Not alone:

Dust rested his forehead on the steering wheel as the loud roar of the massive tornado moved closer. He could hear the rocks hitting the back glass of the car. It was hard to breathe as it went over them. It felt like the twister was sucking all the air up out of the car. His head jerked up when he felt the car shift and begin to rise.

“Dust!” Todd cried in terror.

“I won’t let anything happen to you or Sammy, Todd,” Dust said in a hoarse voice, glancing over his shoulder.

He heard Sammy’s soft gasp and knew his eyes must be glowing from the fear that flashed through them. He could feel the change in him. The power was surging through his system. Turning back around, he focused on his glowing hands.

The car shifted in the air for a moment before it settled back down. He could feel the heat radiating out from him. His teeth gritted as he battled for control of the energy spreading like a fiery wave outward. He watched as if in slow motion as a light blue, light stretched outward to form a partial dome over the car. Sweat beaded on his brow as he fought to maintain it. The sound of the wind and rain of debris hitting the car faded as it struck the shield instead.

“Sammy,” Todd whispered in awe.

“Shush,” Sammy replied under her breath.

Dust looked in the rear view mirror at Sammy. He could see the fear, but he could also see that she knew that he was doing what he had promised – he was protecting her and Todd. That knowledge gave him the strength to push the fatigue clouding the edges of his vision away.

It seemed like hours later, but was really just minutes, before the faint sound of the storm moving away echoed through the culvert. Dust’s body shook from the force of expending so much energy. His knuckles shown as blue as the field of energy where he had them wrapped around the black plastic steering wheel.

“It’s gone,” Sammy whispered, tentatively reaching out to touch his shoulder. “You can stop now.”

“I…,” Dust started to say before he just nodded.

The moment he released the power, his body slumped like a limp noodle. He was as weak as a newborn kitten. This was far worse than back in town.

“Dust?” Sammy asked when his head fell sideways against the driver’s door.

“F… food,” Dust muttered, closing his eyes as nausea welled up inside him.

Realizing he wasn’t going to be able to keep it at bay, he struggled to open the door with a trembling hand. He fumbled for the release on the seat belt that was holding him in the seat as the door swung open. It snapped free and he rolled out of the car, hitting the ground hard as waves of heaving took control of his body. There was nothing to eject. He had used up all of the food he had eaten plus some. The force of the dry heaves sent his body into spasms.

“Dust!” Sammy cried out as she scrambled out of the car and ran around it. “Oh, Dust.”

“Food,” he wheezed, trying to pull in enough air to talk.

“Todd, get a soda,” Sammy called out in a panic.

“Here you go, Sammy,” Todd whispered, handing his sister a can of soda through the opened driver’s door.

“Drink this,” Sammy ordered.

Dust heard the click of the metal tab on the can, and the fizz of the sugary drink, a second before Sammy held it to his lips. He panted heavily several times before he felt he could take a sip without throwing it back up. The moment the liquid hit his taste buds, he felt an almost savage hunger sweep through him. He pushed up off the ground onto his knees and greedily grabbed for the can, spilling some of the contents on his shirt.

“Slow down,” Sammy whispered in a soothing voice. “That’s it. Let me help you.”

Dust forced his hands down to his lap, clenching them, and let Sammy hold the can while he drank as fast as he could. He finished the can in seconds. She must have realized that he needed more because she ordered Todd to get her another one before he finished the first. Three cans later, he was able to sit on the ground next to the car with his back against the opened driver’s seat.

“Here you go, Dust,” Todd said, holding out several bags of chips.

Dust looked up at Todd and gave him a weak smile. “Thanks, Todd,” he whispered in a rough voice.

“No problem,” Todd replied, hanging out of the back seat window. “That was even cooler than the disappearing through the door thing that you do.”

Dust gave a dry laugh as he shakily opened a bag of potato chips. He reached in and grabbed a handful before stuffing the lot of them in his mouth. A soft moan of pleasure escaped him as the salty chips sent a flood of energy into his system.

