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The theater began to succumb to the winds of a tornado that was still a half mile away at the most. For having been hit by two tornadoes before this, half of the city seemed like it wasn't made to withstand someone coughing too hard. The ceiling of the old city theater bent, tore off, collapsed, whatever the winds of such a large tornado could do to it. The tornado sounded close to a train. A usual sound to hear from one, but it was unnerving when you knew that wall of air was so close, large, and destructive.
Javi bolted to the other side of the theater, sprinting down the hall with Boone close behind. There was no shelter on the other side of the theater. They were stuck in the theater rooms, with whatever movie was being screened in the moment. He continued running, until he reached the other side of the hallway where Tyler was. They all stood there, looking into the wind. The wind spinning so quickly, it was ready to destroy El Reno. Again. Just as it had 11 years earlier. And 13 years earlier. Why this town? That didn't cross his mind much in the moment. All Javi was focused on was that he couldn't find Kate. Javi was enamored with this girl, this woman he'd been obsessed with for damn near six years at that point. Javi couldn't loose her, especially now, or he would've lost himself. He knew that. Javi turned to Tyler, hoping he knew any better than he did.
"Where's Kate?" Javi shouted over the howling jet engine/train love child that was the noise of an approaching twister.
He looked out the open door into the sky that had become a misty, murky green in half of his vision. The other half was taken up by the dark mass of a cloud that just so happened to be spinning at god knows what speed. Javi looked on with horror. Immediately, he knew what had happened. Or he at least thought he did. She'd seen something out there and rushed out, only to be swept away by an EF-5 rather than someone like him.
Please, dear god, please don't tell me I'm right. Not again. Javi thought, looking up at the tornado.
Tyler stared blankly ahead, almost with a sickening smile. Javi and Boone looked in that direction, wondering what Tyler was so infatuated with. Then, they saw it. A red Dodge Ram driving straight at the tornado. A pickup. With a roll cage. Dragging an entire trailer of what had to be almost 40 bright yellow barrels. Holy shit. It was Kate driving the truck. In that moment, that was the only answer. She had been with Tyler most of the week after being pissed off by Javi, and she was the only one other than him that Tyler would've ever trusted with the keys to the truck. Javi wanted to scream out into the wind, to stop what he knew was going to happen again. Last time this girl he found himself so invested in drove near a tornado tugging barrels along, three of her friends and almost her herself died. But she lived.
In that moment, it seemed like that day almost 6 years ago, Kate was taunting him. She lived in that moment just to play with his heart on this day. Javi wasn't going to let her do that. No. Not again.
Javi attempted to run directly at the massive, probably nearly a mile wide, tornado. That quickly failed; Tyler went from holding his shoulder to having an arm around his, holding him back. Boone was quick to jump in, doing the same and pulling him back into the rapidly collapsing theater. Javi wanted to struggle, and so he did for a split moment. Then, the reasonable part of him kicked in. The part of him that said Maybe we shouldn't run directly into a tornado. We'd probably die. This is a bad idea. Javi, trusting that a tornado would most definetly rip him to shreds, listened. He went still, just staring as Boone and Tyler shut the doors of the theater. The door replaced his view of the truck, which had positioned itself right in the tornado.
"Hey, we've gotta go." Boone said to Javi, running back into the theater with Tyler.
Javi hesitated for a split second. He fought with himself, debating on if he should've ran out to get to Kate. But he knew that wasn't exactly a wise choice. So Javi also ran back in, basically throwing himself to the ground near Dexter and Ben. Ben, who'd spent most of the week screaming from fear, was oddly quiet now, more focused on staying alive than yelling. Dexter held onto the seats of the theater, also focused on staying alive.
That was the energy in the theater right then. Stay alive. Focus on that, scream later. Survive. That was the base of all human instinct. Survive. Everything else can come later.
The back of the theater collapsed, taking the screen and a few rows of seating with it in the moment. Two people, who hadn't been far back in the theater, went up into the spinning clouds, screaming for help. Javi didn't flinch. There was no way to save them. All Javi could do was pray that, whatever happened to those people, was that they'd survive and come out ok on the other side. He did the same for Kate. For the love of God, whatever the hell she's doing, please let her live. I can't do this again. He repeated to himself. Let her live. Let her live. Let her live. Not again. Not again. Not again.
The next few moments (which might have been 45 seconds at the most) seemed like hours as the pain from holding on so tightly to the seats, wind and debris ripping past him at what may as well have been mach one. Hold on. Survive. If you don't, you can't see Kate again. Or maybe you will. No, don't think like that. You won't see her, period. He said, yelling at himself in his own head to stay alive just long enough to know what happened to her. The Ram was built like a tank. Roll cage outside, protecting the body and bed of the truck. Those anchors, while not rated to hold in EF-Whatever the fuck this was winds, stood a chance. Javi tried to keep himself calm. The fear wouldn't help him. Or her. Or any of El Reno's nearly 17,000 residents.
