At 1:30 a.m., the rescue team headed toward the northern district.
The town had completely changed.
Buildings that had been full of life just hours earlier were silent.
There were no cars moving, no music coming from restaurants, and no laughter coming from homes.
Only the wind, the water, and distant emergency sirens remained.
Along the way, they spotted a man standing on the roof of his car, waving a white piece of cloth.
The team stopped to rescue him.
He was holding a small photograph inside a plastic bag.
Once they brought him to safety, Daniel asked, “Are you injured?”
The man shook his head.
“No. I just need to know whether my wife made it to the shelter.”
He gave them her name and described what she was wearing.
Daniel recorded the information.
Then he looked at the photograph.
It showed the man and his wife standing in front of a small house, smiling in the sunshine.
“Is this your wife?” Daniel asked.
The man smiled sadly.
“We took that picture on our wedding day. Forty-four years ago.”
He looked down at it.
“I thought I had more time to tell her everything I never said. Now I don’t even know where she is.”
Daniel couldn’t find the right words.
He simply returned the photograph to the man’s hand.
“We’ll help you look for her.”
Then the team continued down the road.
About forty minutes later, they reached the neighborhood mentioned in the voicemail.
The water covered the entire street, making it impossible to distinguish the sidewalk from the road.
The rescuers moved carefully.
Suddenly, Daniel heard a faint sound.
Barking.
He turned toward a house on the left.
A small dog was standing on a raised piece of wood, struggling to keep its balance.
“There’s a dog!” one of the rescuers shouted.
They approached and pulled it to safety.
The little animal was trembling, its fur covered in mud.
Daniel examined its collar.
A small metal tag carried a name.
CHARLIE.
He immediately looked up.
“Have you found the dog’s owner?”
One of the team members answered, “An elderly woman from this neighborhood is missing. Her name is Elizabeth Carter.”
It wasn’t his mother’s name.
But the dog reminded him of everyone still waiting for help somewhere in the darkness.
He carried Charlie to the rescue vehicle.
Then he returned to the search.
He didn’t know that this little dog would help save more than one life before sunrise.
Chapter Eight: The House with the Broken Window
HE HAD ONE NIGHT TO SAVE EVERYONE HE LOVED… 💔
