Story [Issue 35] Weather - Part 3

[mcmonkey25 717]

Read Part I Here

Read Part II Here

 

The Launch

Neither Ryan nor Jack had decided to spend any of their money yet. They had stayed in the Hotel Garabitz, the shabby two star hotel that Jack had researched on the laptop. They were both sitting along with a crowd of other people in the hotel lounge. They were all staring at the TV in the corner. Today was the day of the missile launch to try and obliterate the meteorite. Tomorrow, if the launch failed, the world will be destroyed.

 

The image changed into a tough looking American General who had the fate of the world resting on his shoulders. He knew that if the launch missed, his head would be wanted when the world got destroyed, yet again, there wouldn’t be anyone one left to take it from him. In the control box, there were all kinds of apparatus like buttons and dials to control the rocket. The General had a difficult job to get the correct propulsion so the rocket didn’t just drift off course in space, but he had scientists to sort that out for him.

 

The countdown began and the General was sweating. Once the screen had reached one, he pressed the launch button. The missiles soared up into the sky with amazing speed. The whole world was down on its knees begging to this missile to destroy the meteorite. One screen in the control box charted the missiles progress. It was still on course and the general stopped sweating a little. Eventually, the missile neared the meteorite. 10km, 9km, 8km,7km, the missile neared its target, 6km, 5km, 4km, 3km, the missile was going to hit the meteorite, Earth would be saved and the General would be a global hero, 2km, 1km.

 

Nothing, no noise on the screen and no massive explosions of life-saving destruction. The missile’s course was still being plotted on the chart and it was still saying that it was moving. Then in came the first readings: -1km, -2km. The general was shocked. The missile hadn’t gone off. A man, in a white coat and thin-rimmed glasses, ran into the control room hyperventilating. He had a message from the ground staff. He said:

 

“You’re going to need to detonate the missile manually, using that red button there” He pointed at an unlabelled red button, “What’s wrong? Come on, we can still save the world, there’s time. Isn’t there?” His last question trailed off a little.

 

Calmly, the general replied, “No, the ground staff sent you up how long ago? A minute perhaps, you saw the launch didn’t you? The missile was going to take less than a minute to reach the meteorite and no-one thought of radioing me? The missile been and gone past the meteorite you *****. Now everyone is going to want to kill me, aren’t they?”

 

The scientist stared at the General, realising what had just happened. The General fumbled for his gun but he didn’t aim it at the messenger. Quickly, TV crews switched off the feed.

 

The world had been resting on his shoulders, and he had got it wrong. The world wanted him dead and he couldn’t live with the thought of everyone hating him. All he wanted to do was spend more time with his family. He aimed the gun at his temple and, quivering, he pulled the trigger. He knew it would be better that way.

 

The messenger looked on, his face going sheet white. He grabbed the missile controls and tried in vain to turn the missile around. He knew by now that there was no chance of the meteorite being destroyed. There was protocol if this happened. The scientist, to make sure that the missile didn’t cause any more trouble, pressed the large, unlabelled red button. The Earth was doomed.

 

No Hope

After the world discovered that the missile launch had failed, riots everywhere kicked off. Everyone wanted to have everything they had ever dreamed of, so shops were raided and buildings destroyed. Due to safety regulations, the Great Pyramid had to be closed. This seemed like a sensible idea, but it had ruined Ryan’s plan. Now there was no hope of Ryan getting to the top of the Great Pyramid and being able to deflect the meteorite. Even he couldn’t do anything anymore.

 

Jack was lying on his bed, he was thinking about death and how it plagued everybody’s lives, especially his. The morning his mother had died, he was in school. The head teacher gravely asked Jack to come into his office and that was when he had found out he was alone. But there was another thing he never quite understood and he knew Ryan didn’t understand it either. It was about the incident. The incident in which both their father’s had died.

 

However, with a meteorite about to hit Earth, it seemed irrelevant. Jack felt irrelevant. There was nothing he could do about it. The world would be wiped out, billions dead and a boy from Birmingham was there only hope. “What a thought”, he said, smirking.

 

Tornado

There was a crowd of at least 1,000 people outside the Pyramids. It was the day of the meteorite crashing into Earth. There was no way into or onto the Pyramids, you could only see the speck in the sky moving closer and closer towards you. There were five hours left. Ryan had to make his move soon. He couldn’t repel the meteorite from where he was standing because the gravitational force would destroy him before he had the chance to, not only that but a large amount of people standing around him would probably be killed as well. He would have to get on top of the Pyramid, but he could see no way to do so.

 

Four hours left.

