Stormy World, page 14
Corbin grabbed the door handle and pulled open one of the big doors. The hinges squealed so loudly that Jodi heard it even over the roar of wind. Beyond the door was an old foyer that had been vandalized, spray-painted into oblivion. Kaylee was sitting on the edge of a dusty table, Ruby curled at her feet.
“Go deeper into the building,” Jodi said. “Find an inner room!”
Corbin and Violet went inside, and the big door swung shut behind them, shoved against the frame by the wind. The door slammed shut so hard that debris rained down from the walls and the awning. The building did not look all that sturdy, after all.
Can’t do anything about that now, Jodi thought. It’s this place or nothing.
She turned and stepped out from under the awning, back into the worst of the wind and rain. Something rose up from the parking lot and tumbled toward her. It was the old church sign caught in the wind, years old and faded almost to oblivion. “Firs...Christ...urch,” it read. Jodi dodged it, and it slammed into the wall beside the doors and shattered.
She could feel gravel among the weeds of the old parking lot, and they made it even harder to keep her feet. Jodi leaned forward, arms held up before her, and marched directly into the wind and rain. It was hard to keep her eyes open, even when she shielded her face with her hands. However, she began to hear voices shouting just to her left, so she moved toward them.
More figures emerged from the gloom. Shane had his arm around Beth’s shoulders, but he was clearly struggling to keep her on her feet. Jodi came up on the other side and put an arm around her mother’s waist.
“Where’s Katie?” Jodi asked.
“The wind blew Beth and Katie right off the supply cart, so I left the cart behind,” Shane said. “Owen grabbed Katie. He’s right behind me somewhere.”
Jodi looked behind them, but she didn’t see either Owen or Katie. She considered going after them, but the wind was getting even stronger. They were forced to keep moving toward the church. The pain in Jodi’s side was throbbing badly now, and she wondered if she’d broken a rib. As they drew near the church doors, she looked back again. Visibility was maybe a foot now, and the hard rain was blowing right into her eyes.
“Are you sure he’s back there?” Jodi shouted.
“He has to be,” Shane replied. “He was right with us. He picked up Katie while I helped Beth, and we both started up the hill.”
“I don’t see him,” Jodi said. “Maybe he headed into town instead. Is that possible?”
“Sadly, yes, it’s possible. Owen’s not thinking straight.”
One of the doors opened. Corbin was pushing it, but he was clearly having trouble moving it against the wind. A gust of wind pushed Shane, Beth, and Jodi toward the open door, and Corbin was forced to dance back out of the way. As soon as they were in the lobby, they all fell. Jodi went to her knees, and Shane fell on his side. Beth went straight down on her face. And then the door slammed shut.
Groaning, Jodi struggled to rise, but Corbin was right there. He helped her to her feet. She winced at the pain in her knees. Her right knee was bleeding now.
“Violet and Kaylee are in some kind of inner office,” Corbin said. “It’s the safest place, as far as I can tell.”
Wind whistled through cracked windows and holes in the roof overhead. It was an ear-piercing sound. As Shane helped Beth off the floor, Jodi went back to the doors.
“You should come to the office,” Corbin said, following her.
“Owen and Katie are out there in the storm,” Jodi cried. She pressed her hands against the door. She could feel the wind blowing against the door, vibrating the old wood boards. When she tried to push it open, the door didn’t give way at all. It was like trying to push open a solid concrete wall.
“Ma’am, you should get to the office,” Corbin said. “It’s not safe out here. These doors probably won’t hold up.”
She turned to look at him, sick with despair. The thought of her son and little granddaughter trapped out there in this awful wind was more than she could bear.
“The town is just past the hill,” Corbin said. “If they can’t get up the hill, there are other places they can hide. I’m sure Owen will keep her safe. Come on.”
But Jodi pushed on the door again, and Corbin, with obvious reluctance, helped her. Together, they finally managed to make it budge, pushing it open about six inches. But the wind through the gap was so fierce, it stung Jodi’s face. She got a brief glimpse of a gray wall beyond the door, with no sign of anyone out there, before she was pushed backward. She fell onto her backside, and the door slammed shut.
