The Storm
Lauren Freeman
Disclaimer: I do not own The Transformers or any part of that series. I am making no money off this story.
A/N: I had the first couple of sentenced in my head for hours before I sat down and wrote them down, the story took off from there. I had only planned to do a last edit of my latest Sparks chapter, but this story was coming to life and I am not one to stop unless I have to. Once I stop the chances of starting again are slim. Beside I suddenly had the entire story planned out in my head. I even knew it would be ten pages, LOL! I was determined that this would be a one shot and so it is. Don't worry the transformers come into the story too. :)
A/N 2: All errors are mine of course. I have gone back and edited it, but I am always missing things. It wont be later, much later when I am reading though it that I will find more errors to fix, lol. Also, I am no public speaker so if I go things wrong or had the character say something that they would not really say to the public, then I'm sorry, please remember this is not real. G So here it is, enjoy.
The Storm
The day started out very, very calm. So calm in fact that it made anyone who stepped outside feel just the opposite. Something was coming, something so big there was not an animal in sight. A person speaking sounded odd against the silence. The sound of electricity, normally a background white noise being pumped into every building; almost seemed loud against the loud silence. Sam could not help but look around at the empty streets, noticing that every home had absolutely nothing in there yards. Most even managed to get their cars into normally packed storage rooms most commonly known as garages. Window's were either boarded up, or covered with long strips of duck tape making an X and stars over the length of the windows to keep them from shattering completely with heavy winds and projectiles. The hair on the back of Sam's neck stood on end at just the feeling of the town and all the other towns anywhere near this one felt and looked like, for good reason.
A storm was coming, a massive hurricane classified as a category five was heading directly at them. It would hit in a matter of hours, even if there was a last minute change of direction this town would still be directly hit. There was no way they would be spared now, and this was the town he had been evacuated to. It was way too late to evacuate again, roadways were stopped with the traffic of people trying to get away. Past lessons showed that this late in the game being stuck in your car when any category storm hit might just be your doom. Sam hurried back to the elementary school he was staying in. Most had gotten out earlier via school bus but Sam had stayed behind to help everyone evacuate for the second time in three days, the buses never returned as promised, most likely because the storm had picked up speed and all road ways, both directions became one way streets in attempts to help more people get out. There was no coming back. As Sam stepping in to the cafeteria where just two others were, they began to discuss what to do next.
The schools were all very old, and were set to be remodeed one by one later that month. Until then, they were not really storm worthy; they were really not even rain worthy as the roof seemed to have tons of small holes in it. So trying to survive the storm here was not a viable option. On and anywhere remotely near the coast did not have any kind of steady ground that you could build a basement in. Most homes had cracks on there walls just from shifting foundations that seemed to happen once a week or so. One day you were able to open and shut your bedroom door with no problems then you wake up the next morning and the door seems a little too big for its frame and shutting it is a challenge, a week later and you have no problem again. So finding a home with a basement was out.
Finally after much discussion about whether any families had stayed and who had the most secure home that was least likely to flood too horribly they came to the decision to head to the Morison's home which stood at the highest point of the below sea level town. It was also one of the newest homes built to hopefully survive a category three storm, it was one of the only one's built to survive any category storm in this tiny south Texas town. Sam was the only outsider here, and felt out of place as he silently walked behind the two rescue workers through the neighborhoods to the one story home. The Morison's a couple in there early 40's stood outside smoking cigarettes while they still could; they refused to let the inside of their new home smell like smoke. Mr. James Morison raised an eyebrow at them before beckoning them over.
"I'd wondered when you folks would be here. See you all have backpacks with supplies, good. We've stocked up so there should be enough for the lot of us to last up to three weeks." James smiled. He was a tall, skinny man with black hair that showed a few gray hairs here and there. His wife; Maggie was quite short, slightly bigger and had more gray hair then red. She nodded.
"We got a call from Jenny next door, you know her entire family evacuated while people were being evacuated here? Well she said that the bus got to Austin and that three stayed behind thinking they would be picked up later but that, that was not going to be possible. We knew this was where you would more then likely end up." Maggie told them before taking another long drag from her cigarette.
"God I hope it does not last long, I get mighty antsy when I can't get a smoke." Maggie sighed, James nodded wide eyed.
