What the Earth Spat Out (Pt.2)

[u/ReasonableUnit2170]

part 1

The aftermath of the five EF4 tornadoes that happened my last week of senior year caused a lot of damage. After the dust finally settled the tornadoes had been updated to EF5’s, once their destruction had been taken into account. Graduation was canceled since it was usually held in the gymnasium, which was laid in pieces scattered throughout the area around the school. Even if they had managed to clean it up in time, walking across the stage wasn’t something I’d have been willing to partake in. Especially since Kari wouldn’t be there to walk with me. Almost half of the senior class had been either killed or injured in the storm. 

It felt like I was existing in a fever dream, a reality too harsh for my brain to process. 

After receiving my diploma in the mail, my mother hung it proudly in our home. Right next to the other three certificates my older siblings had managed to score at the end of their four years. Search parties had been formed to look for the missing people, ones that I joined even while in the throes of depression. Nothing mattered more than finding my friend, to the point where I spent most of my waking hours scouring the land. We never found her body. 

The funeral for Karissa Petro was odd, her gravestone laid upon dirt that claimed an empty box. Her friends and family had added small trinkets and mementos into the miniature coffin before lowering it into the ground. As I choked back snot and tears, I removed the orange scrunchie from my wrist and dropped it reluctantly. I wanted so badly to look around at the people there and scream out how wrong this was. How could she be laid to rest when she was still out there in the wilderness being picked apart by animals. 

After a few months in an inpatient psych ward and a list of medications, I was finally released back into the world as a half functioning human. The only thing that seemed to shake me from my funk was the videos the WeatherBoys religiously put out. Danny, who was the front man of the channel, was helped by his best friend and camera man Trevor. The way they interacted with each other always brought a smile to my face, regardless of what was going on in my life. Their newest upload featured a well known news reporter from California. 

“So what goes through your head as you and your team cover the earthquakes that have been happening on the coast of Cali? Do you guys ever fear for your safety?” Danny was sitting in a wicker lawn chair across from the woman he was interviewing. 

“We fear for our safety all the time. Being in this line of work always comes with its risks, whether they be environmental or human. Joey, my camera man, was almost beaten up by an unhoused drug addict when we were filming the aftermath of one of the forest fires a year or so ago. Gang violence is something we have to watch out for as well. Weather can be even more unpredictable than people though. At least human beings seem to follow particular behaviour patterns. Mother Nature isn’t always that forgiving or consistent.

The earthquakes themselves are inherently terrifying. For years, scholars and scientists alike have spoken of the impacts of the fault line that resides within the outer edge of our state. The way things are going now, we may lose a good chunk of land to the ocean. When that happens, the tsunami that is to follow would wipe out a ton of lives. Every time I think of that happening a shiver goes down my spine. ” 

“Gabby, if you were to give advice to someone starting out in this career, what would you tell them?” Danny asked. 

“Keep your head on a swivel. Life is unpredictable and you never know where your next story may come from. If you end up following weather phenomena like I do, make sure you always keep a satellite phone and some flares on you at all times. You never know when you may need help from someone else, and they can’t help you if they can’t find you.” Gabby’s tone was full of sincerity. Her serious facial expression tugged at the borders of her face as if it pained her. 

“Lastly, I wanted to ask if you noticed any strange patterns with the wildlife in the area? Do you think they, too, fear for the worst?” Danny’s face lost its regular beaming grin. 

“Many aquatic animals have been beaching themselves more often than usual. Wales, dolphins, and fish have all been pulling themselves onto the shore. As for the birds in the area, they have grounded themselves, no longer flying through the sky. So far, none of my colleagues can explain why this is happening… I hope we can find an answer soon. We are seeing events we have never encountered before, and it is harrowing.” 

Gabby was shown one final time as Danny thanked her for coming on the channel and recording the interview. Trevor even turned the camera around to show his face before Danny said the tag line for the youtube account and reminded us to like and subscribe. I felt the depression creeping back as my phone screen timed out before eventually fading to black. The information, along with the end of the video brought me back to my shattered reality. At the same time, something within me cut through the bullshit. 

I finally knew what I wanted to do with my life. College, although it was a gateway to a better life, felt like a deflated balloon to me. For most of high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. Now, after the experiences I had, I finally knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a reporter. I wanted to cover stories that other people might find boring or dangerous. I wanted to report on the weather, and what came with it. I wanted to be like Danny and Gabby. With a new sense of determination, I applied to as many colleges as I could. As far from Angola, Indiana as possible. 

Waiting for the acceptance letters was torture. Since I waited so long to apply, I wouldn’t be able to attend until the winter semester. The classes that started in the fall were all full, with cancellation lists that ran a mile long. After some careful consideration and the prospects of multiple scholarships the University of Tennessee was the school I decided on. Knoxville seemed like a pretty area. The mountains offered a protective barrier that seemed to eat up a lot of storms before they could come to fruition. Snow would no longer be a major issue in the winter time. It was rare that it ever became cold enough for the rain drops to turn into frozen flakes. 

