All at once, the world shattered.

The rest of the roof flew off of the garage, blew up into thousands of pieces, and was sucked up into the sky. A storm of wood and metal and leaves churned all around them. A lawn mower dropped out of the sky.

They were in the middle of the tornado now, caught in the evil, swirling darkness. Dex’s ears popped over and over from the pressure. His eyes felt as if they would burst from his skull.

He watched in horror as the tornado’s chain-saw winds pulverized the garage. The cars parked in front bounced across the lot. A horrible stench filled the air — a mix of rotting earth and gas. It burned Dex’s nose and throat and made it hard to take a breath.

But the worst part was the noise. The tornado’s whirring roar rose up, mixing with the thud, crash, smash of debris pummeling their car.

They had to get away from here!

Dex remembered all of the tornado drills at school, rules that had been hammered into him since kindergarten.

Stay inside!

Get away from windows!

Rush to a basement and or an inside room!

Cover your head!

Dex knew how dangerous it was to be in a car, even an SUV built for storm chasing. A tornado could yank a freight train off its tracks and suck it into the sky. Even a tank was no match for a strong tornado.

But where else could they go? Even if there was an underground bomb shelter right in the parking lot, they couldn’t get to it. Stepping outside now would be crazy. They might as well run through a spray of machine-gun fire and grenades.

And then,

Smash!

The window next to Dex shattered, shooting glass across his face.

Whoosh!

The tornado wind blasted into the car, hot air packed with dirt and rocks and wood and glass. It swirled around Dex, biting into his flesh. Dirt shot into his eyes and up his nose.

The wind kept getting stronger, until it seemed that there was an enormous animal in the car with them, an invisible beast with strangling tentacles. It wrapped itself around Dex and pulled him out of his seat, toward the window. His seat belt strained, pressing against his neck like a noose, cutting into his skin. And then it snapped, and Dex went flying toward the open window.

Dr. Gage gripped Dex’s arm so hard that Dex was afraid it would be torn off. He pulled Dex back, refusing to let him fall into the tornado’s hungry jaws.

With a mighty jerk, Dr. Gage managed to break the grip of the wind and throw Dex to the floor.

“Stay down!” Dr. Gage shouted.

Dex wedged himself under the dashboard, curling into a tight ball.

Roooarrrr!

The tornado bellowed like a beast whose bloody kill had been snatched away.

And now it wanted revenge.

With a furious gust, the wind grabbed the car and flipped it onto its side.

Dex tumbled from his hiding place and smacked against Dr. Gage.

The car flipped again so now they were upside down, and again and again. Each flip threw Dex across the car, slamming his head against the ceiling, bashing his body against the doors, tossing him so he couldn’t tell if he was up or down.

The tornado seemed to be toying with the car, like a killer cat playing a game with a dying mouse.

But now the game was over, and the real terror would begin.

The tornado sucked the car off the ground. The metal screeched and groaned. One of the back doors flew off.

This is it, Dex thought. The car was going to get sucked into the sky. He and Dr. Gage would be crushed, or blown thousands of feet into the clouds.

He called out for Mom, for Dad, for Jeremy, but the tornado swallowed his cries.

Dex squeezed his eyes shut and prayed.

There was an explosion, a blinding light, and then nothing.