“Nothing is going to happen to me,” I said.
“Good.” Kellan placed my hand back on my own leg then threw the car into gear. “We should get back.”
We left our neighborhood behind, not talking again until we’d reached the outskirts of Altus. That was when my focus was pulled from the past to the dark and menacing clouds gathering in the sky. Yet another storm was rolling in.
“That doesn’t look good,” I said, pointing to them even though Kellan couldn’t have missed them if he’d been blind.
He wrung the steering wheel a few times and leaned forward, trying to get a better look at the distant sky. Just then, a nasty flash of lightning cut across the darkness, far away but bright and powerful. It wasn’t the lightning or dark clouds that made my heart pound harder, though. It was the way the clouds were pulling together and slowly forming a cone.
Kellan pressed his foot hard on the gas, and the car picked up speed. “We need to take shelter.”
I couldn’t agree more.
16
“We’re not going to make it,” I called over the roar of the wind barreling through the car.
The sky in front of us grew darker by the second, and in the distance the occasional burst of lightning lit up the black clouds, while the low rumble of thunder was audible even over the roar of the engine. Even worse, the clouds had started to rotate.
“I know.” Kellan’s hands tightened on the steering wheel.
The car had no windows—they’d broken in the down position years ago—meaning we were going to get soaked if the clouds did open up. I was less concerned about that, though, and more worried about the possibility of more hail or those clouds dropping down and heading right for us. The drought seemed to have officially ended, and in its wake a bout of severe weather had begun that was unlike anything we’d seen since before the apocalypse.
“I’m skipping the first checkpoint and heading to the second,” Kellan yelled before pressing his foot against the gas harder.
We shot forward, throwing dirt into the air as we zoomed across the dusty landscape. My eyes were safe behind my goggles, but in an instant my nose was clogged with dirt, and when I coughed, I sucked even more in. Specks of sand crunched between my teeth when I shut my mouth. I wanted to spit it out, but I knew if I did, I would only succeed in spitting in my own face.
I swallowed the dirt just as the clouds finally opened up, pummeling us with rain. It was like a thick sheet of water pouring over the car, covering the windshield and slamming in through the open windows until visibility was nearly impossible. Kellan didn’t slow, though. Instead, he seemed to drive faster, and I clung to the door harder, wishing we still had seatbelts in the car.
Thankfully, Kellan didn’t need to see to get us to our destination, and in no time we had skidded to a halt a few feet from the farmhouse. I hadn’t thought I could be any wetter than I was, but the second the car stopped, the rain pounded in through the open window. I sputtered and spit as I shoved the door open, pausing only long enough to grab my bag off the floor before charging for the house. Puddles of water splashed under my feet, and I found myself slipping in the mud, but I made it to the porch without falling, and then I was yanking the door open and stumbling inside.
Kellan rushed in behind me, and for a moment we simply stood side by side, gasping as water dripped off our clothes and pooled on the floor beneath us.
“Shit.” He ran his hand over his head, through his dark hair, and twisted it around his fingers. More water dripped onto the floor. “That storm moved in a lot faster than I expected.”
“I know,” I said as I wrung out my own hair.
Something pinged against the roof above us, followed immediately by more. The thuds grew in frequency and then in intensity, banging against the walls and windows, echoing through the otherwise silent house. I didn’t need to look outside to know it was hail, but I moved to the window anyway. Kellan did, too, and we stood side by side watching as little balls of ice bounced off the car and ground. Thankfully, they weren’t as big as the golf ball sized hail we’d gotten a couple weeks ago. These were closer to the size of my fingertip.
“They’re not too big,” Kellan said, almost to himself. “Shouldn’t break the windshield.”
“Let’s hope not,” I murmured.
A burst of lightning lit up the dark room and a boom shook the house, rattling the windows in their frames. Kellan looked up like he thought the whole second floor might get ripped off, and I turned my gaze to the window. The hail had eased off, and only a few small balls of ice were visible, bouncing off the ground, but the rain was coming down harder than it had been. Between it and the dark clouds, visibility was poor, but whenever a flash of lightning lit up the sky, the outside became frighteningly visible. The trees shook from the rain and wind, while random items whose origins I couldn’t even guess at flew across the yard. The clouds in the distance had thickened and lowered, and even in the quick flash of light I could tell they were rotating more than they had been. And they were close.
“Kellan.” It was all I could say because it felt like my throat was locked in the grip of an abnormally strong zombie.
“There’s a cellar.” He turned away, heading deeper into the house.
I turned my back to the window but didn’t move. My heart was pounding. My legs shaking. Tornados were common in Oklahoma, and growing up, I’d been rushed down to the storm cellar when the siren went off more times than I could count. But it had been years since I’d been in this position. We lived underground. We were safe from stuff like this.
“Regan!” Kellan called from the back of the house.
I took off, pausing long enough to sweep both of our bags up off the floor.
“Regan!” he called again.
“Coming.” I rolled my eyes, but my heart was pounding even harder.
