A Little Beyond Hope

by Tracie Puckett

  “Absolutely,” he said. “I’m sure there are teams out there right now. We’re just not hearing them, and they’re not finding us.”

  “So then we scream?” I asked. “Shouldn’t we do something to attract attention so they know we’re here?”

  Luke wrapped his arms around me. “They’re going to find us, Jules. I promise.”

  “Luke,” I said, looking up to him. I braced myself with another deep breath. “What happened earlier?”

  “Tornado.”

  “No,” I said. “What happened to you? You froze up. We were in danger, and our lives were at stake. I’ve never known you to go blank like that. What happened?”

  He fell silent for a minute, closing his eyes.

  “I assumed the worst,” he said. “When I said there was a funnel over the historic district, those were the only words I could manage to say. I’ve never seen anything like it, Jules. It touched ground; piece by piece, it was swallowing the town.”

  “You knew it was going to hit us?”

  “Hit us, take us out,” he said. “It was on course to tear down Main Street in the matter of seconds, and I didn’t see how ducking under a table would save any of our lives.”

  “You thought it was going to kill us, then?”

  “Jules,” he said, taking that familiar tone of reason with me. “I know you understand that this was a serious storm. Your concern for Elvis, for your friends and family… it’s proof enough that you know what happened out there. But you need to be realistic about what we’re facing. The hours we spend in this cold basement, without food, or the basic supplies… these are going to be some of the best hours we have ahead of us for a long, long time.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know the extent of the damage, but I know it isn’t good.” Luke took a deep breath. “We need to start preparing ourselves mentally and emotionally. When we get out of here, we’re going to have to face the fact that life is probably going to change. Natural disasters have wiped out entire cities. I’m not saying Oakland has been wiped off the map, but the devastation we face in the upcoming days is probably much worse than anything any of us can imagine.”

  I sat quietly for a few minutes, letting that fact sink in. I’d already considered it once before, the fact that the storm had been a lot worse than we’d imagined. I knew Luke had considered it too; there was a reason he’d been so silent.

  “I froze, Julie,” he said, shaking his head. “Because I knew what we were in for, and I didn’t think we’d survive. I was torn between going through the motions or just being honest.”

  “Honest about what?”

  “If we were going to die, if this storm was going to be the end of us, then I couldn’t stomach knowing that the last real discussion I’d had with you was a lie.”

  He stopped talking, and I took that moment to replay the last real discussion we’d had. Prior to coming to Charlie’s for the movie night with Matt, Luke and I had sat in our kitchen, brushing shoulders as we talked about his grandmother. He was leaving for Piqua, and he didn’t want me tagging along.

  “I wanted to tell you the truth,” he said. “Right there in that moment, knowing the storm was upon us, I wanted to come clean. But I couldn’t. I was afraid of how you’d react. In the heat of the moment, I didn’t want you stomping up the stairs, out into the storm. So I kept my mouth shut, and I held on to you. Because if I couldn’t make it right, and the last words I’d spoken to you had to be a lie, then at least I could die holding on to you.”

  “Luke, what are you talking about?” I asked, shaking my head.

  “There’s something you need to know.”

  “Yeah, I got that.”

  “I wasn’t on my way to see Gran,” he said. “When I got the call from Charlie to turn around, I was on the road to Piqua.”

  “But you weren’t going to see your grandmother?”

  “I was going to meet with the Chief of Police,” he said quietly. He let go of a deep breath, letting it out. “When I told you that I may accept another position elsewhere, I only told you it was West Bridge because I didn’t want to cause you an unnecessary pain.”

  “Piqua?” I asked. “You want to leave Oakland and move to Piqua? Luke, that’s six hundred miles away.”

  “It’s a smaller town,” he said, saying the words I could only imagine he’d practiced in his head. “Less danger for both of us. Life is simpler there, and I—”

  “Lied to me,” I said, putting a few inches between us. “Luke, you lied to me.”

