Disaster Strikes (closed for beachbum)

[isolemnlyswear89]

Amber Hudson
28
5'4
Athletic body, 36c breasts
Dark brunette
Green eyes

Amber lay back on her blanket, spread out in the town square. It was a gorgeous, sunny day, and the temperature was perfect, mid-70's, low humidity. She had decided that, since she was off of work for the summer, what better way to spend the day than soaking up some vitamin D? As a kindergarten teacher, she never could quite get enough of it during the school year.

She had her favorite book with her, a bottle of water, and her earphones were plugged into her phone, music quietly playing. As she focused on the words of her book, a persistent beep came from the earphones, signaling an incoming notification from the headline news app she had downloaded.

The first hurricane of the season, Hurricane Anna, had formed in the tropics, and while the path was still unpredictable, several of the models had it traveling towards the east coast of the United States. Amber put the phone back down and focused on her book again, unfazed by the news.

Hurricanes often came towards the east coast. More often than not, the news played up the weather situation as an emergency and everybody got prepared. Pantries would be stocked with water bottles, batteries, canned food, and radios. Store shelves would be void of bread and toilet paper. The towns would be in a panic. Then, most often than not... the storm would fizzle out, and turn into nothing but a little rain. It happened 9 times out of ten. And the few times that a hurricane really did hit, it rarely did enough damage for anybody to really worry about.

Amber wasnt worried. For now, the sky was blue, the air was warm, and relaxation was all that was on her mind.

 

[BeachBum25]

Capt. Michael Kelly, USN
28
6'1"... 170 lbs
light brown hair... hazel eyes
athletic build

Captain Kelly was just recently assigned stateside after several deployments in the Gulf and Afghanistan. He was going to be working as a trainer now. He was temporarily in Norfolk, VA while it was determined exactly where he was going to be stationed.

Kelly was shopping for groceries when his cell phone rang. He was ordered back to the base, immediately. There was a threat of hurricane hitting the coast, at a yet undetermined location. There were decisions to be made about ships, planes and other equipment.

When Kelly arrived back at base, he immediately was ushered into a meeting. He was going to be one of the officers who was going to be deployed to a base near where the models were saying the hurricane would make landfall. Once they were on location, they would maintain communication with command, and be ready to execute whatever orders were handed down.

He went, packed a bag, and headed to the airfield. It seemed odd to Kelly that the Navy was reacting this way. Did they have information that was not being made available to the public? It seemed to him that the Navy was overreacting. As he boarded the chopper, he put it out of his mind. It was not his place to question the decisions of his superiors. Kelly just needed to do as he was ordered.

 

[isolemnlyswear89]

Amber spent the remaining part of her afternoon at the park, enjoying the sunshine and reading her book. By the end of the day, she had made a considerable dent in the book, and her stomach was growling in hunger. With a sigh, she got up and folded her blanket. Her apartment was only a few blocks away, so she had walked to the park. She made her way back, and when she walked in the door, she laid her things down and flipped on the TV.

As expected, the news was blowing up the information about the hurricane. It was now expected to make landfall almost directly on top of her hometown in Massachusetts. One of the downfalls of living in a coastal town was the possibility of a hurricane. Her apartment had never been affected, thankfully. She sighed, maybe she should go get a few provisions, just in case.

Just as she was about to grab her car keys, another News Bulletin popped up. A second tropical depression was strengthening, and it looked like it would also develop into a hurricane soon after the first. That was rare for two hurricanes to develop on top of each other so quickly. Probably, Amber figured, one would go off in another direction.

Locking her door behind her she headed off to grab a few essentials. Better safe than sorry, she supposed.

 

[BeachBum25]

Kelly dozed off as he rode in the chopper heading north. He was supposed to catch a transport plane out of the Air Force Base at Dover, DE. From there he would be headed to an Air Force Base in Massachusetts. Once he arrived there, he was to await further orders.

Once switching to the transport out of Dover, Kelly really started thinking about this destination. The Navy did not have any bases in Massachusetts. He was going from one Air Force base in Delaware to another Air Force base in Massachusetts. Why was a Naval Officer going to an Air Force base? Actually, he had learned a long time ago to not try to make sense of some of the decisions made by his superiors.

