Vortex

Part One Chapter Five

The tornado hit the building head on. It sounded like a never ending car crash as destruction happened all around them. At one point, a car flew towards the stairwell, crashing into the concrete stairs. Pieces of metal and glass flew through the air around them. Iris and Abie huddled together in the wind, helping each other cover their faces to protect from the flying debris. After what felt like hours but was realistically just over a minute, the tornado passed on. Iris and Abie slowly stood up and walked up the stairs, taking in their surroundings. Other people exiting nearby buildings. Iris looked off towards the Southeast where she could still see the tornado moving out of the town. It soon hit the mountain and dissipated. Nearby, Iris' car sat in a tree, mangled beyond repair. The two quickly realized that they couldn't just sit around. They had to help people. There were people trapped in buildings all throughout town. The tornado had come straight down main street and the whole city was in chaos. Even when the rest of the team arrived, they came to help the people of the town. When dusk arrived, the team headed to a hotel in Knoxville. When they arrived, Iris called a team meeting in the lobby. "Hey, we didn't succeed today. We got no data and couldn't warn the city far enough in advance. But, we learned a lot. We learned the dangers of chasing in areas like this. And now we can put that knowledge to use in the future. This was probably our last chase of the year, but don't worry. Next summer, we'll be back out here."