No Safe Ground

# NO SAFE GROUND

### By Wayne R. Whitley

By four o’clock Saturday afternoon, the heat had turned Gainesboro into an oven.

The pavement around the courthouse shimmered. Cars sat with their windows cracked. Dogs lay beneath porches with their tongues hanging out, unwilling to move unless absolutely necessary. Even the birds had gone quiet.

It was the kind of Tennessee summer day when the air felt thick enough to drink.

And naturally, that was the day the carnival came to town.

It had arrived before sunrise in a convoy of faded trucks and trailers, bringing rides, games, food stands, generators, cheap prizes, and enough flashing lights to make the little town look like Nashville from half a mile away.

By evening the carnival grounds were packed.

Children screamed happily from spinning rides. Teenagers wandered in packs, pretending not to notice one another. Parents carried lemonades large enough to drown in. The smell of funnel cakes, grilled onions, popcorn, and diesel exhaust drifted across the field.

Twelve-year-old Sadie Raines stood in front of a red-and-yellow tent with her hands planted on her hips.

“No.”

Her father looked down at her.

“You haven't even heard what I was going to say.”

“I know what you're going to say.”

Mark Raines smiled.

“Oh, do you?”

“You're going to tell me to go inside because I begged to see it all week.”

“That's pretty close.”

“And I'm telling you no.”

Above them, a painted wooden sign hung over the entrance.

**PROFESSOR BELLAMY'S DEADLY WONDERS**

Underneath, smaller lettering promised:

**LIVE ALLIGATORS!**

**GIANT SNAKES!**

**FLESH-EATING PIRANHAS!**

Sadie pointed at the sign.

“Those are three things that should not be together.”

Mark laughed.

“That's actually a pretty good point.”

“Dad.”

“You wanted to see the piranhas.”

“From outside.”

“You can't see them from outside.”

“That's the problem.”

Mark handed two tickets to the bored teenager sitting beside the entrance.

Sadie groaned.

“I hate you.”

“No, you don't.”

“I temporarily dislike your parenting decisions.”

“That sounds more accurate.”

They stepped through the canvas flap.

The air inside smelled like damp straw, reptile musk, and something faintly rotten.

Glass tanks lined one side of the tent. Snakes rested beneath heat lamps: rattlesnakes, copperheads, cottonmouths, and several exotic species Mark couldn't identify.

A huge python lay coiled in a reinforced enclosure at the back.

Along the opposite wall were three shallow pools surrounded by steel fencing.

Alligators.

The largest had to be eight or nine feet long.

Sadie immediately moved closer to her father.

“That one knows I'm here.”

“That one knows everybody's here.”

“No. He's looking at me.”

“He probably thinks you look delicious.”

She punched him in the arm.

Mark laughed.

At the far end of the tent stood an enormous glass aquarium.

A handwritten sign read:

**AMAZONIAN RED-BELLIED PIRANHAS**

Dozens of silver fish moved through murky water.

Sadie stared at them.

“They don't look scary.”

A voice behind them said, “That's usually how nature gets you.”

Mark turned.

The man approaching them was somewhere in his sixties, thin as wire, with a white mustache and a straw hat.

His shirt identified him as **ERNEST BELLAMY**.

The Professor himself.

Bellamy tapped the aquarium.

“Everybody expects monsters to look like monsters.”

One of the fish turned sideways.

Its red belly flashed beneath the light.

“But sometimes,” Bellamy continued, “they're just hungry.”

Sadie stepped backward.

Mark smiled.

“You practice that line?”

“Forty years.”

“Works.”

“Every time.”

Thunder rolled outside.

Nobody paid much attention.

Bellamy glanced toward the canvas roof.

“That wasn't supposed to start until later.”

Mark looked at his phone.

The weather app showed storms scattered across the county.

Nothing unusual.

July in Tennessee.

“You worried?”

Bellamy shrugged.

“I'm in the carnival business. Weather worries me more than bankruptcy.”

Another rumble rolled across town.

This one was closer.

They left the tent ten minutes later.

The carnival had changed.

Not much.

Just enough.

The sunlight had dimmed.

Clouds were gathering over the western hills, thick and almost purple.

The wind had picked up.

Napkins skittered across the grass.

One of the ride operators looked toward the sky.

Sadie noticed.

“Maybe we should go.”

Mark nodded.

“Probably.”

He had just bought her a funnel cake when the first emergency alert screamed from every phone on the midway.

People stopped walking.

Mark pulled his phone from his pocket.

**SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING**

Damaging winds.

Flash flooding.

Possible tornado activity.

Seek shelter.

The carnival loudspeakers crackled.

Someone said something unintelligible.

Then the lights flickered.

The music stopped.

For half a second the entire carnival went silent.

Then the generators kicked back in.

The crowd laughed nervously.

Mark didn't.

He looked toward the sky.

The clouds weren't purple anymore.

They were black.

“Sadie.”

She already knew.

They started toward the parking area.

The wind hit them halfway there.

It came across the carnival grounds like a wall.

A trash barrel rolled past.

People screamed.

The top of a game booth peeled away and sailed into the darkness.

Rain followed.

Not drops.

Sheets.

Within seconds Mark couldn't see fifty feet.

“Dad!”

“I've got you!”

He grabbed Sadie's wrist.

Lightning exploded somewhere nearby.

The thunder was instantaneous.

Someone yelled for everyone to get down.

Another emergency alert sounded.

Mark couldn't read it through the water covering his phone screen.

Then he heard a sound that was wrong even for a storm.

Metal screaming.

He turned.

The Ferris wheel was moving.

Not spinning.

Leaning.

“RUN!”

People scattered.

Mark dragged Sadie toward a concession trailer.

The Ferris wheel groaned as support braces tore from the muddy ground.

It leaned farther.

Then crashed.

Steel struck the earth with a sound like a train wreck.

Lights exploded.

Sparks sprayed through the rain.

People screamed.

The carnival went dark.

Completely dark.

A moment later, the town beyond it vanished too.

Every streetlight.

Every house.

Every business.

Gone.

Mark stood in the rain with his daughter pressed against his side.

Somewhere in the darkness a woman was crying.

Another voice yelled for help.

Then came another sound.

A deep metallic crash.

From the direction of Professor Bellamy's tent.

---

The storm lasted nineteen minutes.

The damage lasted all night.

Mark and Sadie sheltered beneath a food trailer with seven other people until the worst of the wind passed.

