Instinct (40 page)

“What are they doing?” Pete asked. Over towards the house, lights were bobbing and sweeping across the buildings. A tractor cut across the lawn pulling a trailer filled with white bags.

“Who cares,” Romie said. “We voted to get out of here. Let’s get out while they’re busy doing whatever.”

“Hold on,” Pete said. “There’s something going on.”

Pete headed for the moving lights.

CHAPTER 29: ROAD

A
DRENALINE
COURSED
THROUGH
HIS
veins as Tim pushed Ty. Instead of rocking on his feet, the giant man began to tip. Jackson wasn’t paying attention. He was focused on the trees across the side street. They were all leaning to the right, like gravity was playing a weird joke.
 

Cedric was still barking, but the sound was lost in the freight train of approaching wind as the tornado touched down. One of the trees across the road gave up several limbs and they flew up into the sky.

Ty tipped into Jackson and the young man came back to his senses. He turned in time to catch Ty. Tim hip-checked a candy rack out of the way and got around to the other side of Ty. Together, Jackson and Tim turned Ty’s slow fall into forward momentum. They slid Ty on his heels towards the door.
 

The ambulance door began to swing in and out in the wind. Cedric stopped barking and timed his leap to jump through the door. When he disappeared inside the ambulance, Amy Lynne appeared. She was trying to hold the door open with one hand while she held her hair out of her face with the other.

Across the road, a whole tree was plucked from the ground. It flipped, end over end, as it rose like a helium balloon. There was an abandoned car at the side of the road. Tim saw it slide.

Amy Lynne screamed something. Tim saw her mouth move but all he could hear was the rumble of wind.

They were stuck. Ty’s heels caught on the threshold. Tim was exerting all of his energy and barely able to keep the man upright. He glanced at Jackson. The young man clamped his jaw and squeezed his eyes shut. Ty began to slide again. They stumbled forward the last couple of steps and managed to flop Ty’s huge torso down into the ambulance. Tim and Jackson moved down to the man’s legs and they hoisted him up by his scrubs, pushing him into the back.

Amy Lynne slid out of the way, dragging her bad foot like an anchor. They couldn’t shut the door. Ty was too big to fit and his unconscious body wouldn’t bend. Jackson crawled over him, looped an arm through Ty’s, and yelled something to Tim. The sound was lost.

Behind him, the door to the store slammed shut and the glass shattered. The plate glass at the front of the store bowed with the pressure and Tim suddenly felt light on his feet. He tried to run around the ambulance and felt his traction evaporate as he was lifted into the air by a gust of wind. His ears popped as sharp needles of pain drove into his skull.
 

The car across the road didn’t move slowly, it just jumped up into the air and flew away. A fraction of a second later, two other cars in the lot did the same. The trees went like dominoes. One went and then three more followed it like they were stringed together.

The wind threw Tim back into the side of the ambulance and he managed to grab the driver’s door. He pulled himself into the seat and pulled at the door. It ripped itself back out of his grip. Tim looped his elbow through the steering wheel to keep himself inside and dropped the lever into drive. He couldn’t tell if the engine was still running or not, but he stomped on the gas and it lurched forward. He was going the wrong way—they were headed right for the funnel cloud. Tim dragged the wheel to the left. The ambulance obeyed, but the top of the heavy vehicle rocked to the right as the wind hit the side.
 

Tim let up, so he wouldn’t tip over. In his mirror, he saw Amy Lynne pressed to the wall, defying gravity. Tim’s door slammed shut. A crack shot through the glass. In an instant, the whole side window burst into little tiny diamonds. The glass shattered and was sucked out into the wind. The vehicle banged back down to all four wheels and Tim was able to steer again. The only exit to the parking lot was where the funnel cloud was now tearing up huge chunks of asphalt from the road.

Tim braced himself and aimed for the wooden fence. He couldn’t see the rows of cars on the other side and prayed that he would hit the gap between them. The top rail of the fence slapped into the windshield, and fell to the side.

They were headed straight for the Ford. The bucket of gas was somehow still sitting next to the truck, unmoved by the wind that was destroying the world behind them. The rear tires of the ambulance bounced over the remains of the fence and Tim saw Ty float up in the mirror. Jackson was clutching the big man with one arm and the stretcher with the other. They crashed back down and somehow managed to both stay inside.

Tim heard Cedric bark. He realized that although his ears were still ringing, the world had grown much quieter. He clipped the Ford, but didn’t lose much speed as he aimed for the exit back to the highway. Tim glanced in the mirror again. Jackson was still holding Ty in the vehicle and the grocery was being dismantled by the tornado. Debris rose up like a swirl of glitter.
 

Tim took the gentle turn as fast as he could. They began to leave the dark clouds behind them.

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When the dipping tornadoes were no more than a dark spot in his mirror, Tim began to slow.

“What are you doing?” Jackson yelled. “Keep going!”

Tim ignored him and brought the vehicle to a stop in the middle of the road. He squeezed between the seats.
 

“Push him onto his side,” Tim said. They got Ty up on his shoulder and managed to pull until the man’s feet clear the rear door. Amy Lynn pulled it shut and then Tim climbed back to the driver’s seat.

