He next morning brought nothing but boredom. Wake County was under a tornado watch, and Cary, the city Rayne lived in, had no power. For Rayne that meant no Internet surfing. She had not changed her clothes from last night. Honestly, she fell asleep on the couch. Now she sat there listening to System of the Down on her portable CD player, with nothing better to do.
Lightening flashed continuously, thunder cracked then boomed, the rain down poured with no mercy. Above her blaring music Rayne heard something continuously pounding her house. She stopped her CD player and went to look out the window. Golf ball sized hail fell from the black sky. Picking up several couch pillows and blankets, Rayne made herself comfortable in the downstairs bathroom. A siren went off and Rayne knew a tornado had been spotted. She shut and locked the door, buried herself safely under the blankets and pillows, and waited.
The house started to shake, windows broke, and objects flew around. A tree trunk came slamming through the door, just above Rayne, and through the wall. The tornado was almost over as soon as it started. Rayne carefully crawled out from under the pillows and ducked under the trunk. She was trapped in the bathroom. The tree held the door shut. No matter how hard she tried, the door would not budge. Rayne put her hands on the trunk, testing its toughness. It was weak enough, so she stood on it and jumped. She fell to the ground. A splinter lightly scratched the side of her leg but other than that, she was fine. Now she could open the door.
As she did she almost wished she had not. Every building was completely destroyed. The scene before her looked like a town that had been bombed in World War 2. Rayne was too shocked to cry. Her dresser way face up in the middle of her backyard. The sky was starting to clear up and the sun came out. She walked to the dresser, surprised to find dry clothes, and slipped on a black spaghetti strap shirt, camouflage miniskirt, and a pair of soggy combat boots that were laying nearby.
Sirens pierced the quiet morning and a whole army of police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances appeared. One officer with a bear belly, brown hair, and hazel eyes walked up to her.
"You have nowhere to go now Rayne, the tornado destroyed everything. It's time you finally gave into foster care."
"No way are you talking me into foster care! Just because I'm only 16 and my parents are dead doesn't mean I can't take care of myself!"
"You have 30 minutes to gather anything you want to keep…that is if it wasn't destroyed by the tornado." The officer left her so he could talk on his walkie-talkie. There was only 1 thing important to Rayne…the files on Raccoon City. She found them buried under rubble about 2 yards away from the house. Most of the information had been scattered and unreadable. With a sigh she walked back to the sheriff empty handed. A fireman wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.
"I take it nothing survived?" He asked.
"No…Sheriff Blaine…Where will I be sent to?" She leaned against the car.
"Raccoon City is going through rehabilitation. After they blew everything up, they reconstructed every building to look exactly the same as before. They have a new Chief at the police station, new people moved in, stores up and working…"
"Blaine!" the thought of going to Raccoon City sent chills of excitement and fear down Rayne's spine. "Where am I going?"
"Raccoon City! Gosh, don't yell at me Rayne! You'll be leaving tomorrow morning." Someone handed Blaine a coffee mug, and offered Rayne one. She smirked before she took a sip. Maybe she'll be able to explore the old mansion and find out more information.