"I'm guessing this is what that guy back in Oktana was talking about."

Grace glanced over at Hunter. "Yeah, you think?"

The pair had made it to the coastline, and now stood in front of a mass of dirt, parts of trees, and boulders. With the path completely blocked, Grace couldn't imagine how anyone, especially not a group of over a dozen people, could get by it.

Not that she would say it to Hunter, but Grace privately dreaded the thought of the whole Ocean Train being underneath the collapse.

"Do you think we can get over it?"

Grace glanced up. "Maybe," she said. The sun still sat low in the sky—she and Hunter had travelled for two full days, and had come across the disaster area after only about an hour on the third. "But we should get started now. It might take all day, and we don't want to be caught halfway up when the sun goes down."

Hunter nodded. "I always liked rock climbing."

Except usually in recreational rock climbing, the rocks didn't threaten to shift and tumble down with every move. And that's exactly what happened when Grace and Hunter started to scale the tumbled mess that blocked their path.

With every couple of moves, it felt like the rocks shifted and slid, so those two moves turned into one. By the time they reached a mid-way point and found a semi-solid place to rest, both Grace and Hunter were out of breath, sticky with sweat, and had scrapes up and down their arms and legs.

Grace glanced up at the sun, now high in the sky. It had taken them hours just to get this far, and they still had to get to the top and then back down the other side.

"I know you aren't a fan of thinking negative," Hunter said after he took a gulp of his water supply, "but don't you think this seems a bit, hopeless?"

Grace took a breath and peered down the side of the jagged rock mountain. "Maybe a little," she admitted. "But we have two options right now. Go back and never know what's on the other side of this or keep going." She looked up ahead of them. "I think we can make it. It might take us longer than expected, but I think we can."

"We can call out for them," Hunter suggested. "See if we get any response."

"We could," Grace agreed. "But just because we don't get a response doesn't mean no one is there. So it wouldn't keep us from continuing if we decide we want to know what's on the other side of this. And constant yelling would just waste our energy."

Hunter fell silent.

"But I'm game if you are."

Hunter looked at her gratefully and then took another swig of water. "Let's do it."

As Grace suspected, the rock fall only became more and more unstable as they neared the top. And yet, Grace couldn't help but smile to herself when she thought about what Tallulah would say if she knew what Grace was doing.

Grace could almost hear the bartender yelling at her for her stupidity when her foot slipped.

Grace's fingertips grasped for their handholds, but it was of no use. The rock under her right foot gave way, and as her left foot wasn't in a secure hold, she started to tumble down the side of the rockfall.

"Grace!"

Someone shouted her name in the distance. It must have been Hunter, but Grace barely registered. Her breaths came out in ragged bursts as she desperately failed to catch hold to anything.

Her hand brushed against the ragged bark of a tree branch, and with all the strength she had left in her, Grace grabbed on and held on. Her body came to a jerking halt, and after securing herself with both hands to the branch, she let herself swing there for a moment, trying to catch her breath.

And it wasn't a moment too soon. Grace looked down and saw she was hanging over a 50-foot drop. Waves crashed onto rocks below.

"Fuck," she whispered to herself. That was close. Too close.

"Grace!" This time, Grace registered Hunter's voice. "Are you okay?"

"For the moment!" Grace shouted back. Straining her already tired arms, Grace pulled herself up onto the branch, thankful that it seemed cemented in the rockfall. Once she got her legs on the branch and made her way up a few rocks, she called back up again. "Keep going!" she yelled. "I'll meet you at the top!"

"You sure?"

"Just go!" The last thing Grace needed was for Hunter to get some dumb idea that he should come down to help her.

Once Grace got to a stable resting place, she gave herself a quick self-assessment. Nothing broken, thank god. But her already scraped up limbs were just worse, and there was a sizeable cut on her ankle, although the bleeding already seemed to be slowing down. Grace carefully shifted her pack off of her back and pulled out the bandage roll, wrapping up her ankle. She didn't want the bleeding to get worse.

Then, she started the long process back up.

Hunter had done as she told him, and was waiting at the top on a solid section of the ridge. He grabbed her arm as she approached and helped pull her up to sit across from him.

Grace leaned her head back against the rock, closing her eyes and letting out a breath of relief. When she opened them back up, Hunter stared at her in concern.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

Grace inspected her ankle. Blood had bled through the bandage, but it wasn't soaked. That was a good sign. "I think its fine," she said. "It won't even need stitches."

"That's not what I meant."

Grace looked up from her ankle. "What do you mean, then?"

"I mean I know you have nerves of steel, but that was fucking nuts."

"That's one way to put it." Grace shook her head, slightly annoyed and slightly touched at Hunter's continued look of concern. "It's best not to think about it. I'm still here, that's what matters."

