The group headed towards the massive F5 twister that loomed in the distance and Elizabeth just stared at it beside Bill and Jo.
"That thing is like…" Elizabeth started but couldn't even find the words to describe it and Jo looked at her sadly.
"I know right?" She mentioned quietly before she got on the radio to ask if the others behind them were done creating the aluminum fans for the sensors so that Dorothy could actually fly with the little fans. "Dusty, you ready for us?" She asked.
"Yeah, yeah, we're good! We're good? We're good? Very good!" Dusty was asking everybody and Bill rolled his eyes.
"Let's go, come on!"
They all pulled over to the side of the road and started to open Dorothy 3 and 4.
"We get 'em done?" Jo asked Bill who nodded.
"I think so." Bill smirked at Elizabeth as she clipped her hand on Dorothy 3 and cursed before shaking off the pain.
The whole group was now filling the two Dorothy's with the augmented sensors and locked them up.
"Beautiful!" Dusty shouted and everybody ran around trying to get themselves ready to go.
"Okay, okay!" Bill finished securing the locks on the devices and he nodded.
"Great job, guys, just be ready to report. Be careful, all right?" Tim Beltzer offered quietly to them.
"Don't follow us close." Jo mentioned and they nodded.
"All right, you got it, boss." Joey agreed and Rabbit looked at Elizabeth seeing that she was about to get into Bill's truck.
"I really wish you'd stay here where it's more safe." He offered sadly and she smirked at him.
"You said it yourself, Waskily Wabbit. I'm less crazy than Jo, and more crazy than Bill. Where else would I be but in the middle?" She asked and Rabbit smiled in defeat before he leaned closer and lightly kissed her cheek.
"Please just be careful?"
"As careful as we can be…" She grinned at him and hopped into the truck.
Rabbit looked over and saw Jo grinning at him and he blushed before moving out of the way to let her get in beside Elizabeth.
Bill saw the interaction and tried not to smirk at his cousin as he got in the driver's seat.
"So…when can we expect the announce…." Elizabeth interrupted him.
"Shut up and drive Bill." She warned him but her cheeks were slightly pink and they all started to drive down the road towards the twister.
"Half a mile more?" Jo asked Bill.
"That's sounds right. I figure we'll put it right in the middle of the road." Bill replied watching the twister's every move.
"Unless you think somebody will hit it." Jo looked at the looming beast.
"Nobody will be there." Bill argued and Elizabeth bit her lip worriedly.
"Or 'something'…" She muttered darkly and Bill glared at them both.
"What is it with you two? Every time I say something you both have to…" He cut himself off as both Jo and Elizabeth glared at him the same way. "Seriously scary when you both do it…" He muttered and kept driving.
Bill stopped the truck and they got out and started to set up Dorothy.
"Hurry! Let's go, come on'!" Bill urged the other two and they flipped all the switches and moved the device onto the road. The sirens on Dorothy 3 started whirring and Bill nodded. "Okay, that's good!"
"You got it?" Elizabeth asked and Bill glared at her.
"Yes! Let's go!" He snapped at her and she glared at him warningly and he sighed.
The three storm chasers got back into the truck and Jo grabbed up the radio.
"Dusty, you in position?" She asked curiously.
"Yeah, we're prime, ready for contact!" Dusty answered back eagerly.
"This is it." Jo admitted quietly and Bill looked over at her as Elizabeth looked through a pair of binoculars.
"It's gonna work." Bill tried to sound sure of himself.
"Of course it will…" Elizabeth nodded still looking.
"Just another minute, Dusty!" Jo called into the radio.
"We're ready for it!" Dusty answered.
They watched as Dorothy started to slide along the road but not really having anything happen.
"Come on, come on. TAKE HER!" Jo shouted anxiously.
"It's too light…" Bill shook his head.
"NO IT'S NOT!" Jo shouted not ready to give up. Elizabeth watched Dorothy slide along the road again.
"We're going to lose it!" She shouted worriedly.
"No we're not! She can still fly!" Jo screamed and directly after she said that an uprooted tree went crashing into Dorothy taking out the whole thing.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Elizabeth asked with wide eyes and they noticed that the twister was now coming for them. "Oh shit…Bill drive!"
"Oh my God!" Bill stated simply as he threw the truck into action and ended up getting the rear bumper stuck on the uprooted tree making Elizabeth groan.
"This is why you always let 'me' drive…" She argued and Bill glared at her and slammed the gas again trying to get them unstuck.
"COME ON!" Bill shouted at the truck.
"Get us off this thing!" Jo shouted at Bill while Elizabeth was covering her face with her hands.
