The humming noise grew louder, becoming a rumbling growl. Against her better judgement, she turned just before going into the back room. Straight ahead, through the still-intact glass door and the shattered windows, all she saw was a churning gray and white whirlwind blowing about outside.
It almost seemed like a tornado!
She half expected the building to soar into the sky and swirl around in the air.
Through it all, though, she saw something appear that she wasn’t expecting.
Lights.
Just two at first. They were spaced out wide. But then a row of smaller lights between them and up higher appeared in the gray, spinning frenzy.
“What the—” She wanted to scream. Had a semi lost control on the icy road? Was it about to crash through the building and mow her down?
At least she’d die quickly. It was better than freezing to a painful end, she told herself.
But the massive behemoth stopped just shy of crashing into the building. The lights stayed on as it idled.
Samantha watched in astonishment as two figures appeared from either side of whatever was out there. Fear still gripped her.
Who were these people? What would they do to her?
One tried the door. She wondered if she should go unlock it for him, or would she just be inviting her own destruction inside? She was completely defenseless, isolated in an abandoned building in the middle of a once-in-a-lifetime blizzard.
It didn’t really matter. They saw the glass windows had blown out beside the door and easily stepped through, their heavy boots crunching loudly atop the jagged glass shards and sleet on the floor.
The giant men were wearing heavy, fur-lined coats. With their hoods up and ski masks on, they looked quite menacing.
Until they lowered those hoods and peeled their masks off.
“Kendrick? Isaiah?” Samantha blinked, not beleiving what she was seeing.
Was this really happening or was she actually lying on the floor, freezing to death and hallucinating?
“Kendrick?” he said with a smile. “Don’t you mean,Daddy?”
She ran into his open arms. If it was just a dream, it was a sweet one, and she’d spend her last moments on earth in his embrace, even if it was just imaginary.
But the bitter cold that tore through that building with the next oversized gust of wind shocked her senses, letting her know that this was very real.
“You’re safe now, little one. Daddy’s got you,” he whispered.
“I’ll grab the gear,” Isaiah said.
Samantha heard stuff going on—boots atop the snow and glass, a door opening and closing—but she wasn’t sure what all happened. A moment later, when Daddy finally let go of her, Isaiah had two large duffel bags. They sagged as if heavy, but he still managed to toss one to Kendrick who easily caught it.
“That a back room?” Kendrick asked, jerking his head toward the doorway beyond the cash register in the rear of the store.
“Yes.”
“Any windows?”
She shook her head.
“We can camp out there. Come on, honey. We might as well get comfortable.” He chuckled as he led her back. “We’ll be staying the night here.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
“And voilà,” Kendrick said with a smile, sweeping his hand across the inflatable mattress that was now spread in the furthest corner of the room. “Got these special thermal survival blankets, too. We’ll be nice and cozy in here.”
