A/N: I'm really sorry about all the fanfic mix-ups with the posting of chapter 40, so I am posting 41 ASAP. (Hopefully it works, the first time, :-)) Thanks again for the reviews, they keep me going. Your input DOES matter. Enjoy!

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Laura was screaming again, and I didn't blame her one bit. The sound of the hail beating on the metal cellar doors and echoing around the cellar was deafening, and the dark was the most utter, terrifyingly complete blackness I had ever experienced. There were no windows. I felt my way down the stairs, Laura in one arm, paranoid that I would drop her, but afraid to put her down for fear that I wouldn't be able to find her again in the dark if she stopped screaming.

Spiderwebs brushed across my face and hands and I shuddered, brushing them away along with my tears. I realized I was shaking and sat down on the bottom stair, too afraid to move any farther in to a space where I had no idea what awaited me. I couldn't remember feeling so terrified and alone in a really long while. I had no idea what was in that room with me, except for Laura.

I held her against me and rocked her, my own tears mixing with hers. Eventually there was no more screaming, just the two of us whimpering along with each other as the hail beat down and the wind howled. The noise got louder and louder, and, finally, I was too afraid to stay anywhere near the stairs, as the door was rattling in the wind and water was coming in somehow - I feared the whole door might be caught by the wind and torn off.

I felt along the side wall at the bottom of the stairs to a place where I was no longer getting wet, and was far enough away that if something happened with the door, Laura and I would be safe. Amazingly, Laura had quieted down- I realized that I had, unconsciously, been rubbing her head, as much to calm myself down as her. I sat down on the floor, sweeping away at the floor beforse I sat down, sure the space was full of bugs and my dreaded enemy, spiders. The thought of them crawling on me made me want to throw up.

Just as I sat down, with the the howling and banging outside at the loudest it had been thus far, there was an enormous crash that reverberated around the whole basement. I screamed, sure that the house had fallen down around us, though nothing of substance had actually fallen on us. Whatever had happened had raised quite a bit of dust, though, and both Laura and I were coughing. Another loud crash followed.

This set Laura to screaming again, and I was about ready to join her. There were several more crashes, which shook the ground as much as the first, and after a while, it was hard to even tell if it was just thunder or something falling.

Finally, after what seemed like forever but was probably, in reality, no more than five minutes, the noise let up until it was just what sounded like regular rain beating on the metal door.

Still shaking, and holding Laura - who was still screaming, despite the fact that she must have been absolutely exhausted, I made my way along the wall back to where the stairs were. Unfortunately, as I turned to go up the stairs, I found my pathway completely blocked. I felt along the space and, as best I could tell, the door had been smashed down inside the space where the stairs had been.

I put Laura down for a second, right at my feet. She stood up and held on to my legs for dear life, whimpering. I grabbed for the inside door handle and found it, completely deformed. I pushed the latch and pushed up with all the strength I had… it didn't budge. I tried again, climbing on what was left of the first step and throwing my shoulder against it. Nothing happened, and that severe of a movement had caused Laura to fall and start yelling again.

I reached down to pick her up. She leaned her head into my neck and sobbed, and I gave in and sobbed right along with her. She seemed momentarily surprised, and then apparently decided to just accept us crying together, and continued with her own wailing.

I was scared to death. Here I was, stuck underground, with no idea what had happened above ground. What if my brothers and Coach and his wife had all been hurt? I could be stuck for days, in the dark, with nothing to eat or drink, if there was nobody to look for me. That seemed bad enough, but what about poor Laura? God, she was probably hungry already. I remembered grabbing her bottle but had no idea what I had done with it.

On top of everything, I had been terrible to Darry. He had told me that he loved me and I had barely even answered. I loved him more than anything, and I'd let my anger over a stupid date get in the way of that.

"Oh God," I sobbed to myself. What did I do? Why had I been so terrible to him? I would have given anything to have him there, right then. He would have made everything alright, he would have kept me safe and gotten us out, but the way I'd treated him, I hardly deserved his comfort.

"God, please let Darry find me," I begged, quietly, "and let Laura get her Mom and dad back. I swear; I will never disrespect him like that again."

But there was nothing. The rain had stopped, and there was a terrifying silence, interrupted occasionally by creaks and moans as whatever had fallen in the storm settled.

I just held Laura and rocked her, both of us crying, until she fell asleep.

