Chapter Twenty-Eight
Tempest
Tyrone was enjoying the sense of peace as he let the rain drench him from head to toe. He never knew that being in shock had this kind of feeling, this sense of harmony. It seemed like every single good thought he had was brought back to the front of his mind, while all the bad things were pushed back. If he even tried to think back to certain memories, he couldn't access them as if he had amnesia. Tyrone knew that it would all come back soon when the shock was over. It would be unexpected, that much was for sure. However, he was fairly happy with his thoughts at the moment. Jake would come later. His death would come later. For now... peace.
The wind seemed to suddenly pick up, strong enough to push his hair backwards, revealing his green eyes which were watering at the strength of the wind. Wincing as the rain seemed to cut into his skin, Tyrone raised his hand when a gust of wind blew so hard it swept him off his feet. Falling backwards, Tyrone slammed hard onto the concrete roof, all air disappearing from his lungs. Facing upwards, Tyrone froze in shock. Above him black clouds were forming all over the sky. They seemed to be moving to one spot, straight above the hospital. As they moved inwards, they spun around slowly, forming a spiral.
Tyrone quickly got to his feet, finding he was breathing hard and could only watch the sky in terror. It was immense, it was epic, and it was something Tyrone had never experienced first-hand in his life. But he knew what it was. He had seen it on videos, on the news. It was clearly the start of a tornado.
Right over the hospital. Right over him.
Opening his mouth, Tyrone quickly shut it again. What could he say? No words came to his mind. Instead, a primal fear in him was awoken. The peace, the sense of serenity, it was gone. Still in shock and directed only by fear, Tyrone scrambled back the way he came when he first climbed to the roof. Squeezing his way through some thick pipes and climbing up a small incline, Tyrone found himself breathing heavily. He wasn't breathing hard because he hadn't exercised; he was out of breath simply because of the situation. The urge made him want to run faster, and he did. He could see the fire escape door he had come up in ahead. He didn't know how long it would take for the tornado to hit, but he knew it would. That cloud movement... this wouldn't pass by.
His hands on a grating, Tyrone pushed himself over some kind of generator. Pushing up further, he got to the top and went to drop down when his leg suddenly fell down. In a panic he looked to his foot to see that some of the grating had gave way, sending his foot down and trapping it between the two parts of the grating. He tried pulling up, but that caused it to squeeze harder into his ankle. Tyrone pulled harder, but only succeeded in drawing blood from part of the grating.
A flash of blue caught his attention and he looked upwards to see something immense.
The black clouds were flashing with blue lights, lightning bursting through the clouds like a huge circuit board. It was as if the Gods were angry and were taking it out on Willingboro. Tyrone could see lightning striking on the edge of the black clouds, far away, but none were hitting inside Willingboro itself. Looking straight up, Tyrone noticed he could see straight in the center, the eye as it was. It was disorienting as he could see blue sky far, far above with swirling black clouds surrounding the only unmoving space. The blue suddenly turned into electric blue.
Before Tyrone could register anything, something burst through the sky with a loud hiss and a feeling filled his chest. He couldn't register what this feeling was, but an odd sense of coldness seemed to cover his body. Tyrone glanced down to his chest to see it was completely blackened. His skin was peeling and red, while charred and burnt pieces of skin spattered everywhere other than his legs. Somehow, Tyrone knew what the feeling of coldness was. He knew it was a matter of seconds before his brain shut down.
His heart had stopped.
Tyrone could only allow himself to fall back and before the incoming darkness he saw flames spouting underneath him. In a sense of new peace, Tyrone realized that the lightning had gone straight through him and into the generator below.
At that moment the generator exploded, sending Tyrone's body into an abyss of fire.
XXX
"Greek God of war, four across."
"That's Ares."
"It fits. Clucking Female, three down."
"A hen."
"Uh-huh." Chloe sighed and wrote down the last answer. "That's it."
"Oh good." Jeremy smiled and pushed himself up so he was propped against the headboard with pillows. "Did I get them all right?"
Chloe leaved to the back of the quiz-book and put the pen to her mouth as she looked and checked back. "Mmm..."
As she was thinking, a sudden shaking and bang sent pieces of plaster showering down in their room. Both Jeremy and Chloe looked up in surprise, watching with widening eyes as cracks criss-crossed over the roof.