Kelly headed to the base commander's office as soon as he landed in Massachusetts. He made his presence known, and started to question why he had been sent there. Despite asking the question, there were no answers that came back to him. He was given an updated weather report that showed that there was a high probability that multiple hurricanes were headed toward Massachusetts. In fact, the report said that they would both make landfall in almost the exact same spot.

When Kelly had finished reading the weather report, he looked up and saw an Air Force officer heading his way. The Air Force officer walked up and handed him another report. This one said there was a possibility of several, not just two, hurricanes making landfall in the same area of Massachusetts. Kelly was now wondering even more why he was here.

 

[isolemnlyswear89]

Amber stock up on the necessary groceries that she would need, just in case the storm did hit. Cookies, sandwich provisions, chips, and sodas. She laughed to herself as she checked out of the grocery store. Did she know how to prepare for a storm, or what?

She climbed into her car, her cell phone rang. She answered the call from her mother, who lived in South Carolina.

"Are you leaving town?" Her mother asked immediately and Amber smiled.

"Mom, the meeting is just hyping this up like always" Amber replied. " probably, the storms will just head out to see like they usually do. I'm not all that worried about it. What are the chances of both storms hitting in this exact location?"

Her mother was silent for a moment.

"Both storms? Amber, there's three" she finally said.

Amber took that in.

"There's no way. It would be impossible for three separate storms to all make landfall in the same place. Don't worry Mom, I'll be fine. If things truly look bad, I promise I will leave".

With that, Amber hung up the phone and headed towards home. She unloaded her groceries and settled on the couch while surfing the internet on her laptop. People were guessing that this was going to be some kind of end of the world. Like in those disaster movies that you seen on TV. The really cheaply made ones that make you laugh at how cheesy they are.

She rolled her eyes and shut the laptop. People were so easily freaked out these days. She fixed herself some dinner, watched a few mindless TV shows, and then went to bed. By the morning, she was sure the news would have changed and the Hurricanes would all be heading in separate directions to terrorize some poor islands out in the ocean.

When she woke, she was surprised to see several alerts, warning her that the first of the Hurricanes would be hitting that evening. It had moved extremely fast, up out of the tropics, but is expected to stall, right over her hometown.

One little part of her brain was saying that maybe she should go ahead and leave town. But that would mean packing up as many of her belongings as she could, and she wasn't sure she really wanted to deal with that. Chances were nothing was going to happen anyway.

 

[BeachBum25]

Kelly re-read the new report and then he looked at the Air Force officer. "Are they releasing this to the public? If they do, the people will go nuts. The panic will be uncontrollable." The Air Force officer shrugged his shoulders. He said he wasn't sure whether it was being released or not.

Kelly looked around and found a television in a corner room that looked like some kind of break room or coffee room. He turned on the television and found an all weather channel. He watched the report that was being given. They were only reporting the two hurricanes at this point. "Wow, that is a relief," he thought. As if two hurricanes making landfall back-to-back in the same place was a good thing.

He sat on the edge of the desk and continued to watch the weather reports. After a couple of minutes, there was a breaking report. Now, they were predicting a third one. The talking heads on the weather report were now saying it would be the worst storm pattern in history. The devastation could be unimaginable. Oh, this was great. As if the forecast of three hurricanes was not bad enough, you had these reporters talking like it was the end of the world.

Getting up and shutting off the television, Kelly headed back out into the main room of what was now the local military command center. It was obvious to him that the military had known about the possibility of this some time ago. That was why a Naval Officer was on an Air Force base. Shortly after that, an Army Officer showed up. They talked briefly and waited for their orders. Captain Kelly's came through shortly thereafter..... head toward the coast and be prepared to mobilize search and rescue efforts.

 

[isolemnlyswear89]

Kelly closed her book and looked outside. The rain had started to come down. It was just a steady drizzle right now, nothing to worry about. Hardly even any wind at this point in time. Far off in the distance, out her window, she could just barely see a sliver of the Atlantic Ocean. Waves were rolling against the shore, bigger than usual, but nothing alarming.

A knock on her door surprised her. Standing up, she padded over to the door in bare feet and pulled it open. Her neighbor from downstairs, Tori, was standing there with a bottle of wine and a deck of playing cards.

"Wanna have a hurricane party?" Tori asked, grinning.

Amber opened the door wider and let Tori come in. They set up the cards, popped open the bottle of wine, and poured each other a glass.

"Cheers to the Storm of the Century!" Tori said and Amber laughed.

