Dusty looked up at the sky, “Damn good day for some twisters, guys!”
His fellow tornado chasers just grinned and shook their heads. Dusty smirked at the bickering Joe and Bill, then sent a glance at Melissa who talked on her cell phone beside him. He shook his head. They were in for one hell of a trip.
Distant screaming reached Dusty’s ears and he furrowed his brow, mentally tuning out his music to concentrate on the sound. It seemed to come from above him so he looked up and squinted, the screaming becoming louder.
The sky above him suddenly flashed a blinding white and Dusty covered his eyes, then a snap echoed above him and the screams he’d heard suddenly became very loud and clear. They ended abruptly though, as several loud thumps sounded around him.
“What happened?” groaned Nick, using his arms to push himself off the ground.
“I... don’t... know,” gasped Kevin, trying to get his breath back after the hard hit to his back knocked the wind out of him.
“That landing sucked,” retorted AJ, sitting up and rubbing his right side. He paused when he noticed the remote in his right hand, the buttons no longer glowing, but green digital numbers on the small screen were steadily counting down.
00:23:54:02
00:23:54:01
00:23:53:00
00:23:53:59
“Uh, guys? This remote thingy is on a countdown.”
Howie groaned from where he laid on the ground beside AJ, soon pushing himself up to look at the remote AJ held. Howie snatched it away and stared at it with wide eyes, “Twenty-three hours, fifty-three minutes, and fifty, no... forty-nine seconds.”
Brian crawled over from where he’d landed, “’Til what?”
Howie shrugged, “Beats me. Where are we anyways?”
Nick twisted around to a sitting position, then looked around him. He looked up at movement to see a man with longish blond hair in a tie-dye shirt and red cap. The man stared at them and asked Nick, “Who’re you?”
Nick’s jaw dropped as he recognized the man, then his head flipped from side to side at his surroundings, “Guys!”
“What?” asked Kevin, brow furrowed as he gazed at the scruffy blond man. He looked familiar.
“We’re in the movie ‘Twister’!” cried Nick, his wide blue eyes boring into his friends’ faces.
They stared at him blankly, Brian cleared his throat, “Um, Nick? I think you’ve had too much Nintendo.”
Nick scowled, “I’m right. We’re in ‘Twister’.” Nick looked up at the scruffy man, “You’re Dusty, right?”
Dusty froze, staring, then nodded his head. Nick looked beyond him, “And that’s Melissa, and over there is Joe and Bill.”
Dusty looked behind him and then back at Nick, “Yeah, how’d you know that?”
Nick smiled smugly and continued, “And you are tornado chasers, right? And you got a scientific device thingy that you put in the path of a tornado to gather a lot of information that’s called Dorothy.”
Dusty’s jaw dropped, “Uh, yeah. Who are you? How’d you know all that?”
Nick grinned, “It’s a gift.”
“Whoa, whoa, WHOA!” cried AJ, his eyes wide, “We’re actually in the movie?” He looked around, “Man, this is trippy.”
Kevin pushed to his feet and approached Dusty, extending a hand, “Uh, hi. I’m Kevin and that’s Nick, Brian, Howie, and AJ.”
Dusty stared and mutely shook Kevin’s hand, eventually getting his voice back, “Nice to meet ya. I’d introduce myself, but you seem to already know me.”
The sound of arguing came from behind Kevin and he turned to see his four friends standing and bickering about something. He sighed and turned back to Dusty, “Can you give us a few minutes?”
Dusty nodded, his face utterly confused, “Sure.”
Kevin walked over to his friends, “What the hell are you guys arguing about?”
They all stopped and looked at him, Nick spoke first, “AJ doesn’t wanna stay here, even though we don’t really have a choice. Me, I think this is pretty damn cool!”
AJ crossed his arms and scowled, “When I said I’d rather catch a movie, this is NOT what I meant!”
Howie stared down at the remote, “This thing keeps countin’ down, so I think it’s tellin’ us how long we have to be here. If I’m right, we’re here for about a day.”
“Well, fine,” said AJ, then he plopped himself on the ground, “Then I’m not movin’ from this spot until it’s done. I ain’t chasin’ no tornados!”
Brian nodded, “Me, too. I think this is kinda neat, but I don’t wanna go after tornados. No thank you.” He sat beside AJ.
“Oh, come on, you guys!” exclaimed Nick, “This is a one time kinda thing! We’re actually in a movie!”