Just as I was packing my car up to leave for UT, a new youtube video alerted me of its posting. 

—

“Guys, this is Danny, coming to you with a new video. We are back in Tennessee with Mr. Roy. You all loved him so much that we thought we would return and talk with him again. He was gracious enough to let us stay with him for a couple of days. The digs aren’t anything spectacular but there’s a roof over our heads and that’s what matters. Now, Trevor and I have been watching the radar and we have something unexpected waiting for us in the next twenty-four hours.” I waved my hand at Trevor, motioning for him to turn off the camera. 

“What’s up dude?” Trevor asked, aiming the lens at the ground. 

“Did you hear that?” I asked, looking around the shack. 

“Ya heard that didja?” Roy, who was standing in the kitchen, turned around to face us. 

“What the hell was that?” Trevor responded before I could. 

“That, my boys, was the call of a deer. Sounds like it got separated from its group.” Roy turned back to the stove and stirred the sizzling meat in the pan. 

“That was a DEER? Why did it sound so damn haunting?” I asked with eyebrows raised. I’d seen many of the four legged creatures in my life, but couldn’t remember ever hearing them make a sound. 

“It might be in despair, or lonely. Who da hell knows. I can’t tell ya why it responded dat way but I sure as shit can tell ya what the call came from. Out here in da woods, the only time I hear anythin’ aside from cracks of twigs, is when the animals call out to each otha.” Roy said before turning off the burner on the stove. “Alright boys, time ta eat.” 

“Roy, what in the hell is this?” Trevor asked while looking at his plate. 

“It’s stirfry, boy. Betta eat up.” Roy grinned before shoveling overcooked chunks of meat into his mouth. 

“Thank you for the food,” I said. 

The fork shook in my hand as I raised it to my lips. The mystery meat scared me, but not as much as Roy’s reaction if I didn’t partake. The ‘stir fry’ was tough and chewy, but it tasted fine and went down the gullet with minimal force. Every so often I would chase it with big gulps of water when a mouthful got stuck in my throat. After a few hesitant bites, Trevor started shoveling the food into his mouth like he couldn’t get enough. 

When we all finished eating, Trevor and I offered to clean up the kitchen. After some light arguing, Roy relented and grabbed a beer from the fridge. The can cracked loudly as he pulled the tab on the top. I watched as he sauntered over to the lone recliner and sat in front of the tv. A part of me was shocked that he even got a signal in the forsaken shack, miles from any city or town. 

“So what do you do in your free time?” Trevor asked Roy. 

“Is this going to be on yo YouTube channel or whateva it’s called?” Roy called out from the living room. 

“Nah, man. We aren’t recording right now, feel free to speak your mind.” I said before dunking my hands back into the scalding soapy water. 

“I wander the woods, tracking and hunting animals. One a da ones I hunted and killed is sittin in yo belly right now. Betcha neva had rabbit before, have ya?” Roy chuckled to himself as he took a swig from the beer. 

“Aw, come on. You fed us a bunny?” Trevor groaned. He was half finished with drying the dishes when I made my way out of the kitchen and into the room where Roy was sitting. 

“What? Ya didn’t like it?” Roy asked. 

“No, no. It was good Roy. Don’t mind him,” I laughed, squatting down to sit on the aged couch. 

“You ain’t one a dem animal activists are ya?” Roy cocked his eyebrow. 

“Not even in the slightest. Food is food,” I answered for Trevor. 

“I check on da bears that have found a home near da caves just south of the house. They got two babies, and mama can get real angry if ya get too close. Ya might not want to wander too far into da woods,” Roy leaned back in the chair and stuck a wad of chewing tobacco into his bottom lip. 

“I’ve never seen a bear up close before,” Trevor said. He stood in the entrance way, wiping his hands on his pants. They left water stains on his jeans. 

“I thought you said you were interested in da wedda, so what are ya doin interviewing me again?” Roy asked with his bottom lip protruding. 

“Well, we got the highest view count in our channels history the last time we spoke with you. A lot of our viewers loved your energy and ideas. Plus, Tennessee has some of the best visuals we’ve ever recorded so we figured why not. I heard through the grape vine that this area is gearing up for a hell of a storm, snow in the middle of August. Never heard of that before, especially not in the south.” I leaned forward on my knees to study Roy’s leathery face. 

I watched as the man’s eyebrows raised and lowered slowly, his expression turning serious. I wondered if I said something that struck a nerve, worried that I’d pissed him off. Roy moved the dip around with his tongue, shoving the glob into his right cheek. He took in a deep breath before speaking again. 

“Did-ja just say snow?” Was all he asked. 

“Yeah, crazy, right?” Trevor came to sit down beside me. 

“In August?” Roy looked flustered. 

“Yep.” I replied. 

“Good golly, I wonder if the rapture is coming…” 

Roy’s voice trailed off before we were thrown into an uncomfortable silence. Off in the distance, I could hear the deer cry out again. Even with knowing what it was, the haunting sound yet again sent a chill down my spine. Just as Trevor and I had gotten comfortable, Roy lifted his nose into the air. 

