Human Nature (Book 4): Human Nature IV by Borthwick, Finlay (book recommendations website .TXT) 📗

Over in the cottage, Emile and Adela were still watching as the nearby solar farm was engulfed in flames.

“It feels so wrong for us to just sit here and watch!” Emile proclaimed.

“Alek’s right,” Adela refuted, taking his side partially out of a guilty conscience, “There’s nothing that we can do.”

“Five of the panels have been destroyed. Can’t we salvage the last three at least?” Emile felt guilty about doing nothing, as this was his first time in England, so he felt wrong for not doing anything to defend his new home.

“Just—Leave it.” Adela did not want to talk anymore.

“You’re regretting your choices now, aren’t you?” Emile opted to continue berating her regardless.

Adela swallowed her anger down.

Then, there was a loud thumping sound against the wall next to the window outside.

As they turned to see what the origin of the noise was, Emile and Adela both gasped in unison; a tree branch had been thrown against the side of the cottage. It had been thrown with such force that it had even spawned a minute crack on the wall inside.

“Still wanna go out there?” Adela taunted Emile.

Erica, much like her daughter, was also holding in a semi-detached house. However, unlike Cora, she had opted to take shelter in the kitchen at the back, rather than descend into the basement beneath.

Also in the kitchen with her were her wife, Tina, and the pilot of the plane, Anna.

With her hearing improving by the day, every couple of minutes, Erica would activate her walkie-talkie in attempt to reach her daughter. “Cora? Can you hear me? Cora, are you there?”

Tina and Anna both looked each other with sorrow, feeling sorry for how desperate Erica was to be back at her daughter’s side after being separated from her for such a long time.

“She’s alright, Erica.” Tina comforted her wife, lightly massaging her shoulders as she did so. “Cora’s made it this far using her own discretion. I think she’s more than capable of making it through a little thunderstorm.” Tina deliberately belittled the situation in an attempt to keep Erica calm.

“She used to be so scared of thunder.” Erica unknowingly verified the story which Cora had earlier told Mac. “If there was a storm in the middle of the night, she’d wake up crying and I’d have to cradle her back to sleep… God, I never thought I’d say this, but I miss those days.” She lamented on just how much times had changed.

“If Cora’s still the girl I knew the first time we were here,” Tina referred back to the first time they had lived in the London safe zone, “Then she’s probably doing better than the three of us. She’s probably so confident in fact that she’s got her radio switched off.” Although this made no sense, it was clear that Tina meant well.

Anna moved around to the other side of the kitchen and rested against the edge of the sink basin. With a great interest, she stared at the windowpane, watching as the rain droplets bombarded it.

“It’ll clear up soon enough.” Tina continued to comfort Erica, still massaging her shoulders as she did so.

“We’d best enjoy it whilst it lasts.” Anna intervened, giving her own support whilst still looking outside. “That’s all we can do right now. Heck, Cora’s probably doing the same.” Despite not knowing a thing about Cora, Anna still wanted to be of whatever help that she possibly could.

Gwen pushed the front doors of the hotel open and hung out of them, “Petra! Get in here!” She yelled out distressfully.

But evidently, the trio had not heard Gwen’s loud offer, as they continued to venture away from her and further into the relentless downpour.

“Dammit!” Gwen cursed to herself upon realising that she would have to break her promise to Annabelle in order to get her allies off of the street. Then, without a second thought, she stepped out onto the streets and right into the hurricane, slamming the hotel doors shut behind her as she did so.

‘CRASH!’

Peculiarly, there was a flash of lightning as well as a grumble of thunder in the exact same moment.

“Petra! Wait!” Gwen yelled out over the bellowing storm, completely unthreatened by how adverse it had become.

“I’m beginning to think there’s nobody out here!” Rubin shouted over the rain to Petra and Richard.

“We can’t go back yet!” Richard noted, “There could be somebody around the next corner! Would you ever forgive yourself if one your friends died because you gave up a little too early?”

“At this rate, I won’t be alive to forgive myself!” Rubin stated, desperate to get out of the hurricane’s warpath.

“Petra!” Gwen bellowed out as she came running towards the trio through the storm. “What the hell are you guys doing?!”

“Gwen! Are you alright?” Rubin called out to her, blinking hard as raindrops blew directly into his eyes.

“What? Of course I’m alright!” Gwen exclaimed, not understanding why the trio were out here, “I came to save you lot!”

“We heard a voice!” Petra referred to what Valorie believed she had overheard on her walkie-talkie. “We think a person is in danger!”

“There’s nobody out here!” Gwen refuted, shaking her long and dripping wet hair out of her face as she did so. “You need to get inside right now! The hotel’s not far back! Come with me!” She insisted.

“No!” Petra stood her ground. “We must find the person!” She upheld her belief that there was indeed somebody in danger out here.

Whilst Gwen continued to argue with Petra and Rubin, Richard’s attention had been diverted elsewhere.

Further up the street, through the gloomy thick rain, Richard noticed a rather large and irregularly shaped object flying towards him.

Then, all of a sudden, the speed of the hurricane intensified even more.

Richard began to sway and wobble about, unable to maintain