Sins In Twisters
Chapter 22: Broken
This didn't feel like it was where she was before. None of this felt like any place she remembered ever seeing, feeling, being told about, or dreaming of…
No, no, this place was familiar…
Why was it familiar? None of this should be, yet it all was. She could point out the details that were so hazed they blended together like shapes in a fog but stuck out so sharply you could see where the likes were drawn and the colors met. She could see the shapes of bodies standing around, trying to stay away from the middle of where she stood, pressing themselves together as close as they could to the walls of what felt like a massive tunnel that was too small to fit them all.
All of them, how many she couldn't count; the darkness made it impossible to see. Five, seven, thirteen? No. No, there was more. Dozens more. Behind her were so many they vanished, but just a few were in front, trying to…
What were they doing?
They were holding each other. Overlapping arms, crunching down, and reaching for the walls to grab onto anything. They weren't moving to go deeper; they were moving to get away from the darkness at the end of the tunnel.
But it wasn't dark. It wasn't like a nothingness void that you'd stare into and be lost forever in. It was moving...
And it was getting louder…
She could feel it on her skin, in her hair, and from her lost breath. The air was wet and thick, but it was moving like you were standing just under the surface of a raging river. The current was hitting you from all angles, but you were rooted in place. Yet anything caught in the flow hit, you could feel it on your skin or through clothes. Face one way, and your hair was taken away. The darkness changed, and the sounds of voices called out.
It felt like wind, but the sound was like a creature. One that had discovered where the defenseless prey was hiding.
She could hear what was the source of the voices. Everyone around cried in terror. Too many were spoken at once to find where one had come from close by or further away. The tunnel felt like an echo chamber from which the sound couldn't escape, yet there was a voice at the end. So close to being snatched away but far out of reach.
Whatever was beyond felt just like her—just like all of them. In a brief moment that felt like her senses had suddenly skipped seconds of existence, there was no wind, water, fear, light, or dark.
Just one voice among the dozens around them. Alone by who spoke it but filled with countless more that went beyond how many there were. It spoke with fear but not for what force stood before it. The voice demanded itself to be heard. No matter what the darkness did in these moments, it had no choice but to listen.
Silence was the bridge between the two. The sand-drawn line that marked the point that the voice commanded before the void itself it shall not do what it wishes so long as his voice is heard.
But it was getting louder…
The darkness is challenging. Not accepting the power the voice held within.
That fear lanced within, it knew it didn't have the true power to stand against the void but it didn't falter. It didn't let itself stagger back and be silent. It stood like a mountain in the path of a hurricane.
But so many begged, pleaded, cried out to not. Trying to do what the void couldn't but the voice… it didn't feel like just the sound, the power of itself anymore. Something else, something more was there now. It stood as one but not alone. Moving through the tunnel with raw power that felt like it didn't belong yet was where it should finally be.
The closer it got, the more the voices around tried to stop it. To bring it back like their protection was getting too close to the beast and away from where it was needed. She could sew the shape of it. Not a person or animal or defining shape.
It was… silence… It was...
The rain was becoming unbearable.
Not from its unsavory mix of hail to give it mass and wind to give speed, but it was like the storm had reached the point in its life that it couldn't hold on any longer. From all the thunder, wind, and hail that was it showing off its power, the rain was like the after-effects that it started and went strong, but in the end, it just let loose all it had left in its clouds to dump back to Earth.
Lynn Sr. struggled to keep speed without sending Vanzilla hydroplaning off the road, taking a turn, or stalling out as they plowed through pools of water that were much deeper than expected. With each splash, they threatened to stall the aging motor.
His grip on the steering wheel was white-knuckled. Aging bones and muscles aching under the death grip that had long molded the wheel from the years of crazy antics that they faced in the same seat. So many times, he was in this position. Racing home or somewhere because they forgot, missed, or ran late for something. Too many times in his life made him feel that what he felt was like a family heirloom was more like an actual extension of himself. He pushed both himself and the van as hard as possible to the point of falling to pieces many times before.
But feeling the unbalanced wheels, the garbage bags fluttering in the wind threatening to tear away and let the elements enter, barely recognizing the street ahead that the headlights could barely penetrate through the rain, he felt that if this was to be the day that this van would meet its end so be it. His only wish for it was to last just long enough to get home.
He wiped his forehead with his soaked sleeve. Unsure if it was him sweating or the force of the wind making the rain get through the seams, he didn't seal right or at all. He used the same sleeve to reach forward and wipe away the fog on the windshield. He was nearly touching his nose to the glass just to try and see a little further ahead before it fogged over again.
He tried to keep his mind focused on just 'getting home.' Not of the chaos that was this morning with his son. Not the insanity that became of his restaurant or the despair of watching what he considered as a member of the family get holes punched through. But it didn't go away. That brief image of maybe seven seconds of seeing a literal monster destroying where his home was felt like some twisted part of his imagination was tormenting him in a dream that, no matter how much he forced it to change away, it didn't.
He didn't need to see what storms like this could do—he didn't want to see it—but he got a taste of everything else they could bring. The true beasts he saw his son chase after on television were more like wild animals running away from the swarm of hunters. Yet he and so many stressed that the hunter could just as easily become the prey and be in the kind of danger that anyone in the path faced.
Last time, they barely avoided being another home and suffered the one-in-a-thousand chance, like so many, to be chosen and saved by sheer luck. Now, it felt like whatever God had been out there watching this since morning was just asking themselves how much more they could stuff into today.
Like powerlines across the road, it is so low and practically invisible that you suddenly feel the brakes being smashed by both your feet. Then, you turn the wheel hard over to try and stop from plowing straight into them. Vanzilla's wheels desperately tried to keep a grip on the pavement as the van was nearly ten yards down the road sideways. Lynn mentally pleads with the old girl not to touch a single line and possibly electrocute them all.
When the van stopped, both flinched back when an electric 'SPLAT' hit Lori's door with a spit of sparks from a wire so close to the window you would barely need just to unroll it and touch it. Where the passenger mirror now had a singed mark and crisped paint.
As carefully as he could, Lynn shifted into reverse and moved them away from the lines. Watching it wobble in the wind as they got a reasonable distance away back to an intersection. Letting the headlights do their best to show their path block more by the spiderweb of wires with parts of trees just barely visible in the road.
"Dang it!" He punched the wheel in frustration, "There is literally no way around any of this!"
Unsure if it was a question himself or her, Lori didn't know. She used her sleeve to wipe away the water on the window to try to see what street they were on. Glancing down to her phone, a map half-loaded and frozen with a little car icon with street names gave her a rough idea that they were not where it said they were.
