Page 33 of Twister

Marshall

“ Rose! ” Daniel roared as soon as he threw the sliding door open.

I grabbed Bucky before he could escape through the new gap in the door, pulling him back inside with us as he growled and snarled at the twister behind us, slamming the door shut once we were clear through.

“ ROSE! ”

Stumbling slightly when I chanced a look outside at the terrifying tornado that had seemed to stalk us through the paddocks, growing ever closer with every passing second, I hauled Bucky by his collar away from the glass.

“Bucky,” I said, forcing his attention onto me. “Where’s Rose? Find Rose, Bucky.”

With luck, he’d lead us to the left, toward the pantry, and through to the door of the storm shelter.

That wasn’t where he headed, though.

“In here, D-Dad!” Rose called from our right—the direction of Daniel’s bedroom.

Daniel immediately turned on his heel and ran toward his daughter, following Bucky. “Rose! Why aren’t you in the shelter?”

Choosing to let them bicker amongst themselves, I warily watched the tornado through the clear glass. Although the wind had picked up substantially on our way back, we’d stayed dry. When the first heavy droplets of rain began to fall, I looked up to the sky as I stepped back from the glass.

The sky had turned that sickening green again.

A flash of recognition ran through me at the reminder of what had happened at the gas station only days prior. First came the green sky, then the rain, then the deafening noise.

Right on schedule, the heavens opened, and the few heavy drops of rain progressed into a deluge of epic proportions.

I took another step back, then two more when I dropped my eyes to the twister that had evolved into an impenetrable heavy wedge from the multiple thin funnels I’d seen on our way back.

This beast was incredible in its ferocity and was barreling straight at us faster than I could think.

“Guys!” I shouted, not taking my eyes off the monster in front of me, even when my hands shakily made their way to my head, my fingers digging into my hair to tug it away from my scalp. “Move your asses! Now! ”

“No! I c-can’t l-leave Lucy!” Rose screamed tearfully, her thin voice barely audible over Bucky’s continued barking.

“Rose, we need to get to the shelter,” Daniel said as calmly as he could when they emerged from his bedroom.

He was tugging her by the arm as she fought hard to get back to where she’d been.

She was sobbing, cursing him out viciously, when he took one look at me before turning his head to see what I was so focused on.

He swore loudly, then pivoted, locking his arms around her flailing form so he could lift her free of the floor and physically relocate her against her will.

“ NO! LUCY! ” She dug her nails into her father’s forearms and started kicking out, trying desperately to get free of the iron cage Daniel had her wrapped in. “She’ll D-DIE!”

“Rose! Enough! ”

Bucky barked and growled at the commotion, dancing around them as they moved way too slowly toward the pantry that led to the stairs of the storm shelter.

I took another look at the twister, calculating how long it would take before it would get to us. Although the rain was pelting the glass, the only noises I could hear were Rose and Daniel cursing at each other and Bucky’s barks.

I couldn’t hear the freight train that had been so deafening at the gas station mere days ago.

There was time for me to get Lucy.

I had time.

The most important thing was getting Rose to the shelter, and she was fighting Daniel’s every step in order to get back to his bedroom.

If she knew I would get Lucy, Rose would let herself be taken to the shelter. Bucky would follow his owners without question.

I was the only one who could do it.

It was a stupid, calculated risk, but it could pay off.

“Rose, where is she?” I asked loudly, trying to get her attention.

“What?” Daniel’s eyes widened when he turned his focus onto me, even as Rose continued to kick and scream. “No!”

“It’s the only way,” I told him, even as I felt my spine vibrate with tension. I shifted in place until I could grab Rose’s cheeks, holding her steady until my face was the only thing she could see. “Rose, honey. Where is she?”

Finally focusing on me, Rose hiccupped tearfully, quieting enough to hear my question. “W-what?”

“Lucy. Where is she?”

“Under the b-bed. I almost had her w-when D-Dad p-pulled me b-back.”

“Okay. I’ll get her. Go with your daddy, honey.” I stared into her eyes, willing her to believe me, until she gave a shallow nod, her body going limp in Daniel’s firm arms. The corners of my lips twitched at her surrender before I let her go and looked at Daniel’s horrified face.

His eyes pleaded with me to reconsider, but he knew as well as I did that it was the only way to get Rose into the shelter.

“Go,” I said, wrapping one hand around his neck to give it a quick squeeze. “I’ll be right there. I promise.”

“You’d better” came his rough response before he hauled Rose away from me and toward the shelter stairs. His eyes kept a tight hold on mine until he took a deep breath and turned away.

One jagged breath of my own in, and I was on the move again. A quick glance at the tornado told me that it had stalled, still far enough away that I had time.

I have time.

I have time.

With every thump of my frantic heartbeat, the same three words ran through my head.

I have time.

I could do this.

Two steps through the bedroom door, and I dove under the bed, looking around blindly until I heard a tiny mewl from up near the bedhead.

“Lucy, it’s okay,” I cooed. “It’s me, Marshall. You know me. Come on, sweetie. Let’s get you safe, yeah?”

