'Twister'
Written by
Michael Crichton
and
Anne-Marie Martin
1st draft
September 20 1994
1.
Introduction
There have been thunderstorms during the day, with clouds
hanging low and dark over the land. Now, in late afternoon,
the wind suddenly drops. The air becomes oppressively still.
There is silence, and a feeling of foreboding.
The sky tums ugly, shades of purple or green, In the
distance, a faint, lacy whirl of dust spins across the
ground.
A tornado is forming.
Now a gray condensation funnel appears from the clouds
above. It descends tentatively toward the ground, a fragile
ropelike finger.
Stretching downward, in silence.
As it touches the ground, the funnel begins to rotate
faster. There is a deep rumbling sound, like the roar of an
enormous freight train, as the tornado moves over the land,
churning dust and debris at its base.
What happens next, no one can predict.
Most tornadoes lose power within a few minutes, the
funnel shrinking and tilting forward, roping out -- vanishing
as quickly as they have come.
But at other times, the tornado on the ground grows
steadily in strength and roaring power. The base widens from
a hundred yards to a diameter of half a mile or more. Winds
reach 300 miles an hour. Such huge tornadoes may stay on the
ground for an hour, leaving behind a path of devastation a
hundred miles long, before they, too, finally dissipate and
disappear back into the sky.
What makes one tornado last for a few seconds, and
another last for an hour, causing death and destruction? No
one really knows. Scientists have made complex computer
models, laboratory simulations, and observations on the
ground.
But still, even today, no one really knows.
The United States has more tornadoes than any nation on
Earth. Although tornadoes occur everywhere on our planet, the
geography of the U.S. is uniquely suited for tornado
formation. Each spring, cold, dry air coming down from Canada
meets warm, wet air flowing up from the Gulf of Mexico. These
weather fronts meet over the broad, flat prairies of the
central United States, producing enormous thunderclouds of
great beauty and power. Some of these thunderclouds --
perhaps one in a thousand -- will produce tornadoes.
In Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, tornadoes occur so
commonly that the area has long been known as "Tornado
Alley." The frequency of tornadoes in the central states
has made this the ideal place for scientists to observe
tornado formation. Each spring, a group of scientists known
as storm chasers travel up and down this region, searching
for tornadoes and studying them in a variety of ways.
These storm chasers are unusual people.
2.
They combine the rigor of hard scientists with the instincts
of naturalists and hunters. Their season is short, only a few
months each year. Their work is fast-paced and sometimes
dangerous, for they are studying the most unpredictable --
and potentially deadly -- phenomena of nature. Above all,
they must be patient, for in a good year, they will witness
two, or perhaps three, tornadoes. In a bad year, they will
see none at all.
More than a thousand tornadoes touch down in the United
States every year, but most are fleeting, lasting only a few
minutes. Many occur at night, or in remote regions, and they
are never seen by anyone at all. Historically, the elusive
nature of tornadoes has meant that they have rarely been
filmed. Most newsreel footage showed the aftermath, the
shattered towns and destroyed farmhouses, long after the
tornado itself had vanished. In fact, prior to 1965, only two
tornadoes were ever recorded by movie cameras. Tornadoes
might be mysterious and feared, but they were also largely
unseen. Eyewitness accounts of their behavior were wild, and
wildly conflicting.
All that changed with the advent of home video cameras.
By the late 1980s, these cameras were common in households
across the country, and soon, literally hundreds of home
videos began to record tornadoes of all sorts. From this
wealth of new visual information came scientific
understanding. The behavior of tornadoes began to be much
better understood, at least descriptively. For example,
tornadoes were recognized to have a distinct life cycle,
marked by distinct visual stages.
At the same time, the scientific approach to tornadoes
became more sophisticated. A nationwide system of Doppler
radar gave storm chasers much better information about where
a tornado was likely to occur. And the chasers themselves
employed more advanced techniques, portable Doppler radars,
particle photogrammetry, and even, in the case of pioneer
Howard Bluestein, a special instrument pack called TOTO (for
Totable Tornado Observatory), which was intended to be
carried on the back of a truck, placed in the path of the
tornado, taken up inside the funnel.
The work of the storm chasers and the visual drama of the
tornadoes themselves had long interested my wife Anne-Marie
Martin, who from time to time would announce that somebody
should make a movie on the subject. My answer was always the
same: It's a good subject, but what's the story? In late
1993, she argued for a very simple structure, a romantic
triangle set against the background of a race to place an
instrument pack in a tornado. She felt the tension of chasing
tornadoes would lead people to behave in an exaggerated
fashion -- to say things they wouldn't ordinarily say, and do
things they wouldn't ordinarily do. She proposed a short,
intense time-course for the story, no more than a day or two.
And she argued for a lot of scientific dialogue which would
carry undercurrents of personal meaning behind the technical
surface.
