Andrew looked up from his gardening, startled by the sudden peal of thunder.

Absorbed in his task, he had not noticed the gathering storm.
The sky was black with clouds, riven even while he looked with a vivid flash of forked lightning.

The ground beneath his feet seemed almost to shake beneath that second peal of thunder.

In the stillness that followed he heard the cry of a woman in distress.

He threw down his spade and raced to the other side of the garden.