Eye of the storm
AN: the usual: not my characters, I'm not making any money off of this, etc.
for my muse, because I love her and miss her desperately. 3
and also for all of you, because I have been too busy to write lately.
-.-.-
To say that it was raining hard would be an understatement. I couldn't even see the hood of my car in this mess. The wind was jerking my steering wheel all over the place, and if it weren't for the fact that I knew these roads, I believe I would have been swept into a ditch a few miles back. I couldn't even hear my music over the thrum of rain and thunder. The roads would be swimming soon, and there was only one gas station between my current position and the long stretch of country road home. There's nothing for it, I'll have to stop and wait for this to blow over. I sighed, praying the gas station was open so I wouldn't have to wait it out in my car.
-.-.-
Grumbling, I rested the mop against the counter. I could only mop so many times in a day…but I was running out of things to do. Only 6 more hours left in my 12 hour shift, but with the awful weather, and being on a rarely busy road anyway…options were limited.
I snatched up a fountain drink, and was going to flop down behind the counter and play scratch offs when the storm outside seemed to kick it up a notch. The thunder was so loud that it was almost painful, and the winds outside were so harsh I could actually see the metal awning over the pumps swaying.
I re-routed my steps to snatch my cell phone off the counter and loaded the weather app. Placing it back down, I was just idly watching it load when a flash of headlights caught my attention. Somewhat dumbfounded I watched as the vehicle sloshed through what seemed to be several inches of water, definitely more than I had realized, and parked.
Instinctively I put my cup and phone down and dashed for the door, just in time to let the poor guy in. Just from those few moments in the doorway my shoes were soaked with icy cold water, and I could feel my hair sticking to my forehead in wet clumps. "Thanks" He sighed, removing the thin grey hood from over his head, and ruffling wet black hair to gain back some form of volume. I didn't even bother, I'm sure ruffling my hair wouldn't have done anything positive. "Naruto Uzumaki, door man, gas station clerk, & amazing chef at your service!" I replied, a smile on my face, my arms outstretched as if presenting myself on a stage. The dark haired man simply stared, black eyes expressionless and one eyebrow quirked in possible question of my sanity. I dropped my arms and grinned, reaching over to make sure the door had closed all the way.
The rain outside had me mesmerized for a moment, "Some storm, do you live out this way?" I asked, partially just looking for polite conversation, partially curious.
"Yea" He answered, though I wasn't sure whether he was answering or agreeing, and I was going to tell him as much, but at that moment the lights began to flicker. Stupidly we both just looked up and watched as they flashed on and off like some kind of cheap strobe, before finally remaining off. The darkness was almost oppressive. "Great." I murmured, going for the flashlight behind the counter.
As I was reaching for the lime green safety light, the lightning outside cracked so loudly, and flashed so brilliantly that I found myself letting out a rather not-so-manly yelp and leaping at least three feet backwards, clutching my hand to my chest as if it had been burned.
I heard a chuckle from across the counter, the guy in the grey hoodie was reaching over and grabbing the flashlight that I had dashed away from, a ghost of a smile on his pale lips. I found the laughter contagious, and soon was laughing at myself as I swiped up my phone from the counter, finally able to scroll through the weather reports.
"Hey—what's your name?—Have you seen the reports?" I asked, vaguely concerned as the weather outside only seemed to be getting worse.
"No" He said, making his way over to me, his black converse squeaking with every step.
"It's Sasuke." He elaborated to my inquiring eyebrow, leaning against the drink counter and peering curiously with black eyes toward my phone. "Says there's a tornado watch, and to expect hail and damaging winds, blah blah blah… looks like it's moving pretty fast though." I said, passing my phone over for him to see.