…………………

I have no idea how long I sat there. It's funny how, when you can't see anything, all concept of time goes right out the window. All I know is that I had never felt so alone in my life. Not even when I had been lost in the woods had I felt so isolated from everybody I loved. I imagined every possible bad scenario: that my brothers were dead – that all of Tulsa was destroyed… I knew neither scenario was likely, but, sitting alone in the dark, trapped underground, you'd be surprised about the things you can make yourself believe.

I prayed somebody would find me. Over and over, with all my energy.

Laura breathed heavily against me. She was covered in sweat and tears and she needed to be changed, but she was safe. I thanked God for that, at least. I would have never forgiven myself if something had happened to her while I had been in charge. I shifted her weight and leaned back against the wall, not even caring anymore what I leaned up against.

Suddenly I heard noises from near the area of the door. My ears perked up.

There was banging and scratching against metal.

"Scout?"

It was Linda, Dr. Bryant's wife.

"I'm in here," I yelled. "With Laura."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so, but I couldn't open the door."

"I would think not," she said, "there's a tree on top of it."

"Is anybody else out there?" I was wondering how things looked, and was scared to death for Darry, who I knew was working somewhere outside. He often worked in places where he had no ability to get inside the building he was working on.

"Just me, for now, but I'm sure people will start coming home now that the storm has passed. You hang in there."

"Okay," I said, relieved to hear a voice, any voice. Laura stirred, and I rubbed her head, soothing her back to sleep, kissing her on her forehead.

"I'm gonna go see if I can find our chainsaw," Linda said. "I don't know how to use it, but I'll have it ready when the guys get home so they can start getting rid of this tree and get you out, okay? I promise, I'll be back."

"Okay." I moved over to the bottom step and sat there, lying Laura across my lap. I wished I could sleep, too, until I was out of this giant hole in the ground and safe in my bed with my brothers sleeping in their beds on both sides of me. Tears were welling up again as I heard new commotion.

"Scout? Laura?" It was my coach, sounding frantic, and banging on the door.

"We're okay," I called, though I couldn't very well disguise the fear in my voice.

"Thank God! I was worried sick. Laura's with you?"

"Yeah, she just fell asleep, finally. But she's okay. We're fine. Just… trapped. Mrs. Bryant went to get a saw or something."

"I'm just so glad you're okay," he said. "We'll get you out."

Just then I heard her come back, and he was talking with her about the saw. I heard it start up and then shut back down.

"Scout?" Coach called.

"Yeah?"

"We're gonna start sawing, alright? We'll stop every few minutes or so to check on you, okay?"

"Okay," I said. My voice cracked and I'm sure he could read the fear in my voice.

"I'm going to have Linda call your brothers," he said.

"Thanks," I said, through my tears. I was feeling lower than dirt for how I'd treated Darry, for as much as I wanted him to be there right then. He probably was glad to have me buried underground, the brat I'd been to him.

"Okay, here we go," he said, and the saw started up again.

I sat there, trying to convince myself that everything was going to be okay, just like Pony had whispered to me in our own storm cellar. Coach would get me out, and my brothers would be okay. I wondered about our house, and how it had weathered the storm. It had already been in bad shape – I hoped the storm had just missed it altogether.

The sawing stopped.

"You two still okay?" Coach called.

"Yeah. Did you get my brothers?" I actually ached to hear their voices. And Ben's, too.

"No… the phones are out. We'll keep trying, though."

"Oh, okay." I couldn't hide my disappointment.

"Scout, we're gonna get you out, as soon as we can, I promise. Laura still sleeping?"

"Yeah. She's good."

"Okay, well, we're gonna start cutting again, okay?"

"Okay."

I closed my eyes and tried to breathe along with Laura as the saw buzzed overhead. Suddenly it stopped and I heard cursing from above.

"What happened?" I yelled.

"The chain broke. We're gonna have to fix it, or replace it."

"I think I might have another in the garage." I heard a new voice, and recognized it as Dr. Bryant.

I just drew in a deep breath. I was afraid if I didn't get out soon I would lose my mind out of just plain fear. I was trying to be as strong and brave as I could, but my resolve was cracking. Laura started to move in my lap and I stroked her head, rocking her again.

