The Tempest

by A. J. Scudiere

  36

  “Yes!” he yelled into the empty car, relief running through Cage almost as surely as gas was running through this combustion engine.

  The engine had turned over cleanly and easily. Throwing the car into reverse, he backed out of the space, trying to avoid the mangled limbs of the carport and get the car turned around.

  The sound must have brought Sarah running, as she appeared quickly in the open gap. She made a face as if to ask, What was he doing?

  She waved her arm at him, though Cage didn’t understand the signal, as she stood precariously at the edge. Deveron came up behind her, quick enough to make Cage wince, afraid his friend would slam into Sarah and she would stumble forward into the pile of rubble that had gathered below.

  But Dev pulled up in time and the two didn’t tumble down.

  Cage pulled the car just slightly forward before turning off the engine and climbing out. “I just wanted to get it out from under the carport. Wanted to be sure that not only did the engine work, but the tires rolled. It sounds good.”

  He offered a smile, but Sarah put her one good hand to her heart. He noticed then that she was wearing a sling. He figured Deveron must have fashioned it for her.

  Good call, but time was wasting, he thought. He waved them out to join him. “Come on, let's go!”

  Sarah shook her head and Cage crossed the short distance between them, coming to stand well below their height, not having realized how far the foundation was raised until the stairs no longer existed.

  His impatience must have shown on his face, because Sarah started by shaking her head at them. “One of us needs to stay behind. The house line is dead. If they come back here and we’re gone, they might come looking for us. That’s bad. There’s no cell signal yet to connect …”

  She waved her one good arm into the open space, as if to designate all the dead air around them. There were no cell phones and, if there were no landlines, they would need to find people with radios.

  “But we’re here. We looked, and she's not—they aren’t—here,” Cage protested. He wasn’t going to sit and wait. “That's why we need to go now.”

  He hitched one thumb over his shoulder, not liking that this was even an argument, let alone the direction it was headed.

  “Someone should stay here and wait for them.” Sarah’s tone said her mind was made up. “What if the phone lines come back up? The line here is intact. What if they call? What if they show up?”

  Crap, he thought. It wasn't right to sit here and wait; they needed to get on the move. They couldn't simply hope that Joule and Izzy would find themselves and then make their way back home. Without phone lines, contacting other people could very easily depend on face-to-face interactions.

  He had Boomer and Bob watching out for the two women. But the fact was, Boomer and Bob were watching out for so many people, that Joule and Izzy could sit in the back of their truck and get dropped off at the community center, and the men likely wouldn’t recognize that they’d found his sister. So no one would alert him and his friends. No one could or would call the house, and he could sit here worried for no reason.

  “I'll stay,” Sarah volunteered. “You two go out and look. I've got a bum arm anyway.”

  Though Cage was nodding, Dev pushed in front of her into the open gap. Again, Cage worried that one of them would fall, but at least Dev was smoother on his feet and once again, they stayed upright. “We can't do that. There's three of us. We’re a prime number—we can’t split up evenly and we shouldn’t leave anyone alone. We all need to stay together. At least until we get one more person.”

  “Okay, who can we get to stay here with me?” Sarah asked, looking between them. But they stared silently at each other, each waiting for someone else to produce a recommendation.

  When it was clear none was coming, Cage announced, “Then you’ll come with us. We'll leave a note.”

  It wasn't the same as having someone answer the phone, but it was better than all three of them sitting here with no phone, or leaving Sarah by herself.

  But she shook her head. “I’ll have the house phone soon.”

  Cage frowned, but Sarah understood and responded, “The phone company makes restoring the lines a priority.”

  “Before missing people?” That didn’t make any sense, and he could feel his hand squeezing the keys, trying not to show how upset he was that they weren't already in the car and down the driveway. He was more than certain he wasn't hiding it very well.

  “Yes.” Sarah nodded vigorously. She understood the system here and he didn’t. “Once we get the phone lines up, then we can find all the missing people faster. It's an issue of necessity. We can stop wasting effort looking for people who are already found, because we can talk to people who located them. I’m sure the crews are already on it.” She paused, but then kept going, as though sensing he needed more convincing. “Hospitals need the communication.”

  She looked to Dev, imploring him to join her side. She wanted to stay. “This is a house. I'll be fine here.”

  Thank God it was Dev who turned around and blurted out exactly what Cage was thinking. “What the hell, Sarah? The side of the house is missing! You might not be okay here when the next storm rolls through.”

  But Sarah shook her head. “It won't come back the same place.”

  “What? Is it like lightning now?” Dev asked, sarcasm dripping. “Tornadoes do come back to the same place over and over again.”

  “The sky is clear,” she protested, once again putting her good arm up to gesture. “Someone needs to stay behind. I'm the one with the bum arm. I can't help pull people out of their cars and I certainly can't climb up and down ditches to find somebody.”

  Cage hated her logic. He wanted her safe. Though he would never admit it to himself, the thought of losing anyone else when Izzy and Joule were already gone was nauseating, but she obviously didn’t want to go, and he needed to.

  “I don't like leaving you alone.” Dev fell back on the best argument.

