Sins In Twisters
Chapter 18: 30 Minutes
For the average Tornado Warning, most warnings are issued in periods of 30 minutes for a storm affecting a given area in its path that can often expire after no tornado or follow the storm's path for hours. The typical amount of warning time for a tornado reported on the ground is roughly 10 to 15 minutes at best.
Stepping out of the house into the gloomy-looking world, the mother of eleven made her way towards a lone chair that sat just as quiet and isolated as she felt herself. Slippers thunking against the wood boards, running a hand against the soaked railing, giving the chair a swift jolt to fling as much water off as possible before letting herself fall into it, groaning as a surge of pain shot up from her lower back and knees.
For so much of her life, Rita knew things would be very different than she imagined it to be. Sure, there were some bumps in the road: the time in middle school, when she had a competitive side with her only sister, her mother passing away so early on, and when Lynn ended up getting mononucleosis that made them split for a time till he was better. When she nearly lost her chance at working as an advice columnist or learning to work in the dental field.
There was so much between all that had given her a life that anyone in this part of the world would say that she had the same experiences. Meeting the man that her heart beat in sync with his, the vast family that joined them, being the one to bring into the world eleven lives that she knew deep down in her soul would be destined to go out in the world and make their names known.
Five years ago, she believed she was reaching the point where she could finally relax. Not have to worry about work or if there would still be a roof over their heads and food in the fridge. She could finally spend the next decade or two doing what she loved and was inspired to do. By the time Lynn Jr. was born, she had finished her first novel about her early life. It wasn't as extravagant as she expected. So many in the world make the same kind of story. But once her son and daughters came along, it felt like a new story was to be told. Years and years of watching her family grow and evolve, the fights and the affection—the days where it was peace and then the days where the house did come apart.
So many out there would never experience the kinds of events that she would go through. All the hijinks and moments that brought her family closer and closer together. There were times she was mad, but so many times she was beyond proud.
Years ago, when Lori had first begun to move out for college, she knew that the days for her family being all under one roof were numbered. But her daughter didn't let it be when she returned on weekends and free days just to be with the family.
As she watched the days pass in the blink of an eye, wrinkle after wrinkle forming, blond turn to gray, and her body slipping away from its prime, she did it all, watching her children grow and grow. They stayed close. If that was by choice or coincidence, she didn't argue with it.
Well, most stayed close…
And in that thought, those blue eyes were like gems with that smile as beaming as the sunlight. She remembered vividly the day her one and only son came into the world; Lynn was indeed beyond the moon at having a son. She knew it was wrong for him to be a bit off-put by five back-to-back daughters, but he never wavered his loyalty and love to them. Though upon the time his first son was to be born and he fainted in the back of a limo, she felt it was a bit of that mental overload that had finally gotten to him.
But that didn't stop them. The day they came home with him, her daughters became practically inseparable from their little brother. Even when he was learning to walk, he showed them how much his heart went out for them. When Lucy came home, he stepped up to be the best big brother to her and the others. How at just eleven years old, he acted so much like a father to her youngest, Lily, it honestly made her get teary-eyed at times, even with everyone else from her to Lori.
She knew Lincoln would make for an incredible father when the time came to be. If it was one or ten, by his blood or not, she saw the passion within him be there that, if the world had so much more of, wouldn't be such a dark, spotty place. She wouldn't deny there were times that her son made her blood boil. Times when he didn't learn or went too far off the deep end, and it led to something out of control. Her daughters weren't far off from that path either, but she believed in Lincoln to follow a path that since day one was one twenty years from then and now would show just the kind of man he was born to be.
She prided herself in how her home would never have any kind of bad blood. That there wouldn't be a force strong enough to tear it apart. But then there was the day she realized something important. There were things in life that no other force could tear it apart. But there was one thing that was almost guaranteed to be strong enough to do the job…
Itself.
Three words were all that could change the world for someone forever. So many times, it was spoken in these walls until something ugly entered through their door that March day and changed it all. And what do they give in return? A reason to never fully trust them ever again.
If it was one of her greatest dreams she wished to achieve before death, it was to try, just try to undo the damage done that day. If it meant giving up eleven years of her life, she'd do it. What mother could live with themselves knowing they let fear and superstition lead to almost losing one of her babies? It was sickening. It went against everything that was the foundation of being a good mother, and she ignored it all. Her family was divided, and even for years afterward, they tried to regain that trust. To prove they weren't who they were then and knew a hundred and ten percent they'd do to fix it.
But she remembered one day long ago hearing something that made her feel it wasn't possible.
"How can you fix something that was so pure that anything after would be anything like it?"
The answer? Only God had the actual power to do that. All she could do was pray that one day, that bond would be mended in full. The love shared between them would shine brighter than before and become indestructible.
Yet each day that hope would surge was a day closer to losing him. Until he finally did walk out that door for the last time.
She wanted to deny it so much. Put her foot down to say right then he can't go. That it just didn't feel right. She was losing her baby boy all over again. It wasn't like he was moving out like the older girls. The two oldest always came back on weekends, and even when Luna would be touring for weeks on end, it'd find its way back home.
Today, Lincoln had come home. She had finally seen the man he had become. The man who would do anything for his siblings to be safe and sound. To make sure that she and her husband would enjoy their final days in retirement. A man who dreamed of going out into the world on an adventure and succeeding in finding it and more.
A man who was ready to give it all when he was gone.
What Lincoln had hoped to achieve today, she couldn't fathom. To taunt them about how close yet so far away he was? To make their hearts feel like a claw was crushing it?
She didn't want to know the answer. She wasn't ready to know it, and maybe not in the immediate future. But through those papers, Lynn found something they could use to find out.
They had a plan. But it wasn't the right time to scramble into it. This wasn't like some sudden summer getaway where the kids didn't have school, and they didn't have to worry about work. Lisa even once said Lincoln was always on the move. They'd have to time it just right before they lost track of him again.
Deep inside, she tsked at how crazy this all was, how everything felt so surreal compared to years ago. That was the life story of the Loud House. It is a story that millions would look at in wonder, disgust, hatred, curiosity, amusement, and understanding.
Rising from her seat after staying here for so long, Rita could feel the wind slowly picking up. The last thing she wanted right now was worrying about catching a cold. She felt her joints protest from not having to work for the last couple of minutes, but she didn't want to sit out here any longer with the blankets of hail all over the place being her silent audience.
Yet she could feel an idea growing within. Her inner writer looked at all this, picturing, building a story she was a part of. She might be working on her next book already, but it never hurts to dot down a future idea or just put thought to paper so that one day she could look at it for inspiration or craft it into her subsequent work.
Rita shook her head. Dashing those thoughts aside to focus on today. She had another hour before the kids came home, and while she had fate, she doubted Lynn and Lori would want to spend more time at work. She figured getting started on prepping for dinner would work, but she didn't feel it within.
'Maybe I'll just order delivery…'She mused while opening the door.
Stepping back inside, she felt the rush of warm air pouring out of the house and the cold air rushing in until she quickly shut the door. Feeling a miniature whirlwind dance around her with dust and a few pieces of leaves tracked in earlier before it faded away just as fast.