3.
I was doubtful about this, because I had tried exactly that
procedure in a script called "ER," and so far, no one had
made it.
Nevertheless, her idea took hold. From the beginning, the
subject seemed to me inherently visual, and therefore should
be a script, not a book. Tornadoes are an ideal film subject,
because unlike most meteorological phenomena, they are small
enough to fit within the film frame, and they last a short
time, changing rapidly. By comparison, a hurricane is
hundreds of miles across, too big to see in a single image,
and it goes on for hours, with little change. Tornadoes are
much more contained, and visually compelling.
We were further encouraged by early research that showed
the premise was valid. Not only had real scientists attempted
to put instrument packs into funnels. But there had been many
recorded episodes when so-called "outbreaks" of tornadoes
occurred -- as many as a hundred tornadoes touching down in a
single day, often only a few minutes apart. That was what we
required for our story, and it did indeed happen. It wasn't
even rare: outbreaks of forty or more tornadoes had occurred
seven times in the past ten years. The worst recorded
outbreak, according to Ted Fujita, had taken place in April
1974, when 148 tornadoes touched down in a day, producing
2,400 miles of damage path.
So it seemed as if the story was possible. Eventually,
with some trepidation, we decided to write the script
together, and we began in January 1994. It was not clear
to either of us how this would work out, or whether it would
work at all. We had plenty of advice that collaboration was a
good way to end a marriage. But, as it turned out, we had an
easy time working together; the structure was unusually
clear, dictating what should happen next. And, invariably, we
drew our episodes and details from actual recorded events,
making up nothing. This was important because tornadoes are
so inherently dramatic, it is easy to become excessive in the
usual Hollywood manner, and we wanted the incidents to remain
true to underlying reality.
That reality was always worrisome. Because what we didn't
know, during the spring and summer of 1994, was whether it
would be possible to film the sequences we were so cheerfully
writing. We were relying on computer graphics to accomplish
this, but it is far more difficult to make a tornado in a
computer than a dinosaur. On the other hand, George Lucas's
Industrial Light and Magic is one of the most continuously
successful R&D operations in American history. Thus, we
blithely assumed that ILM's rapid advances in computer
graphics would continue, so that by the time we were finished
writing, it would be possible to simulate tornadic motion
onscreen. And that turned out to be true. We saw a film test
in January 1995 that was chilling in its verisimilitude.
As is so often the case with big Hollywood movies, other
hands took over the project, and moved it off in other
directions.
4.
What audiences will see includes the work of many other,
uncredited writers, but readers may be interested to see how
the project appeared at an earlier time.
Meanwhile, in the real world, Howard Bluestein and other
researchers had long since abandoned their attempts to place
an instrument pack in a tornado funnel. They tried for five
seasons, and never succeeded -- although they did determine
that TOTO was too light, and too easy to tip over in tornadic
winds. But we have the greatest admiration for the tenacity
and daring of the real storm chasers, and, as we wrote this
screenplay, we hoped that they would be amused to find that
in the movies, at least, their attempts met with success.
-Michael Crichton
5.
FADE IN:
EXT. RURAL OKLAHOMA - STORMY DAY
CLOSE ON TALL GRASS, blowing in the wind
A GIRL of ten runs through the grass towards us. Wind whips
her dress and hair.
GIRL
Mommy! Mommy!
She passes us, and continues forward toward her farmhouse.
Black and menacing skies behind. The Wind builds fast. Trees
are bent over.
NEAR HER HOUSE
HER FATHER stands by the open storm cellar, waving to her as
the girl runs up. The wind is very strong.
FATHER
Come on!
He hurries down into the cellar, handing the girl to the
mother below. With a final worries look, the father closes
the cellar doors, tugging them shut against the wind.
TIGHT ON THE DOORS
They begin to rattle, then to vibrate, as the unseen hand of
the wind tries to rip them away.
TRACK SIDEWAYS from the doors, past windows -- as they
rattle, then explode -- to the corner of the house. We see
the house squeak and twist on its foundations. The whole
house is being twisted, like a cap off a jar. Then the house
lifts and moves off the foundation -- we see the concrete
slab -- the wind builds to a scream -- and suddenly THE HOUSE
IS GONE, just lifted up, gone.
Blackness envelops everything.
A TV NEWS REPORT
A HOME VIDEO IMAGE with REC in the corner, it shows a more
distant view of the house we just saw, being hit by a tornado
and the house carried away.
NEWSCASTER
(over)
This was the scene just a few
minutes ago as a twister touched
down near Lancaster.
(MORE)
6.
NEWSCASTER (CONT'D)
This is the peak season for
tornadoes, and it's why Oklahoma is
known as "tornado alley".
IN THE NEWS ROOM
The NEWSCASTER sits in front of a chromakey map of Oklahoma,
with superimposed weather fronts.
