Tales from a Rookie Storm Chaser (Part Finale)

  

There was no way we were going to live. I saw that from the moment we had entered the room. The numbers were too great.

I figured though that if I was going to die, the least I could do is see to it that Olivia and Caleb made it out alive.

I could tell from the hunter's labored breathing that he wouldn't be able to help in this fight. So I shot at the closest of the drones and then shoved them both toward a side corridor of the labyrinth.

"I'll hold them off!" I told the two of them as I gritted my teeth and watched the massive throng of beasts breathe down on me.

Honestly it would have been over in just a few seconds. But I didn't count on the explosions. A set of detonations shook through the tunnel, ricocheting rocks and debris toward the horde. At first, I was sure the blast would not be enough to make a difference. Then in front of me the floor to this level of the mine simply collapsed.

More rock, dirt, mud and debris fell to block the monsters from reaching me as I heard a voice shout from above.

"Don't stand there like an idiot Dillion! Run while you've still got a chance!!"

Paul. I figured he had set the explosions up, but the timing felt wrong. Had he decided to come to our rescue instead of focusing on his main task? Because now with the new devastation that rocked the mine, any stragglers connected to the colony were coming out of the woodwork.

There wouldn't be enough time to enact Olivia's plan. We still didn't even know how to reach the core. Part of me wondered as I ran if Paul had suspected what we were up to. But no, as he began to climb away from the upset colony I realized his main concern had actually been for our safety.

I pushed my way to where Olivia was at, keeping an eye on all the surrounding tunnels as I heard the shrieking grow nearer. Caleb was having a hard time even standing up.

"He's choking," I realized. He gestured toward one of the packs where we had brought a few simple hunting knives and Olivia passed him one. We both watched as he stabbed himself near his rib cage and a burst of black slime spewed out onto the floor of the tunnel.

At the same time his breathing returned and Caleb said, "Spiders. God damn why did it have to be spiders?"

I looked at the ooze that had suffocated him and watched as hundreds of miniature spiders hatched from the slime, shrieking and trying to find their host again. "There's no end to them," Olivia said pulling Caleb away and checking his wound.

"We should have just told your dad what we were doing. At this rate the way he is going, we're going to get buried alive," I told her.

The hunter ripped off part of his shirt to patch up the wound, wincing as he stopped the bleeding and limping down the tunnel.

"It's a temporary fix. That big one above is like some sort of surrogate womb for the queen. It was holding the eggs but I gathered it wasn't the source. We got to get to the core if we want to do any real damage," the hunter explained as we made our way back to the main corridor.

I spotted Natalie and Paul setting up more charges above us and called out to them. The monsters were working as fast as possible to bridge the gap using their own bodies as stepping stones. It reminded me of the way their flesh and bone had mixed together during their attack on the station.

"Dad!" Olivia said covering her mouth in shock as the creatures moved closer.

"We need to send out the signal now!"

"No! We'll ruin any chance we have of finding my mom!" Olivia stuttered. I shook my head and pointed above. "If we do nothing, your dad is going to die."

She bit her lip and nodded. Tossing the backpack down, she took out the supplies necessary for creating a small receiver and Caleb and I watched the perimeter. A few of the stronger soldiers were searching for us. I passed Caleb his gun back and muttered, "Are you sure you can handle this?"

He sneered. "Don't be going soft on me Pruitt. That's not your style." Then he cocked his weapon and pointed it toward the wide mouthed opening, "Now let's give them hell." We rained down what ammunition we had on the first wave, sending the beasts flailing backward as Olivia worked as quickly as she could.

"If you could speed this up I think we would all appreciate it!" I said kicking away at another drone. They were going to overpower us in a matter of seconds.

A sharp burst of noise echoed in response. She had done it. The monsters collapsed in fury as Olivia stood up and said, "This isn't nearly enough to bring the whole thing to its knees but it should buy us some time. Come on!"

Caleb kicked away another drone that writhed as we ran up the next mineshaft to the upper levels. The light we had seen was growing brighter and brighter, but Paul and Nat were nowhere in sight. What if we were too late?

Ahead of me, Olivia's eyes caught sight of something and she froze; causing me and Caleb to nearly run into her. I was about to berate her for being clumsy when I saw it for myself.

"What in the hell... is this..." Caleb said as we stepped into some sort of antechamber. The entire structure of the room didn't resemble any of the rest of the mine, because instead of the usual rocks and gravel that held up the tunnels we saw nothing but rows and rows of thick vines and webbing. It looked like skin.

The walls themselves were moving and throbbing the way a heart would when pumping blood. And with each resonance that passed through the veins, long streaks of light flowed in and out. Those same streams of light were moving toward a central part of the wall, a canvas of urchin like nodes that all interconnected and vibrated together. This was the core, of that I knew there was no doubt. And then from the urchins of sinew and flesh we saw something begin to form. Each one of the nodes had the structure of a face but without eyes or nose. One by one they transformed, their neutral gray faces forming a massive wall of conjoined mimics.

Then there was a newly formed mouthpiece, and their voices echoed through the chamber; shaking us all to the bone.

“We.... are.... Storm..”

We were listening to the sound of corpses making a chorus of unholy noise.

Olivia stood closer. Somehow she was able to shake the bizarreness of this encounter and asked a question.

"What is this place?"

"Betweenness..."

"Between? Like between life and death?" Caleb asked as he stood alongside Olivia.

"Everything. Nothing. Chaos. Order.."

"How is it even communicating with us?" Olivia asked.

"Same way as those drones. They remember what it was like to be human. They mimic. It's all an imitation."

"Why? Why is this happening? What do you want?"

They shifted, their sliding flesh twisting and reforming to grow a larger amalgamation of their neutral faces.

"Grow. Spread. Renew. Become."

"Everything they learn, they remember. Look at this place. It's a network. This is unnatural," Caleb said gesturing toward the streaming lights. As I stared at it I realized he was right.

"But... but how. There's no way it could travel so far, even with the storm."

I heard a rifle cock and all of us looked toward the other entrance to see Paul standing there, blood dripping down his face as he took aim at the massive creature.

"Because this ain't the only one," he declared.

"What? You're saying there's more of this nastiness out there?" Caleb said, his words echoing in the chamber almost endlessly.

"See for yourself. This nest is small. It's strong, to be sure. But this is like the tip of the iceberg. Everything here is new growth, desperate to expand and choke everything in its path," Kearny said.

The shrieks of the colony grew louder from behind him and he gestured toward the way we had come in. "We were fools to ever come here. You need to leave before it's too late."

Olivia started to object and show him the receiver she had built, but I saw the seriousness in Paul's face.

"You knew we would try to set up a broadcast."

"And I knew you would fail. You've had your fun. Now it's time to kill these sons of bitches," Kearny answered.

Olivia stared at the skin map, her eyes filled with wonder and excitement. "Dad don't you see? This confirms everything. The storm keeps them alive. Mom... she's still out there!"

"Wake up girl. It's over for her," Paul snapped.

"How can you say that?" she said angrily.

"I can't let you throw your life away the way I have Olivia!" Kearny said desperately.

That was when I saw something dangling from his belt. It shone in the unnatural light of the room and I immediately realized what it was.

"He's got a bomb!"

Natalie backed away nervously when we realized it was about the rest of the C4. Enough probably to devastate this entire colony.

"Dad... don't do this."

"Has this always been a suicide mission for you?" Caleb asked in irritation. Paul's determined eyes stayed on his daughter.

"Once this place is gone, we can be free. The storm will be gone."

"But you just said yourself there are others out there. This accomplishes nothing!" she screamed.

The monsters were pushing their way into the room. Only the broadcast was slowing them down. From the eastern wall, the faces formed a larger cohesive frame.

A body. It stepped out from the wall, still fresh and new and tied to the surface of the core with vines that I guessed acted as umbilical cords.

Then the body opened it's new eyes and stared toward all of us with mild fascination. Paul's face alone told me it was someone he recognized.

His wife.

"Reneé... it is you," he said softly as he stared at the creature in amazement.

"She's Alive...?" Caleb asked. He didn't want to believe it. Neither did I.

"I am. I was. I am again."

"This isn't your wife."

"I am what comes next. For all," she said gesturing toward the bomb that Paul held ready to destroy everyone and everything.

"Did you not realize that this was inevitable? That nature would always take its course?" she asked in the most soothing and sickly voice.

I looked toward Paul, the screeching corpses that were desperately trying to overcome the signal and then understood.

"This was a trap. It was a trap all along. It views us as a threat."

"Because of the broadcast?" Olivia guessed.

"Humans have always impeded nature. That must end," Reneé's body responded coldly.

Paul shook his head, staring toward his daughter.

"No. No I won't let that happen. Olivia, listen to me. No matter what you think... this thing is not your mother. You have to leave this place. Protect the station. Protect all of us!" Kearny demanded.

"Dad don't!" she said but it was too late. He had pressed the detonator and flung himself toward the core.

The nest collapsed.

I found myself free-falling, scrambling to grab ahold of anything solid as the mine tumbled in over itself.

When I hit the ground every ounce of my energy was pushed out of me. I don't know for sure how long I lay there, but when I did have the strength to move around the place had dissolved into madness. The creatures were skittering everywhere about the walls, confused like a ship with no compass. I realized as I watched that it had to mean the last detonations Paul had made were a success and the core of this vile place was gone for good.