“That good, huh?” Sammy teased, sitting down across from him.

“Yeah,” Dust mumbled around the mouthful of crunchy snack food.

“I smell gas,” Todd complained.

Sammy lifted her head and sniffed the air. A frown creased her brow and she stood up. Dust groaned and pushed off the ground with one hand while hanging onto the bag of chips with the other. He could smell it now, too.

“It looks like one of the cans was punctured,” Sammy said, standing on the edge of the driver’s door.

“We need to put it in the gas tank before it runs out,” Dust muttered, tilting the bag to refill his mouth.

“I can do it,” Sammy said, glancing over her shoulder at him with a chuckle. “You finish eating.”

“Okay,” Dust agreed with a salty grin before turning to look at Todd. “Do we have any more cans of fruit?”

Todd nodded. “Yeah, we have some pears and some apricots,” he said, sliding back down to look inside one of the bags in the very back of the car. “How many do you want?”

“Five,” Dust automatically replied before he glanced up at Sammy when she turned from releasing the leaking gas can to stare at him with a raised eyebrow. “Two,” he hastily corrected. “I’ll take two.”

He stepped back when Sammy stepped down from the door frame with the gas can. She tilted it to keep the dime-size holes in the top of the plastic container from pouring down over her. He quickly stepped around her to open the gas cap before moving back against the side of the culvert again.

He watched as she extended the spout and slowly tilted it so that the gas went into the tank and not all over the ground. Popping open the first can of fruit, he drank the heavy syrup before picking out the tasty tidbits. With each mouthful, he was feeling better.

“Thank you again,” Sammy said.

Dust paused and frowned. Her head was tilted slightly away from him so he couldn’t see her face. He licked his lips and swallowed the fruit in his mouth before he spoke.

“For what?” He asked in confusion.

Sammy glanced over her shoulder at him for a second before refocusing on what she was doing. He saw her draw in a deep breath. She was silent for a second before he heard her softly spoken words.

“For saving us again,” she replied.

Dust set the empty fruit can down on the ground by his feet and took a step closer to Sammy. He gently reached out and took the nearly empty container from her hands and set it down on the ground next to the tire. Turning her around to face him, he lifted his hand to gently tilt her head back so that she was forced to look at him.

“You never have to thank me for that,” Dust whispered, looking down at her.

Dust wasn’t consciously aware that his hand was sliding along Sammy’s jaw and around to the back of her neck. Or that he was pulling her towards him. All he was aware of was that he was slowly drowning in her hazel eyes. Her eyes widened and her lips parted when he started to bend his head. Deep down, he knew he should stop, but that thought seemed to evaporate as fast as it formed in his mind.

Her eyes fluttered for a brief second before they closed as his lips settled over hers in a kiss that shocked them both. He had never kissed a girl before, and if he had to guess, Sammy had never been kissed either. He wasn’t real sure what to do, just that he liked the feel of her in his arms as they wrapped around her and the soft touch of her lips against his. He would have taken more time to explore if he hadn’t felt a tug on his left arm.

Pulling back, he looked to the side with a dazed expression. Todd was staring back at him with an expression that was a mixture of distaste and amusement.

“Why are you kissing Sammy?” Todd asked, tilting his head and staring up at Dust.

Dust turned to look down at Sammy. She was looking away from her little brother and had bowed her head so he couldn’t see her face again. His hand rose and he ran his fingers down along her cheek.

“Because I wanted to,” Dust murmured.

Sammy’s head jerked up and she stared at him in silence. A look of uncertainty and worry darkened her eyes. He wished he could wave his hand and erase it. He was about to say something to her when a sense of warning swept through him. Turning, he pushed Sammy protectively between him and the car. His body turned and he held his hands up, palms up, as several dark shapes appeared on both sides of the culvert.

“I told you I saw a car coming down the road,” a deep voice said from the front of the car.