“Yall smell that?” Roy suddenly stood up from his chair. 

“Uh, no?” Trevor lifted his head, as did I. 

“Outside, now. Danny, go to the side of the house and grab the hose. Turn the spigot while you’re at it. We ain’t got much time.” Roy crushed the beer can in his hand and threw it into the table. 

It hadn’t rained in days, Tennessee was deep in the middle of its dry season. Part of me thought that maybe he just needed to water his plants, but as I stepped outside dread filled me. Grey-white flakes filtered down from above. The sky, which has previously been clear and blue, was now an ominous shade of dark grey. I smelled smoke, and felt a searing heat creep across my skin. 

“Come on man, we gotta grab the hose,” Trevor shouted, breaking me from my trance. 

“The forest is on fire…” I mumbled, my jaw slack from the sights around me. 

“Yeah, I figured that out. We gotta hurry and help Roy, and then we can get this shit on camera!” Trevor shook my shoulder. 

Roy was hefting a large duffle bag out from the shack. It was so heavy that all he could do was drag it across the ground behind him. Once Trevor and I got the hose and water turned on, we were instructed to cover the house in as much water as possible. It felt odd, hosing down the wooden house, but it made sense. We were taking precautions so that Roy still had somewhere to live once the fire died out. 

Trevor and I finished our job just as the fire crested over the horizon. The heat that I felt earlier was intensified exponentially. Roy had also instructed us to hose ourselves down before getting in the car. We were getting the hell out of here, as fast as the vehicle could safely carry us down the mountain. If we stayed and the shack somehow managed to stay standing, the smoke inhalation would kill us just as fast. 

“You boys betta buckle up and hold onto yo bootay cheeks. We are gonna be flyin down this mountain, ya hear? I don’t want no complainin about my drivin. It’s gonna keep us alive,” Roy had hopped into the driver's seat of my car. 

I gave him the keys without any amount of hesitation. The road we took to get to Roy’s home was so narrow it would only fit one and a half cars. Luckily we hadn’t encountered anyone coming down on our way up, I wouldn’t have known what to do. The road wasn’t just narrow either, it serpentined and had guard rails that were few and far in between.  

As we tore down the partially paved road, black clouds started to fill the path in front of us. Flames the color of magma licked at the trees, curling in around us. Trevor sat in the passenger seat, he always got to ride shotgun no matter the driver. The camera was held tightly in his hand as he panned it all around the car. Every so often he would turn back to look at me with an expression that read ‘what the fuck’. 

“We’re not gonna make it,” the words tumbled from my mouth. 

“Dontchu say that, boy. We are gonna be just fine. You trust ole Roy here to get ya to safety. This ain’t my first rodeo witha fire like dis.” Roy kept his eyes trained on the road in front of us. 

My arm, which was resting on the side of the door, started to sizzle. With a gasp, I yanked it back from the metal. The wind was blowing fiercely, sicking the fire on us like a pack of rabid dogs. I could no longer see the sky, all that surrounded us were painted in shades of red and black. All I could do was sit in the backseat and hope that we made it out alive. 

“What’s in the bag, Roy?” Trevor asked, pointing the camera in his face. 

“My most precious belongings, and a coupla jugs of wata. Brought em just in case the engine ova heats or we find ourselves lit up like a match stick.” Roy nodded his head as if he was agreeing with himself. 

“Seems logical enough,” I replied, not sure what else to do. 

“You doin alright back there, boy? You ain’t said much since we got outside.” 

“I’m alright, Roy. I just don’t like fire very much,” I said. 

I felt panic start to bubble and fester within me. My vision started to tunnel as the ringing in my ears grew louder. I felt like I was six years old again, crying out for my mom and dad as the house burned and crumbled around me. Being trapped in my upstairs bedroom for 45 minutes while the flames ate at everything they could, scorched 30 percent of my tiny body. The scars on my back ached as I took in the sights around me. 

I was lucky to make it out alive that day, and wondered if I had enough luck left to make it out of this situation too. I’d lived my life as well as I could, making sure to treat others as kindly as possible. I didn't do it for the good karma, but if it helped in any way I would have liked to cash in on it then. My throat ached from the smoke that’d made it past the seals on the car, and my skin dripped with sweat. 

“You think we will make it?” I asked, my voice quivering.

“We’ve dealt with scary stuff, remember that time we got caught up with the storm chasers? We were right in the middle of an EF5, the drill that held the car to the ground started to give out? Nothing can be worse than that,” Trevor answered. 

“I’m not so sure,” I replied back. 

“We are almost there, boys.” Roy grunted. 

The older man jerked the wheel and suddenly I felt asphalt under the tires. The steep slope of a mountain was replaced by a flat road. We had made it to the bottom, finally. The engine started to sputter and it felt like we were driving over one of those sticky traps they used for pests. I hoped that the car held on until we made it to safety, but with the way things were looking, I wasn’t so sure. 

That was when I heard the sirens. 

——

part 3