Stormbringer

Chapter Three

The fear gripped me like a vice. I didn't have any explanation for why I was afraid or why I had said we would die. I just knew. Something was wrong. It felt as though trails of ice were shooting up and down my spine.

"I NEED TO GO!" I screamed again, trying to push past them as I tried to run past them.

"What do you mean we are going to die?" Miriam demanded.

"I don't know! We just are! We have to go NOW!"

"Calm down!" The nurse grabbed my shoulder, none too gently and tried to usher me back to the bed.

"No!" I screamed.

"You have gone through a near-death experience and I'm sure that was traumatic for you, but you're safe here. Now lie down and rest. I'll bring you something to calm your nerves." The nurse was trying to reassure me, but it was accomplishing next to nothing. Thoughts swirled through my panicked mind. Confusion overwhelmed me.

"No!" I shouted. Before the nurse or Miriam could stop me, I dodged around them both, shoving past them and out the door. The hospital hallways were white and clean.

I ran. Sprinting through the maze of hallways until finally, I reached a door that led out into fresh air. For a brief moment, I felt relief. A breeze blew a few leaves across the ground in front of me, and I looked up at the sky. Dark gray clouds swirled ominously. I flinched as I heard a distant growl of thunder.

Taking a step forward, I looked around. The hospital was the only building I could see. Past the parking lot, a forest rose from a hill, giving way to the mountainous terrain in the distance. The rest of the land that surrounded the hospital was flat prairie land.

A sudden harsh gust of wind pushed me hard, shoving me toward the wall of the hospital. Through the glass doors that led back into the hospital, I saw Miriam walking down the hallway. She was clearly looking for me.

I flattened my back against the wall of the hospital, feeling the rough brick pressing against my back through the thin fabric of the hospital gown. My clothes were still clutched in my trembling hands. Another gust of cold wind blew around me and I shuddered involuntarily.

"Raiden? What are you doing out here!?" Miriam peeked her head out the door, shouting to be heard over the wind that seemed to be gaining in strength by the second.

"Stay away from me!" I screamed, confusion, pain and anger welling up inside me for an unexplainable reason. I just needed to get away from everything. Without looking back, I turned and ran toward the forest. Lightning crashed overhead, illuminating the nearly black sky. I could hear Miriam calling after me, but soon her voice was lost in the wind. Tears began to well up in my eyes, and as the first one slipped down my cheek, the first drops of cold rain hit my skin, as if the sky was crying with me.

The forest grew nearer with every pounding footstep. My body ached from the sudden exertion after being comatose for so long, and yet some deep, unexplainable fear spurred me onward. I could not stop, I had to get away... Nothing made sense. Everything was too complicated. Too confusing. Too much.

A sudden shift in the wind made me stop and turn to look behind me. My heart stopped. It felt as though my whole body was drenched in ice. Beyond the hospital, a spiral of black wind slowly began to extend from the clouds. Lower and lower it descended, debris flying around it as it made contact with the ground.

My heart no longer felt as though it was stopped. Now it was hammering a million miles a minute. I did the only thing I could think of. I ran, racing toward the forest. Maybe the trees could provide some shelter from the violent winds.

The rushing roar of the tornado grew in volume and I knew that it was gaining strength and speed, moving toward the hospital. Toward me. Adrenaline urged me faster and soon I cleared the treeline. Turning around, I looked back to see the dark twister.

I could see the hospital. The tornado loomed over it, and before I could think, move, do anything at all, there was a horrible sound of splintering wood and collapsing metal. A large section of the roof was ripped away and flung across the prairie. The hospital was enveloped in the ruthless wind, and by the time it had passed, the building was nothing more than a pile of collapsed rubble. If it came near me, there was no way I would survive.

The winds continued to swirl viciously, but slowly they began to dissipate, the funnel cloud swinging around and moving away from me. Away from the building it had just destroyed. I looked fearfully at the collapsed building. Nothing moved.

Tears flowed freely down my cheeks. Somehow I had known. I had known that if we didn't leave we would die. I should have taken people with me. I should have warned more people. Instead, I just ran. I saved myself. Everyone else had died. There was no way any of them could survive the tornado, and even if they had, they were most likely crushed in the debris. If I had insisted... if I had told people, would it have even done any good? Probably not. They would probably just think I was insane.

The guilt ate away at me like the driving rain that hit my skin despite the tree canopy above me. I staggered deeper into the forest, not wanting to see the destroyed hospital anymore.

I didn't like Miriam, didn't trust her, but I had still left her there to die. It was my fault she was dead. My girlfriend was dead because I had cared too much about saving myself. My girlfriend. The thought felt strange. Something about that felt off. I couldn't remember her. I couldn't remember anything...

I continued to stumble through the forest. A sliver of water reflected the gray clouds above it. A crippling headache suddenly struck me and I collapsed to my hands and knees next to the shallow stream.

My reflection stared back at me. Unkempt black hair, pale skin, cracked lips. My eyes were wide and- I did a double-take, blinking at my reflection. Dark stormy gray eyes met mine in the water.

Gray eyes. It must have just been light reflecting off the surface of the water, but for a second, right before I blinked, I could have sworn my eyes glowed silver.