Jenna laid her down and helped Mika off her lap. Kelly's head was bleeding, and Mika sounded worried as she asked, "Is she going to be okay?"
Sam punched the gas and got them back on the road.
Mika looked up and for the first time, realized that she was face to face with Onyana, her idol. The look in Onyana's eyes was of sympathy, and it reminded her of Kelly's condition.
But even then, Mika was stunned by her beauty. Onyana took Mika into her arms and squeezed her. "I'm so sorry, sweetie, but she's going to be just fine. Don't worry; she's just resting."
Sam was driving crazy, and they were getting tossed around, but Onyana did her best to compensate.
"How much further?" Jenna asked, bracing herself on the dash and armrest.
"Only about twenty minutes." And with that, they both looked to the sky to see it turn black with birds fleeing the Cloud.
"Watch out!" Jenna yelled. Sam looked down to see all kinds of animals fleeing and crossing the road.
Sam slammed on the breaks, sending them into a skid.
"You can't stop! You have to keep going; just don't hit them," Jenna proded. He proceeded much more slowly, but up ahead a herd of deer was crossing the road. Sam skidded to a stop. Hitting a deer could disable the RV. He was laying on the horn, but the deer kept coming.
Plumes of pink started appearing in the distance, spanning the horizon. "GO, SAM!" Jenna screamed. Sam gunned the RV and slammed into the first of the deer that were in front of the vehicle, pushing one out of the way and running over the hind end of another one.
The deer elicited a blood-curdling scream that ended in a sickening gurgle as they rolled over it. The rest darted out of the way at the last second, and they plowed forward, honking continuously to scare the animals out of the road.
The Cloud drew near ever faster; the ground beneath grew dark and glowed iridescent purple with flashes of lightning. Fires blazed in the distance. They had anticipated this, and their shelter was in a clearing, nothing around to burn for several acres if they could only reach it.
"There, just ahead, the edge of the forest, just a couple miles ahead. Punch it!" Jenna wasn't typically a backseat driver, but tensions were high. Sam concentrated on the road.
Kelly was still unconscious but seemed to be stable. Onnie was sitting next to her holding Mika, who clung to her for dear life.
"Shhh, little baby, don't say a word," Onnie whispered to Mika, stroking her hair. Jenna had turned around to check on them to see Onnie comforting the child. Onnie would make such a wonderful mother, she thought, and oh how she would love to be a grandmother.
Her eyes watered, and she smiled at the thought. Then a look of resolve crossed her face. It was the spark of resolve that drives people to give every scrap of their being to make it through the peril. She turned around and glared at the Cloud.
The Cloud filled the horizon and dominated everything you could see. It rolled through with its deceivingly beautiful plumes and bright lightning — all under-lit with forest fires.
It was getting darker now; the Cloud was moving just ahead of dusk, creating a powerful effect. Jenna had gone quiet and was in awe. "I hope you're getting pictures at least," Sam said half-heartedly.
Jenna looked at him with a puzzled look. "What?"
Sam grabbed her hand and said, "We're gonna make it out of this, and I want pictures of that." Sam forced a smile, and Jenna got out her camera.
She was taking a video; the Cloud was close. The lightning flashed like malicious Christmas lights in the not so distant horizon. "There!" Sam yelled and pointed to a road a quarter mile ahead on the right.
He slowed down as little as possible and veered onto the dirt road, causing the RV to skip and bounce around. Sam pulled through it like a champ; he had put a lot of miles on this RV.
In the back, Onnie held Mika tightly to her with one hand and secured Kelly with the other. As they turned right and slid around the corner, the Cloud commanded their entire view.
Mika looked up and gasped. Onnie put her hand over her eyes with her other hand and tucked in her head. "Don't look, child, we'll be fine." She stroked Mika's hair and whispered, "And if that diamond ring don't shine..."
"We're almost there, girls, just a little bit more," Jenna assured them and turned around. The Cloud was so close that the lightning strikes were visible on the ground, and the thunder was constant.
Jenna had the camera still rolling, "I think we're gonna make it, Sam. It's just up ahead," she was assuring them both.
"There!" Sam blurted out. "There it is, less than half a mile. We won't be able to unload anything, but we can beat the Cloud, I think." Sam gave it more gas, causing the RV to skid to the side.
He was already pushing it on the dirt road; there would be no chance of reacting to something. Fingers crossed that no more animals kamikazed their vehicle.
Sam pushed harder and the RV fishtailed, but he got it under control. Onyana was in the back, watching the whole thing. She was impressed with her father's driving. They were going to make it, after all. She found herself smiling when she saw the object shoot straight down and impact their shelter. Sam let off the gas.
The next few seconds seemed to take an eternity to play out. The object hit the ground with such force, such finality, that for a second it seemed like there would be no response.
Sam, Jenna, and Onnie just stared forward in disbelief. They had come so far, everything leading up to this. And they weren't going to make it.
An invisible wave flattened the landscape and was followed by a wave of earth and fire. Trees and bushes seemed to blur as the wave reached it, having been obscured by the dust.
Mobilized objects peaked through the wall as it approached them. Sam and Jenna reached out for one another and looked back to Onnie, they both smiled. Onnie, sitting in the back holding Mika, lowered her head and closed her eyes. "Pretty girl," she said as she kissed her head.
The shock wave raised the road in front of them like a ripple in a flag. It reached the RV and blew out the windows with extreme force and a bright light.
~
As the Cloud approached the western seaboard, Americans all over began to breathe again. The worst appeared to be over for them, but as it was departing the west coast, several objects shot back and crashed down in the Pacific, miles offshore.
Tsunamis hammered the west coast in the same fashion as they did the east. Lives that took decades to build, dreams and families, entire coastal cities cleared in seconds.
The world kept turning, slowly plowing through the Cloud and enveloping the planet. The Cloud rolled across the globe, blanketing the land and oceans alike with its gorgeous multi-color plumes and intense electrical storms.
The Cloud itself seemed to be causing no damage, outside frying electronics as it swept through. But there were hundreds of objects raining down as it advanced, peppering the land and oceans.
The world watched in horror as the same scene unfolded again and again with each new place that it touched. Japan and Australia were both heavily assaulted from all angles by massive tsunamis.
Japan was nearly washed away by the sheer volume of water and received an inland object, crashing down between Tokyo and Nagana. Australia received like treatment, along with several objects.
The Cloud continued its barrage of objects and electrical storms. Moving through the middle east, it raised dust clouds that engulfed the land in a brown haze, swirling with the colors of the Cloud.
The spectacle was filled with clashing purple lightning, creating a surreal experience that anybody in Hollywood would be proud to have produced. As the lightning