The Storm

Rain cascades down the forest. The howling of the wind is scarier than horror movies. Trees shake around with wind gusts so strong it can pull you off your feet. John, Max, Teddy and Frank desperately scurry across to seek any shelter. This camping experience had taken a wrong turn. All the feelings of joy and adventure have drained out of their bodies and replaced by exhaustion and worry.

“What we are going to do now?” John yelled over the roar of the wind, “The radio is not receiving any signals. We have lost all communication with the outside world.”

“One problem at a time,” Max mumbled with his hands on the compass. “If we head north for twenty more miles, we should reach our car and possibly shelter.”

“Easier said than done,” said Frank

Relying only on Max’s compass for directions, they slowly stumbled along, tripping over trees and muddy waters. The visibility became worse and torrents of rain continued slamming them, but at least the wind had subsidized. The night was fast approaching, with a shock they realized they were not going to reach their car in time.

“We’ll have to seek shelter here for now,”said Frank, stating the obvious.

“It’s my fault. I thought the weather report as usual was full of baloney and just to prove a point, the weather Gods decided to conspire with the weathermen’’, said Teddy almost in tears. Now the creepy creatures of the night were doing the rain dance and incessant chirping of insect sounded like some wicked symphony.

They had all tried to reassure Teddy , but to no avail, he was inconsolable . Suddenly, an incredible gust of wind pushed them all against the trees. “Ow!” yelled a voice filled with agony along with a crack. The others got to their feet to see Teddy holding his hands on his head lying on the ground.

“Oh no!” exclaimed John with a horrified expression on his face, “Frank, get the first aid box, now!”

Frank eventually returned with the first aid box, but spilling everything just as he arrived.

“YOU CLUMSY FOOL!” shouted Max with rage and fury. He took a deep breath and then lowered his voice, “Pick everything up and take a look at him!”

With hands trembling, Frank picked up the fallen stuff and quickly assessed Teddy’s forehead, muttering from time to time “You’ll be fine”, but he didn’t meet his eyes. Fear was written all over his face. He took a couple of bandages and strapped them to his wound. Teddy started to rise, but immediately collapsed on the ground; Frank then approached Max and John.

“I have treated him for now, but he needs to get to a hospital. That is not a mild concussion’’ Frank told them privately, as best as he could with the pounding of the rain interrupting him.

“Will he be able to walk?” asked John.

“I am afraid not”, said Frank. “He requires rest and he can’t possibly walk some twenty miles with his head wounded. The only choice we have is to wait the storm out.”

“If we wait this storm out, we’ll die!” yelled Max

“And if we stumble along blindly, he’ll die and we will face identical or worse fate! If we wait this out, we have a chance to survive!” snapped Frank.

Max was awestruck. His mouth opened, but no words came out. The silence was a sign of an agreement.

“Ok, even if we consider waiting the storm out, we won’t have enough supplies to stay put for even a couple of days”, stated John, “ and help may take even weeks to arrive. Who is to s-”.

“We have to take that risk”, interrupted Frank. “As for supplies, we will have to scavenge the environment, but do this for Teddy. Consider how he feels too.”

Max and John glared at him for some time, but he didn’t back down and eventually they complied.

“Fine”, they both say in unison.

The next morning, Frank and John decide to go hunting while Max watched on Teddy.

“Why do I have t-”, Max stopped on his track when he noticed their glares. “Fine”, he muttered.

On the way, Frank and John discussed their situation. It looked glum, but they couldn’t afford to be pessimistic. They started by looking for fruits, but couldn’t find any anywhere near. The storm was still there, but it was certainly better than last night.

“Why don’t we check the radio and see if there is any signal?” asked John.

“Good idea”, said Frank and brings out the portable radio. He holds it high in the air and the crackles start to become prominent

“It’s working!” yelled John with an excited gleam in his eyes. “Is there any news?”

“Wait’’, said Frank

“Hello. You are tuned into News 24/7,”rumbled the reporter. “An update, the tropical storm is proceeding towards San Diego. Many places near San Francisco, such as the Oxon Forest, are completely decimated. The first responders say help will be arriving shor-”

The radio cuts out at this moment and Frank and John display their annoyance.

“Why did it stop?!” Frank yelled and slammed the radio on the ground. “It was mentioning something about the first responders.”