With how dark it was outside, inside the house didn't feel any more different since the power went out. Once the hail had first come through, from how it sounded like it was punching holes through the roof, she made her only two present daughters come down into the living room so they could all keep an eye on each other.
A pair of flashlights supported by books sat on the coffee table, beaming up at the ceiling. Giving the living room a somewhat haloish glow that, while it wasn't as practical as the lamp it gave enough to see where you were going. The two sisters sat on opposite ends of the couch, but when Rita stepped past the dead TV, she saw Lucy's head rise ever so slightly, and almost like a floodgate, the two felt a thickness in the air that wasn't like the incredible humidity outside.
It was only briefly broken by the sound of Leni's phone going off. Spooking the blonde for a moment until she pulled it out from somewhere, "Hello? Oh, Hi Luan!" Leni answered with a happy glee and her question, "Oh, we're totally great! Like, it started all really, really foggy…"
Approaching her recliner, Rita felt her mind once again zone out from her daughter's talking being the only noise aside from the rain and wind outside that gave the house any kind of life. Her drive to get back to her writing was peaking again, but it felt like trying to apply electricity through rusted wires. It wanted to flow. This was the kind of time and day that put your thoughts into something productive, just something to get the mind away from something to focus on something for the future. Her material was still sitting there on the side of the coffee table, just waiting for her to pick up and immerse herself back into a world of her making.
"She totes isn't here. In the house, garage, attic, crawlspace, and the neighbors' house. And I can't find Lynn or Lisa. Lucy said they went out somewhere and took Lori's car." Leni continued on. But that did get her thinking on something else.
Where were the rest of her daughters? The twins wouldn't be back till 3:30. Luan was with Lily at her school, and Lori was at work. Really, there should be six of them in the house. She remembered seeing Luna sitting on the couch, looking like she just wanted to sink into the cushions and be left alone (not that she blamed her adult daughter), but when she went upstairs to get the girls when the hail started, Lisa and Lynn were gone.
The fact Lori's car was gone along with them made her look away from the spot of empty space back out the front window. Watching as the heavy rain came back in full force, making the light outside fade and darken the house even more. For whatever reason, they saw it fit to leave the house and venture out into the storm. She prayed that they were safe and knew once they got back, she was going to give them a big lecture about doing as stupid as that.
They all still lived under her roof, after all. She didn't have the strength anymore to become overly panicked about what her family could be up to. At least with everyone still living here, it was easier in her state of mind that they weren't far from home.
"Hello? Luan, you there? Is this one of your strange mime tricks I have to try and figure out when I can't see you?" Leni asked her sister, with no answer in return. Not hearing anything at all, she looked to see what was wrong, only to see a black screen greet her with no reaction to her taping the screen or buttons. "Ah, poo. My phone died…" she sighed, putting her phone down on the couch. She perked up for a second and brought it back up but realized again that her device was dead.
Maybe she should get started on dinner after all… Any distraction now that would take a few hours out of her day felt like it would be time well spent.
Getting back up, her joints were starting to protest now if she couldn't make up her mind. Passing back through the dining room, she saw there were still no cars in the driveway. She didn't know how long it had been since they left, but part of her wished they hadn't left at all.
Popping open the fridge, she remembered a significant problem: no power. Half the stuff she was thinking of possibly making was thrown out because ninety percent of the appliances were useless now. With a tired sigh, she turned to see what they had in the cabinets. Lynn could still make a full-course meal with just the gas stove, but she didn't see any need to go that far. Though in some irony, reaching up to fish out any vegetables, she pulled out a jar of finely cut raw cabbage sauerkraut sitting there unopened and collecting dust.
Why did she keep buying this? The last jar they had was almost two years out of date before they threw it out, yet here was another, already three months past its date, still untouched. No one in the family liked how it tasted (it was like eating a soured salad), yet her son utterly loved this stuff mixed with peanut butter. Maybe it was just an impulse, she felt. With everyone still around, something like the taste of food evolved, but a lot didn't go away. They didn't burn through as much food as before, but the weekly grocery trip was still necessary. With Thanksgiving and Leni's birthday coming up, they were burning through whatever they had before bulking up for the next month.
After today, she hoped the birthday could help get them back on track and…
Any thoughts of cooking dinner were ripped away as a chill colder than the Arctic ran up and down her spine as a slow but growing wail entered her ears. The sound rapidly got louder and louder, and memories from years ago flooded her mind like a broken dam as she ran out of the kitchen and back into the living room. Her sudden return and sound made both sisters stand up from their seats, confused. "What's that?" Leni asked, puzzled by the drowning sound that was starting to make her ears ring.
Rita didn't answer. Pushing to the side of the TV to get a better look outside to see how dark and green the sky had become. The sight was enough to convince the others to approach the window, with Lucy gazing up in curiosity at the almost evil-looking clouds. She had seen those kinds of clouds in all of the images and videos that the internet had on storms and from Lincoln's travels. But nothing compares to actually being here and seeing it in person. It really felt like the day one of her ancient gods was making its presence known to the world, and everyone should be afraid as the sirens hailed their arrival.
Rita didn't think of that idea for the most part but couldn't help but agree on how the sky could look so evil like this. The wind had died down but the rain still pounded everything. The sirens began winding down for a second before rapidly increasing their wails to loud enough to pierce through the walls of the house.
Several times, they had experienced drills or a few false alarms. It was the fact of living with life here. But never in all those times did it feel so dark, like something was trying to crush you from the sheer thoughts of what could happen.
And the memory of what happened on that day nine years ago told her never to ignore its warning.
"Girls, get to the basement. Now!" Rita ordered and moved as fast as her aging bones would allow.
Grabbing her daughters by their arms and snatching a flashlight, it was a question of who was pushing and pulling who, but they cared very little as they dashed through the dining room, through the kitchen, and with Leni practically ripping the basement door off its hinges, scattered down the steps.
A flash, from lightning or something else they didn't know, beamed through the windows with such intensity it was like the sun had appeared on the ground for a fraction of a second. It was enough to make the basement's darkness vanish for a mere second so that they could see everything before the darkness consumed it all again before a mighty crash shook the entire house.
Leni tried in vain to look for the light switch until Rita pulled her away, "Forget that! Get under the stairs!"
Doing as told, the two ducked under the steps with Lucy pressing herself close up into her wall nock. Leni would have complained that the cobwebs were getting in her hair, then become frozen from the reality that webs come from spiders, but the reality of truth was her mind couldn't register her usual fears with the sound of things pounding against the house like an angry mob had surrounded it.
Rita moved as fast as she could. Grabbing every article of heavy clothes, towels, extra blankets, even a tarp from the shelves next to the laundry she thought would be helpful and tossed it over to the girls. Layering on the like to practically bury them from head to toe. In all honesty, she would have preferred Lisa's bunker, but there was no time to dwell on that. She had remembered when looking through the internet about her son's adventures on how to stay safe in bad weather. There weren't pillows or a couch or a mattress down here to hide under as a shield, so covering up with as many layers as possible felt like the best decision.
With Lucy and Leni covered up to their necks, Rita went to grab the last out of a basket of towels, but almost like she stood too close to Luna's speakers, she felt her ears suddenly pop.