"That she does." This got him a punch in the arm. "So Cynthia, George who's the kid?" Cynthia, a twenty-seven year only Search and Rescue Paramedic with long blond hair tied tightly in a bun behind her nodded at Sam. Her stance was that of someone who had served in the military, which she had for eight years. She always stood or sat very straight, her paramedic uniform looked perfect despite almost none stop working for the last 10 hours.
"This is Sam Witwicky. He evacuated in from Galveston. He has been living on a military base for the last year in a civilian position in Nevada. He has search and rescue experience and is an emergency responder. He volunteered to help out and is now stuck here with us." Cynthia sent him a sympathetic look, Sam smiled and shrugged. In truth this was a relief. Things on base had not been going well lately, well that might be an understatement. Sam was not sure what was going on in all honesty, one day he woke up and did things as normal, with a degree in law and government, he was the Autobot liaison to the world, well the part of the world that knew for a fact that it was all real, not the great terrorist computer hacking job the majority of the world was told about. He spoke with world leaders, helped with negotiations and all the other things he did on a daily bases to assure that the Autobots were not misunderstood, could come and go as they pleased, was allowed to take down Decepticons around the world as they popped up and many other things.
The job was exhausting to say the very least, but he loved it. That is until a week ago, even now he was racking his brain trying to figure out what had happened to make everyone turn on him so quickly. Even Optimus and Bumblebee were not talking to him. He had gone over all of the meetings he had, had recently which were quite a few and could not think of anything he could have said or did that would cause such a reaction. A rumor had been brought to his attention that he was about to be let go from his job, and so the completely overwhelmed Sam went to the General who happened to be visiting the base and requested to take his vacation effective immediately. It was either this or quit right then and there. This seemed to please the general and he was granted his wish right away. Sam had not even said goodbye to anyone. The Autobots were out on a training run with the NEST teams so only the bare bones of staff were on base when he packed a bag, called a cab to meet him outside the base and left, his phone and laptop sitting on his bed.
Sam did not want anyone to track where he was going and working for a top secret government organization had taught him to be resourceful, he paid for everything in cash, did not do anything or go anywhere that would require him to put his name down, which could be a hard feat except when you stayed at run down hotels that could really care less if the name you gave them was yours or not, just that they got there money first. Somehow he had ended up on a beach in Galveston, Texas where three days later he would be evacuated. He supposed that if anyone was looking for him, probably to fire him; they would now know where he was. He had willingly given his real name to authorities during the evacuations; he was not stupid; if something happened he wanted people to know who he was so that the proper people could be contacted. No doubt his name was in the system now.
Sam nodded at James and Maggie. "It's nice to meet you; thanks for letting me take shelter at your home." Sam told them. The couple smiled.
"He's polite, too. We will get along just fine I think." Maggie grinned before squishing the bud of her cigarette into an ashtray on the railing of the porch. It was the only object left outside that could be used as a projectile, and would no doubt be brought in before the storm hit. Speaking of the storm hitting behind the house giant walls of pitch black clouds were moving in, lightning flashed across the sky. A chill ran down Sam's back at the menacing sight, he looked back at the group.
"Looks like it's just about here," George stated having also seen the sky's brilliant display. George had once been a storm chaser. Tornado's were more his thing but he had chased quite a few hurricanes as well. He was by far the oldest among them, at fifty–nine years old he had retired his armored car that might be able to withstand going through a massive storm for a small white car with no distinguishing features. He lived in one spot and was often seen on the news being interviewed on his opinion of what was happening in the local weather and sometimes around the world. But like it had for almost everyone, the storm shifting and suddenly heading in the complete opposite direction coming straight at his little town had been a shock. He immediately raised the alarm, with a town that suddenly had double the normal amount of people in it they had to move quickly.
The town had planned for a sudden hurricane, but had not planned on the amount of people that needed to be evacuated. Thankfully most of the buses that had brought the strangers in were still nearby and could take them out again to go to Austin this time where there was no way they would be hit directly like the small town was about to be. The towns school buses were quickly loaded with people and were on the road just before all of the other towns had decided to evacuate ensuring that the town got out before they roads clogged, but just barely. As always there were people who refused to leave, but previous hurricanes had taught most a lesson and today only the Morison's stayed behind.