She glanced outside her window and saw that it was high tide. And the water was much higher than it usually got. The first tendril of fear snaked its way into Amber. Maybe she had made a mistake in not evacuating. She squelched the thought and turned back to the card game.

Several hours later, the water had continued to rise. It was sneaking its way up the first block from the ocean. Not totally uncommon. It had happened before. The rain was falling in rivers now. You could hardly see out the windows.

Tori walked downstairs to her apartment to grab a pair of pajamas... and when she came back up she looked a bit worried.

"My carpets are wet, there's water seeping in from the hallway" she said.

Amber glanced at her. Tori's apartment had never flooded before. The girls made a decision and trekked back down, gathering up most of tori's prized possessions and personal mementos that she wouldn't want to get wet. They hauled them up to Amber's third-story apartment where there was little chance of them getting wet.

The streets around them now had water laying in them, and were beginning to flood. Amber sighed.

"I guess, now we wait" she said, as she flipped on the tv to a weather channel.

 

[BeachBum25]

Captain Kelly was allocated a Humvee, which was loaded with communication equipment and supplies, including MREs. He set off toward the coast. As he began driving, the rain started. He was not looking forward to this, but it was a job, and he had to do it.

The farther he went, the harder it began to rain. Before long, the rain was coming down in sheets; it was getting more and more difficult to see where he was going. In addition, the standing water in the roads was making it difficult to drive, along with the cars that had been abandoned in the roads after their owners had attempted to drive on flooded roads.

The only thing that enabled Kelly to continue going forward was the fact that the Humvee sat higher off the road. The closer he got to the coast, the worse the roads became. In fact, the water in some of the roads was starting to flow like a river. Kelly tried to call the command center to advise them of what he was seeing, but was unable to get a signal. He used the radio that was in the back of the Humvee and was able to advise of the conditions... they were bad, and none of the hurricanes was that close to shore...... yet.

Kelly pulled into a parking lot of a sporting goods store. He had gone as far as he could go. Even with the Humvee, the water in the roads was too high. He would have to do the best he could from here. Plus, if he had to, he would break into the sporting goods store and commandeer supplies that he needed.

 

[isolemnlyswear89]

A few more hours passed, and the TV signal was lost. Amber was now feeling more and more nervous about the whole situation. She was really beginning to think she should have listened to her mother and evacuated the city while she could. The hurricane had not even made landfall yet... The first of 3. None of the tracks had changed. They were all still headed straight for them.

Tori had dozed off on her couch, so Amber decided to walk out into the hallway and see what was going on. She met a few other neighbors that hadn't left, and they explored the building. The bottom floor was now under a solid 12 inches of water, and seemed to be rising quickly.

One neighbor had a radio, which was something Amber hadn't purchased, thinking she wouldn't need one. That neighbor said that the military was being mobilized to evacuate those who were stranded. They were now calling it a search and rescue mission, it was no longer an evacuation.

Amber returned to her apartment, tossed a blanket over Tori, and went to bed. Maybe things would look up in the morning.

It was a restless night, Amber didn't sleep too much as she listened to the winds outside the apartment pick up and the rain Slam against the building. When the sun rose, Amber looked out the window and had a moment of panic.

She had never seen so much water in her life. Looking down at the other buildings around her, it seemed that the water was almost covering the first floors entirely. The first hurricane was now upon them, beating relentlessly against the building. Siding and shingles were being torn off left and right.

Amber walked out to the living room and woke Tori.

"What the hell should we do?" She asked, receiving a shrug from Tori.

 

[BeachBum25]

The water in the roads continued to rise. Kelly sat in the Humvee and waited. What was he supposed to do? He was a Naval Officer. If he was in a combat situation, he would be able to handle things without thinking, but this was not combat.... although it was going to be a battle.

Search and rescue was not something he had been involved in. The last time he had been involved in that was when he was at the Naval Academy and studying to be an officer. He had been involved in several search and recovery missions while deployed, but in those situations the outcome was already known. He was just going after the body. Now, he was supposed to be responsible for coordinating rescue efforts without having any real equipment.

As he checked water levels, he made the determination that he would need to find higher ground. The sporting goods store was a tall building, so, he made the decision to get into the building and find out if it had a second floor... or higher.

Walking up to the front door, he broke the glass door, and cleared the glass away from the frame. The alarm went off, but it was just a matter of time before the power went out and the alarm would stop sounding. He found out he was in luck, and there was a second floor to the building. That was a good thing.

