December 26th, 2004. Noon. Patong Beach
Mina was being pulled up onto the top of a truck by two men. When she reached the top and looked around her, she counted four other people in their small group of survivors. One of the men said to her with a strong French accent, ‘This is my brother, and this is his wife and this is her two cousins.’ The wife was screaming relentlessly.
‘What happened to her?’ asked Mina.
‘The baby, she lost the baby,’ said her brother-in-law, tears running down his cheeks.
‘Oh my God,’ said Mina.
The truck was very heavy and was lying on its side, having been knocked over by the first wave. But now it was grinding slowly inland with the force of the new wave. They could all hear the screeching of the metal container against the ground and the sound filled them with dread.
Mina moved to the edge of the container to get a better look at their surroundings. She had never felt so helpless in her life. Although never a religious person, today, for the first time, she felt like a tiny speck in the fury of God’s path. If the authors of the tablet were right and this was just a foretaste of worse events to come, she could not begin to fathom what they might be.
Jack was barely alive, but had somehow managed to lift himself up onto some wooden planks. He examined the shard sticking out of his thigh. Thankfully, it hadn’t hit the artery but he was bleeding heavily. He clenched his teeth and took hold of the shard, trying to ignore the excruciating pain. He pulled it out and then, having torn his shirt, he bandaged his thigh as best he could. It was a very nasty wound. It would soon be infected and he needed urgent medical attention, but he had no idea where he was. He felt his life and strength ebbing away.
Late afternoon. Patong Beach
Jack slipped in and out of consciousness. He was lying on his back, staring at the vastness of the sky. His body was bruised and broken beyond anything he’d ever experienced. He couldn’t even remember how he’d landed on this pile of dirt. He hoped with all his heart that Mina was safe and wondered if he’d ever see her again. Images of the first time he met her came back to him, when Professor Almeini had left them together in her office. How much had happened since that day in Iraq. He thought of all his accumulated hatred towards Wheatley and Natasha. He had fantasised so often about how he would make them suffer. But in the end, Wheatley’s devious plans, his own bloodlust, Mina’s quest, the few truthful moments they had lived together, all of it had been washed away in one fell swoop. He couldn’t think anymore and felt the drowsiness creeping over him again.
Mina and the French survivors were air-lifted to safety. As the helicopter slowly rose into the air, the full horror of the scene unfurled before her eyes; ruined remains everywhere. Mina made a silent prayer for Jack, hoping against all odds he was still alive, somewhere on the beach. She saw the bloated, drowned bodies of men, women, children and babies, scattered all over the place. Apart from a few hotels, all that was left of this popular beach resort was a huge pile of wreckage.
It would only be later that evening and over the coming days that she would learn the full extent of the devastation caused by the tsunami in South India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, and the hundreds of thousands of lives lost to this cataclysmic event. As the helicopter flew over a row of swaying trees and left Patong beach, she couldn’t help but keep her eyes fixed on the ground far below in search of Jack, even though she knew it was hopeless. With a heavy heart, she raised her eyes to the sky.
It was bright blue and peaceful, as if nothing had happened. A majestic rainbow arched over the scene below. She followed the rainbow’s curve through the sky, and wondered how such beauty could emerge from so much devastation. In a flash she heard the words, the covenant between God and Noah, and a shiver ran down her spine.
My rainbow I do give in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth… And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living-soul among all mortals; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all living creatures. (Genesis 9:13-5)