The significance of a green sky spurred Tori into action. She’d seen a few of them in her time. After taking supper out of the oven, she raised her skirts and raced out the door.
“Ouch!” Large pieces of hail hit her in the face. The ice chunks bounced off the ground with such force they smacked her legs like stones.
She opened the door to the children’s house. “Michael!” Then she remembered her family was scattered all over. “Hunter!” she called again. Panic filled her chest. He should be in his room.
He came running out, his eyes wide. “A twister?”
She nodded and raced to the door, hugging the child close to her side to keep the hail from hurting him. They raced to the restaurant, yelling for Rachel before she even reached the door. Rachel, Mrs. Bonner, and her husband spilled out, terrified looks on their faces.
“The storm shelter!” Tori shouted over the wind. It whipped her hair into her face and plastered her skirts against her legs, tangling them.
They all raced to the small grass-covered rise behind the house. The storm shelter Jesse had dug a few months back. Lifting the heavy door, she ushered Rachel and Mr. and Mrs. Bonner in. She and Hunter pulled the door shut, sliding the lock into place. Mr. Bonner lit a lantern, and they all crouched in the corner.
Mr. Bonner put his arm around his wife, and hugged her close. “Where are Ellie, Michael, and Jesse?”
Tears filled Tori’s eyes. “I’m not sure.” She took a deep breath. “I know Ellie’s at Agnes’s house, and Michael’s at the newspaper, but I don’t know where Jesse is.” Her voice broke. Hunter reached out and took her hand. Rachel huddled close to her.
The hammering of ha
il continued. Soon heavy rain poured down, mixed with crashes of thunder. The lock jiggled and shook as the wind lashed against the door. Were she alone, Tori would be huddled in the corner, her hands over her head, crying. But being strong for the children kept her in her seat.
Where was Jesse? Blood raced through her veins, pounding in her ears in rhythm with her heartbeat. Were Ellie and Michael safe? Agnes’s family would take care of Ellie, and the newspaper had a basement. But where was Jesse? Her stomach clenched.
As soon as silence descended, Tori eased open the door of the storm shelter and peeked out. Her house stood fine, but bits and pieces of debris scattered the yard. A small tree Jesse had planted last year had been snapped in half like a twig. In the distance, echoes of pandemonium raised goose bumps on her skin. Anxiety gnawed at her spine. She climbed out and helped the others up the stairs.
Rain was now light, but steady. She turned to the Bonners. “I’m going to find the rest of my family.” They nodded and made a shooing motion.
“Wait.” Rachel shook out her skirts and followed her. “I’m going with you.”
“Me, too.” Hunter jogged to catch up with Tori, already a couple of houses away.
“All right, but hurry,” Tori shouted over her shoulder, picking up her pace. She shivered at the sounds emanating from blocks away. Terrified at what they would find, she said a quick prayer, and attempted to tamp down her fear.
Dogs howled and the air exploded with the heartbreaking sound of people screaming and crying. As she rounded the corner, the sight that greeted her turned her blood to ice.
Men and women ran down the street while others walked or limped, dazed and covered with blood. A bawling child sat next to the still form of a young woman.
More people crawled out of partially collapsed houses and businesses, crying and searching frantically, calling for missing loved ones.
The damage appeared to be centered in one place. The twister had destroyed several buildings, then moved away. But the bank building had suffered the most. She said a quick prayer for anyone there when the tornado struck.
An uninjured Michael passed buckets back and forth in a brigade attempting to extinguish a small fire in the mercantile. Tori’s chest eased a bit, and she turned to Rachel. “We have to locate Ellie and Jesse. Do you think you can find your way to Agnes’s house? Ellie’s there. There doesn’t seem to be any damage in that area of town.”
“All right, her house isn’t far. I’ll bring her back here.”
“Good.” A cold lump of fear settled in her stomach. Jesse, the only one unaccounted for, was the one whose destination she didn’t know. She turned to Hunter and grabbed his arm. “We have to find Jesse. See if you can learn if anyone saw him before the tornado hit.”
Hunter took off at a run while Tori went the other direction. She talked to numerous people, but no one remembered seeing Jesse before the tornado. Her heart thudded, and she broke into a sweat as she checked several stores, some which stood perfectly complete while others were partially collapsed.
While going from door to door, she ran into Pastor Dave with his wife, who comforted a man and little boy. Bodies were stretched out on the street, awaiting either the doctor or undertaker. Holding her breath, she checked each body, releasing a sigh of relief when Jesse’s familiar face did not appear among them.
“Tori!” Hunter shouted from across the street. He jogged over, waving frantically, gasping for air. “I just talked to Jenny McCall. She said Jesse went into the bank right as she left. A few minutes later the tornado hit.”
Oh my God, the bank? Her heart hit her stomach. She made a beeline for it, and came to a screeching halt when they rounded the corner. A pile of rubble sat where the bank building used to be.
Chapter 20
Black dots danced in front of Tori’s eyes as all the air froze in her lungs. The bank’s vault remained the only thing standing. As she watched, a sign stating National Bank of Guthrie slid off the top of the vault. The black and gold sign skidded to a halt at her feet. Red mud slid off the sign and oozed over her shoe. She pressed shaky palms to her forehead, squeezing her eyes closed to stop the overwhelming pounding in her head.