-.-.-
I grabbed the phone from the blonde, watching the news forecast with growing distaste. There was still another half hour drive home and no telling how long it would take for this to pass. The radar was showing quite a bit of red. I sighed, passing the phone back to Naruto. "Thanks" I said, pondering the idea of being stuck in the dark with this guy for an uncertain amount of time. I watched him quizzically for a moment, his face lit up in the garish glow of his phone, his blue eyes intently studying the contents. The thunder outside rumbled again, startling us both. He grinned again, before putting his phone into his pocket. I slid down and sat on the floor, my back resting against the cabinets below the fountain drink machine. I wrapped my arms around my knees, attempting not to shiver. I briefly debated taking off my wet hoodie, but the air was so cool it probably wouldn't make me feel any better. After a moment Naruto slid down next to me and we sat in silence. We simply watched the downpour and the ominous sway of the awning.
After a few moments the silence seemed to get to Naruto. "So…Sasuke, right?" I nodded, not even bothering to look over at him. "You in school or anything?" "hn." I replied, not really seeing any reason to tell a complete stranger whether i went to school or not. There was a long stretch of silence, and then "what kind of music do you like?" Again I didn't deem it necessary to answer and simply continued to stare out the windows.
"Are you trying to be an asshole?" His irritated voice was nearly drowned out by the sound of the rain. I sighed, anger burning in my stomach. "How does not telling a complete stranger my personal information make me an asshole? It's not my fault that you're too much of an idiot to notice when a person doesn't want to talk to you." "You know, there is a big difference between being an idiot and trying to be polite—" He was standing now, but his rant was cut short by a sharp clang against metal, and another, and another, until the staccato became a steady thrum against the roof. "Is it hailing?" I jumped up, both of us taking hurried steps to the window for a better look. Sure enough, I could see my windshield cracking and dents forming in the hood of my car. Beside me Naruto was groaning, and tracing his line of sight through the haze, I could only just make out what was probably his car parked at the end of the lot, and the glass was almost entirely busted out. "What else could possibly go wrong?" He exclaimed, smacking the glass front door in frustration. Silently agreeing with him I turned my eyes back to my own vehicle, wondering how much it was going to cost to repair all of that. It looked like golf-balls were falling from the sky. There were bits of branches across the flooded parking lot, and though I couldn't see the road through the rain, I was almost certain that the road was covered as well. Fantastic.
-.-.-
I watched in absolute dismay as my only form of transportation was pelted with hail the size of dinosaur balls. What kind of evil did I do in my past life to get this? Did I drown puppies? I could see the glass giving way now. My interior was surely soaked, there goes my new CD player. I groaned. Stuck with an asshole, in the dark, at work, in a storm that was destroying my car, and with the state of the roads we would both probably be stuck here like this for quite a while. "What else could possibly go wrong?" I smacked the glass door in front of me causing my hand to sting in response. I huffed and stepped back, debating the possibility of making it to my car to save a few things, without getting a concussion, drowning, or getting struck by lightning.
Just as I was thinking I could probably make it the sirens went off.
At first I wasn't sure if I was hearing things, a quick glance to Sasuke showed that he hadn't noticed anything, or if he had he wasn't saying anything. Damn prick, I thought irritably, still slightly peeved at our broken off argument a few moments ago. The sound was so faint through the roar of rain, wind, and hail that I pulled my phone from my pocket, intent on pulling up the weather app again to see what all was going on; a grasp to my wrist stopped me.
I narrowed my eyes at him, about to tell him off for grabbing me,
"Do you hear that?" He asked hurriedly. "What, the sirens?" I asked, nonplussed.
Tornado sirens go off all the time, what's his problem?
"NO, listen—".
Unsure what I was listening for I was silent. It didn't take me long to hear what he was hearing, a strange roar, a pick-up in volume, but in the distance, perhaps just past the trees. It could have been the rain picking up again, or the hail was getting bigger but I wasn't sure. I looked back to Sasuke, our eyes met.
"Do you think-"
"I dunno-"
"What if its-"
"Should we-?"
"Yea"
We dashed to the back of the store, my heart was hammering in my throat and he still had a tight grip on my wrist, though I wasn't apt to complain right now, I was just as concerned as he was.
-.-.-
My heart was hammering against my ribs, a feeling of anxiety settled into my chest. The roaring of wind was beginning to pick at my nerves, and then there was a screeching. A high pitched sound that seemed to root me to the spot, "What the hell is that?" I asked, covering my ears with my hands. "DUDE! That's the awning!" And sure enough I could see it bowing and bending, pieces of it blowing off, and then what was left of the cheap structure was gone. "Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit—"Naruto's constant mantra was an echo of my own thoughts.