He was in the laundry room. At his side, the long ago useless washer and dryer sat, rusted from years of disuse, and the hot water heater next to it hadn’t fared much better. It was the open door that drew my attention, though. Or, more accurately, the stairs that led into blackness.
An underground shelter that hadn’t seen human activity in nearly a decade could hold its own dangers. Oklahoma had poisonous snakes, and although they typically liked the heat of the outdoors, anything was possible. On top of that, we had spiders. Brown recluse and black widow, both were native to the area. Tarantulas, too, and even though they weren’t as big of a threat as their smaller cousins, they still scared the shit out of me.
I took a deep breath. “Are we sure we need to go down there?”
“You’re not scared, are you?” He gave me a quick and strained smile as he took his bag from me.
“Of course, I am,” I muttered. “There could be all kinds of stuff down there, and we don’t have a single flashlight.”
“I have a candle.” Kellan didn’t look my way as he dug through his bag. “Good thinking with the bags.”
Another boom shook the house, followed by a gust of wind that made it seem like the walls might fall down around us at any moment. My fear of being crushed—or swept off to Oz like Dorothy—won out over my fear of creepy crawlies. The basement was our only option.
Outside, the howl of the wind had taken on a deafening sound that reminded me of the roar of heavy machinery. The windows rattled harder in their frames. The house groaned. Something beat against the roof over and over again—a tree branch, no doubt—until it sounded like it was about to break through.
“Ready?” Kellan passed me the small candle.
It was only four inches long and maybe an inch in diameter. Not only would it do very little to light a dark basement, but it wouldn’t last long.
Regardless, I held it dutifully while Kellan struck two pieces of flint together. He got a spark on the first try, but the wick didn’t catch. Thankfully, the second one worked, because at that exact moment something slammed against the wall in the other room. I felt the pressure drop. I couldn’t e
xplain it; I just knew that was what was happening. My ears popped, and a window shattered in the other room. The roar of the wind tripled.
A scream involuntarily ripped its way out of me.
Kellan grabbed my arm, pushing me toward the stairs. “Go, Regan! Now!”
I held the candle out in front of me, ignoring the trembling in my limbs as I hurried down. The stairs were wooden and old and gave a little with every step, but the walls on either side were cement. Their sturdiness comforted me even as another boom shook the house.
Kellan pulled the door shut behind him. “Faster!”
He pushed me, and I nearly stumbled, but somehow managed to both hang onto the candle and stay on my feet. Above us, the house sounded like it was being ripped apart, and the ceiling shook from the impact.
I reached solid ground and had only a second to inspect the dark corners before the door to the cellar was ripped off. Wind swept into the room, muggy and damp, and deafening in its intensity. I ducked my head, wanting to cover it with my arms, but the candle prevented it. Not that it mattered when a second round of wet air burst into the room, extinguishing our only source of light.
Kellan grabbed my arm and pulled. “This way!” he yelled over the howl of the wind. “Deeper! Away from the stairs!”
I allowed him to pull me forward, no longer concerned about bugs or snakes. Above us, there was a crash, followed by a groan that seemed to shake even the cement walls. Kellan pushed me down, curling his body over mine as he forced me to my knees. I squeezed my eyes shut even though we were surrounded by darkness, and reached for him, desperate to hold onto something.
“It’s okay,” he said, his lips right against my ear. “It’s going to be okay.”
Somehow, my hand found his in the darkness. He wrapped his fingers around mine and squeezed, and I twisted my body so I was facing him.
“I love you, Kellan,” I said, pressing my face against his chest. “I love you.”
Another boom shook the house, and I screamed. Kellan’s arms wrapped more tightly around me. My eyes were still squeezed shut, my hand still in his, and I found myself holding my breath as the storm raged above us.
The roar lessened, subtly at first, and then more until I was actually able to hear the sound of Kellan breathing. It faded fast after that, but Kellan and I didn’t move right away. My heart was pounding like mad, my breath coming out in short gasps, and my eyes were still squeezed shut when Kellan finally detached himself from the ironclad grip I had on him.
“Regan.” Like me, he was gasping, and my name came out like a deep exhale.
I pried one eye open to find light streaming into the cellar from behind him, and his brown eyes trained on my face.
“You’re okay.” He grabbed my shoulders and looked me over, his fingers flexing like he wanted to hold me tighter but was trying to restrain himself. “You’re okay.”
“I’m okay.” I swallowed. “Are you?”
“Yeah.” Kellan didn’t let me go, but he did look over his shoulder, back toward the stairs and the light streaming into the basement. “Holy shit. That slammed right into us.”
“It was a close one.”
I was partly talking to him and partly trying to convince myself that I was okay. Yes, the tornado had come close. Yes, the house was most likely destroyed. But we were okay.
Kellan finally released me, and the sudden loss of his warm skin on mine pulled my gaze from the stairs.
He was still staring at me, but when my eyes met his, he looked away. “We should get moving.”
Kellan got to his feet, swiping the candle up off the floor in the process. He turned toward the stairs but didn’t move, and though he said nothing, I instinctively knew he was waiting for me.