When they crawled out, the carnival barely existed.

Tents were gone.

Rides lay twisted across the field.

Trailers had rolled onto their sides.

The rain continued steadily.

Water already covered Mark's shoes.

“Everybody okay?”

A flashlight swept across them.

A Jackson County deputy came through the rain.

Deputy Mason Carter.

Mark recognized him from town.

“Mark?”

“Yeah.”

“Sadie okay?”

“Scared.”

“Join the club.”

Carter had blood running from a cut above his eyebrow.

Mark pointed.

“You're bleeding.”

“I'm aware.”

“What happened?”

“Part of the ticket booth.”

The deputy looked across the wreckage.

“Phones are barely working. Dispatch says trees are down everywhere. Lines across the road toward Cookeville. Flooding by the river. Ambulances can't get through yet.”

“How bad?”

Carter hesitated.

“Bad.”

A man staggered toward them from the darkness.

Professor Bellamy.

His hat was gone.

Blood covered one sleeve.

“Deputy!”

Carter raised his flashlight.

Bellamy almost fell.

“Slow down.”

“The tent.”

“What about it?”

Bellamy bent over, gasping.

“The animal tent.”

Mark felt Sadie grip his arm.

Carter said, “What happened?”

“A trailer hit it.”

Bellamy pointed into the darkness.

“Whole back section collapsed.”

“Animals hurt?”

Bellamy looked at him.

“I don't know.”

The answer told Mark everything.

Carter's expression changed.

“What exactly was in there?”

“Three alligators.”

Mark frowned.

“I saw more than three.”

“Three adults. Four juveniles.”

“Snakes?”

Bellamy swallowed.

“Yes.”

“How many?”

“Twenty-three.”

Nobody spoke.

Carter stared at him.

“Twenty-three?”

“Most were in individual enclosures.”

“Were?”

Bellamy looked toward the ruins.

Mark asked the question nobody else wanted to.

“And the piranhas?”

Bellamy pointed downhill.

The aquarium was gone.

Not shattered.

Gone.

The section of tent where it had stood had been struck by a rolling equipment trailer.

Floodwater rushed through the torn canvas and disappeared into a drainage ditch.

Sadie whispered, “Dad.”

Mark squeezed her hand.

Bellamy said, “The tank held almost six hundred gallons.”

Carter stared at the rushing water.

“And the fish?”

Bellamy didn't answer.

Another flash of lightning illuminated the field.

For one bright instant Mark saw something lying twenty yards away.

Long.

Dark.

Low to the ground.

Then darkness returned.

Mark raised his flashlight.

Nothing.

“What was that?”

Bellamy whispered, “One of the juveniles.”

Sadie said, “That didn't look very juvenile.”

---

They left the carnival grounds together.

Carter had a patrol SUV parked near the road, but a utility pole had fallen across the parking entrance.

They couldn't drive out.

The nearest solid building was an old brick insurance office half a block away.

They made it there through knee-deep water.

There were nine of them.

Mark.

Sadie.

Deputy Carter.

Professor Bellamy.

A carnival employee named Tessa Ward.

An elderly couple, Frank and Evelyn Collins.

A seventeen-year-old boy named Tyler Knox.

And a woman named Renee Bishop, whose husband had disappeared during the storm.

The office windows had survived.

The front door hadn't.

Carter pushed a filing cabinet against the opening.

“Everybody stay here.”

Renee stood.

“My husband is out there.”

“I know.”

“We have to find him.”

“We can't search in this.”

“You're a police officer.”

“And I can't see six feet past my flashlight.”

“He could be hurt.”

“He probably is.”

Renee stared at him.

Carter softened.

“I'm not leaving him. But running around blind won't help.”

Mark checked his phone.

No signal.

Battery: forty-one percent.

Sadie's was at sixty.

The building had no electricity.

Outside, rain hammered the roof.

Water crept across the parking lot.

Tessa sat on the floor with her knees pulled to her chest.

Mark noticed she was trembling.

“You okay?”

She shook her head.

“You work with the animal show?”

“Sometimes.”

Bellamy looked at her.

“Tessa.”

She ignored him.

Mark crouched beside her.

“What?”

She looked at Bellamy.

“You didn't tell them.”

Bellamy said nothing.

Carter turned.

“Tell us what?”

Tessa stood.

“The snake trailer.”

Bellamy said, “Most of the animals are harmless.”

“That isn't what he asked.”

Carter stepped closer.

“What was in the snake trailer?”

Tessa began counting.

“Two eastern diamondbacks. Four timber rattlers. Copperheads. Cottonmouths. A monocled cobra.”

Carter's face hardened.

“A what?”

“Cobra.”

“You had a cobra at a county carnival?”

Bellamy snapped, “We have permits.”

“That thing loose?”

“I don't know.”

Tessa continued.

“And Maggie.”

Sadie asked, “Who's Maggie?”

Nobody answered immediately.

Mark looked at the ruined carnival beyond the window.

“Tell me Maggie isn't another snake.”

Tessa gave a humorless laugh.

“Sixteen-foot reticulated python.”

Sadie stared at her father.

Mark sighed.

“Of course it is.”

Something bumped against the exterior wall.

Everyone went silent.

Another bump.

Frank whispered, “What the hell was that?”

Carter drew his pistol.

He approached the window.

Rain streaked the glass.

Nothing outside.

He aimed his flashlight downward.

“Trash can.”

Everyone relaxed.

Then the trash can moved against the current.

Carter stopped.

Mark saw two yellow eyes rise behind it.

“Back up.”

The alligator surged from the water.

Its head struck the window.

Sadie screamed.

The glass cracked.

Everyone scrambled away.

The animal hit it again.

The crack spread.

Bellamy shouted, “Don't crowd it!”

Carter stared at him.

“I'm not planning on petting it.”

The alligator snapped at the glass.

Its jaws struck hard enough to shake the frame.

Then it dropped back into the water.

They waited.

Nothing.

Carter slowly moved closer.

The alligator was gone.

Bellamy whispered, “That's Dolly.”

Tessa stared at him.

“You named it Dolly?”

“She was smaller when I got her.”

“How small?”

“About eighteen inches.”

Mark looked outside.

“How big now?”

Bellamy rubbed his face.

“Nine feet.”

Frank muttered, “Wonderful.”

Evelyn smacked his arm.

“What?”

“You're not helping.”

“I'm seventy-two years old and trapped in an insurance office with a nine-foot alligator. I'm past helping.”