I heard a grunt not far off and saw Caleb push aside some of the debris to get to me. His whole face was covered with the smear of blood and soot. "Can you walk Dillion? We need to get out of here," he said.

I nodded weakly and looked up as the thrashing sounds of the monster turning on each other grew louder. It would not be long before all of them had killed one another.

We made it through a portion of the mine shaft that was still intact, and Caleb took out his only weapon left; barely aiming it toward the next turn as we heard someone approach.

"Natalie!! Olivia!!" I called out as the two girls reunited with us in that dark tunnel.

Both of them gave the faintest of smiles under the circumstances, and we all knew there was still a long ways to go before we were out of this. Though I guessed that Olivia would want to mourn her father's passing, now was not the time.

Caleb and I took the lead as we all pushed through the debris to find a way out. We were as careful as we could be, knowing that one false move could cause more of the place to collapse.

We had been going at it for almost thirty minutes when I heard the familiar rush of air from somewhere above us.

"The surface! We're almost there!!" I said excitedly. We began to climb as rain hit the edges of the opening. I flinched, expecting to find it the same scorching storm we had fought for so long. But instead I was surprised to see that this didn't hurt us at all. Had the destruction of the core allowed nature to return to some sense of order?

I couldn't pause to think about it rationally, because each passing moment the wailing of the creatures was growing louder. They were tearing apart anything that came in contact with them.

With each notch of the ladder, the entire nest shook and collapsed more and more, widening until at last we were out. The four of us caught our breath there on the edge of the mine, the raging wind and storm that had protected it now was nothing but a few gusts. Above us though lightning continued to crash and burn across the sky. A few bolts struck near the open maw of the pit we had just climbed out of and I heard the roses of the monsters.

"We need to get to the van. Now." Caleb pulled Olivia up and we felt the dirt beneath us begin to shake from the blasts of plasma that struck barely twenty feet away. The rest of the abandoned mine became a sinkhole quickly, pulling trees and other debris nearby into its abyss.

I looked down at the angry creatures, their frenzy becoming more and more concentrated with each moment. They were opening their mouths wider and wider overtop each other, teeth scraping against sinew as they formed a larger unit. It reminded of the horrific creature we had seen attack us at the main station, but this was ten thousand times bigger.

The menagerie of flesh and teeth climbed toward us with rapid ferocity. I scrambled to my feet and ran.

The wind howled as we pushed through the woods. The whole sky was growing darker as the monster rose. It had to be the size of a building roaring to life as it pursued us.

"Do we have any explosives in the van?" I screamed. Olivia nodded furiously as we ran with all our might. Caleb pulled out the keys and tossed them to me as we got closer.

I pulled open the door and revved the engine as the creature towered above us. Caleb grabbed one of the rifles and started to fire at its chest. Dozens of the smaller beasts fell to the ground screaming as I shifted to first gear.

Natalie opened up one of the floor compartments and took out the last of the c4. "Light it up!!" Olivia told her as the massive body of flesh crashed through the trees.

I swerved toward the open highway as the storm crashed against the sky louder and louder. I thought that we weren't going to make it. And then Caleb grabbed the explosives and chunked them straight toward the maw of this hideous beast.

The heavens were aflame with the shower of blood and fire. Our van shook and tumbled across the prairie, barely staying on all four wheels as the monster gave out one final scream.

As they were burned and torn apart, the clouds cleared and a quiet returned to the sky.

I slowed down and looked at the rear view mirror, the bodies of the monsters burning to ash on the highway as I finally caught my breath.

It was over. Finally.

—————-————————————————

Even though we were in the clear, the drive back to Emerald Bay was laced with sadness. With the back door of the van gone I could see Olivia hanging her feet over the back bumper, watching the horizon fade away. She had lost everything. And I felt responsible for this because of the foolish plan I had concocted. I resolved when we got back to the station I would talk to her about it.

Driving into town felt so different than it had the first time when I caught the bus. If it felt like a ghost town then, I would wager this drive was nothing short of complete abandonment. There was no signs of any life, even in the diner or the motel. The people that had come with the storm had rolled out just as quickly.

Once back at KTHU, Natalie helped me unload the van and I watched Olivia tiredly climb out and announce she was going to bed.

"I can't even imagine what she is going through." Nat gave me a sigh. "I can... and it's the worst feeling in the world," she responded.

I finished setting things away and wiped sweat from my brow, exhausted from the long run we had returned from. It felt like the first time in ages that I had actually gotten a chance to rest.

When morning came, clear skies continued over Emerald Bay and I found Olivia in the break room making coffee.

I knew it was time for me to set things straight.

"Hey.."

Her eyes drifted toward me and I muttered, "I was thinking... wondering really, if you wanted to have a... a memorial service for your father?"

Olivia nodded absently as she finished what she was doing but then she said something that surprised me, "He's not dead."

"*Olivia..."

"He's part of that storm now... or I guess, part of the larger one anyway. Another cog in a greater machine," she said as she walked toward the control room.

"You think the storm... changed him?"

"The right word is probably assimilated. You were right, Dillion. The whole thing was always a trap... the storm wanted us to come for it," she said bitterly.

"You mean it took advantage of your father's greed, so that it could discover everything about KTHU?"

"I believe so. Which means we have a lot more work ahead of us," she said as she started to switch on the consoles and check Doppler.

Caleb was already there, having fixed some of the older breakers and muttering, "And here I thought we were gonna get a holiday...."

"So it was for nothing," I lamented.

"Dillion, aren't you listening? My father is alive. And my mother too! I would call that discovery a win. It means these last three years weren't in vain," Olivia said.

"But we don't know if we can even save them, or any of the other people that have been changed by this... force of nature."

"That's a battle we can fight another day. We've got time to lick our wounds, and prepare. The storm is gone for now, but it will be back," Caleb said.

Before I got a chance to ask another question, the door behind us swung open and Natalie came in holding several thick yellow envelopes.

"I found these near the front door, looks like the runs kept coming even while we were away," she commented passing the packages to Olivia.

"Whats all this?"

She responded by opening one of them and tossing me a bundle of cash. My eyes widened in surprise and Caleb laughed. "It's payday, Pruitt! Or did you think we did this for nothing?" the hunter asked.

I looked at the bundle of bills and muttered, "Wait. What? Where does all this come from?"

"Don't know. Dad didn't know either, it just shows up every week and we use the funds to keep the station running and our bodies warm and well-fed," Olivia responded as she counted it all up.

"And you never see who delivers it?"

"I mean, it's an anonymous drop," Natalie said with a shrug.

"I guess that answers one question," I muttered.

"Yeah. Channel 46 is full of surprises," Caleb laughed as he yawned and added, "I'm headed to the bunker to get some sleep."

As he left I turned to Olivia and commented, "Seems like every time I learn something it just gives me more to ask."

"You get used to that," she said dryly. "Generators need a chance to recharge. And we're gonna need to start testing different frequencies out. Might need more power," she muttered as she started to get to work.

I set the money down and offered to help.

"I don't think we can get this all done alone," Olivia admitted.

Natalie was watching from the steps. "I could run another ad... maybe we could scrounge up some help?" she suggested.

I reflected on the past week or so, all of the things I had seen and experienced as a member of this crew.

"That's not a bad idea," Olivia agreed.

"Okay what do you think it should say?" Nat asked.

Neither of them seemed to know for sure, so I offered a suggestion.

"Seeking help at Channel 46 for unique storm chasing."

I paused and gave them both an awkward smirk.

"Some experience required." 

---

Credits

 

Tales from a Rookie Storm Chaser (Part 13: The Nest)

  

As soon as the creature disappeared from the tree line with Caleb, the forest went silent again. Olivia jumped out of the van, her eyes frantically scanning for any signs of life as she called out his name.

"We need to move on foot and do it fast, they've probably taken him to the nest," her father insisted.

I helped him out with gathering our gear in one place, making certain I had everything to enact his plan along with that of his daughters. Caleb's sudden disappearance was enough to keep him distracted that he didn't really pay the extra bits of gear any attention.

"What the hell is happening? What do they want from us??" Natalie screamed anxiously. That was a question I knew we didn't have time to ask, so once we finished loading up two backpacks, I helped Paul with his crutch and remarked, "I know you want to do this yourself. And you've proven that you don't let your disability stop you. But this is going to be different. We are going to be up against monsters larger than life."

"I think I should echo the words you gave me when I told you not to take this job," Paul quipped as he strapped a rifle on his back.

We moved to the spot where Caleb was taken and Olivia examines the ground, noting the displacement of brush and leaves and using that to gauge which direction he was dragged in.

"They haven't killed him... why haven't they killed him?" she muttered as she saw little scratch marks on trees where Caleb had tried to hold on for dear life. Despite the fact that I had never particularly liked the hunter, I felt sorry for him. It was fate worse than death from what Paul and his daughter had described on the drive up.

Olivia took the lead, following the small trail up through the mountains. The forest was dense here and all of us did our best to stay close to one another. But even then, I felt disoriented and lost. There weren't any stars in the sky, jus the continuous swirling mass of the storm. As we got closer, the displacements of the trail became more apparent as though Caleb were fighting again and the creature was having a hard time. Unfortunately these scuffles that caused marks on the surrounding folia were making it difficult to determine which way to go.

