DOG DAYS ✶ Boone

[ 005. ] A SENSE OF BELONGING

˖ ᡣ𐭩 ⊹ ࣪  ౨ৎ˚₊
chapter FIVE ╱ A SENSE OF BELONGING

"Alright, which one is gonna stay?"

   Javi's voice cut through the tension, his eyes fixed on the road ahead where the asphalt forked into two diverging paths, each one veering into the chaos of a different tornado. "Which one's it gonna be, Kate?" He pressed, urgency creeping into his tone.

"Okay, I'm on it," Kate replied swiftly, her fingers deftly tracing the lines on the map, her mind racing to match the right choice with the storm's unpredictable fury.

Theodora sat in the back, her heart pounding as she attempted to calm herself as they drove closer to the growing storm. Each second that passed felt like a heartbeat, a pulse of adrenaline that surged through her veins. Theo could hardly believe where she was, or how she'd ended up here, chasing the edge of a storm with two people she grew up with, two people she never imagined herself connecting with again. The sky outside was a canvas of dark clouds and flashes of lightning, each bolt illuminating the jagged teeth of the storm.

It was both terrifying and mesmerizing, a force of nature that held them all in its grip.

The seconds stretched into eternity as Kate's eyes darted between the map and the storm beyond the windshield, calculating risks and rewards, weighing the unpredictable nature of the tornadoes against the thin lines on paper that promised a way through.

"Let's go right," Kate finally decided, her voice steady but laced with the weight of the choice. She pointed to the map, tracing the thin line of a road that promised to guide them closer to the storm's edge. "Uh, there should be a road coming up."

Javi nodded, his hands tightening on the wheel, the tension in the car thick enough to cut through. "Alright, right, guys." He confirmed, his voice carrying the decision across the shared radio to the rest of the team. "Right! We're going right!"

   Suddenly, Kate's voice pierced through the tension, sharp and commanding. "Go left!"

   "What?" Javi's voice broke through her thoughts, laced with surprise, his hands tightening on the wheel as the looming decision weighed on him.

   "Take a left!" Kate urged again, her words clipped and insistent.

   There was no time for second-guessing, no room for hesitation. Kate barely gave Javi a moment to react, but somehow, with the skill of someone who lived for these split-second choices, he managed to pivot, guiding the car onto the left path.

    Theodora clung to the armrest, eyes tightened shut as she attempted to ground herself but that was impossible when she was sure the car could easily flip had they turned just a second later. She didn't understand why Kate had chosen the left, everything they have gone over pointed toward the right, the storm with more potential────stronger, more menacing, a force to be reckoned with. Kate has always better in these situations, always more brave and more confident. Theodora was always hiding, and nothings changed, here she was, knees to her chest as she buried her head in her legs, fingernails causing her arms to bleed from their harsh grip.

The tension in the car was palpable, a living thing that pressed down on them all as they sped into the unknown. To their left, the storm roared, a dark wall of swirling chaos; to their right, Tyler's crew barreled forward, chasing the other storm that had seemed more promising.

   Minutes ticked by like hours, every second stretching into an eternity as they drove deeper into the heart of the tempest. Theodora pried her eyes open, her gaze flickered between the two storms, her mind racing to keep up with the rapidly unfolding scene. The right storm, the one that had seemed so strong, began to falter. Its towering clouds started to thin, the once-terrifying vortex losing its grip on the earth. Bit by bit, the storm began to dissipate, its power fading into a harmless whisper.