Oh, God, please don’t let them be lost, she thought. Please, I can’t take it.
18
Jodi turned away from the door to find Shane practically dragging Beth across the foyer.
“Where do we go?” Shane asked. “Corbin, where are the others?”
“Through the sanctuary, down the hall, and into the pastor’s old office,” Corbin replied. “It’s the only room with no exterior walls. Kaylee and Violet are already there.”
But Jodi couldn’t make herself move away from the door. What if Owen couldn’t get it open? What if he couldn’t find the building, and she needed to call for him? Shane and Beth moved through an archway into the old church sanctuary. Corbin started to follow them, but he stopped and turned back to Jodi.
“You have to come, too,” he said, beckoning her. “I’m telling you, those doors might not hold. The ceiling in here might not hold. We’ve got the broken spire directly above us.”
Jodi glanced up. Indeed, the foyer had a high, arched ceiling, and she could see sky through some gaps where the broken spire had fallen over. Creaks and groans came from above and behind. When she still didn’t move, Corbin came back and grabbed her wrist.
“Jodi, ma’am, I know it’s hard,” he said, leaning in close so she could hear him. “I know you want to help them. It’s terrible that they’re out there, but Owen is smart.”
“Owen isn’t smart when he’s not thinking clearly,” Jodi replied.
“His emotions are all jumbled up,” Corbin said, tugging at her arm. “He’s angry and grieving, but he will do whatever he has to do to keep his daughter safe. You have to trust him now. There are a lot of other buildings down there, plenty of places to hide, but we have to get out of this room.”
As he said it, something popped overhead, and a big piece of wood ripped free of the roof. It went tumbling away in the wind, revealing a much larger opening to the sky. Smaller pieces rained down around them.
“My God, she’s so little, and so scared,” Jodi said, her eyes filling with tears. “How could we have let this happen? Why didn’t we stop and find shelter sooner?”
When Corbin tugged at her arm again, she allowed herself to be pulled across the foyer. Another piece of the ceiling crashed down behind her. The sanctuary still had a few pews, but many of them were broken. Trash filled the corners, including a couple of tattered sleeping bags, plenty of empty liquor bottles, and some discarded clothing. People had lived here at some point after the Big Event. The pulpit lay on its side, cracked but still intact. Above the pulpit, about halfway to the ceiling, an old pipe organ was set into the wall, still in decent shape though a graffiti artist had tagged it with green letters.
On the right side of the room, a doorway with no door led into a narrow hallway. Shane was guiding Beth across the sanctuary toward the door, but Jodi’s mother was clearly struggling. Suddenly, Beth gasped and pushed out of Shane’s grasp. She stumbled a few feet to one side, hit the end of a pew, and collapsed onto the floor.
“Mom!” Jodi cried, going toward her.
Jodi dropped onto her knees, despite the pain, and grabbed her mother’s shoulders. Beth had landed face down, and she was groaning loudly. When Jodi rolled her onto her back, she saw that her mother’s face was twisted up in pain.
“What happened?” Jodi asked.
Shane and Jodi both helped Beth sit up, putting her back against the end of the pew. Another loud crash came from the foyer.
“My heart,” Beth said, pressing a hand to the middle of her chest.
“We pushed you too hard,” Jodi said.
“No, we all did what we had to do,” Beth replied, speaking through clenched teeth. “Leave me out here. Get to the inner room. I don’t think I can move.”
“No way are we leaving you out here by yourself,” Jodi said. She nodded at Shane. They each grabbed Beth under an arm and tried to hoist her to her feet. However, they’d both just about reached their limits, and they could barely get her off the floor.
Beth cried out in agony and waved them off. “Stop it. Stop!”
“Again,” Jodi said to Shane.
This time, Corbin got in front of Beth and grabbed her awkwardly around the waist. Working together, the three of them managed to lift her off the floor. Beth even got her feet under her, but the second they let up just a little bit, her legs folded, and she went down again.
“Almost,” Jodi said. “We can do this.”
