Hardstorm Ahead Ch. 08

A horn was blasting outside, Sam looked up and out the window to see Travis' truck tearing though town, the horn was blasting and it pulled up to a stop in front if the sheriff station.

"What the fuck?" Sam asked as someone was being carried out of the back and inside.

"Where's Travis?" Sarah asked looking out the window before running out of the office.

Sam and Jays were following close behind as Sarah ran into the station Sam stopped and asked sergeant Rodriguez, "what's going on?"

"There was an attack outside of town, the mayor's been shot," he said as he closed up the back of the truck.

Sam looked around as a crowd started to gather. He saw Brad coming out of the bar with the group he was with.

Sarah came outside with Gabe Mitchell and his son who hadn't left yet, "Sam something's happened."

"I know," Sam didn't want to talk about this in public just yet. "Sarah get the sheriff and bring him to the mayor's office. Brad, you guys stand gaurd, no one comes in until we are done. Jays, Rodriguez, Gabe with us."

Everyone filed into the mayor's office just as the doctor showed up to see David at the sheriff's station.

Sergeant Rodriguez filled them in on what they found at the house and the breif fire fight.

"Where's everyone else then?" Jays asked before anyone else had a chance.

"We stopped briefly at my place to drop off my son to get my wife and other son to evacuate," Gabe explained, "your lieutenant and the boys with her stopped at the bridge to prevent those guys from getting across, Travis and Amanda were behind us, I asume they stopped at the bridge to help if they haven't shown up here yet."

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked, "you didn't see them stop?"

"No ma'am," sergeant Rodriguez spoke up, "Travis went back for Amanda because she was hit and when Gabe jumped in I thought it was Travis and I took off."

Sarah's face showed she was shocked, "Amanda?"

"No son," Gabe said to Rodriguez, "I saw Amanda trip, I would have gone back for her but Travis was already on his way and closer."

Sam noticed the relief on Sarah's face and realized that with Travis still outside of town everyone was now looking at him for orders.

"Shit. Well I will gather whoever I can and go out to reinforce the bridge and send Travis back. Sarah, get to the cabin and bring some of the regulars into town. Jays get back to that windmill and make sure it's gaurded. Sheriff, get the word out in town that we have an emergency tell anyone that wants to help to help to meet here, when Sarah gets back she will tell them what to do."

"What do you want me to tell them?" Sarah asked.

"Get then to man the checkpoints into town. Keep the regulars in reserve to respond to anything." Sam looked around the room, everyone looked to be on the same page, "Rodriguez with me, let's go people."

"I'm going with you too Sam," Gabe said as he followed Sam out if the building.

The next half hour was chaos for Sam, he rounded up as many as he dared and as they headed out of town in a convoy Sam thought to himself, 'too long, that took too long.'

The rain started on the way to the bridge, sergeant Rodriguez was driving Travis' truck as Sam studied the maps that Travis had left in there. The rest of the convoy followed behind.

Gabe explained that he left his sons behind to help make sure people that lived in the valley got out and to make sure they were the only ones allowed to cross the bridge. Sure enough, there was a trickle of vehicles moving in the other direction, by the time they got to the bridge the downpour was near constant.

Sam noticed a couple of vehicles parked at the last turn before the bridge including the jeep they had been using for the militia. They parked the convoy there and after leaving a few to watch the vehicles they moved forward on foot through the rain.

Sam noticed some people grumbling about the rain but at least most of them were taking this as seriously as they should, Sam was trying to make a mental note to make sure that those that were handling the situation better were placed accordingly in their defensive positions.

Sam saw lieutenant Driver come out of some bushes overlooking the bridge, "Sam thank god you're here," Sam was shocked she didn't use his last name in front of everyone, "Travis hasn't gotten back yet."

Sam was unsure what to do, he had the militia spread out to help cover the bridge. Gabe's sons had been letting them know who to pass through and a couple of people that lived on the other side of the bridge had joined them.

After making sure everything was taken care of Sam took Driver off to the side, "what's up with Travis?"

"I thought he was right behind us but they never showed up after we got to the bridge, I wanted to go back to look but if they followed us this was the only place I thought of that could hold them back." She looked frustrated and was shaking in the rain. Her short blond hair was matted to her face and mud was on her pant legs, her rifle was slung over her shoulder.

"You did the right thing Vanessa," Sam tried to comfort her and put a hand on her shoulder, he wanted nothing more than to hug her right then but refrained for her sake.

"So are you going to go find him Sam?" She stared at him with her blue eyes.

Sam paused trying to think of how to mount a search party. He remembered what he said about not being able to send help for the house fire and looked at the creek and could tell that the water was already rising. "We can't, anyone that crosses the stream might get stuck on the other side by the time they get back. We just have to trust that Travis and Amanda will get here on their own."

Nightfall

The rain had fallen steadily the rest of the day, Sam had set up a command post in Travis' truck and along with Gabe and lieutenant Driver they stayed mostly inside the truck. They set up a rotating shift so that people could get out of the rain and into a heated vehicle every hour.

The evening had passed slowly, no one else had come across the bridge for safety, Sam knowing that Bill lived directly across the stream wondered if he was going to wait it out or not.

Sam had sent back a few guys to gather food and water for everyone, since there was no telling how long they would wait there. He looked at the maps and had confirmed what he remembered, this was the only bridge over the stream that they could come across to get to Hardstorm for 30 miles. Not only would Travis and Amanda be stuck over there after the stream flooded, whoever shot that person and burned down their house were stuck over there too. The only other way across would be flooded soon as well, and if they crossed it then they would be heading straight into the forces that had left Laketon.

"I'm going to go check the water level again." Gabe opened the door to leave, "I can't stand this waiting."

He had been gone for only a minute when Driver spoke up, "Sam, what if he doesn't get back in time?"

"There's nothing we can do other than wait out the storm I guess." Sam looked over at her and couldn't help thinking of her naked again.

"I shouldn't have left him behind, they'll blame me again for this." She started to cry, "I... I'm sorry."

Sam leaned over the best he could and put an arm around her, "it'll be ok, Travis could just be held up helping someone else, he's no dummy, he'll make it back."

She managed to stop herself from crying and they sat there in silence, Sam's arm still around her. He realized that he was actually getting feelings for her and wondered what could become of their 'relationship'.

"Vanessa, I..." Sam was cut off as the door opened again. Gabe looked at them and didn't say anything as he climbed in and Sam took his arm off if her.

"I would have let you two lovebirds keep steaming up the windows, but I wanted to let you know that the road on the other side of the bridge is underwater." Gabe ran his hand through his hair and shook off the rain water as Driver's expression gave it away even though Sam figured he was joking, "the bridge will be underwater shortly, what do you want us to do?"

Sam was watching the next shift walk by to the vehicles as he tried to think of what to do but he didn't have time. A large roar was followed by a crack. They jumped out of the truck and ran towards the bridge rifles at the ready. There wasn't any use for them as they could only watch the bridge tearing apart before their eyes.