A flashlight appeared outside.

Everyone froze.

Someone was walking through the floodwater.

Carter hurried to the door.

“Hey!”

A voice answered.

“Help!”

Renee ran forward.

“Daniel?”

The light bobbed closer.

“Renee!”

She shoved at the filing cabinet.

“My husband!”

Carter helped her move it.

Daniel Bishop stumbled through the opening.

His shirt was torn.

Blood covered his left leg.

Renee grabbed him.

“Oh my God.”

“I'm okay.”

“You're bleeding.”

“I fell.”

Bellamy saw the wound.

His expression changed.

Mark noticed.

“What?”

Bellamy stepped closer.

The wound wasn't a cut.

Two rows of punctures crossed Daniel's calf.

Carter looked at Bellamy.

“That from one of yours?”

Daniel shook his head.

“Something hit me in the water.”

“What?”

“I don't know.”

He leaned against the wall.

“I was crossing by the ditch. Something started biting me.”

Bellamy crouched.

Daniel's sock was shredded.

Tiny chunks of flesh were missing.

Sadie whispered, “The fish.”

Nobody corrected her.

---

By eight-thirty the rain had weakened.

The flooding hadn't.

Water now covered several streets around downtown.

The river was rising.

Radio reception came and went on Carter's handheld.

What little they heard wasn't encouraging.

Trees blocked multiple roads.

A mudslide had closed another.

Power was out across most of the county.

Emergency crews were responding first to collapsed houses and medical emergencies.

Nobody knew about the escaped animals.

Carter tried transmitting the information repeatedly.

Static answered.

Daniel's leg wouldn't stop bleeding.

Mark tore strips from a curtain and wrapped the wound.

“We need antibiotics.”

Renee looked at Carter.

“The pharmacy.”

Carter shook his head.

“Closed.”

“It's three blocks away.”

“Under water.”

“My husband needs help.”

Bellamy said, “The bites aren't venomous.”

Renee stared at him.

“That's comforting.”

“He still needs the wounds cleaned.”

Mark looked around.

“This office have a first aid kit?”

Tyler held up a small plastic box.

“Band-Aids and aspirin.”

“Of course.”

Sadie pointed toward the back.

“What about that?”

A red cabinet hung on the wall.

**EMERGENCY SUPPLIES**

Inside they found bottled water, gauze, peroxide, gloves, and a battery lantern.

Jackpot.

Mark cleaned Daniel's wounds.

The man clenched his teeth but didn't complain.

Then something fell from the ceiling.

It landed on the desk beside Mark's hand.

Everyone jumped.

A snake coiled instantly.

Bellamy shouted, “Nobody move!”

The snake raised its head.

Brown hourglass markings ran along its body.

Mark didn't need Bellamy to identify it.

Copperhead.

Sadie stood less than four feet away.

Mark slowly moved between them.

The snake struck.

Not at him.

At the air.

Carter aimed his pistol.

Bellamy grabbed his wrist.

“Don't shoot inside!”

“What would you suggest?”

Bellamy picked up an empty plastic trash can.

He eased it toward the snake.

The copperhead struck the rim.

Bellamy flipped the can over it.

The snake thrashed beneath.

Frank exhaled.

“How did it get in here?”

Everyone looked up.

Several ceiling tiles were missing.

Rainwater dripped from the darkness above.

Tessa said, “They climb.”

Frank stared at her.

“Please stop talking.”

Something moved inside the ceiling.

Not one thing.

Several.

They heard the slow scraping of bodies sliding across metal supports.

Mark looked at Carter.

“We can't stay here.”

Carter didn't argue.

That frightened Mark more than the snakes.

---

Their best option was the county courthouse.

Brick.

Elevated.

Multiple floors.

Thick doors.

And, according to Carter, emergency supplies.

The problem was reaching it.

The courthouse was only a few blocks away.

Those blocks were flooded.

Carter finally reached dispatch at 9:07.

The message lasted eleven seconds.

“Units unable to reach downtown. Shelter high. Rescue after roads cleared.”

Then static.

After roads cleared.

Nobody knew when that would be.

Carter looked at everyone.

“We move together.”

Bellamy said, “Stay out of the deeper water.”

Tyler laughed nervously.

“No kidding.”

“I mean it. Alligators aren't normally looking to hunt people, but they can move through water without you seeing them.”

“And the piranhas?”

Bellamy hesitated.

“They're probably dead.”

Sadie said, “Daniel got bitten.”

“Probably dead isn't dead.”

“No.”

Mark handed Sadie his small flashlight.

“You stay beside me.”

“I know.”

“No matter what happens.”

“Dad—”

“Promise.”

She looked at him.

“Promise.”

They left the insurance office.

The rain was warm.

Without electricity the town looked unfamiliar.

Mark had lived around Gainesboro most of his life.

He knew these streets.

He knew the buildings.

He knew which porch belonged to whom and where the sidewalks dipped.

But darkness changed everything.

Water made it worse.

Cars sat abandoned at strange angles.

Tree limbs filled the roadway.

Signs lay twisted in the mud.

The only light came from flashlights and occasional lightning.

They moved single file.

Carter first.

Bellamy second.

Mark and Sadie behind them.

Daniel limped with Renee supporting him.

The rest followed.

Water reached Mark's ankles.

Then his shins.

Then his knees.

Bellamy stopped.

“Too deep.”

Carter pointed.

“Courthouse is right there.”

“We go around.”

“That adds two blocks.”

Bellamy stared into the water.

“Then we walk two blocks.”

Something splashed behind them.

Everybody turned.

Nothing.

Frank said, “Fish.”

Nobody laughed.

They changed direction.

The side street was shallower.

Halfway down, Tessa suddenly stopped.

“What?”

She pointed her flashlight toward a pickup truck.

Something hung from the side mirror.

A rope.

No.

Mark saw it move.

Snake.

It was wrapped around the mirror, body trailing through the open driver's window.

Bellamy approached cautiously.

“Rat snake.”

Tyler said, “Harmless?”

“Yes.”

“Then I officially love rat snakes.”

They continued.

At the intersection they found a man sitting on the roof of a sedan.

“Help!”

Carter raised his light.

“You hurt?”

“No!”

“Then come down.”

“Hell no!”

The man pointed.

Mark followed his gesture.

An alligator floated between the sedan and sidewalk.

Only its eyes and nostrils showed.

Carter muttered, “You've got to be kidding me.”

Bellamy studied it.

