[ okay, I think there's gonna be two more chapters after this! also, do you guys like the little gif of the two of them I had at the end? I'm still working on learning to make those kinds of things ]

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I'VE GOT YOU!

RIO WATCHED THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD as they got closer to the storm. A small funnel slowly touched down, exactly what they wanted — just a baby EF 1 that Kate could monitor on the tablet. But Boone's camera wasn't fix on the tornado. It was on her, taking in her anxious expression.

She didn't think she was ready to get close to a tornado against after what happened at the rodeo.

"Hey," Boone said, practically reading her mind. "We're gone be okay. We're gonna tame this sucker, and then you and Kate will end up in freaking textbooks."

Rio smiled at him appreciatively while reaching for the hand not holding the camera. "Thank you," she said, bringing his hand to her mouth to kiss his knuckles.

"And I'll hold your hand the whole time if I gotta," he promised.

A pang struck her heart, yet again reminded of how similar he was to Addy. But they weren't the same, and Boone was there, not even close to being ripped from her grasp. She just needed to focus on what she had now and not the past.

"I'll hold you to that," she said, squeezing his hand tightly. Then she looked at the front at Kate, who was watching the Doppler. "What do you see, Dandelion-Whisperer?"

"Okay, ground speeds at twenty two, intercept it north east. Look for Siloam Road," Kate instructed, studying the maps of the area.

"Siloam Road," Tyler repeated.

Suddenly, a familiar truck cut in front of them, nearly running them off the road. Javi's Storm PAR truck. It just made Tyler chuckle, not intimidated by them. Behind them, the caravan honked at another car in annoyance.

Since they were on Rio's side, she caught Javi's gaze. She smiled weakly at him, waving at him. And seeing that she didn't have a look of hatred on her face, he smiled right back.

Things were gonna be okay between them.

"Hey, these Storm buttheads are cutting us off, man," Dani complained over the radio.

"Run 'em off the road if you gotta," Boone said.

"No," Rio said, rolling her eyes playfully. "Don't do that."

"Alright, let's not get distracted. Let's get these babies in the air," Tyler said, still behind Javi as the rain started coming down heavy.

Debris was beginning to hit their truck, making it a bit hard to see in addition to the rain. And suddenly, the Doppler cut off, much to Kate's annoyance, who smacked the side of the tablet.

"Doppler went dark," she complained.

"It's probably a dead cell zone," Tyler guessed.

So, Kate grabbed the radio. "Lily, are you above us?"

"It's getting completely rain-wrapped. I can't see a thing," she told them.

"We've just gotta push through this rain curtain," Dexter said.

But a moment later, as a huge bolt of lightning struck, they heard Lily cuss over the radio. "Hey, we lost visual," she filled them in.

"That's okay," Boone said. "We still got my footage. Just gotta get the right shot of it."

Rio looked out the window, squinting through the heavy rain. She watched a wobbling stop sign, realizing the winds were getting stronger than they thought they'd be. It made her anxious, and she found herself intertwining her fingers with Boone's nervously.

Suddenly, so suddenly that Tyler almost didn't have to stop, as they passed some kind of huge refinery, Javi slammed on the brakes of his truck. The huge tornado, which was so not an EF 1, was right in front of them, mere meters from Javi and Scott.

Fear coursed through Rio's veins as she saw how close it was to them.

"Javi!" she shouted, leaning forward quickly.

She watched in horror as the wind flipped their truck, it landing on its side. She began unbuckling, but Boone quickly stopped her.

"Nah, keep buckled, baby," he told her softly.

"Tyler, we gotta do something!" Kate argued.

"Javi's in there!" Rio cried, not taking her eyes off the truck.

"Hey, on your left!" Dani shouted over the radio. "Guys, it's hitting something big!"

All of them panned and watched as it hit the refinery, tearing up the large structure.

"Oh, my god," Kate breathed out when she saw the red blaze.

The refinery was catching on fire, shooting right up into the tornado. And it wasn't nearly as beautiful as the fireworks from earlier that week. No, it was just plain terrifying. The factory exploded, and all the flames were sucked up into the vortex.

"Oh, my god. Oh, my god!" Tyler exclaimed while putting it in reverse.

But Javi and Scott were still right in the path of the disastrous tornado. "Wait, wait, wait!" Kate shouted. "We can't just leave them!"

"Stop!" Rio shouted.

"We're not gonna leave them, but we've gotta move," Tyler promised. "We gotta move."

While fixing her harness, Rio watched as heavy metal from the refinery went flying, smashing into Javi's truck. Though it damaged it even more, it at least knocked them right side up so that they could escape.

"Javi!" Kate yelled.