  “Well, honestly, neither do I,” Sarah countered, looking like she would have braced her hands on her hips if she could. “But the fact is, somebody needs to stay. If they can find their way back, this is the first place they'll come. And this is what I'm good for. I promise you, as soon as I can contact someone else, I will get someone else here with me. I don't think I'll be alone for long.”

  “Can you stay at the other house with Mary Allen and Sue?” Deveron asked.

  “It's too far away. If Izzy or Joule comes here, I won't be here.”

  Cage was staying out of the argument now, because he’d be arguing his own, selfish side. He was running every non-rational scenario for himself but was unwilling to unleash them on his friends. He told himself Sarah would be in the house. They did have a safe room. And she did have a damaged arm. She was likely to make things worse if she came out on the road with them. Still, he felt the need to protest to soothe his conscience. “We're leaving you with no car.”

  He realized as he said it that he’d phrased it as though he and Dev were already out the door. But he didn't correct it.

  “Mary Allen and Sue down the street have a car. We saw it on the way in. It looks like it’s still in good shape.”

  That was true, and he appreciated that Sarah was lobbying hard for the job. Cage look to Dev, who only shrugged. It wasn't a great idea. They all knew it. But it was the best use of what they had.

  “Alright,” Dev finally conceded. “Be safe.” And he hopped out the opening, giving himself enough of a leap to clear the rubble and land on solid ground.

  “Not yet!” Sarah’s protest was surprising after all her arguing for them to go without her. But she made them spend five more minutes packing water bottles, bandages, and anything that might be used for a roadside splint, food, and more. As he filled grocery bags to chuck into the backseat he thought that, even though they'd been eating at home more, their pantry was still woefully understocked.

  But when he a
nd Dev were set up to help anyone they found, he tossed the bags into the back and hoped their first discovery would be Joule and Izzy.

  The two climbed back in the car, turned the ignition, and bumped their way down the gravel drive yet another time. Dev didn't speak, and for that, Cage was grateful. When they hit the end of the drive, they had a decision.

  “Which way?” Cage asked, not wanting to be the one responsible. If anything truly terrible happened to his sister, and he had picked the wrong direction, how would he live with that?

  Dev pulled out actual information, though. “When we were in the ditch, the ditch ran north-south, and the tornado came up behind us heading north. It grabbed both Izzy and Joule. So if it got them, and if it deposited them somewhere, it was probably somewhere north of here.”

  God love him, Cage thought. Not only had Dev chosen, but he’d given a solid reason. Cage cranked the wheel to the right and made the turn. Unlike Boomer and Bob’s truck, the sedan he shared with his sister was not made for wheeling over the detritus in the road.

  They carefully picked their way along, maneuvering around some obstacles and hopping out to push others out of the way. The going was painfully slow, and Cage was grateful Sarah wasn't in the car. She would have tried to have helped, and maybe injured herself further.

  “Where should we turn off?” he asked. “Do we drive the side roads and just look around? What are the chances we'll find Izzy or Joule?”

  But Deveron just turned the radio on and listened. Within moments, the car was full of names and locations, places for family members to report in. There were descriptions of small children who didn't know or couldn't say their own names. None of the information matched Joule or Izzy.

  “Let's try to follow the path,” Dev told him, pointing to the greater destruction on one side of the highway.

  They turned onto a county road that was in no better shape than the one they'd left. Twenty minutes later, they hadn't gotten very far and they hadn't seen anyone, just a few damaged houses and a few animals wandering loose. But when Cage checked the rearview mirror, he didn’t like what he saw.

  As he watched, the sky grew dark, and he felt his heart do the same.

  37

  “Hold on!” Jerry called back and Joule grabbed tight to the edge of the flat metal she was calling a seat. Clamping her other hand carefully around Toto, she tried to cage the kitten to stop him from making any bad choices as the tractor bumped along the road, leaving Joule rattled.

  Facing backward as she was, she couldn’t see what was coming, but it was still the better option. The little front wheels didn't handle much of anything well, but the huge tires in the back ate up the terrain. They rolled right up and over branches, pieces of wood, and even a small tree.

  Jerry seemed to know how to handle the equipment. Joule wouldn't have even tried. It had been his idea to pull the odd vehicle out of the barn. While Joule had been surprised to find that the key was waiting in the ignition, Jerry had expected to find it there.

  “Who's going to steal a tractor?” he’d asked, and Joule didn't point out that they were doing exactly that.

  But the farming equipment made the road pass far faster than she ever could have walked. She’d even managed to open one of the cans of tuna and feed little flakes of it to Toto, who ate it with glee.

  The kitten was having the time of his life, while she was tied in knots of worry.

  Had Cage and Dev and Sarah made it through?

  Had they stayed attached to the pipe or had the five friends been thrown five different directions?

  She wanted to wonder why she hadn’t found Izzy yet, but told herself that as long as she hadn’t, she could still count Izzy as alive. While her own survival wasn’t unheard of, she knew her tornado ride had beaten the odds.

  The way she figured it though, she was far better off than she’d been earlier—despite the fact that it was Jerry she was with. She now had transportation, food, and water. By her calculations, she was good for at least another three days.

