Ring the Bell by Gerry Harlan Brown

Author:Gerry Harlan Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: WordCrafts Press
Published: 2022-04-08T02:29:03+00:00

Chapter 52

1449 Hours

Batman was the first to hear it coming. He was seated on the hood of his command car in the engine room, staring out the open bay door, watching how the wind was stirring things. For the last five minutes it had been picking up, gusting at only a few miles per hour at first, falling to a steady breeze, then gusting again, faster than before. The wind continued in these cycles, constantly gathering strength until the gusts came in angry bursts and sent hordes of leaves and trash fleeing down the street. The breezes in between were suddenly gone, replaced by a hard, steady blow which carried dead branches from the trees across the way and set the utility wires to vibrating with a high, eerie keening. What Batman heard above the wind, above the skittering sounds of leaves and scraps of paper rushing past, were rumbling rolls of thunder trampling so close on the tails of numerous other rolls that the rumbling never died. The cacophony only momentarily rose or dropped a decibel or two.

Half expecting to see a funnel twisting toward him, Batman slid off the hood and slowly walked the few feet to the open bay door. He leaned his head forward and peeked around the corner toward the west. The sky was evil-looking. Though he saw no tornado, a long wall of black cloud stretched across the horizon. Along its face, towering waves broke to stumble and tumble over one another in mad confusion. Lightning sparked and flashed within the mass, across it, to the ground beneath in crazed, strobing lasers and searing muzzle flashes, as if fired from some great alien warship sent to scorch the earth down to bedrock. Batman glanced at his wristwatch and made a bet with himself about when the first call would come in.

“What did you pick?”

Batman turned to see Captain Buckman easing up beside him. “Two minutes and 10 seconds.”

The captain studied the storm front for a few moments, then glanced at his wristwatch. Like Batman’s, it was an inexpensive, throwaway piece. It didn’t make sense to wear anything pricey in hot, wet, smoke-filled environments.

“If I had to put money on it,” the captain began, glancing at Batman, then back at the towering storm wave. “I’d say you’re being optimistic.”

Ringggggg!

“Attention all companies. Watkins County is now under a tornado watch. Attention all companies. Watkins County is now under a severe thunderstorm warning. Damaging winds, quarter-size hail, and heavy rains may be expected. Repeating—”

As the dispatcher broadcast the information once more, Batman turned to the captain and said, “At least the tornado stuff is only a watch.”

“Things can always be worse,” Captain Buckman replied.

“Quarter-size—Standby—”

Ringggggg!

The individual company tones began going off, kept going off, as firefighters came hustling into the engine room. At last they stopped. Then: “Attention, Battalion 1, Engine 4, Engine 7, Rescue 1, Ladder 1, respond to a structure fire at 1131 Meadowlawn Drive. Cross streets Oakwood Way and Birch Tree Court. Repeating, Battalion 1—”

Batman

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