CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Even the team had a hard time getting through the bayou at night. Alvin struggled with direction just like they did. His own markers were gone, trees were no longer where they once stood but his huge body skimmed over the water, searching for the woman.
They used the smaller boats, two to three men on each following Alvin’s tail.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that,” said Rowe. “I wasn’t raised in a place where there were hurricanes. Tornadoes now and then but definitely not hurricanes.”
“We were lucky,” said Grayson. “Fortunately, the Robicheaux’s, especially Matthew, knew what to do. There are a lot of folks that will still need help though.”
“Ham said that Nutt and the boys are out around the most flooded areas helping folks clean up. That was a surprise I wasn’t ready for,” smirked Rowe.
“They’re a good group of men,” said Grayson continuing to steer the boat around the twists and bends of the bayou. There were dozens of remote cabins and shacks that most likely hadn’t survived. But that didn’t mean that there weren’t people out here.
“Keep an eye out for survivors in small boats,” said Iggy. “Matthew said folks would have used what they had so it could be anything. It doesn’t mean Alvin’s is the only one we’ll find.”
Grayson stayed close to the shore, trying to peer into the wooded area. Cypress trees, once full of moss were now bare, looking like dead sentinels in the distance.
“What is that?” asked Rowe.
“What?” asked Grayson, slowing the boat to a crawl. The men turned the flood lights in the direction that Rowe was pointing.
“Over there. It looks like the foundation of an old cabin. There’s someone there.” Alvin climbed onto the slab and stopped, staying a respectful distance from the prone body.
Grayson stopped, staring in the direction of Rowe’s finger. It took him a moment and then he saw it at the same time it became clear to Rowe.
“Holy fuck.”
“Shit, that’s another woman,” said Luke. Rowe leaped from the side of the boat, hurdling toward the slab before the boat even stopped. He kneeled beside the woman and felt for a pulse.
“She’s alive. She’s fucking alive!”
Eric jumped onto the slab and felt a slight shift in the foundation. He held up his hands in the lights warning others to stay back.
“Rowe, reach for the bolt cutters. I don’t think I should move.” Rowe leaned to his left, stretching his arm out for the tool. He felt the shift as well and gasped, unsure of what to do.
Taking the bolt cutter, he wrapped it around the deadbolt lock and put his entire weight into the force of it. The lock snapped and he guided the chain from around the loop, gently laying it across the woman’s lap. He didn’t have time to cut it all off. He just needed to get her into the boat.
Eric backed up slowly, the weight shift causing the slab to visibly tilt to the right.
“Fuck! Move!” yelled Luke.
Eric jumped first, slamming into two of the men as he hit the bottom of the boat.
Rowe stood with the woman cradled against his chest, staring at the others.
At first, he moved slowly, hoping the weight shift wouldn’t cause any extreme tilt.
He was wrong. It was as if the entire thing was balanced on one pole and if you moved, it was all going over.
“Rowe, you gotta move, brother,” said Cam. Rowe nodded, heading straight toward his old commander, Grayson. He practically tossed the woman into Grayson’s arms and then reached out to grab Cam’s forearm.
As he landed in the boat, a loud splash could be heard behind him. The entire concrete block had shifted and was now standing on its side in the water. The cable where the woman had been chained was submerged. She could have died.
“Alvin! Alvin!” yelled Luke.
A pair of eyes surfaced from the water staring at the men in the boats. Alvin acted as if it were just another day. Luke reached out, petting the dinosaur between his glowing eyes.
“Good work, Alvin. As soon as I can get them, two more chickens for you.”