𝐈𝐧𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝

Chapter Three: The Aftermath

As soon as I made it through the door, I felt a hand on my arm. I looked up to see Fed pulling me further into the room, towards everyone else who was currently freaking about the events of the last ten minutes. I let him continue to lead me, and I turned my head back around to see Vee locking up the doors. Good.

We stopped in a corner of the room where Sam was leaning against the wall.

"Hey, you doing okay buddy?" I crouched down to make eye contact with the younger boy. I could tell he was totally rattled by the last two minutes so when he gave me a small nod, I decided not to push it and just gave him a small smile back. I didn't want to leave him alone though so I stayed beside him, and kept him company until I heard a voice frantically calling my name.

"Nora! Nora!"

My head immediately shot up. "Raine! I'm here! I'm okay!" I stumbled past the players and coaches around me, mumbling 'excuse me' and 'coming through' as I followed the direction of where Raine's voice had sounded from.

"Nora! I'm coming to you!" I heard Raine shout. The frantic voices of players and coaches freaking out around me started to block out Raine's voice so I jumped a few times to try to peer over the heads of every abnormally tall athlete in this room. Finally, I spotted a familiar head of blonde hair.

"Raine!" I rushed over to her and wrapped her in a hug. Oh, thank God. She's okay. She's safe.

"Oh, Nora, I couldn't see if you made it in or not. I was so scared," Raine cried, squeezing me tightly.

"I know, I know. I'm okay now. I'm here," I reassured her, stroking her blonde hair. However, our moment was cut short when the room started to shake violently. I peeled myself off of Raine and looked around the room. Shit. It's been five minutes.

I grabbed Raine's hand and crouched to the floor, pressing my back up against the closest wall. Raine followed my actions.

"Hold on!" I shouted, wrapping my arms around Raine and pulling her into my side.

"What's going on!" someone from the room cried. I bit back the urge to scream, well what do you think, and just continued to hold Raine. I watched as players and coaches scrambled under tables and away from furniture that was falling down. It's been 15 seconds so far. The shaking should stop soon.

"Don't let go, Raine! It's almost over!" I said over the noise. I felt Raine nod into my body.

Five seconds later, the shaking started to slow and then eventually died down. I slowly let go of Raine and lifted my head up to look around the room. Kids started poking their heads out from under tables and coaches were the first to stand up from their crouching positions on the floor. Luckily, there was hardly any furniture, lamps, or pictures hung on the walls so the damage that was done to the emergency shelter was minimal, however, the same wouldn't be able to be said about the world above us.

"Is everyone okay?"
"What the hell just happened?"

"This is crazy!"

"Was that an earthquake?"

"What are we going to do?"

To put it simply, shit hit the fan. Pure chaos engulfed the room. Worried kids were frantically asking questions, bawling their eyes out, or running around the room. Even the coaches were at a loss for words as some panicked while others asked Ashleigh for guidance.

Raine and I found a seat next to Charlie who was trying to calm Mia down but failing. The 18-year-old girl was crying, her mascara running down her cheeks. Knowing what to do, I gently moved Charlie aside so I could crouch in front of Mia's seat. I placed my hands on her shoulders, forcing her to look at me.