She nodded and ran in the direction of the hall, the light of her torch bobbing with her. The cover of the first aid tent was ripped from its frame as Emmett hefted another bag over his own shoulders.Here we go.He shone his light across the top of the slope.
‘Barry!’ he yelled to the man trying to secure the barbecue. ‘Leave it and get into the hall. Get everyone into the storage room!’
He didn’t wait for a response. An elderly couple was struggling up the hill with their chairs and he intercepted them, taking the seating from their hands and throwing it to the ground. A strong gust of wind battered at them, throwing the wife into her husband and Emmett grabbed at them, barely keeping them on their feet. ‘Get into the hall!’
‘But our car—’ The lady’s voice was taken by the next clap of thunder.
Emmett took their elbows and spun them around, helping them down the slope as he shouted to others to turn around. The pied piper had nothing on him.
Once they’d hit the flat ground, Emmett pointed the couple over to Stef, who was using her torch like she was waving in an aeroplane. Then the window beside her smashed, causing her to duck, and screams erupted. It was too dark to see what had taken it out. A body dropped a few feet from Emmett and he raced over to find a teenager clutching the back of his head, blood seeping through his fingers and a branch the size of Emmett’s arm beside him.
‘I got you, mate,’ Emmett said, lifting the kid to his feet then pressing his hand against the kid’s hand. ‘Keep pressure on this.’
‘It hurts! I didn’t even see who hit me!’
Emmett walked with him towards Stef. ‘It was a branch. You can take it up with the tree it came off later.’
They reached Stef as more lightning lit up the sky and its accompanying thunder rattled the remaining windows in the hall. More had blown out and Mayor Briggs was standing on the stage, yelling for people to head into the storage room. A line was forming through one of the doors beside the stage, so obviously they were listening.
‘A branch took him out. Possible concussion. Get him downstairs,’ he yelled, handing over the teen to his partner. ‘And stay with him!’
It was amazing how quickly the hill had emptied. Emmett shone his torch along the verandah of the building, spotting Reggie huddled near the corner with her three young children. What was she doing? He raced over.
Her baby was strapped to her chest, but the twin three-year-olds were gripping the verandah railings tighter than he’d seen them grip onto their stuffed Bluey toys.
‘You need to get into the hall!’ He was yelling louder than he’d ever yelled to be heard over the rain on the tin roof that sounded like bullets from a machine gun. The twins’ wailing and screaming couldn’t even compete.
Tears were coursing down Reggie’s face as she tried tugging on the waist of the twin closest to her.
‘They won’t let go and I can’t carry them with Noah.’
Only the baby’s screwed-up face gave Emmett any indication that Noah was crying. Emmett crouched, the rain blowing in cold on the side of his face. He peeled fingers from the railing, transferring them to cling to his uniform instead then scooped up the scared children into his arms.
‘Let’s go.’
He ushered them into the hall, prompting Reggie down the hallway and into the storage room beneath the stage. There, the sounds of the storm were masked by the children’s cries instead of the other way around.
‘Where do we go?’ Reggie asked, standing in the doorway. Emmett scanned the room that was crowded with wet bodies, shelves and props. He recognised so many townsfolk gathered together but no Piper, who he knew would want to give Reggie a hand. The people behind him pushed at his back, desperate for shelter. He pointed to space near the wall to their left.
‘Let’s get you settled in there.’
Gloria bustled over with a couple of towels in her arms. Who knew where she’d found those. ‘Reggie, dear, pass me Noah and I’ll get him dried off.’
Emmett pried little fingers from Reggie’s coveralls as Gloria took the baby, leaving Reggie free to embrace her twins. They were all safe with Gloria.
He headed out the door as Maddie came through.
‘Have you seen Piper?’ she asked.
Dread formed a quick lump in his gut. ‘I thought she’d be with you.’
‘I lost her in the chaos.’
Thunder shook the ground beneath them. A loud crack echoed through the empty hall. That had to be a tree. His dread mounted into panic. Where was Piper?
‘Stay here, I’ll find her.’ He threw the words at Maddie as he raced back out of the hall. ‘Piper!’
‘Emmett?’ Mayor Briggs was now standing at the door on the car-park side of the hall, waving in the last of the rain-soaked community members.