Shutdown (Glitch)

branches hung over one another in layers like a waterfall of leaves, all the way to the ground.
    Adrien pushed aside some of the soft branches and ushered me in. The wind from the rainstorm made the branches swing back and forth lightly, but it was completely dry near the fat inner tree trunk. It got dim as soon as Adrien let the branches we’d entered through settle back down, shutting us inside like it was a little room.
    “I saw this tree when I hiked back in,” he said. “Sophia and I used to always sleep under weeping willows whenever we traveled and it rained, especially if we found a big old one like this where the branches reach all the way to the ground.”
    I leaned against the trunk. It was freezing, but I was still so tired my eyes were already dropping closed.
    “We should both get some sleep,” he said, coming over to me. “We’ll be warmer if we sleep close together. You know, just to keep our vital organs warm.”
    I nodded and lay down, too tired to even be excited about the thought of him letting me get that close. He lay down too, facing me and settling a blanket from his pack over us. He pulled out the blanket from my pack too, but instead of adding it to the first, he bundled it up and slipped it under my head like a pillow.
    My eyes were so heavy I was asleep within seconds, but for a brief fuzzy moment before I lost consciousness, I could have sworn Adrien wrapped one arm around my waist, pulling me close.
    I woke to Adrien shaking my shoulder. I blearily opened my eyes, coming out of my deep sleep to find wind wailing around us. The branches of the willow blew and twisted crazily. Several of the long leafy vines snapped loose and flew toward us, smacking Adrien so hard in the chest he winced. I’d been sleeping so heavily, I hadn’t even heard the thunder that was now booming all around us.
    “We’ve got to get out of here,” Adrien shouted over the wind. “It’s not safe!”
    I nodded and let him pull me to my feet. We stumbled out from under the willow. The rain lashed at our faces. Severed tree branches and other debris flew through the air. The sky was a strange sickly green color and the wind, which I’d barely noticed before except for the pleasant noise it made when it blew gently through the tree branches, was now howling like a freight train around us.

 
    Chapter 17
    THE THUNDER BOOMED AGAIN, so loud it seemed to shake the ground beneath us. The wind roared even louder, and the next time it thundered, lightning split the air at almost the same moment.
    Adrien grabbed my arm and pulled me forward. “We’ve gotta go,” he shouted. “Now!”
    “Where?” I yelled back, but let him drag me forward anyway.
    “There’s a clearing just a little farther around the lake,” he called over his shoulder. I could barely make out his words. “There was a ditch there where we might be safe.”
    I nodded, abandoning trying to talk anymore.
    Thunder boomed overhead, several loud rumbling punches, followed by lightning. The rain was harder after we burst out from under the tree coverage. It pelted us in diagonal sheets. I could barely see a foot in front of me. The only other time I’d seen a storm anything like this was back in the Community when I’d been in one of the few Sublevel 0 rooms that had thick triple-paned windows to the Surface. The growling thunder and splattering rain had given me nightmares for weeks.
    Now there was no glass separating me from it, no elevator to take back underground to safety. And that storm hadn’t been nearly as powerful as this.
    “Put your arm over your face,” Adrien yelled. I tried, but it barely mattered. The rain and wind blew so hard that I had a hard time staying on my feet. My hair whipped around me until I felt sure it would be yanked out by the roots. Adrien, tall and thin, bent his head into the wind and tried trudging forward, but he was having as much difficulty as I was.
    “Shunting hell, it’s a tornado!” he suddenly yelled, looking off to the left. I followed his gaze, my hand cupped above my eyes so I could see.
    I’d never heard of a tornado, but I saw what he meant. The sky seemed to drop down until a portion of dark gray-green cloud touched the ground in a wide funnel. The wind around us whipped even harder, and the noise of the storm became a monstrous roar.
    Adrien screamed something I couldn’t hear and we ran across the clearing as the storm continued gathering force behind us.
    The clearing rose and