  And surely, with the tractor tooling down the road, they would run into someone else, or some kind of functioning civilization well before then.

  “Hold on!” he called back again.

  She reached out quickly, now practiced at holding on and letting herself sway with the bounces. The tractor wasn't made for giving rides, and Jerry's warnings were often the only way she knew that she was going to get jostled and bounced around more.

  Toto meowed softly but otherwise didn't seem to mind. And when the road settled back down, she let go.

  Eww, Joule thought, looking at her tuna oil covered fingers. Toto wouldn’t mind that she’d just touched the tractor with them, and she wasn’t covered in grease or dirt or anything… just tuna. So she held them out for the little kitten to lick.

  “Hey!” She yanked them back as he began to bite. “No, Toto, you don't eat fingers.”

  “You okay?”

  “Just the kitten.” She had to holler it, given the sound of the engine.

  “Why are you even carrying him around? It’s enough to get ourselves taken care of! He’s just a burden.”

  She raised one eyebrow that he couldn’t see, and whispered, “Cretin” to the kitten, who snuggled in deeper to her lap. He was small enough that she could see his little belly full of the tuna she’d fed him. She didn’t answer Jerry.

  Checking the position of the sun, Joule reasoned that they were now headed south or mostly south. Jerry had swung a left at the first crossroads they’d encountered, seeming to know the area.

  He’d first retraced part of her steps that had gotten her to the Johnson farm, but now she didn't think she was completely backtracking. She clearly hadn't made the right choices initially. Still, somehow she’d run into another human being, even if it was Jerry. Though he wasn’t her optimum “tornado survival companion,” he had found them the tractor. She wouldn’t have even thought to look for it.

  As much as she disliked the guy, she couldn't say she’d wound up too bad off.

  “Hold on!” he called back again, and for a moment, she wondered if maybe she should just hold on all the time.

  She gripped the seat edge and Toto one more time before she got tossed side to side. It was an effort not to groan out at the way the hard seat—it wasn’t actually a seat—hurt her hips and her spine. And she reminded herself to be glad that she hadn’t whacked her head on any of the metal all over the big contraption. And again, she could be grateful that she wasn't walking.

  She felt Toto purring in her lap and she couldn't help but kiss her finger and press it to his tiny nose. Carrying around food and water and figuring out how to get them into him was a bit of a challenge, but having another live creature—one who was much better company than Jerry—had definitely kept her hopes up. Joule was not a cat person … but maybe she was becoming one.

  She swept her gaze across the landscape behind her, starting to frown.

  They bounced along for another few minutes as she watched the sky slowly crept up behind them. She made her way through another “Hold on!” which turned out to be Jerry slowly Landrovering over a large section of siding from someone’s house. Not far beyond that, he rolled over an eight-by-four fragment of tin roofing. She only saw it as it emerged from under the back tires. The mystery of “what are we bouncing over now?” had occupied her for the past handful of miles.

  If only she had any idea where she was or how far they’d traveled.

  Jerry seemed to enjoy rough-roading over objects rather than getting out and simply pushing them out of the way. When he took another small tree, she pulled her legs up quickly, as one of the branches reached around and tried to scratch at her.

  Toto, awake now, disliked the rough ride, too, and he climbed up her chest, his little claws sinking in as he made his way to her shoulder.

  She wondered if she might be smarter to put her jacket on, now that he wasn’t curled in it. At least it would put another layer between her skin and To
to’s toes.

  But as the tractor settled down to smoother if slow-as-hell ride, she glanced back up at the sky and realized that what she thought she'd seen before was right.

  And it was getting worse.

  The sky was growing darker, though it was only maybe early afternoon. There was no reason for the day to get so late, so quick, unless …

  Joule fought against the feeling of dread. Darkening skies always brought that out in her, probably some form of PTSD. And well earned, she thought.

  She told herself that night hunters wouldn’t appear at the edge of the shadows, but she wouldn’t have been that surprised if they did. She didn't say anything, though, just turned around and looked in the direction they were going, seeing what Jerry saw.

  In front of them was blue sky, pale and bright, with white fluffy clouds chugging along. When she turned and looked back, the darkness had crept even closer. “Jerry. You need to look behind us.”

  She felt the tractor change motion, maybe he’d downshifted or something. They slowed, though he didn’t bring them to a complete stop. Joule could feel the motion through the machine as he shifted in the seat.

  “Oh, that's not good. It's behind us, though.”

  “Not for long. It’s moving toward us fast,” she told him, able to see a change even from when she'd said his name to when he made his declaration. “Seriously, watch it.”

  He must have looked forward and back a couple of times, keeping the tractor on the road and giving her another “hold on!” which she bounced her way through again.

  “Yeah, that's bad. We need to find a place to stop.”

  Having Jerry agree with her only made her feel worse. But he faced forward again, picking up speed and seeming to try to get ahead of it, even if the vehicle had a max speed of twenty.

  They were simply too slow.

  She watched the clouds line up and begin to roll. If it was possible, they were organizing the ions inside her to do the same thing, and Joule fought the urge to barf.