Counting Down (14 page)

Abby bit her lip in frustration and turned to her drawing with a huff. Her pencil moved furiously over the blank page, quickly sketching out the barn and the Yellow House beyond it and all the way to the road. She added in the unfinished General, her Jeep, Jimmy’s truck, and Kyle’s too. She looked up every few minutes to check the scene and get the details right.

She made a
n
annoyed
sound, tossed her pencil into the bushes, and stood. The drawing was crap and she was just too irritated to sit still. She needed to talk to Kyle.

When Abby entered the barn through the wide double doors she saw Kyle standing in front of the stall of a brown mare.
The horse’s head dipped down into his waiting hands as he patted the side of her face and stroked her black mane.

Abby studied him with eyes that were at once curious about the man he was yet acutely aware of the nature of his soul.

“Hi.” She approached him, leaning up to rub the mare’s ears. The horse turned from Kyle, sniffed at Abby’s palm and lipped her outstretched fingers.

Kyle’s face was blank though Abby could see something like struggle in his eyes. “Hi.”

“I was hoping we could talk about what happened last night without you avoiding eye contact.” He raised a thick eyebrow, glanced at her sideways before putting some distance between them and stepping to the next horse’s stall.

She grin slightly and tried to be casual
. “So I guess this means you’re still treating me like a leper?”

Kyle kept his attention on Bucky, an older gelding Abby’s mother had always had a special fondness for. Abby remembered the horse well and smiled in memory as she waited for Kyle to say something. He pulled a piece of
carrot
from his jeans pocket and fed it to the horse. The simple action had Abby fighting to keep her steely composure.

Bucky nipped at the band of the thick black leather watch on Kyle’s wrist but Kyle didn’t seem to notice. He didn’t bother to look at her when he finally spoke. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

Abby took a few steps toward him, smiling at Bucky as the horse flashed her one big eye. “Say what’s on your mind. It’s easy. I do it all the time, often when I should be shutting up.” She tried to laugh at herself, hoping to lighten his mood. “Why is it so hard for you to talk to me?”

He didn’t answer, refused to look at her.

“Kyle please.” She stepped closer. “Cal…”

His eyes locked onto hers, an angry fire burning within. “My name is Kyle Devon Windstone. I was born in 1983. I am a farmer. I will not be held to anything else.” He ran a hand through his already messy hair, relaxed his jaw. “There’s no time for this. We have things to do and we have to stay focused if we want to survive.”

Abby planted her feet. “I’m not leaving until you talk to me.”

He groaned quietly and turned pained eyes on her. “I can’t talk to you.
A
big part of me wants to, but I’m not ready for this… whatever it is. I’m not comfortable giving myself away so easily, especially when I feel like none of this was a choice I made. Christ, we just met two days ago Abby. Whoever we are… were… it’s too fast and it’s not normal.”

“I don’t care what’s normal. I know what I feel and I can’t just turn it off like you can. I don’t have a switch I can flip on and off.”

“I’m not flipping a switch. I’m trying to be sensible. There are more important things to worry about.”

“Sensible?” She laughed, threw her hands up in the air. “Since when does any of this make sense?
Please Kyle
, there’s a reason where both here and it’s not just about the end of the world.”

“I can’t do this and worry about surviving at the same time. I can’t be near you…”

“Why?”
She took a step closer. “I don’t understand why I’m so terrible. I’m sorry about the headache last night. I won’t touch you again if that’s what you’re worried about.”

He leaned his back against the stall, shoved his hands deep into his pockets. Bucky nudged his human friend’s chin affectionately.

Locking eyes with her again, he continued. “I can’t be near you because I lose my focus, get distracted.”

“What does that mean? I don’t understand.”

He sighed, ran a hand through his hair
again
. “I get distracted not because I’m worried about another headache, but because I would live through it again just to kiss you one more time.”

His words and intense gaze made her feel dizzy. She closed her eyes for a moment and exhaled deeply. She knew then that he felt the same things she did. But why was he fighting it?

With her eyes still closed a terrible thought entered her mind completely uninvited. A tingling sensation slithered over her skin. It was the same feeling she had experienced on the highway, just before huge boulders started tumbling down the mountain side and crushing cars. Her eyes flew open, snapping to Kyle with urgency.

“Everyone needs to get underground.” Kyle said the words without anything from Abby.

They made it to the door when Abby stopped. “Kyle, the horses.”

He stole a look at Bucky. “There’s nothing we can do. We have to move.”

She nodded, said a silent prayer for the horses and ran.

The two of them raced through the barn doors and up to the Yellow House. Abby’s foot caught an uneven spot of ground sending her stumbling slightly from her feet. Kyle reached down and grabbed her upper arm to steady her, accidently brushing two fingers against the skin of her elbow.

Abby’s breath came in sharply as information flashed through her head. “We don’t have much time. We have to go now.”

Kyle looked confused. Obviously he was not getting the same insight into the situation as Abby was. But there was no time to explain.

“Connelly!” Kyle yelled, waving his hands as they neared the house. “Let’s go man. Into the shelter now.”

Jim spread his arms out to his sides in question. “No time.” Kyle was moving fast now, his long legs spanning two of Abby’s steps. “Gather up the Dukes and head into the bunker as quick as you can.”

