Branches crashed against the roof as trees took turns in giving the number five a beating. As it weaved its tall, ageing body along the narrow country roads, the wind caused the bus to tilt slightly more than it usually did.

‘How was your summer, Bailey?’ Dorian asked as he sat perched in his seat with the most perfect of postures.

Leo and Kaira exchanged a glance, knowing full well Dorian was only asking in the hope that Bailey would ask him what he had been up to.

‘Hold strong, Bailey. We see what he’s doing,’ Leo whispered to Kaira.

‘You know how it is as a gay teen these days, Dors. Every day is spent trying to prove to your parents that just because you like other girls doesn’t mean that you’re worth any less.’

‘I know right. If he didn’t drone on so much his summer might actually sound interesting,’ Kaira replied under her breath.

‘I thought your parents were ok with everything?’

‘Well, I don’t know about that. He went to a reptile and rodent convention. Only he would be able to make something serious come around to him again,’ Leo shrugged, raising his eyebrow at Kaira, ‘I’m almost amazed that he’s stayed the same person that I met back in year seven.’

‘Yeah, they are. It was just a joke. Summer was much the same as yours I’d expect.’

‘I’m amazed that we’ve stayed friends with him that long,’ Kaira said a little too loudly, which brought Dorian’s ever alert gaze upon them.

‘Who?’ Dorian asked. He was quick in almost every aspect, sharp as a tac, but also despite being relatively small, he was literally quick as well. He was so fast in fact, that their teachers would often joke about him taking off on the athletics track.

‘Nothing, Dors … how was that rat convention?’ Kaira asked, squirming.

‘Are you kidding? I made him feel awkward to keep him away from talking about that!’ Bailey exclaimed, as she feigned pulling her light grey hair out as he immediately withdrew his famed notebook.

As they all braced themselves for Dorian’s story time, complete with annotated notes, a piercing scream from one of the year sevens stopped him in his tracks. Leo thought for a second that one of them had been bundled to the ground, until he saw the girl in question pointing out of the window towards the fields beside them.

‘What the …’ Kaira started, following her finger.

The blue skies of before now appeared grey and black. The birds whose song had accompanied Leo’s awakening were longer in sight or earshot, which left the only noise to come from the trees that crashed against each other in the increasing winds as they fought desperately to keep themselves rooted in the ground.

‘What’s all the fuss about?’ Dorian asked, turning to see why everyone was looking out of the window and not listening to the stories of his summer.

The wind battered against the bus which came to a halt between two fields. The driver was unable to keep going as the bus rocked dauntingly from side to side, the rusting suspension and aging brakes doing all they could to keep it in place.

They all looked up to see clouds beginning to swirl in a circular motion over the fields, gathering in speed as some of the children grabbed onto the metal bars attached to their seats.

‘Look over there!’ one of the year elevens shouted.

Leo took a sharp breath as he saw what she was pointing at. Reaching down from above, the clouds spiralled towards the ground in a dark and twisted mess. All the trees were being pulled inwards, unable to keep themselves upright as the crops around them became uprooted and were thrown across the fields.

‘Dorian, what’s that?’ Bailey asked in a hushed breath.

‘That’s not something I’ve ever seen in England before.’

Leo looked for his brother and saw him sitting with his friend, Hannah, and they both shared the same look of terror as everyone else on the bus did.

Kaira whimpered slightly, and she covered her mouth before raising a quivering hand to point out the other side of the bus towards further dark and intimidating clouds. Unlike those the year seven had pointed at, these had already begun their descent and were stretching towards the ground like a hand desperately reaching for something to hold on to. And they did exactly that.

As the tornado touched down, the whole bus burst into a panic. Some children began to cry, whilst others battled for space under the chairs. A further few ran downstairs and tried to force their way off the bus.

Leo was unable to move.

‘What do we do?’ Bailey asked, panic stricken.

‘The safest place for us now is under the chairs. Kaira and Bailey, you first!’ Dorian stated.

‘Because I’m a girl? I can hold my own more than you, Dors! I’m not about to sit around and wait for that to hit us,’ Kaira argued, gesturing outside as the second tornado reached the ground.

‘We either get ourselves under something solid or run outside and risk being dragged up into one of those,’ Leo said, snapping into action as Dorian moved out of the way so Bailey could get under their old wooden seat.

