Armageddon—Chapter 2
By wingtaichi
Rated PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of the characters
Armageddon--Chapter 2
Hilde shivered uncontrollably as hailstones rained down with a constant crashing noise above what had been a small house.
The past five minutes were all a blur to her. Her new house, the house she had worked so hard to get was destroyed in three seconds flat and she felt powerless to stop it. All she could do was huddle terrified in the basement.
The tornado had mostly passed, but it had certainly left its mark. Nearly all of her possessions were gone, destroyed by the cruel wind.
The only items that remained were those that had been in the basement at the time, which certainly wasn't much. The whole of it consisted of a couple of old wool blankets, an exercise bike and a tin of cookies.
She was too afraid to leave the basement and was at the moment safe from harm. The hailstones were still pinging loudly on the ground of her now nonexistent house.
Hilde unfolded one of the wool blankets and huddled into it, welcoming the warmth before opening the tin of cookies and eating a few with trembling hands.
I'll just stay down here until the hail stops, she thought.
~*~
Wufie woke with a headache throbbing in his temples. He remembered seeing the funnel cloud approaching the apartment at an alarming speed and sprinting for the lowest point he could reach: the basement. He remembered the apartment building simply…ripping apart as he ran and then he was swept into the merciless wind spiral.
But he was apparently in the basement now, or at least what was left of it. He sat up and shifted his right leg only to have pain shoot like fire through it.
That figures, he thought. It's broken.
But he was otherwise quite lucky. He had been fortunate enough to land in a part of the basement that had a pocket in the rubble in piled in it, but that meant that the wreckage shielded him from view of anyone that would be walking by outside later on. But then again, he hadn't been crushed, which was a miracle.
Unfortunately he was unable to get to his feet, which meant he was unable to leave the cavity in the ground. Plus, if he moved any of the rubble he faced the possibility of being crushed by broken beams and glass.
Wufie listened for any sign of people outside but heard only the constant downpour of rain. He tried moving his leg again but to no avail; the pain was bad enough and he didn't want to injure it any more than it already was.
He realized it could be a while before anybody got around to finding him and settled down to wait.
~*~
Relena sat in the subway worried about what was happening above.
She had been on her way to work by subway when the tornado warning had been issued, so she didn't have to find somewhere else to go.
All the passengers that had been on her train were now crowded onto a platform, some standing in grim silence while a few cried, worried for their loved ones.
Nobody who had been in the subway at the time of the tornado had been harmed physically, but emotionally was definitely a different story.
Even the people who remained silent were scared, that much was plain to see. And she knew she wore a look identical to theirs, the fear in the eyes and the lips set in a worried line.
"Relena?"
Relena quickly turned at the mention of her name.
"Zechs?"
Indeed, it had been Zechs who had spoken.
"What a morning," Zechs feebly joked.
Relena wryly smiled and nodded in agreement.
"I heard about you and Heero. Congratulations," Zechs stated.
"Thank you."
"So when's your wedding?"
"March 17th," Relena replied, fingering the engagement ring she wore. "Only a few more months."
She could hardly believe she was making small talk with Zechs as perhaps hundreds were dying above them, but she inquired: "so how's your career as a perventer coming?"
Zechs replied "It's been going great."
"That's great!" Relena enthusiastically responded. "I hope Heero is all right," she added, though not nearly as enthusiastically.
"He'll be fine," Zechs reassured.
Relena nodded, but that did not mask the deep frown she wore on her face.
~*~
Trowa had somehow managed to get to the basement of his apartment building before the tornado had come along with about five other people. At the moment he felt much more like being alone.
A woman who was about 25 years old was sobbing hysterically against the wall of the basement and another woman of about the same age was trying to comfort her.
A man with dark hair in the corner was scowling at everybody that looked at him and saying absolutely nothing while another man with sandy blond hair was trying to clear wreckage away from the stairs of the basement so they could all leave.
"You know, I could use some help over here!" the sandy-haired man shouted as he kicked a split two by four away from the stairs.
"Will you wait for just one minute?" the woman who was not crying irritably shouted.