“One of the juveniles.”

“Juvenile?”

“Four feet.”

Mark looked at the man.

“You're afraid of that?”

The man shouted, “You come sit up here with it!”

Fair point.

They backed away.

Bellamy picked up a broken road sign and slapped it against the water.

The alligator turned.

He slapped again.

It moved away.

“Go!” Carter shouted.

The man jumped from the car and splashed toward them.

The alligator spun.

Water exploded.

The man screamed.

Mark saw the animal surge forward.

Carter grabbed the man's jacket and yanked him onto the sidewalk.

Bellamy swung the sign.

It struck the alligator across the snout.

The animal twisted and disappeared.

Everyone ran.

They didn't stop until they reached the courthouse steps.

Mark counted.

Ten.

They still had ten.

The man from the car introduced himself as Paul Mercer.

“Thank you.”

Bellamy nodded.

Paul stared at him.

“You with the carnival?”

“Yes.”

Paul punched him.

Bellamy hit the ground.

Carter grabbed Paul.

“Enough!”

“His damn animals are swimming through town!”

“I didn't cause the storm.”

“You brought them here!”

Bellamy wiped blood from his lip.

He didn't argue.

Maybe because part of him agreed.

---

The courthouse doors were locked.

Carter had keys.

Inside, the building smelled old, dry, and safe.

Mark had never appreciated either of those smells more.

They barricaded the main entrance.

Emergency lights glowed faintly from battery units.

Carter found supplies.

Blankets.

Water.

A proper medical kit.

A weather radio.

For the first time all night, people relaxed.

Daniel lay on a bench while Renee cleaned his wound properly.

Sadie curled beneath a blanket.

Mark sat beside her.

“You okay?”

“No.”

“Good answer.”

She leaned against him.

“I want to go home.”

“So do I.”

“Think the house is okay?”

Mark pictured their little place outside town.

Trees around it.

Creek nearby.

“I think so.”

“You don't know.”

“No.”

Another flash of lightning filled the windows.

Sadie whispered, “What if Mom had been here?”

Mark's chest tightened.

Her mother had died three years earlier.

Cancer.

Sadie rarely mentioned her directly.

“She would've hated this carnival.”

Sadie smiled weakly.

“She hated snakes.”

“She hated pictures of snakes.”

“She would've made us leave before the storm.”

“Probably.”

“Because she was smarter than you.”

“Definitely.”

Sadie rested her head against him.

Mark looked across the lobby.

Bellamy sat alone.

Tessa joined him.

“You okay?”

Bellamy nodded.

“No.”

“Good answer.”

Mark smiled despite himself.

Tessa sat beside the old man.

“How many do you think got out?”

Bellamy stared at the floor.

“All of them.”

Nobody nearby spoke.

Tessa's face fell.

“All?”

“The gator pools were destroyed. Snake racks too.”

“The cobra?”

“Yes.”

Frank overheard.

“Can we stop mentioning the cobra?”

Bellamy ignored him.

“The python enclosure was crushed.”

“Maggie?”

“Gone.”

Carter walked over.

“What about the fish?”

“The aquarium broke.”

“We know.”

“No. You don't understand.”

Bellamy looked at him.

“There were seventy-three piranha in that tank.”

Daniel lifted his head.

“You counted?”

“I know my animals.”

“Apparently not well enough.”

Renee said, “Daniel.”

Bellamy accepted the insult.

“They won't survive long outside controlled water.”

Carter asked, “How long?”

Bellamy hesitated.

“In summer?”

Nobody liked the answer.

“Potentially days.”

Frank sat down.

“I'm moving.”

Evelyn said, “Where?”

“Alaska.”

A loud knock came from the courthouse door.

Everyone jumped.

“Help!”

A woman's voice.

Carter approached.

Another knock.

“Please!”

Mark joined him.

Through the glass they saw two people.

A woman and a teenage girl.

Carter unlocked the door.

They rushed inside.

“Thank God.”

The woman was soaked.

The girl's arm was bleeding.

“What happened?” Carter asked.

“Snake.”

Bellamy stood quickly.

“Where?”

The girl pointed at her forearm.

Two punctures.

Swelling had already started.

Bellamy looked at the bite.

“What did it look like?”

“I don't know!”

“Color.”

“Dark.”

“Pattern?”

“I don't know!”

“Did it rattle?”

The woman said, “Yes.”

Bellamy's expression changed.

Carter noticed.

“What?”

“Hospital.”

“No roads.”

“She needs antivenom.”

The woman's face went pale.

“How long?”

Bellamy looked at the girl.

“I don't know what species bit her.”

“Guess.”

“I won't.”

“How long?”

“Hours.”

Silence.

The girl's name was Kaylee.

She was sixteen.

Her mother, Beth, held her while Carter fought with the radio.

No answer.

Mark watched Kaylee's hand swell.

The safe place didn't feel safe anymore.

---

At ten-fourteen, the courthouse basement flooded.

At ten-thirty, the emergency lights died.

At ten-forty-seven, someone screamed upstairs.

Everyone rushed toward the staircase.

Tyler stood frozen on the landing.

“What happened?”

He pointed.

Something moved along the banister.

Long.

Thick.

Patterned.

Bellamy whispered, “Maggie.”

The python slid from the upper floor.

Its body seemed endless.

Sadie backed into Mark.

“That's sixteen feet?”

“Approximately.”

Frank said, “Stop approximately-ing everything.”

The python crossed the staircase and disappeared into a courtroom.

Carter raised his pistol.

Bellamy said, “Don't.”

“You keep saying that.”

“It's not hunting us.”

“How do you know?”

“I raised her.”

“You also said Dolly wouldn't be looking to hunt people.”

“I didn't say wouldn't.”

“Great.”

Tessa approached Bellamy.

“Maggie's scared.”

Mark stared at her.

“I'm finding it difficult to sympathize.”

Bellamy turned.

“Everybody downstairs.”

Frank pointed.

“The basement's flooding.”

“Then stay in the lobby.”

A crash came from the courtroom.

Bellamy flinched.

Then another.

Tessa said, “She's trying to hide.”

Carter shook his head.

“We need her out.”

“Where?”

“Outside.”

Bellamy looked toward the flooded street.

“You want to release a sixteen-foot python into town?”

Carter stared at him.

“I'm beginning to feel like that decision was already made.”

They found Maggie beneath the judge's bench.

Bellamy and Tessa tried coaxing her into a storage closet.