"Dammit, come on…" She grumbled, trying to refresh the page and watching another little icon pop in and out at the corner, struggling to appear.
"No luck?" her dad asked as they slowly pulled onto the opposite street.
"Got a single bar back, and it's taking forever to get through."
Lynn sighed, "Services might be down all over town."
Lori just shook her head at the thought. This area of town was as simple as anywhere else was in Royal Woods, they could walk it no problem and know what way to go. But with the damage of trees and powerlines blocking so many of the roads close to where the storm was, they had to go a lot further and away from home just to find a street that wasn't blocked. Some just went far enough to get two blocks in before both all three ways got cut off.
Some were becoming jammed by traffic trying to find a way like them, others with police blocking off what looked like a clear road. The latter wanted to make her get out and ask why, but the second she opened the door, the rain was a big slap to the face, saying, 'No, you won't.'
If service wasn't horrendous, she'd been trying to contact everyone she could since they left the restaurant. She had sent more calls and texts to everyone and tried getting through by the group chat, but all her messages came back unread or unable to be sent. She tried calling some of her high school friends who still lived around town, Facebook, Instagram, and even YouTube to try and reach someone.
She was the sister who, even years later, was still practically glued to her phone yet couldn't reach anyone. Even trying to call her dad's phone two feet away didn't connect. If it really was the service, then that's just great, but if it wasn't that, then what could possibly be stopping them from answering back?
Lori was feeling the gray hairs of age rapidly coming for her with every ounce of stress she had coursing through her body. Ready to yank her hair out and scream. She could count the times she had felt like this before in her life; not a health regular, she knew, but sometimes it was inevitable. Closing her eyes tight, she tried thinking of something to get her mind off all this, leaning back in the seat to focus on 'something' that gave her peace of mind.
A deep breath in, a deep breath out.
Focus away from all the chaos. Just picture something that would be an image, sound, or feeling she could let herself sink into and be wrapped around. Something warm to fight off the cold rain. Something gentle to be close to block out the wind. Something that she remembered that brought all this and more….
Lori could see it. It was standing right in front of her and beside her at the same time. Slowly approaching, it was like the opposite of a raging storm, making her want to rush forward to close the gap sooner.
No… why was there two-
"Woah!" Lynn cried out as they came to a sudden stop. The seat belt locked up to keep Lori from face-planting into the dashboard, but unfortunately, it also broke her away from her little moment of peace.
Why they had stopped made itself bluntly clear as day, bright yellow standing in the rain, roaring engine while the ground rumbled, almost the size of a house by itself with wheels taller than Vanzilla, a giant wheeled loader rolled its way down the street. Dropping its bucket onto the road and unleashing a screeching sound of hard metal against asphalt as the teeth of the bucket brushed away or pulled up anything that could move.
Right behind it, a utility truck covered in floodlights and flashing ambers stopped in the middle of the intersection. Trying to do its best to block all the way, almost a dozen people came running to get around the loafer as it rammed its teeth through the mess of a fallen tree. Pausing once, the group ran around, checking the side closest to where it had come from before gesturing for the vehicle to continue.
Like moving just a big stick, the machine lurched forward, pushing the tree back into the front yards of the houses along the side. Rolling, snapping off limbs that littered the street before being crushed, it raised its bucket high enough to push it to the side, clearing enough space for the truck to pass around and go further.
Watching as another pair of trucks rolled through with another loader like they were watching a parade of construction vehicles, Lynn looked to Lori, who shrugged.
"I guess we can follow them then..?" he said. Thinking of no better plan than trying to play the guessing game for a clear road when they could follow those making one. Inching the van closer to the intersection to follow, a red pickup rolled by before it got past them and suddenly stopped. It was quickly backing up until it was directly in front of them.
Lynn was already rolling down his window, ready to yell for the driver to get out of the way, but the pickup was faster as they saw a blonde girl with a familiar red baseball cap almost sticking her whole body out.
"DAD! LORI!"
"Lana!" Lynn shouted. He almost broke the shifter as he put the van in park and fought to get his seat belt off. Kicking his door open, he bolted straight for his young daughter and scooped her up when she got out of the truck. His heart nearly twisted in surprise when he saw Lola's pink hoodie push past the driver's seat and pull his daughter close to his chest as fast as he did with Lana.
Rains be damned, he could care less as he kneeled down enough to where the twins rested their heads on his shoulders—wrapping their arms as tightly around him as he did for them. "Lola! Girls! Good God, I was so worried!" He cried. Holding them like he hadn't seen them for years. Be it only hours ago, they were preparing for a normal day; it felt far too long today to feel it that way.
Lori took not a second before she leaped out of the van, falling to her knees and bringing the twins as close to her as possible from the side. Now that she had at least two of her sisters back in her arms, the sick feeling inside her eased up.
"Guys, What happened? We thought you were still up at the school," she said, pulling away enough to give them space.
"We were," Lola answered, fishing out her phone to show a literal wall of some four dozen messages sent by Lola but unreceived, "I tried messaging, but there's no signal. We figured it was better to get back home as soon as possible after the tornado was gone."
"But…" Lynn looked to Lana, "Why are you driving?"
"Because my friend Irene swung by her dad's place to get that loader." She pointed to the machine moving further down the street, "She's been clearing the roads and said for us to follow."
Lynn sighed, shaking his head. "I would say something about this not being the best time for such actions, but right now, I'm just too happy knowing you're safe." He patted her shoulder. "Let's get home. Lori," his oldest looked up, "take the truck. Lana, come with me."
While Lori understood, Lana was confused,
"Why me?"
"It's just… a precaution." He said as he got back inside. "Once we're back home, Lori can return your friend's truck, and we can get the others in the van." Though as he shut the door, a 'chink' caught everyone's attention as they saw the windshield form a new crack across the lower center. Lynn's shoulders slumped at the sight, feeling it was just rubbing the salt deeper.
A bit weary of getting into the van that had more holes than a sponge now, the mechanic was wondering more about how it was still on all four wheels and rolling as she climbed into the passenger seat. Looking over her shoulder to the holes that populated the roof, she shook her head, thinking of what a monumental task it'd be to try to fix this all now. For Lola, she quickly jumped back up into the truck to the passenger seat. Lori hopped in as the rain began to pick up and shut the door before getting soaked any further.
Backing the van up, he slowly made his way around the truck, following the path left behind. While the street was still covered in a mess, the road itself was clear enough that they didn't have to worry about driving over something that could pop their tires or be too difficult.
