Page 55 of Desperate Creed

“It’s crossing!” Jason said. “Look it’s crossing the interstate.” Jason pointed with his prosthetic hand even as he braced his other against the dash. “Oh my God, it’s crossing right where we were.”

Creed eased up a bit, but kept backing the Jeep away.

“That car’s too close,” he said. The vehicle that had pulled onto the shoulder to get out of his way had stayed put. “What the hell’s wrong with them? Did you see who was behind the wheel?”

“Hell no! I haven’t taken my eyes off that monster.”

Everything was a blur through the rain. But Creed could see electrical poles snapping in half, one after another. Power lines swung free and whipped around. A billboard went airborne. Its steel pole bended over.

“Look at that.” Jason pointed to an object flapping out of the column of black. “Wow! That’s a roof. A whole roof! It must have picked it up from somewhere else and it’s tossing it out.”

They were far enough away now that the debris wasn’t hitting them. Creed finally brought the Jeep to a stop. He kept his foot on the brake. He didn’t shift into park. He wanted to be able to go again if he had to.

“It might be headed for Montgomery,” Jason said “And it doesn’t look like it’s lifting up. God, that thing is massive.”

Creed put the Jeep in park, but left the engine idling. He clicked out of his seatbelt and twisted around to the dogs. Both of them were wide-eyed and panting. Grace clawed at the grate when she saw she had his attention. He reached his hand over the console and offered her two fingers.

“You okay, girl? How bout you, Scout? It’s okay. We’re all okay.”

“Oh man, look at that! It just hit that building.”

Creed glanced over his shoulder just in time to see a two-story cinder block explode, flinging bricks and glass. Shipping crates and trailers crumpled like tin cans. Some of them got sucked into the black whirling mass. The lights along and inside the small industrial complex flashed and blinked out. The roof of another structure peeled away.

In the distance a blue-green flash lit up the black sky.

“A transformer must have blew up,” Jason said.

They watched in silence. The storm seemed to devour the horizon to the north of them as it moved west to east. The lightning flickered inside just enough to show the steady rotation. It looked like a living, breathing creature, and only as it crept away from them did Creed realize how deafening its sound had been. They didn’t need to shout any more.

That’s when Creed said, “Do me a favor. When you tell Hannah this story, don’t tell her how close we came to being sucked up into the storm.”

“Right, sure,” Jason said. “Hey, where did that vehicle go?”

Creed turned back around to face the windshield. The car that had pulled over to the shoulder to get out of his way was gone.

39

Birmingham, Alabama

“This one is massive, folks,” Willis Dean talked to the camera. “If you’re in Hope Hull, you want to take cover right now. Montgomery County, you should be hearing sirens go off. Everyone to the south of the city, go to your safe place.”

He kept one eye on the monitor to know where to point. The radar was exploding with angry red and yellow bursts.

“This is the tornado right here. One of our storm chasers watched it earlier as it approached Interstate 65. We’ll show you some of the video when it comes in. Again, this is a very dangerous wedge tornado. It’s rain-wrapped, so please don’t let it deceive you. At times it may look simply like a big, wide thunderstorm. Make no mistake, there’s a tornado inside there.

“So if you’re out shopping or having lunch, you need to go to an interior hallway. Get away from windows. Cover your head. Do not try to drive around this. This is a very dangerous wedge tornado.”

Mia brought a new list of warnings, and he handed the reins to her. By now they were transitioning smoothly. She walked on, he walked off. In his younger years they would have had to drag him off the set, but these days he understood the necessity for refueling, keeping fresh and having time to review all the information coming in at a rapid pace. People’s lives were at stake. Nothing could be missed or left out.

They were already receiving photos of damage even as new tornadoes were being sighted in other counties. The sky was falling around them.

Paul handed Willis a stack of messages as he entered the weather desk. Then he gestured to one of the city’s video cams. A hulking mass was creeping into the viewfinder.

“Wow! Which camera is that?” Willis asked.

“The airport. It’s pointing south toward I-65.”

“Any word from Gary and his crew?”