"Oh god…" She kept repeating this phrase as Bill and Jo were freaking out.
"Bill, kick it! BILL! Let's go! Right now! Hurry!" Jo shouted again then she frowned. "What is that?!" She asked getting Bill and Elizabeth's attention as they looked at something being tossed around within the twister.
"What is that?" Bill asked worriedly as they noticed whatever it was, was made of metal.
"I don't know, but anything big and metal cannot be a good thing." Elizabeth stated simply.
"Bill, hurry! HURRY! HURRY!" Jo urged Bill again.
"This is not good!" Bill shook his head worriedly trying to get the truck unstuck.
"I know what it is…" Elizabeth admitted shakily and they looked at her. "It's a tanker." She stated in dread and then looked at her cousin. "PUNCH IT!" She screamed at him and he rolled his eyes.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK I'VE BEEN TRYING TO DO?!" Bill shouted back at her making Jo growl at them.
"HURRY UP!" Jo screamed at them both.
"HOLD ON!" Bill screamed as the tanker clipped into the bumper knocking them off of the tree.
"MOVE IT!" Elizabeth shouted in fear and they tore off down the road.
The tanker then lifted up and flew past them landing right in front of them. As soon as the tanker landed it exploded on contact and they drove right through the exploding flames. Jo grabbed the roof freaking out as Elizabeth let out a scream that would put most horror movies to shame.
They came out the other side of the explosion singed, but alive. Jo and Elizabeth tried to breath past the fear and Bill took in a deep breath.
"Son of a bitch!" Bill stated simply to himself before Dusty came over the radio.
"Jo, Bill, You all right?! Fact, can you guys hear me? You okay?"
"Define 'okay'…" Elizabeth muttered darkly as Jo got on the radio.
"We're okay."
"Did you guys see that explosion?" Dusty asked excitedly and Elizabeth glowered at the radio in Jo's hands.
"I am so killing him…" Elizabeth promised herself making Bill chuckle through his residual fear.
"We saw it." Jo answered sarcastically.
"This one, she's still moving northeast on 80, you copy?" Rabbit informed them over the radio next.
"This is it. Last one." Bill nodded his head towards Dorothy 4.
"Last time." Jo realized that if they screwed this one up it was all over.
"Son of a bitch." Elizabeth cursed and pointed towards Jonas' group that looked like they were going to beat them to the twister.
"They have to be there somewhere. They have position. They could make it." Bill admitted quietly and Jo sighed.
"Not unless they anchored the pack." Jo got on the radio. "Jonas? This is Jo. Can you hear me?"
"Not now, Harding." Jonas practically snarled into the radio.
"Jonas, listen to me. The pack is too light, the twister will toss it before it reaches the core, you have to anchor it." Jo offered and Jonas interrupted her.
"Oh, sharing valuable information, Jo? I'll consider that, thank you."
"Jonas, listen to me! Don't be a…what? Do you see them?" Jo asked Bill who took the radio from her.
"Jonas, what's your position?" Bill asked worriedly.
"Oh, howdy, Bill. We are heading northeast running parallel and about to pull ahead of it on the left, why?" Jonas asked with fake politeness.
"Hang back a minute, we've got a pretty good view from back here. She could shift her track, and if she does, she's gonna come right at you! D'you copy?" Bill asked them worriedly.
Elizabeth grabbed the radio from Bill.
"Eddie for god's sake get out of there! Please….you have to think about your family! This thing is too big to go that angle!" Elizabeth screamed into the radio.
"She's shifting." Jo informed them both and Elizabeth let out a worried sob.
"Oh god please no…"
Before their eyes Jonas' car gets sucked up into the tornado. Elizabeth let out a sorrowful cry as something punched through the drivers side obviously killing her friend on contact. Jonas' car crashed into the ground and exploded. Elizabeth's face was paler than it had ever been and she felt the radio fall from her suddenly numb fingers.
"We tried. There's nothing we could do." Jo tried to get through to Elizabeth but the girl beside her turned tearful eyes to her.
"He had another kid on the way…" Elizabeth stated quietly and Bill looked at them both determinedly.
"There is something we can do…" He vowed angrily.
"Bill, Jo, ground speed is increasing. Get ahead of it as fast as you can or she's gonna bury ya!" Tim Beltzer informed them as they were now chasing the twister.
Debris started to fly past the truck making Elizabeth's eyes widen.
"DEBRIS!" Elizabeth shouted worriedly and Jo got on the radio.
"DUSTY, WE HAVE DEBRIS!" Jo shouted to Dusty.