We paused at one of these when Natalie checked the atmospheric pressure using the small portable laptop she had opted to bring. "The readings are off the charts in the valley to the north. Might be what we are looking for?" We climbed to the next ridge to look down toward it; my mouth agape at the sight.

From the heavens to the forest canopy was a massive funnel that seemed to span the size of four football field. It had to be the largest tornado I had ever seen. It wasn't moving though, simply swirling with a huge amount of intense gusts of wind in the valley that Natalie had identified. The scanners showed the speeds were reaching almost 330 mph.

The nest had to be inside. "How the hell are we going to go in that? If we even get close it will rip us to shreds." Paul watched as the funnel continued to destroy everything in the surrounding area and thought for a moment.

"At those speeds, even these demons couldn't possibly get close to return to the nest so that must mean they have another entry point. Perhaps underground tunnels of some sort?" he suggested as we climbed down toward the next ridge. Even at this distance we could hear the howling of the winds. Natalie's eyes widened at his suggestion and she said, "That's it! Yes I remember when I checked the radar... before the storm was here, I noticed there was an abandoned mine not too far."

"A network of caverns could do nicely for a colony of overgrown ants," Paul agreed.

"Hold on I brought a few maps from the van." I tossed down my pack carelessly and one of the transponders I brought rolled out onto the forest floor.

Olivia froze as her father looked at it.

"What's this?" Mister Kearny asked picking up and then looking toward me for an explanation.

His daughter opened her mouth to explain but I had already conceived of a convincing lie.

"When we get inside the nest we're going to need a distraction if we want to destroy it. Creating a confined broadcast using the equipment from the station will be perfect. The drones won't know what hit them, and we can blow the place sky high."

Paul looked at it thoughtfully before placing it back in the pack.

"Good thinking Dillion. Next time share with the class and we could have brought the rest," he said as I took out the map and nervously glanced at Olivia. She remained quiet as I spread out the chart to show the others.

"Do you remember which parts of the radar matched up with our road trip from Emerald Bay?"

Natalie studied the charts as Olivia focused on finding the trail again and we moved south. The trees themselves shook violently with each step. It was like walking through a wind tunnel even from the distance we were at.

"These might be the mines," Natalie suggested passing the map back to me and pointing toward one of the landmarks.

"But I'm afraid in here I can't make heads or tails of anything, it's like a whole other world," she admitted shivering as the cold finally hit.

I paused, remembering how the cold always seemed to imply we were close to the storm and looked toward several slopes that ran along a river. "They are attracted to the cold..."

On a hunch I followed the stream south, marking a few trees as I went. That was when I saw the mine. And even more exciting I saw a few of the drones flying inside.

"Looks like we found one of the entry points," Paul said patting my back in enthusiasm.

"How will we get inside?" Olivia asked. I watched the drones come and go for a few minutes, noting their patterns and muttered, "Looks like there is about a ninety second gap between them. We'll have to make it quick."

With the howling winds at our back and a timer counting down in my head, I grabbed Olivia's arm and all four of us moved as one.

The stream of water trickled straight into the mine, and once inside, it wasn't difficult to guess which way to go; there were literally dozens of fresh bones scattered down the mineshaft guiding our way. Most of them were animals but as we followed the dense dark corridor, I gathered that the creatures had also used this place to dispose of other remains as well. "This is like their sewage system," Natalie realized as we came to a wide open area that had stairs leading up. Most of it was covered in green sticky goo or dead skin, but we didn't have time to be concerned about the aesthetics when Caleb's life hung in the balance.

The climb led us up and out to another mineshaft where we saw hundreds of drones lining up to make their way toward a shining bright light. They seemed to pay no heed to us as we slowly moved on the side of the corridor toward this illumination.

"The nest?" Olivia guessed.

Paul looked down the next long tunnel, frowning as he realized something.

"I think we may already be there," he said as he gestured toward the rows and rows of cocoons. It looked like some sort of twisted nursery, with dozens of fresh corpses being forced into the webbing by larger drones.

"They are drawn to the cold, it makes sense that an underground network like this would be ideal for them. And the storm protects them from above. Without the right know how, anyone who came close would be obliterated."

"Or worse," Olivia said as she covered her mouth and pointed toward a cocoon about seven rows down.

"It's Caleb, he's still alive," she said excitedly. "Dillion. Give me the charges and Natalie and I will get to work setting them along these passages. I think as long as we make no sudden moves the colony won't view us as a threat here," Paul said gesturing toward the drones that were blindly following the light.

I looked toward Olivia for confirmation. She nodded and I passed it to him before following her down the webbing toward Caleb.

"How are we going to do this? There's literally hundreds of people here being prepared to change into these things... we can't save them all."

"I don't know yet," she admitted as she took out a knife and began to cut away at the cocoon.

The whole webbing vibrated as she did and I nervously looked about hoping none of the creatures would notice.

As Caleb was freed from his trappings and gasped for air, she muttered, "This is a colony right, so there's got to be like some kind of queen? The one giving out all of the commands. That's where we need to interrupt the signal." As Caleb kept coughing up blood he pointed weakly toward the light that we saw from above. But before I had a chance to look toward it again, something in the caverns above stirred. It had a growl deeper than any of the creatures I had encountered before. And as I looked up to get a better view, I realized that was because it was at least twice as large as the massive entity we had encountered at the train yard. This one had giant legs like rose stems with thorns poking at and driving into the tunnel walls along with more than a dozen strange openings on its body which resembled miniature mouths with rows and rows of gnashing teeth.

As it got closer I saw the main body had dozens of dangling feelers that blindly searched for prey and I grabbed at Olivia to get out of there. She refused to do so until I helped with Caleb as well.

The creature screamed so loud that I was sure the whole colony shook. There was no where to hide from its wrath. All of the drones responded to its shrieks as we ran through the dark paths. We moved to one of the massive chambers with more cocoons like the one that Caleb had broken free of, which had tons of tons of disturbed webbing as well, the hatchlings had woken. Now we found ourselves staring down the lifeless eyes of newly hatched monsters, half turned from their old human bodies to eat us alive.

I raised a gun to fire and told Olivia to get behind me. Then the whole colony was down on top of us. 

---

Credits

 

Tales from a Rookie Storm Chaser (Part 12: Revelations)

  

We got out in the open and decided to take up the conversation on the road north. Paul insisted he would explain everything once we were safe, and after twenty minutes of driving I decided we had waited long enough.

"Well, I think this is a good resting spot. It's getting dark," I suggested as we turned on the roads toward the mountains. The storm was hovering over the forest in front of us, swirling and growling on the horizon. At least a dozen of those demons could be seen with each clap of thunder.

"We can keep going," Kearny insisted. I sighed, my patience having grown thin.

"Look, I've tried to wait; I really have. But this is getting old. Enough is enough; Either you tell the story, or I'll just come out and say it," I warned.

"What is he talking about?" Natalie asked. Olivia shared a good long glance at her dad before squeezing his hand and saying, "There's no need to hide anything anymore. They've proven themselves more than capable to handle themselves."

Paul smiled at his daughter and sighed.

"The creatures that we've encountered so far from this mighty storm, they don't come from out from some hellhole... they come from right here. From people like you or me," Kearny said with a sigh.

Natalie shook, the truth hitting her like a ton of bricks.

"That's what Martin meant isn't it..? That he would become part of those things," she said, her voice cracking. The Kearnys held a long guilty gaze to confirm it.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"Would it make much difference if I had? You've questioned everything that I have done since you got here," Kearny pointed out.

I looked toward the two people in the front who were remaining quiet. "You knew about this didn't you?"

Caleb and Olivia didn't make a response.

"Why would you keep this from us?" Natalie muttered angrily.

"Because it makes it easier not knowing. To believe that the people you care about are simply gone altogether is a far better fate than what really happens," Olivia spat back.

I could hear the frustration and guilt in her voice. I also saw pain and loss. I turned to her father and saw those same feelings in his face as well.

Something finally clicked in my head and I realized the secret they had been keeping from all of us.

"What really happened to Reneé?"

Kearny didn't seem to have the strength to respond. But Olivia did.

"It was supposed to be an ordinary chase. We had been traveling across northern Kansas, thinking we had been tracking a storm back it's source... I think we probably drove for six hours, but still couldn't make heads or tails of the area around us. The storm was affecting everything, even the spatial reality around us. North, south, east and west simply didn't exist. That was when my mom came up with a theory. Sounds cheesy but she said that we weren't in Kansas anymore," Olivia paused and looked toward the rolling landscape around us. "We had gone inside the storm."

"*It treated us like we were insects trapped inside a spider's web," Paul spat.

As if I'm response we heard the storm rumble across the sky again.

"What happened next?"

"Reneé came up with a plan to push our way out. It was risky but we didn't know what else to do. We set up charges near to what we believed were the edges of the storm. We thought if we just hurt it, it would let us free."

"But instead the storm pushed back. Hundreds of those drones swarmed from the sky, ready to tear us limb from limb. But even when the situation seemed impossible, my mom didn't give up," Olivia added.

"She sacrificed herself. She found a way to push one last time but knew that it only work one time. We watched as she was taken right in front of our eyes and we couldn't do a thing about it."

