Fault Lines: A Survival Story - Episode 2

Bring Them Home

September 9th, 2026 – 07:18 a.m. – Disaster +1 Day

Dean had barely slept.

Exhaustion had eventually forced his body to shut down, but his mind had never really followed. Every time he drifted off, he woke again thinking about Beth and Walker. Where they were. Whether they were together. Whether they had been hurt. Whether Beth had followed the plan they had talked through so many times before.

As the first gray light of morning began to push through the windows, Dean gave up on sleep altogether.

He dressed, ate what he could, and headed for the barn.

His car was still sitting back in Seattle, abandoned at work when he had started the long journey home the day before. There was still a pickup at the property, but Dean quickly ruled it out.

He had no idea which roads were passable, which bridges had been inspected, or where yesterday's traffic jams had finally ended. The few reports he had managed to hear overnight made it clear that roads throughout the valley were still blocked by abandoned vehicles, fallen trees, landslides, and damaged pavement.

Getting the pickup stuck ten miles from home wouldn't help anyone.

Ernie, on the other hand, didn't need pavement.

Dean saddled the horse and began going through his go bag again.

Water. Food. Medical kit. Rain gear. Warming layers. Flashlights. Batteries. Radio. Paper maps. Mesh device. Power banks.

Then he added the broken-down AR.

He hesitated before closing the bag.

Dean had no intention of walking around with a rifle slung across his chest. Most of the people he encountered would already be scared, exhausted, and uncertain. Showing up visibly armed would do nothing to improve that situation.

But the world had changed considerably in twenty-four hours.

He wasn't going out without it.

His mother-in-law stepped into the barn as he tightened the final strap on Ernie's saddle.

"When do you think you'll be back?"

Dean looked over at her.

"Not until I find them."

She nodded, although the worry on her face didn't change.

"There are a few places Beth would have gone if she couldn't make it home," Dean continued. "I'll check each one on the way toward Walker's school. If she gets here while I'm gone, tell her I'll be monitoring the main repeater. I'll keep the mesh device running, too. Channel fifteen."

"Okay."

Dean took Ernie's reins and started toward the barn door, then stopped.

"And keep an eye on the gates while I'm gone."

She gave him a questioning look.

Dean shrugged slightly.

"We don't know what this looks like in another day or two."

That answer seemed to bother her more than if he had tried to reassure her.

Dean put his foot into the stirrup and swung himself into the saddle.

His mother-in-law opened the gate.

"Bring them home."

Dean looked back at her.

"I will."

He nudged Ernie forward.

Their emergency plan had several predetermined locations depending on where each member of the family was when something happened. The first was in Fall City. From there, he could continue east toward Snoqualmie and North Bend.

Normally, the trip would have been simple.

Nothing was normal anymore.

11:28 a.m.

The ride toward Fall City had taken considerably longer than Dean expected.

State Route 202 was almost completely useless to vehicle traffic.

Cars had been abandoned at strange angles along both shoulders and occasionally in the middle of the roadway. Some had clearly run out of fuel. Others had been left behind when traffic simply stopped moving. In several places, cracked pavement and fallen trees forced Dean off the road entirely.

Seeing the roadway confirmed that leaving the pickup at home had been the right decision.

He passed people walking in both directions.

Some carried backpacks.

Others dragged suitcases behind them.

One man pushed a bicycle loaded with bottled water and blankets while his daughter walked beside him.

Few people spoke.

There was the occasional nod or short greeting, but everyone seemed preoccupied with whatever problem waited for them farther down the road.

At one point, Dean had to dismount when a fallen tree blocked the roadway.

The trunk wasn't enormous, but it was too large for him to move alone. Using a length of rope from his saddlebag, he rigged it around one of the larger limbs and used Ernie to drag the top of the tree far enough aside to create a path.

It wasn't pretty.

It worked.

Dean added rope to the growing mental list of things he had been glad to pack.

As he continued east, he watched the houses.

Almost none had power.

A few generators could be heard running from garages and backyards.

He wondered how much fuel those people had.

Then he thought about the generator sitting at home.

