Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
The storm raged outside his small cabin on his parents’ property.
Mitch had gotten home from the bar before the bad weather had hit.
Another flash of lightning filled the cabin.
The power had been knocked out so he was lying on his bed in the darkness.
At least the animals were safe. The horses were bedded up in the barn away from the weather.
While the cows were outside, he had no doubt they were all huddled together.
There was safety in numbers. They would also, instinctively, find a safe place to hang out.
Mitch closed his eyes and let his mind drift to his run in with Nadia at the bar.
If he breathed deep enough he was sure he could still smell coconuts.
He hadn’t seen her in town since the barbeque, but that was not surprising, she probably lived in Kerrville and being a bigger town there was bound to be more places for her to hang out at, not to mention people as well.
His phone blared, startling him. Normally he would ignore it this late, but the ringtone was the one he’d assigned to the Hunt Volunteer Fire Department.
“Mitch speaking.”
“Where are you?” Gene asked straight out. The tenseness in his tone had Mitch sitting up and paying attention.
“At the ranch, what’s happened?”
“A major tornado ripped through the center of town. We need all hands on deck ASAP. And,” Gene paused and Mitch sensed he wasn’t going to like what he was about to hear next.
“I need to your help in all medical situations. I can’t have you standing on the sidelines, Mitch.
There are a ton of injuries, Buck’s Roadhouse was hit bad and it’s trivia night, so there’s a lot of people there. ”
“Fuck, I was there earlier.” His stomach dropped to his toes. Had Nadia still been there or had she headed home? She’d been with a big group of people, he had a feeling they’d been there to play trivia, not to have a drink and leave.
“Well, son, I’m glad you’re home safe because we need your expertise.”
Mitch stopped mid motion from pulling on his boots, his breaths came in short, sharp gasps. He hadn’t experienced anything like this when going into a PTSD attack, but he was having a minor panic attack all the same at the thought of having to get his hands bloody.
“Mitch,” Gene said sternly. “Breathe. I know this is going to be hard, but the town needs you, son. I have faith. You can do this.”
All the while Gene spoke to him, he willed his breathing to return to normal.
Gene was right, no matter how stressful or how panicked he was, people needed him.
He had to do what he could. Nadia’s smiling face flashed in his mind.
The way she looked tonight. If she’d still been at the bar, she needed help.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” he said determined to pull through for the people of Hunt, and for Nadia.
“Good, command center is the HVFD headquarters, surprisingly the motherfucker didn’t touch the building.”
“Roger.” Mitch disconnected the call and strode over to this closet, pulling out his comprehensive first aid kit and medical bag. He hadn’t looked at since he’d returned from deployment, but he’d kept it fully stocked with everything he would need in an emergency.
He opened the door, and bound down the steps for his truck, yanking the door open he placed his stuff on the seat before closing it and going around to the driver’s side.
Adrenaline fired through his synapses. His heart beat in time with the lightning flashing. He tried to see if another tornado was within striking distance of their house.
He’d never heard one, but had been told on numerous occasions that it sounded like a freight train. He paused before jumping into the truck, listening for anything that would suggest danger was imminent. All he heard was the drumming of raindrops on the roof and the rumble of thunder.
He’d watch for danger on the drive to the HVFD headquarters.
Mitch hauled his ass into the truck and gunned the engine.
He pressed the accelerator so hard that his truck fishtailed down the driveway until he got it under control.
The last thing the town needed was for him to wreck his truck.
As much as he wanted to get to Hunt as quickly as possible it was better that he got there safely.
The ranch was only twenty minutes away from the town center, fifteen when he’d been called in to the volunteer fire department headquarters to work a fire or an emergency.
On those occasions he pushed the truck over the speed limit by ten miles.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t do that tonight.
The roads would be slick and in places, flooded.
As he passed the main ranch house, it was dark, although he could see the faint glow of lamplight coming from the main living room.
His parents were prepared for all contingencies for themselves and the visitors to the dude ranch.