"Ahh!" She cried out, dropping everything in hand to cusp her aching ears. In a fraction of a second, Leni cried out, holding her ears. Lucy winced like she was in the middle of a six-way shouting match. She was used to this kind of pain, but the sheer intensity and suddenness made the goth cringe and hold her ears as well.
"The pressure just dropped." She stated, gritting her teeth when the ringing seemed to grow louder, "Something's getting close."
Grabbing what she dropped, Rita rushed over and squeezed her way into the spot between her daughters. Pulling towels over herself and making sure it was doubled for them, reaching down underneath to wrap around and pull them as close to her body as possible. Despite their ages, the girls clung to their mother's side as tightly as they could. Leni rested her head on Rita's shoulder, but Lucy stayed still. Her gaze locked towards the few windows that allowed them to see the outside world.
In so many past experiences, she'd be feeling giggly right now and expressing how these were the moments that made life worth living to show the mortality of it. That feeling wasn't there at all. And what made her stomach twist in ways she felt were trying to make her sick made the goth think back to possibly the only two other times she had felt this before.
With just one flashlight and streaks of lightning from outside giving them any light at all, Rita squeezed her daughters closer to herself. Trying to tone out the howling that echoed through the town and prayed that the rest of her family was safe.
1:24 P.m. Central Daylight Time.
If there was a time when being a meteorologist was the worst job to have present, today was the kind of day where every code you type, every simulation you watch, and every statement you put out made you wish today was more like a training day that didn't involve the thought that right now, what you are doing could save thousands of lives in the next ten minutes.
Every thought that could lead to the best or worst-case scenario for the area you are watching. How that could play out on a computer, not knowing which way mother nature will follow its own script and a slight miscalculation of time and distance could be all the difference.
For the hundreds of men and women in the 18 offices scattered from the Great Lakes to the Gulf, it was like trying to steer people around the apocalypse all around them. Those to the west fed every ounce of data they could to feed the interconnected machine as those to the east braced themselves for when the time would soon come for their turn later in the day.
It had been a good hot minute since Erin had seen this kind of outbreak explode like this. From everything this decade so far, this year really hadn't had those big, impactful days with mass twisters everywhere. Especially from what was the corpse of a hurricane. Hurricane Ida back in 2021 came to mind, but from its recorded 35 tornadoes over three days, Ogla was on track to break that in the next few hours.
Twenty-four individual touchdowns already confirmed via spotters, media, and even some NWS offices already out and about investigating behind the front before it's too late. Seven to maybe ten more were being reported right now on the ground in progress, and there was little doubt there wouldn't be more into the night or further into tomorrow as a second day.
As the storms marched further east, there was an increasing gap between what Erin and her colleagues could do here in Norman. They were using other offices' data to build models and forecasts to help ease the pressure on those facilities working on overdrive. The army of chasers scattered across the region greatly helped in getting the needed eyes on the ground visual of the storms.
But what she was focused more on now was the display shown on two of her monitors.
One was the utter colossus of a supercell that dominated western Tennessee. If there was to be a single storm from this outbreak to remember it by, this cell was climbing the ladder to claim that title. Minutes ago, she had spoken to Lincoln about the storm, how the southwest side was rapidly getting its act together. With how strong the indicators were spiking, there was little doubt that it would soon spawn its next twister.
Then, there was the area closer to him. The older rotation was forced northward and was struggling to get its grip and become tornadic again. Detected velocities inside told a story that several areas of upper-level rotation were trying to spin up. Some were much tighter and more focused until another would interfere and cause both to fizzle out. If there was a tornado, the only ones who would know were anyone reporting it on the ground.
"Any updates on him?" An old voice called out, entering the room. Looking away from the computers, Erin watched Rex pull off his winter jacket and enter the door.
She shakes her head, "He's heading down to Nashville as of about three minutes ago." Erin stated as she leaned back in her seat. "Though from how he sounded, he's reaching the point he's ready to call in quits."
"He's too stubborn at this point." Rex chirped in like a grandfather to a grandson as he sat down in a free chair, "I've seen that kind of mentality from others before, but he's honestly taking it about two steps further." He said, pulling an empty chair around and sitting down.
"I…" She slowly turned to face him but quickly reversed back to the computers, "I'm honestly afraid of what he'll do if I tell him what is happening. God knows he'd kill himself trying to run back north…" She said contrite at the phone call minutes ago.
"And why's that?"
She pulled up a radar display coming from several Michigan-based offices. "This." Mainly having a trifecta of three separate active scans of the base reflectivity, radial velocity, and polarimetric. The reflectivty was arguably the least impressive looking out of them; the spilled paint look made it seem so much more like a severe hail storm with a chunk of pink inside surrounded by heavy rain.
Through all his years, Rex knew that it didn't tell the full story. Just to the west of where all that hail and moderate to light rain, there was a tiny pocket of light to no rain. A literal hole in the storm.
But that was only exacerbated by the other two. Deep red and dull green wrapped around each other like a pair of coupling hands in bright red and green. The third, similar to the previous, with a blob of red representing the storm mixed with a sprinkle of blues, yellows, and greens. But near the center of a large portion that looked like a hook, a tiny pocket of concentrated blue stood alone.
"Dear god…" Rex muttered, leaning down to look at the monitor closely. Watching as the last 15 minutes of scans play out like a flipbook showing the storm and rotation go from lingering to having a half-mile-wide debris ball in just half the time. The fact it was showing a Tornadic Vortex Signature in the middle of a highly populated area, a literal city upon touch down, thoughts of so many past events ran through his head just picturing what kind of damage was being done.
"What's the potential winds?" he asked like Yensen asking Stark about the arc reactor.
Erin pinched her nose, trying to think clearly but not wanting to know if she was right. "Current estimates are between 170 to 200. From the size of the debris ball, some are rough guessing either high-end EF4 or possibly EF5."
And as much as she didn't want to, she slowly turned her second monitor towards Rex, "... and this is the projected path if the models are 60% correct."
Watching the screen follow the current path as the radar updated, the second screen showed a top view of the area on a grid with a pink TVS tracking eastward. Where the track eventually impacted made the veteran chaser sigh into his hand as he watched, "Christ. Probably the first Five in Michigan since '56… Does he know?"
"No." She said, like a mother trying not to feel guilty, "No, he doesn't."
"Know what?" another voice piped up, making Erin's blood run cold. Shay and a very concerned Clyde came to join them in the lab. The former looked like she was in the same boat as herself, trying to manage all the data coming through and prevent chaos from occurring.
Clyde, however, looked like he was trying to get updates on his brother from the war front. Stress filled those eyes behind his glasses, and his posture spoke of someone currently on a hair trigger.
"Please tell me it's not Lincoln." He pleaded. The look shared between Rex and Erin made his blood pressure rise when he saw the silent five-second conversation between them.
Licking her suddenly dry lips, Erin folded her fingers together and looked up at him, "He's... possibly on the verge of engaging another tornado north of Nashville." She said in a silent dejection. Watching the 21-year-old throw his hand to his face, rip his glasses off, and pinch his nose.
"Goddamnit, Lincoln…" he muttered. Feeling like anything he had said before was just getting lost in the wind.
