Chapter Thirteen
The sun had dropped out of sight, but the night only brought an increase in humid stickiness made worse by the insects that seemed to completely disregard personal space.
Emmett’s skin prickled with unease. Last time he’d had this feeling it was before the storm in May that caused flash flooding that cut them off from the highway and isolated properties.
Was a storm brewing? It wouldn’t surprise him with this humidity.
He just hoped it stayed away until after the concert.
Emmett glanced around at the medical supplies they had, satisfied that they’d been packed away in the two bags as they’d finished with each item, keeping the first aid tent tidy and allowing them to respond at the drop of a hat if an emergency sprang up somewhere else around the hall.
Or if a storm hit. He shook his head. Not tonight.
He needed the night to go smoothly so he could get Piper home and show her the surprise he’d set up.
Emmett had already treated a four-year-old’s nauseous stomach from too much sugar with a cold bottle of water and slathered antiseptic cream over another child’s cut from a stick, which she’d been brandishing like a sword.
He wasn’t complaining about the slow pace of the evening.
It gave him plenty of time to watch the show, although he was sure he was missing most of it. His eyes were glued to Piper.
She was swaying, smiling and singing as if she were born to be on that stage.
Maybe she was? He wasn’t the only one enjoying the music and picking up on the fun that was being had before them.
The slope up from the stage was covered with families sitting on rugs and camping chairs, candles poked through cardboard cups to catch the wax glowed impressively against the night.
Parents sang along with the carollers, cuddling children in their laps, and elderly couples held hands as one song ended and another began.
The gentle pace of ‘Silent Night’ morphed into something quicker, and feet bounced and heads bobbed to the beat of ‘Joy to the World’ .
The wind picked up its pace, whipping up some dust and sending the flames dancing. The music blaring from the speakers drowned out any howling but it didn’t cool things down.
Emmett waved to a couple of families he recognised heading for the car park on the other side of the hall pushing snoozing toddlers in prams with tinsel wrapped around the handles.
It was rarer to see someone without a Santa hat or reindeer antlers than with one.
Some of the teenagers were wandering around with both.
‘This town could make anyone believe in the joy of Christmas,’ Stef said, as if reading his mind.
Emmett smiled at her. ‘Like nowhere else.’
Except maybe ten years ago at the Hendrix house.
‘Joy to the World’ wound down and Emmett clapped along with the rest of the crowd.
His attention was drawn to movement in the choir as Piper was shuffled past her peers and took up the spot behind a single microphone in the middle of the stage.
Her gaze flicked to Maddie a couple of times before her shoulders moved with the big breath she took.
She gave Gloria a short nod. Holy crap, she was going to solo!
The wind whipped at the loose strands of his hair, but Emmett barely noticed. ‘Come on, songbird,’ he murmured to himself.
The pianist, Robbie, hit a solitary note. Emmett held his breath.
Then, as if a switch had been flipped, rain started pouring from the sky.
Stef gave a squeal and Emmett’s view of the stage was gone behind the torrential flow.
Wind and water pushed at the first aid tent as chaos broke out around them.
People were running, and screaming could be heard as families passed the tent in an attempt to make it to their cars.
The cries of children pierced the wind gusts, chilling Emmett to the core.
Lightning streaked across the sky and, milliseconds later, an almighty clap of thunder threatened to burst his eardrums as the floodlights went out.
Another loud crack boomed as car horns blasted and yells cut through the rain. What the hell was that?
‘Tree down!’ a voice yelled.
‘It’s blocking the car park!’ someone else screeched.
‘Shit!’ Emmett dived into the bag stashed under the table and found the pocket where he knew two torches were kept. He flicked them on, handing one to Stef. Trepidation laced her eyes, but she kept it from the firm line her lips were pressed into. Good. He couldn’t do this without her.
‘We need to get everyone into the hall,’ he called over the soundtrack of the storm.
‘Okay,’ she called, letting him put one of the medical bags on her back. ‘I’ll start down the hill.’
‘Don’t be a hero. If it gets too dangerous, take cover!’
