[2.1] THE BRIGHTEST LIGHTNING, tyler owens

Marry Her, Probably

Sounds of screaming and banging filled the air as the high winds and debris slammed against the old theater.

Tyler was still leaning against the wall, a horrendous wreck.

Javi walked over to him when he heard the screaming. "We gotta get these people to the back of the building, Tyler, c'mon!" He then proceeded to quickly run out of the room.

"He's right, we gotta go, T." Boone said as he placed his support of hand on his back. When Tyler didn't move, Boone looked straight at him. "Hey man, I'm sure this is the last thing you want to do right now, but Jaymes would want you to."

Suddenly Boone's collar of his shirt was grabbed as Tyler pushed him up against the wall. "She's not dead. Don't fucking talk about her like she is." And was that, Tyler left to go help the others.

---

Jaymes could feel the trailer start to lift up off the ground, knowing the pin in the hitch was the only thing keeping it in.

When she saw the storm getting dangerously nearer, she thrust her hand down on the button labeled 'Jaymie's Barrels.'

She heard the loud groin of the mechanics on the lids of the barrels, but the lids didn't come off.

For the first time in the last five years, she felt real fear. She pressed on the button repeatedly in an effort to make it work. "C'mon, c'mon!" She yelled in half frustration, half fear.

---

Tyler looked up to the front of the theater and could tell that it was almost at its breaking point.

With panic setting in he yelled at the people to get down in between the rows. Javi and Boone did the same when they saw the screen also.

He looked back at the screen before screaming, "Hold on!"

The screen in the theater had completely been ripped off and out of it.

Tyler fell to the floor immediately from the wind and grabbed onto one of the chairs legs, hanging on for dear life.

---

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" Jaymes' fingers we're still pounding on the button and the lids were still not coming off.

She could see that the trailer was almost completely on its side from the wind. Her breathing began to pick up too when she felt the anchors start to slide in the ground, slowly moving forward.

With one final pound of the button, the lids flew off one by one.

---

Tyler could hear the screams of not only the people in the theater, but the ones of the people who were being swept away by the tornado.

He could feel and hear the chairs screw start to come out of the floor.

He groaned in perseverance as his hands clutched the legs tighter.

---

She watched through the windshield as the storm took in the absorbants.

With all of the barrels empty now, she felt the trailer start to rise up. She knew that the trailer was one of the main things weighing her down, and if she lost that, she'd be fucked.

Out of nowhere, a pickup came crashing out of the storm and into the trailer, knocking it off of the hitch in one clean hit.

With the storm not seeming to die down, she felt the anchors slide in the ground faster now. She knew that there was no way of stopping it, hell, she didn't even know if she was going to get through this alive.

She gripped the steering wheel in an effort to calm herself before thinking to herself.

Why try to stop it? Why not let nature run her course and take whatever she wanted with it? Why fight?

Exhaling a deep breath she didn't know she had been holding, she released the steering wheel, placing her hands on her lap softly.

Provision started to blur slightly from the blood moving vigorously in her head as the truck started to roll.

Closing her eyes, she slowed her breathing to the best of her ability.

She thought of everything she had gotten in the past week. New friends, her Ma back, groundbreaking data, an amazing team, Tyler. Tyler, her closest friend and more, her happiest place, her favorite person.

She hoped he would be happy when she was gone. Find a wife, maybe have a couple kids. He deserved that, more than she felt anyone else did, including herself.

---

Tyler could feel the chair start to lose their stability as the storm still came through strong. He knew that people were starting to have a hard time hanging on, even himself.

Lily was to his left and he could see her start to struggle against the harsh wind.

In one quick motion, her grip was pulled from the leg by the wind, about to take her with it.

"Lily!"

Tyler spun around and gripped onto forearms, the only thing stopping the both of them being sucked up was the top of his foot, which was locked behind one of the chairs legs.

He groaned at the winds strong power.

"Don't let go!" Lily pleaded.

"I got you!" He yelled back.

Just as he felt his grip start to falter, they were both softly set on the ground by the dying wind.

"Thank you." Lily stated.

Tyler nodded and looked up, the storm had completely vanished, gone, like it was never there. Minus the fact that there was debris everywhere.

Everyone else started to stand up when they saw that the storm had passed.

Tyler looked around once to make sure everyone was okay before getting on the stage and limping off in the direction of the field he had last seen Jaymes in.

While he was limp-running, he thought about what he'd do when he saw her. For the first time in a while, he let his intrusive thoughts win.

What would he do when he saw her? Marry her, probably.

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Chapter 16 done! Hope you enjoy!
Word Count: 995