[ if I make mistakes in the script, just know I'm typing it out as I watch it without subtitles, so if you notice something wrong, just let me know or ignore it ]

✵︎

THERE IS NO VIRTUAL STORM-WHISPERER.

Dakota Abernathy never could remember her dreams when she woke up, but she knew it wasn't a good one when she woke up sweating, sitting bolt upright in her sleeping bag.

Of course, it wasn't the dream that woke her up. No, it was Kate, who'd rudely beeped the horn on the van, waking all of them up. They'd been camped out in a field for hours, all their equipment monitoring the weather and waiting for a storm that would hopefully morph into a small tornado. And given that tornado season was just about over, it was their last chance for a long while to actually test their experiment.

Dakota was a little mad at herself that it'd taken so long to perfect the theoretical work of it all.

"Storm's here, guys. Let's go," Kate said excitedly as all the others groaned.

Javi, who was on the ground next to Dakota and also in a sleeping bag, whined and shut his eyes again. "Nah. No, it can't be. Ugh, I worked way too hard last night."

"Yeah, worked," Dakota said with an amused scoff. "Really worked hard on that sixth beer."

"Says the baby that was drinking hard lemonades all night," he mumbled, going back underneath the sleeping bag.

Dakota stuck her tongue out childishly while crawling out of her purple sleeping bag. Given the humid air, her plain black t-shirt and denim shorts were sticking to her skin in an uncomfortable way, but she knew if things went as planned, she was going to get a lot more uncomfortable.

"Javi, get up. Come on!" Kate ordered while ripping the top of the sleeping bag off him.

"Come on," he groaned, not wanting to move.

"I got it," Dakota said, grinning as she grabbed a beer bottle that was three-quarters of the way empty. Javi had never been good about cleaning up his junk, so, she tipped the bottle over and spilled it on his face.

Javi sputtered and jumped up, wiping his face. "What the fuck, Kota?"

"I got you up, didn't I?" she asked, grinning. "Sleeping will only prolong your hangover. You need water and one of the protein bars in the cooler."

Javi rolled his eyes and stumbled over to the cooler full of food. "You need water and protein bars — stop mothering me. You're a child."

"A child that knows even more about this tech than all of us do," Jeb reminded him. Then he grabbed the video camera, wanting to document everything as they all began working to set up the experiment.

While Praveen worked on the top of the car and Addy looked at Dorothy — and Javi sat in a lawn chair — Dakota examined the trailer that the barrels were on. She flicked the metal with a doubtful frown. It was sort of a lightweight trailer, but it was the best they could find with their limited budget. She was just hoping it'd hold up since the barrels would weigh it down.

"Jeb, are you sure you're recording?" Kate asked as her boyfriend pointed the camera at her. "I don't see a red light."

"Oh," he said before looking at the lense, catching an image of his upside down and way too close face. "Yeah. Recording."

He then pointed the camera back at her and laughed, and whenever Jeb laughed, so did Kate. It made Dakota smile, loving how happy they made each other.

"Don't make me laugh," Kate said, trying to be stern. Then she cleared her throat. "Okay. Today, our science team from the Tornado Tamer Project is out in the field. About to chase a storm southwest of us. Our experient is designed to decrease the moisture inside of a tornado to see if we can make it collapse."

"Tell the folks how you do that, Kate," Jeb requested.

"Well, first we gotta find a tornado to suck up our super absorbent polymers in these barrels—"

"Diapers," Addy suddenly whispered, catching their attention. "Tell them it's the same stuff we use in diapers."

Rather than let Kate do it, Jeb just pointed the camera at a shy Addy. "It's nontoxic."

Addy laughed and then passed Kate, giving her a fist bump. She joined Dakota, who was now checking the latches on the barrels.

"Saving the environment while also destroying natural environmental occurrences," Dakota murmured, thinking it was a bit ironic.

Praveen then came over with his laptop. "Uh, the Doppler doesn't show a storm until the afternoon."

"Well, data doesn't see what Kate sees, remember?" Addy said.