She nodded and ran in the direction of the hall, the light of her torch bobbing with her. The cover of the first aid tent was ripped from its frame as Emmett hefted another bag over his own shoulders. Here we go. He shone his light across the top of the slope.
‘Barry!’ he yelled to the man trying to secure the barbecue. ‘Leave it and get into the hall. Get everyone into the storage room!’
He didn’t wait for a response. An elderly couple was struggling up the hill with their chairs and he intercepted them, taking the seating from their hands and throwing it to the ground.
A strong gust of wind battered at them, throwing the wife into her husband and Emmett grabbed at them, barely keeping them on their feet. ‘Get into the hall!’
‘But our car—’ The lady’s voice was taken by the next clap of thunder.
Emmett took their elbows and spun them around, helping them down the slope as he shouted to others to turn around. The pied piper had nothing on him.
Once they’d hit the flat ground, Emmett pointed the couple over to Stef, who was using her torch like she was waving in an aeroplane.
Then the window beside her smashed, causing her to duck, and screams erupted.
It was too dark to see what had taken it out.
A body dropped a few feet from Emmett and he raced over to find a teenager clutching the back of his head, blood seeping through his fingers and a branch the size of Emmett’s arm beside him.
‘I got you, mate,’ Emmett said, lifting the kid to his feet then pressing his hand against the kid’s hand. ‘Keep pressure on this.’
‘It hurts! I didn’t even see who hit me!’
Emmett walked with him towards Stef. ‘It was a branch. You can take it up with the tree it came off later.’
They reached Stef as more lightning lit up the sky and its accompanying thunder rattled the remaining windows in the hall.
More had blown out and Mayor Briggs was standing on the stage, yelling for people to head into the storage room.
A line was forming through one of the doors beside the stage, so obviously they were listening.
‘A branch took him out. Possible concussion. Get him downstairs,’ he yelled, handing over the teen to his partner. ‘And stay with him!’
It was amazing how quickly the hill had emptied. Emmett shone his torch along the verandah of the building, spotting Reggie huddled near the corner with her three young children. What was she doing? He raced over.
Her baby was strapped to her chest, but the twin three-year-olds were gripping the verandah railings tighter than he’d seen them grip onto their stuffed Bluey toys.
‘You need to get into the hall!’ He was yelling louder than he’d ever yelled to be heard over the rain on the tin roof that sounded like bullets from a machine gun. The twins’ wailing and screaming couldn’t even compete.
Tears were coursing down Reggie’s face as she tried tugging on the waist of the twin closest to her.
‘They won’t let go and I can’t carry them with Noah.’
Only the baby’s screwed-up face gave Emmett any indication that Noah was crying. Emmett crouched, the rain blowing in cold on the side of his face. He peeled fingers from the railing, transferring them to cling to his uniform instead then scooped up the scared children into his arms.
‘Let’s go.’
He ushered them into the hall, prompting Reggie down the hallway and into the storage room beneath the stage. There, the sounds of the storm were masked by the children’s cries instead of the other way around.
‘Where do we go?’ Reggie asked, standing in the doorway.
Emmett scanned the room that was crowded with wet bodies, shelves and props.
He recognised so many townsfolk gathered together but no Piper, who he knew would want to give Reggie a hand.
The people behind him pushed at his back, desperate for shelter.
He pointed to space near the wall to their left.
‘Let’s get you settled in there.’
Gloria bustled over with a couple of towels in her arms. Who knew where she’d found those. ‘Reggie, dear, pass me Noah and I’ll get him dried off.’
Emmett pried little fingers from Reggie’s coveralls as Gloria took the baby, leaving Reggie free to embrace her twins. They were all safe with Gloria.
He headed out the door as Maddie came through.
‘Have you seen Piper?’ she asked.
Dread formed a quick lump in his gut. ‘I thought she’d be with you.’
‘I lost her in the chaos.’
Thunder shook the ground beneath them. A loud crack echoed through the empty hall. That had to be a tree. His dread mounted into panic. Where was Piper?
‘Stay here, I’ll find her.’ He threw the words at Maddie as he raced back out of the hall. ‘Piper!’
