Are We Alive?

Fifteen: Bird of Paradise

Bird of Paradise-Magnificence

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Rain pelted his body and Rin was glad for his thick leather jacket. North Carolina Summer was hot and humid, but wearing thick materials was how one prevented Zombies from biting through skin. By now, unless they were newly turned, the walking corpses couldn't bite through thicker materials with their rotting, brittle teeth.

That, and Rin didn't need to deal with skin cancer on top of living in the Zombie Apocalypse with his ragtag family, so he covered up most of his body. Thankfully, his coat also had thin fluff lining it on the inside and kept his body heat in when he zipped it up. Wind whipped at him, picking up speed the longer he ran. Unfortunately, The farm was in the opposite direction the wind was blowing, so he was practically fighting the storm. It seemed intent on pushing him back.

Thunder rumbled in the distance and lightning flashed above him. Running against the wind was like running through water-nearly impossible and you felt like you were walking in slow motion. He pushed forward, bracing an arm in front of his eyes so he wouldn't get dirt blown into them. Rolling black clouds sprawled across the sky above him and the grass was flattened by the winds.

Rin turned around just out of curiosity, only to stop dead in his tracks in shock.

A swirl of clouds slowly descended to the ground as he looked on, connecting with the North Carolina terrain. Rin's mouth dropped open as he watched it effortlessly expand and rip trees out of the ground, roots and all. Lightning crackled and set one tree on fire, but Rin didn't see what became of it as it was swept into the strong winds. He turned and ran against the winds as hard as he could. The tornado's screaming got closer and he ran faster, pushing himself.

The harsh winds stole every breath from him as he ran and he was gasping for air, lungs aching as he pushed his body to it's limits trying to escape the storm. The rain came down harder and no matter how tight he pulled his jacket around him, the cold sunk into his skin, his muscles, his bones. The rain drops got into his eyes and he desperately wiped them away. The winds howled and he screamed with it, like that would make all of this chaos stop.

The tornado growled menacingly, tearing up trees, old power lines with no electric running through them, and a small shack that must have been some hermit's escape from society. Rin was shivering so hard that he swore his bones must have been rattling.

He ran and ran for what felt like hours, but could have been mere minutes, not stopping to look back anymore. Lightning struck, cracking across the sky like a glowing whip. The wind howled in his ears and it was all he could hear. It felt monotonous after a while. The cold felt monotonous after a while.

Somehow, Rin found himself in a building. It seemed to have been a house at some point. All the furniture was overturned and blood splattered across the walls in a grotesque splash of color on the white drywall. He sat down heavily in a corner, his soaked clothes weighing heavily on his frame.

Rin didn't bother to take the wet clothes off to prevent hypothermia, instead tucking into himself, and settling down to wait out the storm in that corner.