"Better head inside then." James stated grabbing the ash tray and turning around. The group followed him inside. When everyone was in, James boarded up the door from within, they all headed for the middle of the house which had a large room that had been built as a shelter of sorts. The Morison's called this the storm room, built a lot stronger then even the rest of the house, it had a kitchen that hooked to a generator of its own, a bathroom with a shower and a water backup tank always kept full so that they could take quick showers even if the water lines broke. The living room had a generator of it's own that kept a few lights, watch TV, listen to the radio and get some air from the fans. In a small closet away from everything they stored the gasoline for the generators and the cars, these were all very carefully stored so that if anything were to happen hopefully the tanks would be okay and not cause more problems then they already had. In another closet, this one much bigger, was the food store. The place reminded Sam of the old bomb shelter videos he had seen in school growing up. He was not surprised when he found out that that was how they got the idea. The Morison's were definitely well off, both came from a wealthy family and both had held very good jobs themselves, so when they decided that they did not want to evacuate one more hurricane they meant it, and went all out to make it happen. In the main room the Morison's had moved there king sized bed and three twins into the room as well as the kitchen table with chairs and the living room couch. Everything else had already been put in.
Sam felt incredibly lucky that of all the places he could have ended up when this happened, he had ended up in a town with a couple up were well prepared. He just hoped all of the other towns were able to get out in time. James shut the massive, concrete door and turned a wheel to lock it. Right now the room was running on the houses main power, they would not turn on the generators until after the storm had passed being they had to go outside. James turned the air conditioning on very low to try and keep the room as cool as possible so that when the power went out it was sure to get very hot in there with only small battery powered fans at the foot of every bed.
George sat down on the couch and turned on the small flat screen TV hanging on the wall, where a news program was airing on every channel. Sam was not surprised by this; however he was surprised to suddenly hear his name come out of the speaker. Sam's stomach dropped, the last time he had heard his name on the news was four years ago when The Fallen and shown up. Sam stepped up to the TV where every one was focused now, glancing at Sam curiously. Sam shrugged and listened in.
"That's right, Jean, Sam Witwicky who works for the US Military and is most commonly known for being the kid most wanted in that 2009 cyber terrorist attack is currently trapped in a tiny town about to be directly hit by the hurricane. The US Military was planning to send a helicopter in to rescue the man and the four other people still trapped in the town but because of the storms speed they could not safely do so. Right now Dean Walker is live in Austin where Major William Lennox is waiting anxiously with a few men from his base for word on Mr. Witwicky.
"Major Lennox, why is Sam so important that you would send out an entire military team to try and get him to safety." Sam snorted as he looked behind Lennox. Lieutenant Epps was in sight of the camera standing at attention with a massive red and blue eighteen wheeler, yellow Cemaro, red search and rescue truck and a huge black truck sitting seemingly impatiently behind him.
"Mr. Witwicky has worked with the military in a vital roll in the anti-terrorism department since he was sixteen. This has made him a target before as most know. We have spent a lot of time and recourses keeping him safe, he has become like a younger brother to everyone who works at our base. Most importantly his job is very important and as has been proven recently on base cannot be done by just anyone. We need him, and are willing to fly into a hurricane to get him, but our orders are to stand down until it is safe." Lennox explained. Sam felt his mouth drop, and wondered what he meant by all of that. Had the person that they replaced him with while he was on vacation screwed everything he had just spent a year and really longer then that, working on? God he hoped not.
"If Sam is that important to you, why was he all the way in Galveston by himself?"
"Sam is an adult, aloud to go on vacation by himself, even if we don't like it. As it is, we were unaware he was in Galveston until his name appeared in the database. We learned he had not made it out of the town he had been evacuated to with the rest of his group upon arriving here an hour ago."
"Do you know why he did not arrive with everyone else?"
"From what we can gather from the people he traveled with as well as the search and rescue team member that traveled with them, he was helping the town coordinate the evacuation and safely getting everyone on to the buses. When the last person got on, it was quickly realized that there was not enough room for everyone. He stayed behind with the towns' two emergency team leaders with the knowledge that someone would come back for them. Unfortunately as you know the storm sped up making that impossible." Lennox told them. Sam could not believe they were interviewing Lennox at all; he was not that important, yet Sam could see the worry in Lennox's eyes as he spoke. They cut to a commercial break and everyone turned to look at him.
"Wow, kid." James stated, Sam just shook his head, eyes still wide and his mouth slightly open in shock.
"That was…unexpected…" Sam stated after a moment. Someone turned the channel where apparently Lennox was being interviewed by someone else now. "Seriously?" Sam muttered.