‘Emmett?’ Mayor Briggs was now standing at the door on the car-park side of the hall, waving in the last of the rain-soaked community members.
‘Have you seen Piper?’
The mayor’s eyes widened and he shook his head. They shone their torches out into the rain. Had she run to the car? But she hadn’t driven down. She was catching a lift home with him. He ran a hand down his side. His keys were still in his pocket.
Lightning flashed again and Emmett gasped at the giant gum tree lying across the car park’s entry. The wind blew the rain out of his line of sight as a figure darted up to the fallen tree. Piper.
Terror iced his veins.
‘Stay here.’ He threw his medical bag at Mayor Briggs and took off into the rain.
He’d been wet before but as the wind tossed the water at him every which way, it soaked into any dry crevice he had left. It didn’t stop him though.
‘Piper!’
He reached the spot where he’d thought he’d seen her disappear and swore. She was crouched at the head of a man pinned by a giant branch of the tree.
Piper looked up, blinking at the torch light he had on her.
‘Emmett, help me.’
He shifted the torch beam to assess the situation.
The man was lying on his stomach and the branch of the tree was across his shoulders.
Piper had turned his face sideways and Emmett saw his forehead was red with blood.
Shit. It was Harry Flinders, their annoying neighbour, whose favourite time to mow was when Emmett had just finished night shift.
‘Shit!’
‘We’ve got to get the branch off him!’
Emmett crouched down to Harry’s face. ‘Harry! Where’s the pain?’
‘My head and leg.’
Emmett ran the torch light down the elderly man’s body. His left leg was twisted at an angle it shouldn’t be and there was a noticeable bow in the shin made prominent by his wet pants glued to him. Shit. ‘Any chest pain?’
‘No,’ he wheezed. ‘I just can’t push against the branch. She’s firm.’
The rain suddenly eased but the strength of the wind seemed to double. Emmett’s eyes met Piper’s. ‘I’ll lift the branch, you drag him out as quickly as you can.’
Piper nodded and placed her hands under Harry’s armpits as Emmett moved to lift the branch with two hands. He couldn’t get a good enough grip. Snapping off leaves and twigs, he narrowed the width of the branch as much as he could.
‘This is going to hurt, Harry. Be strong.’
The man held his head as high as he could and gave a nod.
‘One, two, three!’
Emmett gave a roar of exertion as he lifted the heavy branch and Piper pulled Harry’s arms as hard as she could.
Harry slid on the wet grass and Piper somehow kept her footing even as the old man’s yell of pain cut through the wind.
Emmett’s arms shook but he didn’t drop the branch until they were clear.
Piper had Harry rolled over as the rain started up again. Wordlessly, Emmett and Piper slung an arm over their shoulders and helped him stand. He let out another groan of pain as the trio headed down the slope.
Neither Emmett nor Piper stopped until they were in the doorway of the storage room.
‘Make way!’ Emmett called over the noise and the people closest to them parted until they could get over to the camping stretcher Stef had set up on the far wall.
‘I’ll grab some blankets,’ she said once Harry was lying down.
Emmett grabbed Piper’s shoulders, examining from her head to her toes, making sure she was intact, that adrenaline wasn’t masking any injuries.
‘Emmett, I’m okay. I’m not hurt.’
His breathing remained quick. ‘You crazy-brave woman.’
He leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers.
Her chin tilted up and he crushed his mouth against hers, desperation mixing with relief.
Her lips were so soft. They were kissing him back with a ferocity that had him running his hands up to clasp her face.
She gripped his shirt, spurring him on, and his tongue stroked hers as their mouths parted, slanting. She tasted so good. He wanted more.
A clap of thunder shook the hall. There were screams and gasps.
Piper jumped, breaking their contact. Emmett was breathing hard.
The candles around them flickered when a strong gust came through the door.
Emmett couldn’t make out the expression on Piper’s face, leaving him in the dark in more ways than one. He didn’t like it.
‘Close the door!’ Mayor Briggs bellowed.
‘Emmett, give me a hand, would you?’ Stef said.
Piper took a step back out of his reach and Emmett turned to help his partner with the blankets. When he glanced over his shoulder, Piper was across the room.