"What the... hell..." The pen dropped from Chloe's mouth as she stared up at the roof. She suddenly jumped as a thick piece of concrete dropped down and slammed against the floor with a thud. "Holy..." Chloe quickly spun around towards Jeremy and grabbed his arm. "Come on, we're getting out of here."
Jeremy quickly nodded as more pieces of roof started falling. Screams and shouts could already be heard, echoing around the corridors. "Wh-what 's happening?" Jeremy asked as he was pulled up from the bed. Putting one arm around Chloe's shoulders, he could only hop as she walked since he still couldn't walk on his foot.
"Hell if I know." Chloe pushed the door opened and looked down the corridor. Her eyes widened even further. Throughout the corridor pieces of roof were falling, doors were cracking off their hinges and even pieces of floor were falling down. People were running, tripping, and falling through holes in the ground. "Come on." Practically pulling Jeremy along, Chloe stepped outside when a loud crunch was heard, penetrating her thoughts. Feeling a weight drag down on her shoulder, Chloe turned around with dread to see Jeremy pinned under a large section of wood and stone, having fallen from the roof and straight onto his back. "Jeremy!" Chloe knelt down and grabbed Jeremy's face, but his tongue lolled out of his mouth with his eyes clearly not showing any life. "Oh God..." Chloe put a hand to her mouth and backed out of the room, unable to draw her eyes away from her dead boyfriend. "No... Jeremy, no..."
A scream drew Chloe's gaze away from Jeremy. Seeing more of the roof falling with rain actually getting inside, Chloe knew she had to get away. With one final look at Jeremy, she took off, tears welling in her eyes.
Her feet padding against the floor, Chloe could feel the pain in her chest from the fan blade. The floor suddenly fell from underneath her, forcing her to jump and manage to hit the corridor on the other side. Looking down the hole in fear, Chloe could see fire coming out of one room, the heat of which reaching her face. Getting her gaze back in front of her, Chloe sprinted forward, clutching her chest as she ran for the stairs. Just as she reached the stairwell, a trio of people came down from upstairs.
Propping up Alex in the middle of them, Josie and Jay looked to Chloe. Chloe could see the fear on their face, could relate to it.
"Come on!" Jay called out, waving for Chloe. Chloe could only nod and run for the trio. Her eyes caught sight of cracks running underneath their feet. Just as the floor collapsed she called out, too late, "Watch out!" Jay looked down as the floor disappeared from under their feet and he, Josie and Alexander disappeared into a plume of dust.
Chloe stepped back in shock before moving forward tentatively. Looking down, she realized that the whole stairway had collapsed. At the bottom she could see limbs sticking out from rocks, crushed from the upstairs and downstairs as they broke to pieces.
"What do I do...?" Chloe spoke out loud, turning around to see the floor was falling away towards her. "What... what... do I..." Chloe saw a closed door to her side and put her hand on the doorknob, hoping for escape. For salvation.
Instead the door was thrown open, the wood slamming hard into her nose. Chloe was knocked backwards, teetering on the edge, over the hole. She watched as a man with bandages over his head looked at her.
"Help me!" Chloe cried, reaching out with a hand. The man took a look at her and went to reach for her. The floor capsized and Chloe found herself falling.
Twisting in the air, Chloe caught sight of a chunk of rock standing straight up in a vicious spike shape. Chloe couldn't even scream before her face went straight into the rock, sending blood and gore everywhere.
XXX
Looking at Chloe's still twitching corpse, Officer Nick Casey could only quickly look away. This was too much, but it had to be the work of Jason Stark. The moment he heard the explosion, the bridge came to mind. This was the work of Stark, no doubt. With that in mind, Nick had immediately ran out of the room, glad that his partner hadn't visited, otherwise he would be in danger too. Nick ran down the corridor as the vibrations seemed to die down. It didn't matter, though; he continued to make his way down the corridor, turning at the edge.
He passed dozens of bodies, crushed under pieces of ceiling and wood. He hadn't seen anyone alive throughout the whole corridor. Nick suddenly paused, hearing a roaring sound. Stepping back just in time, a fire ball burst through a doorway. Nick blanched. If anything was under threat of fire, it was a hospital. The things that could explode... Looking up, Nick saw the sprinklers were not working. He didn't know why they weren't, but he knew he had to get out.