  “I couldn’t tell you,” he said. “The truth is, at one point, I wanted to take the job. I wanted to go, but it wasn’t a sure thing. And until it was a sure thing, I didn’t want you back here worrying yourself sick about a move…especially one that would take you so far from your family.”

  “Okay, so what? You said at one point you wanted to take the job. What about now? You still want to go?”

  “I saw the hurt in your eyes today,” he said. “Sitting in the kitchen before I left, you were reliving it … all of it—the cabin, the fear, Conan. I’d considered all of that a long time ago. I knew it would be a difficult transition if we chose to live in Piqua. But I saw it today; there was no way I could ask you to make that kind of sacrifice. Your emotional capabilities are thriving here. Taking you back there, asking you to be part of that world, I couldn’t do it. So I decided to drive out anyway. I’d meet with the Chief and thank him for the opportunity. He’d offered so much; I felt it was only right to turn him down face-to-face.”

  “So your grandmother isn’t leaving for Florida?” I asked. “You made that up so that you’d have an excuse to leave?”

  “She is moving,” he said, dropping his head. “She’s leaving this weekend. It’s just that I took advantage of her departure for my own selfish gain, and I shouldn’t have.”

  The room fell silent again, and I could hear every hitch in his and my breathing.

  “What about the wedding?” I asked, remembering the way he’d defended his request to postpone it. “Did you really ask to put things off because of work, or is there something else I need to know? Have you changed your mind?”

  “Jules,” he said, his voice almost breaking with that one word. “No. There’s nothing else.”

  “Then—”

  “I couldn’t imagine trying to change jobs, pack everything up, sell the house, and deal with all of these major life changes at once,” he said. “I thought you understood that.”

  “Right,” I said, looking down.

  “I want to marry you, Julie,” he promised. “There’s never been a moment of doubt since I put that ring on your finger. Tell me you believe that.”

  “I do.”

  “I shouldn’t have lied. I’m sorry,” he said. “I should’ve told you what was going on from the beginning.”

  “Why didn’t you?”

  “I’m an idiot, obviously.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed, trying to fight a smile. “But really. Why?”

  “I didn’t trust you with the truth,” he said, and I winced at his honesty. It hurt.

  “You say you want to marry me, and yet you don’t trust me?” I asked. “That’s not an effective combination for a successful relationship, Luke.”

  “I didn’t trust your response,” he said, trying to fight a smile. “Forgive me, but I knew you’d be upset, and you’d undoubtedly unleash your Julie-fury on me. I wasn’t prepared to fight with you over this. You scare me when you’re mad.” We both half-laughed at that. “Jules, it’s not that I wanted to lie. My only goal was to make sure I knew what I wanted before I told you. I didn’t see any point in bringing you into it when I hadn’t made any conclusive decisions of what I wanted.”

  I let that sink in for a minute, and as much as I didn’t want to understand why he’d lied to me, I did. If the job offer in Piqua hadn’t worked out, then I would’ve wasted a lot of unnecessary time and emotion fretting over it. If it did work out, and he accepted t
he position … then, he’d prepared himself to cross that bridge when he got to it.

  “Luke,” I said. “I’m not saying I expect rainbows and butterflies all the time,” I said. “We’re going to fight. I’m going to yell. You’re going to get mad, storm off, and pretend you hate me. It’s inevitable. Been there, done that … plenty of times at this point. But I love you, and it doesn’t matter how mad you make me, I’m always going to support you. If you want to live in Piqua …” I swallowed hard, feeling tears sting my eyes. “Then … we’ll live in Piqua.”

  “That’s not what you want.”

  “No, it’s not,” I said. “But you’ve done plenty of things that you didn’t want to do for me. I’ll find a way to love my life there. It’s just going to be an adjustment.”

  “Jules,” he said, shaking his head. “No. Thank you, but no. I should’ve never been stupid enough to expect you to go there with me. I don’t know what I was thinking. You can’t go back there. I know that now, and I’m sorry for not realizing it before. I love our life here. I’m not anxious to get away. I just didn’t want to let a good opportunity slip through my fingers without considering it first. Once we’re married and have a family… once our family grows, these big life decisions become even harder. I want to make sure we’re exactly where we want to be for the rest of our lives.”