"Major," a young female spoke in the background "The towns' people I interviewed earlier stated that Mr. Witwicky, Mr. Cheswick the local meteorologist and Mrs. Mayberry, a paramedic who left the military herself a year ago would most likely end up going to a Mr. and Ms. Morison's home because they have built a storm shelter in the middle of there home for just such occasions. Does this ease your minds at all?
"A little, were glad he is not alone and with people who are experienced and can help him if needed. The storm shelter is a nice touch, but after reviewing the information we have on it, it has been built to withstand only a category three hurricane. What's hitting them right now it a category five. If the room should fail, they could find themselves in a concrete grave." Lennox spoke, Sam quickly hit the off button on the remote sitting on the coffee table in front of him. Everyone sat quietly before sighing.
"Let's not think about it failing." Cynthia stated, shivering in the cold of the room. Everyone nodded, and George hit the on button again. The story had moved on thankfully. Now a picture of the hurricane filled the screen with the town he was in marked with a red dot. The storm was indeed hitting, though you could not hear it from within the room. The screen changed to show a man in a poncho standing in the rain holding a microphone trying to stand against the wind. He was unsuccessful however and was suddenly on his side three feet to the right. The news team quickly switched off of him but before the small group could see what the next story would be the power went out. The group sat in the pitch black for a moment, the room was so dark in fact that you could not even see your hand in front of your face, finally the battery powered emergency power came on, which was not connected to the TV. It brought just enough light that they could see where they were walking without bumping into things or each other. James walked up to the small radio and turned it on.
They listened to the news via the radio for an hour before anyone said anything interesting. The President of the United States had come on the air to speak. All talking in the room stopped to see what the President had to say, seeing that presidents did not normally speak until after major events were over with. They listened as he went ahead and called all of the towns and city's being hit by this hurricane disaster areas, this was so that all emergency help could begin the moment the storm was over instead of having to wait until the damage had been assessed. He talked about a few other things regarding the storm, and then he said something that caught Sam off guard, again.
"Mr. Witwicky, if you can hear this, please know that I have been receiving calls in regards of your wellbeing from several different world leaders, please stay safe. You and everyone trapped in this monster of a storm are in our prayers." The president ended his speech and the room went silent again.
"Okay, this is getting ridicules." Sam muttered glad for the lack of light since he was sure his face was beat red right then. No one got to say anything however because of the first sound they heard since shutting the blast like doors come from outside the room screeched above them.
"What was that?" Cynthia asked turning off the radio, quickly.
"Sounded like the roof." Maggie whispered eyes wide.
"Oh…" Cynthia whispered back as she looked up. A tiny crack could be seen in the second, concrete ceiling above them. "Then the main part of the house has most likely been destroyed. Which means the shelter is getting a direct hit. Is there anyplace in here that's more secure then the rest? And don't answer with the fuel closet. I am not going anywhere near that area." Cynthia spoke louder clearly taking charge.
"Well, the food pantry was made a little thicker to try and keep the food good." James spoke.
"Grab your bag, everyone. Bring the radio, fans and water jugs. Better grab the bowls of ice too; we think it's hot now…" Cynthia sighed. It had gotten very, very hot in the room. All the vents where the air-conditioner had been hooked to vent air in had been sealed the moment the power had gone out. Maggie had thought to grab large mixing bowls, fill them with ice and place them behind the fans so that they were blowing cool air at the group. They all grabbed everything they would need and headed into the large closet that suddenly did not seem very large anymore. Sam had grabbed everyone's pillows off there beds so that they had something to lean against before tossing them to everyone once they had all settled. James nodded at the pillow before shutting the door to the pantry. Several battery powered lights that looked like different colored plastic lanterns were switched on around the closet as the group struggled to get comfortable while practically sitting on top of the people beside them, as far from the door as possible. The fans sat in front of them in front of the ice bowls. George turned the radio back on, as the group sat in silence not really listening to the news only picking up where the hurricane currently was. Two hours later they heard the next noise. A loud cracking outside the pantry, James hit the radio's off button this time.
"Oh God…" Maggie's voice cracked and wobbled as she leaned closer into her husband. He wrapped his arm around her almost as if he was trying to shelter her. Sam could not tear his eyes off the pantry door as it began to shake slightly, he looked down at the floor and that's when he saw the water. It was seeping in from a tiny crack at the bottom of the door. Sam sucked in a breath and the door raddled hard this time. There was a loud groan from outside the pantry then the sound of a massive crash. The group screamed in horror and suddenly there was no door. It was like a sudden massive vacuum had been turned on and was trying to suck them out. It ate there screams as they all grabbed anything they could to keep from being sucked out, second that felt like hours later it was suddenly over.
