.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

━ CHAPTER FOUR ━
❝ RESPECT THE WIND ❞

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"WHY ARE WE HEADIN' WEST?"

Jess had to yell to be heard over the wind rushing into the cab, her voice barely cutting through the roar of the engine and whatever new-age country song Boone was screaming along to. The truck jolted over uneven stretches of road, each bump sending a jolt through her body. She gripped the edge of her seat, trying to steady herself as the landscape outside became a blur of color and motion. The air smelled of red dirt and rain, and she could taste the dust as it poured into the car, gritty on her tongue.

Ahead of them, the sky unfurled out in a deep, ominous gray, churning with dark, roiling clouds that seemed to twist and coil as if in a turbulent dance; it was a stark contrast to the sunny skies and puffy clouds they were currently driving beneath. The wind, once a gentle breeze, now howled with increasing ferocity, sending leaves and debris spiraling in chaotic swirls. Barren cornfields unfurled on both sides of the road, filled with wind turbines, whose blades were spinning as fast as the storm could push them. The horizon was ablaze in the distance with occasional flashes of lightning, briefly illuminating the landscape with stark, jagged brilliance before plunging it back into shadow. It was stunning. Jess unzipped her backpack and started to piece together her camera, focusing the lens through the open window at the churning expanse of clouds.

The storm made Tyler restless. His gaze darted from the window, to the road, and then back to the brewing tempest, unable to contain his excitement. It didn't help that Storm Par had gotten a head start, their taillights glowing bright against the dark backdrop up ahead. Tyler took it as a challenge. The gas pedal was nearly to the floor and they had passed the speed limit a while ago, coincidentally around the same time they'd left the gas station. Jess tried her best to steady herself and her camera, as leaning against the door wasn't an option. Ben was trying to write something down beside her, a small notebook in his lap, but his handwriting looked like chicken scratch with how bumpy the ride was. 

Tyler slammed his hand on the steering wheel abruptly, tearing off his sunglasses in fit of frustration. He had the gas pedal to the floor, the red Ram pickup swerving all over the road, but Storm Par was holding steady, effectively blocking any alternate route around.

"You'd think with all them brains and PhDs that one of 'em be able to drive," he muttered behind gritted teeth. His jaw pulled taut.

Boone snorted. "Yeah—they might as well be fallin' asleep behind the wheel."

Then, as if a light had clicked on behind Tyler's eyes, his whole expression brightened. He flashed a row of perfect, white teeth in a nauseating grin, and a shiver of unease snaked down Jess's spine. She just knew that he was up to some sort of trouble. Tyler's grin widened as he glanced back at her, clearly savoring the moment of discomfort he was causing.

"What do you say we go wake 'em up?" he said with a smile that only added to her growing worry. Jess braced herself, realizing that whatever Tyler was planning, it was unlikely to be smooth or straightforward.

Her fingers curled around the grab handle, just as the truck made a sharp swerve across the uneven terrain, plowing through the ditch and into the field on the other side. The vehicle jolted violently, and Jess's grip tightened as she struggled to maintain her balance on the seat. Tyler's laughter rang out, a stark contrast to the tense atmosphere inside the cab. The wind streaming through the open windows whipped around the cab with unrestrained force, carrying with it the sharp, earthy scent of the field and the distant tang of engine exhaust. Jess's hair pulled free of her ponytail and whipped around her face, tangling in her eyes and mouth as the wind swept into the back. She managed to snag a glance out the window and could make out the shapes of the other trucks growing closer, their drivers likely oblivious to the impending doom.

Tyler's knuckles whitened on the steering wheel as he measured the narrow gap between his truck and vehicles of the other convoy. The Storm Par trucks roared past the field, and just as the lead truck seemed to be within arm's reach, he slammed his foot onto the gas and his truck lurched forward, narrowly missing the other vehicle's bumper. The white pickup, a newer model Dodge, laid on it's horn, but the sound was drowned out by the sound of Tyler's truck as he accelerated past, its tires screeching in protest as he wrestled it back onto the road. The sudden maneuver sent a jolt through the cab, and Jess was thrown against the door, the adrenaline-fueled rush leaving her breathless but miraculously intact.

