Once we passed the courthouse, we saw a few houses that had some siding ripped off and tree limbs scattered around the yard, but the houses were structurally intact.
A couple of blocks later, and there were houses that were partially destroyed. Some of them had their roofs ripped off while others had large trees collapsed in on them.
As we walked down that street, I tried not to get overwhelmed. What I was seeing was bad, but it might not have been the worst of it. I’d watched the news after EF5 tornadoes, and I needed to be prepared to see sections of Coventry flattened. We didn’t know if the storm that hit the town was that bad, but I needed to mentally prepare myself in case it was.
“Kinsley, look,” Reggie said and pulled me out of my thoughts.
I looked where she was pointing, and there was an old man sitting on the curb between some debris. He was dirty and had his head in his hands.
“Sir,” I called out as we hurried over to him. “Sir, do you need help?”
He slowly lifted his head and looked at me. There was a big scratch over his eye, but other than the dirt, he looked unharmed. “My dog,” he barely choked out before descending into sobs. “Shelly…”
“Your dog was in the house?” I said and turned to look at the ruins of his home. It looked as though about a quarter of the house was still standing toward the back, but the rest was either collapsing or had collapsed completely. “Were you in the basement? Was she in the basement with you?”
He took a deep shuddering breath and tried to pull himself together to answer. “She was, but she’s an old gal. Shelly’s got dementia, and she gets so scared sometimes. She’s terrified of things that never used to bother her, so I can’t imagine what this storm did to her. Anyway, a window broke while the twister was going through this neighborhood. Made the basement door pop open. She got spooked, ran up the stairs, and into the house. I haven’t seen her move that fast in years,” he said and sniffled. “Well, you can see the house. I tried to find her, but the roof dang near fell in on me. I want to keep looking, but I’ve got kids and grandkids who would never forgive me if I died looking for the dog.” He began to sob again. “I just hope my son gets here soon. He’ll help me. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to her. I’d rather she lived…”
“We’ll help you,” I said.
“Kinsley,” Reggie warned. “You are not going in there. You think of the baby.”
“We can walk around the outside and see what we can see,” I said. “We can do that.”
“Yeah,” Reggie said. “Okay, we can do that.”
As we started for the house, I heard a soft, muffled whining sound. The man shot up off his place on the curb so fast that Dorian had to keep him from toppling over. “That’s her,” he said. “Oh, she’s alive! Shelly baby, don’t worry! Daddy’s coming!”
“Please wait here,” Dorian gently told the man.
“I can help you,” he said defiantly. “I can.”
“Let us try,” Dorian said. “If you get hurt, it will make it harder for us to save Shelly. Just stay here, and we’ll be right back. Please.”
The man gave in and agreed to wait. The three of us circled the house as carefully as we could listening for where Shelly’s cries came from inside the house. We lucked out, and she seemed to be inside the part that was still standing. That must have been why she survived. I couldn’t even think about if she’d gotten confused and wandered into the portion of the structure that was completely collapsed in.
“She’s in there,” Dorian said as we stood outside the first floor window. The wall was still standing and seemed to be holding up.
“How are we going to get to her?” Reggie asked. “The doors are blocked with collapsed boards.”
“I’ll climb through this window and hand her out to you guys,” Dorian said as he started to roll up his sleeves.
“I should go in,” I said. “I’m smaller and I’ve still got a bit of my powers.”
“Absolutely not,” Dorian said as he forced the window open. Fortunately, it was either unlocked or the locks were broken. “I’ll just be in and out.”
Before I could say anything else, he was scrambling up the side of the house and through the window. I heard a thump as he hit the floor inside, and the entire structure shook ominously. Stuff slid from the collapsed parts of the house onto the ground around us.
“Try not to do that again,” I called through the window.
“I will do my best,” Dorian hollered back sarcastically, but I could hear the tinge of terror in his voice. He was quiet for a couple of seconds and then, “I found her. I’m picking her up and carrying her to the window.”
Reggie and I waited at the window for him to return. When he did, it took both of us to get her out of his arms and clear of the house. Shelly was a collie and a sizable one at that. Reggie and I managed to carry her out to the curb where the man waited, without hurting her.
We set her down, and I turned to go back and help Dorian. Just as I did, the house collapsed entirely. Suddenly, someone was screaming.
It was me.
And then Dorian was there gripping my shoulders and shaking me. “I’m all right. I was already out,” he tried to soothe me, and I felt my thundering heart begin to slow a fraction.
“I’m