He didn’t think they’d be prepared for a tornado though.
He had to warn them. Using his bluetooth he asked the car’s inbuilt intelligence software to call his folks.
He needed to let them know what had happened and the chance of a tornado hitting the farm was high.
“What’s the emergency, Mitch?” Dad asked before the first ringtone had sounded around the cab of his truck.
“I’m on my way into Hunt, the town was hit by a tornado. Gene said it’s bad. Do you have a contingency plan for an emergency like this?”
“Shit, you be careful, son. Are you going to be all right?” Concern laced his father’s tone.
“Even if I’m not I’ll push through. I don’t have a choice. But you didn’t answer, are you going to be okay? Do you have a safe place where you and the guests can go if need be?”
“Yes, your mother made sure all bases are covered and we’ve got an underground bunker where we can all gather. It’s stocked with water and blankets and canned food.”
This was the first Mitch had heard of anything like that on the farm. When he wasn’t racing to town to deal with a disaster he would ask his dad to show him the facility. “That’s good. Make sure you turn on the news to find out what the status is. I don’t know if anyone in town had any warnings.”
“I’m sure they did, the warning systems these days are pretty spot on. And we’re always getting alerts.”
And yet his phone had remained quiet. His phone had constantly pinged with warnings throughout the day, but not since he’d pulled up to his cabin.
Had the system gone down or had the tornado formed without any warning?
He could spend the whole drive speculating on what happened, but at the end of the day, a tornado had hit and action needed to be taken. “I’ve got to go.”
“Be careful, son, and when you get a chance check in with me to let me know that you’re okay.”
“Will do.” Mitch disconnected the call, concentrating on the road in front of him.
The rain was lashing down and his wipers weren’t effective at all.
He reached down and snapped on his spotlights attached to his truck, hoping they’d help with his visibility.
Immediately the area in front of him lit up.
There didn’t appear to be any trees down, which surprised him.
Then again, he had no idea which direction the tornado had been traveling.
He’d also seen enough news reports to know that a tornado’s path was random and that all the buildings on one side of the street could be totally demolished but on the other side, the houses were untouched.
Mitch turned onto the road that went through the middle of town and immediately came upon a car stuck in a ditch.
As much as he wanted to get into town, he had to check to make sure the occupants of the car were okay.
Pulling over, he got out and grabbed his flashlight.
He shone it over the front of the car. The right front end of the vehicle was crumpled but the driver’s side was unscathed.
He transferred the beam of light into the interior of the car.
The air bags had gone off but the car was empty.
Whoever had been in it had gotten out and, hopefully they were safe.
There was no blood on any of the airbags or seats so that made him feel a little better.
Rushing back to his truck, he climbed in and continued on his way to town. He hadn’t gone more than half a mile from the wrecked car when he braked suddenly sliding on the wet roads. Lying across the road was a large uprooted tree. The branches were twisted in all directions.
“Shit.” He had to find a way around the fallen tree.
He looked to the left and could make out what once had to have been a barn, but now resembled a box of matchsticks.
On the right, there was a fence that bordered a field.
It had been torn out of the ground was now a mass of wood and wire.
If he was careful he should be able to drive over the field and get around the tree that way.
A glance at the dash clock had his blood pressure rising. It had been twenty minutes since he’d taken Gene’s call. Every minute he wasn’t there, was a minute someone went without help. He had to get there quickly, but safely.
The first thing Nadia became aware of when she surfaced from the blackness that had consumed her, was that her head pounded. Had she gone against everything she normally did when she went out and had gotten drunk? The way her head hurt wasn’t anything she’d ever experienced before.
A groan penetrated her fogginess, followed by another. Along with the sounds, a heaviness across her back registered. As the mist in her mind cleared she began to remember things. Things that explained her pain and the weight on her back.
Images flashed across her mind like a dream. Playing trivia. Panic setting in with everyone. Scrambling into the pantry with Cerise.
Cerise.