Page 85 of Desperate Creed

Maggie cocked her head, listening. It had to be rain. That was a good thing. Maybe it would put out the fire.

That’s when she felt the water rushing against her legs. What had been a trickle before was now a stream. She pointed her cell phone’s flashlight and followed the flow. Clara and Adele saw it before Maggie. They hurried toward her, away from their bench. The water was coming down the wall right behind them.

“Move to the other side,” Maggie told them. “Hank!”

It was Gus who showed up first. “It’s coming in through the wall,” he said. “Can we get out through this way?”

“It’s solid cinder block,” Hank told him.

“But the water—”

“There’s dirt on the other side,” Hank insisted, but water was flowing in between the concrete blocks.

Above them Maggie thought she could hear engines roaring. Ryder had mentioned they were bringing in large equipment to help move the debris off of them.

“Here we go again,” Hank yelled. “Everyone take cover.”

She realized her mistake when the floorboards started shaking. It wasn’t heavy equipment. It was another tornado.

62

“Can’t you drive any faster?” Creed told Jason at the same time he looked back to make sure Grace and Scout were okay. Both had their heads down, but their eyes watched their owners.

Dr. Avelyn had loaned them a crate for Grace when it became obvious the little dog was not going to stay without Creed. And it was already obvious Creed wasn’t going stay no matter what the good doctor said.

In the side mirror, Creed could see the sky lightening behind them, but they were heading into darkness. He hoped they were following behind the storm and not driving straight into it.

“Here’s my cell phone,” Jason handed it to him. “See if you can bring up some radar. I don’t want another son of a bitch sneaking up on us.”

They hadn’t been able to find Creed’s cell phone. Even the GPS watch Maggie had given him for his birthday had been stripped off him along with his shirt. He had put on a fresh T-shirt before leaving the hotel room, but wanted to rip it off, because it pressed against the pine needles still impaling his back.

He checked first to see if Maggie had answered any of Jason’s text messages. The last answer had come fifteen minutes ago. Creed sent another before he brought up the weather.

“Why did they think the fire was arson?” Creed asked.

“Sheriff Krenshaw said something about seeing a guy right before. One of the television stations left a video cam on the scene, and they have a live feed.”

“Why would someone do that?”

“Crazy, right? Almost like he didn’t want those people to be saved.”

Creed punched the radio volume up. It was a woman meteorologist now.

“Again, we have a tornado on the ground. Those of you on the south side of Montgomery, you should already be taking cover. This one looks like it’s following the same path of the tornado that hit Sterling Ridge and the Southern Blessings restaurant earlier today. I know some of you have already sustained damage to your homes. Go to a neighbor’s. Take shelter. Do not try to drive or outrun this. Get somewhere safe. Do it now.”

Creed turned the volume down.

“It’s going to hit the restaurant, again,” he said, staring ahead as if expecting to see the tornado reveal itself right in front of them.

“There’s nothing we can do about it,” Jason told him. “These bastards keep dropping out of the sky all over the place.”

“What about Brodie and Hannah?” Creed couldn’t believe he’d forgotten to check on them.

“They’re okay,” Jason reassured him. “I talked to Hannah just a bit ago. Only thunderstorms. Lots of rain. They still had electricity. They’re all watching old home movies your mom brought with her.”

“They’re doing what?”

“Watching old home movies.”