Mark watched from the doorway.

The python's head was larger than he expected.

Its tongue flickered.

Tessa whispered soothingly.

Maggie began moving.

Then lightning struck nearby.

The thunder shook the courthouse.

The python reacted instantly.

It whipped around.

Tessa screamed.

Maggie struck.

Bellamy shoved her aside.

The python's jaws caught his forearm.

He cried out.

Mark ran forward.

“Don't pull!”

Bellamy shouted through clenched teeth.

The snake released him.

Then wrapped.

One coil.

Two.

Bellamy disappeared beneath muscle.

“Help me!”

Mark grabbed the snake.

Carter and Tyler joined him.

Maggie tightened.

Bellamy's face turned red.

Tessa screamed at the snake.

“Let go!”

Mark pulled uselessly.

The animal was impossibly strong.

Bellamy gasped, “Tail.”

“What?”

“Unwrap—from—tail.”

They found the end of the python and began peeling coils away.

Foot by foot.

Bellamy stopped making noise.

“Faster!”

Finally the last coil loosened.

Mark dragged Bellamy free.

The old man sucked in air.

Maggie slid beneath a row of benches.

Carter aimed.

Bellamy whispered, “Do it.”

The gunshot was deafening.

Then another.

The python stopped moving.

Tessa turned away.

Bellamy sat against the wall, holding his bleeding arm.

“I'm sorry.”

Tessa said nothing.

Bellamy looked older than he had an hour earlier.

Much older.

“I raised her from a hatchling.”

Mark sat beside him.

“She almost killed you.”

“I know.”

“You can still be sorry.”

Bellamy nodded.

For a while neither spoke.

Then the weather radio crackled downstairs.

A voice finally came through.

“—rescue operations expected after sunrise—”

Everyone gathered around.

“—residents should remain sheltered. Flooding severe throughout Jackson County. Do not enter moving water—”

Carter picked up the radio.

“That's public broadcast. Can't talk back.”

Mark checked the time.

11:26.

Sunrise was hours away.

Kaylee was getting worse.

Her mother sat beside her, crying quietly.

Carter looked at Mark.

“We can't wait.”

“For what?”

“The hospital.”

“Roads are blocked.”

“There's a clinic.”

Mark knew the place.

“Across town.”

“They might have antivenom.”

Bellamy shook his head.

“Probably not.”

“Probably isn't no.”

Mark looked at Sadie.

She understood immediately.

“You're going.”

“I have to help.”

“You promised I'd stay beside you.”

That hurt.

Mark crouched.

“I did.”

“So I'm coming.”

“No.”

“You said no matter what happens.”

Carter said, “Mark.”

Mark looked at him.

“We need somebody who knows the streets.”

Sadie crossed her arms.

“Then you're stuck with me.”

Mark almost argued.

Then he remembered the copperhead dropping from the ceiling.

The python inside the courthouse.

No safe place.

No safe ground.

He sighed.

“You don't leave my side.”

She nodded.

“Promise.”

---

They left with six people.

Mark.

Sadie.

Carter.

Bellamy.

Beth.

Kaylee.

Tyler insisted on coming to help carry Kaylee.

The others stayed behind.

They used a courthouse maintenance cart to wheel the girl.

The rain had nearly stopped.

That was the good news.

The bad news was the water had risen.

Bellamy carried a long broom handle, probing ahead.

“Why?” Tyler asked.

“Snakes.”

Tyler nodded.

“Of course.”

They stayed along higher sidewalks.

Every shadow became an animal.

Every floating branch became an alligator.

Twice they changed direction because water was too deep.

They were halfway to the clinic when Sadie stopped.

“Dad.”

Mark followed her flashlight.

A shoe floated beside the curb.

Then another.

A man lay facedown in shallow water.

Carter rushed forward.

Bellamy grabbed him.

“Wait.”

The water around the body moved.

Small ripples.

Dozens.

Mark saw flashes of silver.

Bellamy whispered, “Don't.”

The dead man's hand was underwater.

There was almost no flesh left on two fingers.

Beth covered Kaylee's eyes.

Tyler whispered, “Jesus.”

Bellamy said, “They're feeding.”

Carter looked sick.

“How do we get past?”

“We don't.”

They backed away.

Something splashed behind them.

Mark spun.

An alligator climbed onto the sidewalk.

Not a juvenile.

Dolly.

Nine feet of armored muscle.

“Back!”

Everyone scattered.

The maintenance cart tipped.

Kaylee screamed.

Beth fell beside her.

Dolly charged.

Carter fired.

The first bullet struck the pavement.

The second hit the alligator's side.

It barely reacted.

Bellamy yelled, “Eyes!”

The animal lunged.

Tyler swung the broom handle.

Dolly snapped it in half.

Mark grabbed Sadie and shoved her behind a parked truck.

The alligator turned toward Beth.

Carter fired again.

The bullet struck near the animal's head.

Dolly twisted.

Bellamy ran forward holding a road flare from the emergency kit.

He struck it.

Red fire exploded.

He shoved it toward the animal's face.

Dolly recoiled.

“Hurry!”

Tyler lifted Kaylee.

Beth ran beside him.

Mark and Sadie followed.

Carter backed away, gun aimed.

Bellamy kept the flare between himself and the alligator.

“Come on, girl.”

The alligator hissed.

Bellamy whispered, “I'm sorry.”

Then he threw the flare.

Dolly snapped at it.

They ran.

---

The clinic doors had been forced open during the storm.

Inside was dark.

Carter swept his flashlight through the waiting room.

Empty.

“Hello?”

Nothing.

They moved deeper.

Mark found cabinets torn open.

Someone had already searched for supplies.

Beth laid Kaylee on an exam table.

Her daughter was sweating heavily now.

The swelling had reached her elbow.

Bellamy inspected the wound.

“Could be rattlesnake.”

“Could be?”

“The symptoms fit.”

Carter searched the medication storage room.

Locked.

He kicked the door.

Nothing.

Mark joined him.

Together they broke it open.

Shelves of medications.

Boxes.

Bottles.

None meant anything to Mark.

Beth stood in the doorway.

“Find it.”

Carter searched.

“No antivenom.”

“Look again.”

“I'm looking.”

“LOOK AGAIN!”

Kaylee moaned.

Sadie stood beside her.

“It's okay.”

Kaylee opened her eyes.

“No, it's not.”

Sadie didn't know what to say.

Neither did Mark.

Carter finally found pain medication and IV supplies.