"Yeah. There is no virtual storm-whisperer," Dakota added.

"How about Kate sees a few miles of sleep? That might work," Javi said, his sunglasses still perched on his face as he remained sitting. Then he glared at Praveen, who sat his laptop down on the giant monstrosity that was Dorothy. "Praveen, what are you doing? Dorothy's not a desk."

"Yeah, she's just an outdated hunk of junk," Dakota said, smirking at Javi.

"Well, without that hunk of junk, you're not gonna be able to analyze what's about to happen," he said smugly.

"No bickering," Kate said, grinning. Javi and Dakota could go at it like siblings if not stopped. Then she held up the camera. "C'mon. Get in, get in, get in!" All of them crowded together, and Javi ruffled Dakota's hair to mess it up, making her elbow him in the gut. "You know what today is?"

"The day we tame a tornado!" they all shouted before hollering and cheering.

"Alright. But I'm gonna yak first," Javi said, walking away in the grass. "That granola bar is coming right back up."

✵︎

Dakota was squished between Praveen and Addy in the back seat of the car. Typically, another physicist would be back with Javi, monitoring everything from a computer. But Dakota loved watching the storms too much. She'd get Jeb to drive right into a tornado if she could. But she'd settle for getting close this time.

"Kate was right," Praveen said, looking at the Doppler. "Southeast winds are picking up."

"They are," she agreed, her eyes glued to the window.

"It's really building up," he noted.

Addy was watching closely as lightning struck in the distance. "One Mississippi. Two Mississippi."

Praveen eyed her like she was crazy. "That's not a thing, by the way."

"Sure, it is," Dakota said as Kate answered her ringing phone. "If you divide the number of seconds between by five, it gives you an approximate estimate. Of course, not exact."

"Ha!" Addy said, poking her tongue out childishly at Praveen. They knew that Dakota didn't just make up scientific facts.

Jeb then leaned back and informed them who Kate was on the phone with. "Mrs. Carter."

"Hey!"

"Mrs. Carter!"

"Hey! Hello!"

Kate smiled at her friends and finished up the call. "Okay, I'll tell them. Love you," she said before hanging up. "Uh, she says there's barbecue at the house when we're done."

"Did she make it in the smoker?" Dakota asked, leaning between the front seats. She was a sucker for good barbecue covered in sauce.

"No other way to make it," Kate assured her before looking out at the growing storm. "Man, I love Oklahoma."

"Definitely starting to feel more like home than Alabama ever was," Dakota said, leaning back.

"Glad to know we've won you over," Addy said, bumping her shoulder with hers.

Then Javi came over the radio in the car. "Alright, how we getting this thing? I need a southwest position to read my sensors."

"Yeah, pulling right up," Jeb told him.

More lightning struck, and Addy began counting. "One Mississippi—" Only for thunder to cut her off, the sound booming all around them. She laughed hard along with Dakota, both getting excited.

"Oh, and the wind shear is strong," Javi added.

"That's some serious energy building in there. Whoo!" Addy cheered. Then she rolled down her window and stuck her head out, beginning to film on her phone. Which of course, stressed Praveen out.

He reached across Dakota and grabbed onto Addy's belt. "Hey, buckle up. Don't lean out the window!"

She just cheered carefreely.

"C'mon. Come back in. Addy, that's — please?" he begged.

With a huff, Addy did as asked. "Ever since you got struck by lightning, you're no fun."

"Yeah, well, that's what happens," he grumbled.

"Hey, we should get the mixture ready," Kate suddenly said.

Jed looked at her confused. "Well, don't you wanna wait for the rain to hit first?" As if on cue, the first drops hit the windshield. Kate just smiled knowingly. "Okay, we should, um, we should get the mixture ready."

"Yes, we should."

"Never doubt the storm-whisperer," Dakota said, shaking her head. "You know this, you fool,"

Jeb just shook his head and laughed before pulling over on the side of the dirt road, Javi stopping a few seconds later.

