Every Living Creature

When a massive Caribbean volcano erupts, the island’s residents flee, leaving their beloved animals behind. As pets and livestock are engulfed in ash and penned in by lava, waiting to perish, three brave souls risk death and evade the law to save every last one. A modern-day Noah’s Ark.

The quaking built to a low thrum in the early morning of June 25, 1997. Then it quieted. A few hours later, an ash cloud plumed into the sky with the force of a fired smokestack. Winds carried it west. And that should have been that, if history were any guide.

The Soufriere Hills Volcano had been threatening the small Caribbean island of Montserrat for two years. This volcano was not like volcanoes portrayed in movies. Instead of exploding violently and calming itself back to a long slumber, the Soufriere Hills volcano had come to life over weeks, which turned to months, which turned to years. Layers of lava, too thick to flow, formed domes on top of its vent. From time to time, a dome became unstable and collapsed, sending ash and rock and gas coursing down its slopes in destructive avalanches known as pyroclastic flows.