Bellamy knew enough first aid to start fluids.

It wasn't antivenom.

But it was something.

The clinic had a backup generator.

Carter found it behind the building.

It wouldn't start.

Mark joined him.

“You know generators?”

“I fix cars.”

“Close enough.”

The fuel line had come loose.

Mark reconnected it.

The generator coughed.

Then roared.

Lights flickered.

Everyone cheered.

For the first time in hours, electric light filled the building.

Air conditioning kicked on.

The refrigerator hummed.

Carter checked the medical refrigerator.

Nothing.

Beth began crying.

Mark stepped outside.

He needed air.

Sadie followed.

“Dad?”

“I'm okay.”

“No, you're not.”

“No.”

They sat beneath the clinic awning.

Water covered the street.

The carnival lights were gone.

Gainesboro was black.

Mark looked at his daughter.

“You scared?”

“Very.”

“Me too.”

She leaned against him.

“Mom really would have made us leave early.”

“Absolutely.”

“She'd be yelling at you right now.”

“She'd probably kill me before the animals got the chance.”

Sadie laughed.

A real laugh.

It lasted two seconds.

Then Mark heard something.

Scratching.

From beneath the wooden ramp beside the clinic.

He stood.

“Inside.”

Sadie didn't argue.

Mark swept his flashlight beneath the ramp.

Two eyes reflected.

Small.

A snake's head emerged.

Black-and-white bands.

Bellamy appeared behind him.

“Back away.”

Mark whispered, “Cobra?”

Bellamy nodded.

The snake lifted its hood.

Mark's mouth went dry.

Bellamy picked up a shovel leaning against the building.

The cobra hissed.

“Don't move.”

“I've heard that a lot tonight.”

The snake struck.

Bellamy slammed the shovel down.

The first hit missed.

The cobra turned toward him.

Second strike.

The shovel blade caught it behind the head.

Bellamy pushed down.

The snake thrashed.

“Get something heavy.”

Mark grabbed a concrete parking stop fragment.

He brought it down.

Once.

The snake stopped moving.

Bellamy stared at it.

“Twenty-two.”

“What?”

“Twenty-two snakes still out there.”

Mark looked toward town.

“You really count everything, don't you?”

“I did.”

The old man wiped rain from his face.

“Before tonight.”

---

At 1:12 a.m., someone knocked on the clinic door.

Three knocks.

Slow.

Carter raised his weapon.

“Who is it?”

No answer.

Another knock.

Sadie whispered, “Don't open it.”

Mark agreed.

Carter approached the glass.

A man stood outside.

Blood covered his shirt.

“Help.”

Carter opened the door.

The man collapsed inside.

His name was Warren Hale.

He had been trying to reach his mother after the storm.

Something attacked him near the river.

His left arm was mangled.

Not bitten.

Crushed.

Bellamy saw the wound.

“Alligator.”

Warren nodded weakly.

“Big bastard.”

“Where?”

“Near the old gas station.”

Bellamy looked at Mark.

“That's Duke.”

“Another adult?”

“Ten feet.”

Mark sighed.

“Bigger than Dolly?”

“Yes.”

“Fantastic.”

Warren grabbed Carter's shirt.

“There's another one.”

“Another alligator?”

Warren shook his head.

“A kid.”

Everyone went silent.

“Where?”

“Truck.”

“What truck?”

“Pickup. Water pushed it against a tree.”

“How old?”

“Maybe eight.”

Carter stood.

Bellamy said, “Absolutely not.”

Carter looked at him.

“You want to leave a child out there?”

“No.”

“Then we're going.”

Mark said, “I'll come.”

Sadie immediately stood.

“No.”

“Dad.”

“This time no.”

“You promised.”

“And now I'm breaking it.”

She stared at him.

“You said—”

“I know what I said.”

He crouched in front of her.

“And I'm your dad before I'm anything else.”

Her eyes filled.

Mark hated himself.

“Stay with Beth.”

“What if something gets in?”

“Lock the doors.”

“What if you don't come back?”

Mark couldn't answer.

Sadie whispered, “Exactly.”

Bellamy picked up the shovel.

“I'll stay.”

Mark looked at him.

The old man nodded.

“Go.”

Sadie hugged her father.

Hard.

“Come back.”

Mark kissed her forehead.

“I will.”

He hoped it wasn't a lie.

---

Carter and Mark moved through town alone.

The water had begun receding from higher streets.

Near the river, it was worse.

They heard the child before they saw the truck.

“HELP!”

A pickup sat sideways against a tree.

Water rushed around it.

A boy crouched on the roof.

Carter shouted, “Stay there!”

“There's something in the water!”

“We know.”

Mark looked at the distance.

Thirty feet.

Maybe forty.

Too deep to walk safely.

Carter found a coil of rope inside an abandoned utility truck.

They tied one end around a light pole.

Carter wrapped the other around his waist.

Mark grabbed him.

“No.”

“I'm the one with the badge.”

“The badge make you float?”

“No.”

“I'll go.”

“Mark.”

“My kid's waiting for me.”

“So?”

“So I'm coming back.”

Carter almost smiled.

“That's not how drowning works.”

They compromised.

Both went.

The rope stayed tied to Carter.

Mark held his belt.

They entered the water.

Cold compared to the air.

Waist deep.

Then chest deep.

The current pulled hard.

Mark hated not being able to see beneath the surface.

Something touched his leg.

He nearly screamed.

Branch.

Keep moving.

The boy cried from the truck.

“Please hurry!”

“We're coming!”

Ten feet.

Five.

Carter reached the truck.

The boy jumped into his arms.

“Got you.”

Then the rope jerked.

Carter spun.

“What?”

Something struck Mark underwater.

Hard.

His legs disappeared.

He went under.

Brown water filled his mouth.

He kicked.

His shoe struck something rough.

Scales.

Mark surfaced screaming.

“Alligator!”

Carter dragged the boy onto the truck roof.

Mark grabbed the door frame.

The water beside him erupted.

Jaws slammed shut inches from his hand.

Duke.

The alligator was enormous.

Mark climbed.

Duke struck the truck.

Metal shook.

Carter fired downward.

The muzzle flash blinded Mark.

Duke vanished.

“Move!”

They tied the boy between them.

Carter pulled the rope.

They crossed.

Halfway back the current suddenly changed.

Mark looked upstream.

Something large moved beneath the surface.

“Faster.”

Carter saw it.

They pulled.

