Page 120 of The Only Seconds that Matter
“Ain’t ideal weather, that’s for sure.I’ll be there in ten minutes.Hopefully I find her on the road.”
“Keep in touch,” Victor said, then hung up.How perfect.Another thing to worry about on top of the weird green shade of the clouds overhead.The sky started to spit rain, and the trees around the house tossed and shivered in the wind.
Victor went into the house and gathered up important documents, his laptop, and several days’ worth of clothes and snacks to keep safe with him in the shelter.By the time he’d gotten everything together, a curtain of rain was hurtling through the hills toward him.The sky was so dark it felt like dusk.Maybe Victor was a west coast weenie, but this wasn’t like any other storm he’d seen since moving here.A streak of lightning arced through the clouds, followed by rolling thunder moments later.
Victor burrowed himself into his sturdiest raincoat and muck boots, then watched from the porch as the rain hit, bringing a deluge so fierce it made it hard to see much past his driveway.The only thing to pierce through the sheets of rain were two headlights headed his way.
Johnny’s truck pulled into view.Once parked, the door swung open and Johnny jumped out, jogging up onto Victor’s porch and shaking his arms to fling off the worst of the water.
“You seen—?”
“No,” Victor replied, heartbroken.Where the hell was Taylor?
“Damn.Shit.”Johnny pulled off his hat and shook it to dry it.“It’s about to get real ugly.”
“Yeah, now is a good time to get to the storm shelter.”
“You do that.I’m gonna keep lookin’ for Taylor.”
“In this weather?Johnny—” He was interrupted by another ear-splitting crack of thunder.
“She’s out in this!”Johnny yelled over the whistling wind and rain.“I can’t just sit around.I’ll be fine in my truck.”
“You can’t just—” Victor cut himself off as he saw a flash of lightning in the distance, outlining a dark mass of clouds swirling across the sky in the distance.Jesus fucking Christ.“That’s a fucking tornado!”
“I seen a lotta tornados in my life.I’ll be fine.”Johnny put his hat back on his head.“I’m gonna head out.”
“Johnny!”Victor called at his back, first to make Johnny stop but then again because he heard the distant hum of what sounded like an engine.Johnny must have heard it too, because they both turned toward it at the same time.Victor didn’t even wait for Johnny to react.He leapt off the porch and ran out into the rain, calling Taylor’s name.The downpour made it hard to see, but Victor could make out the shape of something near the road, even as the engine noise went suddenly quiet.
“Taylor, is that you?”Victor called, then answered his own question as he got close enough to see Taylor struggling to stand a small dirtbike straight after it had fallen over in the ditch next to the road.Just before Victor got to her, Johnny went sprinting past him, barely pulling up in time to keep from crashing into her as he yanked her into his arms.She was soaking wet and sobbing, and she clung to Johnny like a baby monkey.
“Goddamn, you fuckin’ scared the piss outta me,” Johnny exclaimed, smoothing her wet tangles of hair off her forehead.“What the hell are you doin’?”
Taylor was too upset to speak, and Victor didn’t think they had much time to talk about it anyway.The rain had started to peter off, and the air was so thick it felt sticky.“Can we go to the shelter now?Please?”
“The bike,” Taylor protested as Johnny drew her away from the road.
“We’ll worry about it later,” Johnny told her.“Let’s go.”
Victor led them around the house, calling to his dogs to follow.The wind pulled so strongly at Victor that it was impossible to face and breathe at the same time.The sky had lightened enough that Victor saw dark specks spinning as if caught in a vortex.He realized they weren’t just his eyes playing tricks.It wasflying debris.
Victor threw open the shelter door and ushered Taylor down first.Then he picked up Bailey, afraid she might not be able to navigate the steep steps down into the shelter.Johnny picked up Piper, and they headed down underground together.Victor flipped on the one battery-run light, then swung the door shut with a clang.It muffled the whistling of the wind, but the thunder and cracks of lightning still shook the skies.Bailey buried himself under the bench built into the wall, shaking in fear.Piper sat on top of Johnny’s feet, yawning wide with stress.They weren’t the only ones afraid.Taylor was still hiccupping with sobs, and when Johnny stretched out an arm toward her, she burrowed into his side.
“What the hell were you thinkin’?”Johnny asked her.Taylor’s only response was to cry harder.It was probably a bad time to interrogate her, because the booming of wind, thunder, and rain was too distracting to speak over.Victor sat down and grasped two fistfuls of his coat, hoping he wouldn’t leave the shelter to a demolished house and barn.He was also shaky with relief that they’d fetched Taylor in time to get her safe.He couldn’t imagine her trying to survive this on her own.
There was a crack outside, followed by a peppering of debris against the storm shelter door.The wind reached a fever pitch, seeming to shake the earth around them.Victor’s panic turned into Spanish prayers under his breath, wondering if that crack was just a downed tree or his house flattening.It seemed to last forever, but eventually the wind faded, replaced with the pounding of rain instead.
“It’s gone,” Johnny said, standing and reaching for the door.
“Are you sure?”Victor asked, voice embarrassingly high-pitched.
“Yup.”Johnny cranked the handle back and pushed the door up, only to be doused in rain.He swore and jerked the door back into place.Victor wished he could be so level-headed right now.Johnny’s ability to keep his head in dangerous situations was probably why he was a bronc rider and Victor wasn’t.“Guess we should wait for the rain to let up first, huh?”When he saw Victor’s face, he smiled.“Don’t piss yourself.”
“Oh, shut up,” Victor snapped back, which made Johnny laugh.“That thing could have destroyed my house.”
“We would have heard it if it did.It might have skirted around you instead of hitting directly.”
“What are you, a tornado whisperer?”