The wind that battered the glass was almost deafening, and the noise only increased as bushes and small trees were thrown against the bus, sounding like gunfire as they smashed into the sides and caused the glass to crack.

Lightning lit the charcoal skies and was followed by a crashing clap of thunder that rattled the windows and caused everyone to duck. Leo could feel his heart beat faster as his hands began to shake. The year sevens’ screams were reciprocated by everyone around him.

Leo looked for his brother again, only to find Sam’s horror-stricken face contort even further as the swirling concoctions of wind, mud, plants, and anything else in their vicinity started to move towards the bus.

The driver downstairs tried desperately to keep the children calm but to no avail. This was not covered in Bus Driving 101. Leo wondered if the driver could chance driving away, but as he looked around, he saw more tornados blocking the road in front of and behind.

They were trapped.

‘Sam!’ Leo called to his brother, ‘get under your seat!’

Sam did not move; he was either unable to hear him amongst the commotion or was frozen with fear. Leo tried to move towards his brother but found his way was blocked by panicked children who were running about the bus, treading on the limbs of those who were not completely under their seats and were hiding behind their hands.

The first tornado was now less than one hundred yards away, and children were using their blazers to cover their nostrils as the warm, bitter smell of burning rubber infiltrated the growing cracks in the windows. The driver had given up on trying to keep the children calm and fought to drive away, but the wheels just span in place.

Lightning streaked across the sky once more, lighting the inside of the tornado to show an x-ray of the mud, crops and even tree trunks that swirled within before being thrown out in every direction.

‘Kaira, get down,’ Leo shouted as she sat emotionless, watching the tornados get ever closer, ‘this is not the time, Kaira. Get under the seat!’

Leo tugged her by the hand till she was on the floor, and then pushed her under the chair, trying to get her to the closest thing he could think of as safe.

Children’s screams, whimpers and cries were inaudible as a tornado swept through the bushes that lined the road. Screws jangled in place until the roof finally gave way and flew from the bus, causing the bulk of the windows to fall and smash against the tarmac. The rest of the glass rained down upon the children who desperately fought to protect themselves from the falling shards.

Leo held on to the nearest pole, the palm of his hand resting against the stop button as he again tried to make sure his brother was safe. This time, Sam was on his knees towards the back of the bus, gripping on to the pole that attached the seat to the floor with tears streaming down his face. At least he was finally on the floor, Leo thought to himself.

As Sam looked up, he met Leo’s eyes, and his tears stopped for a moment. Leo managed what he hoped was a reassuring nod, trying his best to look brave for his younger brother.

Another flash of lightning was followed by another deafening crash of thunder, and then everything went dark as the bus was engulfed by the tornado.

Leo locked his arms around the pole and hooked his foot under the nearest seat, keeping his attention on his brother as screws loosened and other seats flew into the air. Leo went to unhook his foot and run to his brother, but Kaira must have sensed what he was about to do and reached out to hold on to his leg, causing him to fall on top of some of the children laying in the aisle.

Pushing his way up, Leo looked just in time to see his brother being lifted from the floor. Sam desperately tried to hold onto something, but anything close to him was also being pulled from its place and out of the hole where the roof used to be. As he held onto Hannah, who was also being lifted into the air, Sam looked back down at the bus below. Leo’s baby brother, usually so annoyingly cool was now crying hysterically, desperately calling for his big brother to help him.

But before Leo could do anything, Sam disappeared into the depths of the tornado.

Kaira held on to Leo’s leg as tightly as she could, just managing to hold them in place as he looked for any sign of his brother. From within the heart of the tornado, Leo saw something that was managing to stay perfectly still as everything else swirled around it.

Lightning cast a momentary light amongst the bowels of the storm, and Leo scanned the tornado for whatever he had just seen. And he found it.

As Leo looked into the centre of the storm, he was met by those two bright yellow eyes that he had seen following his brother through the trees. The eyes that had locked onto him before were doing so again as they drifted down the tornado towards him. As Leo stared into them, Kaira was joined by Dorian in her attempts to get Leo under the chairs. With one final exhausted pull, they managed it, and as they did so, a loud, tortured screeching sound echoed around them. But before Leo could look for whatever had made the noise, everything went black.