I know, this is really short chapter and not much is happening. But I needed to get Owen into the hotel and then make a longer one, so I had to cut it. On the other hand, it really begins. And maybe some of you noticed the resemblance with LOTR. I just love the scene when Théoden stays on the Helm's Deep and says this and then it starts to rain.
When she finally rode into the clearing after half an hour, she found out that she was right with her pessimistic thinking. Owen stood at the cabin, hold a huge wooden board in one hand, hammer in the other and hammered a window. The second window from the other side was already similarly secured.
"Owen! I'll strangle you by my bare hands! Why you didn't take a radio? And what are you even still doing here?!" she jumped out of the jeep and marched right up to him.
"Securing the cabin against the storm, I told you in the morning. Pack my things, hammer windows, hide the bike."
"And do you know what time it is? And why did you lock Ty in a room?!" her voice jumped with anger growing up due to his calm respond.
"To prevent his missing. He'll be safe there, and I have a job here, so..."
"Wait, wait, you wanted to hide the bike? Like you were gonna stay? Are you crazy? Owen, listen... listen!" she sprang to him and grabbed his arm, so he couldn't ignore her. "You're coming back with me, okay? Now."
She didn't know whether he was going to hide his bike here or, a better option, in the hotel garage and didn't care.
"If you offer it... but I need to finish this. And if you wanna leave now, help me. Put these packets on the hammock into the barrel beneath it and shut it. But leave the door open, I disconnected and hid my generator, the light doesn't work."
"You... you've got electricity in here?"
"And what did you think?" he sneered. "I don't enjoy sitting in the dark and I need to charge the laptop. A cooker is electrical too, gas would attract attention and could explode. Plus, electrical motorbike, remember?"
"Okay, so you're a little civilized Neanderthal, but it still sounds awful," Jenna muttered and entered the cabin. There was quite dark so she couldn't look around, but she found the hammock. She also nearly broke her legs because of the plastic barrel next to it and the light from the door fell on several stacks of clothes wrapped in plastic, as well as the blanket, pillow and a few cables. So she took them, piled them inside the barrel and closed it. Then she peered out of the cabin.
"Where are your things for tonight? I'll give them into the jeep."
"Wait," he growled through several nails, which he held in his mouth.
"You didn't pack them, did you? You wanted to stay here!" Jenna blamed him again.
Owen just murmured something and when Jenna literally ordered him to repeat, he let the nails fall from his mouth into his hand and said aloud: "Sure, I wanted to stay here and let Ty locked in the room until his death, definitely."
"Well, I wouldn't be surprised. So hurry up!" she ran out and looked at the bay, where some pretty big waves spilled already.
Owen critically evaluated his work for a few minutes, added a nail here and there and then went to a thing looking like a small unused trailer without wheels. Jenna didn't know what he was doing, but after a short observation she realized that he had a generator in there and was probably trying to prevent the access of water. She stood near the steps to the cabin and impatiently tapped her fingers on her arm when she finally heard a thunder. They were running out of time and the storm was approaching. There were no fluffy clouds flying over blue sky above her head anymore, now there was a monotonous gray mass.
"Owen!" she sounded a little hysterically. "The way takes half an hour!"
"Are you afraid of thunderstorms?" he came out and walked towards her.
"No, I just... I have a small feeling of discomfort about waggling on a cliff while the waves are trying to drag me down and a hut ripped out of the nonexistent grounding is flying to my back and also while even management, who usually pretends that nothing's happening, is saying not to move out of the hotel, so sorry that you may got the impression, that I'm perhaps in a little hurry," she spewed out and really, her nervousness reached unbearable limits. Not be used to nature not-bounded by a city meant never experienced tropical storm among other things and catastrophic movies definitely weren't too calming for someone like Jenna.
"Apology accepted," he passed quietly around her and laid laptop and a few pieces of clothing into the bag at the now empty table. Then he looked around. Jenna watched him and tapped her leg. And when he finally closed the bag, tossed it over his shoulder and grabbed his rifle to his other hand, they heard a sudden loud humming of water. The heavy rain started to fall as if someone turned the switch. It even didn't bother with the gradual acceleration of intensity, but immediately watered earth by constant streams.
"So it begins," Owen leaned out of the door and put a hat with a wide brim on his head.
Directly behind him, a lightning.
"Wow," Jenna gasped before she could stop herself. And it was not quite due to the lightning.
"Now please let's go. Now!"
She grabbed the barrel with other things regardless of Owen, because one part of her was still convinced that there would be no cabin or bike, which Owen parked inside, the next day and ran across a short space of grass between the door and jeep. Despite this short distance, she was immediately wet, as well as Owen, and splashes and sudden changes in the wind direction completed their disastrous look on their way back. The jeep had in fact only a canvas removable roof, low doors and no proper windows except the front one. There should be an unobstructed view on the surroundings while traveling through the park from inside. But now she just felt like in a dishwasher. Broken dishwasher. In addition, they barely heard each other and Jenna had a completely hazy glasses (which she had to wear and forgot to take it off before traveling to Owen) after a while, so now she pulled it out of her eyes and hoped that the way wouldn't be completely fuzzy due to it and the ongoing darkness and rain and she wouldn't crash somewhere.
And when they finally arrived at the hotel complex and Jenna drove her jeep into the garage on the ground floor, they both looked pretty miserably. They were soaked through and their clothes just limply hung on them, as well as Jenna's hair, which was the only difference between them, because Owen's was protected by his hat. She noticed, completely unreasonably at that moment, that it's quite similar to her father's hat.
