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“Noob. Noob! Noob!!” Pete's voice cut through the fog of my mind like a hammer beating against my temples.
I blinked several times as my vision slowly came back to me. I wasn't dead, as only minutes earlier I had feared I would wind up being. No, I was still alive. I was, however, pretty banged up and bruised. The bus was still laying over on its side, and I was sprawled out across several broken windows.
“The crack,” I said with a groan. “How did we keep from going in?”
“We nearly did!” Pete replied. “Look behind you.”
I did as he suggested, slowly craning my very sore neck to look out the broken window I was laying across. To my horror, The front end of the bus had slid out over the edge of the earth and was floating over the abyss! The shock was enough to jolt some life back into my veins and I scrambled away from the opening as quickly as I could manage. Moving on my hands and feet, I crawled to the back of the bus and out the emergency exit to safety.
The remainder of my group was already outside, to include the most recent member of our team, the bus driver. He smiled grimly as I exited. When I got to my feet was when I first realized that the ground was no longer shaking! The earthquake seemed to be over! It had though, wreaked an astonishing amount of havoc in the short time it had taken place. Looking around me I saw that the road into Simpletown was completely wrecked, with large chunks pushed out of alignment all the way into town. From what I could see the town had received some damage also. Several buildings looked as though they had toppled over to one side!
The sight of the destruction was getting to me, and I threw my hands up in despair and frustration. “Is there ANYWHERE we can go to get off of this awful server??” I asked.
“There's an exit.” the bus driver answered my semi-rhetorical question. “The train station in Simpletown will get you out of here in no time! In fact, I think I'd like to join you all if you're leaving. This place just isn't what it used to be.”
“Sir,” I said to the driver, offering him my outstretched hand. “You are more than welcome to join us if you want to leave. I can't say that I blame you really!”
“Thank you!” he exclaimed, returning my hand with a firm handshake. “The terminal isn't far from here and as long as the tracks weren't damaged in the earthquake, we won't have any issues leaving!”
“Uhhh... hey guys.” Sarah cut into our conversation, her voice seemed heavy with apprehension and fear. “You may want to take a look at this.”
Off across the rolling fields, the ominous and distinct shape of a tornado was taking form. It's long, wobbling funnel reached down from the sky and touched the ground, sending showers of dirt and debris flying upward. It was quite possibly the largest and fiercest tornado I had ever seen in my life, and it appeared to be an even greater threat to our lives than the other natural disasters had been!
“You have GOT to be kidding me!!!” I shouted.