Shaken to the Core by Jae

Author:Jae
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
Tags: lesbian fiction
Publisher: Ylva Publishing
Published: 2016-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

Market Street

San Francisco, California

April 18, 1906

By the time Kate had packed her camera into her carrying case, stuffed as many unexposed glass plates as possible in there, and was finally on her way downtown, it was already after eleven.

Her father had to drive so slowly that Kate wondered if she wouldn’t be faster walking. Rubble blocked their path in some places, making detours through side streets necessary. The roads were full of people, most heading west to find refuge in Golden Gate Park, others fleeing north toward the open grounds of the Presidio or east toward the ferry building so they could catch a boat to Oakland. It looked as if a mass exodus was on its way.

Hundreds of soldiers in mustard-colored uniforms patrolled the streets, each carrying a rifle with a bayonet. They must have marched down from their posts in Fort Mason and the Presidio right after the strongest shock of the earthquake had stopped.

Heavens! Had martial law been declared? Kate fidgeted in the passenger seat and threw a concerned glance over her shoulder at Giuliana in the backseat. Had they underestimated the danger?

The closer they came to Market Street, the more they had to slow down. The smoke became denser, making them cough.

Kate stared ahead, to where a two-mile-long wall of smoke rose. Oh Lord. South of Market had to be a raging conflagration, the individual fires probably having merged into one giant inferno. Before, she had just thought of the spectacular photographs she might be able to take, but this was real. A tremor went through her body. She clutched the side of the door in an attempt to make the trembling stop.

Guilt started to gnaw at her gut. Was it wrong of her to want to photograph the disaster when people were losing their homes—or even their lives? But even if she were to turn around and put her camera away, it wouldn’t make a difference. The fires would keep burning, no matter what. The only thing she could do was document the disaster and keep an eye out for people in need of help.

Just as her father steered the automobile around the last corner and onto Market Street, a deafening boom shook the cobblestones.

Kate ducked, her heart pounding. Breath burst in and out of her lungs.

Her father hit the brakes. “What the heck was that?”

“Dynamite,” a man shouted from the sidewalk. He was wearing three hats and several layers of clothing, probably trying to save his entire wardrobe. “There’s not a lick of water to be had, so they’re trying to create firebreaks.”

They were blowing up buildings in the middle of Market Street? Kate couldn’t believe it. As her father carefully steered the automobile northwest, she realized how bad it really was. Several buildings on the south side of Market Street were burning, and the dynamite didn’t seem to stop the flames. A plume of smoke was rising from somewhere behind the Emporium, the fire quickly approaching the department store.

Kate had to swallow at the sight of all the familiar buildings threatened by fire.

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