The Rebel (Red's Tavern 2)

“Fuck,” I said, gnawing on the inside of my cheek. “Perry’s right. We’re going to have to go down into the cellar. Let’s go, boys.”

I crossed back out to the front doors of the bar, locking them before heading back down the hallway and opening the door toward the cellar.

“I don’t care how long I’ve lived in this place, I always fucking hate this,” Sam said. “My balls are somewhere very very deep inside me right now. Maybe behind my spleen.”

He was still his usual jokey self, but I saw real fear in his eyes as the four of us headed down the stairs. I kept checking my phone every minute for a response from Liam, but there was nothing.

We shut the door behind us. There was a brief moment where things seemed more peaceful, shrouded from the noise upstairs, but soon the sound of the storm reached even down here.

It sounded violent. The sound of debris crashing onto the outside of the building came through.

“Are we going to die?” Sam asked, his eyes big.

“We’re safe down here. We’re surrounded by feet of concrete.” Perry said.

“What I’m more worried about is the bar. Those windows aren’t that sturdy,” I said. “And Liam never messaged me back.”

I had zero cell phone service down here in the cellar. There was nothing I could do to check on him, and it was beginning to eat away at me.

How could I have just let him go out into a storm like that? Why hadn’t I heard any tornado warning sirens go off?

A very loud crash and shattering sound came through from upstairs. Sam jumped and shrieked, tumbling into Perry in fear.

“It’s fine,” I said. “We’re fine. But that definitely sounded like it did some damage. Fuck.”

I was monetarily responsible for any damage that happened at the bar. Insurance might pay for some, but was very unlikely to cover anything more than vital structural repairs. I was already living paycheck-to-paycheck, and I had no idea how I could deal with a repair bill right now.

For the next ten minutes, we all huddled close, just listening to the sounds coming from upstairs. Sam began to rattle off last words, telling us he loved us and that he wanted all of us to keep his tank top collection and wear them proudly if he died.

Slowly, things began to dissipate. The howling wind started to lessen, and the rain was no longer audible from down in the cellar.

“I think it’s passed,” Perry said.

I was dying to leave. “I’m getting the fuck out of here,” I said, heading for the cellar door. “You guys stay if you want to.”

“No! What if we’re in the eye of the tornado?” Sam said.

“That’s not how that works,” Perry said.

My heart was slamming in my chest as I pushed through the heavy door. Immediately I knew something was wrong when I felt how cold and humid it was upstairs, and as I walked into the front of the bar, I saw that two of the windows had shattered. There was rain and debris all over the hardwood floor and some of the booths. The worst had passed, but rain was still falling inside through a small opening in the roof that the storm had torn open.

I couldn’t process any of that right now, though. I gripped my phone in my hand, dialing Liam.

There was no answer, and I called again immediately.

I swear my heart did a damn twirl inside me when he picked up.

“Hello?” came Liam’s voice.

“Please tell me you’re okay,” I said.

“I just saw all your messages,” he said. “That. Was. Awesome.”

I let out a long breath, furrowing my brow. “What?”

“This was some Wizard of Oz shit,” he said. “I saw a mailbox blowing in the wind.”

“That could impale someone,” I said. “It could have impaled you.”

“It was fine,” he said. I could hear the adrenaline in his voice. “It was only in the air for about four seconds.”

“You need to be safe, Liam,” I said, my voice angrier than I had intended it to sound.

“I… was totally safe,” he said. “The drive home was dicey. But I headed down into the cellar as soon as I got there. Well, after watching the storm for a couple minutes out back. There was no service, but I got your messages a minute ago.”

“You were in your backyard during this?” I asked, furious that he would be so careless.

“My rose garden got ravaged,” he said. “But I’ll replant this week. God, are the storms always like this in Kansas? It’s wild.”

I clenched my teeth, looking at the water still coming in through holes in my ceiling. “Yeah. Really wild. Wild that I’m going to have to foot more repair bills now.”

“Shit. Is the bar okay?” Liam said.

“No. It’s really not,” I said. “But that isn’t why I’m talking to you. I’m going to need you to promise that next time, you’ll go to your basement immediately, and stay there.”