Chapter 17 - Outbreak Part 1
"Doesn't any of these buildings have a basement we could hide in?" Asked Mali.
"Majority of the buildings around here are boarded up because they use to harbor the infected." Nash responded. "The time it takes for us to find a way inside any of these buildings could be a waste, especially if we pick wrong and don't find a basement."
"So then we have a choice." Private Davis stated. "We could stay here, bunker down, and pray the tornado steers clear of us. Or move and risk intercepting the tornado's path. If we pick wrong we can't move fast enough to fix our mistakes."
There was a moment of silence. Nobody wanted to make the decision that could cost not one but all of our lives. Even though only the captain's opinion mattered, and that's why everybody was looking at him. He looked over at the twister and nodded his head before looking to the ground. Right before he went to say something the voice on his radio came back.
"Sir, we can confirm the tornado has reached to an F-3 level. Winds are just below 200 miles per hour and it's currently moving northeast at around 20 miles per hour."
"So it is moving our direction." Zhaire stated. "We need to get out of here."
"Zhaire your the fastest out of us here, lead the way." Nash stated. "Everybody keep pace and stay close!"
"Yes sir!"
Everyone began to sprint away and I almost left too before catching a glimpse of Angie still in the building.
"Angie come on we gotta go." I said to her.
Captain Nash and Desmond heard me and turned around.
"What's wrong?" I asked
"What if... this building is strong enough to stay in?" She asked.
"That's highly unlikely given that all of these buildings are falling apart including this one. That tornado would level this place."
"Angie sweety let's go." Nash called out to her.
"Don't call me sweety!" She replied.
"If we wait here any longer, we could be in serious danger." Desmond said to us.
"Angie come on we gotta leave now." I said to her.
She's holding on to the window of the store hesitating to come out. I wouldn't have ever imagined she would be this scared.
"Trust me." I said reaching my hand out. "I'll protect you but we have to move."
She looked at my hand then back up to me before saying...
"I don't need protection, but thanks."
She grabs my hand and we finally start running to catch up to the others. My heart is pounding out of my chest and I'm scared to death right now, but I can't show that. The tornado sounds like a rocket launching and every other sound is drowning in it. We're running but it feels like we've getting nowhere. Every time I look back it seems to be closer than before.
"We're not gonna be able to out run it." I stated. "We need to find shelter, quick."
Just then, a scrap piece of metal flew over our heads and crashed into the road in front of us. The four of us stopped and stared at the piece of debris that could've easily decapitated us.
"Sir, we believe that the twister is a multi-vortex tornado." Said the voice over the radio.
"What does that mean?" Angie asked.
Nash turned and looked and at the twister before replying "It means there are smaller vortexes revolving around the big one."
"We need to get off the street, now!" Desmond yelled.
"That house up there!" Angie yelled pointing up the street. "The door is broken off!"
"Let's go!" Nash yelled.
The noise from the twister has become so deafening that it's hard to even hear yourself think. We run inside a house that doesn't even have a front door, but it's all we have.
"Quickly Ejay, Desmond, come help me." Said Nash.
"What are we doing Captain?" I asked.
"This house looks like it has two bathrooms. We're going to drag a mattress into each bathroom. Let's go."
We swiftly grab the two mattresses out or the bedrooms and drag them to a bathroom. We can feel the wind intensely picking up and the house is being bombarded by debris.
"What are we doing sir!?" I yelled fighting over the wind.
"You and Angie lay in the this bathtub!" He responded. "Pull the mattress over you and hold on! Me and Desmond will do the same in the other bathroom."
"Angie let's go!" I shouted while getting in the tub.
"Dad!" She yelled as he's leaving.
"Everything will be fine!" He responded.
"Angie come!"
She crawls into the tub next to me and I pull the mattress over us.
"Try to hold on to it!" I shouted to her.
I've never heard a volcano erupt but I assume this is what it would sound like. I close my eyes and think, what if this is the end. Something big crashed into the house and shook the entire foundation. I felt Angie grabbed my arm, and her hand was shaking intensely. I looked over to her and a single tear was falling down her face. I went to hold her hand then the mattress started lifting off of us. The force of the wind was pushing through the entire house and slamming all kind of debris into it. I took my knife and cut a small hole into the mattress that I could slip my hand into to hold it down. The next few seconds felt like hours. Easily the scariest moment of my entire life. The sound finally started to sound like it was moving away. The wind slowly died down and the rumbling stopped.
"Angie." I whispered. "You alright?"
She was breathing heavily and staring up at the mattress.
"Hey, say something to me."
"I'm fine." She finally replied.
I pushed the mattress off of us and looked around the room. Tree branches, shingles, random pieces of wood and metal was all throughout the entire house.
"Captain Nash! Desmond!" I called out to no answer.
I got up and climbed out of the tub.
"Ejay your hand. It's bleeding." Angie pointed out to me.
"I must've cut myself with my knife." I replied looking at the slice in the lower palm of my hand. "I'll be fine."
I went to check out the damage to the rest of the house before heading to Desmond and Captain Nash. The wind was so strong it peeled some of the paint off of the walls.
"Captain Nash!" I yelled again before running to there bathroom.
I found that the a part of the roof had collapsed on top of them.
"Desmond!" I yelled again.
"We're alright." Nash responded. "We are a bit stuck though, so if you don't mind..."
I start dragging off pieces of the debris to free them. Angie slowly walks in while I'm doing this and just watches. Finally me, Desmond and the Captain are able to lift the mattress off.
"You two alright?" Desmond asked.
"Yeah we're good." I replied.
"Angie, are you good?" Nash asked to her.
"Yeah." She quickly responds.
"Ok then, let's get out of here."
My shirt was already ripped from when I fell through the floor back on our mission. So I finish took it off and used piece of it as a tourniquet for my hand. We walked to the front door and found what the large thing was that had hit the house.
"Isn't this the bus that was supposed to come for us?" Asked Desmond.
"Yeah it is." Nash replied inspecting it. "The tornado seemed to have had its way with it."
The bus broke through the front wall of the house and was blocking the exit. The driver's body was halfway hung outside of the front window. Bloody and lifeless.
"We could crawl out through this window." Nash suggested.
We did use the window to exit, with Angie leaving first and me leaving last. Right before I went to leave though I smelled a light amount of what I thought was gas. I thought nothing of it and left.
Outside was unbelievable. The buildings across the road were completely flattened.
"Looks like we just barely missed a direct hit." Said Desmond.
As soon as it came the tornado was gone. Vanished but it did leave a trace. Miles of wreckage that I almost can't comprehend.
"We should try to find the others." Angie suggested.
"Yeah." I replied.
The four of us begin to walk off when...
BOOM!
The bus behind us blew up, knocking all of us to the ground.
"AAAARGHHHHH."
I struggled to lift myself up, but when I did rise. I saw a piece of glass sticking out of Desmond's leg. He's grunting and writhing in pain.
"Captain do you copy?" The radio voice asked. There are being reports of more tornadic activity around the city. I'm afraid this wasn't a one off thing. We might have a serious outbreak on our hands."