Night of the Crane | By @WendyyWolfe

9. Imminent Threat

Lacy wanted one thing. To get home.

She was tired. She was hungry. Her clothes were a mess. Her mind was even worse, but as they maneuvered the back roads around town finally reaching the west side and the long winding road which cut deep into the farmlands of Alabama and wound around the hills and valleys where the Thibodaux Family farm nestled quietly in the serene countryside, it was becoming clear things were not getting better.

Larger fires scorched enormous swaths of land all around them consuming everything in their path. Homes along the way lay burnt out or smouldering and the rising smoke lay heavy in the air above them.

Suddenly Macallan was pulling over to the side. He had his arm out the window pointing furiously at the sky.

A huge lump formed in her throat and she heard James let loose a string of cursing as he pulled up behind him and jumped out of the truck

Then she saw what he was looking at.

Six F-16 fighter jets flying just below the haze of smoke roared overhead, their reverberation trembling the atmosphere, sending pockets of air pressure down as they passed. She shielded her eyes with a hand following the formation as the wind gusts threatened to blow her over and a scream died in her chest when the smoke, separated by the engine intakes of the squadron revealed their target.

She reached out and grabbed James by the arm and he pulled her close to steady her legs.

The object, massive in size, darkened the ground below overshadowing them and Lacy drew in a ragged breath of fear.

Suddenly Macallan was there and James was shouting.

"It isn't safe here! How much farther is the farm?!"

"Just passed the next hill!" Macallan yelled.

"Alright!" He hollered over the wind and rumble of chaos. "We regroup there! GO!"

Macallan took off, James helped Lacy back in the truck and as he got behind the wheel, he floored the gas pedal.

They fishtailed along the road as the wind whipped around them, slinging Lacy and Dylan all over the place before finally catching traction and barreling up the hill and around the corner to meet a sight none of them could have been prepared for.

They heard an explosion and black smoke pillowed up forming an angry plume of diesel fed fire. Macallan slammed on the breaks and his truck slid sideways on the road. He threw it in park and sat, watching it utter horror as the Thibodaux homestead was engulfed in flames.

In the middle of the carnage, one of the F-16's lay buried nose first inside a five hundred gallon farm fueling tank.

Silent tears flowed down Lacy's cheeks and Dylan put an arm around her shoulder pulling her over to his side. Her sides heaved with waves of silent wracking cries as she covered her face with her hands. James quietly got out of the truck shaking his head in sorrow for the poor girl. Then he watched quizzically as Macallan jumped from his truck and took off running toward the driveway yelling, 'Lacyyyy it's Krisslyn!'

James peered in the direction of the surrounding pasture surprised to see the figure of a person fleeing from the engulfing flames of the old two story farmhouse.

Lacy heard the yells and looked up wiping her face with her shirt sleeves and suddenly she was yelling too. She bounced out of the truck and took off in dead run behind Macallan yelling as she went.

"Krisslyn! OMG my God! KRISSLYNNNN!"

Lacy reached the barbed wire fence and rolled under it all in one swift motion and was back on her feet running as fast as her boots would take her. Macallan slowed for her to catch up and they grabbed hands to help each other get to the girl with waves of blonde hair flying around her face.

They all slammed together in the field, embracing one another in sheer joy until several small explosions coming from the old barn shook the ground and they all ran heading back for the road.

James and Dylan met them at the fence and helped the girls through while Lacy in breathless unbelief explained to James that this was her cousin. He nodded.

"Dylan filled me in."

Lacy turned to the girl one year her junior. "What in the hell are you doing out here Kriz," she grabbed the girl and hugged her again, as Krisslyn answered through chattering teeth.

"I was worried about you Lacy. I couldn't get ahold of anyone," she said. Her eyes teared up and she wailed, "I didn't know what to do! I looked everywhere I thought I could find you, even the school, and I had to fight my way out of there," she lamented. "

Lacy nodded profusely. "I know, I know. It's okay but you could have been killed Kriz or worse," she commented thinking about her dad. She took Krisslyn by the shoulders and looked at her, searching her face. Krisslyn shook her head.

"I don't know where anyone is," she shrugged. "Then I got here and you were still no where to be found."

Lacy wrapped her arm around Kriz's shoulder. "Let's get out of this ditch. We're bound to figure something out but we can't stay here. Dylan," she looked at him with raised brows, "yeah, would you mind riding with Mac? I wanna keep Kriz with me."

Dylan simply nodded.

But Macallan stood back as if stabbed in the gut. His jaw clenched in utter consternation, he shook his head. He started to say something and thought better of it. Maybe she just didn't realize. He watched her walk toward James' truck locked in conversation with her cousin and sighed. Maybe she did or didn't do it purposely. Either way it did kind of bother him that she wouldn't just naturally jump in his truck first.

He looked over at Dylan whose eyebrows shot up.

"Just shut the fuck up Dylan."

"Hey I didn't say a word," he retorted with a totally fake look of hurt.

James grabbed Macallan by the arm as the girls got loaded in his truck. "Alright. So now you follow me, got it? I was saving this as a last resort but it looks like all our choices have been," he looked back at the burning homestead, "obliterated. We're gonna head back toward town and try to get gassed up. You on board?"

"I got nothing else James. There's really no choice. Where you thinkin'?" Macallan asked.

"You'll see." James answered cryptically as he headed off.