Kelly went back to the Humvee and started carrying some of the communications equipment and other supplies into the building. He placed everything on a counter; making sure nothing was exposed to the water... yet. Then Captain Kelly went exploring.

As he walked through the store, he found a boat display. That could be good. It wouldn't serve any purpose yet, but once the storms passed through, it would give him some mobility. Looking out to the back of the building, he saw several other boats... another good thing.

He looked around and gathered some other supplies and tossed them in the boat inside the store. Then he headed back to the front of the store and noticed that the water was making its way inside. He needed to get to the upper floor. He made a couple of trips upstairs; carrying all of his gear and equipment. On his last trip, the water had risen to the point that he was walking through ankle-deep water.

 

[isolemnlyswear89]

Amber and Tori decided there wasnt much they could do except wait the storms out at this point. Other neighbours in the building had the same consensus. Maybe they would be lucky enough to get someone to rescue them.

"I never thought I'd be in this predicament" she admitted to Tori. "I always said people who didnt evacuate must be stupid. I guess we're stupid now too" she said laughing. "This is insane. And this is only the first storm..."

They passed some of their time reading and playing cards. At one point the electric went off and stayed off. They opened what windows they could without the rain coming in. The air was warm and heavy with humidity. The wind pounded against the building walls.

Suddenly they heard a loud CRACK followed by breaking glass. A large tree had broken and fallen against Amber's window, shattering it. Sighing, Amber started to clean up the glass and tried to put a sheet up to keep some rain out.

"This isnt gonna be fun" she admitted to Tori.

 

[BeachBum25]

Kelly got himself situated up on the second floor. At the rate the water was rising, he hoped that it would be high enough. He organized everything he brought with him. Then, he checked the phones in the office. They were dead. He started to run through in his head what he needed to do. One of the things he needed to do was get some sleep. Once these storms were done, he had a feeling it was going to be a while before he got any sleep.

The wind blowing something against the building woke him up. Something crashing through the glass store front made him jump to his feet. He went out into the hallway and looked down to the first floor. There was about 4 feet of water in the store.

Captain Kelly looked at the boat that was inside the store. He had loaded supplies into it, but, if the water kept rising, he would not be able to get the boat out of the store. He went down to the first level, untied the boat and led it out the front door, which was just a gaping opening now. He walked through the water, which was over his waist, and guided the boat to the back of the store. He tied three boats together, and then tied them with a long length of rope, to the building.

He went back inside, grabbed several gas cans, and siphoned all of the gas out of the Humvee into the cans. He put them into the boats, and then headed back inside and up to the second floor. It was going to be a long, long night.

After an hour, or so, the storm seemed to subside, but that didn't last long. The second storm was coming ashore, and he was sure the storm surge would be tremendous. He walked down the hall and looked out the window. It looked like the boats were at the top of the first floor. There was still nothing he could do, but he knew that there would be plenty for him to do soon enough.

 

[isolemnlyswear89]

Soon enough the first storm moved away... and within hours the second moved in.

"This is insane" Amber murmured.

Water was still rising. The second story apartments were now starting to get wet. Everyone was scrambling to move what they could into higher apartments. Many were thankful for the friendly camaraderie that the people in the apartment building had, that they were able to store their belongings in other places to keep them safe.

All cold foods had spoiled from the lack of electricity and many were resorting to pb&j sandwiches. They did have means to heat things as one neighbor had a small grill that he had brought inside and placed by the window of his apartment. Probably not the safest idea... but it worked.

The winds continued to howl. They watched more debris float by than they ever could have imagined. Trees. Personal belongings. Furniture. Even cars occasionally got pushed by.

At one point, Amber was standing by the window when she saw something brown in the water. Her eyes widened and she shouted. It was a dog.

"Tori!" She shrieked. "Look!! Oh!! The poor thing! We have to save it!!"

With that said, she flew down the stairs and into an unlocked apartment. The water was just below the window and she wrenched it open. The poor dog saw her and turned, fighting to swim in her direction. Tori had joined her and the girls stretched, holding onto one another, shouting as they tried to grab it. Watee was splashing in their faces, soaking them to the bone, choking them several times. A branch scratched Amber along her arm.