"The storm fell away but the aftermath lasted a lifetime. My wife was taken from me, changed into one of those beasts against her will," Paul admitted. Caleb had slowed down the van.

We were almost at the mountains.

I crossed my arms, contemplating everything that the Kearny's had just told us. It was a lot to take in.

"That's why you've been trying to find this particular storm isn't it? You think your wife is inside?"

Paul nodded, too exhausted to hide anything else.

"How can you be sure that she is still alive?" I asked.

Olivia bit her bottom lip, "Each storm has particular patterns, we followed the patterns." But her voice showed a hint of doubt and that told me all I needed to know.

"So you don't really know. And you've dragged us out here to... do what exactly? To save her?" 

"To put her out of her misery," Paul declared solemnly. Even those words seemed to take his daughter by surprise.

"Years ago, I might have thought differently. That I could work some miracle to change what happened. But the facts are clearer now then ever. My wife died that day. And the storm took away whatever was left. Since then all that she has been is a puppet on a string. Her and every other person that this damned thing took from us," Paul said as he took his daughter and tried to comfort her.

But Olivia pulled away. Her face told me everything I needed to know. "You said... you would never give up on her," she muttered angrily.

"I haven't. But this is the only way, for her to finally be free," Kearny declared.

Olivia shook her head and as Caleb stopped the car she jumped out, her eyes filled with tears.

Natalie wrapped her arms around herself and shivered again. But even despite all of these revelations, I still had my doubts about Paul's plan.

"We don't stand a chance of destroying this thing. The odds are stacked against us. This is like going up against a god. You saw what happened to the camper. To Jim. We nearly all suffered the same fate!!"

Paul shook his head. "You hurt the monster already, Dillion. When I heard what you did to that thing, you restored faith in this plan. I know now that we can make it. We can blow the nest back to whatever hell it came from," he decided firmly. I couldn't help but to show the same disgust as Olivia.

But my reasons were because I had common sense. Even Natalie was getting upset.

"You still haven't changed since the day we met. You're so blinded by revenge that you don't care about anything else! Oh you put on a good show. But you don't care about what happened to Jim, or Martin or Nick or any of the other people that have blindly followed you!!" she screamed.

"That isn't true," Kearny said in defense but it was only half hearted. Her words had cut him to the core.

But it was too late. I saw him for the broken man he was. He would pursue this course to the grave to get his revenge.

"I need a smoke," I said stepping out to the open air. It was almost midnight, the only light in the sky coming from the trembling dangerous clouds.

Olivia was standing out in the nearby field staring up at the stars. In the distance we heard the storm continue to rumble. She wiped away tears as I joined her.

"Some team we are huh. No communication at all. We're no team at all," she laughed.

I sighed and slipped my hands in my pockets. "Do you really think your mom could be saved?"

She shrugged and lit a smoke as she said, "You must think I'm a damned fool for believing that lie for so long."

"*It's not stupid to have hope," I replied as she passed a cigarette to me.

"Even false hope? God. How could I have been so stupid?" she muttered.

"Well. There at the end, before Caleb killed the monster... I saw some part of Jim still inside it. Like he was ready to die and didn't want to hurt us."

"I've seen it before too. I know that these things can still have some bits of humanity in them," she insisted.

I looked back toward the camper. "Either way... your dad isn't going to stop until we find this nest. What are we going to do once we get there?"

"We have to do everything in our power to save those people trapped inside... maybe that really does mean destroying it though," she said with a sigh.

I frowned, a crazy idea racing through my mind.

"Maybe we can do both?"

Olivia tossed the cigarette away. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"The nest is like a control tower right? That's where the primary signal that controls them come from... so we just have to interrupt that broadcast and replace it with our own."

Her eyes sparkled with that same spirit I had seen when we first met. She was ready to give it a try.

"We can't tell dad," she declared just as I was about to return to the van. "You think he'll try to stop us?"

"He's had one mission since that day we lost mom. Nothing we say will change that, Dillion. We have to keep him thinking we're all in agreement," she looked frustrated that she would have to tell such a lie, but I knew she was right.

"I know he'll hate me. But if it works and we can save at least some of those poor people... then it has to count for something, doesn't it?" Olivia asked desperately. I told her it did.

As we moved back to the weather van, we both saw someone standing there near the driver's side door. Caleb.

"You were listening?" I asked.

"It's my job to watch out for y'all," Mitchum said with a shrug as he stretched his legs.

"Go tell the old man we'll be back on the road in a tick. I have to go piss," he added walking away from the van.

Olivia got into the back of the vehicle as I followed Caleb.

"Coming to watch Pruitt?" he teased.

"*Look.. I know we've butt heads before. But if Olivia's plan is going to work, we have to work together," I told him evenly.

"Pretty crazy idea you had there, to interrupt the nest's signal," he muttered as a gust of wind blew thru the nearby tree line.

"Do you really think it will work?" Mitchum asked as he zipped up his pants.

"I don't know.. honestly I'm not sure about any of this anymore," I admitted.

"Not a good idea to get her hopes up like that if you aren't 100% sure. It'll just make things worse in the long run," Caleb advised.

"I haven't heard you offer any words of wisdom."

"My role here is simple. Keep them safe. I'll do whatever I have to in order to do that," he paused as he looked me dead in the eye and growled, "That includes keeping them safe from themselves."

I didn't have to ask what the hunter meant. He was prepared to stop the Kearny's if necessary, if their agendas got into the way of their own survival. I couldn't argue with that. I knew it would need to be done if it got that far.

"Just promise me you'll give us a chance," I insisted. 

Mitchum nodded and shrugged. "Can't talk any of you out of anyway right?" he muttered as he got back in the driver's seat.

Natalie was reviewing the radar, trying to get an idea of how close we are.

"I think... once we go in those woods, we'll be inside the storm," the blonde said checking her charts again. The forest wasn't registering on the radar at all. Just a black hole that sucked in everything around it. The storm was likely holding everything within it as a prisoner. And given what Reneé had to go through to break free, I was starting to get nervous about going in.

Caleb turned the key on and we drove toward it. Olivia gave me a weak smile. Paul was focusing on the changing landscape.

It's hard to really explain what happened when we entered the storm. One minute we were just staring at the starry sky and then we were engulfed in total darkness.

The forest felt dead. It was still and not a sound came from anything except our own engine.

Everything felt backwards. The air was heavy and my body felt tense like it was hard to breathe. Our instruments weren't working at all.

"Shit this is creepier than I expected," Caleb admitted. We only got about a couple of miles in when the van died.

"What's wrong?" Paul asked.

"Not sure. Something just killed all the power," the hunter responded.

Kearny looked outside the van toward the quiet clearing we were in. "We're nearly there. The nest is close, I'm sure of it," he declared.

We sat there in the dense forest for another moment, trying to get the nerve to step out. Mitchum was finally the one to decide to make a move and grabbed a few weapons before opening his door.

"The drones are probably off protecting their hive," he reasoned as he peered out toward the unknown. It was so deadly quiet that it gave me chills.

Then we heard something shuffling in the brush. Caleb aimed his gun to fire. But only a small squirrel ran across his feet. He laughed nervously.

"Told you. Nothing to worry about," he said with a smirk.

Then something much larger howled from the forest. Natalie gasped in terror as it reared up behind the hunter.

It grabbed ahold of Caleb's upper body and pulled him into the woods. 

---

Credits

 

Tales from a Rookie Storm Chaser (Part 11: Emergency Broadcast)

  

Three hours passed and the storm raged on.

Natalie and I moved Jim's body into the rail car where we had decided to wait out the storm. But, as we sat there and I looked at the dead man and the unconscious one next to him; I was beginning to think that might not happen at all.

Every half hour or so I checked Mister Kearny's pulse to make sure he was all right. He seemed to have no major injuries but after being unconscious for so long, there was no telling what the blow to his head had done.

"I think we need to radio for help," Natalie said after another roar of thunder crashed across the sky.

"The only way would be to reach Jim's laptop, and that's in the trailer remember?"

"Those things are going to find us eventually, we have to do something!" she insisted.

"I know, I know," I said and trembled as the cold air pushed in again. It was luck alone that had kept us alive. But revealing ourselves now guaranteed that the creatures would react. Meaning there was only one chance to make this work.

"Fine. Let's do it," I decided as I moved toward Jim's body. Despite the fact that I felt wrong violating a corpse, I knew for us to make it through the rain we would need cover. The burns we had experienced from the storm already were enough to cause mild scarring on my exposed hands. Any worse and I wouldn't be fit to help anyone, I thought.

I carefully took Jim's coat off and used it to drape over my shoulders. Natalie had a hard time not weeping again as we stared at the man that had tried so hard to save us.

"Do you even think we stand a chance?" she asked as I pushed the rail car door open.

I didn't bother responding. It would be pointless to give her false hope. Outside a crash of thunder made me jump and I hunkered down near the wide door to stare toward the overturned camper. It was probably only thirty feet away.

"I need you to act as lookout," I told Natalie.

She nodded and placed her back against the massive metal door as I kept Jim's ragged coat wrapped around my head.

The wind seemed to pick up the second I stepped out in the torrential storm. It was so hard to even see the area around me, but I kept my eyes straight ahead.