Weaving around another fallen tree, Lynn was the first to see some of the true damage as he and Lola watched the loader push aside the remains of a house on top of a tipped-over car. Drowned by the sound of the machine reversing to keep going, the screeching metal of the crushed vehicle quickly faded out when the sounds of tools, pairs of chainsaws, and sledgehammers joined in the cries of a dozen voices shouting into the homes that were untouched or crumbled.
And the unease that had sat in their stomachs felt like it was boiling again as they slowly got further down the road. Homes on the one side looked fine minus a bit of a mess to rack up later; those on the other, Lana estimated, would need thousands to fix with it rapidly moving from blown-out windows to garages caved in and roofs completely missing.
But once they turned off Altadena Avenue, passing a street sign to Franklin Avenue snapped in half like a piece of broken pasta, the cold, rain-cooled air was like a warm bath compared to the chill of shock that took their breaths away.
"Dear god…"
"Jesus…"
"Oh my god."
"Holy shit…"
Lori briefly looked away to send a stink eye towards her sister for such language, but the effects and force were short-lived until she looked back at the scene before her.
It was like feeling after watching a war or monster movie, a battle at night that was so fast and powerful that the character stayed hidden until morning light revealed the destruction left behind. Lucky to be somewhere that was mostly untouched until you finally see it all for yourself. What nature could do in seconds without effort is that man takes time even to get the same results.
The loader had barely made it a hundred feet down Franklin before it was face to face with a house sitting in the middle of the street. It turned almost a complete one-eighty, the roof flared from where it was still attached, and the corner where it faced them smashed inwards to give everyone present a good enough view to see the underside of the floorboards and snapped plumbing.
Five people rushed towards the house, screaming "hellos" and "Is anybody in there?" through every opening they could find. One brave man tried to climb through what was believed to be a window that connected the roof, asking for help as two more moved to hoist him up. But as soon as he was almost fully through, the house shook. The crumpled corner gave out as the two grabbed their friend and yanked him out. Boards snapping apart as pieces flew through the air sent anyone nearby to duck for cover. In the less than ten seconds it took for the man to try to get in the hole, he was a second go was crushed to the pavement.
More people called out, asking if everyone was okay, and someone yelled for the loader to go through the house.
Lana wondered what Irene's plan was when she backed the machine up, putting a gap roughly double its size between its raised bucket and the house. The second loader that had been working the opposite direction rolled behind them, bouncing up and down over the curbs, driving through several front yards until it was side by side with its partner.
Dropping their buckets to just hover above the road, both 'charged' forward. Teeth are ripping through siding and shingles, letting anything above collapse into their buckets, yet they pressed on. More and more walls fell apart as the second loader went a bit further, turning towards Irene's path as the two did their best to push the remains out of the road. As far as a path was cleared to allow a car to get through, the machines extracted themselves, pulling out loads full of material and dragging out more caught around. Dumping them where they stood, the second machine backed away and turned towards the street—dropping its bucket again to pick up any loose damage.
The small army pressed on, quickly picking up speed and scattering to every house that became clear. Utility trucks raced ahead, passing the loader to the power lines still standing. Others kept going forward, closely behind or braving the side streets to advance deeper into the core of the path.
For the Louds, crawling at a measly five miles best, known for living up to the name in almost any situation, stayed silent. Rolling by home after home that for years they used as memories to know how far away or how close they were to home. It just didn't look real. It felt wrong. This really couldn't be real. A bad storm, sure; who doesn't get those every once in a while? Not one that shreds everything you've spent since the moment you feel concussions about the world.
Lori could attest to that when she moved away for college. Such a big change in scenery for a few short years was mind-boggling, to begin with, for anyone. She had someone close like Bobby and his folk to be close, and the drive home was worth it, but that still meant every time she came back, she could recognize it all.
Twenty years, so many memories, gone. She didn't focus on anything around her. Keeping her eyes on the back of the van to follow where it went.
Lola couldn't help but look at what had become of their neighborhood. What teenager of any kind wouldn't? People would search for horrific or disgusting videos on the internet that would make anyone gage or squirm, but they'd search for more and more without pause, finding more that were tamer or far worse than what they started with. The fact that something as wrong as that could exist as a natural thing and that people would be there with a camera filming it could be said to be a testament to humanity's standards.
She pulled up her phone again and switched on the camera. Holding it up to the window, they pass another street devoid of standing trees or poles. Any place that at first light could be called a home meant for living and looked like a war had allowed it to be cannon fodder. Two streets in, it only kept getting worse and worse the more she could see.
Then the truck stopped, and Lola looked over to see why they had. Lori slowly stepped out like she was ready to collapse, and her phone dropped to the floor the second she saw why.
Just a bit earlier….
Standing at the edge of the street, within what one could consider spitting distance, the family looked on at what they could still recognize as their home crumbling into the hole that once served as its foundation, now as its grave.
For a brief moment, you could see what was still inside falling into the wreckage, the ground rumbling as the oak crashed down, and the small splinters flying everywhere, all from chaos to complete silence faster than it all happened. In the brief flash, countless memories seemed to flood past their eyes like lights blurring in a tunnel. Everything from the first day they set eyes on the house to every day playing in the yard, decorating for a season, or just coming home from a good, bad, long, or short day with a story to tell.
Gone, either shredded or smashed, buried or cast away by the wind. What was left? They had no idea, but they didn't dare take any measures to go and start digging out anything they could find for keepsakes. What little there could be wasn't going anywhere now.
Right now, carefully scouting around the damage like a bloodhound tracking down a hunt, Lisa looked around for anything that could serve as makeshift medical equipment. With Lori's car blocks away now and the mind that they didn't take anything of sorts for a situation remotely like this, all they could do was try to make do with what they found.
But part of her mind, while the vast amount of its power was split between the focus of her search and figuring out the best method to deal with their injured family members, in the one corner at the back, a small crowd gathered around a dimly lit table like generals or admirals receiving the reports that a major battle had just been lost. The enemy was one step closer to achieving victory.
Pausing in her search, the increase in sunlight as the storm moved off to the east made the world abnormally glow as she watched Lynn and Luna try to tend to their mother. Leni sat on the curb with Lucy in her lap with a piece of her own clothes tied in a bandage just tight enough to keep pressure on the wound to stop or, at the very least, minimize the bleeding. Hunched over enough to use herself to try to shield her little goth sister, she cradled her head with Lynn's coat wrapped around her. Slowly stroking her cheek, she looked at the distance blankly.
Lisa wasn't solid on what Lucy had sustained in injury. Any number of things could have happened during the storm, with most circling towards concussion, but that was as far as she would tell without any equipment or Lucy being awake.
