a time, please.”

“If we evacuate, where would you put us?” Sylvia asks.

“The military is setting up old hotels and schools in East Van. Food and supplies are coming in from the interior and out east.”

“Gymnasiums, a couple of rec centres,” adds Yetman.

“Would you bring us back afterward?” Maggie asks, putting Sam back down beside her. He finds a snake of bull kelp, and he’s off and running, swinging it like a kite. His shoes don’t match.

“At this time there’s no immediate plan to reinstate serviceshere,” Reddick says. “We’re prioritizing based on population size for now. Everyone will have to move.”

“So you’ll leave us to fend for ourselves?” Nancy asks.

“All I’m saying is there isn’t a plan,” says Reddick, “at this time.”

Isaac paces the shore. He waves his hand and turns to leave. Reddick takes a hammer and nail, puts up a laminated relocation notice on what’s left of a telephone pole.

Isaac pulls it off the pole and tosses it on the ground at Reddick’s feet. “This isn’t what we need,” he says. “We need help rebuilding, otherwise we lose everything.”

“They’re just doing their jobs,” Evan pleads.

“Emotions are running high,” Yetman says, moving in between them. “We get it.”

Isaac walks away while Yetman hands out evacuation information to every person on the beach. The white pamphlets flutter against the wind.

“How’s Annie?” Evan asks Ruth.

“Come ask her yourself.”

“You see how Dad is.” He nods toward Isaac. “I have to stay.”

“You’ve hardly seen her.”

“It’s better for her in the long run if I do this.”

“I don’t think she sees it that way. Why don’t you come back to the cabin with me this afternoon?”