June 2nd 12:00pm 20XX
As the day went on, a nagging curiosity took over me and I decided to head to one of the restaurants with a TV to see video coverage of the storm. I navigated my way through the apartment complex and opened the door to step outside. The light momentarily blinded me. It was surprisingly clear out that day, somewhat of a rare occurrence in these times. I was used to seeing constant grey clouds blocking out the blue of the sky, but today you couldn't even imagine that a violent storm was on its way here. I almost took a deep breath in, but thought better of it. The air in this city wasn't fresh like it used to be. Whenever I breathed in, it was quick and shallow. Despite that, I couldn't mask the stench of chemicals, smoke and garbage.
When I was young, this city lived up to its name of Arborline. It used to be green and full of life, with trees planted all around. Now all that's left is the withered stumps of dead trees. Gone was the vibrant colors of the past, now all that remained was the dull gray of concrete and asphalt.
I walked slowly, keeping my eyes fixed on the sky. For some reason, I had a certain feeling that this would be the last clear sky in a long, long time.
The restaurant wasn't far from where we lived, so it didn't take me long to get there. I walked in and greeted the man at the desk, who immediately asked me what I wanted. I wasn't particularly hungry and I just came for the TV. I just asked for a water, which I still had to pay for. There were about three groups sitting down to eat throughout the restaurant. I sat at a table facing the television.
A female reporter was talking, with an image of the current location of the storm behind her. Jesus. It had already made it to Maine. She talked about its estimated time of arrival and then images of the destruction left in the storm's wake came on the screen. As the images appeared one after the other, she talked about the effort by first responders to find survivors. Dear God, I knew it was big but I didn't think it would be this big. Images flashed of skyscrapers toppled over, huge piles of rubble and strangely, huge holes in the ground. She said that the holes were sink holes, but I had a feeling that wasn't what they were. Just how strong was the storm? The camera shifted to a male reporter, with a young woman seated across from him for an interview. The young woman looked like she hadn't slept in days, and her eyes were red from crying. She looked insane.
"Here we have a survivor of the storm that volunteered to speak with us. What was it like to be in this storm, Cassandra?"
She paused for a moment, and then spoke up. Her voice quivered and quaked as she spoke, "It was... terrifying. The most scared I've ever been in my entire life. If it wasn't for my father telling us to go in the basement, I don't think we would have survived. When we woke up the next day, our entire house was gone!"
The reporter politely nodded as the woman spoke, then when she was finished asked a question I found strange. "Other survivors have stated they've heard strange things as the storm passed, did you hear anything strange?"
The woman paused again, this time she seemed like she didn't want to answer. She lowered her head.
"Anything at all?" The reporter asked again.
The woman shook her head, as if waking herself from a trance, and then spoke again. "W-Well, in the middle of the night, right when the storm was at its worst... I heard something that woke me up." She shuddered.
"And what was it that you heard?" the reporter pushed.
"A loud noise. It was... so loud. It was a long rumbling that shook the entire house and the ground around me. At first I thought it was thunder, but it didn't sound like thunder. It sounded... almost like a... whale, or something... Right after, the ground shook again and I heard a bunch of crashes outside. Somehow, everyone else slept through it. But I was wide awake."
I heard a few gasps around the room.
The reporter nodded. "This sounds very similar to what many other survivors report. Was there anything else you may have heard?"
The color faded from the woman's face. Though people had been chatting in the restaurant before, now their attention was focused on the television.
The reporter, who had been pushy the entire interview, finally seemed to show some sympathy, "Are you okay, Cassandra? If you want we can-"
"The screams. Oh God.... the screams..." her voice faltered for a moment, "I heard screams. But they... They weren't human! No, they couldn't be." Her face twisted with terror. She wasn't looking at the reporter anymore; she was just looking off into empty space.
"They definitely weren't human!" She screamed suddenly. "But then... But then what were they...? They were so terrifying. So loud. Not like any person.... Not like any animal.... The screams! And then the laughing.... oh God no..." She kept going on and on until she was almost incomprehensible. The reporter made a hand signal at the camera, and the screen cut to black.
The restaurant was completely silent. I didn't feel too good. I felt like vomiting, actually. But despite how I felt, I didn't want to leave. No I couldn't leave even if I wanted to. I needed to figure out what was going on. Just what in the hell was that?
A moment later, the screen lit up again. A different reporter spoke "We're sorry for the interruption, but now we're back with more information on the storm" A spectrogram appeared on the screen. "Somebody managed to get an audio recording of the sound that some survivors have been reporting. We will now play it for you"
The audio quality was poor, but I could hear it well enough. It started off just like the woman had described: a rumbling. It was very deep and low pitched. If I had to compare it to something, it sounded like a mix between a loud motor and a whale. It made me feel very unnerved. Suddenly, the sound rose in volume to the point where I almost covered my ears. The sound cut off and it showed the reporter again.
"It is usually only reported by those that were in or near the very center of the storm. Extensive research is going in to the cause of the noise and other anomalies reported, but at this moment we have no leads"
That sick feeling came back again, much stronger this time. I had to get up and go to the restroom to splash some water on my face. I stared in the mirror for a long moment, my skin was as pale as a ghost. What in the literal hell was that sound. What even could have caused that? And then there was the screams that the woman had been raving about, what was going on?
Still feeling sick, I made my way out of the restaurant. The reporter was talking to another survivor, but I didn't pay much attention to it. I was still thinking about what that woman said.
Just what was this storm?