Even when I heard another of the beasts howl amid the thunder, I didn't waver. I found the door we loosened earlier and shimmied inside on my belly. Once inside, i pulled my body up to a crouching position and looked about.

Jim's laptop was turned over amid the other debris. Just as I reached for it, I heard the hiss of a creature from above. I hunkered down again as it clawed at the tires above my head and slowly pulled the laptop over to me.

I stayed as perfectly still as I could as the creature searched for me. As I lay there, I felt the temperature change. The rain began to lighten and the sky cleared. Was the storm past? I didn't hear any noises from above so I decided to take a chance and crawl back out. A gentle drip of gasoline glistened on the side of the camper. I got a little bit on me as I climbed out and looked up.

That was when I realized the storm was waiting. A rush of air pushed its way back down to the train yard. I heard Natalie yell in the distance as the funnel hit the ground, flinging debris toward me. It struck with such force that it knocked me off my feet.

I fell right down next to the puddle of gasoline that had formed next to the camper, a crazy idea forming in my head as the tornado moved straight toward me.

Getting back on my feet, I moved to the rear of the camper where we had packed our auxiliary gear and flung open the door. Another pile of trash collapsed at my feet. I pushed aside the papers and found Mister Kearny's personal backpack as the storm grew closer.

I felt the camper begin to move and said a prayer. My one shot was about to slip away. At last I found it, Paul's cigarette lighter.

Quickly I lit a flame and moved toward the trail of gasoline. I snatched the laptop up and hollered our toward the twister. From within its mighty frame, a booming growl came back.

The funnel turned toward me, pushing straight toward the camper. I didn't waste another second. I tossed the lighter toward the gas and watched as flames spread toward the camper.

As I ran for cover near some of the scattered debris, the whole vehicle went up in flames. At the same time, the tornado smashed against the hood of the camper. Immediately the flames jumped to the twister and I heard a howl of pain. It didn't take long before the entire funnel was sucking up the fire and spreading it into the core of the storm.

Natalie came running to my side as I stood mesmerized by the tornado. Then at her urging we pulled back to the makeshift bunker. A few moments later the cyclone was completely gone. My crazy plan had somehow managed to hurt the damned thing.

I let out a sigh of relief and checked Jim's laptop, even more excited to see that it had withstood the whole ordeal. I started up his system as we returned to the rail car.

Evening was starting to fall across the land as I finished uploading the flash drive to his program.

"Son of a bitch this isn't gonna work," I said as I watched the upload slow down

"It's the metal roof, upsets the signal," Natalie said grabbing the laptop and gesturing for me to follow her out to the open air.

About thirteen minutes later, I was patched through to the station. Natalie let out a squeal of delight as I sent out our location to Caleb and Olivia. After that, I checked the radar and watched as the storm moved to the northeast. "It's moving toward the mountains," I realized as I watched its speed increase. Where could it possibly be going?

"Do you think you actually hurt it?" Natalie whispered. I didn't know what to say to that, it seemed unreal to consider that we even stood a chance against something that powerful.

Instead of focusing on that problem, I decided to address a different one.

"You know a thing or two about astronomy right?"

Natalie nodded and I gestured to the night sky that was forming around us. "Maybe I'm seeing things, but does it seem like some of these constellations aren't right?"

She squinted and looked up, and just as she was about to make a statement; we heard the most bizarre noise come from within our shelter.

It was so inhuman that it caused both of us to jump. I turned about and Natalie said nervously, "Did one of those things stay behind?"

"Stay behind me," I ordered as we moved toward the entrance and I found an old steel pipe. That was when I realized the noise was coming from the same rail car where we had been hiding earlier.

"Paul!" I called out passing the laptop to her and running up to the doors of the car.

What I saw next defied all explanation. Jim's body was convulsing, twisting on the floor like a rag doll. Something was crawling it's way out of his mouth, it resembled this spidery web of slime; and latched onto his body to cover his face with a coat of brown skin that sealed his dead eyes closed.

His legs and arms bent over awkwardly to form a sort of distorted crab like appearance as I watched. Then the tendrils began to slide their way down his skin, fusing his body parts together to create a tough exoskeleton.

All the while the sounds emerging from his corpse were enough to send a cold chill down my whole body. Behind him, I saw Mister Kearny stir. It was probably the most inconvenient time for the old man to finally come to, but there was nothing I could do to stop him from seeing what was happening.

Paul pushed  his body back against the wall of the rail car as Jim continued to twist and reform, his skin and muscles now being stretched to their limit.

Mister Kearny caught sight of me and slowly crawled over to where I was at for help to break free, trying his best to keep his eyes from being distracted by the horrors that were happening to his friend.

I didn't hesitate to grab Kearny by the arm and pull him out of the rail car. Then I slammed the door shut and began to jam the metal rod into the handle. Anything to keep this monstrous corpse from breaking free.

Natalie was standing close by, listening to the screams that sounded so much like the man she had known for the past six months.

I helped Kearny get away from the car as Jim's body started to ram agains the side, desperate to be out of the confined space.

"Help me," I asked Natalie since the old man didn't have his crutch. In another moment the latch was free. I couldn't help but to look back.

The grey matter was forming scales down Jim's legs and chest, long stretching sinew and sharp bones pushing out at all angles as the transformation was complete. We all started to run.

Out in the open air, i checked the horizon to see just if there was anywhere to hide. But most of the other cars had been devastated by the tornado. The creature that had taken control of Jim's body was bounding toward us faster than a cheetah.

Than, from somewhere off in the distance I heard the sound of an engine. We helped Kearny get to the closest overturned trailer for cover, and I spotted a yellow weather van driving up at top speed.

Caleb, Olivia; I realized with excitement rushing over me. The creature was almost on top of us. But they were faster. The van slammed hard against it, sending it flying as they hit their breaks.

Caleb jumped out, guns blazing as he looked toward the monster.

"Wait!! Wait!!" Natalie begged him with tears in her eyes as he walked over to the wounded beast. "It's... it's Jim..." she explained.

I could tell the statement shocked Caleb as much as it did us as he stared down at the dying monster. I thought I saw sadness in the monster's eyes and hesitation. But then the hunter made a decision, pointed his pistol toward its skull; and opened fire. He didn't stop until his bullets were gone.

Olivia was at my side a moment later, checking her father for injuries. "How did you get here so quick, I just sent out the signal an hour ago?" I asked.

"We were in the area... sorry dad, but I just knew something was wrong when you didn't phone in," she explained.

"You left the station... unmanned?" Her father asked, a panicked look in his eyes.

"Yes and no. We managed to make sort of a mobile broadcast for us while we are out and about, we followed your general direction and picked up Dillion's signal about nineteen miles back," Caleb explained.

Kearny still didn't look very happy with either of them. "It isn't safe out here," he muttered.

"No kidding," Olivia said as she got him up and added, "We need to get you back to the station and recover."

"We can't do that, not now," Paul said looking toward the dead corpse of what was once Jim Laschar. Now that my adrenaline was slowing down, a few stray pieces to this puzzle were being put together.

"This was never about tracking a storm," I realized.

"What are you talking about Pruitt?" Caleb muttered.

Kearny's face was filled with emotion, he knew I had figured it out. "I think I owe you all an explanation." 

---

Credits

 

Tales from a Rookie Storm Chaser (Part 10: Between a Rock and a Hard Place)

  

When I came to, the first thing I heard was the howl of the storm.

Wind pressed against my face as I carefully opened my eyes, then I saw the damage that had been done.

We were upside down. Natalie was dangling with her seatbelt on. Glass was scattered all across the roof along with everything else we had carried with us. Jim was injured but breathing, blood gushing from his side as he pulled out a piece of shrapnel and checked on his boss.

"Paul, are you okay? Paul?" Laschar said as he checked the old man's pulse and head. "He's unconscious," he muttered. I crawled slowly across the broken glass to where Natalie was at. The whole front window was busted open and more dust and debris was being pushed in toward us by the second.

Out across the train yard I saw the tornado continuing to wreck havoc, smashing up stray train cars and sending them flying in every direction. Besides that, there was the threat of the creatures themselves; and while I lay there trying to get my breath back I counted at least half a dozen.

They were skittering about the tops of the long metallic trailers, shrieking in the air and searching. Searching for us.

"Are you okay?" I asked Natalie as she opened her eyes slowly.

"I think I'll make it," she muttered as I helped her unbuckle and slowly crawl down to the roof of the camper. "We need to get somewhere safe," I told Jim as I scanned the train yard again.

"How about that?" I was pointing toward a large metallic building that looked like it was used as a switch station for some of the tracks.

"It's better than nothing," he agreed as he pushed the heavy equipment out of the way and gently pulled Paul up to a sitting position.

"Jesus, he's heavy... I don't think I can lift him alone," Jim said. "You're also injured," I pointed out as I turned my head toward Natalie and muttered, "Do you think you could help?"

She nodded and got her breath back, helping pull Kearny toward one of the side doors on the camper and kicking it open. Wind pushed her hair in her face and Natalie looked toward the twister.

"Do you think it will come back for us?" she asked nervously as Jim held the door open.

"If we make a run for it, we might make it," Laschar remarked, crawling out of the door and against the side of the vehicle.