He hadn't started it before leaving.

There hadn't been any point. Refrigerators and freezers could hold temperature for a while if they remained closed, and every gallon of fuel might matter later.

But tonight he would need to evaluate what they had.

After I find them.

Dean pushed the thought away.

The first safe location was a school.

Someone had turned it into an improvised shelter.

Cars covered the parking lot and surrounding grass. Families occupied classrooms and hallways. The gym had been filled with folding cots, sleeping bags, blankets, and whatever else people had brought with them.

Dean tied Ernie near the entrance and went inside.

He checked with the volunteers at the front desk first.

No Beth.

No Walker.

He walked through the gym anyway.

Nothing.

His disappointment was quickly replaced by something more useful when he spotted a familiar face.

One of Beth's coworkers.

She looked exhausted.

"Dean?"

He crossed the room.

"Have you seen Beth?"

"Yesterday."

His stomach tightened.

"Where?"

"She made it out of Snoqualmie. Last I saw her, she was trying to get toward Walker's school."

"Was Walker with her?"

She shook her head.

"Not yet. She was going to get him."

Dean nodded.

That made sense.

"What happened to the road?"

"There's a slide farther east. Big one. Cars can't get through. I don't think your horse is getting through either."

Dean glanced toward the windows.

"How far?"

"Past the junction. I don't know exactly. We turned around when we saw everyone coming back."

"Was Beth driving?"

"At first."

Dean nodded again.

That was enough.

"Thank you."

"Dean."

He stopped.

"She was okay when I saw her."

For the first time that morning, Dean felt something loosen in his chest.

"Thanks."

Outside, he unfolded the map.

If Beth had reached Walker's school, she was likely somewhere above the falls.

The problem was getting there.

Two trail systems gave him options. The Preston-Snoqualmie Trail approached from the south, while the Snoqualmie Valley Trail provided another route from farther north.

If Beth had already started walking west, choosing the wrong trail created the possibility that they could pass each other without ever knowing it.

Dean stared at the map for another minute.

There wasn't a perfect answer.

There rarely was.

The Preston route was shorter.

He folded the map.

"Preston it is."

He mounted Ernie and continued east.

02:00 p.m.

Dean was rounding one of the final stretches of trail toward Snoqualmie when the radio on his chest crackled.

He almost ignored it.

Static and broken transmissions had filled the repeater all day.

Then he heard the voice.

"Havoc One... Havoc One... Havoc Two... North Bend... copy?"

Dean froze.

Beth.

For half a second he forgot every radio procedure they had ever discussed.

Then training and habit took over.

He pulled the radio from his chest.

"Havoc Two, Havoc One. I copy North Bend. Twenty-five minutes out. Over."

Twenty-five minutes wasn't true.

Not literally.

Years earlier, Dean and Beth had agreed that if they ever needed to communicate publicly during an emergency, they wouldn't broadcast exact locations or timelines unless absolutely necessary.

Twenty-five minutes meant roughly two and a half hours.

Two and a half hours meant approximately twenty-five minutes.

It was probably unnecessary.

Today Dean was glad they had practiced it anyway.

Several seconds passed.

"Copy, Havoc One. All is well. See you soon. Out."

Dean stared at the radio.

All is well.

Three words.

For the first time since the earthquake, he knew Beth was alive.

And because she had said all instead of I, he was almost certain Walker was with her.

Dean closed his eyes for a moment.

Then he exhaled.

"All right, Ernie."

He leaned forward and rubbed the horse's neck.

"We found them."

Not quite.

But now he knew where he was going.

04:00 p.m.

The ground moved again.

Ernie reacted before Dean fully understood what was happening.

The horse sidestepped hard beneath him as the trees began to sway.

"Easy. Easy!"

Dean pulled gently on the reins, trying to keep Ernie from bolting.

The aftershock lasted only seconds.

Compared with the earthquake the previous morning, it was minor.

Out here, under towering trees and surrounded by steep terrain, it didn't feel minor.

Somewhere to Dean's left came the sharp crack of timber breaking.

