I’d heard everything.
The funnel cloud headed northeast. It had missed us by what I guessed was less than a mile. The wind almost blew me backward before I caught my balance, and then I raced toward my truck. It was still standing. Undamaged.
Thank you, God, for small miracles—what the fuck is that?
A huge piece of debris plummeted from the sky to the left of me, decimating the sports car two houses down. Holy shit. It was a car. On top of a car. Two cars.
Get a grip. Once I climbed into my truck and pulled out on to the bypass, I calmed, taking deep breaths. My phone hooked up to the wireless Bluetooth. “Call Sam.”
It rang. And rang. And rang.
“Hi, you’ve reached Sam. Leave me a message, and I might call you back…if I like you. Bye!” Beep!
“I don’t know if you’ll get this, but I know you’re at the gym. I heard it all. Everything. I’m on my way, Sam. I’m coming. I love you so damned much. Just hold on. You’re tougher than this. You’re a fucking squall, nothing is taking you down, so you hold on.”
The longest fifteen minutes of my life passed as I made my way to the gym. I cut across half a dozen yards, and got out at one point to move a fallen tree with three other guys.
Fire trucks passed, sirens blaring.
The devastation was… Damn. There were no words. Roofs were ripped from houses, trees downed, people stood aimlessly in their yards, surveying what was left. I flipped the 4X4 switch and crept over the debris that lay scattered into the road, and then threw it into park when I reached the remains of the gym. There could be people under there. Sam could be in that mess.
The windows of the gym were all blown out, and the roof was gone. It was a bare-bones structure, only the support beams remaining intact. I saw more than one treadmill attached to the trees that surrounded the gym.
“Avery!” Maggie screamed behind me.
She’d parked her car behind the truck. “She’s with Sam,” I answered.
“Oh, thank God. Where are they?”
I shook my head at the pile of rubble in front of us. “They’re in there. They made it to the locker room before it collapsed.”
She bent over at the waist, gasping for breath.
“Wait here, Maggie.” I wanted to comfort her, but I didn’t have anything to give.
My eyes scanned the debris field as I climbed over it, making my way slowly to the gym. Water sprayed from somewhere in the corner. The showers. I picked my way over equipment, careful to watch where I put my hands.
She was here. She was alive. She had to be.
There was simply no other option.
I forced the terror further back in my mind. It would do her no good right now. My foot fell through a hole in the rubble, and I hissed as the wood scraped my shin. Oh yeah, that was bleeding. I pulled my leg free and wiped the blood away. Just a scrape.
Another couple minutes and I stood at the frame for the locker room. The handle twisted in my hand, but the door wouldn’t budge. She must have used the deadbolt. Smart girl.
Using my hand, I dug through the wood and mangled metal until I got to the floor so I could open the door. I had to be able to get her out. “Sam! Avery!”
“Here!” the muffled sound came, and I nearly collapsed in relief.
“Avery, I’m coming! Is Sam okay?”
“I…I don’t know. She’s not moving, and there’s blood. A lot of blood.”
I had to get in there now. What could I use to break the window?
Where was it? The stupid fucking window breaker tool she keeps? Where is it? The water was creeping in, and she still wasn’t breathing.
I blinked and banished that memory. Sam wasn’t Grace. Sam was stronger, tougher, less likely to take the shit fate handed out lying down. She was a fighter. She was alive, damn it.