Natalie and I were next. We each took hold of one of Paul's arms and dragged him out toward the pavement. The gash on his head looked deep, and I worried that the stress we were putting on his body might do even more damage; but we had little choice left.

Natalie laid him down on the ground to catch her breath as Jim clutched his side. Then from above us we heard a low growl. One of the creature's was moving about near the tires that still spun wildly in the air.

"Don't move..." I whispered as we hunkered against the side of the trailer. If these things were blind then there might be a chance that it wouldn't know we were here, I reasoned as we listened to it claw at the metal underbelly of the camper.

Another creature scurried just out of our view in-between two train cars and made a low howling noise, it sounded like it was a call of some kind. Then the one above us flew off toward the tornado as we watched. Even from this distance it was hard to look directly at the storm, the blinding light it would cast causing me to keep my eyes down.

"Let's go," Natalie said as she hunched down and placed Paul's arm over her shoulder. I did the same on the opposite side of him and we lifted up together, his dead weight making it nearly impossible for us to even move at all.

Together we moved as one across the train yard, Jim kept his back toward us and held the minuscule flare gun tight to his body but so far the creatures didn't seem to be paying us any mind.

That changed a moment later. Something like a blaring horn sounded out across the sky.

The funnel started to push back up and the creatures made their way into it as it disappeared from sight. Then the rain began to fall. The second it hit my neck with it's burning power I let out a cry and nearly let go of Paul.

"Shit!" Jim shouted as he tried to cover his head and started picking up speed.

Then from the downpour came something large. I was having a hard time making sure I didn't trip over my own feet as Natalie and I followed Laschar toward the master switchboard, but from what I could tell it was at least three times as large as the monsters we had dealt with before.

The burning rain was almost enough to make me want to give up, but we finally made it inside the metallic structure and I laid Paul down, checking him for wounds as well.

"Shit. How the hell we gonna get out of this?"

"The storm can't last forever right...? I mean, it'll move on," Natalie reasoned. Laschar didn't seem too sure but he was so exhausted that he didn't argue with her.

From the entrance we saw the rain get harder and more intense. The train cars we had just ran past were now barely visible in the downpour.

But something else was. It stood above the train cars like a beast out of ancient mythology, slowly prowling the train yard with low guttural sounds. I could barely make out the outline of the beast but it was enough to send a shiver down my spine. Then it turned its enormous head toward us, six rows of eyes glowing in the rainstorm; and let out a deafening screech.

"Keep moving," Jim told us gesturing toward one of the old rail cars.

I didn't have to be told twice. Natalie was out of breath and hurting but she pulled it together to get Mister Kearny inside the rail car. The creature was moving toward the wide mouth of the structure. I saw long tendrils gaping from its mouth just as Jim slammed the door shut.

"Is this going to keep it out..?" Natalie whimpered as we listened to it move about the station. I listened as it pushed aside train cars with its long legs like nothing. In the tiny slots that were cut into the train car I could see its scaly back zooming by. Was it hunting for us?

The rail car jostled for a moment and shook, and the three of us fell to the floor and hunkered down. It could be on us at any second.

Then, after what seemed like an eternity, the creature let out another noise and pushed its way out the back. We waited another three minutes and then finally relaxed.

I moved to check Jim's wounds, frowning as I realized that it was more severe than I realized.

"You've lost a lot of blood," I muttered as I gave him my coat to press against his side.

"I'll be fine," he said as he slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out the flash drive. "What matters is we kept this safe."

The rain kept pelting against the roof as we stayed there, listening to the creature search the yard. Finally Natalie muttered, "How are we going to get out of here?"

Jim was in and out of consciousness from the blood loss but still trying his best to give us answers.

"If... ya get my laptop, we can patch this back to home base and send a message... for help," he muttered passing me the flash drive.

"I can't go out in the storm," I objected and then added, "*Lets wait and see if it passes through."

I looked down at his wound again and wondered if the way he was bleeding he would even have that long. He needed medical attention.

As he slipped into unconsciousness again, I pushed the rail car door open and climbed out to the station floor.

"Where are you going?" Natalie asked nervously.

"To find a first aid kit, keep this door closed until I get back."

It was eerily quiet as I moved toward the side of the switch station, nothing besides the sound of the rain and the occasional burst of thunder. What were the creatures doing, I wondered as I pushed open the door to an old control room.

A few moments later, I found what I was looking for and smashed the glass to reach the kit. There was some gauze and some needle and thread and a few other tools to help me sew up Jim.

Then I froze. Somewhere behind me, I heard the sound of footsteps on the stairwell. I kept the kit close to my body and barely craned my head out to take a look. One of the blind creatures was crawling up the railing, and just as it opened its mouth to smell again, I realized it had detected my presence.

I ran. I ran faster than I think I ever have. I pushed right past the creature in those split seconds before it had a chance to react and then leapt down to the station floor.

It turned about, made a loud scream and jumped toward me.

"Natalie!!"

I was at least 19 yards from the rail car. The monster was moving faster than any Olympic athlete. I knew it would be on me in a matter of seconds.

The door slid open and Jim was standing there, holding the final flare. "Get down boy!" he shouted. I dodged out of the way as the creature came barreling.

Jim took a step out to fire, but suddenly pain in his side made him cripple over. In a second the creature was on top of him and the gun fell to the floor with a soft skitter.

Rearing it's head back, the monster dug it's pincers into Jim's chest, slashing opening his skin like paper. Laschar screamed and tried to reach for the gun.

I was closer. I got up, grabbed the weapon and pointed it toward the beast. It fired and hit it in the lower torso and for a brief moment it kept ripping into Jim before the flare finally went off and it fell backward with the explosion.

"Shit," I ran to Laschar's side and looked at his new wounds. They were deep. Far too great for me to treat with a mere needle and thread.

Natalie panned her head out to look and covered her mouth in shock. Then she crumpled down and began to cry.

"We're never going to make it out of here," she said nervously. Jim was gasping for breath, some of the cuts had hit his lungs and he knew that it wouldn't be long. He grasped my arm and made me look him in the eye.

"Dillion. When it happens... make it quick.."

I stayed by his side as he kept bleeding out, struggling for air.

Then he was gone and the station was silent once more. Nothing else filled the air except another rumble of thunder. 

---

Credits

 

Tales from a Rookie Storm Chaser (Part 9: The Calm Before)

  

Driving out of Emerald Bay the second time for a storm chase felt so much different than before, given all that I now understood.

Especially when it came to the people who I now worked with.

Natalie was at the wheel, her trim figure looking so minuscule against the bulky frame and yet I had seen quite recently just what sort of fighter she was.

In the back Jim Laschar was watching the monitors, his eyes dashing back and forth between screens to get a better idea of where we were headed. To think of how many times he had been through this and yet he still always wanted more.

Then there was Kearny. Paul Kearny was standing up near the very rear of the long camper, staring toward the road that we had been on as he used the door to prop his body up. From this angle as the sun dipped low again over the horizon, he looked like a captain at the mast of a ship; watching the open ocean as his crew set out for adventure.

But this wasn't an ordinary voyage we were embarking on by any means. I was beginning to get the feeling that we were the Pequod and he was our Captain Ahab.

The roads north of Emerald Bay were scarce with life or even crops. Just dead earth and scars that ran crisscross, making the whole place look like a barren waste.

According to Jim, we still had about thirteen miles to go before reaching the beacon. And the screen showed the storm was moving to the northwest, lingering near the mountains. Could that be where this supposed nest was they were so eager to find?

I didn't know what to make of any of it, and from Natalie's tense expression it seemed clear she was nervous too.

"Is this your first time out here?" I asked her as I came back from the mini-bar, offering her warm coffee.

She yawned and took it before saying, "No... uh. Actually my second. The first didn't go very well..."

I placed my beverage down in the cup holder apologizing quickly, "Sorry, I didn't know..."

"It was a winter storm. Strong south east winds moving across the Stateline that Mister Kearny wanted to track, and I wanted to prove I was valuable for more than just crunching numbers," she said as she looked into the horizon distantly.

I didn't say a word, listening as she recounted the experience.

"Back then, it was me, Nick, Caleb and of course the boss.  We were in high spirits because Jim had just managed to figure out how to build a probe and it was time to go and test it on a live storm, the radar picked up some fluctuations and so we went without hesitation," she clenched the wheel nervously.

"It was actually thanks to my astronomy that the probe even worked at all. I worked side by side with Jim. The math was perfect. Everything should have been perfect."

I looked toward the road, the realization of what happened dawning on me. "Nick died, didn't he?"

"The storm was too strong. The calculations were off. We couldn't stand up against it," Natalie said as she reflected on the event with a glazed look in her eye. "But Mister Kearny... he insisted we push forward. He refused to believe we could fail."

I thought back to the chase a few days ago where Martin had been hurt and how Paul had acted similarly. Was he really so blind to this pursuit that he was willing to risk anything and everything for the sake of the hunt?

"I'm sorry... I shouldn't have brought it up," I admitted.

"It was right after that Martin and I got close. He told me there was nothing I could have done for Nick..." she paused and looked toward me. "I guess that's just a forecast for our whole relationship huh?"

I leaned over and sipped some of the coffee.

"What made you decide to stay?"