But the biggest issue was still their mother, pulled over onto what was probably someone's front door to be used as a backboard, Luna by her right side tightly holding Rita's hand with the latter practically screaming to heaven and God the pain that flared through her. If she wasn't as old, one passing by would have thought she was giving birth in the same position they were with Luna, trying to support her. Lynn, however, was busy trying her best to tend to the wound.
Removing the object was out of the question. The disturbance it had already experienced in their rushed escape has dislodged it enough to allow more bleeding to flow easily while possibly opening more damage. Lynn had taken everything from Luna's belt, her coat's pull string, and some rubber belt thing they had found and tied around her thigh. Held in the air by a mound of bricks with a destroyed book acting as a cushion, the jock used what remained of Lisa's own raincoat to tie around and try to keep the object from moving further or bleeding. Every move of trying to make it tight enough to be effective earns her efforts in the reward of their mother crying out. Clenching Luna's hand so tight, the former rocker winced and had to grab her other hand when the pain was carried over.
She cursed herself. Oh, how she would have wished to bang her head against a tree or swap places with Lucy and be awake enough to feel it was punishment for not thinking out this entire day. This had to be the curse at play. The day after the night she finally finds him, he comes to their home, they miss him, and now this? How did any of this connect? Was it because she found him that triggered this? Was it because he had come to them that this was punishment for something he did?
Just… what…
She just wanted to plop down on the wet grass and figure out whether to keep down this path. All this weather was predicted days in advance. Everyone who paid attention watched a hurricane form over the ocean, come on shore, die, and join forces with another mess to cause an even bigger mess. She had watched on her computer for hours as the models and forecasts come in. She went out there to get a reading for everything that didn't involve a giant twister.
It was like it was just waiting for them to make the first move. Three-way chess. Suppose it could even be called that, for two sides 'competing' over the actions of a single piece. Every action that piece made dictated what moves they could all do, while the other just leaned back and played the harsh move every turn.
None of it made sense. But then again, what in their family's history spoke of anything making sense? Events are so significant yet distant and quick, and a lifetime for some is just a blink for others. Since June, nothing from the book has…
The book. It's—no. Forget it. What good was that book now? It was more of a lead to where to go than the answer they needed. History had done its job in erasing what traces of the most important things that were needed in the future stayed in the past. It's the job of the future to keep the past in mind but not to fall back into it. They can't go back, only forward.
The house was gone, memories destroyed, but they could keep going and make more. Her main computer might be destroyed, but her mind had locked on the image of where to go to find Lincoln now. They can rebuild like anyone determined enough to. The last two times… this happened, their bloodline lasted for generations before the curse, and twenty more in here they were. They made it through the worst times with loss but didn't stop. They had to stop it this time, or she personally would condemn herself to be damned for letting her brother and the next generations suffer, knowing she could make that difference.
This was just a setback, something to distract them from the real objective. If the force guiding them all on this path knew their intentions, she wouldn't doubt this was its method of trying to stop them.
But Lisa knew, after experiencing it herself several times and watching her family go through it, you can't keep down a Loud.
They were down now, scattered and hurt. But that wouldn't be enough. She could visualize, dare she say imagine, what they would be this time in a year reunited.
But right now, they needed to focus. She needed to focus. She had combed most of the damage, and she could step within reasonable distance without the aid of levitation. Mr. Grouse's house prevented her from circling around to the back side of the bunker and whatever supplies may be housed. Where her bedroom was moments ago was not upside down and crumpled into a pit that an agile cat would only be able to get through efficiently.
Though cloth from various items was tossed about, some as clothes, blankets, or towels, she hunted for something that hadn't been soiled by dirt or rain. Using any of it as a bandage would only lead to infection that could lead to further issues. Maybe using sanitized mud as a trigger to speed up Factor XII in the blood protein, but they had no resources to undertake such a process. Really, what she needed was her injection gun and a vial of gel to-
The gel… Lisa smacked herself for forgetting even to take a small sample of it. Had the others seen that little display, they'd be unfocused with their current tasks to ask her what she had done.
In what derailed thought had she not considered taking even just a vial of it? Of having it distributed around to everyone like she was giving them general-purpose epipens. Given the frequency of their luck happening away from home so much, it would have been practical to have medkits built for each vehicle they owned. How much of her tools or the supply of gel that was left was uncertain. Computer or not, she had the formula hard-coated into her membrane. If they got to a hospital, she could whip up an equivalent, but without the right tools she had to develop, it would be less effective.
Just stemming the blood loss was their priority. They could only attempt to make it as less painful as possible, but they couldn't stay here. They needed medical attention and to find the others. Lynn or Luna could probably carry Lucy if she didn't awaken soon. Leni was mobile but couldn't carry much. They couldn't just walk their mother out of here, too much damage and the injury would impede movement.
Yet looking over the damage, bending down to snatch what looked like a piece of curtains, a plan began to form faster than the beast that did all this. Though they operated differently, Lisa couldn't deny how Lana's ingenuity would have been in its element right now.
Taking a mental note for later to ask the older twin about a future project, Lisa looked at the rubble less like a pile of junk into a mound of resources.
Hearing the sounds of shifting metal and boards, Lynn briefly looked away from her task to watch Lisa toss away some of the looser items she could physically move. What her plan was, she didn't bother to ask; she'd find out sooner or later.
Looking back to the mess in front of her, Lynn tied the last of what they could use as a bandage. Weary to give the wood a poke to see if it wouldn't go anywhere, but the sigh of relief that her mother groaned told her to pray it was.
Shuffling back on the grass, the jock tried her best to wipe her hands as much as possible and avoid touching any more of her clothes. Staining the front grass crimson, she attempted to clean herself of the stains forming. It did the trick some, but the stains remained. She held her wet hands out in front, staring at her dirty palms and fingers like someone having just realized the deed they had done.
But she didn't freak out, panic, or cringe away. She stared at them for a second longer before sighing. Feeling all the adrenaline from an hour ago seeping away so quickly, she could feel it leaving her.
Luna looked away from their mother and watched Lynn deflate. If you gave her a recliner, it would be just like this morning.
"You doing okay?"
"Peachy…"
Luna nodded at the feeling. It really was like today had done everything to sap the life out of them when things were looking up. The sound of something falling from the house made her look back. Watched Lisa dragging part of a door, an extension cord, and planks over. Huffing every step she took to pull it closer and closer to the group until she brought it parallel to their mother.
Gasping for air, she realized she needed to work on her physical health later. She took a breath to compose herself, straightening up like she was about to make her usual presentations. "Siblings, given the circumstances with our mother, I've figured out a crude but functional solution."
Lynn eyed the collection of broken pieces, "Dare we ask?"
