Dead Man Walking 🌪 Twisters

Taming Tornados

"Dylan, wake up."

"5 more minutes."

I pull the blanket over my head before rolling over, ignoring my cousin. It was successful for about 5 seconds before she jumped on me and ripped the blanket off me. I let out a loud groan before opening my eyes, glaring at the girl on top of me. She sat back with a satisfied grin as she was successful in her mission to wake me.

Kate Carter was not only my cousin, but she was my best friend. We grew up together; raised as sisters practically. I lived with her and my Aunt Cathy since I was 6. I had lost my parents to the dangerous things that I now chase. Tornados. All I remember was that it came through while I was at school. Aunt Cathy picked me up and took me back to her place, and I never left.

Some may call it fate that both Kate and I are interested in chasing tornados. She is what I like to call a 'tornado whisperer.' She can predict anything related to tornados. I, on the other hand, am her photographer. The two of us had chased tornadoes for the past few years. She very quickly perfected the skill of tracking the storms, while I perfected capturing them.

"What the hell was so important that you had to wake me up for?"

She leaned over and grabbed my camera. "Come take pictures. The sky is perfect right now." I sat up with her still perched in my lap and grabbed the camera out of her hands. "Why couldn't you?"

"Because your photos always come out better than mine."

I rolled my eyes at her pouting. I motioned for her to lead the way. She quickly climbed off of me and out of the van. I put on my sneakers before following after her. I look up to see that she has already taken off up the hill we were parked next to. I place the strap over my neck before climbing up the hill after her.

"Isn't it beautiful?"

I followed her gaze. The sun had just risen, just barely peaking over the horizon. The sky was dark and littered with storm clouds. I lifted my camera up to take photos. I had to agree with her. "Perfect storm chasing weather."

"There." She pointed to my left. I followed her lead and took a couple more photos. "That's where we're going."

I drop the camera around my neck before smiling. I look back over to Kate who had the same look on her face. "What are we waiting for? Let's go wake the others."

I let Kate do the honor of waking up the crew while I got my equipment ready. I grab my bag and laptop before sitting them on the back of the car. I jumped as Kate honked the horn of the van where Javi, Praveen, and Addy were sleeping. They, along with Kate's boyfriend, Jeb, made up our group.

I opened my laptop and set up my new video camera. It was small, allowing me to strap it to the front of me. I tested it out a few times prior, and it worked well. The quality was good. I was going to stream it to Javi who normally stayed back while we had some fun.

"Dylan, you ready?" I turn to see Kate standing behind me. I grab my video camera out of my bag before turning to Kate. I open the side before turning it on.

"Good to go, my girl!"

She bounced up and down a few times, already excited for what was to come. "Today, our science team from the Tornado Tamer project, and my amazing photographer cousin, is out in the field about to chase a storm southwest of us." I panned the camera to where Kate was pointing, showcasing the dark clouds, before turning back to her. "Our experiment is designed to decrease the moisture inside of a tornado to see if we can make it collapse."

"Tell the folks how you do that Kate." Jeb called out walking up next to me.

"Well, first we got to find a tornado to suck up our superabsorbent polymers in these barrels-"