Killer Storms by Phil Walker

Author:Phil Walker [Walker, Phil]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-05-07T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Thinking Ahead

Tuesday night

Aaron listened as the heavy rain roared on the tent. It wasn't quite the peace and quiet he wanted. The kitchen wasn't much less noisy. He picked up a lantern and headed for the garage, pausing to look inside the tent. Not a soul was awake.

The garage was hot and humid, but quieter. Aaron opened a chair and sat down. Up until now, he thought, they were lucky. Surviving the hurricane was a miracle, nobody got killed, and part of the house was still intact. What he needed most now was any kind of word on conditions around him. Talking to someone would ease his mind.

He pulled his hand-set radio out of the case on his hip, tuned to the emergency channel handling traffic from people like him, and turned up the volume. There was still a lot of cross talk transmissions overlapping each other. The operator on the other end was trying to keep order, constantly telling people to wait their turn. He was even giving numbers to survivors saying he would talk to everyone one at a time, and to stay off the radio, so he could.

With a pause in other cross talk, Aaron keyed the transmit button. "I need a number."

It took him three times to send those four words.

Finally, the operator responded. "Okay that makes eight, counting the man who just called. I'm going to start talking to people. When you hear your number, start talking. Until I get to you, everybody stay off the radio."

Aaron supposed the guy was talking to him, so he sat and listened.

Over the next hour, Aaron heard desperate people describing the situation they were facing and asking for help. There was still cross talk, but the man on the other end could hear what people were saying. Nowhere in the exchanges did the operator say anything about any aid. He seemed to be collecting information. Aaron sat on the back of the golf cart and made a list of things to do while he waited his turn.

"Very well, thank you, number seven," said the operator. "Go ahead number eight."

"I'm Aaron Colson. I live in Harmony village. "There are eight people in my home. None of us seriously injured by the hurricane. We lost most of our roof. The kitchen and garage are still covered. I have minimum power and, for the moment, we are stable."

There was a pause before the operator came back. "Where are you on the hill?"

"Right at the top."

"That puts you in the same place as the other people who withstood the hurricane and have made their way to higher ground."

"How bad is it?"

"What used to be The Villages, is now a city of islands. Yours is one of them."

"What have you heard about how much longer this rain will last?"

"Don't know, exactly. All night and through tomorrow for sure, according to the people watching in the command center."

"I figured as much."

"Central Florida is flooded. Here in The Villages that includes most of the Rec.

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