Jeb leveled his pistol at the twister, shot twice, then wheeled his horse and brought it to a gallop. From the way the twister had been moving it was coming right toward Jeb and Betsy and in a hurry. Jeb thought back to the twister he'd seen as a child, how it had uprooted the oldest oaks in the forest like they were saplings, how it had picked up cows and tossed them three counties like they were nothing. His father had called them “The finger of God,” as if they were some kind of biblical punishment dolled out by the creator when people were being extra naughty down on earth. From what Jeb remembered the only thing to do when a twister touched down was to seek shelter, preferably underground.
“Well shit,” Jeb muttered. “Mine shaft seems to be the best place to go.”
Jeb turned his horse sharply and galloped back through the bandits who at this time were trying to get back together and decide what to do. The smart once was screaming that they needed to move it, and right when Jeb rode through them is when their spirit broke and they turned and fled in terror. The smart bandit was still screaming something about how they needed to pick some kind of rally point for after they got done running so they could all find each other as if the twister wouldn't be on the in seconds. Jeb didn't look back to see how the bandits fared, he just made for the mine shaft. When he got close enough to see that the boards over the entrance had all been blown in he smiled.
“About time I got some luck!” he shouted as he road straight down into the mine.
Behind them it sounded like a train roared past. But not just any train, the biggest and baddest train that had ever existed. It was so loud in the mine that Jeb road down the tunnel and around the corner before he brought his horse to a halt among the belongings left strewn about by the bandits.
“Well I'll be God damned,” Jeb said as he swung off the horse and then reached up to help Betsy off. “Did you call that twister out of the sky?”
Betsy took his hand and carefully stepped down off the horse.
“It's more complicated than that, but yes, I had something to do with it,” Betsy said.
“Do explain,” Jeb said.
“It's kind of like starting a fire,” Betsy said. “The conditions have to be right for things to take off.”
“Ah,” Jeb said. “That kind of makes sense. Except for the part where you have any control of the weather. I guess I always kind of believed in magic though.”
Betsy cringed.
“I don't know if I'd call it magic,” she said. “It's more like having a special way to communicate with nature and other forces in the inverse than it is conjuring things out of thin air.”
“Sounds like magic to me,” Jeb said with a laugh. “Anyway, I guess I don't really need to understand anything about it except that it just saved our asses out there. I'm not as young as I used to be. I'm not sure I could have taken that many bandits at once.”
Betsy looked at him strangely.
“You actually fought off that many men before?”
“Oh hell yes,” Jeb said. “I'm not just some bushwhacking asshole. I've led small armies into battle before. I've fought off entire tribes of Indians by myself! But that was a long time ago. These days I try to smart a little smarter than I used to. Easier to stay alive when you're smart, I've found.”
“How many men have killed?” Betsy asked. Her eyes examined the air around Jeb as if she could see his aura somehow.
“Enough,” Jeb said. “Now lets head up to the mouth of the mine and see what we can see.”
Jeb turned without further conversation and headed up to the tunnel. Betsy followed wondering what kind of man had saved her. He boasted about some of his past battles, but when pressed about them a grim, sad look covered his face and he clammed up. Most men loved to talk about their exploits. When they got to the top of the mine Jeb peered out into the darkness. Wind crossed the mine's entrance in a howl, like a giant blew across an open bottle.
“Do you think they made it?” Jeb asked her.
“No,” Betsy said quietly. “They didn't make it.”
Jeb looked at her strangely. He didn't know how she knew whether or not the men were alive but he took her word for it. With no where else to go until the storm passed they headed back into the mine.
“When do you think the weather will go back to normal?” Jeb asked.
“Tomorrow,” Betsy said.
“Well shit,” Jeb said. “Better get comfortable.”