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North of Maldegem, Belgium
May 18th, 2035
19:12, GMT+2
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A woman stood in a garden centre, staring slack-jawed at the outside world. The rain had come so suddenly and violently, and accommodated by strong winds and thunderous claps high up in the skies. There was a loud crash in the ceiling, and the building's power abruptly went out. She did not react however, for she was too shocked to respond to any stimulus not beyond the confines of the thin walls and windows.
A metallic clang from the outside world registered in her mind, and her focus shifted to a rapidy-moving object in the air.
It was coming their way.
"WILLEM GET DOWN!"
She lunged at her boyfriend and threw him to the ground, just as a decapitated road sign smashed through the wood and glass front door of the garden centre and fell next to them. A botanical caretaker, who had been observing the hurricane winds through the windows of the door, was violently bashed down onto the ground as the door flew wide open from the impact. The violent whistles of the wind engulf the inside of the building in chaos, blowing items off shelves and throwing people onto the glass-ridden floor. The winds and rain continued to batter the few remaining windows of the building still standing, threatening to dislodge them from their very frames. The damaged door, now with the lock and one of two hinges broken off, repeatedly smacked the side of the building's frontal facade with the last hinge creaking against wind pressure.
Next to them on the floor was another elderly man who had been hit by flying shards of glass and was noticeably bleeding in the arm. Behind a countertop hid a mother and her young child, desperately crying in fear for the disaster to stop.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?! RIA?! WHAT IS HAPPENING?!"
"I DON'T KNOW, I DON'T KNOW! SOME KIND OF FREAK STORM OR SOMETHING!"
"WHY IS THIS FUCKING STORM SO STRONG?! HOW DID IT COME SO SUDDENLY, THE WEATHER REPORTS SAID NOTHING ABOUT THIS!"
A piece of ceiling is torn off by the wind, followed by another piece which fell inside the open zone of the garden centre. A window pane is struck by a falling ceiling support beam, shattering it to a thousand fragmented pieces now left to cover the floor in sharp edges.
"RIA! I HAVE AN IDEA! GET UNDER THAT BENCH, OVER THERE!"
In the distance, a heavy overhead aisle sign buckles and fell onto a table of potted plants, crushing one half and throwing plants from the other half all over, soiling the floor.
Ria nodded in agreement, and Willem did the same. They turned to the elderly man next to them, but the man had already long stopped moving. Jerking their head away in shock they begin to crawl towards a patio bench a few aisles away, hoping its wooden construction would at least provide better protection against falling objects.
Rows of damaged tables and broken pots they passed littered the path they took, forcing what would have usually been a quick walk into a literal snail's pace of a crawl. Bits of broken glass and fallen items made the floor a minefield of cuts and gashes. In the midst, the last glass pane on the building's storefront is hit by a flying piece of debris. Nevertheless, the two persisted in the direction of the sturdiest-looking cover they could see, through the fog-covered windy mess.
Standing before them was a long stretch of varnished wooden hope, but a net improvement over their current and precarious situation. What was nearly three minutes of cautious manoeuvring around debris and glass felt like an hour as the thunderous storm outside continued seemingly to rock the building each clap.
YOU ARE READING
White Star of Aturan
Science Fiction[Story under heavy WIP, feedback very greatly appreciated. Title and description subject to constant changes.] "You never know what you truly have until it is gone." It is the year 2035. Something in the world of known science has gone seriously wro...
