Ozrik
“Are you kidding me?”
I pressed my face to Black Bug’s side window as we screamed down the country road, zeroing in on the intensifying rotation of clouds in the near distance that had been teasing us with a funnel for the past ten minutes.
Anticipating where it might produce was the trickiest part of chasing, but we always tried to get as close as possible in the hopes of intercepting with a strategically placed probe so we could gather data.
How was Olivia’s group already on location?
Ahead of us. In the years since the Wind Riders had started chasing, we had never crossed paths with their team.
Having obsessed over their channel recently, I reckoned that they were either too afraid to get as close as us or weren’t as lucky when reading the sky.
Go figure—the day they finally figured their shit out or grew some balls was the day we ended up picking the exact same spot on the exact same side road.
“I can’t believe your girlfriend’s here. How is that possible?” Vern teased as Lex pulled over and came to a stop about fifty yards from the other group.
Noah, who had been hanging out the window, recording the sky, withdrew, offering a quizzically raised eyebrow. “I’m sorry. Did he say girlfriend? When did that happen?”
“It’s not official.” Vern grinned. “But Oz has a boner for the competition.”
I didn’t, but any denial would be met with further ribbing, and we didn’t have time for dicking around.
I shot Vern a dirty look and ignored Noah’s inquiry as I scrambled to gear up.
Tugging a headcam from the bin, I put it on and adjusted the strap while fretting over how we were going to mitigate the damage caused by Olivia’s sudden stroke of luck.
We had been counting on handing CineVision superior footage, hoping it would give us a leg up in this stupid competition.
“Are we staying here?” Lex glanced in the rearview, the car idling.
Face squished to the window, peering at the sky, Vern said, “She wants to funnel. Might as well stay here and see what happens.”
Leaving the motor running—in case we had to make a quick escape or race to a better location—Lex got out. The moment he was on his feet, he slapped the roof of the bug. “Oh shit. Guys, guys, guys. Move your asses. We need to record this. Fuck yeah.”
I climbed over Noah to peer from his open window, assessing the rotating mass overhead. “Oh baby. If she wants to come down right here, we can lay the turtle.”
“Hurry up.” Lex craned his neck. “It’s gonna happen. Come on, girl. You can do it.”
Hustling, I ducked my head inside the vehicle and raised the window in case it started to rain.
“Remember,” I said, tossing Vern a satellite phone and Elliott a headcam, “crank up the energy. We’re playing to a crowd, and we want all the votes.
We cannot make ourselves a target. Keep it light and friendly.
Work off one another. Don’t give the audience a reason to hate us or break us up. ”
Realizing Noah already had a camera in my face, I deadpanned. “Seriously. Dude, I’m fucking explaining how to manipulate the viewers, and you’re recording me.” I shoved the lens out of my face. “Idiot.”
Noah chuckled. “Relax. I already told you. I can edit out the shit we don’t want. Charles will never know.”
“Vern, can you get a live stream going?” I motioned to the satellite phone.
“We aren’t allowed. It was in the contract.”
“Shit. I forgot.”
Lex pounded on the roof of the car again, shouting and pointing at the sky. “Funnel. There’s a fucking funnel forming right the fuck over top of us. What are you guys doing? Get the probe. We’ve got to lay it and run.”
Vern’s eyes blew wide. “How is this our luck?” He grabbed the tote with the probe as Lex opened a back door. “Help me with this.”
In seconds, we were out of the car, scattering across the dirt road, faces aimed at the swirling clouds above. It wasn’t quite funneling like Lex said, but it wanted to. My blood roared with a release of adrenaline. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. It was only a few hundred yards away.
“Do you see it?” Lex yelled.
Oh, I saw it, and it was beautiful. Magical.
This shit never got old. Every time I witnessed a shifting mass of clouds slowly take shape and pull toward the earth, it stole my breath.
It raised goose bumps along my arms. It was a living, breathing entity.
I was born for this. Lived for it. The feverish rush heated my blood.
The impressive power of nature was no joke. It commanded respect.
Lex and Vern dug through the tote and prepared the probe in case we needed it.
I spared half a glance at Olivia and her crew, where they gathered on the road, processing and recording the event for their own purpose.
Noah shouted my name, reminding me that I was supposed to be providing commentary as the storm unfolded, so I described what was happening, motioning at the shape forming above.
“What you’re looking at is a potential funnel.
See how it keeps forming a cone?” I made the shape with my hands.
"That happens when low pressure in a rotating vortex inside the storm causes water vapor to cool and condense, making it visible. It’s called a funnel cloud, and it isn’t technically a tornado unless it touches the ground. Right now, she’s struggling.”
