Winter Rose

XXVII. Storm

"She's alive! Oh god! She's alive!" Lance knelt, gathering Winter into his arms. He stood, his face twisting, eyes filled with rage as he scanned the trees. "Where the hell is that bastard!"

In his arms, Winter's eyelids fluttered. She reached for her head, a low moan escaping her lips.

Terrence threw a panicked look over his shoulder at them, breathing a sigh of relief at Winter's state. His eyes darted back to the woods, then to the flock of sparrows that retreated like a raging storm cloud across the sky. 

"What the hell is going on here?" he whispered, shock plastered on his face.

As if in response to his question, the twitters of the sparrow flock faded to an eerie silence. It seemed like a blanket had dropped over the woods, muffling all of the sounds inside. I sucked in a shaky breath. My eyes darted from shadow to shadow over the dark trees, searching for Sheldon's figure—I could feel his presence nearby.

What the hell were you doing!? 

I nearly jumped out of my skin as Sparky's thoughts cut into mine. 

He cocked his head, sizing me up from his position on Lance's shoulder. You were supposed to protect them! His eyes bore into mine, clearly questioning my loyalty once again.

I was trying to frame my thoughts to defend myself, when the sky cracked open and rain poured down on us in sheets. The rain completely incapacitating him, Terrence was forced to lower his gun. He scooped Winnie off the ground, her legs dangling in his arms. 

Rising, he bellowed at Lance,"Let's get them back to the house."

With one last wary look at the forest behind him, Terrence tore himself away, frustration written all over his face as he turned back. The rain seemed to take on a life of its own, enveloping us as we made our way towards the refuge. It pelted on my fur, drenching me within a matter of seconds. I plotted behind Lance and Terrence, blinking my eyes to see, my thick fur plastered to my body, tail between my legs—feeling watched from behind.

The sky darkened and the wind picked up, whipping the rain sideways against our faces. In front of me, Sparky dug his talons into Lance's shirt, pressing himself low against his shoulder, raindrops sliding off his back. The sound of the rain soon deafened me. The wind flung the tree-tops around. Branches creaked and snapped above us. It was as if the entire world had churned itself into an uproar.

When we stepped out of the forest, the sky turned pitch black. I stopped for a moment, feeling as if an invisible being had descended on us. I felt it coming closer, its anger forcing everything around it into turmoil. Lightning flashed, close enough to blind me for a few seconds. When I could see again, Lance and Terrence were several yards ahead of me, their bodies tilted forward in the wind, wet hair flipped back on their heads. Winter's face was buried in Lance's chest.

Caught off guard by a sudden gust of wind, Sparky tumbled off of Lance's shoulder and spiraled in a mess of wet feathers down towards me. Miraculously, the small bird managed to plant himself in my soggy fur.

"Get her into the truck and take her to the hospital. He drugged her with something!" Terrence's voice was faint, instantly carried off by the wind.

In the distance, the sound of a siren cranked up and grew louder as it spun around in our direction.

"Shit!" yelled Lance, his voice barely rising over the roaring of the wind. "That's a tornado siren!"

Winter's father came flying out of the back door. It ricocheted off the side of the house violently and slammed shut behind him. "Get into the basement!" he bellowed, holding his hat on his head. "It's coming off to the west!"