Cut Off
孤立
By the time Jin reached the top of the hill, the sky was almost dark.
Below him lay the small town where about two hundred people lived quietly.
The only bridge that connected the town to the main road had collapsed.
Its broken pieces lay in the river, which had turned brown and wild.
The town had been completely cut off from the rest of the world.
No cars could enter, and no one could leave until the bridge was rebuilt.
The power lines that crossed the valley had been torn down by the quake.
Every house was dark, and no street lamp shone along the empty roads.
Jin tried his phone again, but the had been destroyed as well.
Without electricity, the water pumps that served the town had also stopped working.
People were gathering slowly in front of the old community hall near the square.
The hall was one of the few buildings that had not been damaged.
Someone had lit candles, and their small flames trembled in the cold air.
An elderly woman was handing out blankets that she had saved from her home.
"We must stay together tonight," she said in a calm and voice.
Jin looked around at the faces of people he had never met before.
There were families, workers, and travelers who had been caught by the .
A young mother named Yuki held her son Sora, who was crying softly.
An old man called Mori kept asking when the rescue teams would arrive.
Nobody could answer him, because all the roads had been blocked by landslides.
The community hall became the one safe place that everyone could share.
Jin realized that these strangers were now the only people he could on.
Outside, the river roared where the bridge that connected them had once stood.
As the candles burned lower, everyone wondered how long they would be trapped.