The scowling man yelled: "why don't you just shut your stupid friend up so we can get the hell out of here?"
This only made the crying woman even more hysterical and her friend angrily shrieked: "you COULD be a little more friendly, you know!"
The two began to argue loudly, but not loudly enough to shut out the sobbing of the other woman. And the sandy-haired man jumped in on the argument as well.
"Stop it!" Trowa bellowed.
The fighting paused and he added: "if you would all quit arguing and work together we could be out of here!"
The crying woman took a deep shuddering breath and nodded as she walked over to the stairs with her friend.
Trowa walked over to the stairs as well along with the sandy-haired man. The scowling man muttered something under his breath before also walking over.
~*~
"Noin, come on. Wake up!" Catharine pleaded.
She didn't know exactly what was happening, but what she did know was more than enough. Duo and Sally had told her most of what had happened, about how Noin had carried her down to the basement and how the stairs had given out as he was going down them.
She had somehow shifted while they were falling so she would land on top of him and was unconscious. Blood oozed from a deep cut on her forehead and half of her face had been skinned.
"We've got to get a towel or something to stop the bleeding," Sally stated.
"How are we going to get that? There's NOTHING down here!" Duo replied.
Duo had made no overstatement. The basement was practically empty unless you counted stony walls and cement floor as something.
Sally gasped and jumped away from the spot she had been standing in. "The pipes are leaking!" she cried.
Catharine and Duo looked over to where Sally had been standing and saw that water was indeed spreading across the floor.
Catharine knelt down and started to lift Noin out of the water.
"What are you doing? You could hurt her worse! We don't know if she's got broken bones or something!" Sally shouted.
"I'm getting her out of this water. It might be dirty and it could give her an infection," Catharine explained. "Can somebody help me?"
Duo helped Catharine pick up Noin before wondering: "so now what?"
"I don't know," Sally moaned. "Who knows if it's safe out there?"
"Well we should get Noin to a hospital," Catharine replied. "Besides, anything's better than waiting around down here!"
The three began searching for a way out of the basement other than using the now broken stairs…
Authors note: Please review
By wingtaichi
Rated PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of the characters
Armageddon--Chapter 2
Hilde shivered uncontrollably as hailstones rained down with a constant crashing noise above what had been a small house.
The past five minutes were all a blur to her. Her new house, the house she had worked so hard to get was destroyed in three seconds flat and she felt powerless to stop it. All she could do was huddle terrified in the basement.
The tornado had mostly passed, but it had certainly left its mark. Nearly all of her possessions were gone, destroyed by the cruel wind.
The only items that remained were those that had been in the basement at the time, which certainly wasn't much. The whole of it consisted of a couple of old wool blankets, an exercise bike and a tin of cookies.
She was too afraid to leave the basement and was at the moment safe from harm. The hailstones were still pinging loudly on the ground of her now nonexistent house.
Hilde unfolded one of the wool blankets and huddled into it, welcoming the warmth before opening the tin of cookies and eating a few with trembling hands.
I'll just stay down here until the hail stops, she thought.
~*~
Wufie woke with a headache throbbing in his temples. He remembered seeing the funnel cloud approaching the apartment at an alarming speed and sprinting for the lowest point he could reach: the basement. He remembered the apartment building simply…ripping apart as he ran and then he was swept into the merciless wind spiral.
But he was apparently in the basement now, or at least what was left of it. He sat up and shifted his right leg only to have pain shoot like fire through it.
That figures, he thought. It's broken.
But he was otherwise quite lucky. He had been fortunate enough to land in a part of the basement that had a pocket in the rubble in piled in it, but that meant that the wreckage shielded him from view of anyone that would be walking by outside later on. But then again, he hadn't been crushed, which was a miracle.
Unfortunately he was unable to get to his feet, which meant he was unable to leave the cavity in the ground. Plus, if he moved any of the rubble he faced the possibility of being crushed by broken beams and glass.
Wufie listened for any sign of people outside but heard only the constant downpour of rain. He tried moving his leg again but to no avail; the pain was bad enough and he didn't want to injure it any more than it already was.
