DEATH WISH - Twisters

Panic

2015:

EVERYONE ALWAYS warns riders about riding in the rain, or on slick roads, or in high winds. But no one ever warned Phoenix Collins about riding through a tornado. Maybe most just assumed she had enough common sense not to ride through a swirling rainstorm of death but then again, most didn't know that she was diagnosed with chronic stupidity.

In her defense, how the hell was she supposed to know that a tornado would touch down right in front of her. Sure, it was windy, it was raining too. But that's normal in Oklahoma. And literally everywhere else in the world.

She figured it was just a normal day, after all, how much damage could a little bit of rain do?

Well, as it turns out, rain couldn't do much damage, unless you crashed. A tornado however, well, that's a different story entirely.

In a storm shelter, basement, even a house, you had a chance. Hell, you had a chance in a car. But a motorbike? You'd probably have a better chance if you just stood in the middle of the road with open arms.

Another thing that everyone tells riders not to do: don't panic brake. Come to a controlled stop. Turn if you have to. Ease the brakes. Don't slam them. That was one Phoenix had always listened to. She wasn't too keen to go head over heels at eighty miles per hour and have her bike land on top of her.

But everyone panics. And everyone is scared of something.

Phoenix Collins has always loved storms, most people use the term to describe her as a person, actually, but still, that didn't stop her heart from plummeting straight to the centre of the earth as she caught sight of the familiar swirling clouds above her.

The way the fields of grass and wheat danced around her, the way the wind whipped through her helmet and chilled her to the core. She knew the look of the clouds all too well, and she knew the sound of the howling wind was a warning; get the hell out of there.

She had never seen a tornado touch down so damn quick. One second, she was easing on her brakes, slowing down from ninety to sixty so she could safely turn around, and the next, the tornado was a hundred feet in front of her, just to the side of the road.

And she panicked.

She squeezed those brakes as hard as she could. She did the one thing you aren't supposed to. And, just as she knew would happen, she flew straight off her bike. She was sent flying over the handlebars, crashing straight to the hard asphalt, leaving the majority of her skin behind.

She stayed silent, her arms wrapped around her head and neck to try and protect herself as her bike skidded along the road, accompanied by an awful grinding noise. She soon stopped sliding and her boot caught on the road, sending her tumbling upwards and rolling head over heels down the hard floor.

She rolled off the road and down the bank into a ditch, where she laid momentarily. As she moved to get up, the roaring wind an unwelcome reminder of her imminent demise, the one thing she prayed not to happen, happened.

Her bike slid off the road and fell straight down into that ditch where she lay, crushing her and pinning her down to the ground. Then, and only then, did Phoenix let out a scream. She felt several things crack and snap, and she was thankful she was wearing a helmet that day.

She was trapped underneath her grey Yamaha Super Tenere ES. To most people, that's just a lot of words pushed together to make a name. To most people, they think that bike is light. Well, it's not. Anyone in the biker community will know that this specific bike, while amazing for long distance touring and adventures, is heavy as hell.

It's actually ranked as the ninth heaviest motorcycle available for purchase. That still probably doesn't mean much to most people. The Yamaha Super Tenere ES weighs a grand total of five hundred and eighty four pounds. 584 pounds. That's two hundred and sixty four kilos. 264 kilos.

There was no hope in hell that Phoenix Collins was lifting that bike off of her, especially not while injured. She couldn't even pick the bike up after she dropped it without other people to help her. And right now, in this ditch in the middle of the Oklahoma fields, Phoenix was completely and utterly alone.

No one knew where she was.

No one was coming to find her.

And there was a tornado creeping closer to her.

She was dead.

That's the simple way to put it.

Phoenix Collins would die a twenty year old biker with no boyfriend, no girlfriend, no friends, no kids, no brothers, no sisters, no parents, no nothing. She would die alone. The only upside was she was going to die surrounded by the two things she loved most;

Storms and bikes.

Or at least, that's what she thought.

And for one Tyler Owens, this storm chasing maniac was getting into something that he would not be able to get back out of. He was chasing a storm, like usual, but this storm was different. He was gonna wrangle this tornado, as usual, but was he going to spot the slowly dying woman in the ditch?

The answer was yes. Yes he was.

He didn't even make it within fifty feet of the tornado before he saw the skid marks on the road, the grind marks of a bike that slowly careened off the road and into those rolling grass hills. And suddenly, all thoughts of the tornado were abandoned. Him and his crew weren't the only ones out here.

And he had to find them.