A shower of rocks rolled down the hillside farther ahead.

Then everything became still again.

Ernie snorted nervously.

Dean ran a hand along his neck.

"I know."

He waited another minute before continuing.

Then he tried Beth on their encrypted radio channel.

Nothing.

He tried again.

Still nothing.

Dean switched back to the repeater.

"Havoc Two, Havoc One. Radio check."

Silence.

He waited.

"Havoc Two, Havoc One. Radio check."

Nothing.

Dean looked at the time.

He was perhaps thirty minutes away.

Maybe less.

Radio problem.

That was the obvious explanation.

A repeater could have gone down during the aftershock.

Beth's battery might have died.

She might have turned the radio off.

There were a dozen harmless explanations.

Dean's brain supplied several considerably less harmless ones.

He pushed Ernie into a trot.

Five minutes later, he tried again.

Nothing.

"Come on."

Another few minutes passed.

Dean pushed harder.

Ernie broke into a gallop.

Ten minutes later, Dean saw the smoke.

At first it was only a thin column drifting above the trees.

Then the next safe location came into view.

Walker's school.

Smoke was pouring from one side of the building.

Dean's stomach dropped.

04:14 p.m.

People were streaming across the parking lot.

Teachers, parents, children, and volunteers moved toward an athletic field behind the school. Some carried bags. Others carried children.

Dean pulled Ernie well away from the building before dismounting.

"Beth!"

No answer.

He grabbed his medical bag and radio.

A woman rushed past him carrying a crying little girl.

"What happened?"

"Aftershock. Something caught fire in the back wing."

"Everyone out?"

"I don't know."

Dean looked toward the building.

Smoke was beginning to push through several windows.

"Beth!"

Nothing.

Then someone grabbed his arm.

"Dean?"

He turned.

One of the teachers recognized him.

"Where's Walker?"

Her expression answered before she spoke.

"He was with Beth."

"Where?"

"They were helping Mrs. Turner. She fell when the ceiling came down. They were in the east hallway."

Dean looked toward the smoke.

"Are they out?"

"I don't know."

That was enough.

Dean ran.

Someone near the entrance yelled at him not to go inside.

He ignored them.

The front hallway was still mostly clear, but smoke had begun collecting along the ceiling.

A fire alarm screamed overhead.

Dean stayed low as he moved deeper into the building.

"Beth!"

Nothing.

He passed an overturned bookshelf.

Ceiling tiles covered the floor.

Water sprayed from a broken pipe farther down the hallway.

"Beth!"

A voice answered.

"Dean!"

He turned toward it.

A classroom door sat partially open at the end of the hall.

Something had fallen against it from the hallway side.

Dean pushed.

It moved only a few inches.

"Dad!"

Walker.

Dean felt every muscle in his body tighten.

"I'm here, buddy!"

He wedged himself between the door and the fallen cabinet blocking it.

"Move away from the door!"

Dean shoved.

Nothing.

He repositioned himself and pushed again.

The cabinet shifted several inches.

Smoke was beginning to thicken.

He pushed a third time, grunting as the cabinet rolled just far enough for the door to open.

Beth appeared immediately.

For a second neither of them spoke.

Her face was streaked with dirt. Her hair was pulled back, and there was a small cut above one eyebrow.

Walker was behind her.

Dean grabbed his son and pulled him against his chest.

"Dad!"

"I've got you."

Walker buried his face into Dean's shoulder.

Dean closed his eyes.

For one second, the earthquake, the fire, the radio, everything disappeared.

Beth touched his arm.

"We still have someone inside."

Reality returned.

An older teacher was sitting against the wall near the back of the classroom.

Her ankle was badly deformed.

"I couldn't move her by myself and keep Walker with me," Beth said.

Dean nodded.

"You did exactly right."

Smoke entered through the open doorway.

They didn't have much time.

Dean handed Walker to Beth.

"Take him outside."

"I'm helping you."

"Beth."

"Dean, you aren't carrying her alone."

They stared at each other for half a second.

He knew that look.

Arguing would waste more time than accepting that his wife had already made the decision.

