Chapter 11

"Tornado Fright"

A doctor burst into the room. He was breathing heavily. "Quickly! We have to get into the basement! There's a tornado warning!" He left the room.

Arinia looked at Mark and pulled her animals closer not sure what to do.

Mark quickly picked her up. "I really shouldn't move you, but we really don't have a choice." He put her on a stretcher sitting outside the door and ran with Bernard following.

Mark was weaving through people with the stretcher, trying frantically to get to the basement so Arinia would not be harmed. Just then a roaring sound was heard over all the racket.

"That's the tornado! RUN!" A doctor cried. The speed picked up as everyone eventually made it to the basement.

Everyone crowded into the basement and waited for the roaring to stop. Arinia was looking at Mark with wide eyes, she was really scared and she still didn't feel very well.

"OK...I think it's passed." Mark said quietly, as the roar had subsided and people were returning.

People ran back into the basement. "There's two of em! The one that past was the smallest one! There's a monster one still out there, and we're right in it's path!" Someone cried.

Mark swore as he ran to get to the center of the room so it would be harder for him to get hit.

"Mark, what's going to happen?" Arinia was trembling she was so scared and her eyes were wide open.

"I don't know...we're safe here, don't worry...I hope..." He explained quietly.

Arinia shook and held her animals even closer as she clamped her eyes tightly shut. The roaring grew louder as the tornado approached. There was a thunderous crash as the tornado connected. There were more extremely loud crashes.

Arinia shrieked and shot up and threw her arms around Mark. There were many more crashes until there was nothing but silence. As the silence hit, Arinia realized that she had been shaking while she had been holding onto Mark for dear life as she held her animals as she hugged him.

Someone ran upstairs to check on what happened. "Oh...my...god..."

"What happened?" Someone Arinia couldn't see asked.

"It's a complete disaster up here," a doctor shouted, "There's a lot of things destroyed and I mean a LOT."

"Mark, what's going to happen now?" Arinia asked as she continued to cling to him for dear life.

"I don't know...should we go upstairs and see what happens?" Mark asked.

"I guess..." Arinia let go of Mark and laid back down still clutching her animals tightly. "Though you're the one who's got control of the bed I'm lying on at the moment... I'm just laying here since I'm the one who's sick..."

Mark rode up an elevator back up, which was not destroyed. When he reached the top, and the doors opened, he couldn't believe his eyes. It was a complete disaster. Arinia's eyes widened, she couldn't believe what she was seeing after the tornado did a number on the hospital.

"Aw, jeez..." Mark groaned, pushing the stretcher around and through the rubble.

"Mark?" Arinia asked.

"Yeah?" Mark replied.

"What's going to happen now?" Arinia asked.

"You know, I don't really know," he replied, then he gasped. "What about Bernard? We gotta try and find him!"

"Don't worry, Mark, I'm right behind you." Bernard replied.

Mark whirled around. "Hey, where'd you come from?"

"I came up the stairway... Took awhile to get up but I'm here just the same..." Bernard replied shifting his foot slightly.

"Whew, that's a relief..." He replied.

A doctor ran over to Arinia and checked to make sure that she was okay, then when he saw that she was, he sighed with relief.

"Isn't it funny, a twenty minute storm caused all this damage..." Bernard replied.

The doctor nodded before he said, "We're moving all the patients to another hospital. We're sending them Fortree since that's the next closest town to here..."

"Eh...were any patients killed?" Mark asked, "And how are they getting to Fortree?"

"None were killed thankfully, though the hospital is a total wreck... It'll take a long time to rebuild." The doctor replied.

"Yeah, we can see that," Mark replied.

Arinia moaned since she still didn't feel too well.

"How are you transporting the patients to Fortree?"

"We're having them air-lifted to Fortree, that's what we're gonna do." The doctor replied.

"Are any planes or helicopters here yet?" Mark asked.

"Yes, and one is about to leave so we need to make sure she's on it!" The doctor cried.

Mark ran out of the door in the basement pushing Arinia quickly. He ran up to the helicopter, but it was hard with the rotating blades. Arinia shielded her eyes from the harsh wind as she waited for them to load her into the helicopter. A few doctors lifted the stretcher into the helicopter and buckled it into place. Mark climbed aboard and shut the door behind him.

The door swung open again as Bernard climbed aboard. "What about me?" He asked with a laugh.

"Heh, sorry..." Mark replied looking at Arinia as he spoke. Bernard shut the door and took a seat next to Mark.

The helicopter blades began to rotate generating a greater wave of wind as the helicopter began to take off.

Bernard sighed. "Jeez, a tornado hits the hospital. Wouldn't you know it."

"Yup, and if you'll look out your right window you can see the monster that did it!" The pilot yelled back.

Mark looked out the window and he gasped. "Daaaaaaaang...look at that thing!"

"What does it look like Mark?" Arinia asked trying to sit up so she could see it.

"Huge gray spinning cloud!" Mark replied.

"Can I see?" Arinia asked still trying to sit up. "I might not ever see another."

Mark raised Arinia's head slightly and pulled the stretcher closer to the window.

Arinia's eyes widened, "WOW! That thing's huge!"

Bernard stared. "That's a sucker of a storm. I feel bad for anyone else it hits."

Arinia looked at Mark, "Mark, I think that thing's about to go tearing through Petalburg!"

"It looks like it," Bernard replied. "Yep," Mark answered.

Just then the tornado hit a building and glass and debris started to fly everywhere as the tornado continued its merciless artillery barrage.

"I wonder if the tornado hit the gym," Mark said, thinking out loud.

"Lets hope it didn't..." Arinia said still staring at the huge swirling spiraling black cloud that continued to wreck havoc on the town of Petalburg.