Just then there was noise up above again, and I vaguely heard somebody saying my name. There were footsteps on the metal door, and then I felt my heart rise in my throat as I heard Darry call to me. He must have been lying on the metal doors; his voice was that close.

"Scout?" He sounded frantic.

"Darry." Immediately I was sobbing.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah… I'm scared," I admitted. "I'm sorry." I had to say it, the way I had treated him.

"The baby's okay?"

"She's okay." Right then she started to wake up. "She's waking up."

"Are you sure you're not hurt?"

"I don't think so. Darry?"

"Yeah, baby?"

"I love you," I sobbed. I wanted to be out there with him, more than I could stand. I wanted to throw myself against that door and tree to get to him, but I knew I couldn't possibly get to him; they'd have to get to me.

"Don't worry, we're gonna get you out. Scout's honor." I smiled through my tears. Dad had been the only one to ever use that phrase with me, when I was really scared and he was trying to reassure me. I believed it, coming from Darry, as much as I had from Dad.

Just then something happened, and it seemed like the cellar ceiling right there by the stairs caved in. Dirt came down all around us, and I screamed, moving out of the way and nearly tripping over a fallen beam, but, luckily, saving both myself and Laura by grabbing onto that same beam.

"Scout?" Darry screamed.

"What happened?" I yelled.

"The tree shifted. Are you okay?" Laura was awake then, and screaming again.

"Yeah."

"Is Laura okay?" Coach asked. I heard Mrs. Karis crying in the background.

I felt her all over and she seemed fine.

"She's okay. Just scared, and hungry."

"Scout, get as far away from this door as you can, okay? In case it shifts again," Darry said.

"Okay." I would have done anything he said, right then.

I walked away from the stairs until my hands met the far wall, then sat down, cradling Laura who was now just babbling, no longer screaming.

"I'm as far as I can get," I yelled. Laura yelled too, in jibberish.

"Hi Laura, it's Daddy," Coach yelled, and I knew he was just as worried about her as Darry was about me.

"Hi Daddy," she said, suddenly strangely content in the situation. "Hi 'Cowt," she added, touching my face.

"Hi, Laura." I had to laugh, despite my fear.

"You stay over there, Scoot!" I was shocked to hear Two-Bit's voice, but I didn't get to say anything about it, as the saw started up again. Laura started crying again and, not knowing what else to do, I did what I remembered my mom doing for me when I was sad or sacred: I sang to her. Anything I could think of. Nursery rhymes, songs I'd heard on the radio. The Beatles, Elvis, and lullabies my own mom had sung to me.

They sawed up above and things fell down around us, but I just sang to her until she began to nod off. After a while, she fell back asleep and I lay her down in my lap. My legs, tucked underneath me, quickly fell asleep to the point of being painful, but I didn't want to move, not wanting to wake her.

I was almost starting to nod off to sleep myself, trying to ignore the agonizing pins and needles in my legs, when suddenly there was yelling from above, and a giant creaking noise as the door opened and light flooded the room. It burned my eyes, after so long in the dark, and I had to close them.

"Laura!" Coach K yelled, running down the stairs and scooping her out of my arms. She woke up and started crying again, not liking being startled awake. I opened my eyes again just as Darry came over to me, kneeling down to hug me.

I threw my arms around him, sobbing.

"Oh God, Scout, you scared me." He was shaking, as he stood up, carrying me.

"My legs are asleep," I said, "I can't walk yet."

"I got you," he assured me

"I love you," I whispered in his ear, hugging him and trying to wrap my legs around him, though they were completely uncooperative, having been sat on for so long, and they just dangled. "I'm sorry, Darry. I'm so sorry."

"Not now, baby. We'll talk about it later." He pulled my legs up and around him, and carried me up the stairs. Two-Bit was waiting there, and smiled and squeezed my shoulder as I passed by. Darry brought me over to where Dr. Bryant was looking over Laura. He set me down on the grass and looked me in the eyes.

"Are you okay, really?"

"I'm okay," I nodded. "Are Pony and Soda okay? And Ben?"

"Yeah, they're fine. I stopped by there, on my way here. That's where I found Two-Bit, and he said this area was the worst hit. Soda and Pony were at the DX, and Ben was home and fine."