While Jeb and Kate worked on mixing the barrels together, Addy focused on Dorothy while Praveen and Dakota triple checked on how the car was holding up. Dakota had made sure all their satellites and antennas were protected from all sides in case there was any debris.

"There she is!" Javi said while jumping out of the van with his computer in hand.

"Okay, quick, quick, quick!" Kate said, getting more excited.

Addy was getting fed up, pressing the ON button on Dorothy over and over again. Which just provoked Javi. "Hey, hey! Gentle. Gentle! You might break it." Then he hit it hard on the side, making Dakota snicker. "Now try it."

Addy tried again and again, only to look at him in annoyance. This was their one chance, and his precious Dorothy wasn't working.

"Usually, it works," he shrugged.

"Kota's right. This thing is so old."

"Look, I mean, it's old, but it's field tested. You know, unlike Kate's science project over here," Javi joked.

"It's our science project," Praveen reminded him.

"No time, Javi," Kate said, running around the barrels. "If Dorothy's not working, then forget the date. Okay, we'll worry about it later."

Even Dakota was just as horrified as Javi. Data was what the world revolved around in her head.

"Forget the data? Wha—"

"This storms not gonna wait for us, Javi," Jeb said as if he didn't know that.

"There's death ridge setting in," Kate added. "Probably our last chase of the season. No matter what, we've gotta get these in the air and seeing if they can make a tornado vanish. It's more important."

"No, h - how about it's equally as important we do both," he argued.

"He's right," Dakota said. "If we don't have the data, no one will believe us when this works."

She needed the world to believe her so that she could get the recognition she so craved.

But thankfully, Addy came to the rescue. "Oh, got it!" she exclaimed as Dorothy let out a crackling sound, opening up to reveal the numerous little sensors that would be picked up in the storm.

Kate came over with a smile and picked one up. "Fine. Get us the numbers for Dakota. Whatever we need to win a big fat grant."

"Yeah, I'm all about my cash money right there," Javi said, chuckling as he did his little handshake with Kate.

Then she headed toward the car, the others following. Dakota was jumpy as she got back between Praveen and Addy, her eyes on the clouds in front of them.

"Hey! Be careful!" they faintly heard Javi yell as they drove off.

It was evident, they knew right away, that it was a strong storm. The rain was beating down, and because of the changes in temperature, the windows were fogging up horrible, the wipers doing nothing to help.

"I've got a cave of four thousand. A hundred knots out the gate," Praveen updated them.

"It's a nice, respectable EF 1. I mean, an EF 2 will take it," Kate said, her eyes on the clouds.

"Well, an EF 2 would be too big," he said, frowning. He didn't want to be anywhere near one that big.

Kate just looked back at him flatly. "You have no faith, Praveen."

"Or no more than a baby EF 0," Addy said before grabbing the radio. "Javi, how's Dorothy's GPS?"

"Dorothy's coming in loud and clear," he reported.

More and more stray limbs began crashing into the car, which made it harder for Jeb to stay straight.

"No swerving," Dakota said. "Just because this vehicle isn't easy to flip doesn't mean one wrong jerk won't do it."

"I'm trying, Kota," he said, shaking his head. "You wanna get up here?"

"No!" Kate, Praveen, and Addy all shouted. Dakota was far too reckless a driver, and she would have driven them right into the tornado just for fun.

As more and more debris hit them, Praveen spoke again, his voice a little higher. "Are we in the tornado?"

"No," Kate said, looking out the rearview window. "No, it's behind us."

"Shit," Dakota said as she turned around, seeing the huge funnel begin to touch down, it taking out fences with it.

"Wh - Should I drive faster?" Jeb asked, panicking a bit. They weren't meant to be this close.

"No. No, no. We've gotta drop the barrels in its path," Kate explained.

"A - Are we gonna see the path?" Praveen asked nervously.

Suddenly, a huge hay bale crashed into the truck's window, cracking it. The truck severed, and even over the howling winds, Dakota could hear as the trailer tipped over and the barrels fell over. She shut her eyes and cursed under her breath, not seeing the tornado coming right at them from their right side.

