Nadia laughed. “You’ll live.”
Before John could say anything more, sirens sounded and a loud roaring from outside filled the room. Nadia had never heard anything like it. Looking around she could see confusion on most of the people’s faces.
“What is that?” she asked Cerise.
“Holy shit, that’s a tornado. Take cover.” Someone at the back yelled.
Living in Boston Nadia had never had to worry about tornados. She’d seen the aftermath of plenty on the news. She had no idea what to do. The room erupted in activity around her.People began scrambling to get away from the windows at the front of the pub.
“Quick, come with me.” Cerise grabbed her hand and together they ran toward the restrooms, like just about everyone in the bar. “Shit. This isn’t going to work.”
Cerise dragged her back to the room they’d just been in, aiming for the door to the right of the long bar. Pushing it open Nadia could see it was the kitchen. She wasn’t sure that would be a safe place considering one of the main utensils of a kitchen was knives.
“Over here.” A male voice called and they headed that way. Buck, held open the door to a large walk-in pantry. There were two other people in the small space but she and Cerise squeezed into a corner.
“Thanks Buck,” Nadia breathed out, her voice shaking. Cerise gripped her hand tightly and she was glad that her friend was right next to her.
It could’ve only been about a minute since the sirens sounded, but the roaring of the tornado was almost deafening.
“Fuck, it’s gonna come right over us,” Cerise cried.
“Everyone crouch down as much as you can and put your hands over your head to protect it. I don’t have time to empty out everything on the shelves,” Buck instructed.
Nadia squatted down, dropping her head on her knees and putting her arms over her head. She didn’t look to see if Cerise was doing the same, but she suspected her friend was.
The building creaked and shook with the force of the winds beating at it. Through the door she could make out the sound of glasses crashing to the ground. The loud thump of pots hitting the walls as they were, no doubt, tossed around like a pizza crust.
“Oh my God, I’m so scared,” Cerise cried and Nadia wished she could reach out and grab her friend’s hand, but she was toofrightened to do anything but to protect her head as much as possible.
A non-human groan echoed around the space and Nadia fully expected the roof to be ripped off the building and all of them to be sucked up into the vortex of the tornado.
Nadia’s thoughts went to the other people who’d been at their table and prayed that they’d found a safe place to hide. She also thought of Mitch and hoped that he was far, far away from the town and wherever he lived or was at that moment, that he was safe or taking shelter at least.
The building shook again, but this time the walls surrounding them caved in. Boxes and cans rained down and Nadia grunted in pain when one caught the side of her head. Next to her Cerise cried out. Forgetting about her resolve to protect herself, Nadia reached out and grabbed Cerise’s arm, hooking them together. If anything was going to happen, at least they’d be together.
Nadia sent up a silent prayer to her family, whispering into the massive storm that she loved them, even though sometimes she hated them. If she got out of this alive, she made a vow to try and contact them more often. To share her news and her triumphs in the ER so that they could see that she’d made the right choice for herself.
The floor beneath them seemed to lift a fraction before slamming down again, causing more things to fall on them. With only one arm covering her head, Nadia had no protection for when another can tumbled off the shelf and crashed down on her head and she cried out in pain.
Her vision blurred, a trickle of moisture slid down her cheek. Her last thought before the blackness consumed her was, at least she wouldn’t be awake when she died.
CHAPTER FIVE
The storm ragedoutside his small cabin on his parents’ property. Mitch had gotten home from the bar before the bad weather had hit. Another flash of lightning filled the cabin. The power had been knocked out so he was lying on his bed in the darkness. At least the animals were safe. The horses were bedded up in the barn away from the weather. While the cows were outside, he had no doubt they were all huddled together. There was safety in numbers. They would also, instinctively, find a safe place to hang out.
Mitch closed his eyes and let his mind drift to his run in with Nadia at the bar. If he breathed deep enough he was sure he could still smell coconuts. He hadn’t seen her in town since the barbeque, but that was not surprising, she probably lived in Kerrville and being a bigger town there was bound to be more places for her to hang out at, not to mention people as well.
His phone blared, startling him. Normally he would ignore it this late, but the ringtone was the one he’d assigned to the Hunt Volunteer Fire Department.
“Mitch speaking.”
“Where are you?” Gene asked straight out. The tenseness in his tone had Mitch sitting up and paying attention.
“At the ranch, what’s happened?”
“A major tornado ripped through the center of town. We need all hands on deck ASAP. And,” Gene paused and Mitch sensed he wasn’t going to like what he was about to hear next. “I need to your help in all medical situations. I can’t have you standing on the sidelines, Mitch. There are a ton of injuries, Buck’s Roadhouse was hit bad and it’s trivia night, so there’s a lot of people there.”
“Fuck, I was there earlier.” His stomach dropped to his toes. Had Nadia still been there or had she headed home? She’d been with a big group of people, he had a feeling they’d been there to play trivia, not to have a drink and leave.
