Sole Asylum...Part 3

Shuffling around like silent zombies, we loaded up Jim’s truck with a few overstuffed bags of clothing and personal items and several boxes of groceries from the Frau’s enormous pantry.

Ravyn and I piled into the narrow back seat of the truck while the Frau rode shotgun.

As we set off through the quiet, narrow back country road that would take us north to I-94, the winds began to kick up as the edge of a large, dark, bank of clouds rolled over us from the west.

By the time we reached the highway entrance ramp, enormous drops of water were splattering on the hood and windshield of the truck. Jim pushed up the bill of the second cap. “I didn’t think that rain was in the forecast for the next week.”

A flash of lightning was soon followed by the rolling booms of thunder, signaling for the real downpour to begin. Sheets of water sluiced down across the road.

The Frau chuckled, pushed up her own glass and pointed towards the clouds with her cane. “My bones are telling me that this is no ordinary storm. The hair on the back of my neck is standing up as well. Someone or something doesn’t want us to get where we’re going.”

Jim grunted and punched a button on his radio. He fumbled around with the knobs, adjusting them back and forth several times, only to come up with crackling static. “That’s strange. This radio is normally pretty good.”

Ravyn scanned the highway from her seat next to me. “Hey, I can’t ever remember seeing I-94 this empty. There isn’t another car or truck in sight in either direction.”

I leaned forward from my seat behind the Frau. “Jim, stop the truck. Pull over to the side of the road, but leave it running and in gear.”

Jim pulled over to a stop. As the vehicle stopped, so did the rain.

The tension in the truck was thick. Ravyn clenched and unclenched her fingers, clearly itching to start throwing fire at whatever was causing this weather weirdness. The Frau clutched her cane in white knuckled hands as she scanned the horizons. Jim’s hand gripped the steering wheel, his shoulders hunched and tense.

I patted the seatback in front of me. “Frau, I’ll need to get out of the truck.”

She nearly jumped at my words, but she nodded and started fumbling with the door handle.

The rain had now stopped completely, but a low rumbling sound could be heard coming from the west.

The Frau opened the door and stood on the running board of the truck still holding the door open as she looked back to the west. “Oh my! That looks like a tornado coming our way.”

I clambered out of the back seat and through the rear half-door to stand on the shoulder of the road. Looking back, I saw the huge black funnel cloud that was barreling its way down the highway right towards us.

I slammed the half-door shut and waved the Frau to get back in. Over the growing roar of the oncoming tornado, I called out to Jim. “We’ll never outrun this thing, someone is controlling it. I’m going to open up a portal through the Shadowland. When I wave at you, gun this thing and go through, I’ll follow along as soon as I can!”

Jim’s eyes grew wide for the briefest of moments before he set his jaw, clamped down even harder on his steering wheel, and nodded his agreement. Ravyn seemed to be yelling something, but whatever she said was lost to the howling wind and the shutting door.

I rambled forward to a spot about a hundred feet in front of the truck and turned to face the coming funnel cloud and the hopeful looks of my dear companions.

I had never before created a portal that could fit something as large as a pick-up truck. I was not entirely sure that it was even possible to transport a mechanical machine like and automobile through a magickal, spiritual place like the Shadowland, but we were clearly very short on options.

It was hard to take my eyes off of the looming, ever-closer tornado and the havoc that it was creating less than half a mile behind my friends, but it was necessary if they were going to have a chance at surviving.

Instead, I stared at a spot about twenty feet in front of me. I focused my Will as I called more of the Shadow to that spot than I had ever called upon before.

Darkness formed as the Shadow pooled into the spot I had chosen. It grew rapidly, but nearly as rapidly as the tornado bore down on us.

With my left hand I continued to pour as much Shadow as possible into a puddle on the ground that rippled with dark energies, while I raised my right hand and waved for the truck to come forward.

The winds were whipping, it was getting more and more difficult to stand tall in the face of blowing, churning air.

Jim released the brakes of the truck and punched the accelerator. The truck lurched forward as the engine strained to get up to speed. Jim turned the wheel ever so slightly to align the vehicle with the pool of darkness that now stretched across the entire right lane of the highway.

A tree branch crashed into me as I stood stock still. I maintained my concentration as the truck raced with the screaming tornado to reach the portal.

I began striding forward myself, using both hands now to direct the dark energies of the pool to rise up and form an arch that would be large enough for the truck to go through.

The truck, the tornado, and I all met just feet from the Shadow Gate.

The back of the truck was lifting from ground and sliding to the left as it was caught by the funnel cloud, but its momentum continued to carry it through the gate as it spun in the air. Still using most of my concentration on keeping the portal open, I leapt forward, grabbing onto the rear bumper as it swung into the portal first.

There was an immediate silence as I passed into the calmness of the Shadowland that almost immediately shattered by roaring of the truck engine as Jim continued to hold his foot to the pedal, despite the lack of any ground for the wheels to gain traction on.

As soon as I saw that the front of the truck was through, I closed off that portal and began working on another to get us close to the Asylum…