"This is the path," Kate breathed out.

"How close is it?" Addy asked, her eyes wide.

"That's a lot of lightning," Praveen said, beginning to tremble.

"Okay, you guys stay here. I'll get it," Kate said, getting out of the car quickly.

"Wait. Wait, babe!" Jeb called. Then he looked back at the others. "We've gotta help her, guys!"

All of them rushed out of the car, and in seconds, Dakota was soaked to the bone. But she rushed to help lift the barrels, noting that some of the polymers had already tumbled out and onto the ground, a waste of material — she already wasn't positive that they had enough.

"It's spilling!" Kate said, panicking a bit. "We've gotta hurry."

But the five of them weren't strong enough to tip them all over.

"No, we need leverage to tip it!" Jeb shouted, running to find something in the mess of debris blowing around.

"Hurry, Jeb!" Dakota said over the wind.

Jeb found a big enough branch and came back, sticking it under the barrels. He groaned and put all his weight on it, helping them tilt the barrels right side up. All of them cheered, glad that the small hiccup wouldn't stop them.

"Hey, gang! We got muscles and brains—"

Dakota covered her mouth and snorted as wet hay smacked into his face. He just sheepishly spit it out, shaking his head. Kate happily ran to him and cupped his cheeks, kissing him.

"Okay, let's open them up!" she then commanded.

The most familiar with the latches she designed, Dakota was the one to do so while Praveen unhitched the trailer and Addy smacked Dorothy until it powered up.

"Alright, we got it. Let's go! Let's go!" Kate said, running back to the car.

Dakota followed her but stopped when she saw Addy staring at the oncoming storm, frozen in fear.

"We gotta go!" Dakota said, grabbing her hand and pulling her along.

Once they were all safe in the car, Jeb began driving while Kate radioed Javi. "Okay, we dropped the trailer, Javi."

"Now, let's see if it takes the bait," he said, his voice a bit garbled.

"Are you eating? At a time like this?" Dakota asked in exasperation.

"I'm not the one driving around the death tunnel," he reminded her.

"What if there's no tornado? What if it's just a dense wave of hail?" Addy asked. Part of her was so scared that she hoped it wasn't a tornado.

But then the wind picked up the polymers, all of them watching through the back window as the white powder flew up in a funnel.

"Whoo, baby!" Javi cheered as his sensors picked up the movement. "We just shot up ten thousand feet!"

"Okay, that's not a hail wave," Addy murmured, making Dakota smile.

"We did it, Kate," Javi said, all of them hearing the grin in his voice.

But then Jeb focused on the rearview mirror. "Wait, wait. It's getting closer."

Dakota looked out the front window and frowned when she noticed the wipers getting stuck, fighting against the wind that was suddenly picking up harshly at a much faster rate.

"Sensors rising. Thirty thousand feet," Javi informed them.

Kate frowned, growing confused. Why was the storm still going? "Th - The polyacolaides should be active now."

"This isn't right," Dakota said, leaning forward so that Kate could see her. "The winds should be weakening, not getting stronger."

"Are the winds weakening, Javi?" Addy asked.

"Dorothy can't tell you that. Lagrangian mechanics. A moving sensor can't give you the exact measurement wind speed, but... oh, yeah. Forty thousand feet. Your tornado isn't shrinking, Kate," he told them. "Fifty thousand feet... Holy shit. Nah, nah, nah. This can't be right."

"What?" Dakota asked, looking back at Addy, who grabbed the radio.

"Javi, talk to us. Javi, talk to us," she pleaded, getting no immediate response, which scared her. "Talk to us!"

"The sensors just shot up seventy thousand feet!" he told them.

"The next read velocity is two hundred miles per hour," Praveen told them, his voice shaking a bit.

"That's impossible," Jeb said, shaking his head.