"I guess the mystery of it all. What the storm is, and maybe a part of me wanted to fight back after what happened with Nick. Mostly it was Mister Kearny though. He was insistent that my concepts for the probe were spot on, and with more work it could be perfected," she gestured toward the sky adding, "Six months later it looks like maybe he was right."

She laughed nervously as we kept driving and I glanced back toward the rear of the camper where our boss stood.

"What do you think is keeping him here then? I mean, why is he doing all this?"

Natalie looked me dead in the eye. "Isn't it obvious? Revenge," she answered. I nodded, realizing she had come to the same conclusion as me. The storm had taken what he cared for most.

"I just hope that it hasn't transformed into blind rage," I said softly.

Neither of us said a word for a long time as we passed the next stretch of road and I spotted something off in the distance.

I leaned forward, seeing a glint of sunlight reflect off of the object and Natalie remarked, "That's the beacon I think."

I banged on the back of the camper to get the others attention. Kearny and Jim came up front as Natalie slowed the camper down.

"Good work. Looks like she's still intact," the old man said. Natalie pulled the camper alongside the highway and turned off the engine as Jim and I started to gather extension cables to reach the device.

"I'm surprised no one bothered it out here," I said as we lugged the long cords over the grass.

"Not many people use these old roads. Lots of ghost towns out here," Jim mused as he opened up the paneling on the side of the cylinder and punched in an activation code.

I looked about the barren land, spotting a few mountains off to the south; but besides that he was correct: there wasn't a sign of civilization for miles.

"Come on, work dangnabit," Laschar said smacking the beacon on the side.

"Problem?" Kearny asked as he gingerly walked over.

"It says it's connecting, but I'm not picking up anything. Should be right on top of us actually," Jim admitted in confusion as he looked up.

There wasn't a cloud anywhere to be seen, nothing but clear skies.

"You got the coordinates right and you're patched into home base?"

"Maybe that's the issue.. I need to start running the algorithm for the triangulation..." he said as he rushed back to our vehicle.

Kearny was ruffling his hair and looking about. The air was colder and Natalie hugged at her body.

"Something feels wrong about this," she muttered.

Laschar made it to the camper and turned on the equipment there as Paul kept scanning the clouds. "Hey Jim! Bring me a flare gun!" he shouted.

The stout man was back at the beacon in a heartbeat and passed the flare to his boss.

While Jim started working on the code, Kearny grabbed his crutch and moved to the side of th camper.

"Natalie, help me with this ladder," he demanded.

I watched as the blonde pulled the ladder down and Paul climbed up on top of the camper. Then, using the roof satellite he pulled himself up and aimed the flare gun toward the heavens.

A second later he fired and the flare streaked upward quickly. I watched until it disappeared from sight and frowned. It exploded across the sky, revealing something hidden.

The empty sky began to swirl, pushing clouds together into a central mass. Then a streak of lightning burst across the newly formed storm as it kept growing bigger.

Jim hit the monitor again and said, "I'm picking up something now but it's going to take a minute to transmit."

I kept looking at the swirling clouds as they got darker and darker and the wind picked up.

"I don't think we've got that long.."

A low deep noise boomed from the storm. It sounded like the waking of a mighty beast. Then, as I watched with morbid fascination; the clouds seemed to form the shape of an eye.

"I think we need to go," Natalie realized as she saw it too. Meantime Paul was smiling but when he noticed our distractions he called out, "Dillion! Natalie! Don't look directly at it!!"

I rushed up to the ladder and shouted back, "Sir, we need to move and I mean now."

The equipment in the van was already registering wind bursts up to 33mph.

Lightning crashed down only about thirty feet from the beacon and Jim held his chest, frightened at the close proximity.

He quickly detached a flash drive from the device and rushed to the camper muttering, "I'll compile it on the road."

Paul was climbing down from the roof as the roads of the storm grew louder. Then the funnel began to form. It was larger than before, at least the size of an F3. The camper was rocking before it even touched the ground.

"Get in," I said as I helped Mister Kearny inside.

Once the doors were shut Natalie wasted no time pulling onto the highway.

"Dillion, the camera. It's the only way we can monitor that thing without it hurting us," Paul told me.

The twister hit the ground to the east of us with a reverberating crash. With the speeds rising over 90mph on the equipment scanners, It could easily become an F4.

"Shit," Jim muttered as I moved to the rear and got the camera ready. The back of the camper also doubled as a equipment carrier for the heavy camera so setting it up wasn't difficult even as Natalie picked up speed.

I turned the lens toward where we had come from and watched as the massive tornado devastated the flat lands. "That thing is moving pretty fast..." I said watching it rip past us on the horizon.

Our equipment now rose to 150 wind speed from this distance. The storm pushed its way past us, striking against a body of water right off our view and I checked the maps.

"We need to turn around."

"Are you crazy?" Natalie asked.

"It's intercepting us," I said as the funnel was moving toward a bridge we would have to cross.

"We're not gonna make that," Laschar agreed. Natalie pushed the camper to its limit. But it wasn't enough. Almost 2000 yards away the mighty twister smashed the bridge apart like it was nothing. Concrete and slabs of pavement flew up into the restless cyclone in a matter of seconds.

Natalie slammed on the brakes and turned the wheel as sharp as she could, our tires skidding and avoiding some of the debris as we moved toward the side of the river.

I held the camera steady and heard the storm roar louder as more massive chunks of stone and cement flew past us.

One of the windows in the back shattered and our vehicle barely made the U-Turn, but somehow Natalie managed to keep all four wheels from lifting off the ground.

"Bloody hell," Jim said as he hung on for dear life.

Soon we were speeding down the highway in the opposite direction. The storm was not far behind. At this point our equipment couldn't even register the top speeds it was reaching but it had to be over 200mph.

Kearny quickly scrambled for a map. "We need to find shelter," he muttered.

From behind us, the inhuman shrieks began to rumble across the storm and I watched several of the creatures burst out of the tornado and fly across the heavens.

The whole sky was alive with this storm's fury as I kept recording. I briefly glanced away from the lens to get a better look with my own eyes, only to find myself covering them as a direct glance was like staring at the sun. It hurt so much I had to turn away and cuss softly. It took a few seconds for my eyes to refocus.

"Nobody ever listens," Paul quipped as our own pedometer reached 77mph. "That thing is catching up!" Jim muttered to our frantic driver.

"I can't go any faster!!" Natalie screamed frantically. The storm was almost on top of us.

This chase had now become a hunt, and we were the prey.

"Here. It's an old train yard. They probably have some well fortified bunkers there, enough to even withstand this," Kearny said pressing the map to the dashboard.

Natalie's eyes darted back and forth between the chart and the road as she struggled to keep from losing control.

"Can we make it there?" she asked.

Before Paul could answer, one of the creature's latched onto the roof of our camper, causing the whole vehicle to shake.

"Hell," Jim muttered, grabbing the flare gun and then shoving the roof hatch open.

He aimed it toward the creature's abdomen and let it rocket straight through the beast.

It exploded in fire and  the creature shrieked again as it fell, colliding against the side of the camper as we turned a sharp corner onto a dirt road. Dust and more debris kept spinning in the air as the twister took a short cut, smashing up farmland.

I could see the train yard that Paul had mentioned about 13 meters away. But the twister was picking up speed.

There was a long stretch of tracks across the road where I saw an old freight engine sitting. The cyclone was almost on top of it.

"Come on, come on."

But it was too late and I knew it. The train didn't stand a chance. As the massive storm hit it, it was flung like a tinker toy. Natalie swerved right as she saw the metal and gears fly about chaotically.

The air pushed around us. The camper crunched as it went over a part of the tracks and into the yard.

The train hit the back of our vehicle and sent us up in the air. Natalie lost control. I held my breath and watched as we spun through the air. Equipment crashed down around us, the windows shattered, Mister Kearny bashed his head against one of the counters and Natalie screamed. Then the world went black. 

---

Credits

 

Tales from a Rookie Storm Chaser (Part 8: Aftermath)

  

For the next hour we hunkered down inside the station and listened as the stronger creatures tore Martin's body apart like it was a chew toy. Kearny insisted we cover the monitors so we didn't have to see the carnage play out. Still, with each passing moment the rain pelted the building, the wind howled and then at last, it was over.

In the morning light, we gathered to give the cameraman a small vigil. I wanted to go out and see if anything was left to bury, but Olivia said it still wasn't safe.

So instead we gathered some of the corpses of our enemies and made a bonfire in the garage. None of the crew really had much to say, it was just a moment of silence. I didn't know him well but I had to admire and honor his sacrifice.

But some of what he said still lingered in my head and as Jim bandaged the wounds I had gotten on my arm, I reflected on those words.

"What did he mean when he said he was part of them now?" I whispered. Laschar gave me a look, but didn't respond. I turned to the others for an answer and Olivia muttered, "He was infected."

I nodded, recalling that was the reason her father had been reluctant to even help the cameraman, but it still didn't answer my question.

"The signal didn't hurt them either, what was up with that?"

"Is this really the time for these questions," she sighed irritably.

"What? It's distracting me; that's how I cope," I muttered as I watched Jim finish the last wrapping.

Nobody said a word so I decided to turn the topic back over to retrieving his body. "It isn't right for us to just leave him out there to rot," I insisted.