"DEBRIS?!" Bill asked in an exasperated fashion. Jo directed Bill as he drove past the things that crashed in front of them.
"RIGHT! LEFT! RIGHT! LEFT! DUCK!" Jo shouted the words as Bill steered as she spoke and then a tire clipped their windshield.
"What now?" Bill asked worriedly after all the debris seemingly stopped flying at them.
"I have no idea." Jo shook her head and Elizabeth's eyes widened and mouth dropped open.
"You guys still with us?" Dusty asked worriedly over the radio.
Bill and Jo saw what Elizabeth had seen and an entire house started rolling across the road and they couldn't both stopping and Elizabeth growled.
"HOW DOES THAT SHIT EVEN HAPPEN?!" She screamed angrily.
"I think we're goin' in!" Bill shouted and they went into the house and up the stairs and came crashing out of the other side of the house. A random teddy bear hit the windshield and a second or two of awkward silence. "Maybe we should get off of this road…" Bill offered after the shock had passed and Elizabeth rolled her eyes.
"No really you think?!"/"I think you may be right." Elizabeth and Jo spoke at the same time.
"Seriously are you all right?" Dusty asked again and Jo got on the radio.
"Yes. You guys set up?" Jo asked her team.
"Jo, we're set. Goin' in?" Dusty asked worriedly.
"We're goin' in." Jo saw the nods from both Elizabeth and Bill.
"You ready?" Bill asked Elizabeth who sighed in defeat.
"Crap…" She grumbled and started to open the back window to go through.
"Be careful." He warned her and Elizabeth rolled her eyes and slipped through the window and started to flip the switches on Dorothy 4 when Bill smirked at Jo and lightly tapped the brakes making Elizabeth crack into the cab side.
"YOU JACKASS!" She shouted at him poking her head in the window after switching the machine on. "She's up." She glared at Bill who smirked back at her.
"Sorry, foot slipped." He offered snarkily making Jo huff in laughter.
"It's a wonder how you two haven't killed each other yet."
"Okay." Bill nodded to himself. "We're going to have to lose the whole truck…pack is too light."
"So much for Liability Only." Elizabeth snarked back at him and he grinned at her as he pulled into a corn field.
"When we jump out you jump off the back all right?!" Bill shouted to her through the open window and Elizabeth nodded.
Back with the others Rabbit was pacing trying to spot them through the binoculars.
"Where are they?! I can't see 'em!" He muttered worriedly.
"We're tracking 'em great. The speed's still increasing." Haynes offered quietly trying to calm him down.
"I've never seen anything like this." Tim Beltzer shook his head at the massive beast in the distance.
"They're gonna punch the core." Dusty realized and Rabbit bit his lip worriedly.
Jo and Bill were getting prepped to jump from the sides of the truck while Elizabeth waited to see them jump so she could jump out of the back.
"You two ready?" Jo asked both of them and Elizabeth just gave a thumbs up.
"Let me just set the cruise control. Okay we're good." Bill and Jo opened the doors and Elizabeth nodded to them getting ready.
"One...Two...Three!" Bill and Jo jumped out of the side of the truck and Elizabeth lunged out of the back of the truck and was helped up by Jo and Bill as they watched the truck going towards the twister with Dorothy 4 still active. The three of them watched in excitement as Dorothy and her sensors were taken into the twister and activated.
"Yes! YES!" Jo screamed in triumph and Elizabeth started laughing in disbelief and Bill hugging them both.
"Dorothy's flying'! Baby, she's flying'!" Dusty shouted seeing the sensors activate and everybody was celebrating victory.
"We're going to be very popular!" Joey laughed happily and Tim Beltzer huffed in laughter.
"It's Christmas Time! Look at that!" He shouted in glee as they all looked at the readings.
"Look at these readings!" Haynes admitted and then everybody paled in fear seeing what the twister was going to do next. "Guys, it's about to shift northeast." She mentioned quietly and Dusty got on the radio worriedly.
"BILL, JO, EL! YOU'VE GOT TO GET OUT OF THERE, YOU COPY?!" Dusty asked into the radio not knowing that they had to get rid of the truck and with it 'the radio'.
"Please no…" Rabbit closed his eyes in panic and felt Joey touch his shoulder carefully.
The twister shifted and the three of them noticed that it was now heading right for them and they cursed.
"Oh no! RUN!" Bill shouted grabbing Elizabeth and Jo by their hands forcing them to run with him.
"THIS IS NOT HOW I THOUGHT MY DAY WOULD GO!" Elizabeth screamed over the roaring twister.
"The barn, come on! Look out!" Bill rushed them both past a picket fence which was being ripped apart one piece at a time right behind them.
