The Evil Wind by Brian Crawford

Author:Brian Crawford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ABDO
Published: 2017-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

I don’t remember drifting off to sleep, but I must’ve, because a fierce explosion snapped me awake.

“What’s that?!” Jayce screamed, thrashing on his cot.

I opened my eyes and looked up. My shoulder stung as if someone had punched me. My upper body was on the floor of the shelter and my legs were still in my cot, wrapped in my sleeping bag like a giant slug. Above me, Jayce swore and ripped at his sleeping bag, yanking his feet out and planting them squarely on my chest.

“Ow, watch it!” I shouted, pushing his feet off of me. We both jerked about, simultaneously trying to free ourselves from our sleeping bags and pull on our clothes.

BOOOOOOM!

The shelter trembled. Jayce and I tumbled over each other in a heap of legs, elbows, and knees. The sharp metal edge of the foot of Jayce’s cot dug into my right side as I fell, and Jayce’s knee came down hard on my thigh. I pushed myself up again and again, and Jayce did the same; but each time we got to our feet we were thrown down again.

What was happening? The thought of armed rebels spun through my mind.

“Get out!” Jayce screamed into my ear, jostling me from my nightmare. “Get out! Now!”

My body burned with adrenaline and I reached for the door, my lungs craving oxygen. Fumbling around in the reddish-orange dark I then became painfully aware that the already thin air in the shelter had grown thick with smoke—an acrid, rotting cloud of sulfur that stung our eyes and caused us both to double over in fits of coughing.

The ground shook. We crumpled to the floor. I lunged again for the door and grabbed for the aging metal knob. Behind me, Jayce retched—I heard the sound of vomit splattering to the ground like someone pouring out a bowl of chunky soup onto a linoleum floor. The pungent smell of stomach acid mixed with curdled milk blended with the toxic cloud that was swallowing us whole.

The entire shelter shuddered. The door stuck. I placed my hands on the two bunks’ frames and hurled both of my feet at the door, which flew open with a splintering crack. Outside, the sound of shattered glass tumbling to the ground echoed over the mountain’s roar and the crescendo of booms, crashes, and crunches. I fell onto my rear, my legs dangling out onto the rocky ground outside. I looked up and saw the sky had just begun to grow dark blue with the coming morning. But no sooner had I had time to notice this than a figure’s silhouette loomed into view, arms flailing in the dawn’s early light and legs pumping to pull themselves up the mountain to our shelter.

My heart winced. It had to be one of those rebels. They were here. And we had no place to run.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

Another crash and crack, and the entire shelter lurched toward the crater behind us. I couldn’t tell if it was because I was still partly asleep,

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