"Simply put," She shoved all the items off the door. Hanging the torn curtain to Lynn, she placed the boards closer to Rita like rails. Twisting the cord around several times before going to the opposite side. Bounding it up twice, she reached over and pulled the door over. Centering it with the widest part closer to where their mother was lying. Bounding the rest of the cord over the ends, she crisscrossed an X over the center until she tied off the end as tight as she could with the would groaning.
A junkyard stretcher lay before them at the end of her little show. "We use what we can to get out of this location. It's not safe for us to stay here, and the longer we sit, the longer we risk prolonging increasing complications."
"Let's do it," Lynn sternly said. She did not care to ask Lisa what she was thinking about where this was going. The idea they'd have to carry their mom out wasn't lost on them, but Lynn knew no one knew how far they'd have to go before they reached help.
Sports and broken bones had taught her plenty enough that even a minor leg injury could be almost impossible to walk even with assistance. Their mom nearly collapsed just getting this far from the house. How far would they get before she fell again and kept going? Lynn didn't want to risk it. So be it if it meant getting dozens of splinters in her hands.
"What about Lu-"
"I can take her." Leni cut in. She adjusts Lucy onto her lap before slowly standing back up, holding the goth in bridal style. Wobbling a little from standing up too fast, she readjusted until Lucy was as comfortably resting in her arms, flashing a smile that she got this.
Hesitant to let her go anywhere without support, Lisa came up to her side. Looking back to Lynn, she reassured her that she'd be beside Leni and Lucy in case anything happened.
"I'll take the back," Lynn said as she went around to be behind Rita.
"Alright," Luna nodded, going towards the front. "Ready, Mom?" she asked, reaching under her good leg with an arm behind her back as Lynn hooked around her arms.
Rita, a bit confused, looked over at what Lisa had made, and her daughters grabbed her around to lift her. With some dazed picture of what they were doing, she weakly nodded.
Lynn counted from three. And at once, she and Luna awkwardly lifted up their mother. Trying not to jostle her as she was plopped onto the door. Rita moaned, lifting her leg when she bumped against the door, and reflexes made her try to raise it higher to avoid bumping it into anything else. But the jolt was enough to send another wave screaming through her body to make her reach and clutch her thigh.
Luna swiftly grabbed her free hand, squeezing it tight as she tried her best to take the pain from her mother. "Easy, Mom. We'll get you out of here."
Adjusting Rita to be more centered, Lynn got to the ground, "Ready?"
Releasing their hands once their mother calmed down enough, Luna stepped over to the front. Crouching down, she took a grip around the boards with as good an underarm grip as she could muster from the clunky proportion. "Ready."
Lynn steadied herself. Tightening her grip on the boards and adjusting her footing. "In three… two…"
"Wait, you guys hear that?" Luna asked before they moved an inch. Lynn nearly fell back when her legs were ready to lift up.
"What now?" She groaned, wobbling back up.
"Just listen…" Luna said, keeping her head down but pointing like she was trying to direct her ear towards whatever the sound was.
The others looked at each other and the rocker, debating whether their sister was losing it. There were different sounds all over the place: the wind was still whistling, the house groaned from any slight movement, emergency sirens in the distance, and even a few birds flew overhead. If it weren't for the storm, anyone would admit it was a peaceful afternoon in the suburbs.
But aside from all that, Lynn growled in frustration. "I don't hear anything…"
"JUST LISTEN!" Luna shouted back.
Rolling her eyes and crossing her arms, Lynn stood still, tapping her shoe in the grass. She watched Luna stand there like a statue, only moving to try to get a lock on whatever she was hearing. She looked to her sister, Leni, trying to mimic Luna, yet Lisa seemed to be more concerned. Stepping closer to the rocker, her eyes darted over the horizon for something.
There were more sounds. Getting louder like something had just crashed and loud beeping at times. "Sounds like construction going on," Lynn commented.
"Yet it's getting closer," Lisa added as she stepped closer to the street.
As the four gathered, they watched as a giant loader violently forced the fallen tree the trio had passed to the side of the street. Pushing away and crushing debris as it marched towards them. Dragging away a car with its bucket until it was brushed aside and kicked away another.
The sisters took a few steps back, and Lisa held out her arms to give the idea as the machine got closer. They went as far back into the yard as reasonable to avoid getting hit by anything. The machine didn't stop as it approached or pause as it went by. The driver, at most, waved as they continued.
Yet it was the convoy of cars snaking down the street with an army of people running alongside. But to their joy and relief, Vanzilla appeared amongst them. Snaking its way around until it was maybe a house or two away before it accelerated towards them.
Seeing how beaten up the van was, Lisa had a spike of fear flare up. All the newly acquired damage made thoughts that the other parts of the family got hit by the storm.
The second it was directly in front of the house where their sidewalk started, the van and a red truck came to a screeching halt. The driver's door flew open so quickly that the lower hinge broke, "GIRLS!" Lynn Sr. cried out. Tripping over the curb, running faster than he had in years. In strides, they hadn't seen him move like before; they were all swept up into a bear hug.
It was so fast and abrupt that the girls nearly fell backward before he pulled them in as close as he could.
"Oh my God, I…" he tried speaking through tears. But he felt his eyes shut close and took in the feeling that more of his family was okay. He wanted to apologize, say he should have stayed home or done something different to prevent this mess. He could think of a few ideas, but they were shot down or too blurry for his mind to process. He was content with just making sure his daughters were safe.
As much as he didn't want to, he slowly pulled back to give a look over. Lisa, Luna, and Junior looked like they did earlier; they were just utterly soaked to the skin and a bit dirty. But seeing Leni holding an unmoving Lucy made his blood feel like he had just been stabbed by ice.
Holding a hand to her cheek, she looked paler now than usual, yet felt warm, like she was becoming sick. She was far dirtier than the others, with Leni beside her, covered and soaked in grime and dirt. She was out cold but breathing. Yet from the corner of his eye, barely hidden by the coat ready to fall off, he saw something tied around Leni's neck. Without a word, he spun her around, pulling the coat away to come face to face with a makeshift bandage with a large red blood spot.
"My God, Leni…"
"It's not as bad," she said in a low voice that didn't fit her. If she could, she'd rub the spot in an attempt to hide it. "Totes, it's not."
"I disagree," Lisa stepped forward, "Lucy might have sustained a heavy concussion, and Leni's wound needs disinfecting before it-"
"Guys!" They heard Lori cry out as she and the twins barreled into them. Surrounded on three sides, the seven still standing came crashing to the grass. Lynn Sr. reached out to try and keep Leni up in fear of Lucy being dropped, but the others came down. Lori wrapped Luna in a hug with Lola to Lynn and Lana to Lisa.