The roaring was getting louder "DOBE!" I yelled, punching his arm "Where can we hide?" I could feel a panic rising in my chest, this was bad. If we just stood here, we were going to die. "uh…." CRASH! The building started swaying, and the glass shattered, half of it being sucked out by the winds.
Naruto made a dash through a metal door, dragging me with him and he shut it firmly behind him. We both dove for the floor, covering our heads. Even in my fear I registered how cold I was, we must have been in the stock space behind the refrigerators, because I was shivering in my wet clothes. All thought of that, however, was driven out of my head as I hear what sounded like nothing I had ever heard before. It was somewhere between a jet engine landing, a train rushing past and Niagara Falls. Some-one was yelling; I wasn't sure if it was Naruto or I.
-.-.-
Everything was almost in slow motion. We were going to die. I was going to die. I could hear things breaking around me, I could feel the glass from the front of the coolers shattering, raining down on us, shelves were tilting, falling, entire cases of beer were falling and either shattering or exploding and ricocheting around us. Something hit me in the face causing me to jerk and scream, clutching at my eye where the pain was centered. I felt arms grab me, my head tucked into a chest blocking some of the noise. I couldn't help but feel so grateful, that I almost cried. I wrapped my free arm over him, and lost my battle with the tears. I began sobbing. The noise was only getting louder, I could feel blood coming from my face. I was going to die in this guy's arms. "Thank you…thank you, thank you. I love you. I love everyone, I love you.." I just wanted whatever god there was to know that I loved everyone, and I wished I could tell everyone. But I had this guy, Sasuke. So at least he knew. At least I wasn't alone.
-.-.-
Naruto was screaming and holding his eye, I didn't know what happened or how, I could barely even see him in the terrifying darkness. Unthinkingly I reached out and held him. Trying to protect his head from further injury. He was crying and I found myself responding to it. I could feel the silent tears running down my face. We both knew we were going to die. This was it, and the only person I had to share my final moments with was a random guy at a gas station.
Even knowing that, I couldn't bring myself to regret meeting this man. I wasn't dying alone.
"Thank you…thank you, thank you. I love you. I love everyone, I love you…". I could feel his words rumbling into my chest as much as I could hear them through the ear that was resting on his head.
I couldn't remember the last time someone told me that they loved me so sincerely. My throat ached with constricted emotion, as I mumbled back "Love you too."
The walls were shaking violently now, things were hitting me all over, for some reason I was trying my best to shield Naruto as much as possible. Maybe I was hoping that I could at least save him. We were both screaming, in pain, in fear, it stopped mattering after a while, at one point we were even slid across the floor and I collided painfully with something.
Then it was gone.
The only sound was the noise of the rain.
I was shaking and I couldn't seem to make myself let go of Naruto.
"We're okay." I said aloud after opening my eyes. Naruto poked his head out from my chest and looked at me. His bright blue eyes were full of wonder, blood running freely from a cut next to his eye.
That's when I realized I could see him.
It had been pitch dark back here only moments ago, though at some point enough of the building had been destroyed to let in natural light, and no small amount of rain water.
-.-.-
The noise went away. The awful rushing sound was gone, all I could hear was the rain. "We're okay" Sasuke voice was raspy from our yelling. I pulled my head up, numb from the shock of it and just looked at him. I smiled. I couldn't help it, we were alive!
I swept some off the debris off of us and pushed myself up from the floor, but before I could stand, Sasuke snatched me sideways by my pants back onto the glass strewn floor. "AHH! TEME, WHAT THE HELL?" I yelled, angry at the additional pain now coming from my ass. "Dobe," he answered, "Look up."
I Looked.
