The Tempest by A.J. Scudiere (story read aloud .txt) 📗

would never admit it to himself, the thought of losing anyone else when Izzy and Joule were already gone was nauseating, but she obviously didn’t want to go, and he needed to.

“I don't like leaving you alone.” Dev fell back on the best argument.

“Well, honestly, neither do I,” Sarah countered, looking like she would have braced her hands on her hips if she could. “But the fact is, somebody needs to stay. If they can find their way back, this is the first place they'll come. And this is what I'm good for. I promise you, as soon as I can contact someone else, I will get someone else here with me. I don't think I'll be alone for long.”

“Can you stay at the other house with Mary Allen and Sue?” Deveron asked.

“It's too far away. If Izzy or Joule comes here, I won't be here.”

Cage was staying out of the argument now, because he’d be arguing his own, selfish side. He was running every non-rational scenario for himself but was unwilling to unleash them on his friends. He told himself Sarah would be in the house. They did have a safe room. And she did have a damaged arm. She was likely to make things worse if she came out on the road with them. Still, he felt the need to protest to soothe his conscience. “We're leaving you with no car.”

He realized as he said it that he’d phrased it as though he and Dev were already out the door. But he didn't correct it.

“Mary Allen and Sue down the street have a car. We saw it on the way in. It looks like it’s still in good shape.”

That was true, and he appreciated that Sarah was lobbying hard for the job. Cage look to Dev, who only shrugged. It wasn't a great idea. They all knew it. But it was the best use of what they had.

“Alright,” Dev finally conceded. “Be safe.” And he hopped out the opening, giving himself enough of a leap to clear the rubble and land on solid ground.

“Not yet!” Sarah’s protest was surprising after all her arguing for them to go without her. But she made them spend five more minutes packing water bottles, bandages, and anything that might be used for a roadside splint, food, and more. As he filled grocery bags to chuck into the backseat he thought that, even though they'd been eating at home more, their pantry was still woefully understocked.

But when he and Dev were set up to help anyone they found, he tossed the bags into the back and hoped their first discovery would be Joule and Izzy.

The two climbed back in the car, turned the ignition, and bumped their way down the gravel drive yet another time. Dev didn't speak, and for that, Cage was grateful. When they hit the end of the drive, they had a decision.

“Which way?” Cage asked, not wanting to be the one responsible. If anything truly terrible happened to his sister, and he had picked the wrong direction, how would he live with that?

Dev pulled out actual information, though. “When we were in the ditch, the ditch ran north-south, and the tornado came up behind us heading north. It grabbed both Izzy and Joule. So if it got them, and if it deposited them somewhere, it was probably somewhere north of here.”

God love him, Cage thought. Not only had Dev chosen, but he’d given a solid reason. Cage cranked the wheel to the right and made the turn. Unlike Boomer and Bob’s truck, the sedan he shared with his sister was not made for wheeling over the detritus in the road.

They carefully picked their way along, maneuvering around some obstacles and hopping out to push others out of the way. The going was painfully slow, and Cage was grateful Sarah wasn't in the car. She would have tried to have helped, and maybe injured herself further.

“Where should we turn off?” he asked. “Do we drive the side roads and just look around? What are the chances we'll find Izzy or Joule?”

But Deveron just turned the radio on and listened. Within moments, the car was full of names and locations, places for family members to report in. There were descriptions of small children who didn't know or couldn't say their own names. None of the information matched Joule or Izzy.

“Let's try to follow the path,” Dev told him, pointing to the greater destruction on one side of the highway.

They turned onto a county road that was in no better shape than the one they'd left. Twenty minutes later, they hadn't gotten very far and they hadn't seen anyone, just a few damaged houses and a few animals wandering loose. But when Cage checked the rearview mirror, he didn’t like what he saw.

As he watched, the sky grew dark, and he felt his heart do the same.

37

“Hold on!” Jerry called back and Joule grabbed tight to the edge of the flat metal she was calling a seat. Clamping her other hand carefully around Toto, she tried to cage the kitten to stop him from making any bad choices as the tractor bumped along the road, leaving Joule rattled.

Facing backward as she was, she couldn’t see what was coming, but it was still the better option. The little front wheels didn't handle much of anything well, but the huge tires in the back ate up the terrain. They rolled right up and over branches, pieces of wood, and even a small tree.

Jerry seemed to know how to handle the equipment. Joule wouldn't have even tried. It had been his idea to pull the odd vehicle out of the barn. While Joule had been surprised to find that the key was waiting in the ignition, Jerry had expected to find it there.

“Who's going to steal a tractor?” he’d asked, and Joule didn't point out that they were doing exactly that.

But the farming equipment made the road pass far faster than she ever