Adventures in Geocaching

It was a warm autumn day, Tim and two of his friends decided to check out a geocaching trail they had found online. The web site had said the trail was known for having really unique items in the caches and well worth the trip.

The first two caches were empty but they left behind a red solo cup and beer opener in the first one and a handful of passes for a free round at a nearby miniature golf course. At the third cache, they found a Roger Clemens trading card in a batting glove. While Jimmy researched the value of the card, Tim placed an inflatable replica statue of Gandhi into the cache and covered it back up.

Suddenly eerie green clouds filled the skies in the distance and the wind began to blow. They could hear the faint sound of the town's emergency warning siren. "I think its time to turn around," Dave, the third member of the group, suggested.

“We can probably get two more done, they’re not too far away,” Jimmy said as he switched back to the trail map on his phone.

They were halfway to the second cache when the skies opened and the torrential rain started. The three men ran back to the parking lot, laughing as they climbed into the car. Tim looked out the back window and was the first to see the dark swirling cloud.

“Shit! Tornado! Start the car and boot it out of here!”

Jimmy tried to start the car, it wouldn’t turn over. The other two men screamed at him to try again. Nothing. They started to panic, yelling at each other for one thing or another as they tried to figure out what to do.

“Hunker down,” Dave said and tucked himself as much as he could into a ball and slide into the area in front of the seat. Jimmy climbed into the back seat and curled into a ball on the floor across from Tim.

The small car was quiet as they waited then filled with screams as the storm rocked the car before lifting and carrying it several yards before dropping it on its side. The three men waited for several minutes to make sure it was done.

Dave climbed out of the car then opened the back door to help Tim and Jimmy out. They looked at the devastation around them, shocked that they’d somehow managed to survive and beat the odds. The car, however, was damaged to the point of not being able to drive back to town.

They huddled together for several minutes then started the trek back to the college, thankful to be alive.

Word prompt: warm, climbing, replica state of Gandhi