"And Clyde…" Rex spoke up, feeling like he was about to announce that someone in their combined family had just died, "There's another tornado on the ground. The projected path aims towards possibly south or central portions of the Royal Woods areas."
Spinning around, Clyde's face twisted into horror and confusion. "Wh…What?"
Erin moved to the side and gestured to the computers without saying a word. He might be standing ten feet away, but the young man felt like he was staring directly into the eye of the abyss. Watching the screens display an image he had seen many times before on top of places it shouldn't be. "The system went tornadic half an hour ago. The touchdown was confirmed about ten minutes ago. Last reported it was actively in progress."
Feeling like a tremor was overtaking his body, it took both hands to steady himself enough to place his glasses back and gather enough concentration to step close enough to rest his hands against the desk for support. Watching the display so carefully, as he had for the better part of the last four years, he tried swallowing a lump in his throat that was being blocked by his increasing heartbeat each time, he saw the last 20 minutes of radar play out.
Too many times for his liking, he watched a similar display across several dozen towns and cities. Among the hundreds to thousands, praying the storm would go the other way or not drop or die before it could get there. Here he was, watching a possibly major twister forming in the dead center of his home and the home of some million people.
"Smith?" a voice called out from the other side of the room, getting their attention. A fellow meteorologist looking like he desperately needed a smoke break scanned the lab for a second until they spotted the small gathering and dashed over.
"What's up?" Erin asked, turning to face them. Being handed a small folder's worth of papers with several statements from other offices about the current situation.
"Detroit-Pontiac office just sent us this update," he said, making everyone's attention snap towards him. "I know you've asked for anything about the southern Michigan system, and… they issued a tornado emergency for Southfield, Oak Park, Ferndale, and Pleasant Ridge."
Almost immediately, all eyes turned to Clyde and saw how his bulging eyes threatened to go through his glasses. The confusion moments ago shattered a mask that revealed the utter disbelief he had just heard those words be spoken. It wasn't every day you are suddenly told your childhood home and everyone you know is there is in the path of imminent destruction.
"I…" He stepped back. Rex moved from his seat in case his friend was about to fall, "I need to make a call real quick."
Without another word, he turned and practically bolted out of the room. Hand jammed down his pants, trying to get his phone out before they lost sight of him. The three of them stood there for a moment before Rex went back to his seat. Shaking his head in empathy at what his young friend was going through as the others stayed silent.
He was trying not to utterly deadsprint through the building like a madman, looking between his phone and where he was actually going. Running downstairs and through the lobby until he was back outside by a blast of wintry air to the sweat on his face. He didn't stop until he ran right onto KnightTwo's fender. Leaning against the cold black metal, McBride was trying to figure out what to do.
Really, what could he do? He was a thousand miles from home and a thousand miles away from anyone who could even have a grain of salt actually to try to do anything. He thanked whichever god gave the idea for his dads to move out somewhere else to enjoy retirement, so that was one less thing he had to worry about being in danger. But that still left so many other people he knew, and so much of that thinking was going to the only other family he truly knew there.
A tiny voice yelled out, saying he shouldn't have said anything about Lincoln being back in Royal Woods. Probably the only other person who was close to being weather-savvy was Liam living the farm life. The chances that he was already bracing for the storm way in advance and was spreading the word of what was coming was high, but that still left out the one issue that if Lincoln was here, he would be going in full war panic mode.
Taking deep breaths to keep himself from going into further panic, he cycled through his lists of contacts to the dozens of names he knew. None had any direct link to the family, but he knew one that did.
Resting against the truck, he waited anxiously for the line to answer. "Come on, Ronnie. Pick up, pick up…"
2:28 P.m EDT Detroit Suburbs
["There just a… huge rotation going crossing over the John C Freeway right now. The IMB building is just… disappearing in a literal cloud of debris right now!"]
["Stan, do you have any guess where this can possibly track into?"]
['Dave, I honestly would be surprised if this thing stays the way it is going; it doesn't track into the southern parts of Royal Woods and Madison Heights areas. This thing's only been on the ground for maybe twenty minutes now, but it is HAULING ass like a crazy-"]
Hitting with enough force that the radio might have officially been broken, Lynn rubbed her knuckles, trying to ease the sudden throbbing from unconventionally turning off the radio.. It offered no aid in trying to keep her nerves calm. Her right leg bounced against the car floor, and her head twitched back and forth like a drug addict trying to keep themselves from snapping after a long period without that delicious high.
No matter what blocked her view, moving back and forth on her seat like the building or tree would be out of the way if she looked far enough—not risking losing sight of the giant black and gray monster churned off in the distance. It's wedge shale from before practically gone. In its place stood something that looked far bigger. Like an actual amorphous blob connecting the sky and earth surrounded by contents from hundreds of homes, businesses, and everything in between or around. You picture any movie with a creature uncontrollable by man, hungry, and on the move to feed. And nothing you or anyone on the planet short of a god could hope to stop it.
Grace under pressure was the feeling that was shared by the whole family. Some reacted to situations better than others. Lisa had science, Luan had improv, Lucy looked at the world through the eyes of the dead, and she did it through commitment and brute strength. Is the enemy team batting too many hits? Throw in a high-powered curveball that sends the catcher back ten feet. Can't break through the defense? Get your shoulder ready and be a freight train through a brick wall.
Just what in the hell could she do in this situation? Literally, everyone had either the three ideas of running away, hiding, or just standing there with their phone out for internet clout. A physical incarnation of death and destruction was tearing apart your town, and your reaction was to film it… Okay, maybe she was thinking that a bit harsh, given how Lincoln did it when he was only eleven, and while he loses his cool sometimes, he still stays focused.
They had barely done anything since they had left the car wash. Lisa stayed quiet in the back, only announcing which direction for Luna, who looked like she was ready to just faint behind the wheel, which route to take as the storm moved away from them and traffic was becoming hell all over the place. They were basically backtracking the way they had come here in the first place, driving straight back into the edge of all the hail and heavy rain that was destroying Lori's car at this point. Moving away and out of sight of the tornado for a moment, once they got back on the highway, it still hadn't registered fully what they had just seen.
It felt all too much like some twisted dream turned nightmare. You wake up feeling that the gloominess of the day isn't just something with the weather but actually, the uncontrollable world your mind is still in. Things are happening, and all you can do is try to react how you would in the face of it and find a way or reason for it all. You can run as fast as you think you could circle the world and punch hard enough to bring down a god in a single blow.
All it did was show how useless it all was. You can't run from history. From reality, and sometimes your dreams are all the same.
Her sore knuckles agreed. Making the Loud anxious about what the hell she was supposed to do. Lisa was navigating, Luna was driving, she tried calling Lori and Leni but got no answer. Her phone kept blowing up with notifications that the storm had a tornado warning, where it was and that she was approaching 'a twisting storm' and told to exercise caution.
'Like hell, that's an exercise I'm doing right now…' She mumbled to herself while drumming her fingers against the side of her door.
With the radio dead, the car was filled with an unsettling silence that was filled by Lynn's taping, Lisa's typing, and Luna having nothing better to do except to watch the road as wind and rain impacted from all around them.