I looked some more.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The whole room looked like it was being held up by the cases of beer that had been stacked along the far wall. If I had actually stood, who knows what my bumping it could have done. It was amazing how different it looked. I had been in here a million times, stacking drinks and restocking, with plenty of room to move around. Now I felt like I was in a twisted version of a fun house. The whole room was tilted, glass everywhere, and there was a gaping hole in the roof not far from where I was. I turned to look for the door we had used to come in, but I couldn't see it. There was too much debris, be it beer, soda, metal, boxes; we weren't going to be going out that way.
"Oh. Wow." I said stupidly.
"Yea. We need to get out of here, this thing looks like it's going to give out any minute." He said, adjusting the way he was sitting.
"Well, what if—" I couldn't finish the question. I knew it was stupid, but I was scared. He rested a hand on my shoulder, "Even if it did, we wouldn't stand a chance in here." Looking around, I figured he was right.
-.-.-
I was still shaking when I removed my hand from Naruto's shoulder. Partially in pain, because when Naruto almost brought the building down on us, I had sat up quickly causing lights to pop before my eyes in pain, resulting in snatching him down rather than simply stopping him. While he surveyed the damage I reached a hand to feel back between my hip and ribs, and there had definitely been something jutting out of me there. It was small, and pointy and judging from the look of things, it was probably a piece of sheet aluminum from when we slid. But I couldn't really be sure.
"Naruto" I said as evenly as I could, already dreading what we were about to have to do. "I need you to help me up."
He looked at me with concern, "Why? What's wrong?" He stooped and turned around, brushing bits of wet glass off of his pants. "I'm going to need your help to stand and climb out of here." He was obviously confused now, but his eyes were following my arm to where my hand was resting just inches from the wound. From the angle of my body he couldn't see anything, "What is it?" He crept forward gently moving my hand away and peering around my waist. Although I couldn't see the wound, his face turned rather white as he pulled away. "Okay." He said, swallowing. "Is it bad?" I asked.
"I don't know," he responded seriously, "but there's a lot of blood."
-.-.-
"Let me figure out our best way out, so you only have to stand once." I said, wincing as I turned away. He didn't look so good. We both looked like we'd been hit by a semi-truck, but he was definitely worse for wear.
After much careful rummaging, I had built a rather haphazard pile of beer and general debris, making a sort of make shift stairway half way up the slanted and broken aluminum wall; making it at least possible for us to escape through the hole in the roof. By now the rain was not as heavy, but I was soaked by the time I was done, and Sasuke was sitting in a good inch of water.
I splashed my way over to him, and gently supported him to help him stand. He let out a barely audible cry of pain before setting his jaw and walking on his own. "You ready for this? I can help boost you up, you know."
The glare I received was enough to singe away eyebrows. I got the hint.
I watched as he climbed the pile and reached the tilted bit of wall. His converse were sliding, and his legs were trembling. I couldn't stand watching him be a stubborn bastard anymore so I climbed up as well.
Together we managed to pull ourselves to the top, cutting out hands on the edges of the metal wall and then we froze. I almost let my grip go slack, the view was— I was speechless.
Sasuke begrudgingly allowed me to jump down first in-case he needed help. Typical bastard then proceeded to jump down on his own. I rolled my eyes.
-.-.-
When we reached the top of the wall all I could see was destruction. Now that we were standing, it seemed worse. Where was the gas station? Looking behind us, all I could see was a pile of twisted metal, had we really been inside? It all seemed so surreal. The pain in my side was worse with every movement, but I wasn't sure whether I should pull it out, or if that would cause more damage. How would a medical team get to us here? I ws shaking so bad from adrenaline and pain that I was sure my legs would give out soon. "Wow." Came the voice of Naruto. "Yeah." I answered.
There were simply no other words to describe it. The rain was still heavy, I was still shivering. We had survived all of that… "Hey man, we really need to do something about that." He gestured to my side, his face looking a little pale, "What if it gets infected or something?" I shrugged, he was right. I had no idea what we were going to do, or how long it was going to take to get help, but I was ridiculously glad to have met 'Naruto Uzumaki, door man, gas station clerk, & amazing chef'
-.-.-
AN: reviews are nice. This was just a One Shot that's been lingering in my brain, and sorry for the lame ending, I really just couldn't figure out where to end this thing. lol.