There was a massive gust of wind and they were back on the ground, lying on top of food boxes and everything else that had not been sucked out the door, which was not much. The wind swooped in, pushing and pulling in every direction as the group huddled together holding on to one another. Cold hard rain slammed into them soaking them completely and almost immediately. Lightning was almost constantly flashing in the sky, loud bangs and rumbles of thunder making them flinch each time. For what seemed like days the group held on to each other waiting for the rest of there shelter to crumble around them and then the rain began to slow, the wind still very heavy seemed to blow just a tiny bit less then before. The group relaxed a slight bit but it was not until the rain all but stopped and the wind no longer felt like it was trying to beat them that they broke apart wide eyed. It was morning and the storm was over.
When the rain stopped the survivors stood up and stretched, bones popping, muscles aching terribly. It felt so good to move around, yet it hurt so much. Stepping out into what was once the main part of the shelter they found themselves outside instead. Turning around to look at the pantry that had kept them alive, they found that all of the concrete had somehow flown to cover the pantry, making the small food store look like a cave instead. It was not natural, at all. By all accounts there was no way anything like that should have happened, and yet…there it was. Sam could not help but think about a time when he just happened to find The Matrix after the twins knocked a hole in a wall. Dying and coming back, resurrecting Optimus…none of it should have happened, and yet it did.
After a few minutes of inspecting their shelter the group began to look beyond that, to utter devastation. There was nothing left of the town, and they could see all of it now. Houses were reduced to nothing but there foundations. All of the trees that had been in and around the town were on there sides, large roots sticking out of the ground. Three-forth of the town was under water including where the schools had been. Turning around and around they found nothing left standing. They could see clear to the towns surrounding theirs and saw nothing left of those either. They stood in a shocked horror until the sound of a helicopter was heard in the distance. Filled with the excitement of the mere thought of being rescued they waited or the giant brown military helicopter to come close enough before they began to wave there hands and yell, despite the knowledge that the people in the helicopter would not be able to hear them. It was right over them when Sam saw the logo at the bottom of it, a Decepticon logo.
"Shit!" Sam yelled, that's not a rescue helicopter, it has a terrorist seal on it!" Sam yelled over the loud blades above them.
"WHAT?!?" The group looked at him as if he had lost his mind.
"Trust me, we need to run!" Sam yelled before taking off down the hill dodging fallen trees and debris. The group paused then followed quickly behind. They heard a loud whine of some sort before the fallen trees in front of them blew up in a burst of red and yellow hot flames.
"Shit!" Sam yelled again, turning right and kept running. The area in front of them blew up, he turned around only to see more fire, then back towards the shelter but the trees they had just dodges were burning as well. They were surrounded.
"What do they want?!?" Maggie shrieked.
"Me! I am SO sorry! I never should have stayed with you." Sam yelled over the roar of the fire and the helicopter directly above them.
"Don't be foolish boy, had you stayed anywhere else you would have died." James yelled back gestering towards where what was left of the town would be if they could see it.
"Yeah, but you would not be being attacked right now." Sam stated before coughing as the area began to fill with a heavy black smoke. They all began to cough now as they dropped to the muddy, wet ground to try and find cleaner air.
"How are the trees even burning right now?" Maggie growled, "Everything's so wet."
"They're not!" Cynthia yelled after a moment, it's just smoke; I think the fire is out. Quick let's get back to the cave!" They began to crawl through the black smoke towards the direction of the cave, Cynthia leading the way. They made it and crawled back to the back; a little smoke followed them in, but most seemed to stay outside. There was a loud bang from outside then the sound of what could only be the helicopter crashing into the ground. Loud metal clangs' could be heard, along with growling and yells.
"Wait here!" Sam told them, a very serious look on his face. They nodded, though Cynthia looked like she was about to protest.
"I think my military team has arrived and are fighting the terrorist. I need them to know where we are so that we can be rescued." Sam stated before disappearing into the black smoke. He crawled outside until he got to a clear area and slowly stood up, there standing in the smoke, were the Autobots in all there glory, having clearly won the battle with the single unknown Decepticon. They seemed to be looking around at the devastation, a look of there own devastation crossing there faces.