Boone hollered, laughing as he leaned his head out the window to record the entire thing. Jess picked herself off the back seat, smoothing her hair back with shaky fingers, unsure of how to react. She turned around to watch Dexter and Lily maneuver themselves between the Storm Par vehicles, until they were practically tailgating the red pickup.

"What the hell was that?" Jess said, spinning around to face Tyler in the front seat. "Were you tryin' to kill us?"

Tyler shrugged a shoulder. His expression was the picture of nonchalance and he kept a steady hand on the wheel, as if he hadn't almost gotten them in a multi-car pileup. Jess had forgotten he thought he was invincible.
"Not intentionally," he said. "Just giving 'em a little wake-up call, is all. No harm done."

"No harm done?" Ben cried, still maintaining a vice-like grip on the side door. "I quite nearly soiled myself."

That made Boone giggle like a little boy and he twisted around in his seat to stick the camera between the two. "Might need to invest in some better underwear, huh, London?"

Ben fumbled for his words, and an involuntary laugh slipped past Jess's lips and she was quick to cover her mouth with her hand, but she couldn't suppress the laughter that bubbled up in her throat. Tyler shot her a sideways glance and smirked.

"Glad to see you've got your sense of humor back, Ward," he said.

Jess rolled her eyes, despite the smile that was growing on her face. "It's only funny because we're not dead."

Ben, finally loosening his grip, started to dust himself off, taking his glasses off and wiping them on the hem of his shirt. "Well, I for one would appreciate it if we could try not to make that a habit."

Tyler cranked the radio up a little more, still grinning. "What kind of fun would that be?"

"Whatever, hotshot," she sneered sarcastically. She picked up her camera again and snapped a few more shots now that they were on smoother ground. "You didn't answer to my question. Why are we headin' west?"

Tyler didn't respond to her right away. Jess could feel his gaze on her, even out of her peripheral, burning her skin through those tinted shades of his. When she pulled the camera away from her eyes, he was looking back at her in the rearview, a knowing smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"You got that big, fancy degree from UARK and you need me to answer that for you, Ward?" He shook his head, trying to hide his amusement. "Guess some things they don't teach you in school."

A scowl rose to Jess's lips faster than she could catch it. "Y'know, you could try to answer my questions without the attitude, Mr. Know-it-All," she bit back, annoyed. She raised a hand to point out the wind shield at the approaching storm. "These cells here, they're just gonna choke each other out fightin' with each other—why take the gamble, when the other storm has better numbers?"

"That's what I thought, too, but I think we're lookin' at it all wrong," he answered, shaking his head again. He spoke matter-of-factly, as if he knew something they didn't. "I don't think the cap is gonna break."

Jess's eyebrows quirked up questioningly. While she wasn't an expert storm chaser, like some people claimed to be, but she wasn't ignorant either. She'd seen the data—there was no indication that the cap wouldn't follow the pattern and break, and yet, it still warranted a disagreement. Tyler was a risk taker, she knew that to be true, but he didn't typically kid around when it came to twisters. "What makes you say that?"

"Just a hunch, I 'spose," he replied, with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulder. He was staring hard at the group of Storm Par vehicles in front of them, wearing an expression that she might describe as determined, but there was a flicker of something else in his eyes—something that was difficult to read from the back seat.

Beside her, Ben looked up from his notepad and adjusted the dark-rimmed glasses on his face. "Was it something that Kate said?" He asked.

Kate? Jess hadn't heard that name before, but judging by Tyler's purposeful silence, it seemed to be a sensitive subject. He avoided eye contact in the mirror, his gaze fixed firmly on the road ahead like he wasn't listening. Jess's interest piqued. She pretended to be busy going through the latest previews on her camera as to not give away her own curiosity.

"Who's Kate?"

