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

Dev kept trying to make his case. “Now we know she’s alive. She's not only alive, she's alive enough to get up and move around and think to leave an arrow that you would recognize. She put her initials on it in case those of us looking for her found it. There's every possibility she's already located help and that we’re now aimed the wrong direction. We could be getting farther away by following this track.”

Cage wanted to argue back. His feeling was that Joule was still somewhere in front of him was very strong. The worst case scenario was that she had walked in a circle, but if he followed her signs, then he would, too. He would eventually catch up to her. But he couldn't crack the fortress that Dev was building.

“Okay,” he agreed. “Until nightfall.” He didn’t clarify that he wasn’t agreeing to stop searching at nightfall, but only that he was agreeing to stay with Dev until then.

With renewed hope, he led the two of them into the woods. The ground here was harder going. The tornado hadn’t thrown as much junk into their path among the trees, but the ground was strewn with roots and rocks. Just being in the woods held gut-churning memories for him.

Eventually, they hopped off their bikes and simply pushed them along. They ran into a stream where they stopped and looked at each other. Though Cage didn't say it, he thought, Good job, Joule. The first thing she’d done was find water.

Together, the two men looked first to the left and then the right. There was no clear direction to go.

“What do we do?” Dev asked now on a heavy sigh, as if to suggest he knew that Cage would have some easy answer. “Do we go straight through?”

Cage had already considered that possibility. If she turned, there should be an arrow. He was checking the appearance of the other side of the creek. The side was slick and muddy, and it should show if someone had climbed up.

“I don't see any evidence that she went through here. So did she go right or left?” Dev’s question mirrored his thoughts. But Cage truly had no idea. He and his twin weren't psychically linked as much as they were in tune with each other, though he was confident that he would know if Joule had left this world.

Right now, he could not for the life of him decide if she would have gone left or right. But at just that moment, they heard a noise and both of their heads snapped up.

58

“I know you're up there.”

Joule stood frozen by the voice. She couldn't see the man. She had to assume he could maybe see the top of her blonde head. Or maybe she was lucky and her hair color would blend in with the hay.

Could he see them? Or was he just making accusations to get them to come down?

“My horse blanket’s missing,” he called up.

Joule cringed—they’d left evidence. They could have slept up here without the blankets, because heat rose, but the barn still wasn't what she would call warm. The blanket had made a difference between getting real sleep and not really getting any rest at all.

Next to her, Jerry held up a hand, motioning her to stay put. She clutched Toto to her chest and, once again, the kitten must have discerned the tension in her system, because he curled down into her hands and didn't make any noise or try to escape. She rubbed at his small head as though that would make any difference.

Standing to his full height, Jerry walked out near the edge of the loft and called down as he did. “Hey, Paul. It's me.”

When Paul didn't answer, Jerry added, “Jerry McGee.”

“What is your dumb ass doing in my loft, boy?” At least now Paul sounded exasperated rather than angry. Less like he was likely to cock the shotgun again and more like he was ready to give Jerry a good verbal lashing about stealing horse blankets.

“Give me a sec, okay?” Jerry asked, slowly grabbing at the two rails of the ladder that extended up past the flooring for support. They were the only thing that made it reasonably easy to get up and down. Then Jerry rotated his large frame around and began the careful process of climbing back down to the ground.

Still, Joule thought, it was a crappy system up here. Not made for people. A good run or a shove and anyone could fall right out of this place. The height was dangerous, too, but she was in no position to suggest Paul follow OSHA guidelines. So she simply held her breath and held her kitten while Jerry made his way down.

It seemed to take forever for Jerry to get to the bottom of the ladder, and he didn’t talk while he did it. Joule was wound tight by the time he finally reached the hay-covered floor.

What happened next was not what she expected.

“I found your truck,” Paul told him, though the news sounded more accusatory than exciting.

Joule frowned. She must have clutched Toto just a little too tightly, because he began wiggling. She stroked his soft fur again, happy when he settled down.

“That's great news!” Jerry replied, sounding as if he'd missed the tone. The question was, had he? Or was he just writing it off? He knew Paul, and Joule didn't. Maybe Paul was just a surly old goat most of the time.

“Let's talk about what I found in your truck.”

“Wait a minute!” Joule could easily imagine Jerry holding his hand up as if to say “Stop!” just as he’d stopped her several times. She wished she could see them, but it was too risky. “Where did you find my truck?”

“I found it because I was up the road a ways. Why was it there and you’re here?”

“When this second set of twisters came through, I got shelter and when I came out I saw