Chapter 2: Carrie

I really, really didn’t want Sarah to go. I recognized the signs in Carlos. He was hung over, needing alcohol in the worst way, and it made him irritable as hell. But Sarah went with him, hanging her head.

We went back to the camper. Mike was outside, checking the tie down straps, making sure we were safe. When we went inside, I crawled into his lap, snuggling as we watched the storm get worse. The camper, huge and heavy as it was, started swaying. Mike got up, moving around, looking for something. The lightning and thunder seemed to blend into one continuous event, one starting before the last ended. After a particular loud boom, I had had enough.

“Fuck this! I’m going to get her before it gets any worse.” Mike had reached the same decision way ahead of me, pulling out a couple of umbrellas, putting on rain gear, dressing me in what I found out later was his mother’s foul weather gear.

We went out, hoping to stay dry. The big umbrella we huddled under as we went to the truck lasted about fifteen seconds, before inverting from the force of the wind. I think the only reason it didn’t fly away was because he refused to let go of it. The rain came down in sheets, so hard we could barely see. I was really glad for the truck then. It rocked very little, going over branches and around debris with no problems.

The wreckage of the tent sites shocked me. Two out of every three were mangled and flat. I idly wondered where everyone took shelter as we got to ours. Amazingly, it was still standing, barely.

Mike jumped out, almost ripping the tent apart in his haste, and carried an hysterical Sarah out, laying her in the backseat. I climbed in with her, hugging her as she calmed down. We were about to leave when someone started beating on the door.

I thought it might be Carlos. If it was I was going to keep the doors locked and ask Mike to drive away. But it was a young woman, with two children, a boy and a girl. They had been waiting it out in her car, but a tree had come down across the trunk. They had nowhere to go. Sarah immediately forgot her own worries, and jumped in the front, letting them have the back seat.