"Guys, you're okay..." Lori cried, burying into the rocker's shoulder despite the height difference. The twins gripped tightly to their sisters as they got out of a nightmare alone.
Luna held her big sis tight. Giving a big squeeze before trying to stand up. Breaking away to get a look at her haggard shape. "Looks like you've seen some hell."
Lori tisked, shaking her head, "You have no idea…" she said, helping her back up. As they rose, seeing the joy and relief on their faces brought a much-needed smile to Lynn Sr. The little spike of joy at seeing his family reunite every little step today after all this chaos was helping to ease his mind some.
Looking over at Leni and Lucy, his smile faltered. Knowing that part of his family was hurt in this mess was a feeling no sane father wanted to experience or think about. While so many of them were adults, that parental feeling never went away.
But looking back upon where the house once stood, he felt himself deflate at the reality that so much he had helped build for the last 30 years was destroyed now. Every little memory from the day he and his wife walked up to from the first time they saw it to every day bringing in one of their newborns, all the family members that had now passed that stepped through, all the shenanigans and holidays.
It didn't feel real when you tried to look at where the tree, the front door, the windows, and the garage were. The memory was so ingrained that without it there, it was hard to picture why it didn't fit anymore. Memories scattered across the yard, destroyed or lying on a door…
"R-Rita…?" Lynn Sr.'s voice stuttered in horror, catching the others' attention.
In the minute that it took for him to jump out of the van, he was too shocked by the double whammy of their home destroyed and the lifting weight that his daughters were alive.
But laying just ten feet away on debris, he felt his heart skip a beat so quickly he had to grip his chest. No words or thoughts came about—no sound from the world or feeling of the cold wind. Silence had consumed him in his own little world as he trekked forward. His breathing picked up as he fell to his knees halfway, crawling to what he hoped wasn't true. He prayed, demanded, begged that it wasn't.
Coming upon Rita's side, her eyes were closed, and her face was pale. Like all color had been drained from her life, he raised a hand, cupping the side of her face.
She felt cold. So cold.
"Rita?" he spoke through tears. Crawling closer, leaning over top of her to shield her from the light and rain. His tears had the effect of replacing the latter as they streamed down and dripped onto her cheek.
There was a twitch. Her eyes squeeze tight before they slowly open to stare into his. Lynn felt his breath become uncontrollable as before Rita could say a word at seeing her husband crying above her, he dropped down and enveloped her. Foreheads together as he propped her up, tears freely falling as he moved to be closer to her as possible.
The girls stood at a distance. Lori is unsure if to step forward, and Lynn is holding back the twins. Three of them with grim faces as the others caught sight of the mess before them. The fact they saw their mother move was ensuring enough that she was alive, but the cries that came from the couple could make anyone walking past look and believe that the gathered family was mourning the loss of their home and family member. The four oldest stood still. Not looking away or speaking. The twins stood close to Leni's side, trying to resist, but they failed to hold their own.
Yet, standing just a few steps away, on the drive away with a full view of the damage and her family, Lisa took a deep breath, trying to keep herself together.
Oh how much she wanted to tear her hair out and scream. Fall to her knees and punch the ground until she dug a hole deep enough to hide or her hands became numb. Being a bit more emotional may have become a life goal from her brother's request, but the downside was trying to keep it in check without letting it all out.
So much in one day…
…and there were still two of them missing.
Then, they all arrived home, which was a blessing in itself. Not having to scramble to search for and hope they were where they thought, just standing here, meant so much work wasn't needed anymore. But the math and results weren't adding up.
Despite their traveling issues doubling back, the twins would have been tied to being the last ones here, even if given transportation. Lori and their father were right there, if not sooner, if they had left the restaurant before the storm reached town or were already making their way there. But by all statistics, even factoring in roads blocked by damage hindering vehicle or foot travel, Luan and Lily would have been the absolute first among them all to be here. More so if, with the advanced warning, she estimated they may have had 10 minutes to get from Lily's school to here during the time between the core passing over town and the twister's arrival.
They would have been among those in the basement or the ones they encountered first. Turning around to face the damage path moving further east, another theory started to develop.
And it was one she hoped wasn't true.
Watching the construction vehicle moving further and further away, she estimated it was now approaching the community center that was just before their street intersected with South Campbell. Five blocks in but still nine short of going deeper into the path.
Sirens filled the air as flashes from police cruisers, fire engines, and ambulances started pouring into the area from where they had come from. Some passed before the first ambulance stopped upon seeing the gathering in front of destroyed homes. The driver, a woman who looked like she was already running on fumes and adrenaline, rushed towards the group as her companion ran around carrying a large medical box.
"Is everyone okay?"
Lisa quickly went back over, "The goth is unconscious, unresponsive. Possible concussion. The other has a significant gash on her upper back and shoulder." She pointed over to her parents, seeing her dad slowly looking away to see the commotion, "The lady requires immediate care. Severe leg wound with an impaled object and significant blood loss already."
"Rick, gurney, and backboard!" she shouted, the man handing her the box and running back to throw the rear doors open.
Moving like a blur, the man brought the gurney out and had it by Rita's side. Supporting her leg and applying some additional dressing to the makeshift bandage, Lynn had to step back as they loaded and lifted her up. Strapping her down to make sure she didn't shift so much, the family gathered around the ambulance as they watched their mother be loaded in. The woman dragged out a yellow backboard, placing it on the street as she carefully helped Leni lower Lucy and attach a neck brace. Leni was brought in first. Placed at the far back towards the cab and buckled in. With her partner and the side of both Lynns, they slowly lifted Lucy up.
But as they slid Lucy into the cab, Lynn Sr. felt himself crumble. He latched onto the door in vain to keep himself from falling had it not been from his daughter already beside him.
"Dad!?" She shouted, moving quickly to catch and guide him to sit on the steps. His eyes lingered on her briefly, but he couldn't stay focused.
The medic held him in place, slipping on a stethoscope and pushing away part of his coat to listen, "... irregular heartbeat. We'll take him too." She said as the medic inside locked and secured the girls in place before moving to the side to help his coworker lift that man up gingerly beside her.
"Are you guys coming?" Leni asked as the medic had shut one of the doors without anyone else hoping in.
Lori stepped up, peeking around. "We'll meet you at the hospital. Just… keep an eye on Mom, Dad, and Lucy, okay?" She smiled softly, her eyes sending out that mental assurance that for now, things would be alright.
Leni hesitated, not wanting to be alone after the insanity she went through today. Looking over to her parents and her little sister, once they got to the hospital, they would be divided and alone. She was the only one among them that could keep them together until the others came. It was a time when she needed to put on her adult pants and be the one to support her family like the woman she was.