As the truck sat there, more fire from the refinery spread. But soon, Javi turned the truck around, and as soon as Javi was moving, Tyler was ready to go.

"Go, go, go, go, go!" Kate, Rio, and Boone shouted.

"Hold on!" he said as he made a sharp turn, throwing them around. As they sped away, getting out of the tornado's path, Tyler grabbed the radio. "Is everybody okay?"

"Yeah," Dexter sighed, glad they hadn't been as close as the others.

"We're okay," Ben reported.

Dani chimed in too. "Yeah, we're good, man. We're moving."

"Are you seeing this?" Lily asked, sounding both in awe and fearful.

"Oh, we sure as hell are," Boone said, facing the back of the truck and videoing the storm.

The huge, almost black tornado was chasing them, the fire having died out as the tornado grew impossible in size.

"The path," Kate breathed out, watching it through the back of the truck. "It's shifting. It's - it's shifting."

It was no longer headed for them but instead a nearby town on the horizon that wasn't prepared. Already, the sirens began blaring, hardly heard over the wind.

"Hey, guys," Kate said over the radio, "there's nothing we can do to stop it. But when you get there, make sure people get to a safe place."

"Alright, Dani. Where am I headed?" Dexter asked.

"There's a - there's a kid's park on Main," Dani said, looking at a map. "Make sure to get people to basements, uh, big buildings. No windows. Stay way from windows. No cars, alright?"

"Alright, careful y'all," Lily instructed.

"Stay safe out there," Kate breathed out, scared that this would end up like five years ago. "Copy."

As they drove, Tyler sped up, passing Javi's truck. When Rio saw Javi, he could see the fear in her eyes. But he also knew she wasn't protesting that they not go into town to help. She was being far braver than he'd ever been, and that made him feel about two feet tall.

The four of them headed right for the main square, where some kind of art festival was being held. People were running and screaming all over, trying to find safety. But some of the vendors were trying to hold down their tents and salvage their wares.

Rio looked around at the chaos, unsure of where to even start as the blood thrummed in her ears. Then a tent flew right at them, and Boone grabbed her and pulled them down before it could hit them. She breathed out a sigh of relief, holding onto him tightly.

They ran to the center of it all, people rushing past and bumping into them. And Boone didn't dare let go of Rio's hand.

"Guys! Tyler!" Dexter ran over to them, shouting over the wind. "Shelters are all full. We gotta get everyone into the movie theater."

Tyler, Kate, Boone, and Rio all separated even if they didn't want to, running off toward people. Rio did her best to get people to leave, knocking on windows of cars to get them out. And when people tried to save their stuff, she just yelled at them to leave it behind.

"Let's go! Let's go!" Rio shouted, ushering a little girl and her father inside as he then picked her up off the ground and ran inside the theater. She looked around desperately for Boone, who was helping an old woman limp inside the theater. So, she rushed to support her other side to help them move more quickly. 

Once inside the theater, they ran to the back screening room where a movie was still playing. It was full of terrified people, and the roof was caving in, pieces of it falling down. The building clearly wasn't meant to withstand a storm like this.

Every time the roof crumbled, Boone would pull Rio back against the wall. Then, while telling people to stay down low, Tyler, Kate, and Javi of all people ran inside.

And Rio couldn't help but sigh in relief and hug Javi tightly.

"You came," she breathed out, hiding her face in his chest.

He smiled uneasily. "Not gonna let you go back to Florida and tell everyone I'm a pussy."

It made her laugh weakly, and then they had to get back to work saving people. Boone was dutifully helping people get down below the theater seats, so Rio left him be, not wanting to distract him.

"See if you can find a basement," Tyler told them.

"I'll check the other side," Javi said, running off.

As Tyler went one way, Kate and Rio went behind the screen. They found a huge set of metal doors, hoping it led down to a storm shelter. But when they threw them open, they just led outside, where the storm was raging on.

The town was being destroyed before their eyes, and the tornado was headed right for them, the theater in its direct path. And there was no way they'd survive if they couldn't find shelter underground.

"There's no basement on the other side," Javi said, joining them with Tyler.

"There's nothing over here either," Tyler said, shaking his head.

"This theater isn't built to withstand what's coming!" Javi shouted over the wind.

A huge chunk of the roof collapsed as a car smashed into it outside, making people scream. So, the boys ran back to help in any way they could, Rio following. She went right to Boone, relived to see that he hadn't been anywhere near the roof that broke apart.

But he was helping people out from beneath the rubble, so she aided him in helping an elderly man sit up.

"You're okay," Boone said, patting his back. "You're okay. Gotta get you to the back here, buddy."

Javi was looking around, suddenly noticing someone was missing. "Where's Kate?"

