“One problem though.” said Dan.
“What?” said Max.
“The cliffs at the end, if we go around them through the jungle we won’t make it in time,” said Dan.
“We can climb the cliffs,” said Callum “I’ve got the gear to do that.”
“Right, so we’re agreed that we go along the beach” said Max.
“One thing I have to do first” said Dan.
“What’s that then?” said Max.
“I have to work out whether or not the explosion came from the side vent or the main vent.” said Dan.
“What difference does that make?” said Max confused.
“If it came from the main vent, then there’s a high risk of a pyroclastic flow” said Dan.
“What the hell is a pyroclastic flow?” said Max in puzzlement.
“A pyroclastic flow is a big hot cloud of ash, sulpha and lava that travels at 110mph. It rips up and vaporises anything in its path” said Dan. Max and Callum both looked at each other in astonishment.
As Dan raced out with a pair of binoculars to work out where the explosion had come from, Max and Callum got the equipment ready. A couple of minute’s later Dan came running through the door shouting, “It’s from the main vent, we have to get out of here fast before the pyroclastic flow comes!”
“We’ll have to leave the rest of the equipment we haven’t got time to get it ready” said Max as he grabbed the kit they had got ready and shoved it in a back pack.
As they sped across the sand towards the cliffs, they suddenly heard a massive explosion behind them. They stopped to look and saw large sprays of red lava spewing out the top. They quickly put the engines on full throttle and rocketed across the rest of the beach. They made it to the cliffs just in time to see the massive rock hurtling towards them. They quickly skidded out of the way.
“That was close” said Callum. “Right I’ll go up and set up some ropes so you guys can come up” said Callum.
Callum scrambled up the rock face to the top, once there, he called down to Max to throw up the rope. Once he had secured the rope he called down for one of them to come up. As Callum belayed Max up the rock face Dan looked at the volcano, he could see the lava flowing down the side. He then called to the guys to look at the cabin, as it was just about to be swallowed up in lava.
“We need to get moving, we have to make the distance on foot” said Callum.
“Hey Dan, you still got the binoculars?” asked Max.
“Yah why” replied Dan.
“If I’m correct we won’t have to walk” said Max.
*
They sprinted across the sand. When they got closer Max was right, there was a jetty with 4 jet skies tied up. There was a large shed at the front of the jetty, Dan tried the door but it was locked, so Max kicked it in. There were waterproof bags, wetsuits and the keys to the jet skies. They jumped on and sped off around the bay to the safe zone.
After the all clear was called, the friends went back to there cabin to see what was still useable. They later bought an apartment by the beach in the safe zone, they replaced all the gear that was lost, and decided to keep the jet skies.
THE END