Leni said nothing but nodded. Understanding Lori as the big sister stepped back and the rear door was shut. The medic ran to the driver's seat, jumping in as the siren wailed to life. The vehicle quickly rolled away in moments, getting a block down before disappearing through a left turn. The six remaining Louds stood in silence in the middle of the street, taking the chance to try reeling in their thoughts.
Lori took a deep breath, holding a hand to her forehead. She wished she had an aspirin to fend off the storm in her head. She turned to go back to the van. She got the name of the hospital off the truck. Trying to get around the damage would be a good drive until she saw Lisa sprinting towards the van.
"Where are you going?"
"To Royal Woods Elementary." Lisa spun around, a hard, cold look in her eyes, the likes of which hadn't been seen in years. "Without proper connections or information, there is no way of directly knowing the path the storm had taken upon entering the town."
"We saw the tornado." Lana piped up, "We watched it from really far away when it became really small and went away."
"How long ago?"
Lana put a finger to her chin, looking away to think, "About… half an hour ago? We saw it fade away when leaving school to come here."
"That's how long it a cop said when they told us there was a tornado," Lori added.
Running some mental math, the numbers added up. Her group had been behind the storm and stuck in traffic after crossing paths. At a distance from the restaurant and high school, if neither sister had gotten word or just received or seen the twister, they would have been a mile or two away in the time it would have taken them to get to the house.
"We haven't gotten a single word from Luan or Lily." Like addressing a team that another had gone dark, Lisa said, "Without phone service and them not making it here by now, I worry that something worse than what we've seen so far."
"You don't think they got hit, do you?" Lynn asked, hoping Lisa was making up ideas rather than stating facts.
"You saw the storm. Look around," She held her arms up, presenting the destruction, "If this was just from the edge and it mostly missed our house, the school is not even a full mile away. The chances that it faced a similar fate or worse are too high not to say it didn't."
There was a collective thought between the five of them. That moment of realization to a single answer made many people think that the Loud Sisters had some hive mind that made them act like one being.
"I'll take the truck," Lynn said, dashing for the pickup.
"Hey, wait! That's my friend's truck!" Lana stated, running after her sister, and Lola followed behind. Lori ran for Vanzilla's driver seat, relieved that their dad had left the keys in as Luna jumped into the passenger seat. She reached to buckle but paused when she looked at the family wagon.
"What happened to the van?" she slowly asked as the buckle clicked.
"Hail." Lori muttered, leaving it at that, "What happened to my car?"
"…hail," Luna mumbled the last part. Wanting to leave it then and quickly thinking about where they left it for later." Lori sighed; they had more important things to deal with than finding her old clunker for later. Once Lisa locked herself in the seat behind Luna, Lori turned the van away from the house, heading down the street with Lynn closely behind.
Though they went faster than before with no rain and the debris mostly getting cleared, they couldn't exactly floor it. There are still too many things that could shred their wheels, and many more vehicles and people all over the place moving equipment and supplies. Trying to pass a dump truck loaded with tree limbs and an excavator crossing the intersection to head further down the street was like trying to navigate a construction and demolition sight all at once.
It gave some peace of mind that they weren't far from the school. Something that since she was able to walk to and from Lori, she had hundreds of memories that all others had in their journey. But having to go slow enough that walking would have been faster was grinding on her nerves. They were literally, at least for Lynn, within throwing distance, yet each second felt like it was getting longer.
The rattling window bags, the constant wobble, Luna's pounding on the floor as her leg couldn't sit still. Looking over, her sister was trying to stay calm yet every destroyed house they passed seemed to tick on more anxiety.
"Why were you guys not at home?" Lori suddenly asked. Feeling the nagging question get to her.
Luna snapped around, "What?"
"What were you doing out in the storm?"
"We…" Luna paused, trying to think of how to explain, and glanced back toward Lisa, "I was just her driver." Though Luna was throwing her under the bus, Lisa didn't react. She glanced past the edge of her glasses before immediately focusing on her folded hands.
"And what exactly did you do?" Lori directed her question to the scientist.
"I asked for assistance in observing the storm." she answered quietly, "This morning's sound didn't make logical sense, and I wished to investigate. Our only transport was your vehicle, and Lynn happened to tag along."
"So you…" Lori left the question open, waiting for Lisa or Luna to answer but then asking herself what she meant. It sounded too much like what she was thinking, and she knew it was a stupid decision to do something like it.
"We observed. We took refuge when we were within the hail core and observed the storm from there. Once the tornado had developed, we ran back here, hoping to get ahead of it before it reached home…" she looked back up. "I did not account for local regional conditions being incisive enough to produce what it did. The decision to head further within was to exit the other side quickly. There was no defined hook on radar, only a broad rotation higher in the cloud base."
"And in what world did you even think it was even remotely a good idea?" Lori looked over her shoulder as she slowed their speed. A trace of anger and disappointment flared in her eyes that after years of more 'tame experiments,' Lisa would have outgrown or realized to take things more carefully than pulling a stunt like this.
Lisa momentarily looked into Lori's gaze, seeing those words echo like radio waves. She was building a counterpoint but felt her resolve break and looked away. Turning to look out the broken window, she saw more and more blocks of houses ripped apart.
"That's a question I'm trying to answer myself…"
Silence filled the air as Lori turned back to face the road. Catching Luna's eyes for a brief second that as the bigger sister present, she should have done something about the mess that was in the past and done with
The few blocks that stood before them slowly went by, but the closer to the school they went, the more and more eye-opening the damage was. They had to take an early right turn down Kenwood Avenue when a bundle of power lines and a displaced house blocked the rest of the road. The loader attempted to get around, but sparks exploded everywhere when the bucket went to lift a fallen pole out of the way and went down the opposing street.
It had to go slower than before as it had to make multiple attempts to clear the debris. People were running ahead, checking to see if anyone was trapped in the immediate path before it went to clear away. But for Lisa, her cloud of confusion quickly evaporated as they went four blocks deep toward Brockton Avenue and saw houses completely leveled. Two blocks back they had significant damage that could still be called homes. Houses all around them now looked more like the epicenter of an explosion was close by. She counted several dozen homes with her estimate as a high-end EF3. But turning towards the east and being but a block away from the school now, so many barely had their exterior walls anymore. Even some of their inner walls were exposed, or the entire house was truly gone.
Part of her mind asked to stop and check. Get Lana by her side to get a better estimate on the construction. It wasn't EF5 that she was sure of, given how much damage was actually still present and not blown away. Trees had pieces missing but not completely debarked. Foundations weren't swept clean with visible anchors but so much was gone it felt little to matter. Signs of a strong EF4 were everywhere and getting progressively worse.
