Page 117 of Through the Storms

As they drove farther, the destruction worsened. Trees with their bark blasted off lined the street. Britt weaved around patches of pavement that had been peeled back, revealing the dirt underneath.

People stood on sidewalks and lawns in front of their homes. Some looked skyward as if trying to make sense out of what had happened, while others stared at the shattered dreams around them. In some spots, entire houses were gone, while others still stood with only the roof missing. One house appeared to have been cut in half and looked like an open dollhouse, awaiting children to play with what lay inside.

A woman wandered down the sidewalk with blood streaming down her face, but she appeared not to notice as she walked barefoot through the rubble. Oakley cringed at what she might be stepping on. Someone needed to give her some shoes. A man carried a small child who wailed in his arms as he called out a name Oakley couldn’t make out.

Britt pulled to a stop behind the lead pickup.

“We need to keep going.” Chloe bounded out of her seat and pushed past Riley on her way to the front of the van. “We’re at least a mile from the subdivision.”

Riley rose and put her hand on Chloe’s elbow. “Chloe. The volunteers need to spread out. There are injured people here that they need to attend to.”

The mention of injured people stopped Chloe. Her face fell as she looked out the window at the scene around them.

Riley pivoted so she was directly in front of Chloe. “I’m going to step out of the van for just a couple minutes.”

Chloe’s gaze shifted to the activity outside the van as the helpers poured out of the other vehicles.

“Chloe,” Riley said. “I need you to listen. We’re going to look for Mia, but it would be good to have one of those skid steers to come with us. I’ll take care of it. Do you understand?”

Chloe gripped the seat and nodded.

Riley held up her hand to the volunteers in the van who were gathering up their gear. “Hold up. There’s a lot of ground to cover. We’re going to go farther north into Windy Trails. I just need to talk to the other crew foremen before we keep moving.”

“Shouldn’t we just start here and work our way up?” one of the volunteers asked.

Riley shook her head. “We need to spread the volunteers out. Set up several groups in different areas doing a grid-by-grid search. Stay here, and I’ll be right back.”

Riley gave Oakley a pleading look. “Can you keep everyone together? I’m going to go as fast as possible.”

“Go,” Oakley said. “I’ve got this.”

Riley disappeared out the side door.

Oakley studied the group. Maybe she could garner some information for when they approached the subdivision. “Hey, everyone,” she called out. She had to call out a second time to stop the side conversations.

When Oakley had their attention, she said, “Tell me a little more about the subdivision. How big is it? How is it set up?”

“I built a lot of the houses out there,” a large man said. “My best guess is there’s somewhere around a hundred and fifty units.”

“Are the streets winding?” Oakley gestured curves with her hand.

“No, ma’am.” He held out both hands as if to form a box. “They’re nice square blocks.”

“Good. Good. That should make searching easier.” Oakley hesitated to ask the next question with Chloe standing nearby, but she needed the answer. “Where’s the nearest medical center?”

“About ten miles north. It’s a small hospital, but I heard the sheriff say they were sending medical personnel from Oklahoma City to help out.”

“What about ambulances?”

“We’ve got two in Summerton,” the man said. “I’m suspecting they’re gonna be mighty busy.”

“I’m hoping they’ll send help from anywhere that wasn’t hit,” Oakley said.

The man nodded. “Yeah, yeah, that makes sense.”

The door swung open, and Riley stepped into the van. “Let’s go, Britt. We’ve got a skid steer and picked up another group of volunteers that just drove in.”

Britt drove down the center of the street, trying to avoid the debris littering the streets. Broken glass. Shingles. Pieces of cars. Drywall. Insulation. It was as if they’d driven onto the set ofThe Walking Deadas the people limped and shuffled through the streets with glazed looks on their faces.