The Mayan Apocalypse by Mark Hitchcock Read Free Book Online

hours past. There had been no contact since, which was unusual. Something was wrong, and Newton didn’t know what.
    Perhaps he should go look for them. As he weighed the idea, another tremor shook the ground. Too many tremors , he thought. They were experienced field scientists, they knew how to take care of themselves, he reassured himself. But the reassurance rang hollow.Mt. Pinatubo took the lives of two experienced scientists, as it had other scientists before them.
    He saw it before he heard it. Facing the northwest side of the mountain, Newton raised his binoculars to his eyes and saw a cloud of dust, followed by sudden jet of ash and steam rocketing skyward. “It’s beginning,” he said to himself. The face of the mountain collapsed on itself as the magma chamber below gave way. As a child, Newton imagined an eruption as fire and lava squirting out the peak of the volcano and running down its side. While such things did happen, many volcanoes erupted explosively through their weakened sides. The ash continued to rise like a mushroom cloud after a nuclear explosion. Then came the billows of pyroclastic flow. Heavy billows of black smoke, laced with rock and debris, began to cascade down the mountainside.
    Newton felt his heart stop—the deadly cloud was heading straight for San Pedro. It was also traveling down the dirt road used by the scientific team, if they were still on the mountain.
    Turning, he saw the citizens of San Pedro staring in disbelief at El Popo. “Run,” Newton screamed. “Run!”
    There was pandemonium. People scattered in different directions. The few who had cars sped down the dirt road that ran through town, barely missing their pedestrian neighbors.
    The deadly, toxic cloud approached.
    Thud .
    Newton turned to see what had made the sound behind him. It was a rock, red with heat and the size of a grapefruit. The object didn’t surprise him; he had been expecting such flying burning materials—known to volcanologists as pyroclastic ejecta . They were common in major eruptions. Another dropped, then another, burning missiles fired from deep within the mountain. Soon there would be mudflows like the one that killed 23,000 people in the Nevado del Ruiz eruption in 1985. One of the things that had captured Newton’s scientific curiosity was the numerous ways in which a volcano could kill.
    Directing his attention to the ash cloud above the mountain, Newton saw that it was also headed northwest. Ash would begin to fall from the mountain to well past Mexico City forty-five miles away.
    Sadness filled him. He was sure his team was dead, and even if they had survived by some miracle, the town of San Pedro wouldn’t. He had shouted a warning to the stunned inhabitants who had stood dumbstruck by the sight of the cataclysm they were witnessing, but he knew that many would still die. He felt responsible. If only the monitoring devices on El Popo hadn’t failed, perhaps then they would have had more warning. Still, there had been enough indications, and he had hesitated. After all, El Popo was supposed to be relatively safe, some even defining its destructive capabilities as mild. They were wrong. He was wrong. And now many would die. Perhaps the other towns would fare better.
    Another falling rock jarred him from his thoughts. The mountain was now surrounded by a massive ash cloud. Already lightning was beginning to flash from the cloud as it created its own thunderstorm. The rumbling of the mountain was set counterpoint to the newly added claps of thunder.
    â€œFire and water. How ironic.”
    He turned to face the community building that had been serving as his field office. A woman, not much more than a girl, huddled in fear by the doorway. She was clutching an infant in her arms. Stepping to his Toyota Land Cruiser, he opened the passenger door and quickly motioned for her to come. She hesitated but then complied. Then he loaded the car with as