“Whoa! Are you getting this?” Ryan stomped on the brake, bringing the van to a halt, causing his cameraman, Jake, to lurch forward.

“Yeah, man, you didn’t have to stop, you know.” Jake groaned. His right eye was glued to the viewfinder of his camera, watching the sky intensely as he clicked away. “Whoa, these are epic!” Jake said several moment later as the photos appeared on the laptop screen.

Ryan turned, peered at the screen,and smiled. Seeing those pictures was one of the best part of his job of being a storm-chaser. Only a camera can see this kind of thing and preserve the moment.

“Whoa, what’s that?” Jake pointed at the distance.

“Shit, we got to go.” Foot on the brake, he threw the car back into drive, and maneuvered a tight U-turn. “Secure everything and hold on!” He shouted and moved his foot to the gas pedal.

“Holy crap!” Jake was staring at one of the monitors in the back of the van. “This is not good.”

In the rear-view mirror, Ryan watched as the beast of a tornado race after them. “What’s the magnitude?” He shouted over the rattling of wind and debris pelting the van.

“It’s up to an EF-3. I don’t think we can outrun it, it’s heading right at us.”

Ryan wasn’t thinking of outrunning the tornado, he was trying for a turn on the road, somewhere to get out of the tornado’s path and he’s found it. “Hold on!” He shouted and turned the steering wheel 90-degrees, never letting his foot off of the gas pedal. He continued speeding down the road at over 100 mile per hour while looking in the rear-view mirror every few seconds. When he saw the tornado was no longer on their tail, he stopped the van and turned to Jake, “You okay?”

Jake nodded, still trying to catch the breath he was holding. “That was terrifying. Let’s not ever do that again.”

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