“I agree with AJ,” toned Kevin, which got him four astonished looks. “Yes, I do. This is dangerous. Let’s just stay put.”
Nick scowled and then fell to the ground in a huff, knowing Kevin’s say was final, “This sucks.”
Kevin smiled, “I’ll go tell Dusty that we’re just tourists that came here to rest for a little while before gettin’ back on the road.”
Kevin turned to go and AJ muttered, “Wonder if they’ll notice we’re missin’ a little somethin’ in that equation... like, a car!”
Kevin heard him but ignored him, continuing on. Then he stopped, “Hey, guys? Check this out!”
“What?” asked Howie, stepping up alongside Kevin. His jaw dropped.
“What the hell?” whispered AJ, staring. Nick and Brian remained silent, staring.
Howie glanced at Kevin, “They’re... they’re frozen.”
All of the storm chasers, including Dusty, were frozen in place. It was as if time had stopped. Not even the leaves on the trees moved, the five singers then noticed the wind was gone, everything just stopped. Even the remote’s countdown.
“Backstreet Boys...”
All five men looked about them for the deep, echoing voice. It came again.
“Backstreet Boys, you have become part of something that you must finish. You must go through with the movie or you shall remain here forever.”
“Who- who are you?” asked Nick, his face pale.
“I am the systematic being of the Warp Machine, the device you five activated.” The voice seemed to smile, “I have been cooped up in that attic of yours, Nick, for longer than I care to admit. Nick, your ancestors were taken on this trip and when they got out of it, they stuck me in that damned attic. They knew no one in their family would set foot up there, but I was lucky... You guys came along and now we’re gonna have some fun!”
AJ whacked Nick upside the head, “Shoulda known this had to do with you.”
“Hey!” replied Nick, indignant, “You’re the one who pushed me into the damn thing!”
“Guys,” sighed Kevin, “That isn’t gettin’ us anywhere.”
Howie spoke to the voice, “So, we have to stay in this movie until the time is up? But we can’t just sit here, we have to actually participate in the movie?”
“Correct, Mr. Dorough,” replied the voice. “The remote has some buttons that do special things, but it’s up to you to push them, that’s your choice. For instance, you may sometimes replace certain characters, it differs. So, if you will continue this game, then I’ll start the movie up again. Are we together on this?”
Brian frowned, “I don’t think we have much choice.”
“Good, I’ll leave you now.”
All five boys jumped as the wind returned along with the noise. AJ took the remote from Howie, “Hey, this thing has a button that says ‘random’. You think it’ll skip through the movie so we can get out of here faster?”
“I don’t know, AJ,” replied Kevin, “But I don’t think we should mess with it. Who knows what will happen.”
“Aw, what could possibly happen?” AJ pushed the button as four voices screamed:
"Noo-"
Snap! FLASH!
"-oooo!"
With a jolt and the last echo of their shout ringing in their ears, the Backstreet Boys suddenly found themselves crammed into Joe’s yellow truck, AJ at the wheel. Kevin was crammed beside AJ and Nick beside Kevin with Brian and Howie on their laps.
AJ’s eyes were wide as he sawed the steering wheel back and forth, “God-damn! Oh, we are NOT in this part of the movie!”
Brian gasped as he looked ahead of him, they were in the drainage ditch that in the movie Bill and Joe took to try and get closer to the tornado. They couldn’t get out of it.
“I can’t breath!” shouted Nick, his voice strained. “This truck was not meant for five people!!”
Howie scoffed, his chest crammed against the dash, “No, really? I didn’t realize that Nick.”
Kevin strained his neck and looked behind him, his jaw dropped, “Oh, shit! There’s a tornado behind us!!!”
AJ gasped, “And a God-damned bridge in front of us!” AJ tried the brakes, but the steep sides of the ditch prevented the truck from slowing down. He braced his hands on the wheel as the bridge neared, “Crap! Hold on!”
All five braced themselves as they slammed into the bridge, Nick opened his door and unknowingly quoted Joe’s line, “That wasn’t so bad.”
They all clambered out of the truck, well, make that fell out of the truck and into the mud and wind. Brian looked up and got an eyeful of mud as Nick scrambled up only to splat back down in the slippery mud. Brian wiped his eyes, “Ack! Nick, get a grip! Will ya?”
“I’m tryin’!” Nick finally got to his feet with the help of the truck. He looked up only to see the tornado bearing down on them, “Guys! The twister!”