They found an opening in the fence and hurried through it and found solace inside the barn, where they noticed several sickles, knives, saws and other various forms of cutlery.
"Nope screw that…" Elizabeth shook her head at them.
"My God, who are these people?!" Jo asked in horror and Bill scoffed.
"I don't think so! Come on! Let's get out quick!"
The three of them left the barn and tried to make it to another safe haven. They made it to the pump house and entered it. There was a U-shaped pipe that went into the ground and Bill got an idea.
"Here! These pipes go down at least 30 feet. We anchor to 'em, we might have a chance!" Bill shouted and Jo grabbed some leather straps.
"Bill!" They broke in her hand and Elizabeth had her own handing them to Bill.
"No good. This one is good El find more like it! Come on, get in! Hold on!" Bill tied the three of them together and tethered them all to the pipe just as the twister tore the pump house walls and roof away. "HANG ON!"
"TO WHAT!?" Elizabeth screamed at him over the roaring making him roll his eyes at her.
The three of them were now inside of the tornado and while Bill and Jo were awestruck at the absolute beauty Elizabeth had her eyes clenched shut trying not to panic. Eventually the whole thing died down and dissipated. Elizabeth opened her eyes and the other two took stock that they were all still alive.
"You all right?" Jo asked Elizabeth who breathed in slightly so as not to faint.
"Wow, look at that. It didn't take the house." Bill huffed in laughter making Elizabeth stare at him in surprise.
The three of them looked around at the bright blue and sunny sky as they heard the loud music from Dusty's bus approach.
"Here comes the cavalry." Elizabeth tried to move from her spot in between Bill and Jo.
"We did it." Jo admitted to them both.
"Yeah, we did. Dorothy really flew." Bill nodded back to her and Elizabeth groaned.
"Could you two wait with the bedroom eyes, until 'after' I get from the middle of ya?" She grumbled making them both laugh embarrassedly.
"We've got so much to do." Jo suddenly realized.
"Yeah." Bill agreed.
"I've got to get grant approvals for a new warning system, we need a bigger lab, you've got to do an analysis of all that data…" Jo started and Bill interrupted her.
"I do?"
"Yeah, we've got to generate models out of all this data, and I need to run the lab…" Jo started again and Bill stopped her again.
"Oh, no, no ,no. You're doing the analysis, I'm running the lab." Bill huffed in laughter.
"You're running the lab? I don't think so!" Jo insulted him and Elizabeth rolled her eyes.
"I'm running the lab! G- Do you always have to do things the hard way?!" Bill argued with her and Elizabeth finally slipped from between them.
"This is actually worse than the bedroom eyes…" She grumbled darkly and Dusty laughed hugging her.
"You got it guys, the sensors worked! The computers went crazy, we've got data coming out of our ears!" Haynes informed them and hugged Elizabeth herself.
"Biggest twister ever recorded!" Tim Beltzer crowed happily and slapped Elizabeth's shoulder.
"Awesome, man!" Joey laughed in relief seeing his friends were okay.
"Hey, Jo, Bill, check out that sky!" Sanders pointed and Jo smiled.
"You know what, I think we've seen enough!" Jo admitted and kissed Bill.
Elizabeth groaned turning away and found herself face to face with Robert Nurick. He smirked sheepishly at her and she grinned at him.
"So…" He started awkwardly. "What 'was' that secret?" He asked curiously and she blushed.
"The reason Jonas thought I was cheating on him…was that called I out somebody else's name." She admitted looking down.
"Anybody I know?" Robert asked with a shy grin making his cheeks color slightly.
"Well, he certainly doesn't like me messing with his maps." Elizabeth admitted with a smirk making her cheeks redden also. Rob's cheeks reddened even more and he made her look up at him and she saw the mischievous sparkle within.
"You wanna see my van?" Robert 'Rabbit' Nurick asked her with an impish grin and she laughed lightly.
"I've seen it…"
"All of it?" He tried again and she laughed again before he leaned over kissing her. The kiss left her slightly breathless and she nodded her head towards the vehicle.
"So…van…?" She asked and he nodded with a grin and kissed her while shoving her through the side door. Then the door opened again and Lawrence was thrown out and he grimaced back at the van before he headed towards the others.
"Where's El?" Joey asked suddenly after he was tired of watching Bill and Jo.
"I think they're making some bunnies over in Rob's van." Lawrence admitted making everybody look over at him and then over at Rob's weather van.
"What?"/"What?" Jo and Bill asked suddenly not kissing anymore and gaped at them making them laugh hysterically.
The End