I pulled myself up on shaky legs. The rain seemed to have stopped completely, and above us the world was silent except the occasional groan from what was left of the house. Still, I hadn’t completely recovered from my near death experience, and when I took a step toward the stairs, my body began to shake harder.
Kellan looked back at me. “You ready?”
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
It was a lie, but when he started walking, I forced myself to follow him.
We paused to grab our bags, which we’d discarded at the base of the stairs, before heading up. The wooden steps were amazingly intact, considering not only had the door been ripped away, but part of the ceiling as well. The bright light shining into the stairwell made it difficult to see, even when I squinted and covered my eyes.
Kellan reached the first floor and froze, not only blocking me from being able to see what was left of the house, but also trapping me in the stairwell. I touched his arm, and he jumped but stepped aside, and I was able to get my first look at the farmhouse.
It had been obliterated.
The second floor was gone, either scattered across the yard or carried away by the tornado, and only one of the four exterior walls of the first floor remained. Beyond that, there were a few walls still up, the ones surrounding the small bathroom and the one where the fireplace sat, but almost everything else had been reduced to kindling. The refrigerator was on its side, and even though the lower kitchen cabinets were miraculously intact, the upper ones and the oven had been carried away by the storm. I spied pieces of both scattered across the back yard.
“Holy shit,” Kellan said, turning in a circle so he could get the full effect.
I did the same, trembling at the sight of the flattened barn. In the front yard, the tree that had dropped a branch on the roof years ago was now uprooted and lying on its side, its limbs having submerged our car.
“Shit,” Kellan said again then took off through the house, his sights set on the car.
I ran after him, picking my way over debris left behind by the tornado. Pieces of the house littered the living room. Sections of the wall, two by fours split in half, and bundles of pink insulation. There were other items that hadn’t been in the house before the storm, too. Like a pink bike lying on its side in the middle of the living room, and a rusty old motorcycle upside down on the porch.
As I picked my way through the debris, a moan made me freeze. It took a moment to figure out where it was coming from, but then I spotted a decaying hand sticking out from underneath a tangled mass of wood and wires. The tornado must have carried the poor bastard here. Since there was no way the zombie would be able to haul himself out from underneath the debris, I kept walking.
Kellan was at the car before I’d made it out. Only the hood peeked out from between the tree limbs, dented in a few places but otherwise looking pretty good, considering what had just happened. Kellan pulled random pieces of debris off and tossed them aside before trying to squeeze under the branches. It only took one look at the mess to realize it was hopeless, but that didn’t stop him from attempting to wiggle his way through the tangle of limbs that had engulfed the car.
“Kellan!” I jogged over and grabbed his arm. “Stop. You’re not going to be able to get in there.”
“I have to. If I don’t, we’re screwed.” He brushed me off, glancing my way for only a moment before going back to trying to maneuver his way through the branches. “If we can’t get it out, we’re going to have to walk back to the shelter.”
“Shit.”
He was right, but I also knew I was right. There was no way he was getting into that car.
He made it a little further in, gaining some access to the car, but the branches made it impossible for him to get the doors open. “It doesn’t look too bad.” He ducked lower and was engulfed in green branches. “The roof is a little beat up, and the front window is cracked, but that’s about it.” He popped into view again, looking my way. “If we can get it out, I think it’ll be salvageable.”
I knelt and tried to get a look at the car through the branches. From what I could see, he was right. The heaviest part of the tree, the trunk, hadn’t landed on the car. If we could somehow untangle it from the mess of branches, we might still be
able to drive it, but I didn’t think that was possible without a saw of some kind.
“We need tools,” I called out to him.
“Yeah.” Kellan ducked down and was once again out of sight. “A chainsaw would be nice.”
“What are the odds we’ll be able to find one?”
He popped up, grinning. “Do you know Jasper at all?”
“You’re telling me Jasper has a chainsaw?” I found myself laughing because as soon as the words passed my lips I knew he would. Jasper was prepared for everything.
“Yup.” Kellan pushed his way through the branches, emerging in a puff of green leaves. He brushed his hands down his shirt like he was trying to dust himself off, but it was pointless. We were both covered in dirt. “He’s never used it. I actually gave him a hard time about it.” Kellan shook his head. “I need to remember to give the old guy more credit.”
“He did save all our asses,” I pointed out.
“You don’t ever have to remind me of that.” Kellan let out a deep breath, and his smile faded. “Only problem is, it’s back at the shelter.”
“Which means we have to walk.” I exhaled and closed my eyes. “How far is it?”
“Five more miles, maybe.”
“Okay. That’s not too bad.”
I opened my eyes to find Kellan studying the sky. “Looks like the weather has passed for now.”
Behind me, in the direction the tornado had gone, the sky was still dark gray, and the occasional burst of lightning could be seen, but behind Kellan the clouds had begun to give way to blue.
“Thank God.” I turned to look at the ruined house. “We’re kind of out of options to take cover.”
“The basement would still work if it came to it.” He headed for the house. “Let’s see if we can find any supplies.”
The Oklahoma Wastelands Series Box Set | Books 1-3 Page 17