What had they told us to do when you had nowhere to go? Lie flat on the ground—in a ditch, if possible.
I let out a wail that was drowned out by the oncoming storm as I stared helplessly at the flat concrete forecourt of the gas station. There were no ditches anywhere in sight.
Should I have stayed in my car?
I should have stayed in my car.
Why had I left my car? Stupid! Stupid!
Just as I was about to give up all hope, I felt myself tugged backward before I landed in a heap on the linoleum floor of the gas station.
“Daniel, get him to the shelter!” a slim young blond man shouted off to my right. I turned my head to see him forcing the door closed with his shoulder and pointing somewhere behind me. “Scarlett, hit the button for the shutters! Move, move, move!”
The roaring of the oncoming storm was so loud that I never heard the shutters whir into action just outside the windows, but they descended fast, locking the station down tight. For some reason, I found myself focused on the artificial lighting still on in the station as I was dragged back, my sneakers squeaking on the shiny floor. I scrambled to get to my feet but was hindered by how wet my clothing was, slipping on the tiles several times before a short, stocky man hauled me to my feet and half carried me to the rear of the store.
“Come on,” he said steadily. “I’ve got you. You’re safe.”
How did he know? Howcouldhe know? There was a flurry of activity going on behind us still, and the noise was only getting louder.
The sound of glass shattering behind us kicked us all into a higher gear. I was manhandled, literally, down a set of stairs that was lit only by pale white emergency lights. The beam from a flashlight bounced around the room, and I heard a dog bark once, then again.
“Shh, Puppy Bucky” came a quiet but scared young female voice from the other side of what appeared to be a small room. “It’s just a little storm. Right, Daddy Danny?”
“Right,” the man who was lugging me down the stairs called back to her. “Just a little twister.”
My mouth dropped open at his words. That decidedly did not feel likejust a little twister. That felt like a motherfucking huge motherfucker of a twister that I was still not convinced wouldn’t morph into a motherfucking fire beast that would consume us all.
Motherfucking fuck!
He took one look at my horrified face and started chuckling before he settled me onto one of the plastic chairs that lined the cinder block walls. He squatted in front of me to bring us eye level. “First time, I take it?”
My eyes widened as I gripped the edges of my seat hard. “You mean there’sworsethan that?” I leaned forward to ask quietly but incredulously before my eyes darted guiltily toward the young long-haired brunette. She was sitting to my left and had her face buried into the side of a white dog with the most startling golden eyes I’d ever seen. The dog grumbled, its ears sticking straight up and swiveling around like crazy to pick up every little sound that was echoing down the stairs from the still-open door.
The man laughed a little louder as he ran his hands lightly over my arms and thighs, his eyes dancing across my torso, presumably to check for any injuries. Not that he’d be able to find much considering how utterly drenched I was. “Yeah, that looked—”
The sound of a door clanging shut and heavy locks engaging interrupted what he was about to say as the room got much darker and a hell of a lot quieter.
“Okay, folks, we’re riding this one out,” the male voice from earlier called as he followed a young blonde woman down the stairs, the sweep of another flashlight preceding them. “Shouldn’t be too long.”
The two of them sat in the seats opposite me and leaned back, seemingly without a care in the world, their arms crossed as they narrowed their eyes at me.
The blonde sniffed, then pressed her lips together before turning to her… colleague? Boyfriend? Who the fuck knew, but her fingers started flying around in front of her.
The blond male watched her hands for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, I agree. For once.”
She rolled her eyes and smacked him on the shoulder.
How curious.The woman signed like she was deaf, but he spoke his response without signing, and she still reacted. So… she was mute…?
He grinned, then refocused on me, his smile dropping just slightly. “So, kid,” he began before pointing to himself, then the blonde sitting next to him. “Me and Scarlett were wondering why you’d be stupid enough to find yourself outside with a twister warning in place for the area today.”
“Gabe,” the older man in front of me warned, his arms dropping to his knees and his eyes closing briefly before he turned to glare at the guy opposite us.
“What?” Gabe asked, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his ragged-jean-clad knees. “It’s a fair question,Daniel, seeing as how I broke protocol by opening the doors when it was this close to us.” He raised an eyebrow. “You heard the noise just as clearly as Scarlett—”Definitely mute, then.“—and I did when you opened the door. You knew how risky it was, yet you forced the issue anyway.” He pointed at Daniel. “I’ll get to you in a minute. But first I’d like to know why this kid made us all risk our lives.”
Silence descended as all three adults turned to focus on me, the distant rumbling of the storm muffled by the heavy door and how far underground we were.
Blinking, I swept my fingers through my hair again nervously and gulped. “Well….”