"Fine."

Beth wrapped part of a classroom blanket underneath the teacher's arms while Dean took her legs.

"Ma'am, this is going to hurt."

The teacher nodded through clenched teeth.

"I figured."

"Ready?"

Beth nodded.

They lifted.

The teacher screamed.

Walker followed directly behind Beth, one hand clutching the back of her jacket.

They moved into the hallway.

Smoke had descended farther.

Dean could feel heat coming from the opposite end of the corridor now.

"Stay low."

A section of ceiling crashed somewhere behind them.

Walker started crying.

"It's okay," Beth told him. "Stay with Mommy."

The front entrance seemed much farther away than Dean remembered.

Then daylight appeared through the smoke.

Someone outside saw them.

Two men ran forward and took the injured teacher from Dean and Beth.

Dean grabbed Walker.

Beth stumbled through the doorway behind him.

They crossed the parking lot before stopping.

Dean turned around.

Smoke was now rolling heavily from the east side of the building.

Several windows shattered almost simultaneously.

He looked at Beth.

Then Walker.

Then back at Beth.

She stepped forward and wrapped both arms around him.

Dean held her tightly.

Neither spoke.

There wasn't anything useful to say.

Finally Walker's voice came from between them.

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"You took forever."

Dean laughed.

It came out halfway between a laugh and something else.

"Sorry, buddy."

04:52 p.m.

They sat together on the grass near the edge of the field.

Dean cleaned the cut above Beth's eye while she explained what had happened.

She had reached Walker's school the previous afternoon.

The earthquake had damaged several roads, and by the time she picked him up, returning west had become nearly impossible. School staff and several parents decided to remain there overnight rather than start walking after dark.

The aftershock had changed that.

Part of the ceiling came down.

Then the fire started.

Beth had moved Walker toward an exit when she found Mrs. Turner injured in the hallway.

She stayed to help.

"I tried calling you after the aftershock," Dean said.

"My radio died."

Beth pulled it from her bag.

"The battery was already low. I forgot to turn it off last night."

Dean nodded.

A stupidly simple explanation.

He had spent thirty minutes imagining considerably worse ones.

"So what's the plan?" Beth asked.

Dean looked west.

"Home."

"The pickup?"

"Still at the house."

"And we're leaving it there?"

"After what I saw on 202? Absolutely."

Beth nodded.

"Trail?"

"We'll take the Snoqualmie Valley Trail back."

She looked at Ernie.

"All three of us?"

"We rotate. Walker rides most of it. You and I switch off when we need to."

Walker immediately looked considerably happier.

"I get to ride Ernie?"

Dean looked at him.

"You survived an earthquake and a fire. I think you've earned horse privileges."

05:17 p.m.

They started west.

Walker rode in front of Dean for the first stretch while Beth walked beside them.

Later, Beth rode with Walker while Dean walked.

They switched whenever someone became tired or when the terrain made riding difficult.

The return trip was slow.

Almost six hours.

And compared with everything that had happened over the previous day and a half, it was almost peaceful.

Almost.

They passed families moving in both directions.

A group of cyclists carried backpacks and camping equipment.

Two men pushed a disabled motorcycle along the trail. Farther west, someone had established a table with water jugs and paper cups for travelers. Dean stopped long enough to refill one bottle and thank them.

Nobody asked for anything in return.

That stuck with him.

Despite everything, most people were still helping one another.

For now.

As daylight began fading behind the hills, temperatures dropped quickly.

Dean pulled another layer from his bag for Walker.

Beth walked beside Ernie while Dean monitored the radio.

The picture developing outside the valley was grim.

Seattle had suffered widespread structural damage and dozens of fires. Several major highways had been closed indefinitely while bridges and overpasses were inspected.

Landslides had cut transportation routes throughout the foothills.

Hospitals were operating beyond capacity.

Emergency crews were still working through damaged neighborhoods.

Tacoma had significant damage.

Communities closer to the coast were reporting communications failures.

The exact numbers changed with every broadcast.

Hundreds injured.

Then thousands.

