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SOME OF THE BOYS WENT across to look at the telecommunications tower. They soon came back, disappointed. “It’s all fenced off with barbed wire.”
“To stop idiots like you from climbing it,” commented Mrs Vintner, “If you damaged those panels it would wreck the whole mobile phone network. And besides, the power is so strong up there you’d get cooked like a poodle in a microwave.”
That really set the boys going. “I heard that it exploded!”
“Oh. Poor wee doggy, I’ll just pop him in here to dry off. Brr-vvvvvv, BOOM!”
“Imagine if it blew the door open!”
“Aww, gross! ...”
And so it went.
The clouds out west were getting bigger.
Suddenly Marcus turned, looked, and pointed. “Hey! Flying saucer!”
We all looked, of course. There was nothing, of course.
“Aww, Marcus!” said the boys, “Very funny.”
“But there was! I really saw one!”
“Aw, come on!”
No-one believed him, and he shut up about it after a while. But quite a few of us were now watching the sky closely.
I watched too. I know a bit about clouds. “You know, that’s a thunderstorm coming.” I said to the nearest teacher.
“Aww, Nathan!” said the boys, groaning and rolling their eyes like I was a moron or something.
But Mrs Vintner backed me up. “I think he’s right,” she said seriously, “We’d better start back soon.”
Then I noticed Lucy, still standing on that rock. She had that same far-away look in her eyes, gazing out at those clouds, and her lips were moving silently. I don’t even think she had taken her pack off since she’d arrived.
And even then I thought her hair looked a bit funny. Sort of puffed out at the sides, just behind her ears.
Suddenly the approaching storm seemed to pick up steam.
“Alright, everyone! Pack up!” called Ms Loti, “No rubbish on the ground! Get into your bunkroom groups for a head-count. Quickly!”
We all muddled around as the storm came towards us. Each time I glanced at it, I thought I saw something flashing through the clouds. It looked like lightning to me.
Then Marcus cried out again, “There! Flying saucer! Sure of it!”
We all stood around, peering westward, seeing nothing and giving Marcus stick for trying to have us on again. I looked around, wondering why we weren’t getting a move on. The teachers were huddled around another kid with a headache. This time it was Wyatt. I could see the adults clumped together, talking over his head, looking just a little bit worried for the first time.
Wyatt took two tablets of Zanodol and Ms Loti got him up onto his feet. She did a head-count, muttering impatiently, “Stand still, you lot, or I’ll have to start all over again!” She counted again and got the correct number. “Right, everyone down the track! And stay together! It’s really important you stay together!”
“Yes, Ms Loti.”
Everyone started down the hill. The thunder was getting closer and the wind had started to pick up, hot and wild in the treetops. It was a big storm coming, and some of the kids were looking seriously scared.
Then I noticed Lucy. She had the biggest smile on her face I’d ever seen. And she didn’t look like she even wanted to come with us. I left my group and turned back, waited for everyone else to go down the trail. Then I edged up to Ms Loti and tugged at her first aid kit, it being the nearest thing to me.
“Look at Lucy,” I told her, “Is she okay?”
And to my surprise Lucy turned at the sound of her own name. “We’re coming!” she said to us cheerfully, and hurried past to join her friends. Then I thought I heard her say, “Anyone want a drink? I’ve still got plenty of water. Lovely water!” But it was hard to tell with everyone talking and the grumble of thunder nearby. I hit the trail myself, right behind Lucy’s group and almost the last kid to start.
The sun seemed to blink out suddenly as a great band of black cloud swept overhead, then the storm hit. There was a big flicker of lightning followed only seconds later by a mighty crack of thunder. Some of the kids actually screamed. Everyone started going pell-mell down the trail, all order lost.
I stood aside, worried about Ms Loti. I hadn’t seen her yet. I looked back. There she was, coming down at last. And since I was looking back at her I saw the next bolt of lightning strike.
A huge writhing column of white-hot fire smacked into the telephone tower. I was almost blinded, and everything went dark around me for several long seconds. I even felt the heat of the strike on my face! The thunderclap hit me about one microsecond later. It was so powerful that it knocked me to the ground. Either that or my legs gave way in pure fright.
There was screaming all around and people running wildly down the trail, but I stayed frozen to the spot with shock. I was the only one who had seen what had happened. I had seen bits flying off the tower, all the panel things and the dishes too. It had been destroyed!
I ran back to Ms Loti. “Try your phone,” I told her, “Try it!”
She looked back over her shoulder. Another flash of lightning lit up the hilltop. The tower still stood, but now it had smoking cables dangling off the sides. Sure enough, all the neat panels and dishes were gone. Another thunderclap broke over us as I heard her say a rather rude word (for a teacher).
Quickly she unclipped her phone and glanced at it. Then she said the same word again, even louder. No phone contact! We were cut off. Alone.
Another mighty flash of lightning lit everything around us. One second later, as the sky seemed to get ripped apart right above my head, Ms Loti and I turned and ran for our lives down the trail as the rain suddenly started.