Tyler looked back, seeing that the metal doors were still wide open, and Kate was nowhere to be found. And his truck across the street was missing.

"Kate! Kate!" he shouted, limping toward the doors.

"Where's Kate?" Rio asked, following after him with Javi, and Boone.

All of them looked outside, seeing the red truck still loaded down with the barrels driving right for the tornado. And as she kept going, something in a field exploded, sending fiery debris smashing into the side of the truck before she came to a full stop, waiting for the tornado to engulf the truck.

Rio froze, her eyes on the truck as tears pricked at her eyes. Kate was sacrificing herself for something she didn't even know would work. And Rio was convinced then and there she'd never see her friend again.

"No, Kate!" Tyler shouted, trying to run out. But Javi held him back, Rio helping.

"Tyler!" Javi yelled, trying to get through to him. As Rio pulled Tyler inside to safety, Boone and Javi struggled to fight the wind and pull the doors shut. And when they did, Javi shut his eyes and yelled in frustration.

"Damn!"

Tyler seemed in shock, him trying to catch his breath as he stared at the closed door.

"We gotta get these people... we got to help these people to the back of the theater," Javi said, trying to think clearly as he caught his breath. "Tyler, come on. Come on!"

As Javi went back into the theater, Boone nodded and grabbed Tyler's shoulder. "Hey, we got to go, T. Come on."

Tyler took another moment to steel himself before nodding, all three of them returning and instructing everyone to get to the back of the theater and away from the screen, which would be the first wall to go.

Rio helped as many people as she could, ushering them to the back of the theater with Boone at her side. But then they all heard the building groan, them turning to see the screen beginning to cave in. Though they weren't at the back of the theater, they had no choice but to get down, Boone grabbing ahold of Rio as they did so.

Rio grabbed onto the leg of a chair tightly, shutting her eyes as Boone did the same right next to her. She could Lily screaming for Tyler, but she didn't dare move her head.

Fighting the wind, Boone reached for Rio, pulling her close. "We're gone be okay!" he shouted, both tightening their grips on the wobbling chairs that were trying so hard not to be ripped away.

But then Rio felt Boone slipping, the wind fighting to drag his body away. As soon as she felt him going, he nearly ripped her with him since they were holding onto each other.

Rio caught her ankle around another chair, both hands grasping Boone's as he was lifted up into the air, fear in his wide brown eyes.

"Rio!" he shouted, his body in the air, fighting against being torn away as he held onto Rio for dear life. "Rio, baby, don't let go."

"I ain't letting go," she said, tears falling from her eyes as flashes of Addy ripped through her mind. "I've got you! I've got you!"

Except it didn't feel like she did. No, not with the rain soaking their skin and making it hard to keep a firm grip on him. Not when their fingers were slowly slipping apart, making Rio scream as she tried to pull him back down.

And just as he was beginning to truly lose his grip on her, both screaming at the top of his lungs as only their interlocked fingertips kept each other together, the storm broke apart.

Boone's body hit the ground hard as the winds died out and the tornado dissipated mere feet from the gaping hole in the side of the theater.

Rio could hardly see Boone through the tears in the eyes but she still crawled to him on all fours, pulling him into a hug as soon as he was on his knees. Catching his breath, he wrapped his strong arms around her, resigned to not let her go anytime soon.

"Oh, my God," she breathed out in a shaky voice. "Oh, God."

"Hey, now," he said, sounding just as uneasy. He'd almost died, after all. "It's over. We're okay. We're okay."

She nodded, hiding her face in his chest. But when she heard Javi and Tyler say Kate's name, she knew they had to go and find her. The boys had a head start as Boone and Rio gathered the rest of the crew before following.

And as soon as they were close to the overturned truck, they could see Tyler and Javi helping out a very much alive Kate, who was weakly leaning against the vehicle.

"Kate!" Rio shouted, beginning to run toward her. "Kate!"

The others all started yelling and hollering too as they raced toward the three of them. Rio dropped to her knees and pushed Tyler off Kate, hugging her tightly while still being gentle with her head injuries.

"You're okay," she said, crying. "God, don't ever scare me like that again."

"No promises," Kate said with a halfhearted smile, still dazed from rolling around in the truck.

"Oh, my God, that was amazing," Dani said, chuckling. "Thought you were a goner for sure."

"You're brilliant," Ben said as Dexter just pointed at them, unable to put it into words.

"I thought for sure I was gonna fly," Lily said, shaking her head. "Booney too."

"Technically, we did fly," Boone said, laughing. Then he wrapped an arm around Rio's waist, pulling her close to him. He kissed the side of her head, her closing her eyes as he did so. "But we're all okay, ain't we?"

"Yeah," she said, smiling at him. "We're okay."