Fatalities unknown.

Entire neighborhoods still hadn't been searched.

Rumors moved faster than verified information.

One station claimed several bridges had collapsed.

Another said they were merely closed.

A third reported that military aircraft were bringing supplies into the region.

Twenty minutes later, someone else said the airfields receiving them had suffered damage of their own.

Dean stopped trying to separate every rumor from fact.

The larger picture was enough. The region was hurt badly. Then a clearer emergency broadcast came across the radio.

"...federal emergency resources are being mobilized into Washington and Oregon. FEMA officials are asking residents capable of safely sheltering in place to remain where they are. Significant damage to highways, bridges, rail corridors, ports, and regional airports is delaying the movement of personnel and equipment into affected communities..."

Beth looked toward Dean.

"Delayed how long?"

Dean shook his head.

"They didn't say."

The broadcast continued.

"...local governments are being advised that outside assistance may be delayed. Residents should conserve food, potable water, fuel, medications, and battery power..."

Dean glanced at the darkening trail ahead.

That part mattered.

He reached into his jacket and took out the small notebook he had been carrying.

"What are you doing?" Beth asked.

"Making tomorrow's list."

She gave him a tired smile.

"You already have a list?"

"Several."

"Naturally."

Dean wrote as he walked.

Water.

Food.

Fuel.

Generator.

Heat.

Medical.

Radios.

Vehicles.

The pickup might become invaluable if the roads reopened.

Until then, its fuel was another resource that needed to be protected.

Then he added another line.

Neighbors.

Beth noticed.

"Neighbors?"

"If FEMA can't get here, somebody still has to."

She didn't respond.

She didn't need to.

08:43 p.m.

Darkness settled completely over the valley.

Dean switched on a low-output headlamp but avoided using more light than necessary.

Walker had fallen asleep against Beth while she rode Ernie.

Dean walked beside them.

For the first time all day, nobody spoke.

Their world had become very small.

The sound of Ernie's hooves.

The crunch of gravel beneath Dean's boots.

The occasional crackle from the radio.

The outline of the mountains against the night sky.

Every few miles they saw the glow of a generator-powered house or the flicker of flashlights moving through a yard.

Most of the valley remained dark.

Dean had lived here long enough to know what everything was supposed to look like at night.

This wasn't it.

He looked toward Beth and Walker.

They were alive.

That was enough for tonight.

Tomorrow could be dealt with tomorrow.

11:06 p.m.

The gate came into view.

Dean whistled softly.

A flashlight immediately appeared near the house.

Then another.

His mother-in-law hurried toward them.

"Beth!"

Beth barely had time to dismount before her mother wrapped her arms around her.

Walker woke during the commotion and began talking almost immediately, trying to explain the earthquake, the school, the fire, the horse, and how his father had apparently taken an unreasonable amount of time to arrive.

Dean stood beside Ernie and listened.

For the first time in more than thirty-six hours, everyone was home.

His pickup sat where he'd left it before going to work two mornings earlier.

His other car was still thirty-six miles away in Seattle.

Somehow that made the events of the last two days feel even stranger. Part of his normal life was sitting abandoned in a damaged city while another vehicle waited untouched only yards away.

He should have felt relieved.

He did.

But relief wasn't the same thing as safety.

The house was dark.

The power was still out.

The temperature was dropping.

No one knew when the roads would reopen.

No one knew when stores would receive another shipment.

No one knew when fuel trucks would return.

And now the federal government was warning people that help might not arrive anytime soon.

Dean looked toward the garage.

Tomorrow they would inventory everything.

Food.

Water.

Fuel.

Heat.

Power.

Medical supplies.

Communications.

Vehicles.

He had spent years preparing for emergencies.

Now he was about to find out how prepared they actually were.

Behind him, the radio crackled again.

"...residents are reminded to remain prepared to shelter without outside assistance for an extended period..."

Dean looked back at the house.

Three days ago that sentence would have sounded dramatic.

Tonight it sounded like a warning.

And somewhere in the darkness beyond the valley, millions of other people were hearing the same thing.

Episode 1