Kevin shoved Nick toward the bridge, “I remember this part! Under the bridge and grab hold of something!”
They all scrambled to the bridge supports and held onto them with all their strength, eyes clenched shut. The wind became deafening and the force of it pulled at them, trying to tear them away from the bridge. The tornado pulled the truck away and then slammed it back into the bridge, they screamed. Then the tornado simply picked the truck up, then as it became almost too much for the Backstreet Boys to hang on, the tornado fizzled out.
Kevin cautiously peeked open his eyes, his grip gradually loosening on the wooden pole. He released it with a shaky sigh and fell back on his butt in the mud with a splat, “Whew! What a rush!”
AJ kneeled in the mud and looked around, “Where’s the truck?”
A loud crash reached them and they turned to see the yellow pick-up upside down on the highway and a red pick-up squealing around it, barely missing it. Brian looked at AJ’s wide-eyed face, gesturing to the highway, “There it is.”
AJ swallowed, “Damn.”
“Hey,” called Nick, “Why do we keep quoting the movie? I mean, we’re not sayin’ the exact same thing, but we are kinda... Ugh! This is just too weird!”
Howie stuck his mud caked hand out at AJ, “Give me the damn remote, AJ. I think you’ve done enough with it.”
AJ dug in his pocket and pulled out the remote, handing it over to Howie, “Here, jeez! I didn’t know it was gonna do that!”
As Howie examined the remote, Kevin asked, “What’s it say, ‘D?”
Howie sighed, “Well, that jump we just made cut the time a bit. It now says we got twelve hours, but...” Howie trailed off, gazing at a certain part of the remote.
“What is it, Howie?” asked Brian, crawling over to him.
Howie took a deep breath and pursed his lips, “AJ,” he ground out, “When we get out of this, I’m gonna kill you.”
AJ looked surprised, “Huh? Me? Why?”
Howie had an angry look on his face as he lifted the remote so everyone could see it, pointing to a particular button, “The ‘random’ button is busted. It’s pushed all the way in and to the side. It still says ‘random’ on the screen... We’re stuck in the ‘random’ setting!”
AJ groaned and fell back in the mud, “Oops.”
Nick looked confused, “What does that mean?”
Howie sighed, “I’m not sure, I guess we’re gonna find out.”
Nick pushed to his feet, “What’s gonna happen n-”
Snap! FLASH!
“-ext... Ahhh! What the hell?!?”
Nick’s eyes were wide as his hands tightly gripped the steering wheel of the red pick- up. Suddenly, the whole vehicle lurched and spun around to face a monstrous tornado... the F5.
“Nick! Get us off this thing!” cried Brian beside him, referring to the tree that had rammed the pick-up. Nick glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw Kevin, Howie, and AJ’s shocked faces.
As Nick roughly threw the truck in reverse and gunned the engine, he muttered to himself, “Why the hell am I the one drivin’?! Why?”
AJ suddenly pointed ahead of them, “What’s that?”
They all turned to look before them, Kevin’s mouth went dry, “What is that?”
Nick’s eyes widened, “Oh, shit! I know what that is! It’s the semi attached to a trailer of petroleum!”
Nick shut his eyes as the semi skidded toward them and then knocked them off of the tree. He then gunned the engine and peeled out of there, straight at the crashing semi as it exploded.
“Nick!” yelled Brian, covering his face with his arms. Nick pushed himself back in his own seat as they drove through the flames, the red truck bursting out the other side. Each Backstreet Boy sat frozen, simply staring blankly ahead as they panted in fear.
“Nick, AJ! You guys! You okay?!” came Dusty’s voice from the radio, sounding excited.
AJ, remembering that they had replaced Bill and Joe, reached forward and grabbed it, “Yeah, we’re fine.”
“Man, did you see that explosion?” cried Dusty.
AJ opened his mouth to reply when Brian snatched the receiver away, giving AJ a warning glare, “We saw it.” Brian informed Dusty simply.
AJ looked at everyone staring at him, “What? I wouldn’t of said anything... too bad.”
Brian looked at him with an expression of ‘yeah, right’ before facing forward. Nick drove on, following the highway, “So, I take it we’re gonna randomly go through this movie?”
Howie took out the remote, “Yeah, and the remote says we got only twenty minutes left.”
AJ sat back, “Thank God! Then we can go home.”
"Um... Backstreet Boys?"
The voice was back. Kevin answered, “Yeah?”