I kept a rambling stream of consciousness, babbling about nothing as I struggled to army crawl in the narrow space under the bed until I was face-to-face with my prize, her tiny green eyes the only things I could see in the semidarkness.

Ever so slowly, she snuck forward until she could sniff at my outstretched fingers. The resulting loud purr was heaven to my ears, as was the tiny pressure of her nose to my fingertips.

“That’s it, Lucy. Come to papa.” I willed her forward, and the moment she licked my wrist, I turned my hand and grabbed at the scruff of her neck, making her mewl in surprise. “Shh, sweetie. It’s okay.”

Using my toes to pull myself backward, I scrambled out from under the bed. The very moment I was free, I tucked Lucy in the upturned bottom of my sweater and spun around to face the door, holding her tightly to me with one hand.

That was when I registered the noise.

A freight train.

Christ.

I was out of time.

I could feel the glass windows vibrating to my left as I bolted through the house toward the pantry.

Ten steps.

Seven steps.

“ MARSHALL! ” Daniel stood at the top of the stairs, one arm holding the shelter door open for me as he roared my name and reached for me with his other hand.

I sped up.

Five steps.

Four.

I was so close.

“ Rose! Bathroom!” Daniel bellowed down the stairs, his fingers twitching to get me to safety.

Three steps.

Two.

The world exploded.

Like a pinball, I was flung to the side, my right shoulder slamming into the pantry wall, before I bounced forward into Daniel’s outstretched arm with an oof .

The momentum pushed us both through the open doorway, punching into the door hard enough to ricochet it off the wall behind it.

Lucy shrieked from being squished between my body and Daniel’s, and as we were flung backward, I felt pinpricks of pain as she scrambled out of my sweater to climb me until she was free of us.

Instinctively, Daniel wrapped his arms around me, but it wasn’t enough.

We were moving too fast, too hard for him to protect either of us, inadvertently ensuring that neither of us were safe as we tumbled down the stairs together, the swirling wind and debris from the destruction of Daniel’s house following us down.

The echo of the door thumping loudly against the wall and the doorframe, useless in its protective capabilities because Daniel hadn’t been able to lock it, merged with Rose’s screams and Bucky’s frantic barking from further inside the shelter.

“D-DADDY!”

A sickening crunching thud sounded at the same time as I registered Lucy digging her claws into my scalp and leaping to her freedom, a tiny yowl shrieking from her as she jumped.

We’d made it halfway down the stairs, to the landing where we needed to turn back to reach the concrete floor of the shelter, but the force of our fall had punched us against the wall of the landing.

With an agonized groan, Daniel immediately went limp in my arms before the force of the terrifying wind behind us tumbled us once more.

We bounced down the rest of the stairs, turning us again, until, this time, I was the one holding Daniel in a desperate attempt to keep him safe as we fell backward.

“D-D-D-DADDY! NOOO!”

We landed heavily, Daniel punching the air out of my lungs as the full weight of his body fell heavily on top of me.

At the same time as my breath left me, I felt a nauseating crack as my skull hit the floor of the shelter.

“Oh…,” I breathed out softly.

“M-M-M-MARSHALL!”

As darkness played at the edges of my vision, I felt Daniel get tugged to the side, his body shifting on top of me, which made my own move. Other than the sensation of him being moved, I didn’t feel his weight. It was more of a shifting pressure on my chest.

I tried to lift my arms to help, but they didn’t react.

Why couldn’t they move?

The roar of the wind above us continued, debris following the whims of the squall with nothing to stop it.

Something registered in my fading consciousness that Rose was the only one in the shelter that was capable of moving Daniel off me, but she was supposed to be in the bathroom.

Daniel had told her to move to the bathroom, the safest part of the shelter, especially if the door was open.

“Rose…,” I breathed as I blinked ever so slowly, forcing my lips to form the shape of her name. She shouldn’t be helping me. She should be safe. In the bathroom.

“N-NO!” Rose’s wide, tear-streaked eyes hovered over me, her pupils flicking everywhere but seemingly focusing on a spot just above my left ear. Her hands fluttered above me, fingers twitching uselessly as they approached and retreated in jagged movements.

It’s okay, I wanted to say, but my lips couldn’t form the words. I wanted to reach up and tuck her hair behind her ear, let her know everything would be okay, but my hand wouldn’t move no matter how much I willed it to.

Why can’t I move my hand?

Movement above her caught my attention.

Something red.

A scrap of material floating on the wind that was still forcing the shelter door to swing wildly.

The ferocious noise of the tornado was finally waning, and the sliver of red material slowed its violent movements until it was floating in the air, not unlike a feather carried on the gentle gusts of the breeze.

My eyes tracked it as it flitted from one side to the other until it dropped out of my field of view.

Pretty , I wanted to say, my blinks getting heavier. So pretty….

Before, finally, the darkness that had been teasing at the edges of my vision encroached more and more, and then all that was left was a tiny pinprick of light.

The sounds of Rose’s heaving sobs and Bucky’s pitiful whining were the last things that registered, gradually fading until a long, mournful scream was all that was left.

And then there was nothing but darkness and silence.

Nothing but peace.