Chapter III.I: Rising Storm

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June 3rd 8:00am 20XX

I was startled awake by the sound of a loud roar that tore through the air. I screamed and jumped up, hitting my head on the ceiling of the tent. Aaron jolted awake beside me.

"What was that?" he gasped, still half asleep.

The roar echoed through the entire forest. It sounded like an engine. I quickly unzipped the tent and jumped outside. What I saw sent chills through my entire body.

Six military jet planes were speeding towards the direction of the city. From down here I could see that each was armed with missiles. What the hell would four armed fighter jets be doing heading towards our city?

I felt my heart rise into my throat as I slowly became aware of my surroundings, which my shock had prevented me from noticing before.

The sky was black. The clouds were darker than any storm clouds I had ever seen. Wind was violently pushing the trees.

And it was pouring down raining.

I let out a string of curses as I saw the jets disappear into a thick fog in the distance. Another engine roar rang through the air as more jets flew by. The screams. The woman's voice suddenly echoed again in my head, and everything I had pushed away rose back into my mind. The screams! The storm was back, and my greatest fears were being realized. The jets were heading towards the city, towards the fog... and into the heart of the storm.

It was all too clear to me now. There was something in that storm. I didn't know what I meant by that at the time, but all I knew is that there was something in there. Something responsible for killing those people under the bank.

"Dad..." Aaron stepped out of the tent, noticed the rain, and then looked up at the jets, "Where are they going?"

I stared into the fog, where it was and suddenly I felt like I was hit by a hammer. Jessica was in there, alone. She was in that storm, with whatever had made the screams. With whatever had killed those people.

"Aaron, we have to leave, right now! Get your stuff together quickly, I'll pack up the tent and then we have to go"

I ran towards the tent and started to take it apart as fast as I could.

"Dad!" Aaron yelled out, startling me, "Where are they going?"

I hesitated before responding, "The city, Aaron."

"Why? What's going on?"

I bit down on my lip, "I don't know, Aaron. I just have no idea what's going on. But we have to hurry up and get to the city. We need to get to mom"

He nodded, and quickly started shoving his things back into his bag.

I finished putting away the tent, and then packed up my own bag in a matter of seconds. I saw a lightning strike flash in the distance, followed by an incredibly loud roll of thunder.

"Come on, let's go!" I yelled out as I grabbed Aaron by the hand, and ran all the way back to the car. My heart was racing at a million miles a minute and it felt like I was running even faster. By the time we got there, we were completely soaked. I tossed the stuff in the trunk of the car as fast as I could, then Aaron and I leaped into the car. I turned the key into the ignition. The engine rattled, but didn't start.

"Come on, not now!" I turned the key again, one, two, three more times. On the fourth try the engine revved to life. I immediately slammed my foot on the gas, bringing it to the floor. We sped down the road, and in no time we neared the outskirts of the city.

"Dad look, slow down!" Aaron pointed ahead.

Through the heavy rain, I only barely made out headlights coming up ahead. I pushed on the brakes, and slowed down as we approached the car. It was stopped in the middle of the road.

I brought us to a stop on the right side of the car, and rolled down the window.

"Hey!" I tried to grab the attention of the man in the car.

He must have not heard me over the sound of the rain, so I yelled louder, "Hey!"

He didn't turn towards me, he just kept staring straight ahead. I was about to yell out to him a third time, but I noticed through the window that the left door was completely torn off.

Getting a closer look at the man, I realized with a shudder that his face was covered in cuts, and his blood mingled with the rain water. He was dead. I turned to Aaron, he didn't notice yet. I suppressed the urge to vomit, and sped off before Aaron could see the corpse.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"There wasn't anyone in the car." I lied.

I saw doubt in his eyes, but he didn't push for an answer.

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