  “I just want to be wherever you are, don’t you get that?”

  “I do.”

  “Then don’t be so quick to discard an opportunity to change directions. If leaving—”

  A loud blast from the floor above us rattled me, stopping me mid-sentence. Luke sat up at once, and even Matt jumped to his feet without warning. Kara, having only been asleep for a good twenty minutes, was still sleeping soundly.

  There was another loud bang above us, followed by a parade of stomping and rustling. Someone had come for us. Whoever was up there, they were fighting against the damage to get to the basement door.

  The banging continued for another thirty seconds, and there was even more shifting coming from the area next to the basement door. Matt headed for the stairs.

  “No,” Luke said, grabbing his arm to stop him. “If they have to bust through the door, you don’t want to be anywhere near it. We can’t have you hurt.”

  I looked to Luke and smiled, happy to see that he was back to his normal and protective self.

  “Kara,” I said, dipping down to the floor. I gave her a little shake, waking her up. “Someone’s here. They’ve found us.”

  There was more rattling, more bumps, thumps, and pounds coming from the area above us.

  “Dad?” Matt yelled, and at the sound of his call, the moving upstairs quickened. We could hear voices now, shouting and yelling as the commotion continued above us. “Dad!”

  “Uncle Charlie?” I yelled, echoing Matt’s call. “Can you hear us?”

  The door upstairs busted open, and a flood of powered light, dust, and debris blazed through the open doorway and into the basement.

  Standing at the top of the stairs, their feet buried in fallen wood and debris, Charlie and Bruno looked down on us.

  “Is everyone okay?” Bruno asked as Charlie shoved by him. “Everyone safe and accounted for?”

  “We’re great,” I said, starting toward the stairs. Luke helped to pull Kara up off the floor.

  “We need to get you guys out of here,” Charlie said, ushering each of us toward the stairs. His hand landed on Luke’s chest, stopping him at once. “You okay?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good. We need you,” Charlie said. “We need as many eyes and hands as we can get out there.”

  “What’s the situation?” Luke asked Charlie.

  My uncle’s head hung low for a few quiet seconds, and Matt, Kara, and I turned backed to hear the words we’d long dreaded we’d hear.

  “It’s not good, Luke,” he said. “Everything’s gone.”

  Chapter Six

  “Come on up.” Bruno offered Matt and Kara a hand from the pile of debris at the top of the staircase. I waited behind them, while both Luke and Charlie lingered in the basement. The distinct sound of chatter filled the desolate floor below us, and the two men carried on with their whispering, but I couldn’t make out any of their words. I was too distracted by Bruno’s grunts and groans ahead of me as Matt, Kara, and I climbed out of the basement in a one-by-one fashion. The detective hoisted each of us out, up and over the pile of busted wood, cement, and dirt.

  Once back out on the main level, my eyes shot over to the battery-operated lanterns and flashlights that were casting a large glow on the busted and broken room around us. I didn’t have much time for observation, though, because Charlie and Luke climbed out behind us, ready to hand out orders.

  “Bruno, get the kids to the school,” Charlie said, turning toward the front of the house. “Trigger, you’re with me. Let’s move.” And just like that, my uncle scurried away. Luke followed closely behind him, taking the order he’d been handed, ready and willing to face the long night ahead of him.

  “The high school is home base. It’s one of the few structures still standing,” Bruno said, focusing his attention on us. “The storm left Oakland without power, and many families without shelter or food. Several nearby communities have pitched in and donated resources. We’ve got the gym set up with a medical tent and cots. We need to get the three of you over there and out of this mess as quickly as possible.”

  Matt, Kara, and I looked around, trying to get a better read on the situation we were facing, but we couldn’t see much beyond the glow of the flashlights. It became apparent very quickly that Bruno didn’t want us to see more than we had to.