As I spoke, the funnel strengthened and kept her form for longer, giving me hope. For a moment, I paused to watch, holding my breath in wonder. “Come on, baby. You can do it. Touch down for daddy.”
Noah snorted.
The chaser in me studied the movement pattern to determine its direction of travel should it land. It seemed to have a south-southwest trajectory. Interception was the goal.
The rapid-deployment probe was meant to be placed in the direct path of a tornado.
Ideally, it would record data from inside.
The most violent part. It measured pressure drops, temperatures, and wind speeds in the lowest section of the vortex, providing crucial insights that radar couldn’t capture.
One way we supported our hobby was by selling data and video footage to news affiliates and university research teams.
Considering the technicality and luck involved, we were rarely successful.
“You see that?” Lex called from the far ditch, pointing. “We’ve got flying debris. Watch yourselves.”
I should have been narrating, but I was concentrating on the funnel. It grew stronger as the seconds ticked by. The wall of the storm hit, unleashing sharp pelts of rain that quickly turned to shards of ice. The wind increased, battering us and stealing my breath.
“It’s happening,” Vern hollered, “Do you see it? She’s coming down.”
“Lay the probe. We have to get the fuck out of here. We’re too close,” Elliott yelled, backing toward the vehicle.
Technically, it was too soon to lay the probe until we knew the tornado’s path, but she was coming down practically on our heads, and there wasn’t time to communicate my opinion.
Besides, Vern ran toward the vehicle with the empty tote. We were too eager with the damn thing. It was why we often failed.
Lex ran toward Noah and me, rubbing his hands together. “I’ve got a good vibe this time. Probe is set. Let’s go.”
The hail rained sideways, cutting into bare flesh and making everyone squint and shield their eyes.
Elliott whooped and cackled with the same energy that lit my core on fire as he stood by the vehicle, face turned to the sky. “Come on. Do it.”
I was about to follow the team when movement in the field caught my eye.
Certain it was more flying debris, I almost called a warning.
But it wasn’t debris. With the storm-darkened day and the activity above us, it was no wonder I hadn’t noticed earlier.
Someone from Olivia’s team had wandered far from the road, deep into an unplanted farmer’s field, farther than was safe under the circumstances.
With a growing funnel bearing down on us, fleeing was imperative.
We didn’t want to play chicken much longer.
If it touched down right here, and it looked promising, the danger was real.
Who the hell was stupid enough to stray that far from a getaway vehicle under these conditions? Didn’t they see what was happening?
I glanced at Olivia and the rest of her team, who seemed to have come to the same conclusion as us. It was time to split. The bug was built to withstand high-force winds, but even we weren’t sticking around to test its integrity. Olivia’s car would get tossed like a tin can.
As they scrambled to her vehicle, they didn’t seem to realize one of their members was missing. Scanning their group, I immediately picked out the absent member. Olivia, Jazz, Roe, and Maggie.
I returned my attention to the field and the wanderer. Their fifth member seemed to have no clue they were in serious danger.
“Oz!” Noah grabbed my arm and dragged me to the car. “Move it. If she drops here, we’re fucked.”
Everyone else was in the bug, ready to fly.
A jolt of fear seized my lungs as I turned back to Olivia’s team. I knew who was standing in the field, oblivious to the unfolding danger and forgotten by the rest of the Wind Riders.
Gale.
I took off at a sprint.
“What the fuck?” Noah yelled.
Hail hammered my face as the vortex took shape, growing stronger and stretching toward the ground. The wind increased, making the run almost impossible. I kept one eye on the threat and the other on Gale.
Missile-like branches torn from a nearby tree flew through the air. One came within feet of Gale, startling him so he fell on his ass.
The hairs on my arms stood on end, and my blood felt electric. The roar of the storm echoed in my bones and vibrated through my teeth.
I reached Gale and snagged his collar, heaving him to his feet. “Come on, Dorothy. Time to split before someone drops a tornado on you.”
I got him upright and shoved him toward the road, encouraging him to run. He tripped and stumbled, so I fisted his shirt and pushed him ahead. When he glanced back, wild-eyed and terrified, I grinned.
“Watch where you’re going.”
As we got closer to the road, I noticed Noah stood by the bug, filming the whole rescue operation. The rest of the guys were in the vehicle, waiting to fly.
Olivia and her team were gone.
Gale seemed to realize it at the same time I did, and he stumbled to a stop. “She left me?”
I didn’t know what to tell him, and there was no time. I snagged his arm and pushed him toward the bug. “Guess you’re with us now.”
Deep down, I wasn’t sad about it.