Hurricane // Danger Days (Book 2)

17.

Storm looks around. He is standing in the midst of a battle, between the Killjoys and the Riot. He doesn't know what started the battle, but he figured that a fight of this scale was inevitable in the long run.

He begins to jog, hoping to find his friends and help them fight the Rioters. He dodges people, each one engaged in combat with another.

He spots his sister after a while. Sunset is fighting along with everyone else, and she is fighting none other than Grenade Shock. She is holding her own against the Rioter, and he is proud of her.

She aims to punch her opponent in the neck, but Grenade is too quick. She grabs Sunset's wrist and twists her arm, making her cry out in pain.

"Sunset!" Storm shouts, and tries to run to her, but for some reason, he can't speed up, no matter how hard he tries.

Grenade kicks Sunset in the stomach, causing her to grunt and fall to the ground. She holds a foot to Sunset's chest, preventing her from standing back up. She draws her gun and aims it at Sunset's head.

"No!" Storm cries, and feels a rush of adrenaline. But whatever is holding him back continues, and he can't get to her. "Hailey! NO!"

But it's too late. Three shots go off, and his sister is dead.

But the shots don't sound like shots. They sound like... banging. Maybe even someone knocking.

"Hurricane..."

🌩

"Hurricane! Cane, you alive in there?"

Storm jolted awake at the sound of Night Rider's voice. He sat up and looked around frantically, and sighed in relief when he realized that everything he'd just seen was just a nightmare. "Yeah," he panted. "C'mon in."

Night threw the door open, grinning. "Rise an' shine, motherfucker! Up an' at 'em!" He jogged over to Storm's cot and yanked the thin blanket off of him. "Ya ready for your first day, kiddo?"

"Of the challenges?" Storm asked eagerly. He began getting into character.

"What else are ya thinkin', Cane?" Night laughed.

"'Cane'?" Storm asked, swinging his legs over the edge of the cot. "Is that what you're calling me now?"

"Hurricane is kinda a mouthful, amiright?" Night explained. "Do I hafta yank you outta that bed or what? C'mon, Ren and Velocity are waitin'!"

Storm stood up. "Wait, Grenade's coming?" He tried to erase the image of her killing his sister from his mind and sound excited.

"Yup!" Night smiled. "She wants to see how ya do. She likes the look of ya."

Storm smirked, trying to look smug. "Doesn't everyone, though?"

Night clapped him on the shoulder. "That's the spirit! Now grab your gun, kiddo! Let's go!"

Storm did as Night said, and soon they were running out of the Hub towards a black van, where Night said Grenade and Val were. He had no idea why Val was going, but he figured Val had wanted to see him mess something up. And his beliefs were confirmed as soon as he climbed into the back of the van and saw the Ultra V's smug face.

"Hey there, Hurricane," he said, sounding like he was making fun of the name. "You ready for your initiation?"

"Hell yeah," Storm spat back. "I'm joining this army whether you like it or not, Velocity."

"You make me like you more every time I see you, Hurricane," Grenade said from the passenger seat, looking back at Storm.

"Who doesn't like me, honestly?" Storm smirked, and winked at her.

Val was clearly trying to stifle a laugh at Storm's acting. "I don't," he said simply.

"Fuck you," Storm replied.

"Where and when?" Val grinned.

"Okay, save the gay shit for back at the Hub," Grenade laughed. "For now let's focus on the initiation. Hurricane, pay attention."

"I'm all ears, Ren," he said.

She chuckled at him using her nickname. "We're gonna come up on a Drac infected gas station here in a minute. What you're gonna do is take the bag full of explosives that's in the back of the van and place them all inside the building, without being spotted. And then you have to get out alive. If you make it out, you get to join the Riot. If you don't, well, you don't. Got it?"

I knew it would be something like this, Storm thought. "Gotcha!"

"Good. We've got a bit to go, so we've got some music for the meantime." She grabbed a CD case, took the CD out, and put it into the CD player. "This is one of my favorite bands."

Storm instantly recognized the opening to the album Meteora by Linkin Park. He almost laughed, because it was one of Alien's favorite records. He closed his eyes and remembered the first time Alien had shown it to him.

"Hope you don't mind metal, Stormy," she said.

"Not at all," he replied. "This song's really good, actually. What's it called?"

"Don't Stay," Alien said, then continued lip syncing. Eventually, she was singing and yelling along with every lyric. Storm accompanied her with air drums.

The van stopped after a while, when the album was almost over. In the distance, Storm spotted the gas station.

"Okay," Grenade turned to Storm. "Go around to the back and grab the bag. It'll be right in the front. Then just get back in."

He did as she said. He opened the door and saw a black duffel bag. He slung it over his shoulder and got back into the seat he'd been in. "Are you going to drop me off, then?"

"Yup," Night said. "We'll be keepin' an eye on ya. You're just gonna run in an' kick their asses, right, Cane?"

"Hell yeah!" Storm responded, grinning.

"Here, take this," Grenade said, and handed him a small object. It was a cell phone; a flip phone like the ones used before the war. "You know how to use it, right?"

"'Course," he replied.

"My number's already in there. We'll call if you're in there too long, and if you don't pick up, we'll assume you're dead. Kapeesh?"

"Got it." Storm put the flip phone in his pocket.

"See ya on the other side, Cane," Night said, smiling at Storm from the driver's seat.

"You too."

The van drove by at nearly top speed and only stopped for a millisecond. Storm jumped out, and then the van was gone again.

Storm looked around. The building looked like your average abandoned 7-Eleven, with its windows entirely boarded up. There was a back door right in front of him, which he figured he would enter.

He took the bag off of his shoulder and opened it to see what kind of explosives he wars dealing with. He knew his weapons pretty well, and he was excited to see what he would find.

But what he found when he opened the bag were not explosives.

There were only a ton of tangled up wires and cables.

Oh no. Oh hell no.