Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 59659 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59659 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Within a few seconds, a line had formed at the register. Amy stood by, but her hands were shaking, and I could see she was a wreck. I laid a comforting hand on her shoulder, and she spun to look at me.
“Yes?” she asked.
“Amy, go home,” I said. “I’ve got this.”
“But the storm—” she began.
“I’ve got this,” I said. “If you leave right now, you’ll make it in time to shelter. Go home. That’s an order.”
Nodding, she took off for the office. A moment later, she was running for the door, swinging her pocketbook behind her and pulling the hood of her jacket over her head. Before she could reach the door, it opened, and I was about to call out to whatever idiot customer was walking that we were closed when I saw who it was. Instead, I focused on the people I was ringing up.
“Melanie,” Victor said as he headed toward me from the door, “please, we need to talk.”
“No,” I said.
“At least let me help get people out of here.”
“Fine,” I said. “Sweep the store and see if anyone else is in the aisles.”
He nodded and took off, going down each aisle as I rang the last of the customers up. At least it got him out of my face for a minute. It had been at least ten minutes since the loud alarm that shook the walls of the store had started, warning people of an incoming storm. The alerts on the radio said the lockdown horn would run when the tornado touched down. Since it hadn’t yet, I was determined to send everyone out of there and go home myself. I just had to get through this last customer.
Victor appeared behind the last customer, seemingly pushing him through the line. I rang him out and handed him his groceries, sending him on his way.
“Leave the cart,” I said.
When he was finally out of the door, I yanked the till out of the register and headed for the office. Victor followed me, still not saying anything. I got the impression he expected me to be the one to start talking.
I went into the office and hit the combination for the safe. It would be a few minutes before it would open, so I put the till down on top of it and went back out to lock the front door and look out over the street.
The clouds were growing extremely dark and violent, an eerie shade of green at the edges, and rain was mixing into hail. The parking lot was now empty aside from my car and Victor’s. I got a sudden burst of worry that this might be the last time I would see it in drivable condition, and part of me wanted to run out right that second, take the till with me, and just go home and hide. But before I could jump to that plan, another loud, blaring horn sounded, seeming to take up all the air in the town.
It was the second alarm. The tornado had touched down.
“Shit,” Victor said from the doorway of the office. “Let’s go, come on!”
He paused and looked out the window. I watched as his shoulders fell. “Oh no. It’s here.”
I turned to look back out of the window and follow his gaze. The black smoky clouds had begun spinning slowly, seeming to be sucked toward a central mass. My eyes trailed in horror to where they formed a cone. It was partially hidden by the buildings in the way, but there was no doubt what I was seeing. The tornado was just a couple of streets down.
A shopping cart crashed into the window and a crack in the glass spiderwebbed up in multiple directions. More carts were soaring along the parking lot and into the street, some of them no longer on their wheels and being pushed along on their sides. My car was rocking as if someone were pushing on it. The fabric sign of the tiny upholstery shop across the street tore off its awning and flew into the sky.
My knees shook, and my breath hitched. My trembling fingers reached out to touch the glass that was slowly breaking and would soon shatter apart into millions of pieces. All I could think was that I should go get a broom so I could be ready. I couldn’t think clearly.
Victor’s hand fell on my shoulder and pulled. I turned and met his eyes. I could barely think I was so scared, but something in the way he looked at me focused me on him.
“We have to go downstairs right now. I’ve seen the blueprints. I know there’s a shelter. Where is it?”
Snapping into some sort of coherent thought, I nodded and pointed to the corner of the store. A door to the right led to the back room where a trap door in the floor led to an underground bunker.