 

The intense heat could be felt by all. It was burning Ryan’s neck. He was tempted to just make it rain but he knew that that would only jeopardise his chances of deflecting the meteorite.

 

Three hours left.

 

Jack was so nervous, he knew it would take around an hour to climb onto the top of the Pyramid and they certainly wouldn’t have that amount of time if they carried on staying at the base of the Pyramid. And then there was the fact that people would be trying to get them off the Pyramid.

 

Two hours left.

 

Another rumble because of the gravitational force of the meteorite. Soon it would be impossible to scale the Pyramid. Ryan was ready to go. He grabbed Jack’s shirt and pulled him through the crowd with him. The air was stuffy but they carried on. Ryan kicked the first policeman and burst towards the Pyramid. This was his only chance. Suddenly there was a spurt of gunfire as the policemen took aim and tried to shoot this rebel off the face of one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Let’s just say, they were very protective of a doomed landmark.

 

Ryan had realised he would have to use his power to protect him and Jack as they scaled the Great Pyramid of Giza. He created a whirlpool around them so the bullets would be drowned. The crowd gasped in awe at the miraculous sight. Now the police stopped firing, it had become pointless. So they just stood, watching, like toy figurines, unable to believe the whirlpool Ryan had created.

 

One hour left.

 

Ryan and Jack were nearly at the top of the Pyramid and by now the policemen had stopped shooting like the taxmen had stopped annoying Jack because they knew it was pointless. Ryan couldn’t drop his guard though because they might start up again. They reached the top and Jack knew that Ryan would have to get rid of the whirlpool to focus all his efforts on the meteorite. The platform at the top of the Great Pyramid of Giza was unstable with all of the jolty movements of the ground underneath.

 

Finally, Ryan let the whirlpool go and it splashed down the side of the Pyramid. The policemen, as a precaution, picked up their guns again and were ready to fire. Suddenly, Ryan’s power kicked in and the ground shook even more violently than before. He had decided that a tornado was the best weather for the job.

 

Scientists charting the meteorite’s movements were amazed to see a sudden decrease in the speed of the meteorite as it was beginning to almost halt. Jack could see the grimace on Ryan’s face. Finally the meteorite stopped and drifted for a few seconds in space.

 

“Stand by all men.” The UN didn’t care about what the boy was doing; they wanted him off the Pyramid. Ahmed was a trainee policeman; he guessed he would never graduate. He hadn’t been taught to handle a gun and it quivered in his hands. Three gunshots. Ahmed dropped his warm gun. He was terrified; he had let off three shots by accident. One missed completely; by this point the meteorite was travelling back into space. The second missed Ryan and struck Jack in the back. He fell and slid down the side of the Pyramid, landing at the feet of a policeman. He was still alive though. The third, however, reached its target and Ryan was hit in the leg. He cried out in pain but kept his control on the meteorite. With a final push, he tried to move the meteorite far enough away to keep Earth safe. It was speeding away from earth and moving out of the galaxy. Earth was safe but Ryan wasn’t. He let the tornado go and he sat down.

 

The shots from Ahmed had alerted another trainee who began to aim at Ryan. She took a shot, thinking that she had perhaps missed orders. She didn’t see a colleague trying to stop her. She fired. The shot hit Ryan in the head. It was all over.

 

After

Michael was walking through his favourite park in Colchester. It may lead to a graveyard but he didn’t mind, death didn’t worry anyone after the meteorite. Ten minutes later he was by the old church. There were two quite recent graves there. He read the inscriptions:

 

Ryan Archie Johnson

Died 28th March 2015

Saving the world

We are forever indebted

 

Jack Miles Allson

Died 30th March 2015

Helping Ryan

R.I.P

 

Michael knew about these two people. They had both been awarded the Victoria Cross after they had died. Ryan was killed instantly after being shot in the head while two days later Jack died in hospital. Ahmed was convicted of manslaughter along with the female policeman. They both got five years.

 

The world was back to normal now. The £40,000 found in the Hotel Garabitz was given to a charity that helped children whose parent or parents had died in the army. Services were held to commemorate the sacrifices that had been made.

 

Ryan was dead, and nothing could change that. The people of Earth could return to their old lives and all because of Ryan’s gift. His phenomenal power to control the weather.

Edited July 30, 2017 by Hexed

[liverpoolaum 811]

nice

[AllOne 156]

Nice,but why did they havd to die.(sobs)

[TriNitroToIuene 4,765]

This is one of the most enthralling stories I have ever read! Kudos!

[Darren4Turbo 4,913]

Amazing Story ^_^.

[CTaen 214]

No!!! I disliked by a mistake D::

 

But this is a good story :)