Page 99 of Waves of Fury

I wade through the rushing water, holding on to the side of the vehicle, and then dip down into the water to try to access the doors. Where the window should be, it’s open space. I feel around the seat and am relieved to discover no one is there. I’m just wondering how to get to the other side without getting swept away when I hear Aaron’s voice.

“Hope!”

“Here,” she cries out. “I’m here.”

Aaron and Dan come staggering into view. Dan’s nose appears to be broken as blood continues to pour from it. Aaron has a huge knot on his forehead.

“Where’s everyone else?” I demand.

“We have to find my daughter,” Dan says in a nasal tone. “Where’s Hailey?”

“Come on,” I instruct, picking up Pretzel to hand to Dan. “Let’s keep walking.”

With each minute that passes where we don’t find the others, my hysteria rises. If something happened to Tyler, I’ll never forgive myself for getting us into this mess.

“Help!”

A voice farther ahead chases away the terror in my bones. I take off running toward the sound. I find Wayne treading water, his leg caught behind him on a tree. Each time the water rushes over his head, my heart stops.

“Hold on,” I call out. “I’m coming!”

Aaron comes up next to me and the two of us wade into the rushing water. We flank Wayne on either side. It takes us both lifting up his massive body out of the water so that he can wriggle his boot free of the tree. Finally, after several minutes of this, we’re able to get him to his feet.

“I heard someone crying that way,” Wayne says, pointing farther down the way. “Sounded like Hailey.”

We get Wayne out of the water and over to Hope and Dan before setting off in the direction he pointed. Hailey, like poor Pretzel, is stuck in the mud under some tree limbs. When she sees us, her wailing grows louder.

“Hey,” I assure her. “We’re here now. We’re going to get you out of here and over to your dad.”

“Where’s Jesse?” she asks, sobbing. “He had my hand and then he was gone.”

Aaron grimaces at the mention of his brother. “We’ll find him.”

Together, we manage to pull away all the tree branches and pluck the slight girl from the mud. Once she’s on her feet, Dan shows up, damn near tackling her to the ground as he hugs her. Pretzel yowls between them.

Aaron and I take off again, this time searching for the last of our group. Rain starts coming down harder than before, making it nearly impossible to see and drowning out all sounds.

“Do you hear that?” Aaron belts out, grabbing my arm to keep me from walking. “Over there?” He points across the flooded waters. “Listen.”

We both crane our necks, listening for any sort of sound. Then we both hear it. Yelling.

“Tyler? Jesse?” Aaron yells toward the sound.

Through the downpour, I see two figures waving at us.

“We’re going to swim across!” Tyler hollers back, his voice barely projecting over the rain.

My stomach does a nervous flip. It’s dangerous with how fast the water is flowing and with debris rushing along with it.

Me and Aaron stand there uselessly as Tyler and Jesse start wading into the water. When they’re about halfway, I can tell the water is deeper because they both start swimming. Jesse is the quicker swimmer and is soon wading toward us. Tyler curses, goes under the water, and then bobs back up again farther down the way. I take off running along the bank, readying to fish him. Thankfully, he finds purchase and manages to stagger out of the raging floodwaters. As soon as he’s close enough, I yank him to me, hugging him fiercely, choking down my tears. He clings to me, his entire body trembling.

“Is everyone okay?” he croaks out.

“Everyone’s alive,” I mutter against his head. “Thank fuck.”

I have no idea where we are or where we can take shelter, but all that matters right now is that no one died. It could have gone badly and yet we’re all still standing.

For how long, though?

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