Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 91438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
They got their orders and then immediately started on their assignments without any hesitation.
Then he turned fully around, and I was greeted with a younger version of Silas.
Sebastian, I think I’d heard Silas call him.
But I wasn’t one hundred percent sure.
What was he doing here?
Then I saw Silas not too far from him with a little girl in his arms that looked to be two or three at most.
When he’d left my house this morning after the storm had passed, I’d thought it’d been rather abrupt. I never expected to see him here doing this.
He’d gotten a call before he’d left.
And I was ashamed to admit that I thought that maybe it’d been another woman.
But now I was glad to see that I was wrong.
“Sebastian!” Zack called.
Sebastian turned at the sound of his name being called, and he smiled when he saw Zack.
“Hey, Guzzy. How’s it going?” Sebastian asked somewhat distractedly.
“I’m setting up in Old Miller’s place. I just wanted to lend Belly and Sawyer here to you. Use ‘em as you see fit,” Zack said, offering Sebastian his hand.
Sebastian took it.
“Thanks,” Sebastian said, returning the handshake. “I just got here myself. I’m on two different volunteer departments, but since Dixie was hit worse than the other town, I came here. And suddenly find myself in charge of everything.”
He seemed like he was doing a good job, though.
Even if he didn’t think he should be the one in charge.
“Alright, Sawyer. Take care of my Belly and take this,” he said, passing a handheld, two-way radio to me. “Call me if you need anything.”
I took the two-way radio, strapped it to my jeans and reached for Belly’s leash, scared as hell and trying my damnedest to hide it.
“O-okay,” I said.
Zack smiled reassuringly. “These boys will take good care of you. Promise.”
I didn’t need his reassurance.
Silas had taken care of me very well last night…not that I’d be telling him or anyone else about that.
I nodded firmly. “Thank you.”
He smiled, hefted his bag and started walking away.
Belly gave a soft bark, making Zack turn around and smile at his friend before he turned and continued on his way.
I turned from watching Zack walk away to find both Silas and Sebastian watching me with varying degrees of surprise etched on their face.
“What?” I asked, concerned.
Silas went back to his phone call that I hadn’t realized he was on, turning around without saying a word.
Sebastian, though, smiled.
“Never seen Zack give up Belly. He’s usually the one to do the searching and rescuing with her,” Sebastian said.
I nodded.
“I’m a little confused as to why he did it myself,” I answered.
He shrugged.
“He blames himself. While he was searching the building that’d caught on fire for survivors, it’d started to shift with him and Belly in it. He stayed, and Belly ended up paying the price for that decision. He thinks he’s not worthy of leading her anymore,” Sebastian said, ushering me over.
I didn’t know what to say to that.
“H-he thinks that I’m going to be better at that?” I asked a bit shrilly.
Sebastian’s eyes met mine. “He must see something in you that makes him believe in the trust he just gave you. Don’t let him down.”
It sounded like a threat, and I had to fight the urge to take a step back.
“I’ll need you right here. We haven’t had a chance to search these houses yet. What we’ll have you do is just circle the houses as best as you can. Belly should do the job from there,” he said, pointing to a road on a real life map.
“Can you, you know, tell me how to get there?” I asked.
Sebastian nodded.
“Dad!” Sebastian called over his shoulder.
My eyes moved from the map and the point he wanted me to search to the man whose attention he’d wanted.
My breath caught in my throat when Silas turned, said a few words into his cell phone ending the call.
“Yeah?” He asked shortly.
Sebastian waved his hand in the universal sign of ‘come here.’
Silas, annoyed, came.
My eyes fell to the girl he was holding.
The closer she came, the more my breath caught in my throat.
She looked just like him.
But when Sebastian reached forward and pulled the girl from Silas’ arms, I realized that the girl belonged to Sebastian, not Silas.
My heart felt a little lighter, but I couldn’t help the pang of longing that went through me at seeing the little girl in his arms.
“My papa,” the girl said, reaching her arms out for Silas again.
“No, Blaise. Papa has to show this woman where to go. You can have him when he gets back,” Sebastian gently chastised his little girl.
Blaise then turned her baby blues on me, and I was struck speechless by how beautiful this little girl was.
She was going to be a heartbreaker when she grew up, and the two men that were currently looking at her with such adoration were going to be busy keeping up with her.
Someone called Sebastian’s name, and I was left alone with the man who’d held me all night long.
“Hey,” I said nervously, twirling Belly’s leash in my hands, intertwining it with my fingers.
He smiled at me.
Those beautiful eyes of his drinking me in.
“Didn’t think I’d see you so early,” he said as he took hold of my arm and steered me out of the command tent.
I was slapped upside the head once again by the devastation all around me.
From here, you could see the exact path the tornado had blazed through this little town.
Buildings sat untouched on either side of the path of destruction, making the devastation within that path all the more remarkable. Within the path that the tornado took, you could barely make out a single distinguishing feature of the buildings that used to be there.
Up ahead I saw a sign for the high school.
My breath caught when I saw how the tornado had traveled right through the center of the high school.
“God,” I breathed. “God.”
Silas’ eyes turned down to me. “Yeah, it’s pretty fucking bad. I’ve been a part of a lot of search and rescue operations due to natural disasters, but this one being so close to home is really fucking with my head,” he said almost absently. “I mean, I volunteer on this fire department. A fire department that’s now gone.”