Ryan and Gillian finally made it out of the city and had beendriving down the
two lane road for twenty minutes. They should’ve been to the resort bynow,
but theweather made it almost impossible to drive. The storm was in full
swing, the
sky almost constantly aglow with flashes of lightening followed by loud
blasts of thunder. Rain hammered down on the windshield as Gillianbroke the
silence.
“Ryan, I’m really starting to get scared. Are we lost? I mean,shouldn’t we be
there by now?”
“Relax, Gillian. We were stuck in traffic for awhile, that’s all.We’re
not lost.And really, this storm isn’t that bad,” Ryan said.
Gillian looked back out the windshield, but all she could make outwas a wall of
water.
“I don’t know how you can see a thing,” she said to him.
“Don’t worry. I can see fine.”
He was lying to her. He could barely make out the road, let aloneother
cars - buthe doubted there were any. To be completely honest, he was starting to
get a littleworried himself. But, it wouldn’t do any good to let her know that.
“This weather has really slowed us down. Since we’re driving halfas
fast, I figure
it will take us twice as long to get there,” Ryan reasoned with her.
“Ok,” Gillian said, feeling some security.
Suddenly there was a bright flash of lightning and Gillian couldjust
barely makeout an object ahead.
“Ryan, what is that? Is there something in the road?” she asked.
“What, Gillian? Where?”
There were rapidly getting closer when the lightening flashedagain. They could
both see it this time and right in front of them.
“Oh my God, Ryan! It’s a tree!” Gillian shouted.
Ryan slammed on the brakes and swerved to the left. The car spunand skidded
across the road, smashing into a tree along side the highway.
For a moment they were both too shocked to move. Then finally, Ryan spoke.
“Gillian,” he said, reaching towards her. “Gillian, baby, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m, I’m all right.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Look,” she said, showing him her arms,” not a scratch.”
“Good. But, I’m afraid the car isn’t all right,” Ryan said.
He fidgeted with the key in the ignition but nothing happened.
“The car’s dead, Gillian, possibly totaled. We’re stuck here,” he said.
“What? We can’t be stuck here. In the middle of a storm?”
She could feel the panic building. Again lightening lit up the sky.
“I’m going to go outside and see how bad the car is,” Ryan said.
“You’re going outside, in this?!”
“Just stay in the car, Gillian. It’s the safest place,” he saidopening
the door andstepping out.
“But I’m not worried about me,” she said, as the door closed. “I’m
worried aboutyou.” Gillian inhaled and exhaled, trying to stay calm.
“Wait! I remember!” she excitedly dug through her purse andretrieved her
cellphone.
She burst outside and the rain immediately hit her in sheets.
“Ryan!” she shouted over the wind, running to his side of the car.“Look!
I foundmy cell phone!”
“Gillian!” Ryan said. “Get back in the car!”
“But I found my phone!” she shouted, waving it in the air.
“Gillian, get it out of the rain!”
He reached for the phone as she was bringing her arm back down.Lighting
flashed as the phone went flying. For a minute neither one of themcould see
where it went, but they heard a little crack as it hit a tree.
Ryan fell down on his knees looking for it. He finally found thephone in
a puddlebelow the tree that it obviously had hit.
“I’m sorry!” Gillian shouted, nervously. “What are we going to do?!”
“Well, we -”
Ryan was interrupted by a load snapping sound. Gillian screamed asa large
branch came crashing down and landed through the windshield of the car.
Gillian inched closer to Ryan, now visibly shaking. A burst oflighting lit
up the sky and Ryan spotted their salvation.
“Gillian!” he said. “There’s a cabin over there. Up the hill,through the
trees.We’ll get help there. Come on!”
He took her arm and they started running. There was a loud clap of
thunder andGillian ducked, tripped over a fallen branch.
“Gillian, are you all right?!” Ryan asked. “Yeah, let’s go” she said.
Ryan helped her up and they starting running again. They made it tothe
cabin but were more then a little disappointed. It was really no morethen a
shack.. Ryan knocked on the door, but no one answered.
“I think it’s deserted,” he told her.
He jammed his body against the door and it burst open to reveal theemptiness
inside. It was a single room with a small wooden table and cot. The two
windows were merely closed with wooden shutters.
Ryan closed the door against the rain and looked around.
“Ryan, there’s nothing here to help us! No phone, no radio, no TV.What
are wegoing to do?” Gillian said.
“We’re just going to have to stay here until the storm is over.Then I’ll
walk backup the road and find someone who can help us,” Ryan said.
He looked over at Gillian who’s eyes where anxious and huge. Hetook hold of
her forearms and drew her closer, looking in her eyes.
“Gilly, it’s okay. We’re going to be fine. It’s just athunderstorm.
It’ll probably beover in a few minutes,” he said, soothingly.
Loud sirens began to blare over the sound of the wind.
“What’s that?” Gillian said, panicked.
Ryan took a deep breath, struggling to check his own fears andremain calm.
“Gillian,” he said steadily, worrying how she’d react, “those arewarning
sirens.They sound those to tell people to seek shelter.”
Her eyes grew bigger. “The storm,” she said, beginning to cry,“it’s that
bad?”
“It’s a tornado, Gilly, maybe a hurricane. I don’t know. But it’s,it’s
bad.”