"Hey! Over here!" Sam yelled, waving his hand which was caked in mud as was the rest of him. The Autobots froze then looked in his direction. Sam smiled and put his hands down, the adrenalin starting to ware off, with that and at least 48 hours of no sleep… he was dead tired to say the least.
"Sam." Lennox seemingly appeared behind him causing him to whip around startled.
"Major Lennox" Sam whispered. He caught sight of movement coming out of the cave. "You better get the guys to transform cause were about to have company." Sam stated as he turned around he noticed the Autobots had already done just that. "Ha, now how to explain how a bunch of vehicles got here through all the debris…" Sam wondered aloud. But he didn't have too. He just kept there eyes in other directions, like the real rescue helicopter landing behind Lennox.
"Are the terrorist gone, Sam?" Cynthia asked, arms crossed over her chest.
"Yeah, he's been taken care of, Mam. Lennox stated recognizing them all from the many pictures he had seen in the last hours. As they took off Sam looked down from his seat by the window, head pressed against the glass and saw Bumblebee looking up at him with ever watchful eyes.
Sam stepped out of the Texas military hospital he had been taken to for the first time in two days. Clean, shaven, bandages secure and lungs a lot better after inhaling so much thick smoke. His parents, Mikaela and William Lennox walked out with him several bags of prescriptions in his hands. The media was all over him in seconds and although Sam had been expecting it, it still overwhelmed him. He still needed time to finish recovering. A group of soldiers suddenly appeared around him and he was escorted to the waiting yellow Camero. Sam silently got into the passenger seat, for once not even feeling like he could pretend to drive. Mikaela gave him a worried look before getting into the drivers seat. Mr. and Ms. Witwicky got into Sideswipe who was waiting behind Bee, and Lennox into Ironhide. As they got onto the freeway ten minutes later Optimus in alt mode drove up behind them then moved to get ahead of them to lead the way. Sam was half asleep when Bee finally spoke.
"Please, don't ever leave like that again." Bee whispered. Sam could only stare at the dash board for a minute. Finally he spoke, his voice horse, every word felt like fire was shooting down his throat.
"I didn't feel like I had a choice." Sam whispered. "Everyone was mad at me for some reason I still don't know. There was talk about me being fired. I was on the verge of just quitting instead, if I was doing something that would cause everyone to get so angry that they would not even talk to me anymore, then I was obviously doing my job wrong and since no one wanted to tell me what I was doing wrong I figured you could hire someone who could do the job right. But I wanted to think it all out first and needed to do that alone, so I took my vacation." Sam shrugged, he was still so tired. He was shocked however when it was Optimus voice that came out of Bee's radio speaker. Mikaela looked startled too, but mostly sad.
"I am truly sorry, Sam. What was taking place was a misunderstanding we would not realize this however until two days after you left. At some point before you left you had taken a day off as we had been pushing you to do since you started. While you were out an aid in your office took it upon himself to answer your e-mail for you thinking he had heard you speaking to so many people for over a year, truly he could answer these questions. It wasn't until after he had replied to two head of states that he realized just how over his head he was and so he went back to his own job leaving the rest of the e-mails to you. Unfortunately the damage had already been done. The aid had somehow unwittingly told the heads that there participation in NEST was no longer needed. Not in that many words but that was the gist of it. This in turn caused a major backlash the spread out further then even I could imagine and what you saw of it was the repercussions. When we came back from the military exercises the next day the truth had already come out and the people affected had calmed down enough to listen. The aid was fired immediately, and we could not find you anywhere. You did well keeping yourself hidden and even better when you needed us to know your location you made sure to use your full name. We looked for you everywhere we could think you might go, so when your name popped up under the evacuated list we rushed to Texas, by then word got out of the great storms sudden switch and we could not do anything to help you."
"The primes could though…" Sam mumbled. He was met with only silence. Then finally Optimus Prime spoke again.
"How do you mean, Sam."
"You saw the cave we stayed in during the storm. That was not a cave, it was a food pantry. The walls of the house were caving in around us and somehow all came together to form a protective shelter around us. When I died four years ago and met them, it was like I could feel them, and as I looked at our shelter after the storm, I felt exactly the same for a brief moment. That's the moment I knew I could not quit. No matter what happened, whatever it is I am meant to do have not happened yet." Sam was practically whispering by then end. "You would have to drag me out yourselves to get me to leave." Sam half smiled. Then without his permission, his eyes closed and he fell asleep, safe, warm and with friends.
End