Like Lynn, the rocker was having a hard time processing all of this. Sure, she was one of the sisters in the family who liked it big and loud, but this was far, far from what she would want to experience. The fact that something that big is actually able to make its own sound, its own kind of roar like any beast of its kind before. With distance, the sounds of power lines exploding, thunder booming overhead, and the wailing of sirens all around them like an orchestra of chaos.
She was just one out of the tens of thousands who had a front-row seat to the show. Countless more listening to the story across the airwaves of news reporters somewhere trying to keep the people updated on what could possibly come next and where the show would move.
This entire day had been such a head rush already her stomach felt like it was trying to do its own style of a pretzel playing twister. She just wanted it to all stop and let herself be carried away to someplace where the music would help guide her to paradise that didn't involve so much damage. She didn't want to play the hero driving straight into danger; it wasn't her character. She was a rocker; perhaps thrill junky would fall into being part of that like any other in this day and age, but even back then, when she was younger and ambitious, she knew when and how far to take things before it went south most of the time.
How her brother could focus through all this for years with so many different stories to tell from each show. How the sky turned dark, or the lightning crashed like he was just at some insane concert that made his blood run like high octane.
For the scientist in the back, streaks of sweat trickled down from her forehead as her fingers worked at speeds that Barbara Blackburn would be proud of.
On the outside, Lisa looked like she was working on overdrive: damage and weather reports, radar from every unit that was able to detect this storm, every camera that she could tap into along the possible damage path itself, and the nearly endless flood of videos and images pouring onto the internet from news stations and civilians.
Inside, the nerve center of her mind, often compared to being as organized as the Pentagon, was an office building half on fire with a flooded basement with dozens of little mini-Lisas in various states of panic and work. A pair carrying oversized stacks of documents collided with each other in a papery explosion, trying to grab what was in the air until another raced by pushing a dolly with an overfilled filing cabinet running past through the crowd.
Smashing a double door off its hinges into a room resembling a cross between Norad and a science hall. Cross the main wall stood what could only be described as a holographic chalkboard: a thousand feet across and a hundred feet high, loaded with years of her collective knowledge that was the guiding force for how she conducted herself as a scientist.
Near the center, several dozens of her minis were gathered around. Talking over each other like the stock market in 1995, waving documents, shouting over each other, communicating in groups, writing down lines and lines of text and numbers trying to figure out the current problems that were soon added, altered, or outright erased and scribbled over by another.
Across the board, every bit of weather knowledge she had accumulated was being put to use with any hypothesis she could devise. An image of the very display on her holo-computer was spread out for them to analyze and give theories of what could be taken from it. Single voices merged together like a crowd in a tightly packed convention center. Focus on one area, and you could listen to what they say until someone close by or even afar shouts something in relation.
The topic was all to one main point: how was this happening?
How was there a half-mile-wide twister currently tearing apart the suburbs of West Detriot even possibly able to form at all? The weather conditions in the area weren't even in the lowest potential limits for there to be enough spin in the atmosphere to generate rotation for a storm to build from. There was a storm closer to the Fort Wayne area that had produced a tornado some time ago, but that was a difference of over 130 miles. Even the sector of warm air that was pulled further north by the jetstream didn't reach this far. The fact the Fort Wayne storm even produced something was a one out of two hundred thousand chance on a day like today.
The rain, hail, and wind were all expected. It was all foreseen in the forecast as being what a storm this time of year could do, with daytime heating acting as a boost in its fuel to be more severe than normal. But the statistics, the numbers, it didn't make any sense. The storm itself went supercellar in minutes before it spawned. In those minutes, the wall cloud dropped several funnels before it was able to condense itself. Several tornadoes in history were able to develop and materialize almost in the blink of an eye, but this had formed into such a monster the closest she found was when the Joplin tornado had first touched down in its life.
Weather had its own ways of doing stuff that was unimaginable, downright impossible for anyone even to spend years trying to figure out. But so much of today fet almost all too much like she had seen it before…
One of her minis shouted out. Strong enough to silence the tide around her as she wrote down nearly two years' worth of previous knowledge. Her assessments from when they had first seen the TV show became the dominant focus, and slowly, they all began to see where the dots lined up. Lisa could feel her heart thump against her ribcage like a reactor ready to blow through the roof of a power plant.
Things she was too focused away from suddenly having the limelight shined upon as they stood beside what had been there before. She didn't want to say it, but another voice said it for everyone that spoke the truth.
And in that moment, a new seed of panic quickly sprouted. "Call Leni or Luan again."
Lynn replied, frustrated. "We already tried-"
"Try again!" Lisa barked back.
With nothing better to do to keep her focus away from the twister, Lynn pulled out her phone and scolded through her contacts. Trying Leni first; the call rang once before it immediately went into voice mail. She didn't bother leaving a message when she hung up and called her closest older sibling. The phone rang a few times, but like their last attempt, they heard all of Luan's voice from the voicemail.
"Nothing."
Lisa groaned at the results. Tempted to say to try again, but with the level of communication going on around the area, they system was becoming overworked. The more the storm marched forward and destroyed any critical infrastructure, the more people were losing connections to the information of where the storm was going. The nearest local towers were becoming flooded by practically everyone in the area and had possibly reached the point that they weren't accepting any new incoming calls regardless of proximity.
She ran a mental list of everyone and where they were last known. Their dad, Lori, and the twins were safe further north from the projected path. The hail and high winds would have been their biggest concerns there. Leni, Lucy, and their mother were still at the house, but the chances that Luan and Lily were still at the school were unknown. Out of them all, they would have been the last ones to experience the hail core passing over. The time of day and storm could suggest they attempted to evacuate the school after the initial impact. Their home was within walking distance of the school after all, they would be among a few with enough luck that covering such distance meant by the time the tornado was on the ground, they could be home with the others. If not, possibly stay at the school until the storm blows over. Either out of the unknown of the current conditions or being forced to stay there, Lisa didn't know which.
But her mind focused back on what the curse spoke about. What history had taught them the same lesson nearly three times now? Events had all lined up to what it spoke of, but they were in a place where the needle would bounce from one side too fast to fix. She was too occupied trying to track and document the storm above she had little time to check to see what at all Lincoln was doing down south. Her theories that the curse was using some kind of success-to-punishment system were still just that, but today was becoming anything but predictable.
Did he make it to where he was going? Did he abandon his plan and return to Royal Woods? Was he trying, or had he already intercepted something? So many possibilities she wouldn't know until the disaster in front of her had concluded, but it made her blood threaten to run cold even more.
The curse had 'claimed' eight of them. How it claimed their previous family was spotty, but this time, they-she was more prepared. Sure, a lot of things acted as road bumps, but within what took possibly over twenty years for two other generations, it took only two years for them. Their parents seemed to be discluded from it or had to suffer alongside them as their part was unknown; history still spoke of their presence after the passing of the middle child, but from a near front line to almost a passing glance.
Lincoln survived Kingman. As far as she knew, it was the only time Lincoln was active in anything to this extent between then and now. The possibility that by some act of god had created all this weather to draw him out here for the final blow felt too biblical yet felt too possible. What he was facing could be the storm getting him or just another bidding time.