He realized it could be a while before anybody got around to finding him and settled down to wait.
~*~
Relena sat in the subway worried about what was happening above.
She had been on her way to work by subway when the tornado warning had been issued, so she didn't have to find somewhere else to go.
All the passengers that had been on her train were now crowded onto a platform, some standing in grim silence while a few cried, worried for their loved ones.
Nobody who had been in the subway at the time of the tornado had been harmed physically, but emotionally was definitely a different story.
Even the people who remained silent were scared, that much was plain to see. And she knew she wore a look identical to theirs, the fear in the eyes and the lips set in a worried line.
"Relena?"
Relena quickly turned at the mention of her name.
"Zechs?"
Indeed, it had been Zechs who had spoken.
"What a morning," Zechs feebly joked.
Relena wryly smiled and nodded in agreement.
"I heard about you and Heero. Congratulations," Zechs stated.
"Thank you."
"So when's your wedding?"
"March 17th," Relena replied, fingering the engagement ring she wore. "Only a few more months."
She could hardly believe she was making small talk with Zechs as perhaps hundreds were dying above them, but she inquired: "so how's your career as a perventer coming?"
Zechs replied "It's been going great."
"That's great!" Relena enthusiastically responded. "I hope Heero is all right," she added, though not nearly as enthusiastically.
"He'll be fine," Zechs reassured.
Relena nodded, but that did not mask the deep frown she wore on her face.
~*~
Trowa had somehow managed to get to the basement of his apartment building before the tornado had come along with about five other people. At the moment he felt much more like being alone.
A woman who was about 25 years old was sobbing hysterically against the wall of the basement and another woman of about the same age was trying to comfort her.
A man with dark hair in the corner was scowling at everybody that looked at him and saying absolutely nothing while another man with sandy blond hair was trying to clear wreckage away from the stairs of the basement so they could all leave.
"You know, I could use some help over here!" the sandy-haired man shouted as he kicked a split two by four away from the stairs.
"Will you wait for just one minute?" the woman who was not crying irritably shouted.
The scowling man yelled: "why don't you just shut your stupid friend up so we can get the hell out of here?"
This only made the crying woman even more hysterical and her friend angrily shrieked: "you COULD be a little more friendly, you know!"
The two began to argue loudly, but not loudly enough to shut out the sobbing of the other woman. And the sandy-haired man jumped in on the argument as well.
"Stop it!" Trowa bellowed.
The fighting paused and he added: "if you would all quit arguing and work together we could be out of here!"
The crying woman took a deep shuddering breath and nodded as she walked over to the stairs with her friend.
Trowa walked over to the stairs as well along with the sandy-haired man. The scowling man muttered something under his breath before also walking over.
~*~
"Noin, come on. Wake up!" Catharine pleaded.
She didn't know exactly what was happening, but what she did know was more than enough. Duo and Sally had told her most of what had happened, about how Noin had carried her down to the basement and how the stairs had given out as he was going down them.
She had somehow shifted while they were falling so she would land on top of him and was unconscious. Blood oozed from a deep cut on her forehead and half of her face had been skinned.
"We've got to get a towel or something to stop the bleeding," Sally stated.
"How are we going to get that? There's NOTHING down here!" Duo replied.
Duo had made no overstatement. The basement was practically empty unless you counted stony walls and cement floor as something.
Sally gasped and jumped away from the spot she had been standing in. "The pipes are leaking!" she cried.
Catharine and Duo looked over to where Sally had been standing and saw that water was indeed spreading across the floor.
Catharine knelt down and started to lift Noin out of the water.
"What are you doing? You could hurt her worse! We don't know if she's got broken bones or something!" Sally shouted.
"I'm getting her out of this water. It might be dirty and it could give her an infection," Catharine explained. "Can somebody help me?"
Duo helped Catharine pick up Noin before wondering: "so now what?"
"I don't know," Sally moaned. "Who knows if it's safe out there?"
"Well we should get Noin to a hospital," Catharine replied. "Besides, anything's better than waiting around down here!"
The three began searching for a way out of the basement other than using the now broken stairs…
Authors note: Please review