Callan and Ethan position their shoulders against the door, crouched between Axel’s and Warrick’s spread legs. Water has begun seeping across the floor, leaking from under the door dining room door as well as the front door.
“On three,” booms Axel. “One, two, three.”
They grunt, straining against the door as it gives a couple of inches. Small waves slosh against Ethan’s and Callan’s knees on the floor.
“On, three,” Axel commands again. “One, two, three.”
They get a few more inches of space in the door.
“One more shot, and we got it,” he says. “Ready?” The other men nod.
“One, two, three,” he roars, as if priming himself for the ultimate exertion.
This time the door opens wide.
Warrick, Axel, Ethan, and Callan move away from the door. Water rushes out, since apparently the dining room is more flooded. Water drips from Callan and Ethan as they stand. The drips echo into the water sloshing up to their ankles.
Borris rushes into the room as much as one can run while splashing through water in the dark. I can only hear their happy reunion.
“Get the rowboat ready, Luna,” Axel says. “We’ve got to get the woman and baby to safety.”
I feel my way through the wet house and make my way out to the porch, where I untie our waiting vessel, proud that they gave me a useful job this time. The men emerge from the house, bumping and feeling for me to make sure I haven’t washed away. The water on the porch is at least a foot high now.
“Are you okay, Luna?” Warrick says.
“Fine, fine.” I repeat the words, but I’m anything but confident. Every hair on my body is standing at attention.
The woman and her baby clamber out the front door, ushered by Borris. They climb into the boat.
“Luna’s wading with us,” Warrick says, wrapping a thick arm around me and pulling me close.
“Luna?” Axel says, checking on me as he takes the rope from my hand. “Everyone ready?”
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“Mischka’s mamas. She’s got a two-story. We’ll all wait on the top floor if we have to,” Borris says.
“Let’s go, then,” Axel says.
We guide the rowboat a couple of blocks down the street as the wind screams and rain tears at us. We have to rely entirely on sound to guide us. The squeals and scrapes of heavy metal alert us to vehicles being pushed in our way. Objects fall with thuds and waves. Things whistle past my head, but I keep my thick hood up, as Axel instructed.
I wonder if the little shack I built in the swamp has been washed away yet, and I get a lonesome feeling in my heart. By the time we arrive at our destination, my senses are on overload. Borris helps his wife and baby from the boat, offers his gratitude, and guides his family into Mischka’s mama’s home. When they’re swallowed up into the house, we turn to go.
“Back in the boat you go, Luna,” Warrick says.
“I’m not a baby. I’ve been taking care of myself my entire life,” I protest, but firm hands land around my waist.
“You’re my baby girl, and I’m not letting anything happen to you,” he says firmly.
“Just get in,” Callan says, sounding anxious.
“Hold the boat steady,” Warrick says as he hefts me over the lip and places me securely on the seat.
Maybe he can sense the unease, too.
We slosh along in this surreal wildness of nature that beats at us like it longs for our destruction along with its own. It’s too much work to yell over
the noise of the weather tempest, so we don’t try.
Something’s about to go wrong-I can feel it in my bones. The storm is moving toward a real hurricane at any moment.
“Callan! Ethan!” I yell.
“What?” they call back in unison.
“Just checking.” I wait for a pause and then call, “Axel!” “Present and accounted for,” Axel calls back.
“Good!” I yell as the wind howls. “Warrick?”
“Quit worrying, baby girl. We’re all tough guys,” he says. “We’re all hanging onto the boat.”
I can’t seem to stop my heart from trying to escape from my chest, though. The storm does its best to splash water into my little vessel.
“The boat’s fixing to sink,” I yell.
“Shit,” someone calls, but I can’t tell who it is.
Again, hands grope for my waist and heft me out of the boat. Now we’re all forcing our way through the storm, heads down, fighting against the spray and the surge, hoping we don’t get hit with any flying debris.
“We’re here,” Axel calls.
I stop on what feels like the sidewalk, huddling together with the triplets. Axel opens his truck, and the tiny overhead light makes a weak attempt at offering us some light. He grabs flashlights from the cab of his
vehicle. “I’ve got a couple lights I keep in here for emergency breakdowns.”
He hands one to Warrick, one to me, and keeps one for himself. He shines his beam at his house, scanning over the roof that’s wobbling in the wind. “Shit,” he says. “My house isn’t going to be spared this time.”
The water level at his house is almost to the top step of his porch.
“Let’s head over to my place,” I call. “My house is on higher ground.” “I’ve got to grab a few things from inside,” Axel says. “I won’t be too long. Get yourselves and Luna dry before we all drown in this deluge.”
“No way, man,” Ethan says. “We’re gonna help. Stop being a heroic prick.”
“I just got to secure the place,” Axel calls. “I’ll be out to help in a few minutes.” He plods his way up the porch steps, lit by the struggling beam of the flashlight.
“Need help?” I call, weirdly desperate to be near him.
“Stay with them,” Axel yells back. “You’ll be safer out here!”
A sudden vicious gust of wind blasts through the street, and we all throw our arms up to protect our heads. A loud bang and a clatter compete with the wind’s screams.
“What happened?” I cry, training my feeble beam at Axel’s house. The roof’s now missing, carried away by the hurricane, probably halfway across
town by now.
“Oh, no,” I cry, staggering through the water toward the house, desperation filling my body “Axel’s in there!”
Callan grabs my shoulders, yanking me backwards. “Luna, no! Look out!”
We both stumble against the other two as another blast of wicked wind nearly flattens us. We cling together, but the next second, I hear a loud roar, like a crashing wave but ten times bigger. I whip back around, only to see nothing but a pile of rubble where Axel’s beautiful house stood. His home has been utterly destroyed-with him inside.