Then there were just two left: herself and her sister, Lily. Neither of them had suffered any force of significant effects like the others. No illness, injury, or loss to the point of death. They were a bit more worn from the stress, which was clear on more of her part, but with the timeline so far in advance, it was impossible to say how far they were in. A lot could happen in the 207 days between now and Lincoln's 21st birthday, but a lot can happen in just the span of thirty minutes.
It had only been approximately twenty-three minutes since the storm had spawned. Forward motion was still northeast but the forward speed was increasing. Based on the distance covered and by points of reference in the video, the storm had to be moving close to 48 mph based on some quick math. They were close enough that the northern edge of the massive wall cloud was directly back over them. They were traveling back on Interstate 696, paralleling the vortex with less than a mile of homes dividing them, rapidly shrinking the closer they got to Royal Woods proper.
One would think with Luna's reckless driving, they would be making incredible time now. Their speed now was greater than it was when they had left and got hit by the hail; even though they had to travel further north before getting back on the highway, their speed would have been four minutes ahead of the storm by the time they reached home. But the traffic pouring on and off the highway was making it so choked Luna couldn't get through regardless of how much she laid on the horn, flashed her high beams, and rode so close to peoples' rear bumpers.
There was just no space.
What made Lisa concerned more of their path was the number of buses heading everywhere along with streams of suvs and vans following behind, it wasn't all too surprising that parents and schools were trying to dismiss early and get students and staff home as fast as possible. Human beings become different creatures when they realize there's no control over the situation, and panic takes the wheel.
"COME ON! MOVE IT!" Luba roared with the horn to a car in front of them. Recording a swarm of brake lights from vehicles slowing down more and more across the five lanes. "Damn it, people!"
"Guys…" Lynn called out, feeling fear enter her voice, "I think that thing is getting closer."
Pressing up against the windows the best they could, the top portion of the vortex loomed over the edge of the concrete walls. A maelstrom of debris flew far out from the funnel, reaching over the highway and raining down everyone trying to get ahead of the storm itself. The twister had become less of its wedge shape and more like a fog bank struggling to maintain its shape. The beautiful white it had started with had become tainted, mixed together with a hurricane of shrapnel and splinters, and filtered with gray over a black canvas as dark as the storm itself.
But Lisa wasn't exactly concerned by how close it was, she was more alarmed by how close it was suddenly getting.
"No…. No nonono." She said to herself, feeling her own panic rising.
And hearing it come from Lisa was never a good thing, "What, what is it now?" Lynn asked, twisting around.
"We can't go any further…" Lisa said quietly, ceasing her typing like her hands had turned to stone. "The mesocycle is beginning to break down. In most cases, it's good; it means the tornado is dying. But in the case that involves very strong storms, the tornado will be left behind as the storm keeps going. But the rushing cold air is forcing it to travel in its own rotation. Forcing it to perform a left turn to the north. The rotation will begin to constrict, and winds are possible for sudden intensification."
"What?"
"At its current speed and heading… there…" She paused, trying to keep herself together to look into her siblings' eyes like she was trying to admit a crime, "There is a sixty percent and growing chance our home will suffer a direct hit in the next three minutes." Her voice was practically devoid of any emotion that gave her past times a steep run for its money. Those very words needed little time to register in their minds as both of her sisters looked back at her in horror.
"You… you can't be serious…" Lisa said nothing. No counter, no 'I'm always serious' remark or insult about her sister's lack of brain power to realize the truth.
She took a deep breath. Trying to work up the nerve to speak the fact of what the reality before her was like so many similar times this year was forcing her mental state to accelerate in its age rapidly and was taking its toll on her mind and body. She could picture herself having gray and white hair by the time she turned twenty…
"How close are we to the house?" Luna asked. Feeling part of her crying out that there was still a chance, but she didn't want to know.
"Exactly 2.06 miles," Lisa answered forthrightly without looking away from her keyboard.
"What about the off-"
"We're behind it. There's no chance we can make it ahead in time by any means short of teleportation…" She stated, slowly pulling her glasses off to rub her eyes. "Had we been just three minutes and eighteen seconds faster, we would have been hit by the tornado itself."
Lisa closed her eyes and said nothing more. The silence, the final say, the rocker and athlete slowly turned to face forward. Watching as the rain they had been running from had finally caught up and instantly pelted the car. Blurring the lines and shape of the vortex as plumes of debris began to explode into the air from where the limits of Royal Woods started.
In the years that have followed Royal Woods since the turn of the millennium, its residents have seen many, many things in their lives. From all the families and people who had moved in or out recently to take the stories somewhere else or witness it themselves to the multi-generations that had seen this town change before their eyes.
For the over twenty thousand that lived in this area to the present day from a week or years ago, the occasional events of chaos weren't entirely out of the norm. If anything, it helped to spice up life. Rather it is an old favorite store randomly promoting some outrageous deals that were too good to miss out on or a concert attracting triple what the population was for a single night, it happened in a seemingly timely manner that made each time something happened to feel a bit more unique from the last even if it happened a couple of times in the past.
But this wasn't one of these times. And throughout the years this town stood, it was a repeat of something everyone new and old would agree wished never happened again.
As sirens heralded the approach of an enemy that feared nothing and wouldn't stop for anything to reach its end goal of destruction. The panic was thick in the air like toxic gas launched into the trenches as people moved throughout the battered town like an army trying to figure out if to man defenses or retreat.
And at Royal Woods Elementary, every second the clock ticked on, everyone knew it was a second closer to impact.
Even as the rains began to fall back down in earnest, the only sounds of sirens and an endless churning groan getting louder and louder with every house and street it consumed around the school, one would think that for some reason, the school and the parents forgot to release the kids for the day. Dozens of cars scattered across the front of the building, one or both parents, friends, or even some from the neighboring homes rushing towards the front entrance demanding entry for shelter or to pick up their child before the storm arrived.
Teachers and staff frantically ran up and down the halls, trying to keep up a professional face as they shouted through radios or as loudly as they could manage. But everyone could feel and hear when their voices strained on the edge from calling out the names of kids, trying to find where in the building they were, and trying to get them to the office as fast as possible, telling them to forget their school supplies and bags, taking their hands or outright into their arms and 'running' as fast as they could.
The anticipation for so many to get out here was a disease of its own kind. A lot of times in bad weather getting worse, any child would be waiting for their chance to get called to the office for an early dismissal or to hear the school day had abruptly ended. As more and more kids were called and quickly ushered, those who remained found themselves having fewer and fewer classmates by their sides for assurance and comfort. Friends become divided, as some are called, and those left try to find others to hunker down with. Feeding the chaos when those who knew where they were came looking for them to find nothing, it became more frantic trying to find them again.
Lily could name each and every one of the students who had rushed past her eyes. Vivid memories of when was the last time they spoke, heard the other speak, or what they were doing in the classroom together. The hallway they were in once had nearly double the number of people; now, all that was left were kids who had yet to have their chances to be called or were moved from other spots in the building.
It wasn't even ten minutes ago when Luan had disappeared for a moment to try and call anyone at home. The feeling in this place was still uncertain, but it didn't feel like the walls were caving in. She was gone for maybe two minutes before she came running back in and told someone what she apparently saw that was like the spark to set off a chain reaction.
