The Storm

Boom.

Nathan Hancock’s hot chocolate mug quivered from the outside thunder. When is this rain going to stop? He thought as he took a sip in the darkness of his kitchen. The rain had been pouring nonstop for three days now, and it looked as if it would never let up.

He picked up his dim emergency flashlight and winded the handle. It slowly produced brighter light with each rotation and suddenly he could see through the murky shadows.

He looked down at his sleeping German shepherd lying below him. Popeye, as Nathan called him, was his only companion at the time. His past experiences in the Army were too demanding for him to ever settle down and get married, so far he just had his faithful dog.

A nauseating stench crept into his nostrils, emanating from his refrigerator. The lack of electricity had left him with a fridge full of rotting food. He had plenty of food storage and MRE rations thanks to his career in the military, but that could only satisfy for so long.

Nathan gazed out the window and watched the onslaught of falling water as it rapidly grew worse and worse, making it nearly impossible to see a few yards ahead. He picked up his wireless radio, the only connection he had to the outside world, and turned it on, hoping to receive a weather report and an estimated time before the city’s power was fixed. After a few short turns of the dial and hums of static he finally found a functioning station.

A local newsman was discussing the current weather, mentioning that hardly anyone was outdoors. Nathan got up to refill his hot chocolate mug. He turned on his kitchen sink and looked outside.

The wind picked up and howled as the rain fell sideways, causing Nathan to feel unbalanced. Lightning burst and thunder grumbled as he continued to listen to the radio, not even troubled by the sudden severity of the storm.

"The weather patterns of the last week are due to never-before-seen tropical storms that have emerged in the gulf coast. Rain is expected for the rest of this week, so get on your ponchos cause it’s going to be a—"

Suddenly the radio cut off. There was no noise, no static, just pure silence. Then all at once as if being controlled, the rain instantly stopped, leaving water dripping off rooftops and tree branches. What is going on? Nathan thought. The radio came back in, buzzing with static.

"An immediate storm… risen…out of nowhere… potential to completely destroy… everyone is advised… into shelters…stay low. This will… be devastating, local meteorologists…frantically trying to calculate its arrival…………………we are receiving word……………"

“What!?” shouted Nathan, “Say it!” After what seemed liked hours the voice finally came back in.

"It will hit… few minutes. Danger… this is a public warning… get into shelter… something is coming----"

An air-raid siren wailed throughout whole area as he looked outside. Immediately lightning struck just feet from his house, blinding him and shaking the earth. The shockwave hammered him to the ground and his ears began ringing. He struggled to regain his senses as the emergency siren droned in a low moan and Popeye barked in an unrecognizable raucous. He staggered back up, dazed and confused and looked outside the window where the blast was. Splintered wood lay scattered all around of what remained of the lightning-destroyed tree.

Nathan was too stunned to do anything, his head pounded and his ears were still screaming as he looked around. Hail began to fall outside, creating a white blanket of moving ice. Each started out small and rapidly progressed to the size of basketballs. Thunderous booms rattled his house as massive chunks hit the earth.

Then through his ringing ears Nathan heard a loud crack. He looked up to see his roof swelling toward him. What…the…he thought as he stepped to the side.

Suddenly it exploded, dropping ice and freezing water all over his kitchen floor.
He grabbed the wireless radio and held it in his teeth and picked up a scared Popeye. Fleeing towards his basement, he rounding a corner and skipped every few steps until he slammed the door behind him.

He hurriedly set Popeye and his radio down and grabbed a nearby towel. Luckily his basement was where he kept all of his extra linens. He shoved the towel through the space below the door as water plunged through the gaping hole a floor above.

Backing away slowly, he turned toward a small window and peered outside, the sight before him sending chills throughout his body. I’m going to die, he thought as his eyes stung from lack of blinking.

Complete devastation erupted before him. Trees blew apart and huge ice chunks showered the ground as the earth shook violently. Jars and storage items fell off shelves and shattered. Nathan staggering backwards, unsure of what to do as Popeye whined with fright.

The shuddering of the violent earthquake was too unbearable to even stand. Nathan struggled to heave a mattress into a corner where he crawled behind it to conceal himself and Popeye. The ground trembled harder and harder, leaving him no choice but to cling to his dog and wait.

* * * *

Blackness engulfed Nathan as he tried to remember where he was, the harsh cacophony of barks bringing him back to reality. He felt wet from his waist to his feet and suddenly recalled what happened. He figured he had blacked out during the earthquake, his head now pounded as queasiness began to settle.

He pushed the mattress forward, sending it splashing in two feet of frigid water. His basement was now soaked as he looked around and absorbed the damage.

Placing Popeye on the mattress and grabbing his wireless radio, Nathan guided the mattress toward the basement door. He grasped the icy doorknob and carefully gave it a turn, half expecting to see an alien sitting at the other side. Instead he saw damp, partially frozen stairs that led to more ice on his kitchen floor. The roof above his kitchen table had been completely breached, leaving frozen water and large pieces of ice on the collapsed table. Nathan looked up through the hole in his roof to see curving grey clouds completely overcastting the sky. Then he sat down on a wet chair and began stroking Popeye.

“Don’t worry boy, the storm is over… for now.” He walked into his soaked bedroom, opened up his dresser, and pulled out a sweater. This is just the beginning.