Finally, Amber managed to latch on to the poor creature's fur and hauled it in, the three of them falling into an exhausted pile on the apartment floor.

 

[BeachBum25]

Communications with the Command Center told him that the tail end of the second storm was passing through his area, but the leading edge of the third storm was right behind. They told him that he was on his own for the foreseeable future; rescue ships and helicopters would be unable to reach him for days.

The information he received was shocking. The devastation was well beyond what anyone had imagined. His job was initially supposed to be to assess the needs for the search and rescue effort and relay them to command so that they could be provided. Now, he was the entire search and rescue effort, and at the moment he was operating without knowing exactly what was in store for him.

Kelly sat on a desk, feeling very overwhelmed. He was not concerned about his own life, but he was concerned with how he was going to be able to conduct search and rescue efforts with such limited resources. Hell, he had a couple of boats and not much else. That would give him a chance to move a few people at a time. he would need to find a place to relocate people to, and he had no idea about the area. he had never been here before.

The third storm hit, and it was obviously the worst of the hurricanes. Kelly felt like the building he was in was going to be toppled. He tried to focus on what his plan would be once the storm subsided. It wasn't going to be easy. As he saw it, in a couple of hours he was going to be out with the boats and he was going to be working non-stop for days.

Those hours went slowly. The storm pounded the building. The roof was gone and water was pouring in. fortunately, he got some supplies before the major parts of the storms hit, because most of the sporting goods store was now destroyed and a lot of the supplies had floated away. He walked down the hall and looked out the window. The boats were almost at the level of the second floor. They seemed to be intact. That was good.

Two hours later, the storm had pretty much died down. There was a glimmer of light. Clouds still filled the sky, but Kelly could see the sun through them. It was time to get to work. He pulled the one boat to the window, and climbed through the window and into the boat. Time to see how bad things are.... What he found was worse than he had imagined.

 

[isolemnlyswear89]

Time dragged on. The storms were relentless. Water rose to terrifying heights, never before seen in that area. The devastation was incredible. The radio their neighbor had had died hours before. But the death toll had been high then, and missing persons were reported everywhere. Not only their town was affected. The disaster area ranged all the way from Maine, farther south even, to Maryland and Virginia. News reporters were calling this an unheard of natural disaster. Even climatologists could never have predicted something like this.

Little did Amber and Tori know, but the hurricanes had produced not only produced epic flooding, but tornadoes and massive hailstorms as well. The entire east coast was a wreckage.

Finally, after what seemed like endless hours, days even, the storms seemed to blow away. The sky lightened, the wind died down, and the rain slowed. Eventually the cloud coverage moved away, revealing blue skies shining through pristine air, cleaned from the terrible storms. And what could be seen outside was... unbelievable.

Water flowed past their building like a river. It had reached almost the top of the second stories, and was about 6 feet below their window on the third. Buildings around them were completely submerged, roofs torn away, some buildings were completely gone. At one point they even saw a body floating by, causing Tori to run to the trash can and vomit.

Amber was in shock. She couldn't believe that had lived through it. How luck they were to have a building tall, and strong, enough to withstand the devastation.

But how would they get out? The flood waters still seemed to be rising as the tide came in. Just because the storms were over, didn't mean the flooding would recede, as anybody who lived near water knew. It very well could get so much worse. All they could pray for was someone to come and help.

 

[BeachBum25]

Captain Kelly started out in the boat and was aghast at what he saw. The water flowing like a river... bodies, both human and animal floating in the water.... buildings totally submerged. He felt as if he was in a bad sci-fi movie.

He approached a building that he could see jutting above the water. Pulling up to a window, he grabbed a hammer and broke the glass. He called inside, but received no answer. He contemplated going inside to check for any survivors, but thought better of it; what if the building was unsafe?

Kelly looked around. What to do next? He was overwhelmed. How was he expected to do anything? Where should he go next? Kelly looked around and saw another building that had several floors above the water line. He made his way to the building, but after breaking a window, he got the same response as he did at the last building..... none.

He continued moving from building to building. He didn't know which buildings to check, so, he just took them in order as he approached them. Where had all of these people gone? Hopefully they had all evacuated. If not....

Captain Kelly approached what looked like an apartment building. There was only one floor above the water level, but he thought he saw movement in one of the windows. He made his way toward the window where he saw movement. The window was open. As he approached, he called out, "is there anyone in there. I am Captain Kelly from the U.S. Navy. If you are in there, come to the window."

