BLACKOUT; JR [1]

1.4

I slowly peeled my eyes open at the piercing sound of Andy's voice scolding Sam, and when I tried to sit up I realised I was lightly restricted by one of Jake's arms draped across my stomach. 

I blushed furiously, unable to hide my embarrassment as Felix stared down at us with confused eyes and a small smirk on his lips. 

I turned to the sleeping boy on the ground beside me, giving him a gentle nudge in order to wake him up. When that didn't work, I called his name. He moaned quietly before squirming around a little, and then finally opened his eyes when I spoke his name once more.  He looked at me groggily, seeming puzzled as he began to sit up. He reached up to rub his face and removed his grip on my torso without realising it had been there in the first place. 

Sam still fought with Andy, but their murmurs were cut short when a dull growl sounded from between the trees. At first I thought I might have imagined it, but when all heads turned to where I was already looking I knew it was real. 

"We should get moving." Jake suggested quickly, standing up with shaking legs. The rest of us followed him, and we walked for what seemed like an hour before finding something promising; a dirt road. 

As we stopped to inspect any tire tracks, thunder rumbled in the dark sky above us. When I glanced up, I saw nothing but the colour grey. 

"Killer storm." Sam commented, squinting as he observed. He and I continued to stare when the clouds appeared to descend towards us. Just as we were about to question what was happening, an extremely large funnel-shaped cloud violently smashed into the ground only a few feet from where Sam and I had been standing. 

Suddenly, the entire storm seemed to be chasing us, and the way the wind whipped past us in huge waves was almost magical, but not in a good way. 

Sam and I began to scream, and when we snapped out of our trance we started to run and push along the other boys as we did so. I reached out for Andy, afraid he would lag behind and get lost in the storm. Sam abruptly darted to the side of the road, apparently spotting an opening in the trees that would be able to provide us with some cover from the rain. 

"This way!" He exclaimed, pointing in the direction he was already running in. We all followed closely behind him, dodging and leaping over some fallen trees in our path. We all zoomed after the boy, who had now stopped in a small clearing in the forest.

Another yelp caused us all to stop running as a bewildered man appeared in front of us; he held a spear of some sort in his right hand with his other hand up in defence. I crashed into Sam's back, nearly falling over as he stopped in my path. We all held our hands up in front of us, trying to shield ourselves from anymore possible danger.

"Don't attack us!" Andy pleaded, to which the stranger dropped his weapon. 

"I thought you were attacking me." He mumbled, reaching up to scratch his head beneath his hat. 

Jake's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. "We're lost!" As he tried to explain what had happened to us, I turned around to search for the tornado that had nearly killed us all. 

I was astonished to see that it was gone. 

I tapped Felix's arm and gestured to the peaceful sky and calm air around us, hoping he would understand exactly what I couldn't say. I watched as his eyes widened and waited for any kind of explanation, but all he did was shrug at me. 

I returned to the conversation just in time to hear Jake tell the man we were being chased, but as he pointed behind him, he also realised that the rain had disappeared. 

"Well, there's nothing there now." The man said as Sam ducked past him, headed straight for the food he'd noticed by the fire. He picked up the frying pan and began shovelling scrambled eggs into his mouth without any words.