Page 2 of Twister

The sound of the bell tinkling when I opened the door to the store barely registered as I walked briskly in.

I hadn’t bothered to put my wallet away while I approached the counter, finding ibuprofen and chocolate alongside an opened pack of pads waiting for me.

I scanned the store only to gather that Rose was still in the restroom with Bucky.

Not having her in my sight when the weather had turned so nasty worried me something fierce, but I figured she’d be out soon enough.

It couldn’t take that long to do whatever she needed to do, surely.

Gabe greeted me with the total of my gas and goods and his own look of worry. As I tapped my card to the machine, Gabe turned the radio he’d been listening to up so I could hear it too.

“We have reports of a tornado on the ground in the township of Rockdale. I repeat, we have reports of a tornado on the ground. If you are in Rockdale, we urge you to move to shelter immediately. This is not a drill. A tornado emergency is now in effect. Find shelter immediately.”

What fingernails I had were rapidly tapping away on the counter as I stared at Gabe. In unison, we turned to look outside to see heavy droplets of rain begin to fall.

My heart thumping hard, I grabbed the bag of stuff I’d purchased off the counter. “You’ve got a storm shelter in here, Gabe?”

“Yeah,” he said, kicking into high gear as well and putting things away behind the counter. “In the back.”

“Anyone else here? Or is it just you and Scarlett?”

“Just us. Drew’s running errands.” He looked around the store, locking onto his colleague who had resumed packing shelves. “Hey, Scarlett! Emergency closure procedure!”

I took a deep breath in. With Gabe’s boss, Drew, away from the store and no other customers that I could see, we might be okay. “I hope it’s big enough for four people and a dog.”

He nodded as he flicked the radio off, and Scarlett hurried up to the counter to check in with him. “Plenty of room.”

“Good.” Leaving them both to do what they needed to do and with the bag in hand, I ran first to the shelves for a flashlight, figuring that we were going to need one if the power went out, then for some batteries. “Gabe, I’ll pay for these later!”

“Yup!” he called distractedly, his and Scarlett’s sneakers squeaking on the shiny linoleum as they rushed around the store to complete their tasks.

I held the flashlight in the crook of my underarm as I ripped into the packaging for the batteries and pulled out what I needed. While dumping the trash and leftover batteries into the bag, I headed to the restroom to pound on the door. “Rose! We need to take shelter!”

“You’ll see the sign on the door out back,” Gabe called after me. “Open it to find the stairs.”

“Got it!” I called back.

There was some sound of movement before the door opened, and then all I could see were two wide brown eyes staring at me in concern. “What?”

“Twister.” I handed her the bag and fiddled with the flashlight to pop two batteries in as I walked her and Bucky to where Gabe had said the shelter was.

I looked over my shoulder to see him talking to Scarlett, who was just as wide-eyed as Rose was, but she was nodding at whatever it was he was saying.

Turning my attention back to my daughter, I handed her the flashlight and searched for the door Gabe had said to look for, letting out a quick breath when it appeared quickly and exactly where he had said it would be.

I held the door open for Rose and ushered her inside.

“Take this. Go down the stairs and get as far back from the door as you can. Stay there, okay? We need to lock up the store.”

Her hands shook slightly as she took the flashlight from me, but her obvious concern didn’t stop her from saying, “I can help.”

I grabbed her shoulders and pulled her in for a tight hug while Bucky fidgeted at our feet.

His tail was low and not swinging from side to side like it usually did.

It was obvious that he knew something was up.

“The best thing you can do to help is to get in the shelter and wait for us.” I kissed her on the forehead. “Love you, kiddo.”

“Love you too, Daddy Danny.” She gripped my waist, then pulled away and tugged on Bucky’s leash. “Come on, Puppy Bucky.” With a mixture of love and worry in her eyes, Rose glanced at me one last time before she disappeared down the stairs.

I darted back to Gabe, who was staring outside with a frown. “Talk to me, Gabe. What can I do to help?”

He shook his head and flicked his thumb at something outside. “What the fuck is this guy doing?”

I looked outside and could barely see through the heavy rain that was now coming down in a distinctly horizontal fashion, but I could see the bright sheen of car headlights bouncing around as someone drove way too fast into the station.

Not stopping at any of the pumps, he headed straight for the parking bay to the side of the store, narrowly missing my truck as he went.

“Recognize the car?” I asked Gabe, my brow now furrowed in concern too.

“Nope.”

“Maybe he’s looking for shelter too?”

Unconvinced and still wearing a frown, Gabe hummed before he turned around to look for Scarlett. “Everything good to go, Scar?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her pop a thumbs-up to Gabe from behind the counter.

He headed toward the lock on the door, calling back to her, “Then get ready to release the shutters.”

“What?” I turned to glare at him, trying to pull him back from the door. “There’s someone out there. You can’t lock them out!”

“The fuck I can’t!” Gabe responded, attempting to shake himself free of my grip. “They’re safe in their car. We need to secure this place, Daniel. Now.”

Just when I was about to really start arguing with him, I heard thumping on the glass.

“Twister!”

Gabe and I turned together to find a terrified young man frantically pounding on the glass. His dark hair was plastered to his scalp as the rain pelted into him, drenching him in seconds. “Well, he’s not in his car anymore, is he?” I asked Gabe pointedly.

“Help!” The young man had made it to the door and was slapping his palms against the glass in a last-ditch effort to get inside.

“Gabe! Open the fucking door!” I shouted over the now-howling wind, my heart in my throat as the noise that we’d all been trained to listen for in our tornado drills echoed through the store.

A freight train was coming.

“I can’t! It’s against protocol!”

“Shove the fucking protocol up your ass!” I rushed at the door, horrified that the young kid had almost given up on gaining entry and was now facing away from us and tearing his hair out. “We can’t let him die out there!”

When I pulled the door open, Gabe screamed in frustration before catching it with a huff once it flew away from me. “I swear to God, I’m going to fucking kill you if the fucking twister doesn’t do the job first!”

His words barely registered over the roaring noise of the oncoming tornado. My focus was solely on the kid that I was hauling through the door by the back of his top before I lost my grip, forcing him to fall on his ass at my feet.

“Daniel, get him to the shelter!” Gabe shouted as he forced the door shut against the insanely strong winds and pelting rain. “Scarlett, hit the button for the shutters! Move, move, move!”