"It's what he would want," Caleb commented.

"You can turn off the broadcast Jim, their done hunting for now," Kearny remarked.

"What provoked them anyway?" Caleb rolled his eyes. "Oh I don't know, how about the fact that you snagged one and then brought it back here?"

I felt my mouth go dry again and had nothing to say. I had feared that was the case, but hadn't wanted to be confronted with those facts.

"We made it out of town... we were in the clear," I said.

"Told you they could track for miles... but this was more than that, Pruitt. You took what was theirs, they only acted on instinct to get it back," the older Kearny remarked.

Natalie was doing her best not to cry, both of us feeling like fools for endangering everyone with our foolish behavior.

"What are these things anyway?" I muttered.

Kearny sighed and lit a Marlboro.

"Think of them like a colony of ants or bees. They act as one, using frequencies that help them coordinate, strategize and ultimately attack," he explained.

"A colony... so the ones we've seen so far, they are the drones?"

Kearny nodded and gestured toward the dim light that peeked through the shattered windows. "And the soldiers. That's why they aren't harmed by the signal, they are on a different frequency. One we haven't quite figured out how to interfere with yet," he muttered.

"You're telling me that this whole time you've been here you've never dealt with this before?" I asked in surprise.

"Yeah, you got to bring all the bad luck," Caleb said with a sneer.

"*Seriously though, it can't be a coincidence."

The hunter gave a long sigh. "Of course it isn't you dipshit. And if you hadn't been so dense to go play the hero, then maybe you could have given us more time to explain this shitstorm that you signed up for."

"I'm not the one who was ready to give up on Martin!" I snapped rising to my feet. I saw Natalie growing more emotional as Caleb snarled, "Oh yeah, great job saving him. Lot of good that did huh?"

"It sounds to me like you just feel guilty for not doing shit," I snarled.

Caleb bounded across the room, staring me straight in the eye. "You know what, you've been nothing but trouble since you got here," he said.

"Enough!" Kearny snapped.

The hunter gave me an icy glare and backed down as the older man grabbed his crutch and walked toward the center of the room. "Dillion did what any of us would have done... or rather, what all of us should have done," he muttered as he finished his smoke.

I gave him a nod. "I appreciate that, especially coming from you." "You tried your best, and you failed. I think the guilt alone will be enough to make you second guess the next time you want to disobey an order," Kearny said evenly.

There was another moment of awkward silence.

Caleb stood up and stretched and muttered, "While I appreciate that we've all decided to let bygones be bygones, we do need to focus on our next step. The beacon."

I felt too tired to fight so instead focused my attention on this turn in the conversation.

"You mentioned that before what is it?"

Caleb looked at me again, clearly not wanting to share anything with me but gestured to Jim before remarking, "Let the man who designed it explain."

Laschar smiled nervously and then turned on one of the monitors that displayed a radar of the surrounding area. "Okay so, you know how we explained that these things are like bees right? Well, awhile back Martin and I theorized that maybe if we built a type of transponder we could mess with their signal, control the way they move."

"Well, the beacon was exactly that. We built it to send out a matching signal to the one that we've recorded whenever storms roll in. And, if these past few days have been any indication; it looks like it's working and the storms are becoming more frequent," Laschar explained excitedly.

"Wait hold on, I don't understand... are you saying that you actually want the storms to come here?"

"We've been tracking them for years, Pruitt. Monitored their patterns and determined how they operate. But for the past four years our goals have shifted to one singular objective," Mister Kearny said as he gave a wicked smirk and added, "Find out where they originate from and knock out the colony."

It took me a moment to process all of what they had just said and I sat down on the back end of the weather van.

A few things still weren't adding up. "Why did we go out and snag one of them then? What was that for?"

"The beacon can only transmit one way," Jim explained and when he saw my confused expression, he grabbed some paper and cleared off one of the desks.

"Okay, so imagine.... that this coffee cup is us okay?" he muttered as he grabbed a few other items nearby.

"Now this donut here is the transponder, it's sending out a signal; causing the storm to form one cohesive and predictable pattern..." he paused, drawing a ring around the two objects.

"So, in order for us to receive that message we would need something to coordinate with... which is where the probe came in. Martin sent one out when we were hit by that first storm, and the plan was for it to lead us back to the nest," he explained. I nodded, the pieces starting to form a complete picture as I stared at the makeshift map he had made.

"But the creature died... so you lost signal. No transmission received so you couldn't pinpoint where the creatures were coming from," I said.

"Precisely," Jim said, surprised that I caught on so quickly. I shook my head and looked toward Kearny. "How can you even be sure there is a nest? You've been doing this since your daughter was little, what makes you think you even have a chance of stopping it?"

The old man gave me a stern glare but it was actually Caleb that answered the question. "Because if we don't, eventually something will happen to all of us; the way it did to everyone else that found this place. Channel 46 will go dark and when that happens... the whole world will go to shit," he said.

I shook my head in disbelief.  "You're talking about hunting down a force of nature like it's a wild animal... it just doesn't sound possible," I admitted.

"Oh and suddenly you think you know better?" Caleb snarled as he pointed toward Natalie who was still standing dazed in the corner and adding, "Need I remind you what happened the last time you acted on your own?"

"At least I did something! All you care about is this stupid hunt, like you think it's a big game trophy or something," I snarled.

"You watch your tone," he growled.

"I'm sorry, does someone have a guilty conscience?"

That was the last straw for the hunter. He punched me square in the jaw. Before I had a chance to react he was slamming his foot in my chest.

I heard Olivia and Natalie asking for him to stop, but Mitchum wasn't listening. His anger toward me had finally reached a boiling point.

Then, just as he was about to hit me in the face again; we heard a low growl from outside.

Caleb paused and all of us looked toward the covered up monitors.

"They are still out there..." Natalie said nervously.

"Move the blankets, Jim. Let's see," Kearny instructed as Olivia helped me off the ground.

All of us watched in stunned silence at one of the exterior monitors where we saw what remained of Martin's body.

The drones had torn off both his arms and devoured the majority of his chest cavity. But most of his face was still hanging on along with other vital organs just sagging off the side like discarded trash. Natalie held her mouth and screamed softly as we saw something move in the tree lines.

It was one of the monsters. It had discarded its human flesh and stretched itself to full size, towering over Martin's body like bear. In another moment, it used its long pincers to drag his body into the woods, leaving the forest floor empty at last.

Jim turned to comfort the blonde as she continued to grieve. After another uneasy silence, I asked the question that must have been on everyone's mind. "Why would they take his body?"

Kearny didn't respond but Caleb was checking the radar again. Flashes of activity could seen a few miles north. "I think they're taking him to the nest," he realized.

"Let me see," the old man said, his interest suddenly piqued at the possibility that they still had a chance to find whatever prize he sought to claim.

"Could be... its hard to say. We don't get good signal here, too much interference from the tower," Caleb said as he turned off the monitor and had a thoughtful gaze.

"But... if we got out to the transponder... we could track them easily from there. As long as we didn't lose the signal here, we could triangulate it and then broaden our range," he said softly.

"You really think that would work?" Olivia said with a surprise.

Jim turned his attention to the conversation and ran a few equations before nodding slightly, "Possibly. Martin did have a tracker on him when he... well, you know. He must have expected this would happen."

I looked toward Natalie, still trying to come to terms with everything as Caleb set up a plan. "We can move all the equipment we need into the camper and use it to head for the beacon. Jim, you could coordinate from here," he said excitedly.

"Hold on. You're seriously thinking about going out there again? We've barely had a chance to even recuperate."

"If we don't go now the signal might be lost, and this time for good. We don't know how long that particular beacon will even last. Jim, what do you say; could that work?" Caleb asked, turning back to the stout man.

"Theoretically... yes..." he said as the hunter clapped his hands excitedly. "But... I think I need to be the one going out there. I built the beacon so I'm more familiar with how it works." "Okay, sure fine; you can go," the trapper said dismissively.

"Hold on," Olivia muttered raising her hands and looking toward her father. "We need to think this through. Who's staying here to man the station? And more importantly, without Martin who will handle the camera equipment?"  she asked.

The old man pursed his lips together, considering all of the alternatives and then muttered, "I think it will need to be you, my dear. You know this place inside and out."

Olivia looked like she wanted to object, but didn't say a word about that; instead focusing on the issue of equipment. "You'll need a driver and someone else to help with the set up, Jim can't handle it all," she growled.

Kearny took a look at me. I knew exactly what he was thinking. "I can run the camera," I decided. "All right then. Looks like I'm the driver," Caleb said excitedly getting ready to leave the room.

"Not so fast," Mister Kearny declared as he leaned on his crutch and then jabbed a finger toward the hunter. "You're a much better gun then anyone else here, Mitchum; and that means you would be better suited to stay here and protect my daughter in case those things come back for round two," he snapped.

The trapper looked offended that he wasn't going to get to go but instead of arguing he remarked, "Okay, then who do you suggest as a driver?"

Kearny looked toward Natalie. The blonde's mouth gaped open. "Me..? Sir...."

"You said yourself you wanted to do field duty. This is your chance," the old man declared.

I didn't bother putting my two cents in. I knew they wouldn't listen anyway. Instead I turned to Caleb and said, "I'll help you load up the camper." 

---

Credits