"A new face at Storm Par, if I'm not mistaken. She's from New York," Ben explained. He was visibly animated, his eyes lighting up with a spark of enthusiasm as he spoke. "She's really quite interesting."

An ugly emotion twisted Jess's gut into knots as she remembered the woman from before, the one Tyler had been speaking to out in the field. Her pretty blonde hair, clean clothes, and the image of Tyler's vapid expression as he conversed with her, stirred up an unpleasant sensation that left her skin feeling hot. Perhaps he found her to be 'quite interesting' too.

Jess nearly snapped, though she bit her tongue when Tyler expelled a dramatically long mock sigh, feigning exasperation. He flicked his sunglasses to the top of his head, his green eyes somehow gleaming with amusement and annoyance. "Alright, alright. Why don't we focus on the actual story here, huh?"

"Right..." Ben said, deflating slightly. He carefully closed the little notebook in his lap and tucked the pen into the spiral bind on the side, trying to conceal his disappointment.

"What exactly is our goal here?" Jess shouted. She'd heard plenty of storm chasing stories before, but there was a reason why she had never watched any of Tyler's videos. She didn't feel the need to subject herself to the torture that was the Tornado Wrangler's lack of impulse control.

"We gotta figure out the tornado's path," Boone shouted back. He was leaning halfway out the window with his camera and a pair of circular goggle-like sunglasses that made him look like a mad scientist. "Get as close as we can."

"Great," Jess replied, with an apprehension she couldn't be bothered to hide.

She retreated back into the truck as he rolled up all four windows and watched as he turned towards a small camera mounted near his head. He took a breath, counted them down, and pulled on the same TV show persona he had back at the station, just as Boone turned the camera on him again. This time, Jess could see that it was actually live-streaming rather than just recording, that smug Tyler Owen's smirk taking center stage to greet all the folks tuning in. It was surprising just how natural he was in front of the camera. It was like he wasn't meant to be anywhere else but here. He began to introduce each member of the team, and as he did so, their faces started to pop up on screen from the dashboard cameras installed in the other vehicles.

"It is a perfect day for chasing, and boy, do we have a good one for you. We've got a tornado forming up ahead and she is beautiful," He said, in the same tone that someone might use if they were talking about the love of their life. For Tyler, there was no greater love than his tornadoes.

"As always, I've got my chief storm-hound, Boone, on camera. We've got Dex and Dani in the caravan behind us, and bringing up the rear, we've got Lily with her drone."

The video cycled through each person and finally, switched to the pair in the back. Jess tried not to act awkward as she smiled and waved at the camera. Media presence wasn't her strong suit. She was used to sitting behind a computer screen, reading and assessing data and damage reports—not playing it up for thousands of people she couldn't see or know.

Tyler continued talking, much to her chagrin. "And joinin' us in the back seat, are two very special guests. First up, we've got Ben, who is here to write an article on us storm chasers. You're comin' to us all the way from London you said, right?"

Boone turned on the British journal and the man visibly reddened, but at the mention of his place of birth, Ben brightened and leaned forward to address the 'audience'. "Uh, yes—South London, actually...just between Streatham and West Norwood," he said, with the same enthusiasm as he had earlier. However, an awkward beat passed and Tyler snorted snorted under his breath, clearly holding back a laugh.

"O-K," he said, carrying on without much else hesitation. "I am also very excited to have an old friend of mine joining us today, Jessica Ward."

Soon, Jess found her own face being reflected back at herself and she waved again, nervously."Uh...hi."

Sensing her uneasiness, Tyler cut in again with a grin. "Jess here's an amazing photographer, by the way. She's got some serious skills—best in the West, hands down."

Jess felt a little color rise in her cheeks at the praise, but it was nice to hear. The awkwardness was beginning to fade. "Thanks, Tyler," she said, offering a genuine smile this time. "Happy to be here."