“I said stop it,” Beth shouted. She slapped Jodi’s arm. Then she slapped Shane’s arm and pushed Corbin. “You’re making it hurt so much worse. I can’t stand it. Turn me loose right now! Please, for God’s sake, stop it!”
The force of her words made Jodi let go. Shane and Corbin did the same. Beth took a deep breath and grimaced.
“What do we do?” Jodi said, her voice breaking.
“I told you what to do,” Beth replied. She was furiously rubbing a spot right over her sternum. “Leave me out here and go the inner room. You’re going to kill me if you try to carry me out of here. Just leave me alone. I’ll be fine here.”
“Mom, you’ll be safer with us,” Jodi said.
Beth looked up at her, fear and determination in her eyes. She grabbed Jodi’s hands and clamped down tightly. “You are my last living child. I will not allow you to risk yourself on my behalf.” The ceiling above them groaned. Something else crashed down in the foyer. “Get to the inner room. Stop trying to move me. Go!”
Jodi gave Shane a helpless look. He shook his head sadly and rose.
“If you slide between the pews, you might be safer,” Corbin said to Beth. “It’s the falling roof you have to worry about.”
“I’ve got it,” Beth replied. “Corbin, if you want to do me a favor, make Shane and Beth go.” She winced and pressed both hands to her chest. “Hurry up!”
Corbin nodded and rose. “Come on. We might do more harm than good if we move her now. She should be okay out here. The pews will provide some shelter.”
He didn’t sound like he really believed it, and neither did Jodi. But Jodi didn’t know what else to do. She wanted to say more, so much more, but when Corbin headed off across the sanctuary, she followed. Shane came with them as well, and they passed into the hallway. It was dark here, quieter, and the ceiling was lower.
“We can force her to come with us,” Jodi said, as she moved down the dark hallway. “If we can’t carry her, we can drag her, roll her, push her...something!”
“It might kill her if we do,” Corbin replied. “She’ll be okay. We just have to ride this out. Come on.”
Jodi reached out and felt her way down the hall, fingers sliding over dusty posters and framed pictures, cracked paint and plaster. By the faint light, she saw the pastor’s office off to her left, and she stepped through the door. A large desk sat against the far wall, and a few books lined a shelf. But even in the faint light, Jodi could see graffiti on the walls, trash on the floor. Kaylee and Violet were sitting together in a corner beside the desk, but Ruby had chosen to hide under the desk itself. Her front paws were just visible.
“My mother, my son, my granddaughter,” Jodi said, crying as she stumbled across the room. “What are we doing? How did we lose them?”
Shane put his arms around her. They were both drenched and shivering. “We just have to hope and pray, Jodi. I don’t think there’s anything else we can do.”
She heard Corbin shut the office door, casting them into impenetrable darkness.
19
The only light in the room came from around the doorframe, which seemed loose and uneven, and from tinier gaps in the drop ceiling overhead. Many of the tiles had fallen from the ceiling and were either broken and piled in the corner or missing from the room entirely.
“Are we sure this is the safest room in the building?” Jodi asked. “Maybe it’s safer out there with my mom.”
“It’s the only interior room,” Corbin said. “I saw some stairs, but I don’t know where they lead. Anyway, we can make this place safer if we push the desk against the door. Anything to keep the wind out.”
Jodi felt panic. “No, my mom might get some strength back and decide to walk down the hall to us.”
“If she does, we’ll let her in,” Corbin replied. “Come on. You heard what she said. Beth wants you to be safe, so we’ll take every precaution.” He waved Jodi and Shane aside.
“I can’t believe my little Katie is out in this weather,” Jodi said, sobbing now. Even so, she stumbled out of the way so Corbin could get to the desk. “What are we doing?”
“We’re trying to survive, ma’am,” Corbin replied. “That’s all we can do. And we’re trusting Owen to do the same.”
“God help him,” Jodi said, wiping away tears. She stepped aside, and Corbin began pushing the desk across the room. “I should go back to Mom. She’s out there all alone.”
“Pardon me, but you should stay here with your kids,” Corbin replied, straining to speak as he pushed the desk up against the door.