Cedric barked.

Tim accelerated again as Jackson climbed up onto the stretcher next to Amy Lynne.

✪
 
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Ty woke about ten minutes later.
 

He pushed up to his feet in one quick motion and slammed his head on the ceiling. Ty dropped into a crouch and whipped his head around. His eyes were wide.

“What happened?” he asked.

Tim could barely hear him over the wind rushing through the broken window.
 

Jackson yelled something that Tim didn’t catch at all. Ty moved closer and Tim glanced in the mirror to see Jackson’s arms waving around as he told him the story. Tim looked at the gas gauge. It was barely off of the empty peg, and the light would probably come back on soon. He had no intention of stopping.

Ty squeezed between the seats and came to the front. Cedric vacated the seat and Ty sat down. He had one hand on the dashboard and the other on the back of Tim’s seat, as if those two grips were the only thing holding him down.

“Go that way,” Ty said.

“Pardon?” Tim asked. He heard nothing but the wind in his ear. Tim reached up, instinctively, for the headphones he would have been wearing in an airplane.
 

Ty lifted his hand from the dash and pointed.

“That way!” he yelled.

“Okay,” Tim said. He guided the ambulance towards the exit.
 

When they slowed, and the wind died down, Ty offered an explanation of sorts.

“We need to head up into the hills. This might sound crazy, but I have a strong feeling that there’s a safe place,” Ty said.

Tim nodded. As long as they were headed away from the tornadoes, he didn’t have an opinion about their destination.

CHAPTER 30: FARM

P
ETE
CAUGHT
A
MAN
with a wheelbarrow as he pushed it down the center of the path. Robby was right behind him.

“Where are you going?” Pete asked.
 

The man kept pushing until Pete grabbed his arm. He turned and pointed his headlamp right into Pete’s eyes.

“We’re all leaving. We’re going to the backup site or something. Let me go, almost all the cars are full.”

The man tore his arm from Pete’s grip and pushed away towards the driveway. Two other people ran by at a full sprint. Headlights swept across the buildings as one of the Land Rovers pulled out with a full load of people.

“Backup site?” Pete asked Robby. “Do you know about a backup site?”
 

“No,” Robby said. He saw the door to the house open and several people came out to the porch in a group. The two in front were Beardos, as were the two in back. The one in the middle was Judy. Robby sprinted towards them just as Romie and Lisa helped Brad to reach Pete’s position. As Robby ran, the file fell from where he had tucked it into his belt. The thick documents fell to the ground in his wake.

Robby arrived as they reached the bottom of the steps. The two Beardos in front pulled out handguns and pointed them at Robby.

“Stay back,” one man said.

“Judy, what’s going on?” Robby asked.

Her hands were pinned behind her back and she had a man at each shoulder, guiding her forward.

“Get out of here, Robby,” she said. “Just keep yourself safe and get out of here.”

Two men jerked her towards the driveway while the other two kept Robby at bay with their guns.

“Let go of her,” Robby said. “She doesn’t have to go with you, if she doesn’t want to.”

“She’s coming with us. She’s a sympathizer,” one of the gunmen said.

Robby charged at him and batted the pointed gun away. He aimed at the space between them, hoping to run into the men holding Judy. If he could break their grip on her, then she could run off an escape amidst the turmoil.

The men with the guns each took a step back and pointed their weapons at Robby.
 

He shoved the man on the right, who fell backwards, but didn’t relinquish his grip on Judy. She yelled as he dragged her back. The man on the other side simply let go. Robby caught Judy’s elbow and tried to keep her upright, but she fell on top of the man still holding her. He finally let go when Judy came down on his stomach.
 

She moved awkwardly because her hands were bound behind her back. Robby helped her up. The men with guns stood back, pointing their weapons. The other Beardo didn’t seem to know what to do. He settled on going around Robby and Judy to help the other Beardo up.

“Just run,” Robby said. “They won’t shoot you.”

“No,” Judy said. “I’m going with them. This place will be torn apart soon.”

She backed away from Robby. She pulled her elbow from his loose grip. The Beardos grabbed her again.

“Judy, what are you doing?” Robby asked.

“Go, Robby,” Judy said. She turned away.

“Transport is over there,” one of the Beardos pointed. “If you miss this wave, then you stay put. Another wave of vehicles will be back here as soon as possible. And don’t try to interfere again with our business.”

They moved Judy towards the drive, leaving Robby standing.

Pete arrived first, followed by the rest.

“Everyone likes Judy,” Pete said. “When we get to the backup site, we’ll start a movement to get them to let her go. What do they think she did, anyway?”

“They said she was a sympathizer,” Robby said.

“We’re not going with them,” Romie said. “We all agreed. We’re hitting the road.”

Pete threw up his arms and turned his head to the night sky. “Why
not
go with them? Everything has changed. We’re in another crisis and we have to stick together.”

“I’m not leaving here until I figure this out,” Robby said. “Judy said that this place will be torn apart soon. I’m going to figure out what that means.”

From the driveway, they heard a bullhorn bark out orders. “Everyone line up here in the driveway. Bring only what you can carry on your lap. Our space is limited. Transport vehicles will be back here in thirty minutes to load up the next group.”