Clouds started gathering overhead much quicker than anything Abby had ever seen before. “We have to move faster.” She scanned the area. “Alex! Let’s go!”

Her shout was directed towards the house from where Alex came running with a terrified look on his face. “Is it happening?”

Abby yelled up to where he stood on the porch. “Something’s coming this way. We need to be in that bomb shelter before it gets here.”

Alex didn’t ask any questions, just started moving towards the hatch to get underground along with everyone else.
He would be the last one she would have to worry about acting like a hero.

The four of them hovered over the shelter, opened the hatch, and started climbing down one at a time. Abby waved away the hands who tried to get her in first. She was not a fragile doll. It was her vision that was guiding them and she wouldn’t be treated like a silly girl who needed to be looked after.

They were lowering Bo into the hatch when Jim yelled out. “Is Daisy up there with you?”

Kyle and Abby were still above ground and both of them began to search the farm with their eyes.

Kyle looked down the hatch at Jim. “We’ll find her. Stay down there. No matter what happens.”

Abby grabbed his shirt with a light yank. “Let’s split up, cover more ground.”

Kyle nodded and they were off, sprinting in different directions.

Abby went straight to the barn to search for the dog, running as fast as her legs would take her. The wind was picking up at a furious pace and the sky was now a strange mixture of red light and deep, black clouds.

As she came out through the barn doors empty handed the first tornado touched down behind her. She felt her feet come off the ground and the wind whipped her limbs around wildly. She was thrown hard against the panels of the barn and collapsed with a thud on the ground. The horses whinnied from within and she could hear their hooves hitting the ground in panic.

It took a moment to recover her breath. When she was back on her feet Abby suddenly found herself surrounded on all sides by twisters. There were two smaller funnels whipping in from the west, one from the east, another pair in the south, and a giant whirlwind heading towards her from the north. For a moment she was completely frozen, stuck within a mixture of awe and terror. Then everything went black and still.

* * *

Kyle found Daisy cowering beneath Jim’s
porch, panting and scared out of her little mind. “Come on Daisy girl.” He was careful to use a gentle tone with her. “Everyone’s waiting for you.” He scooped her up into his arms
tenderly
and began hauling her towards the shelter.

He was lowering the dog down to a grateful Jim when he realized Abby wasn’t in the shelter and a huge tornado had just touched down towards the north. Glancing around him he saw four more in the other directions moving in fast. A sick feeling tumbled through his body, making sweat instantly break out on his brow.

“Jim, is she down there with you?”

“No, she hasn’t made it back yet. I thought you were together.”

“Shit.” Kyle moved his eyes along the land, searching for any sign of Abby. “Stay here. I’m going to find her.”

Kyle just ran. Fear and desperation invaded him, slipping over his limbs and down into his gut.
The thought of Abby being hurt or worse absolutely horrified him on a level he had never experienced before in his present life.
She had to be okay. They deserved another chance. Damn it, Kyle wanted that chance.

He didn’t think about where he was going, but headed straight to the area behind the barn. Something was guiding him and he knew exactly where to look.

When he found her she was knocked out cold, a piece of the corral fence wedged under her body. The wound on her head looked superficial but there was still enough blood to make him worry. He bent down and gathered up her small, limp frame easily into his arms. She stirred, lifted her head, and opened her eyes to look at him.

“It’s okay. You were knocked out, but I’ve got you.” He looked around, trying to plot out the best course to the shelter. Tornadoes still raged through the acres surrounding the farm and debris floated through the air at bullet like speeds. He pressed her head to his chest. “Try to keep your head down and against me.”

Abby was obviously out of it. As Kyle carried her through the obstacle course of airborne fence posts and chunks of loose rock, she smiled almost drunkenly. He looked down at her and couldn’t help but return the smile with one of his own.

“We’re almost there.” He raised his voice over the sound of the rapid winds. “You’re going to be okay.”

“I know.” Her voice was quiet, barely audible over the sounds around them. But Kyle heard her clearly.

He felt the warm skin of her back under his arm where her shirt was pulled up and he felt her hands wrapped tightly around his neck. Even amid chaos and destruction there was still a kinetic spark that moved between them. But there were no uninvited visions and no stabbing headaches.

They made it to the shelter without further injury or incident. Kyle quickly hauled Abby down the hatch before closing the door above him tight. Jim immediately carried his niece to one of the bunks in the back and laid her down gently.

Alex looked at Kyle almost accusingly. “Is she going to be okay? What good are your stupid visions if people still get hurt?”

Kyle grabbed Alex’s shoulder and leaned in so their eyes were level. “Hey, she’s fine. Just a bump on the head. She needs a couple hours of rest then she’ll be on her feet again.” His tone was calm. He couldn’t fault the other man for caring.

Alex breathed a sigh of relief and went into the sleeping area to check on Abby. Kyle followed him but stood outside the curtained door.

He could hear Jim talking quietly as he cleaned the head wound with fresh water. “Oh, it’s only a small cut. Nothing serious. She’s fine.”

Kyle peeked in and watched as Alex leaned over to observe Abby’s wound for himself.
He
was so relieved that she was alright he thought he might actually break down. He needed a second to get himself together, to put on a strong front once again before facing the other men.