Pretty soon, though, Javi felt the winds weakening outside. Quickly. Too quickly. But that didn't matter. Javi didn't care in that moment. Javi pushed himself off the floor, looking into the area outside that hadn't been visible before because of the wall. Javi looked over his shoulder, checking for the rest of the Wranglers. Tyler, Boone, and Lilly were standing right behind him, mostly just looking around and trying to process everything. Ben shot up from the seat near where Javi had stationed himself, Dexter from not much further, and Dani from near the back of the theater.
"Let's go!" Javi yelled. "We have to find Kate!"
Javi climbed over the debris to get out of the theater, eyes darting around the horizon for the Ram. Tyler followed him quickly, followed by Boone, and eventually the rest of the team bolting across scattered debris, looking for the truck.
To absolutely nobody's surprise, Javi was the first to spot the truck, rolled over near some destroyed water tanks. Unable to calm himself down enough to say anything quieter that a shout, he called for the rest of the Wranglers. Javi steeled himself for whatever was about to happen. Regardless, things would never be the same.
In the moment, Javi saw Kate trying to pull herself out of the rolled truck, blood coming down the side of her face. Javi and Tyler ran to help her up, the others not too far behind. Javi was so happy to just see her alive he could've kissed the woman right there, but he knew now wasn't the time. Tyler flashed him a knowing look. Javi rolled his eyes, giving him a Yeah, just wait look. Lilly was in the back of the group, already on the phone with the 911 dispatch. Javi got on the ground next to her, moving the hair out of her face. Kate looked at the grass, scoured from the intensity of the tornado. Tyler shot Javi that look again, to which Javi ignored him. All that mattered was that Kate was alive. She was breathing heavy, not making eye contact, but that was fine. Javi was willing to wait for her. More then that, even.
"Did it work?" Kate questioned quietly, still recovering from being even lightly tossed in a tornado.
"Kate... it worked." Javi smiled with that big, idiot grin.
"You alright?" Tyler asked.
Kate smiled and nodded, quickly followed by the rest of Tyler's crew running right up to the truck. They were cheering and hollering, excited as a bunch of puppies. Dani grabbed onto Javi, hugging him tightly. Javi laughed, refreshed by their energy from the sheer terror he was in barely even 3 minutes beforehand. The crew was cheering, celebrating her survival.
"We thought you were dead for sure." Dani said, smiling brightly.
"I think I love you." Boone declared, earning himself a weird look from Lilly.
Are you serious right now? Lilly seemed to silently ask, while Boone couldn't have even been bothered to look her way.
Javi tuned out most of the rest, just happy to see Kate alive. His heart was racing so quickly from the energy and thrill, he may as well have exploded then. No, maybe later. Javi held out a hand to Kate, offering to help rub off the road rash and blood, which had already mostly stopped. Kate agreed, and Javi did so without much volume. His hands moved delicately, almost afraid to hurt her. The look of pure adoration and love on his face didn't make it past Lilly, who got down and whispered to Dani.
"Look at his face. He's obsessed."
Dani hummed with agreement, and Javi pretended as if he never heard anything. If he had, Kate probably had as well. And if he acknowledged it, so would she. Javi backed off after a moment, still relatively close to her face and trying to surpress the blush creeping up the side of his face. This time, it was Dani next to him that flashed the look. Instead of ignoring her or making her wait, Javi subtly nodded. He was way to thrilled that Kate had survived to just let her go like that. Javi looked back at Kate, seemingly asking if she'd let him do this. Kate gave a small grin, a sign that Javi took as him being allowed to move forward.
Javi sighed softly before looking around again. Carefully, he pressed their lips together in a sweet, soft moment. The crew seemed to get quiet, watching the moment between the two but not saying anything. Javi brought both of his hands to Kate's face, keeping the moment going for as long as he felt was necessary to get the message across. I am so fucking obnoxiously in love with you and I have been for way too long now. Eventually, that moment ended (because they were running out of breath) and Javi pulled away. Looking helplessly into her eyes, Javi felt his emotions and feelings for Kate intensify tenfold. That feeling that he had to protect Kate with the parts of him. The surge of a feeling, some ancient need to protect. Kate smiled back at him. A few feet behind them, they both heard Lilly laughing to herself.
"I knew it, man..." Lilly said.
"Hey, it was my idea!" Tyler said, lightly shoving Lilly.
In the distance, the wail of an ambulance slowly came within range and got louder, slowly as the vehicle made its' way though debris in the street. Javi looked in the direction of the wailing, then back at Kate. His gaze remained loving and protective.
"You sure you'll be alright?" Javi asked, planting another light kiss on her forehead.
"Yeah... yeah, I'll be alright." Kate said, content.