This exposed Ruby’s hiding place, and the dog uttered an anxious bark and ran over to Violet, who wrapped her arms around the shivering dog. The wind was so loud, even in this interior room. Jodi heard the building cracking and popping around them. She couldn’t believe how spectacularly they had failed at escaping the hurricane. It reminded her all too much of the night of the fire in Hickory Falls. They’d waited too long to flee the fire, and they’d gotten separated by the crush of the crowd.
We should have fled Sullyton the second we saw those outflow clouds, she thought.
Violet and Kaylee were huddled together in the corner, both holding tightly to a terrified Ruby. Shane helped Corbin set the desk against the door, while Jodi moved some debris out of the way to give everyone space on the floor.
“If only we hadn’t burned out the van,” Kaylee wailed. “Then we could have used it to escape!”
Owen had gotten them into this situation. That was the truth, but Jodi didn’t like thinking about that right now. Her son was out there in the storm. How could she be mad at him now? But he’d forced them to head to the coast, and he’d stolen the van. He’d burned out the engine so they could no longer use the van, and he’d neglected his daughter for days.
Please, redeem yourself now, Owen, Jodi thought. Please, for God’s sake, keep Katie safe.
Suddenly, she heard a loud crack and snap from above, and more light flooded into the room. Looking up, she could tell that another section of the roof had been torn away. Shane came over to her and put an arm around her, as Corbin went into the corner to stand near Violet.
“This room isn’t safe,” Jodi said. “We have nothing above us, and that roof is coming down.”
As if to prove the point, another section of the roof directly overhead tore loose and went flying off into the dark-gray sky. Smaller pieces of debris rained down into the office. Jodi had to step back to avoid being hit by a fist-sized piece of wood, and it missed Shane’s shoulder by about two inches.
That was it for Ruby. She tore out of Violet’s grasp and went to the desk, worming her way underneath. And now rain was pouring into the office. Through the big holes in the drop ceiling, Jodi saw a large section of the roof hanging down, half-broken and swaying in the wind.
“Is there somewhere else we can go in this building?” she said, turning to Corbin. “If that roof comes down, we’re going to get crushed!”
“Like I said, there are some stairs farther down the hall,” Corbin replied, “but I don’t know what they lead to. I didn’t have time to check it out, and it was completely dark down there.”
Jodi looked at Shane. Some enormous crash came from elsewhere in the building. Startled, Violet cried out, and Kaylee began to weep loudly.
“We have to try the stairs, then,” Jodi said. “Maybe it leads to a basement. Would that be safer?”
“As long as it doesn’t flood,” Corbin said.
“Okay, that’ll have to do. Let’s go.”
“Are you sure?” Shane said. “We have no idea what we’re getting into.”
“If we stay here, that roof is coming down on top of us,” Jodi said, pointing up.
Some of the remaining tiles in the drop ceiling were sucked up by the wind and blown into the attic. Another crash echoed through the church, and now rain was falling into the office in blistering cold sheets. Corbin finally patted Violet on the back and hopped to his feet.
“Okay,” he said, moving to the desk. “We’ll make for the stairs. Come on.”
He grabbed a corner of the desk and dragged it away from the door. Shane moved to help him, but Corbin managed to shove it out of the way with a single surge of adrenaline.
“There’s nowhere to go,” Kaylee wailed. “The whole church is going to crash down on top of us!”
But Violet rose, feeling her way in the unfamiliar room, and took Kaylee’s hand. She drew her younger sister in close and began speaking softly into her ear. Whatever she said seemed to help, and Kaylee’s crying tapered off. Corbin pressed his ear to the office door for a second, then nodded at Jodi, and eased it open. Wind roaring down the hallway immediately pulled it out of his hand and slammed it against the wall.
It tugged at his clothes and hair, but he pressed ahead and stepped out of the room. Shane followed, but Jodi reached back and took Violet’s hand, guiding her toward a cowering Ruby. Violet fumbled around until she found Ruby’s harness handle, but she maintained her hold on Kaylee throughout.