"I’m afraid there’s been a... malfunction."
“A what?!?” cried AJ.
"When the remote became stuck on random, it did something to the main system. I’m afraid you are stuck."
Howie looked at the others, “What do you mean ‘stuck’?”
"Well... After the time on the remote runs out you will leave this movie, but... you will not return home as you would have originally. You will be sent to another movie. ...I’m sorry."
Silence, then a collective, “WHAT!?!”
AJ crossed his arms and shook his head, “Oh, no. When the time runs out I’m goin’ home. We’re goin’ home. End of story.”
“AJ,” sighed Kevin, “We don’t have much choice in the matter. It’s out of our control.”
“Like hell it is,” retaliated AJ, “We’re done!”
“Uh, guys?” called Nick nervously, “Anyone else remember this part?”
They all looked ahead to see the farm equipment station, they paled. “Oh, no...” whispered Howie.
WIth the tornado to the their left, Nick sped by the station, “No way! Why am I the one that has to drive?!” Nick let go of the wheel and crossed his arms, “No, I ain’t drivin’. Someone else can.”
“Frack!” yelled Brian, his hands quickly grabbing the wheel, “You just can’t stop drivin’! Damn it! Nick, grab the wheel!”
With a fearful frown, Nick reluctantly grasped the steering wheel. Just as Brian leaned back, a red combine crashed onto the road ahead of them, “Nick, go left!”
With a fearful yell, Nick jerked the wheel to the left, careening the truck around the combine, but not without nailing the windshield with the combine’s ogger.
Brian instinctively covered his head as the glass spider webbed in front of him, praying to God they would live through this.
AJ pointed ahead of them, “Nick! Yo! ... Tractor! Go right!”
His own body veering with the truck, Nick dodged the tractor, only to have another combine crash in front of him.
“Right!” cried Kevin.
Nick turned right, then a huge tractor crashed before them.
“Left!” Kevin cried out again.
Nick turned left and just missed the tractor, then a flying tractor wheel bounced toward them and smashed into the already damaged windshield before bouncing off. Nick straightened the truck out and stared straight ahead, panting in fear and gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles.
Howie looked concerned and reached a hand out from where he sat behind Nick, gently grasping Nick’s tense shoulder, “You okay, Nick?”
Silence, then, “That’s it! I wanna go home! Come on, roll credits! That’s a rap! The Backstreet Boys are done and are goin’ home! NOW!”
Kevin chuckled, “No can do, Nick. Like that voice said, we’re stuck.”
“I don’t care!” whined Nick, his grip finally loosening on the steering wheel, “I’m sick of this!”
“Um, Nick?” asked Brian tentatively.
“What?!” snapped Nick, glaring at Brian beside him.
Brian swallowed and pointed ahead of them, “House.”
“Huh?” asked Nick, then looked at where they were going. “Oh, no... We are NOT going in!!”
Too late, the red pick-up crashed into the house. Nick screamed along with everyone else and let go of the wheel, covering his eyes.
“Nick! Damn it!” cried Brian, finding time in his own fear to lean over and grab the loose wheel. The pick-up careened through the house, soon exploding out of the other side.
Brian almost lost his grip on the steering wheel as the truck crashed back down onto the pavement. He decided to give Nick a breather and steered the pick-up, Nick still had control of the accelerator.
Nick cautiously separated a couple fingers, one bright blue eye peeking out. His voice shook as he asked, “Is it over?”
“Yeah,” answered Kevin in a breathy voice, “It’s over... for now.”
Nick took his hands away from his eyes and grasped the wheel, sending a thankful look at Brian who smiled. Howie spoke, catching their attention.
“We got less than half a minute left, you guys,” he toned, “Then it’s off to the next movie.”
AJ hunkered down in his seat, “Oh, God... What’s gonna happen next?”
Nick suddenly went pale at a thought, “I know I said I liked the Alien movies, but I don’t want to meet Segourny Weaver that bad!”
00:00:00:06
“Nick!” cried Brian, “Don’t go givin’ this stupid Warp Machine thingy any ideas!” Brian shuddered, “Ylegh! Aliens!”
00:00:00:03
AJ smirked, then shuddered and yelled out, “Ylegh! Segourney Weaver!”
“AJ!” came four shouts.
AJ played innocent, “What?”
00:00:00:00
Snap! FLASH!
.
. .
. . .
. . . .
. . .
. .
.
End Movie #1
Begin Movie #2...
