The Last Plague

Chapter Forty-Four: The Storm

"Guys, do you see it?" Grayson shouted over the wind.

I looked over and saw the clouds touching down to the ground. They were swirling around each other as if dancing. Several trees around it bent towards the spiral. A few even broke off of the ground and catapulted through the air.

"Should we try to run?" Trina shouted through the noise of cracking trees.

"Come on," Grayson yelled while grabbing everyone's arms. "Let's go over here, maybe it'll miss us." He sounded doubtful.

We all followed him back towards the way we came. The trees' smoke was being sucked into the tornado rapidly. Grayson grabbed a tree and held on to it. He motioned us to do the same. We all grabbed onto a tree and looked out at the tornado still touching the ground.

"Should we go deeper in the woods?" I shouted at him as loud as I could.

Without a response, Grayson, Trina, and Aiden all started running deeper into the woods. I followed them as quickly as I could, but the wind continued to pull back on me. I grabbed onto the next tree in front of me. I almost jumped onto the next tree in front of me and held on. I continued repeating this process until the winds became too much to fight against.

"I can't go any farther!" I shouted at them. Nobody responded, I didn't think they could hear me over the storm.

The lightning illuminated the sky blindingly. I could barely see anything from the constant flashing. I was almost being pulled onto the tree I held onto. I saw Trina to my left, and Aiden to my right; I couldn't see Grayson anywhere. I started to grow worried when I saw his figure appear in the distance. He was struggling to get closer to us.

I tried shouting at him to stay where he was, but my voice was drowned out by the wind.

He continued struggling to get closer to us. He grabbed onto the tree and looked around him. I could tell he was looking for us, just not in the right place.

A large crack ricocheted through my ears. The constant cracking became deafening. I looked down and realized, That's my tree. Get off of it, now, I told myself, frantically looking around me. The tree started giving away and I saw my closest tree. I jumped after and tried to grab on, but slipped.

I saw the tree I was on being sucked away into the tornado. Then I realized I was too. I was flying away into the tornado. I looked in front of me hoping to grab onto a tree; there was a tree in front of me. I landed on it with a hard crack. I felt several of my ribs snap into pieces; I thought I even heard them break. I wanted to pass out, but I didn't. The pain seared through my body. The cuts from the wood tore into my burns, inflicting more pain. My broken ribs tore into my flesh. I laid there, unable to move, pain covering me.

The noise continued in my ears, deafening them. My ears exploded with pain. My lungs started feeling breathless. I had trouble breathing; the storm created a force between me and the tree that started crushing me. I finally passed out from the lack of breath. The last thing I heard was Trina screaming at me.

I woke up to the familiar field around me. Trina was looking down at me, worryingly.

"Are you okay?" I heard her say with a faint whisper.

A searing pain came over me when I regained consciousness. "Yeah," I responded; knowing it was a complete lie. The pain in me was overwhelming. I could feel my ribs pushing into my skin. I stared at the familiar gray smoke-filled sky.

"Don't lie, you could've died. How bad does it hurt?" she asked me, kneeling beside me.

"I think my ribs are broken," I told her, trying to smile.

She looked down at me with a tear in her eye. "I'd thought I lost you. I give you a hug, but that might hurt considering your ribs," she told me with a sorrowful smile.

I tried looking up, but a stabbing pain shot through my neck. "Where's Grayson and Aiden?" I croaked out through my dry, cracked voice.

"Grayson is hunting, I don't know what he expects to find though," Trina responded with a slight laugh. She then became gloomy. "Aiden didn't survive the tornado. It passed by us, but his strength gave out. He was pulled into it," she started saying with more tears welling up in her eye.

I was disappointed that Aiden didn't survive, but I felt like I had expected it. I didn't feel surprised to hear about his death, it felt cruel to think like that though. Something about him made me almost expect him to die. I didn't know why.

"How long have I been out?" I asked her, fearing the question.

"You're not going to like this, but you've been out for five days. I've been keeping track. We would've thought you were dead if it wasn't for your groans of pain. Every time you breathed, you let out a groan. I didn't know what to think, whether you'd survive or not," she said to me softly, staring into my eyes.

"Is he awake?" Grayson's voice came from the distance.

Trina looked up from me and nodded.

"Good, we need to move. I can't find any food around here and we'll starve to death in about, I don't know, days maybe," he said morbidly.

I tried sitting up, but I couldn't. The pain from my ribs beat through my chest.

"That's right, your ribs are broken. Five from what I can count." Grayson said while walking over to me. "I don't think you'll be walking for at least a month with those cuts." He looked at me sadly.

I knew what he was saying. I'd die, and there was nothing I could do about it. I had taken on more injured than I could live through. The lack of food and broken bones in my body would kill me eventually. "Is there any way to get out of this?" I asked him, almost certain of what he would say or do next.

He shook his head back and forth solemnly; a frown grew across his face.

"Y'all go," I said quietly.

"What did you say?" Trina looked back at me angrily.

"Y'all go, go without me. There isn't a way to save me, and I would only slow you down." I gasped out between painful breaths. "You might make it if you go now, maybe you can survive. I know that we won't be able to survive if I go with you. At least, without me, you have a chance," I told them, trying not to cry to show my fear.

"No, I can't leave you here," Trina said, her face was angry and full of tears.

"What other choice do you have?" I shouted at her angrily. The pain in my chest burned inside of me, making it more painful to talk.

"I-I just, I just can't lose you," Trina said, crying all over herself.

"You don't have any other choice," I told her, gasping out breaths. "I'm going to die soon anyway, please, just go without me." I started begging them.

"Shut up and listen to yourself!" Trina shouted at me. "You are not going to die, we can't! We may be the last people on this planet still alive! Are you just going to throw away your life?" she yelled at me with a sorrowful voice. Tears streamed down her face.

"I will throw away my life if it means saving two others' lives," I told her, staring sternly into her eyes. "Now, please, leave, at least try to survive."

Tears ran down her face as she sobbed. "Why, why would you do this?" she asked me, her tears began to hit my shirt.

"You know," was all I said in return. Trying to smile at her.