"An EF 1 can't—"

"It's not an EF 1, Kota," Kate said, her voice quieter than normal as she looked out the back window, her eyes wide. The tornado was growing, taking out the power lines behind them. "It's an EF 5."

"Guys. Guys, whatever's in there, it's big. It's big and it's moving fast," Javi warned. "Drive. You gotta get the hell outta there."

"Woah, woah! Go, go!" Dakota shouted as the wind speed picked up. The car was shaking, ready to be ripped up in an instant.

"How did it become an EF 5?" Jeb asked, stomping on the gas pedal.

"It's getting closer!" Praveen screamed.

Addy was the only one to see the uprooted overpass sign flying toward the truck. "Look out!"

But it hit them anyway, the windshield cracking even more. It caused Jeb to swerve, who drove through a fence before skidding to a halt, the tires getting stuck in the mud.

"Everybody okay?" Jeb asked, looking back at them.

Dakota took in a deep breath and looked back out the window. "We've got to get out. Motor vehicles are too easily lifted."

"There!" Praveen said, spotting the shelter of an overpass.

"Overpasses are the worst in tornadoes!" Kate shouted.

"What do we do?" Addy asked, panicking.

"Get out!" Dakota yelled, practically pushing Addy out of the car. "Maybe there's a ditch on the way there!"

And her timing was perfect, as all of them heard the car's metal creaking, getting ready to be ripped from the ground. "This car's gonna fly. Come on!"

Everyone followed Dakota out of the car. Javi was yelling for them over the radio, but none could hear it over the pouring rain and deafening wind. Dakota kept her hand intertwined with Addy's, practically dragging the girl.

When she heard metal groaning, she looked back just in time to see the car disappear into the storm.

So, she pumped her legs faster. There wasn't any deep enough ditch to lie down in, so the overpass was their only option.

Jeb reached it first, then Kate, followed by Dakota and Addy. It was hard to climb the incline, their feet slipping on the wet concrete, fighting the wind that tried to sweep them away. As the others made progress, Addy kept sliding down, her sneakers having no traction.

Then a sharp piece of metal flew through the air, slicing into Kate's upper thigh. She screamed and looked back at the others, the first to realize they were one short.

"Where's Praveen?"

Dakota looked back in horror, realizing that he was gone and not coming back. It made her climb harder as Kate reached Jeb. But Addy was still below her.

"Kota! Kota!" she cried, reaching for her hand. As Jeb held onto Dakota's waist to keep her steady, she reached for Addy's hand.

"Come on!" Dakota yelled, stretching her arm. She managed to interlock her fingers with Addy's, but just as she started to pull, more metal went flying.

Dakota felt a searing pain in her right shoulder and lost her grip on Addy. She only had a second to process that a huge piece of a broken metal was sticking through her shoulder before the road sign that had been attached to the pole in her shoulder rammed into Addy, sending the girl flying.

A gut wrenching scream tore through Dakota, who hardly noticed Jeb pulling her back toward a crying Kate.

"Come on!" he said, dragging her. "Both of you, get under the rail. Get in. Get in! With your arms around the rail, you're gonna be okay! It's gonna be okay! Keep holding on to each other!"

Through bleary vision, Dakota did as she was told, holding onto the rail like it was a life line — it was. Kate hid her face in her neck as Jeb put himself over both of them, shielding them from debris.

"I've got you. I've got you, Kate. I've got y—"

Suddenly, Jeb was ripped away just as the others were. Feeling his absence, Kate screamed and looked back after him. "No! No!"

"Get down!" Dakota ordered, pulling Kate's head back down. "Hold on!"

Dakota didn't know how long it lasted — the news reports said only a few minutes, but it felt like hours to her as she held onto the rail and Kate for dear life, her shoulder burning as blood was washed away with the rain.

And then just like that, it was over, and silence fell over them. The loudest silence Dakota had ever heard as she raised her head, looking around them with tears in her eyes.

They were all gone, just like that. The only real friends she'd ever had. Taken up in a storm just like her father. And yet again, the storm didn't even have the decency to take her with them.