The rope tightened.

Duke surfaced.

Coming straight toward them.

Mark shoved the boy toward Carter.

“GO!”

The alligator accelerated.

Mark grabbed a floating tree limb.

He swung.

The branch struck Duke's snout.

The alligator lunged.

Mark fell backward.

Jaws snapped.

The rope jerked.

Carter pulled.

Mark slid through the water.

Duke followed.

Then the alligator suddenly thrashed.

Something was wrong.

Its tail slapped violently.

Carter stopped.

“What the hell?”

Mark saw dozens of small silver flashes around the animal's side.

Blood spread through the water from its earlier bullet wounds.

The piranhas had found it.

Duke rolled.

Water boiled.

Mark stared.

Bellamy had said they weren't monsters.

He had been right.

They were animals.

Hungry animals.

And Duke was bleeding.

“MOVE!”

They reached shallow ground.

Duke disappeared behind them.

Mark never saw whether the alligator escaped.

He didn't look back.

---

They returned to the clinic at 2:03.

Sadie hit Mark hard enough to hurt.

“You liar!”

Then hugged him.

Mark held her.

“Fair.”

The rescued boy was named Noah.

His parents were missing.

Beth took him in with the others.

Kaylee was still alive.

Barely.

Carter managed to contact dispatch from the clinic's landline once the generator powered the system.

The connection broke repeatedly.

But the message got through.

Snakebite victim.

Urgent.

Rescue needed.

The answer was frustrating.

“Helicopter unable to fly due to weather. Ground units blocked. Crews working toward Gainesboro.”

How long?

Unknown.

Beth sat beside her daughter.

“What do I do?”

Nobody answered.

At three, the rain stopped completely.

At three-fifteen, the generator sputtered.

Mark ran outside.

Fuel.

Almost empty.

The clinic would go dark again.

They searched vehicles.

Most tanks couldn't be siphoned easily.

Tyler found an old landscaping truck with a plastic fuel can.

Half full.

Enough for maybe another hour.

Mark poured it into the generator.

When he returned, Bellamy was standing over a map.

“I have an idea.”

Mark didn't like those words anymore.

“What?”

“The carnival generator truck.”

Tessa looked at him.

“It's diesel.”

“Full tank.”

Carter shook his head.

“Carnival grounds are underwater.”

“Higher section isn't.”

“You want to go back?”

Bellamy pointed to the clinic generator.

“You've got less than two hours. That girl needs the lights and equipment.”

Beth looked at Carter.

That settled it.

Carter sighed.

“Who's going?”

Bellamy said, “Me.”

Mark said, “Me.”

Tessa said, “Me.”

Sadie glared at Mark.

He looked at her.

“No.”

She pointed toward Bellamy.

“He said the courthouse was safe.”

Bellamy raised a finger.

“I don't remember using the word safe.”

“You implied it.”

Mark almost laughed.

She continued.

“Snakes got inside the office. Python got inside the courthouse. Cobra was under this building. I'm safer with you.”

Mark looked at Bellamy.

Bellamy shrugged.

“She has a point.”

“I hate everyone.”

Sadie picked up her flashlight.

---

The four of them went.

Mark.

Sadie.

Bellamy.

Tessa.

Carter stayed with the clinic.

The streets were quieter now.

That made them worse.

No wind.

No rain.

Just dripping water and distant rushing from the river.

The carnival appeared gradually in their flashlight beams.

A broken ride.

A collapsed booth.

A stuffed bear floating facedown.

The Ferris wheel lay across the field like the skeleton of some giant animal.

Sadie whispered, “It looks dead.”

Mark knew what she meant.

The place that had been full of music and children hours earlier now seemed abandoned for decades.

Bellamy led them toward the generator truck.

They passed the remains of Deadly Wonders.

The tent was gone.

Bent fencing lay everywhere.

One alligator pool had disappeared entirely.

The piranha aquarium had shattered against a drainage culvert.

Tessa stopped.

“Look.”

A snake enclosure lay upside down.

Inside was a rattlesnake.

Alive.

Still contained.

Bellamy laughed softly.

“One.”

Tessa smiled.

“Twenty-one.”

They kept walking.

The generator truck was upright.

Miraculously.

Bellamy tried the cab.

Locked.

Tessa held up keys.

“You taught me better than that.”

The engine started.

Mark nearly cheered.

Then they saw the problem.

A section of roller coaster track had fallen across the rear axle.

The truck couldn't move.

Tessa looked at Bellamy.

“Can we transfer the fuel?”

“Yes.”

“To what?”

Mark pointed toward a carnival maintenance pickup.

It sat fifty feet away.

“Does that run?”

They tried.

It did.

They found hoses and fuel cans.

It would take time.

Sadie stood on the truck bed holding the flashlight.

Then she said quietly:

“Dad.”

Mark looked up.

“What?”

“Something's under there.”

She pointed beneath a ride platform.

Bellamy shined his flashlight.

Eyes.

Several sets.

Mark's stomach tightened.

Juvenile alligators.

Three.

They had taken shelter beneath the platform.

Bellamy whispered, “Back away.”

They did.

One juvenile crawled out.

Then another.

Not attacking.

Just moving.

Tessa smiled nervously.

“They're leaving.”

Mark heard a rattle behind him.

He froze.

Bellamy whispered, “Don't move.”

Mark slowly turned his head.

A rattlesnake rested beside the fuel can.

Coiled.

He had been standing inches away.

Sadie whispered, “Dad.”

“I'm okay.”

He wasn't.

Bellamy approached with a snake hook salvaged from the wreckage.

The rattlesnake struck.

Bellamy caught it behind the middle.

“Box.”

Tessa found a plastic storage tub.

They placed the snake inside.

Bellamy closed the lid.

“Two.”

Mark stared.

“You're really starting the count again?”

“Yes.”

Something crashed inside the ruined tent.

Everyone turned.

A flashlight beam swept across canvas.

Nothing.

Then an alligator came through the wreckage.

Dolly.

Bellamy whispered, “Oh, girl.”

Blood marked her side.

Carter's bullet.

She looked exhausted.

Sadie backed toward the truck.

Dolly moved forward.

Mark grabbed a metal bar.

Bellamy stopped him.

“Wait.”

The alligator stopped ten feet away.

Bellamy spoke softly.

“Easy.”

Dolly hissed.

Bellamy slowly picked up a broken livestock panel.

Tessa helped.

Together they formed a barrier.

“Move the truck.”