Carefully moving around the corner, Nick saw fire raging through one of the corridors.
"Oh... no, no, come on!" Nick cursed, before running forward. He knew there wasn't anywhere to go behind him, so his only chance was through the fire. As he ran, he clutched the point where the bullet had entered his chest.
I survived being shot for this? No way, no, no, no!
Nick grit his teeth and got past the fire curving around the corridor. Passing a set of double doors, the corridor floor had collapsed, forming a kind of ramp down to the bottom floor, the ground floor, where the cubicles were for non-serious injuries. The corridor floor led straight down to the reception. Thanking God, Nick quickly made his way down the corridor floor before coming into the reception. Taking a quick look away he saw more dead bodies. Most were crushed. Glancing back, the fire was raging much more on the ground floor. Both entrances to the cubicle area were burning, fire spreading out into the reception.
"Officer, come on!"
Turning his head, Nick saw that through the open automatic doors were a group of survivors. Eight of them. Worse though, Nick recognised both Jason Stark and Joshua, although he didn't know Joshua's name. Hearing a cracking above his head, Nick managed to avoid another chunk of roof.
Damn it. Better surviving with murderers than getting killed here. I can deal with them later.
With that thought clear in his mind, Nick ran for the group. Just before he got there, sparks burst at the top of the automatic doors and they slammed shut.
"No!" Nick put his hands up on the glass and pounded on it with one fist. "No... no!" Peering through the glass he noticed that two of them were pushing the air, as if... telling him to go back. Realizing much too late, the glass suddenly burst from an intense gust of wind. Nick was pushed back, but glass shards cascaded all over his body. One particular sharp shard went straight into his throat, cutting it clean open. Nick gurgled for a moment, before collapsing to the ground, twitching.
XXX
"Oh... Christ..." Lukas put a hand to his mouth and stepped back as he watched the officer get a piece of glass to the throat. Next to him, Riley had Becca close to his chest, not speaking. Both of them were staring at the carnage, eyes wide with fear. Jennifer had her arms crossed, shivering, while Jason was sitting on a bench, one hand covering half of his face.
"What is happening... what happened?" Dorothy asked as David held her close. "I can hear screams... the explosion... what is happening David?"
"I..." David took a breath. "I don't..."
"David!"
"I can't..." David went silent, shaking his head.
In fact, everything went silent. It seemed that all noise had completely gone. The only thing which was wrong was the huge spiral above the hospital.
"I-Is it over...?" Becca whispered. "Is it done?"
The survivors stared out over the hospital as it seemed still.
"Nope." Joshua smirked down at Becca. "It's not over."
"How can you smile?" Riley suddenly demanded, letting go of Becca. "You've been smiling all through this! Even as you pulled me and Riley out, how can you smile!"
"Easy." Joshua pointed to his face. "See."
"You..."
"Why don't you look?" Turning his pointing finger to the hospital, the other seven looked out to the hospital and grew aghast. Even though Dorothy couldn't see, she could easily hear the roaring of the wind.
The spiral of wind was descending, forming into a funnel. The funnel grew closer and closer to the roof until bits of piping and stone was pulled upwards and into the intense spiralling torrent of wind.
"A tornado..." Lukas breathed.
"That's right." Joshua nodded. "That's a tornado, and that's gonna be the death of all of us."
As he spoke, the tornado ripped into the hospital as if it were nothing. In a matter of minutes, the hospital was torn to shreds. Ripped from its foundation, rubble and bodies alike being flung around and around.
Riley shook his head. "No way..."
"Riley..." Becca pulled herself closer to Riley.
"Hey, hey, it's all right..." Riley put a hand on Becca's head. "It's all right." Riley smiled just as a piece of metal piping came soaring out of the tornado. Like a spear it went straight through one ear and out of the other. Riley quickly buckled, allowing Becca to scream. The scream was quickly silenced as a piece of wood cut a ragged hole into her throat and severing the spine at the back. She fell silently, her scream cut off, on top of Riley.