The camera lingered on her for a moment, and she straightened up, trying to appear more comfortable. Thankfully, to her relief, the perspective switched back to Tyler. While she could still see herself in the background, it was nice to not be the center of attention; that role clearly belonged to the star of the show.

"Both Jess and Ben will be joining us for the entire week to see us Tornado Wranglers, in action. And thankfully, we've got ourselves a good one today."

As if on cue—quite possibly rehearsed—Dani's voice cut in over the conversation through a two-way CB radio fixed to the dashboard, much like the ones that Jess saw used by truckers to communicate with each other. Dexter's voice, full of static, crackled to life next through the transceiver and Tyler perked up to listen.

"Hey, Tyler—tornado's on the move."

As if the previous discussion had been forgotten, Tyler's face broke out into a grin, and he raised the microphone to his mouth to respond. "Copy that."

Tyler's hands gripped the wheel with a newfound determination, and without a word to anyone else in the cab, he spun the wheel as far as he could to one side. They hurtled through the ditch and practically flew off the other side, the truck fishtailing as the wheels sought traction in the soft Oklahoma mud. Once Tyler was able to realign, it was easy to see what they were up against. The tornado was now becoming more than just a pinprick in the sky, growing steadily bigger and bigger as they drew closer to it's base. The wind tugged the truck back and worth across the field, and hail rained down in golfball sized chunks that probably should have cracked the windshield in two. Everything about this screamed DANGER.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Ben called to the front, nervous. There wasn't any answer to his question, but one wasn't warranted. It was the farthest thing from safe.

"Heads up!"

Just as the thought slipped into her mind, the horrendous sound of metal on metal came from above the truck. A wind turbine just off their chosen path creaked and groaned in the wind, its massive blades beginning to shudder as if protesting the violence of the storm. Tyler barely had time to react before one of the turbine blades, already half-bent, snapped free from its mooring. The hulking piece of metal cut through the air, spinning wildly, its motion almost slow enough to feel like it was happening in some kind of twisted dream.
The blade missed them by mere feet, slicing into the ground with a sickening thud that shook the truck to its core. The vehicle lurched violently as Tyler swerved to avoid it, tires spinning in the slick mud. Somehow, that wasn't even the worst of it.
The remaining structure of the turbine groaned again, and with a terrifying screech, the entire tower seemed to shudder before it toppled forward, its metal frame bending at a sickening angle. The giant steel column crashed toward the truck, falling in slow motion, and for a fleeting moment, Jess thought they'd be crushed beneath it. Then, metal met earth as the turbine slammed into the ground just a few feet in front of them, the force of its impact sending a shockwave through the truck, rattling every bolt and joint. With no time to go around, Tyler was forced to plow underneath the tower, which just barely clipped the radar equipment at the top.

Forgetting about the live-stream and most of her basic manners, Jess screamed, stringing out a slew of curse words like the true Southerner she was. Her father would have been proud. In the front seat, Tyler was hollering, laughing harder than he had all day as they swerved left and right all over the field, despite the misfortune of his passengers. Jess was so stunned, that for once, she was speechless. No witty comment, no heated accusation, just dazed silence. Her hand found her throat and she pressed her fingertips to her pulse-point, just to check that she hadn't spontaneously bitten the dust. It was miraculous that she could still feel a heartbeat thrumming away beneath her skin, although it beat so fast that it seemed it might claw its way out of her ribcage. She glanced towards Ben and found he wore the same expression, flush against the seat, looking as if he might pass out any second.

"Welcome to Tornado Alley," Boone crowed,

Boone and Tyler continued speaking, but Jess wasn't listening. Their voices faded into the background as she glanced out the window and watched a Storm Par vehicle, "Tin-Man", veer off the road into the empty cornfield beside them, right towards the tornado. The two trucks labeled "Scarecrow"and "Lion" followed suit, but they pulled off in opposite directions away from the first. Jess distinctly remembered the latter being the one that Kate and Javi had shown up in back at the station. The final unit, the white utilities van, "Wizard", hung back.