Mark climbed into the pickup.

Sadie jumped beside him.

Engine running.

Tessa climbed into the bed.

Bellamy backed toward the passenger door.

Dolly suddenly charged.

“GO!”

Bellamy jumped inside.

Mark floored it.

The pickup tore across the muddy carnival grounds.

Dolly snapped at the rear tire and missed.

Sadie screamed.

Then laughed.

Not because it was funny.

Because sometimes terror had nowhere else to go.

Mark laughed too.

He couldn't help it.

They reached the road.

The carnival disappeared behind them.

The truck carried enough diesel to keep the clinic running until morning.

For the first time that night, Mark believed they might actually survive.

Then Bellamy said, “Stop.”

“What?”

“Stop the truck.”

Mark braked.

Bellamy stared through the windshield.

A shape lay in the road.

Human.

They approached carefully.

Paul Mercer.

The man they had rescued from the car earlier.

His body was twisted unnaturally.

Mark looked away before Sadie could see.

Bellamy crouched.

“Snakebite?”

“No.”

Deep punctures covered Paul's shoulder.

Massive bruising surrounded them.

Tessa whispered, “Duke?”

Bellamy nodded.

Sadie looked into the darkness.

“Where is he?”

Nobody knew.

They climbed back into the truck.

Mark locked the doors.

---

The clinic generator was still running when they returned.

Kaylee was unconscious.

Beth sat beside her.

Mark poured in the diesel.

The lights stayed on.

Four o'clock.

Then five.

People stopped talking.

Exhaustion settled over them.

Noah slept beside Sadie.

Warren slept on the floor.

Daniel's bleeding had stopped.

Outside, the floodwater slowly receded.

At 5:36, Carter's radio crackled.

A voice.

Clear.

“Jackson County unit, copy?”

Carter grabbed it.

“Copy!”

Everyone woke.

“Rescue convoy approaching downtown from north. ETA approximately twenty minutes.”

Beth began crying.

Carter smiled.

“Copy that.”

Twenty minutes.

The longest twenty minutes of Mark's life.

At 5:49 they heard engines.

At 5:54 they saw lights.

Not carnival lights.

Emergency lights.

Red.

Blue.

White.

Beautiful.

State vehicles.

Ambulances.

Utility trucks.

A National Guard vehicle.

Crews came through the clinic doors.

Kaylee was placed on a stretcher.

Beth climbed into the ambulance.

Warren went next.

Daniel too.

Noah was taken to find his parents.

Carter briefed responders about the animals.

The expression on the commander's face was unforgettable.

“You're telling me we have alligators, venomous snakes, a python, and piranhas loose in Gainesboro?”

Bellamy said quietly, “Python's accounted for.”

The commander stared at him.

Bellamy added, “And two snakes.”

The man rubbed his face.

“Fantastic.”

Sadie leaned against Mark.

The horizon was turning orange.

Morning.

They had made it.

Mark looked toward town.

Flooded streets.

Broken trees.

Dark houses.

Destroyed cars.

The little town looked battered.

But alive.

Sadie took his hand.

“Can we go home now?”

“As soon as they'll let us.”

“No more carnival.”

Mark nodded.

“Never again.”

“Ever.”

“Ever.”

She thought about it.

“Maybe rides.”

Mark looked at her.

“No animals.”

“No animals.”

They shook on it.

---

By noon, most of the floodwater had drained away.

The power remained off.

Crews cleared trees.

Animal-control teams arrived from several counties.

State wildlife officers searched waterways.

Professor Bellamy stayed with them.

He refused to leave.

Over the next two days they accounted for five of the seven alligators.

Dolly was captured alive behind a hardware store.

One juvenile was found beneath a porch.

Another wandered into somebody's garage and terrified a family who had gone inside looking for a chainsaw.

Duke was found dead downstream.

His body bore gunshot wounds and hundreds of small bites.

Nobody officially blamed the piranhas.

Nobody officially ruled them out either.

Seventeen snakes were recovered.

Three were found dead.

The cobra had already been accounted for.

Two remained missing.

One timber rattlesnake.

One cottonmouth.

Maggie was buried near the carnival grounds.

Bellamy did it himself.

Kaylee survived.

Antivenom reached the hospital shortly after sunrise.

Doctors later said another hour might have changed the outcome.

Noah's parents survived too.

They had spent the night trapped in an attic after a tree collapsed across their house.

Daniel Bishop spent three days in the hospital.

He told anyone who listened that he had been attacked by piranhas in downtown Gainesboro.

Most people didn't believe him.

Mark did.

So did Sadie.

The carnival never reopened.

By Monday morning its surviving equipment was loaded onto trucks.

Professor Bellamy stood beside his trailer watching workers secure the last cages.

Mark and Sadie came to say goodbye.

Bellamy's arm was bandaged.

His face looked tired.

Sadie handed him something.

A photograph.

She had taken it before the storm.

Bellamy standing beside the piranha aquarium.

He smiled.

“That's a terrible picture of me.”

“You look weird.”

“Thank you.”

“Are you going to keep doing the animal show?”

Bellamy looked at the empty field.

“No.”

“Good.”

He laughed.

“Thinking maybe card tricks.”

“Safer.”

“Probably.”

Mark shook his hand.

“You saved people.”

Bellamy looked toward the river.

“I brought the problem.”

“The storm did.”

“I brought the animals.”

Mark didn't argue.

Bellamy climbed into his truck.

Before leaving, he rolled down the window.

“One piece of advice.”

Mark waited.

“If you ever see a carnival advertisement offering flesh-eating fish…”

Sadie interrupted.

“Keep driving.”

Bellamy smiled.

“Smart kid.”

The truck pulled away.

Sadie watched until it disappeared.

Then she and Mark walked home.

The air was hot again.

Almost as hot as the day the carnival arrived.

Cicadas screamed from the trees.

The river moved lazily beneath the summer sun.

Gainesboro looked normal.

Almost.

Near the edge of the water, something splashed.

Sadie stopped.

Mark stopped too.

They stared.

Nothing.

Probably a fish.

Maybe a turtle.

Sadie looked at him.

“You want to check?”

Mark shook his head.

“Nope.”

They continued walking.

Behind them the river rolled quietly past the damaged town.

Somewhere beneath the brown water, something small flashed silver.

Then another.

And another.

The storm was gone.

The roads were opening.

The lights would eventually come back on.

Gainesboro had ground again.

Whether any of it was safe was another question.