"Haha, guess it's not all right." Joshua smirked staring down at the recently deceased.
"What the hell..." Lukas glared at the young man. He suddenly stepped forward, grabbing Joshua's collar. "What the hell is wrong with you!" Lukas disappeared from view as a metal door slammed hard into his body. As his body was thrown across the street, Joshua wiped a small splatter of blood from his face.
He turned back and faced Dorothy, David, Jennifer and Jason. Staying silent, Joshua continued to smirk.
"Come on, let's go." Jennifer tugged on Jason's arm. "We need to go."
"Where can we go? This is obviously meant to happen!" Jason shook his head.
"Of course it's not. This is... is a freak accident."
"This isn't an accident." David called out, shaking his head. "This is... not an accident, it can't be it's too..." David struggled for the words and could only motion at the spinning gale. It stayed in place, not moving anywhere other than the foundations of the hospitals. Parts of surrounding buildings were pulled away but for the most part the hospital took the brunt of the tornado.
"Fuck... of course it is! A freak... a freak accident..." Shaking her head in denial, Jennifer turned around and walked away. "This is all an accident; just... we can... just..."
"Jennifer." Jason stood up from the bench and started to go after Jennifer. "Stay-" Jason was cut off as a piece of wood went straight into her stomach and through her back. "Jennifer!"
Jennifer stumbled forward, grabbing hold of Jason. "J-Jason... Ja..." Blood spilled from her mouth, all over Jason's front. Her eyes rolled back and she fell down, dead.
"Did she..." Dorothy said, fear in her voice, but David pulled her head to his chest.
"Don't talk. Ignore everything. Don't talk, Dorothy, just stay still. Stay quiet." David whispered into Dorothy's ear. Dorothy nodded, sniffing back tears.
"O-Okay..."
"Good girl. It's fine. This is fine." David eyes widened as he watched part of what looked like an ambulance door soar straight for him. He found his eyes growing hot. "Dorothy, you know I l-" his voice was cut off as the part of door sliced all the way through his neck. His head fell back, ripping from the skin and sinew, falling to the floor.
"David... David?" Dorothy was shaking as her hands explored upwards. The shaking hands reached the neck and she prodded the flesh. "Oh god..." When her hand reached into the muscle and got coated with blood Dorothy stepped backwards, aghast. David's body fell to the ground. Dorothy fell to her knees, chokes racking her body. She blindly stared at David's body while Jason knelt down over Jennifer with tears in his eyes.
"Don't be so down!" Joshua called out over the wind. Both Dorothy and Jason looked up at Joshua. "This isn't the end!"
"You..." Jason stop up, fists clenched.
"Me?"
"You did this! You tried to kill me before... you..."
"Hahaha... I did this? You think I can just summon tornadoes out of the blue? Like hell I can." Joshua shook his head. "Oh no, Jason Stark. This is reality... kinda. But don't worry. The moment you'll die, you'll wake up."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean!" Jason growled, stepping forward.
"Oh, ask me later, when we're all alive and kicking. For now, just accept your fate." With a grin still on his face, a large part of the hospital wall, perhaps five metres in length, slammed into his back. Jason could only step back as he watched the wall slam into Dorothy and very shortly slam into him. He could feel the pressure, the pain, the-
XXX
Jason gasped, looking wildly around the hospital room. His eyes connecting with a confused Jennifer.
Dorothy whimpered, placing her head on David's shoulder. Coughing, she faced up towards David with a pleading look on her face.
Joshua grinned as he was guided through the automatic doors. "Hahaha... This one isn't a doppelganger..."
A/N: Wooohoo! Oh my, that was fun. It's been a long time coming, this vision. If you can't believe a tornado can form that quickly, go to YouTube. Of course, it staying in place and forming in that particular place isn't natural, but hey, when you know who's involved...
Thanks to Gabe-Girl-Forever, Bookreader2010, LocalTalent53 and SilentKing1 for the reviews! I think it's fair to say I got my groove back. No need for weeks before chapter updates. Nuh-uh, no way, I'm back and ready and willing... Also, I would like to mention that this whole list goes through all four acts so while three die in this act the list is obviously still alive an' active.
So, I hope you loved the chapter, I sure did, give me my mistakes and I'll see you next time!