Dread began to fill the forming pit in her stomach like an unstoppable sinkhole. Jumping up to stand between the two front seats, her sisters barely acknowledged her presence as the van slowly pulled onto Helen Avenue and came to a stop.
Dozens of emergency vehicles were scattered about. Bumper to bumper with lights flashing on both sides of the street. Sirens blared as ambulances raced in and out of the area, power and chainsaws screeching out, cutting through whatever they could in showers of splinters and sparks. A truck was slowly pushing a crushed overturned car out of the parking lot to free up space. And yet, in contrast to the dozens of people who gathered around the edges of the fence filled with debris, fire, police, city workers, and even some civilians covered the school like ants to discarded food. Yelling out names, calling out positions, or for tools as some used their bare hands to toss away chunks of the building.
The girls slowly stepped out of the van, joined by the others staring up at their former school in shock. Lisa pushed open the door like stage curtains revealing the show. Waiting as an ambulance raced past them she approached part of the fence line that was twisted and mangled. Poles rip from the ground with clubs of concrete still attached, folded, and twisted in. The grass field that separated her from the school was scarred, scoured grass in little looping patterns that were chaotic in design and made a straight line toward the building.
Lisa cautiously stepped through the hole and knelt to the ground. Running her hand through the only two-foot-wide marks and feeling the wet dirt only greeted her.
But looking away from the scars to the building, any semblance of there being a second floor was gone. Any sign the playground existed was just a series of twisted and bent pipes. The west side facing them was rubble; barely even worth calling it part of the building. The north side was leveled to the main structure, yet the south somehow was just partially still standing. Cars lay about like spent shells from missiles; the most glaring was what she couldn't tell what was left of a freight truck or school bus laid on its side on top of the roof.
"They took a direct hit from the core…" she whispered. The dread shaped itself from a growing bubble into a raging river of tar. Someone within her mental command briefly ignited a flame, sparking a small flare that rapidly started to consume everything with napalm.
Before the others even crossed the street, she ran towards the school as fast as she could.
Taken back, the others quickly hassled to catch up, "Lisa! Wait!" Lynn yelled making the distance the fastest.
She didn't. Too many possibilities were going off like a burning fireworks factory. Were she a machine her drives would have crashed from overload. Memories and records of the curse came back in full force at the realization that so far, only two members of the family hadn't been affected. Had this day been an endless stream of confusion, second-guessing, and the world taunting her, just parts of what she endured, she cared not? But among them all, two had suffered again, one was unknown, and another had yet to face the-
"We need a medic over here!"
"We got live ones!"
On what looked like a rocky ramp to the roof, built from the caved-in remains of the inner walls and stairs, some 20 firemen and workers moved like clockwork. Three firemen tossed away what remained of a crushed air conditioner unit, another a slab of concrete to another and they to a growing pile. The sound of a giant power saw came to life as they dug at a small section. Opening a hole wider and wider with each piece cut and pulled away by pry bars. One of the leaner men carefully stepped forward, worming his way into the opening out of sight.
Not a full minute later, the head of a light brunette woman peered out of the hole. With the look that she had just survived a rodeo, two men went to either side, wrapping their arms around hers. Pulling her the rest out until she, with wobbly legs, stood among them and was led down to an arriving stretcher.
"Luan!" Lisa shouted, watching as the comedian was gingerly placed on a stretcher. Making a beeline to her side, one fireman tried to stop the 13-year-old from getting too close to the damage, but she quickly ducked around and latched to the side of the gurney.
"Luan, you okay?"
"Lisa…" Luan said, relief washing over her. She was visibly relaxing a bit into the padding as she looked over to see Lynn and the others running over. "You guys are alright…"
"Indeed…" Lisa said, not having the heart to say they were 'mostly' alright. "Luan, Where's-"
"Another one coming out!" A fireman shouted as he reached into the hole.
Looking down to see, another saw the next body being brought up and called into his radio, "We need another medic over here, now!" Several others began reaching in, lending a hand to whoever they could, holding the coat and straps to support the firemen, pulling away debris to widen the hole, or being one to latch on and bring another trapped soul.
The girls had become one with a small crowd gathering from a distance. Some were other personnel who could join the already crowded rescue, and others were bystanders or survivors watching the crews double in their efforts.
"Okay, I got her!" the man shouted, nearly torso deep into the hole. Several of his comrades took that as the signal to start pulling, moving every inch to avoid bumping the delicate cargo.
Cradled in the man's arms, covered in dirt and dust, crumbs of brick and plaster, everyone saw the man slowly turn around to reveal to the world the battered, limp, bloodied form of a 10-year-old.
(Note: These AN notes are written before, during, and afterhand to convey my thinking. Not based on what's changed, reviews, etc., and is borderline me ranting out loud my way of thinking.)
As this chapter had been completed for a while now with Chapter 23 deep in production or completed by this time, this chapter was posted at a time similar to when Chapter 7 was published, marking the time and day that now marks 11 years since the last recorded EF5 tornado touched down.
As explained in Chapter 20, this was the entire cut section that made up the first three original sections. When I decided to cut the chapter, those sections had a word count of over 11k, and there were at least another three to four sections to continue after the house rescue. I had just finished Chapter 20 (at almost 3 am on March 8th) and was in a pickle of whether or not to directly continue writing what has essentially become a 3-Parter chapter or actually to get to work on Lincoln's section. This was an odd choice in I didn't know which would be Chapter 21 or 22. As someone commented about the last chapter being "short" remember that some of these are some 30K plus monsters broken up for the sakes of not having the Great Wall of Text each chapter.
Eventually, as this note was being typed, I decided not to write the rest of Chapter 20/21 in this and to make it its own chapter. It would give a bit of mental support in that I can tell myself, 'This is done, why add more?' and actually feel progressive in the work and not feel bogged down from writing the same part for so long. Though as I write this, I am in debate on how large Lincoln's section will become and if it too would be split between the initial beginning and pause before picking up the next section or not.
But in some retrospect, this actually does break a few milestones for me in writing as in the time it took to make the original three chapters to start the story, I had just under 30k words. Between Chapter 18 to this, that had become five chapters with almost 70k words. How much I would be able to do it within the time limit I set (as at this time, I have 23 days to write Chapter 21), I feel this will be a productive year. Though this might be the point where I will start trying to maintain smaller chapters (about a 11-13k average)
(Note: These AN notes are written before, during, and afterhand to convey my thinking. Not based on what's changed, reviews, etc., and is borderline me ranting out loud my way of thinking.)