"What are they doin'?" Jess asked, disrupting Boone's shameless merch plug to point out the back windshield. Everyone except for Tyler turned to look.

By then, two of the Storm Par trucks, who were now too far out to see their names, had surrounded the twister on two sides and seemed to be parking. Jess squinted through the rain and wind, and was able to make out the large pieces of machinery they were unloading from the truck bed. They had large, flat surfaces that were angled towards the oncoming storm, and they bore a striking resemblance to solar panels. The driver and the passenger of each car mounted the device into the ground, hopped back in their vehicles, and sped away as fast as they could.

"Those look like scanners," Ben commented, adjusting his glasses to see more clearly out the window. Dirt and debris was flying everywhere, making it impossible to tell what was what. But, it was easy to see that Javi and Kate, who were occupying the "Lion", were heading right towards the center of the storm.

"Well, why don't we go find out?" Tyler said with a smirk, his voice cutting through the noise.

He slammed his foot on the gas, and the truck lurched forward. The tires screeched as he made a sharp right turn onto a narrow strip road that led straight toward the chaos of the storm. It was loud, chaotic, and Jess was vaguely aware of (Ghost) Riders in the Sky blaring from the speakers, but she still managed to focus on their destination; Kate and Javi's white Dodge that had pulled off on the side, facing away from the tornado, which was now too far out of range. Tyler pulled up beside the truck with his shit-eating grin and a cocky laugh, rolling down the window to shout taunts at the pair of storm chasers.

"Javi, what are you doin' over here, man?" he jeered. "The tornado's headin' that-a-way."

Javi, who was standing near the back of the truck, geared up, with the tailgate down, scowled, clearly unappreciative of the comments. He slammed the gate closed, rolling his eyes as he disappeared around the other side of the vehicle. Kate, who was still inside, looked away, even when Tyler shot her an award-winning smile.

"Hey, Kate," he greeted, ever the charmer. A frown equal to Javi's began to pull at the corners of Jess's lips, but it was short lived, as Tyler's rig sped away, flinging mud and water up behind them. Boone leaned out the window with his camera to throw out one last departing remark.

"Nice goggles, Javi!"

His voice was all but lost on the wind, but when he leaned back into the car, he elicited a laugh even from Ben, who had spent the last few moments clutching the back of the driver's seat in an white-knuckled grip. He was pale, clammy, but trying his best to enjoy the ride even though he looked like he might hurl any second. His face turned a new shade of green every time he looked out the window. Jess didn't blame him. Especially when she realized they weren't stopping.

"Tyler," she began, swallowing back the shrill edge creeping into her voice. "Don't tell me we're headin' into that thing?"

Tyler laughed, almost as if he thought she was messing around. "That's the plan," he replied with a chuckle, glancing back at her pallid face. His expression faltered slightly. "Oh come on, Ward. You've watched our videos—right?"

"No, I haven't!" Jess cried incredulously. His words twisted her gut, and suddenly, in interior of the cab seemed to close in on her. What the hell had she gotten herself into?

Tyler laughed again, the sound half-nervous, half-excited. "You agreed to come—"

"Bullshit, Tyler Owens—I never agreed to this!"

Jess thought perhaps he would stop the truck now they had made the revelation, but if anything, they seemed to be going faster. The tires kicked up dust as the vehicle sped forward, the sky ahead darkening with every passing second. The wind picked up, tossing stalks of dried corn into the air like brittle confetti. The field ahead, barely visible through the growing storm, twisted and turned as if it had a mind of its own. Jess's grip on the door handle tightened, her pulse quickening with every bump in the path. She could hear Ben's shallow breathing beside her, each intake of air sounding more labored as the truck accelerated.

"Tyler, seriously," Jess pleaded. "This is insane."

Tyler's eyes gleamed with that all-too-familiar mix of reckless enthusiasm and mischievous daring. She had forgotten what it was like to worry about that look. "We'll be fine," he said,
"We're professionals, remember?"

"I know," Jess muttered under her breath. "That is exactly what I'm worried about."