 

[isolemnlyswear89]

Amber was playing with the little bedraggled brown dog they had rescued when she thought she heard a person shout. "What'd you say Tori?" She yelled.

Tori was in the next room and yelled back she hadnt said anything. Amber heard someone again and stood quickly, gasping.

"Tori, there's a man in a boat !" She shouted, running towards the bedroom window. She heard the man shout he was from the navy as she got closer.

"We're here" she said breathlessly to the man. "There's um..." she quickly did a mental count in her head. "5 adults... and a dog" she said as she looked at the man.

Even in the desparate situation she couldnt help but notice how handsome he was. He definitely looked the part of military.

"We rescued the dog from the waters... we didnt think their would be any way for us to get out of here... the building is... not in the best of shapes anymore" she looking out the window. "But we are in better shape than others, i guess".

 

[BeachBum25]

Kelly was surprised to get a response. For a moment he thought that maybe the movement he had seen in the window was just his imagination... that he was just hoping to see something. Now, he heard someone inside. The female said that there were five adults and a dog. That made him smile. At least he had accomplished something.

He pulled the boat up to the window and tied it to the frame of the broken window. "Hello ma'am. I have to say, I am surprised to see you. Actually, I am happy to see you. You are the first living people I have found, so far."

He looked in and saw the people coming toward the window. Now that he found people, he started to wonder what he was going to do with them. He would use the people to identify where he should take them. they would be able to tell him where the strongest buildings were.

Kelly took the dog from the woman and then helped her through the window and into the boat. "I am going to pull forward; two of you get in each boat, then we will figure out where we are going to go and what we are going to do."

After getting them loaded into the boats, he looked at the woman in the boat with him. "Hi ma'am, my name is Mike. You are going to have to help me. I don't know about anything around here.. .have never been here before. You are going to have to tell me where I can drop you that is safe. You will need a place to stay until the water subsides while I go looking for other survivors." He looked around. "Hopefully there are more survivors."

 

[isolemnlyswear89]

The poor little dog that Amber was calling Tumble, because he looked like a bedraggled old tumble weed, huddled by her feet in the boat, trembling. Apparently he wasnt a fan of boat rides.

"I'm Amber" she said, holding her hand out to shake Mike's as the others piled into the other boats. "You have no idea what a sight for sore eyes you are" she admitted, looking around.

"Do you have any news that we dont? Our radio died sometime yesterday... these storms were just... unimaginable. I never would have thought that I'd be one of the idiots needing to be rescued for not evacuating... i just couldn't imagine THREE hurricanes at once... how did that even happen?"

She realized she was rambling a bit and her cheeks turned pink. "Sorry" she said, laughing. "Its been a loooong few days with nothing to do but listen to old Mr. Zuckerberg back there humming show tunes".

She thought about what he said, where they could go that could be safe. "Do you think the community college might work? The buildings are all several stories... and theres plenty of vending machines and stuff... i would imagine it would be made pretty strong too because i know its used as a shelter sometimes... there may even be others there, i think it opened as a storm shelter the day before yesterday".

 

[BeachBum25]

Captain Kelly listened as Amber rambled on and on. He chuckled a little when she apologized. He glanced back at the others in the boats and made sure that they were all settled in. Kelly made sure the boats were tied securely to his, and then he turned back to Amber.

"Well, to answer some of your questions, and I am sure that I missed a couple of them, but... I probably don't have any more information than you do, because I lost communications with the Command Center a while ago...... I have no idea how it happened. I have never heard of two hurricanes that close together, let alone three.... and I have no idea how it happened. I think that got it."

"You are correct ma'am, it has been a long few days. At least you had him humming show tunes for you. I have been holed up on the second floor of the sporting goods store by myself. So, I could have used a little company."

He pulled the boat away from the building, which dragged the other boats behind it. "Show me the way to the Community College. I think that is a great idea ma'am." He followed Amber's directions to the Community College. When they got there, he pulled his boat up to a window. He told Amber to watch herself and the dog, and Kelly took the hammer and smashed the window.

"He announced to all of them, "Climb in and go to a floor that has some vending machines. Don't worry about breaking them.. nobody will arrest you for it. Don't eat too much too fast. We don't know how long we will be here before we can get help. We also, don't know how many others I will find."