Before Luan came back, she still worked on her sketchbook. Adding a few lines here or there for effect or some shading to parts that were missing or felt and looked better with it. She felt herself slowly drifting into her own little world again, picturing how her little project would one day come to life. There was always the saying that no matter how bad the storm, there was sunlight at the end. Today started a bit bleak, but it got better. A storm came through, but that just meant once it couldn't rain anymore and the winds blew the dark clouds away, the light of the day would come back brighter than it was before.
Then, when Luan did come back, the moment she looked up to see her sister's eyes, something felt wrong. Her spider senses were tingling like a five-alarm fire was being called. She tried to hide it like all the other times, but the eyes said it all.
Something was very, very wrong.
When she tried to ask how the call went, she was told that Leni's phone had probably died and was waiting until she tried calling again. When asked why not try the others, Luan answered, both confused and frightened by the fact that no one else had responded before she returned.
Lily could see why, for some, maybe they were all busy dealing with the storm in their own ways. It's a bit rude not to answer, but it's understandable when, in a moment of chaos, something like that is bound to be overlooked. Though if she did call everyone she wondered why didn't Luna or Lynn pick up. One of them or Lucy could have taken the van and swung by once the hail had stopped.
Then she heard it. They all heard it. Starting as a slow climb to the pitch before they heard another and another join. At the center of the school, they were designed to pierce through the layers of walls to reach anyone and everyone who could hear its call.
That was the moment she didn't have that feeling of drawing anymore, and the chaos finally made itself present. She had heard those sirens several times in the last ten years. Simply tests or false alarms. She looked to Luan, asking if this was just a precaution, but the split second before she spoke, Lily caught her coming up with the lie.
It was real.
The panic in everyone's eyes, the sounds of their voices echoing the same disbelief with whispers that they couldn't believe this was possibly happening again. Those who lived through the first were shocked by there even being a first and were now panicking with the fact that they and their kids could be in the path.
She didn't remember much from that day; she was only just a year old; her memory of the day mostly consisted of a dark day for their family and her brother. It wasn't until a few years later that she saw the photos and videos of just how close she was to losing her home while dozens were far more unfortunate. She grew up remembering seeing new things sprout up and hearing about what had changed.
Seeing it all on TV and the internet or just from the stories people who lived through it spoke was different. Ask someone in their teens or mid-twenties where they were when the towers fell when the wars raged on, or when they put a man on the moon, and so many would say it was before they could remember or before they experienced it.
She was that one in her family—the one who grew up in the aftermath that had changed her world. Picturing how different things were before that, it felt so unlike what was felt as normal now. Now, she didn't have to imagine it. She didn't think she could imagine it when someone brushed by, mentioning to another that a call had just come in saying there was a giant tornado crossing Hoffman Avenue right now.
She knew where that street was. It was just two blocks down from the house. She passed by it every time she biked or walked to school. How 'giant' they meant could mean anything. Was it just really tall, like looking towards the peak of a mountain or the top of a skyscraper, but so small that it was just hitting house after house? Or was it so vast that a part of the whole storm was touching the earth that didn't even look like a tornado?
Lincoln's show had its moment to explain and show how different every tornado could be. Something a mile wide out in the fields spraying loose dirt was impressive, but put that in a town, and it lost its shape from how much was becoming part of it. Whichever shape or size it was made it feel irrelevant that there was one coming at all. No one wanted to be here, and she sure as hell didn't either.
"Luan, I wanna go home." Lily nearly choked, clutching her bookbag tight to her chest as she buried herself as much into her big sister as possible. Trying to hide the growing foul bubble inside her that was making it harder and harder to keep herself together.
Luan wrapped her arms around her, afraid that if she did let go, something would happen, "I know, Lilster." She said, trying to sound as calm as she could despite feeling the same, "Me too. But we need to wait longer for it to pass, and before we know it, it'll probably be blown past this place before. you could say,"
"IT'S HERE!" someone shouted as they ran down the hallway. Nearly tripping from their wet shoes and grabbing onto anything to support themselves as they ran around a corner, "IT'S HERE! EVERYONE TAKE COVER! IT'S HERE!"
Whatever ounce of peace that was left was sucked out of the air at those words. For the briefest moment after the man had run through the hallway and his voice faded through the walls, everyone, man, woman, and child of all ages present all stood or sat there in silence. Then, like lighting a match in the darkness, reality struck them all.
"Get down!" A teacher shouted, frantically trying to turn students around and get on the ground, "Everyone, get down! Face the wall and cover your head!"
Either from the lack of knowing what to do or the years and years of experience of being put through these drills, students quickly spun around and kneeled down—dropping their heads close to the ground with anything they had on hand to cover their heads. Any adults present stood above them, reaching across their child and any kid they could physically stretch themselves across to act as cover.
Lily barely had a moment to register what was happening before Luan spun her around and took the bookbag over her head. Staying low, there were screams as the last of the power was cut off. Bathing the halls in darkness in what little light made it through the reflections off the floors until it was getting darker and darker. More cries echoed through the walls. Everyone clinging to their ears as a defining ringing suddenly popped, making kids cry as the adults tried to ignore the pain. It felt so much like the times Luna had blasted her music so loud it would sweep you off your feet and pin you to the wall. But this didn't stop or pulse like the air from how music came from a speaker, it was consistent. Not stopping and only getting stronger and stronger.
BAM
Something 'massive' shook the entire building like a bomb had gone off. Where it was, no one knew except hearing the sound of windows shattering and things being tossed around. A breeze could be felt blowing through the corridor, whipping up any loose papers and dust as doors slammed open and shut. More glass shattered somewhere, and an ungodly metal groaning sound of something being torn apart from higher in the building made some look up and wonder just where it was coming from.
Lily tried to look up from her little shell of darkness, glancing down the hallway past classrooms and lockers towards one of the intersections that ended this hallway. What light the emergency units along the walls gave was enough to actually watch the dust get blown down the hall and wrapped around the corner. Strains of her hair were starting to float and flutter. She tried to adjust and reach out, but Luan quickly pushed her back down.
"Stay down, sis," Luan stressed.
"Keep your heads down!" Someone shouted as a collective 'Okay' replied as something shook the building again. But there was something else now that their aching ears all heard.
And it was getting louder.
The shaking was becoming less like explosions and more like a heavy train was rapidly coming. A whole fleet of them all at once with the tracks and gravel underneath them crying out from the sheer force and momentum. They could feel the walls sway, the floor jumping, it felt too much like an earthquake that had yet to reach its peak.
Then the wind finally comes. Like jets ramping up to take off, the breeze in the hallway went from gentle to outright hellish. All those trains were thundering down the hallway itself with the force of the displaced air around them. A dust storm consumed any of the light that remained as part of the ceiling was ripped down and taken away. Cries of terror and pain were practically silenced, and parts of the inner halls crumbled.
Teachers listened to their classrooms being mercilessly gutted for everything they had. Parents tried to keep their grip on the floor and anyone within their arms as they felt the force of the wind try to latch on and drag them away. Some found grip in the odd edges here and there, some tried laying flat as they felt more objects fall onto them and disappear just as fast. Others cried out, asking for help or a hand as they felt themselves skimming across the floor and vanishing.
