Tornado Warning by J.R. Tate

end, confirming she was okay. Gripping it in his palm, he closed his eyes and cursed out loud, hoping the universe would hear his frustrations and finally work in his favor.
    “Ryan!”
    He heard the distant voice, a familiar voice, and opened his eyes. It was too dark to see who it was, but a man was hurrying down the driveway. Squinting, he tried to see who it was, but it was too dark.
    “Ryan!” The man waved, and by his walk, he was even more familiar.
    “Dad?” Was it him? Stepping in his direction, he broke out into a run, meeting him halfway between the foundation of the house and the cellar. “Dad, how in the hell?” he cut himself off.
    “I started walking and didn’t stop until I got here.”
    “Are you okay?” Ryan motioned toward the cellar. “I’ve got some water and food. It’s not much, but it’ll tide you over until someone comes.”
    Darryl looked down at the ground and shook his head. “Are you alone? Where’s Ty? Where’s Cecilia?”
    Ryan ducked his head and took a deep breath. The question felt like a wall of bricks toppling over him. “Ty is down in the cellar. He’s hurt, dad. His arm is in bad shape and he’s got a head injury. I’ve done the best I could… but, we need someone. We need a hospital.” He raked his hands through his sweaty hair. “And Cecilia is missing. I...” Ryan bit his lip to control the emotions. “She went to town the night the first big one came through. I haven’t heard or seen her since.”
    “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Ryan, but no one is coming.”
    “What? How do you know that?”
    “It’s like we are the only ones left. It’s no man’s land out there. I never thought a tornadic system would have that kind of power, but from what I’ve seen, we are dealing with something massive that no one has ever experienced before. Between my place and yours, I only ran across two other people. And they weren’t good people.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Looters. They killed my neighbors just to get their food supply. We have to be careful. They could be coming this way.”
    Ryan closed his eyes and hoped that he would wake up from this bad dream, but the harsh reality stared him in the face. “There were a couple of guys that came through here a few days ago, but I was able to chase them off. I didn’t think it was that bad, just that emergency services were spread thin so we’d have to be patient and wait until they got to us. Surely somebody has figured out what is going on and they are sending help.”
    Darryl stepped toward the cellar. “I wouldn’t bet on it.  With cell phones down, there’s no way to call. And if cell phones are down, other means of communication are as well. No internet either. We don’t even know how much ground these storms covered. With the damage I witnessed on the way over, we can’t rule anything out, Ryan. Miles and miles of destruction and death. It could’ve easily stayed organized enough to go right on into Oklahoma and Kansas, and even other parts of Texas.”
    “I understand how FEMA and Red Cross can’t get in due to the damage, but can’t they fly in?” Ryan looked up at the sky. He was afraid of what he might see – the dark clouds threatened them with rain.
    “Probably can’t get through with the unstable atmosphere. And with all signals down, it’s too iffy to fly anyway.”
    “I wish I could get some news or something. It’s like we’ve been forgotten.”
    “We’ve either been forgotten or we are the last few left to survive. I’d say we were lucky, but I bet that food supply you talked about isn’t enough to hold you over much longer, is it?”
    Ryan shook his head. “No. A few more days. Maybe a week. I’m eating really small portions so Ty can have more to keep his strength up, but he has lost his appetite. I was hoping someone would be here by now. It never crossed my mind that no one would come or that this weather system had the capability of killing off everyone