Hunter nodded and dropped the subject. He looked down the other side. "It's a lot steeper going this way."

Grace looked down as well. He was right. "We'll have to go backwards," she said. "We should be fine; it looks like there are plenty of handholds."

"Should we keep going?"

The sun already cast long shadows across the ground. "Yeah," she said. "I want to be back on the ground by nightfall."

Based on the look on Hunter's face, he wanted to as well.

Before they started down, Grace looked out in the distance. There were definitely rock falls all along the coast, but from what Grace could tell, none as large as the one she and Hunter were currently scaling. But the landscape twisted and turned, so if there were any hidden towns or spots for the Ocean Train to take cover, she couldn't see them.

In some ways, going down was easier that going up. Grace was always worried about getting a loose rock, but this side of the fall seemed more secure, and as long as she tested the hold before putting her full weight on it, she stayed safe enough. Still, her hands were cramping and her legs screaming by the time she got back on solid ground.

Hunter dropped down beside her, flexing his hands, and then looked back up. "Any idea on how we're going to get back up?"

Grace groaned. "I don't even want to think about that."

"Rest?"

"Rest."

Grace and Hunter found a small, sheltered spot to make camp for the night, although they didn't have any wood to burn or food to cook over a fire. Grace dipped into their rations, which still held up, but wouldn't for much longer if they had to keep using them.

"What's the plan for tomorrow?"

Grace tore off a piece of dried meat. "Walk along the coast." There wasn't really much else they could do. "See what's around some of these bends, there might be a town or something. If we get to the end of the rock fall zone and don't find anything, well, that's when we figure out a Plan B."

Hunter yawned. "Straight forward," he said, "but logical. That's very you."
Grace looked down at him with a small smile as he lay down with his eyes closed.

"Get some sleep," he told her, eyes still closed. "You deserve it."

Grace lay down next to him. He was right. She did deserve it.

***

The next day, Grace and Hunter discovered that the first two bends of the coastline didn't conceal much. They picked through close to two miles of loose rock and collapsed road, but no signs of civilization.

"And the Ocean Train was supposed to come along this path?" Hunter questioned in disbelief. "Even without the rocks and mud, that seems impossible."

He voiced the question Grace had been wondering herself. She looked up and down the landscape. "I mean, maybe," she said, uncertain. "Do you remember when there would be mudslides on 1? The highway that ran along the coast in places? I mean, that would get completely washed away. It wouldn't look like there was ever a road. So, this could be the same thing."

Hunter nodded. "I guess."

"Come on," Grace encouraged, "let's see what around the next corner."

Nothing, as it turns out, but the twist after that one had what looked like a road running away from the ocean toward the cliffs, which were set much farther back.

"Let's follow it," Grace said. "It might lead to a town."

Hunter nodded in agreement.

Because the cliffs were farther away, the rock carnage wasn't as intense in the area, and soon enough Grace and Hunter found themselves walking on normal ground.

"And thank god for that, I'm shocked neither of us has twisted an ankle."

Grace couldn't help but agree with him.

Soon enough, building appeared in the distance. "I think it's a town," Grace said, pointing.

"Do you think they might be there?" Hunter almost sounded hopeful. "I mean, if they were caught in all of this, that would be the place to shelter, right?"

"They might." If the Ocean Train passengers were anywhere, it would be in this town. But Grace was beginning to wonder if they ever came this way at all.

It was eerie, walking through the deserted town. "Hunter," Grace said slowly, looking around, "does it, does it look like it was bombed?"

Hunter's face paled as he took note of the burned-out and crumbling buildings. He nodded. "Why would a place like this have been targeted?"

"It's not like we know anything about what happened," Grace pointed out bitterly. "So, who knows why anyone was targeted?"

The two continued through the town in solemn silence. Waves crashing on the rocks in the distance provided the only sound other than their footsteps.

"We should probably turn back," Hunter said uncertainty. "If anyone was here, we would know."

Grace was about to agree with him, but a half-destroyed sign caught her attention before the words left her mouth. She left Hunter's side to inspect it and read the words with growing dread in her stomach.

"A middle school?" Hunter came up next to her and read the words that hadn't been destroyed.

"Yeah." Grace touched the sign with two of her fingers. She swallowed hard. "Sorry, I, I just have this thing with schools," she said, her voice low.

She could feel Hunter's curious gaze on her, but she didn't offer up any other information. "Come on, let's go," she said after a moment. "We need to search the rest of the coastline, and it would be nice if we could make it back here before dark. This will be a good place to spend the night."

Hunter simply nodded, and as Grace walked back the way they came, he stayed at the school for a moment longer, staring at the burned sign and the destroyed building that sat behind it.