““Help will be arriving shor-”. Well that’s shortly, right?” asked John.

A surge of relief ran through their bodies and they rejoiced this optimistic news by yells and screams.

“We still have to get our supplies”, said Frank

“Yeah”, agreed John

“What if we split up?”asked Frank, “We can cover more ground that way and have a chance of gathering more resources”.

“Splitting up?”said Jack with a deep frown on his face. “Not to shoot you down, it’s just how and where do we come back to?’’

“We’ll meet here and this will help you”. Frank replied as he pulls a piece of chalk and tosses it to John.

“A piece of chalk?” asked John with a confused look.

“Mark the trees with the piece of chalk. If you have to come back, just follow the trail”.

“You are a genius”

They head off in different directions and Frank searches every tree in the area for fruit, but with no luck.

“Come on, my luck can’t be that bad”, he thought as he searched another tree and found nothing.

After scavenging around, he stumbles upon a rock…? Or something else? He looks around and sees a pile of wet bananas and apples.

“This is not of much good, but it is something’’, he pondered as he grabbed the pile of fruits.

He decided to return with this much and hoped that John had managed to find something as well, but to his horror, he discovered John had not arrived back yet.

“Maybe he’s lost. He’ll get back though”, he thought at the beginning, but as two hours flew by. He got more frantic and worried by every passing second. He was just about to leave when his eyes saw the bushes moving as if something or someone was behind them. He had no weapon, so he crouched low to see people in black suits with guns searching the area. Frank crouched behind the long bushes, but was spotted immediately.

“You, get up! We can see you! Hold your hands nice and high, so we can see them!”rumbled one man with no expression.

Frank complies and the men gasp and then start talking amongst themselves.

“SILENCE!” the man ordered

The man raises his gun in the direction of Frank, “Identify yourself!” he barked.

“But sir, he’s a boy”

“My name is Frank”, he announced to the men in black suits.

“You have nothing to fear, boy. My name is Sergeant Jacksmith,” the commanding voice said, “and this is my team. We are Natural Disasters Response Unit or first responders.

“Oh, sir, please save my friend. He’s been missing for two hours”, begged Frank to the Sergeant.

“Your friend? Look, kid, why don’t you tell me exactly what’s happened? What are you doing here and how did you get here?” asked the Sergeant with a grim expression.

Frank gave him a brief overview of their story, how they had come here for a camping experience which turned into a nightmare due to the sudden storm, how Teddy had been wounded on the head and how John had gone missing as of now.

“I see, well we must find your friend, John”, the Sergeant said. Perhaps you and your other friends would like to leave the area while we continue the search?

“No, sir”, Frank said immediately

“Look, I know you want to help us find your friend, but you must realize, there are many unknown dangers that lie out there and it is our duty to ensure your security first.

“We won’t interrupt you, sir. Just let us come along, please”.

The Sergeant ponders on it and he eventually nods, “If you really insist, you may join us”.

Pretty soon, they were underway. Teddy had to stay back with a field physician and cops. They followed the chalk marks which John had made on the trees which seemed to lead them deeper into the forest. However, the chalk trail came to an end abruptly.

“I told him to use the chalk! Why didn’t he use it?”muttered Frank

“Maybe, it was wiped off by the rain water?” suggested the Sergeant. “Split up”, he said to the team. “Search for any possible clues, OK?

“YES, SIR!” they yelled in unison.

They searched around for thirty minutes with no result and just as Frank was losing all hope, one of the officers beckoned the team and Sergeant towards one tree. On the thorns of the tree were tattered shreds of clothing that belonged to John along with a pool of blood.

’Sir! That’s John’s shirt! He may be wounded, we have to find him”, Frank pleaded to the Sergeant.

The Sergeant issued orders to search around the area and they eventually found more blood drops which led to the unconscious body of John lying right next to the tree!

A stretcher was made and John was quickly carried by the field physicians. The Sergeant called up the HQ giving them the brief on the rescue.

What ensued thereafter was like an action movie scene. Two emergency rescue helicopters arrived at forest clearing within minutes. Ropes were dropped and the rescue team pulled up John and Teddy first followed by Max and Frank,

Once seated in the helicopter, the boys heaved a sigh of relief and all agreed that they had a great adventure story to share with all.