He maneuvered the boats to get the people in the other two boats near the window. Once they were inside the building, he backed his boat up to the window so that Amber and the dog could get off. "I will be back as soon as I can. I need to go look for other survivors."

 

[isolemnlyswear89]

Amber helped to navigate Mike towards the Community College. It was more difficult than she could have imagined. She had lived in this town for years, knew the streets like the back of her hand. And yet so many landmarks were ruined, or even more, completely gone, that she found it hard to judge where exactly they were at some times.

Finally they made it, and Amber watched as Mike got all of the others into the building. She glanced around, thinking of all the other people that might be stranded somewhere out there. She thought about how Mike had said he was not familiar with the town.

"Do you need help?" she asked. " if you think it would help, I could come with you and try to help navigate around town. I'm not sure exactly how useful I will be when it comes to the actual rescuing part. But it might help to have somebody who is familiar with the land... Or in this case, familiar with the tops of the buildings I guess... I am first aid and CPR certified for the school where I work, at least" she said with a shrug.

She handed tbe dog up to Tori, turning to await Mike's response. For all she knew, he worked better alone and wouldn't want her tagging along. But she thought that she should offer to help... and besides that, she didn't know if she could stand being cooped up in another building for god-knows-how-long, until the water receded.

 

[BeachBum25]

Kelly watched Amber hand the dog in the window to one of the other people. "Actually, I wouldn't mind you accompanying me. You would be able to give me an idea of where we need to look. Also, I am not sure I would be able to find my way back here. There aren't many landmarks to use. So, if you want to go with me, that would be great."

They headed back out and Kelly asked Amber to point them in the direction of the ocean. Once there, he moved back and forth, trying to search in a grid pattern; moving inland as he went. They checked multiple buildings; finding nothing. He was getting frustrated. The going was slow in the small boat, and the results were nil.

"So, Amber, do you think that most of the people evacuated before the storm? I can't believe that we can search so much area and find nobody. Yes, I have seen some bodies in the water, but not that many. Where would people go if they were seeking shelter?"

Michael followed her directions to an apartment complex. The complex was only two buildings, and the tallest building was only four stories tall. Once again, they got no response. His mind raced. What would they find when the waters receded? There was no way everyone but the five that he found had evacuated. Why weren't there people on the upper floors of other buildings? Just then, he felt some drops of rain and looked to see some dark clouds moving in.

"Amber, I think we need to go back to where your friends are and take some cover. I think there is another storm coming. if it isn't another storm, it is another round of rain at the very minimum. We can't be exposed to it."

When they got back to the Community College, Kelly helped Amber climb in the window. His hands accidentally brushed some parts of her body that he shouldn't touch, but under the circumstances, he didn't think she would be offended. Once she was inside, he handed her the rope to the boat to secure it, and then he climbed in the window.

 

[isolemnlyswear89]

Amber and Mike Kelly rode around in the little boat for hours, looking for anybody who was stranded. Amber was surprised as much as Mike by the fact that they didn't find anybody. She supposed most people had evacuated... and she racked her mind for where people might have gone.

"There's higher land a little farther west" she said finally. "Nothing too high, but some hills and stuff".

Then it dawned on her. "There's a hotel up there. I always forget about it because its deep in the woods, up on a hill. I bet people are there".

But before they had a chance to head that way, rain began to splatter, and the sun was once again obliterated behind dark clouds. Mike turned the boat back towards the community college and motered it as fast as it could go in that direction.

By the time they got back to the college, they were both soaked to the skin. Mike was a gentleman and helped Amber up into the building. She felt his hands brush against her intimately and she sucked in a breath. She knew it was an accident, but she couldnt help but notice the flash of desire that flowed through her.

She helped him secure the boat so that it would be there for later, and then waited while Mike climbed into the window. Then they went in search of the others. Eventually they found them in a student lounge type of area. There were vending machines throughout the room, as well as softer furniture meant for relaxing on, in between classes.

"Are you hungry?" Amber asked, looking up at Mike, as she bent down to ruffle Tumble's ears when he came running up to them. Amber, herself was starving.

She picked out a package of granola bars, and a bag of pretzels from the vending machine. They explained to the others that they had not yet found anybody else, and then Amber turned to Mike again. She wasn't really feeling like being in the company of everybody else at that time... but she didn't really want to be alone either.