  “Most of the damage is material,” he said, answering the question that none of us wanted to ask. “We’re dealing with flattened structures, lost homes, and damaged properties all across town.”

  “We gathered that much,” Matt said, throwing a glance around what used to be his kitchen.

  None of it was identifiable. The back half of the house was ripped away, exposed to the darkness of the night. Boards hung from the second floor, threatening to fall at any moment. I couldn’t see much of the outside in the dark, but I could only assume that it wasn’t good, given the way the interior of Charlie’s house looked. Though the radius of the lantern was minimal, the light still shed plenty of clarity on a situation I wasn’t ready to face.

  “The funnel changed directions at the end of Main Street. We’re dealing with nastiest of the devastation here and in the district.” Bruno turned to Matt and Kara. “I need you two to get yourselves down to the high school immediately. Check in with uniforms at the door, and stay there until you’re given orders otherwise. There are families still unaccounted for, and we’re going to begin assembling citizen search teams as soon as the sun rises. Get rest. We’ll need the two of you ready first thing in the morning.”

  Matt nodded and took the order without argument.

  “Julie,” Bruno said, turning to me as Kara and Matt stepped out of the gaping hole in the back of the kitchen. “Hang around.”

  “Okay?”

  He glanced over his shoulder to make sure Luke and Charlie were gone for good and out of earshot. And then he leaned to make sure Matt and Kara hadn’t hung around to eavesdrop. When he suspected we were truly alone, he dipped down and lowered his voice.

  “Luke’s going to stay busy,” he said. “We’re putting him to work right now, and we’re keeping his focus here on Main Street.”

  “I figured you’d need him for the—“

  “We recovered Grace and Molly at the shop,” he said, closing his eyes for a moment, but quickly found his focus on me once again. “Molly is safe, unharmed. Grace, though, has suffered a few injuries—nothing life-threatening. They’re keeping her at the West Bridge Hospital for monitoring tonight.” A slight wave of relief crossed Bruno’s face as he informed me of his sister’s safety. “Better safe than sorry.”

  “What about Lonnie?” I asked,
standing taller. “What about Zoey and Rebecca? They were at the shop with Grace.”

  “We’re still looking,” he said, his expression darkening. “Derek wasn’t in town when the storm hit, and now that he’s returned he’s refusing to stay at the high school. He’s out in the district searching with the team as we speak.”

  “Bruno?” I asked, trying to meet his stare, but he’d already shifted his eyes to the damage behind me. He wouldn’t look at me; he wouldn’t give me any semblance of relief. “You haven’t found the baby?”

  “No.”

  “What about Lonnie and Rebecca?” I asked, feeling my voice crack. “They were with Grace. How can you have one and not the other three?”

  “The flower shop didn’t survive the storm, Julie,” Bruno said. “Nothing in the district did. It’s beyond recognition. We have a team in the district right now, but there’s been no sign of Lonnie, Rebecca, or the baby. They’re still looking.”

  My stomach knotted at his revelation. It hardly seemed fair. It just so happened that Matt, Kara, and I had all been at the right place at the right time. Luke just happened to walk in the door with mere seconds to spare before we had to take cover. We were safe, alive. The search team had found us within hours. But how did any of that matter? How did it matter if we were okay, safe, or even alive if there was a possibility that the people we loved were out there suffering? Any one of us would’ve traded our safety for theirs, but we didn’t get to make that call. We just had to hold on to what little hope we had that everything would work out for the better.

  “Bruno,” I said, growing more and more agitated by the second. “Listen to me. They were all there—together.”

  “Julie,” he said, putting his hand on my shoulder. “I need you to stay calm, okay? We’re trying to keep Luke away from that situation as long as possible. If we can find his family before he finds out they’re missing, this is going to make life a lot easier for everyone.”

  “Bruno, please,” I said, still pleading. I didn’t want to hear his explanation of why they were forcing Luke away with busy work, or why they didn’t want him to know the truth about his missing family. Were they assuming the worst at this point?