Chapter 12: The Storm in the Valley
In the autumn of Leo’s fourth year, a catastrophic flash flood hit the river valley in western Pennsylvania, submerging entire towns and washing out roads.
Our foundation’s regional relief hub was right in the path of the deluge. Over two hundred displaced elderly residents and children were trapped inside the community shelter as the river breached its banks.
When the emergency dispatch reached my desk in New York, I immediately chartered a relief helicopter loaded with medical supplies and emergency rations.
"Elena, it's too dangerous," Jonathan Sterling warned. "The local roads are impassable."
"My people are on the ground there, Jonathan," I said, putting on my heavy rain jacket. "We don't manage crises from ivory towers."
When our helicopter landed on the muddy athletic field adjacent to the submerged shelter, the scene was chaotic. Volunteers were hauling sandbags through knee-deep water under torrential rain.
In the center of the muddy current, waist-deep in freezing water, one man was carrying an elderly woman on his back, wading steadily toward the rescue boat. His face was covered in grit, his clothes soaked through, his breath coming in ragged gasps.
It was Tyler.
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For six straight hours, he had been navigating the flooded basements, refusing to evacuate until every single resident had been accounted for.
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