"You wanna take a walk? I know that there is a bookstore around here that also sells the Community College clothing. I'd love to get out of these wet clothes" She said, turning to Mike hopefully.

 

[BeachBum25]

After they shared with the others, the details of their fruitless search, and after he had inhaled a bag of potato chips, Kelly spoke briefly with each of the individuals. He wanted to make sure they were okay... physically. He made small talk with a couple of them, and then said to Mr. Zuckerberg, "I hear you do a great job humming show tunes. Amber told me you kept her entertained through the storms."

He turned and smiled at Amber. Then, in response to her statement, "Yes, I could use a change of clothes. I have been wearing this uniform for days and it has been soaked from the time I got out of the Humvee, which is well underwater back at the sporting goods store."

He looked around the room. "You guys stay here. You don't want to be wandering around in case something happens. You have a better chance of survival if you stay together.... that way you can help one another. Amber and I will be back after we find some dry clothes." Kelly looked over at Tori. "Make sure nobody leaves this room. It is the best place for everyone to be, for now."

Mike headed toward the door. He looked at Amber. "Okay, lead the way. I will follow you." He held the door open for her, and followed her into the hallway. His eyes moved over her body as she passed by. Her drenched clothes clung to her body, and it gave Kelly an idea of just what a great body she had. He had already noticed, while they were in the boat together, how beautiful she was. Now he knew she had the whole package. He shook his head a little.... not really the way he should be thinking at the moment.

As he followed Amber, his eyes focused on her ass. What an incredible ass it was. "You are such a guy," he thought to himself. "Here you are in the middle of Armageddon and you are checking out the ass of a woman you just rescued." He smiled to himself. He couldn't help it though. She was so hot, and there was something about the fact that she had helped him in the search efforts made her even more attractive than just her looks.

"I am pretty sure that they won't mind me being out of uniform under these circumstances. If they do mind, to hell with them. They sent me out here with a Humvee and not much else. They can do what they want. I am getting out of these wet clothes and getting something dry on."

Mike followed amber to the bookstore. When they arrived, he looked around for something to break the glass in the door with. He found a fire hose, and, after pulling the hose out, used the nozzle to break the glass. After clearing the glass out of the door, he turned to Amber, "after you, my dear."

Once inside they headed for the clothing section. Mike grabbed a pair of sweatpants, a t-shirt and a sweatshirt. Then he walked over and found a waterproof jacket. That would come in handy when they, he was assuming Amber would go with him again, went out looking for people again.

Walking over to her, he watched her reach up to try to grab something. He stopped and watched her. Yes, he was still being a typical guy; checking her out as her body arched a little. Then, he continued over to her. "Find everything you need?"

 

[isolemnlyswear89]

Amber lead the way to the bookstore, the best she could. She got turned around at one point and they had to backtrack. She laughed and shrugged her shoulders at Mike. It had been a long time since she had been at this college. She had done the beginning of her college education here, before moving on to a 4-year University to get her teaching degree.

Mike was an easy person to be around. He was friendly and personable. He had made her neighbors laugh, but he also had an air about him that you could tell when he meant business.

And if she were being totally honest, he was pretty easy to look at also. His body was lean and muscular, obviously honed into perfection from years of hard work in the Navy. His hair was short, like most military men she knew, and his face was handsome, lined a little bit from both worry and laughter if she had to guess.

Finally they reached the bookstore and she went in search of clothes, just as he did. She found a pair of sweatpants that would work perfect, as well as a tank top. Almost all of the clothes had the college logo on them and she smiled. They were going to be a walking billboard for the college.

She spotted a ball cap style hat hanging up on the wall that she thought would be good to have... After all... It have been a couple days since any of them had been able to shower... She had a feeling bad hair days were in her future. She stretched up onto her tippy-toes, and realized that there was no way she was going to reach the hat. She was just turning to look for something to grab it with when Mike approached and asked if she had found what she needed.

She rolled her eyes playfully and pointed to the hat.

"Think you could give me a hand?" She said, smiling sweetly. "That purple hat right there".

When he reached up to retrieve it for her, it brought his body closer to hers, and she felt his hard, muscular chest brush against her shoulder and arm. She turned, with the intent of moving to give him a little more space, when he came back down off of his toes, this time bringing his chest right against her own... hard muscles against soft mounds. She sucked in her breath and glanced up at him, mumbling an apology and laughing softly, her cheeks turning pink.