Page 117 of Home Tears

The first wave would crush the streets. She was just waiting for it. She did as much as she could before running back outside.

She looked up, and there it was. Her heart stopped. The wave was thirty feet above her, and it was then she realized how miraculous a dam was. She ran inside, just as the first wave hit the pavement. It swooshed past her, filling into the store. The two main windows were still intact, but they’d shatter any second.

She climbed over each boat, and started them.

She couldn’t drive all of them, but she looped a rope between a few. She could pull three or four behind her boat. She just had to wait until there was enough water. And then it happened—the windows broke under the weight. The water rushed in, and Dani gunned the engine. She had to get the first boat out of the store. The water was rising fast, so she didn’t have much time.

She cleared it. The second did too. The third struggled, and the fourth was caught behind. She gunned her engine again. It was just enough to yank the fourth free. There were more inside that she released from their carriers, but she couldn’t corral them all. She’d have to go back for them.

As she drove through town, the people came out.

They were everywhere now. It was such a stark contrast from before, but as she saw people, she gave up a boat. She’d stall. They’d climb up into a boat and unhook themselves from the rope. The only thing she yelled was for them to help pick up others. They stayed with her, helping to pick people up as they all headed to the center.

A wall of people lined the center when they got there. They were standing at the edge of the water.

Dani knew these people were alive, but not in her mind. She was back there with the first storm. These people were waving. Those people had been floating in the water, already dead. The bodies were everywhere.

Dani was mixing them together in her mind. The dead were raising their arms now.

“Dani!” Jonah crashed through the crowd and ran to her boat. He jumped inside, crushing her to him in the next breath. He held the back of her head, holding her against his chest before he kissed her forehead, then her lips. “I thought you were dead. My God.” He went back to just holding her, wrapping as much of himself around her. “I tried the phone, but I couldn’t reach you and then Jake said you were in the town.” He was touching her pockets, but she forgot about the phone. His hand found it, and he pulled out. “The battery’s dead.”

Dead. She’d never get away from that word.

The town was gone.

Dani pulled away. The center would soon be as well. “We have to go.”

“Jonah!”

Hawk and Trenton were running toward them.

Hawk separated, leaping into one of the last empty boats. He revved the engine and swung next to where Dani and Jonah stood. He yelled, “We got a distress call!” He stopped, his eyes flicking to Dani.

She growled. “Who?”

“It’s Mae.” He said to Jonah, “We can get them if we go now.”

Jonah looked to Dani, but she was already pushing him away. “Go. Get her, please.”

He was torn, but grabbed her for one more hug. He crushed her to him, and said, his lips brushing against her forehead, “I will come back for you. I will find you. Do not die. Okay? Do not die.”

“I won’t.” She pushed him again. “Go. She’s my family.”

He did, tearing himself away. Hawk half-lifted him into the boat as Jonah grabbed the edge and swung himself up. He didn’t stop looking at Dani. He never broke contact. Hawk turned the boat and left.

Jonah was slowly swallowed by the darkness.

That wasn’t real. He’d come back. He went to save Mae. Dani kept reminding herself of that. Then Trenton leapt onto her boat. He was yelling at her. She wasn’t hearing him. She couldn’t. All she could see was Jonah heading away from her.

There were people streaming around her.

She recognized the looks on their faces. Fear. Uncertainty. Anger. Panic. They were all thinking the same thing: this wasn’t real. This wasn’t happening.

They were all wrong.

This was real. This was happening, and it was just the beginning.

She sat down, saying to herself, “They’re all going to die.” Everyone was going to die.

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