For the briefest moment, it felt like it all stopped. In that brief moment, the Loud had felt it within her, either from human curiosity to see what it was or the storm demanding its presence be seen, looked up from between her sister's arms to see something literally standing in the middle of the hallway.
It looked so much like a little dust devil. It was like one of those miniature displays you'd find at museums and science centers, but moving so fast, it looked more like it was solid than just spinning mist. It had to be not even as tall as the hallway itself, the lower three feet digging at the floor, titling and drawing in everything that was too close to its reach. The top flickers radically around, struggling to find which direction it would stretch out. Briefly straightening to punch right through the ceiling, pulling more panels and sending sparks flying as light fixtures were ripped away. It broke away and dug itself at one of the classroom doors, whipping across the floor to it like someone trying to break it down.
If it was like an animal trying to break free or someone trying to show off its power, Lily didn't look away. It shifted back towards the center of the hallway and condensed a bit more like someone was moving their head to face down. It had to be no more than ten feet away, just making grooves on the floor with everything flying around. If she weren't lying down, she would say anyone brave or stupid enough would be able to actually walk up to it and reach out to touch it.
'Get down!'
Lily felt herself almost jump to her feet when she heard someone's voice sound like it was right next to her. She went to bring her right leg up to turn around to see, but her attention was caught by the twister as it became sporadic. Like it was reacting to something that was harming-
"GET DOWN!"
She heard what she was sure was a man's voice. Who it was she couldn't figure out, in the second those words reached her through her mind, she watched the tornado spin out. Whipping around like it was losing control of itself, becoming smaller and smaller but faster and faster, before what sounded like an actual explosion burst from the funnel. What remained made one last move, smashed itself into the wall they were facing, and disappeared completely.
"AHH!" Luan cried out as Lily watched chunks of brick land around her.
"Luan?!"
"Hur…" She groaned, standing as straight as she would with her arms reached out across, pressing up against the wall with chunks of bricks raining down around them. "Lily… I can't…" she struggled to say. Too focused on trying to keep the collapsing wall from falling any further upon them, but it was a losing battle. The wind was trying to force it down, mixed with all the added concrete dust, it became harder and harder to see when feeling like you were getting sandblasted by everything.
It literally had become a whirlwind of confusion. With so many sounds and feelings bombarding her all at once, Lily couldn't figure out if she could turn and huddle back down or become stuck watching the chaos blow in reverse. It took her mind a few moments to register the fact that something hard and sharp collided with the back of her head until she reached around to feel the crumbled remains be brushed out of her hair, and her fingers touched a growing wetness.
The second she moved to see, her whole head felt like it was pulsing against the sides of her skull. Just trying to think felt like she was poking at the worse headache she ever had that was doing her the job of being unable to stay up anymore. She tried supporting herself against the floor, but the pulsing only got worse with every second, with the little circle of pain growing in size.
She tried to call out to Luan, but her voice felt almost nonexistent. Trying to turn to look up to her sister made a wave of dizziness hit her harder than any rollercoaster or insane sibling driving she ever experienced. The wind was becoming quieter the more her hearing went from an ungodly roar to almost a white noise. Her vision was slipping away faster than she could ever pass out, and no amount of trying to fight it gained her an inch of ground.
Lily felt the strength in her arms give out, barely enough to keep her head from banging against the floor or the lower wall as she turned to try and put her back against the wind. Watching through her fading vision, Luan stood above with red dripping down her arms and head hung low, ready to kneel under the weight.
But standing above her was a man dressed in what she thought was some gray clothing mixed with browns and blacks fluttering with torn pieces. Acting as a human brace with his arms reaching across Luan, she couldn't see any detail of his face aside from how dark and smeared it looked, with bright white hair blowing in the breeze before she felt her mind blackout.
(Note: These AN notes are written before, during, and afterhand to convey my thinking. Not based on what's changed, reviews, etc., and is borderline me ranting out loud my way of thinking.)
Releasing this two days early for the sake to avoid posting on Easter Sunday.
A full year into this story, a lot done but a whole lot more to go.
...God, was this an experience…
Two weeks into 2024, I thought I had this chapter figured out. I had the layout prepped and was progressing at a steady pace. Ended up thinking, 'This might need a Part 2' then thought 'Fuck it, who cares how long the world count is? Chapter 10 was 25k.' But after a conscious decision, I had decided to break this chapter into 3 Parts. Over the course of January, I bounced around the idea of just letting this chapter grow beyond Chapter 10's 25k words into the 30s, then felt "Okay, Part 2" but as I came to finishing a section and did some rearranging it literally ran away from me.
This pair of chapters (and especially these author notes) had been so heavily rearranged and rewritten since I start, on the 25th I had figured out a 'Finalized' (as I hoped it was) format. A lot of time was spent on debating if this chapter would be a single page, a two parter or even a three parter that was intended to replicate my triple chapter release like when this story first started.
Eventually, I settled with this. With the focus of each chapter intended to stay in one specific area and focus of characters so that theres a lot less jumping back and forth. Unlike the first run, I hope to get this story done within a 3-year time span, with the chapter numbers now pushing closer to the estimated 70s at the rate these keep happening.
This entire thing was started back on Jan 5th at 2 Am, writing out segments to see how this chapter would play out. But as I started writing Lincoln's section first, mainly in the part of the section I call 'Tornado Highway' I started getting an idea on how exactly could I reform this into one chapter in how each event follows along the rising moment between the storms and characters.
Brief Explanation about how things are set up: Because Detroit and Nashville are in two separate time zones, I'm trying to keep the time of events more focused in those specific areas. Because nature doesn't care, what could be happening for one group might have happened just before or after the others.
As for the chapter itself in context, my main inspiration as a driving force was the movie Into the Storm, as characters are constantly moving as the storm is above, threatening them with destruction. One might wonder, 'Why wasn't Lincoln told that there was a tornado going through Royal Woods?' This is mainly down to the time between him traveling and when events play out. By the time the Royal storm was in progress, Lincoln had already gotten out of the Arthur Tornado and was flying south to Nashville. As he was dealing with his storm, the other was finishing. That and they weren't the only two major tornadoes of the outbreak, so focus was mainly on whatever was the closest danger that needed attention to. That and he did cross time zones from Eastern Standard to Central Daylight.
This chapter kind did make me realize how I was inspired by several pieces of media, with Lincoln's section being like a cross between the waterspouts from Twister and the T-Rex in San Diago from Jurrasic Park. The Royal Woods part was more as a part of Into the Storm and Waikta Destroyed from Twister. But for both it was the idea of what it would be in the case of 'I am the first before the first responders' that can happen to people when chasing storms through populated areas.
As I was writing the school scene, I questioned myself how much should I actually go into detail? As stated above, the main inspiration was from Into the Storm, but at the same time, these events happen in the span of seconds even for some of the larger and slower storms. Originally, there was to be a part just before it involving the various TLH characters in the town getting namedrops and reacting to the storm, but after some thinking I felt it worked better to have it as a reaction to the aftermath.
In a side note: to best understand what happened with the tornado in the school, simply looked up 'Tornado Implodes in Wisconsin' on youtube.
(Note: These AN notes are written before, during, and afterhand to convey my thinking. Not based on what's changed, reviews, etc., and is borderline me ranting out loud my way of thinking.)