I breathed a big sigh of relief. Mrs. Karis thanked me for taking good care of Laura and went inside to get both her and me a drink. She came out with apple juice for her, and a Pepsi for me. Laura, clearly perfectly fine, demanded a straw, and her mom went back in to get one. As of late, she wanted all drinks – except, of course, her bottle - with a straw. Mrs. Karis came back out and Laura drank up happily, as though nothing stressful had ever happened.

I took a look around and saw a pretty good amount of damage. Though none of the houses were completely destroyed, a lot of them had parts collapsed or torn off. The tree falling had pretty much decimated the part of Coach's house where the bedrooms were. I was so glad that Laura hadn't been in her bed when it hit.

I sat there on the ground, as Darry talked with Coach and Dr. Bryant and a few of the other neighbors. It sounded like there was a whole lot of construction and roofing work to be had after a tornado. It also seemed pretty likely that Darry was going to be hired for repair work on Coach's house and a lot of the others in the neighborhood, and he was sounding pretty happy about it. Regardless of what happened in court, I was still holding out hope that we would somehow be able to afford to send Darry back to school in the fall, and all this work certainly wouldn't hurt, I figured. Plus, they would help him to get even more contacts, since he did such good work.

I was listening to their conversation, thinking it was interesting how sometimes something good comes out of something bad, when suddenly I started to feel strange, kind of a combination between feverish and dizzy.

The storm had cooled the air considerably, but I suddenly felt uncomfortably hot. I closed my eyes, figuring it was some sort of reaction to all the excitement and fear I had just been through, but the sensation just seemed to worsen. My palms were sweating and itched, and I rubbed them against my shorts, to no relief. I tried to ignore it, but the sensations persisted, until eventually I had to lay back on the grass, I was feeling so dizzy.

"Looks like Scout needs a nap after all the excitement," my coach said, and they all laughed. I wanted to answer, to tell Darry that I wasn't feeling right, but my lips felt numb and swollen, like I'd just come from the dentist, and they wouldn't move.

My whole body was tingling and itching, and after a minute or so, as I finally opened my eyes again against the dizziness, I saw that my skin was no longer my own, it was covered in itchy, burning raised red welts. They begged to be scratched, though I couldn't move my hands to scratch them properly; my body felt completely numb. In addition, my stomach started cramping as though I'd been punched, and suddenly I was doubling over in pain, as well.

I rolled over and grabbed and scratched at Darry's ankles where he stood, unable to call out, because it seemed that my tongue was taking up my whole mouth and, with complete panic, I realized that I was struggling to breathe.

At first he kept talking and tried to kick away my hands, thinking I was just trying to annoy him, but Two-Bit must have noticed me, because all of a sudden I heard him yell.

"Jesus, Scooter! What the hell's wrong with you?" All eyes turned to me.

At this point I was wheezing, struggling to get my breath, every muscle in my chest straining to force air in and out of my lungs. Immediately, Darry was on the ground next to me, holding me up, asking over and over if I was okay, and what was going on, although clearly there was no possibility of me answering.

"Scout? Scout! What's wrong?" I just stared at him, knowing full-well how scared I must have looked.

"It looks like she's having an allergic reaction to something," I heard Dr. Bryant say, leaning down over me. "Somebody call for an ambulance!" he called out to the neighbors, and I heard some shouting, though my thoughts were getting fuzzier and fuzzier with the lack of adequate oxygen.

"What's she allergic to?" I heard him ask Darry, followed by his frantic answer:

"Nothing… nothing, before… What the hell? She can't breathe!"

"Did she just eat something strange?"

"What? No, Pepsi? She's been drinking that since she was a kid." I heard Two-Bit yelling my name, but he sounded so far away.

I collapsed against Darry, trying to grab him, to get him to fix whatever was happening to me.

"Breathe, Scout. Come on! Breathe!" He was shaking my arm and leg, as if that was going to make my airway magically open, but his hand on my leg somehow caught the attention of Dr. Bryant and as he leaned over and looked at where Darry's hands were, through the deafening buzz that was taking over my brain, I heard the most frightening words I could have imagined.

"Looks like bites… spiders, probably – the storm cellar…She must be having a reaction."

I closed my eyes, fading fast. I didn't have much energy left to try to fight, and I could feel the last bit of my airway closing up tight, not allowing any more air to pass, either in or out.

Spiders. God, I always hated spiders.

How ironic, I thought, as I closed my eyes, and let myself go, no breath at all left in me.