NEWSCASTER
National Weather Service is calling
this the biggest storm front since
1922. It's brought teams of storm
researchers from all over the
country. Many more tornadoes are
expected in the next 24 hours.
As the newscaster speaks, white letters slide across the
bottom of the screen: TORNADO WATCH FOR THE COUNTIES OF...
EXT. OKLAHOMA COUNTRYSIDE - STORMY DAY
A threatening BLACK SKY hangs low over flat green fields, a
lone white farmhouse. LIGHTNING crackles sharply down.
A CAR drives by in foreground.
EXT. THROUGH A CAR WINDSHIEL
Drops of water spatter the windshield. The road stretches
ahead.
INT. THE CAR
BILL HARDING, 35, cowboy-rugged in jeans and a work shirt,
squints at the road ahead as he drives.
Beside him, MELISSA HUNTLEY is 30, pretty in a patrician,
button-down way. Tailored pants and a white shirt. Looking
out window:
MELISSA
(concerned)
Do you think we'll get there in
time?
BILL
Yeah, Almont's a hundred miles
north of here. No problem -- we'll
be in Phoenix by nightfall.
MELISSA
(kisses him)
I can't wait.
7.
He's reluctant to stop the kissing, kisses her back.
MELISSA (CONT'D)
(happy)
It's finally happening...
BILL
Yeah. Just one more problem...
MELISSA
You want to go over it again?
BILL
Maybe we better.
MELISSA
Okay. When you see her, you're
going to say...
BILL
(very calm, reciting)
Jo, nice to see you again. I'm sure
you know why I'm here today. The
truth is, it's time we acknowledge --
MELISSA
Both acknowledge...
BILL
(continuing recitation)
Yeah, right, it's time we both
acknowledge that our marriage is
over. We both need to go on with
our lives now.
MELISSA
Good, good.
(prompting)
And...
BILL
And I want you to see these
stipulations and waivers for the
divorce, Jo.
MELISSA
And you have your pen ready...
Bill pulls his pen out, holding it like a knife.
BILL
It's ready!
8.
MELISSA
And no anger...
BILL
No anger. No.
MELISSA
Good. Want to go over it again?
BILL
(like a boxer)
No. I got it. I'm ready. I am. I
feel good.
EXT. THE ROAD AHEAD
Drops of water spatter the windshield. The road stretches
straight. We're beyond the town, now. Open country. Thunder
rumbles. Bill studies the sky.
BILL
Tower building. Nice base forming
up. She'll be around here
somewhere...
As they drive on, Bill looks out the window, scanning.
BILL (CONT'D)
There!
IN THE DISTANCE
Across the fields, a STORM CHASE TEAM: four dusty vehicles,
parked in disarray along a dirt road.
BILL'S CAR
Guns down the road toward them.
BY THE PARKED CARS
Bill slams on the breaks. As he starts to get out, he takes a
LEGAL FILE with black ribbon with him.
MELISSA
I'd like to come with you.
BILL
No, honey, I should do this alone.
MELISSA
I know you'll be great.
9.
She gives him a big, toe-curling kiss. Time stops: there's
real passion here. They break. Bill looks into her eyes.
BILL
Thanks.
Bill gets out, shuts the door, and walks calmly toward the
parked cars, which are old and battered.
THE CHASE TEAM
All young graduate students in their 20s, dressed casually in
shorts and T-shirts. Their equipment, like their vehicles,
has seen better days. TIMMY lies beneath a pickup truck,
working on the suspension; DUSTY sits inside another truck,
receiving a fax from a cracked portable machine held together
with gaffer's tape; RICK, a doughnut in his mouth, tightens a
spindly antenna to the roof of a station wagon; a tangle of
wires runs down inside. They look up, smile as they recognize
Bill, and greet him warmly.
RICK
Hey, Bill.
BILL
Hi, Ricky.
Dusty falls in step with Bill, walking with him.
BILL (CONT'D)
Hey, Dusty. How's the old fax?
DUSTY
Holding together. Barely.
(sees folder with ribbon)
This an official visit?
BILL
Just tying up loose ends...
DUSTY
She's having a real bad day.
BILL
Sorry to hear that.
Dusty drops back as Bill walks on. Timmy slides out from
beneath a truck, wipes greasy hands on a rag.
TIMMY
(nervous swallow)
Ooh boy...
10.
JO WILDER
She's bent over, working in the trunk of a car. She wears
dirty khaki shorts and a faded T-shirt with a rip in it. She
yells at her tense assistant, LARRY, as she brings out a big
outmoded VHS video camera with a bulky, weatherproof housing,
now open. In front of the housing is a rod and marked plastic
plate, with crosshairs.
JO
You idiots! ... There's grass in
the autofocus mount, that's why
it's jammed. Damn it, Larry, didn't
you clean it yesterday?
Bill arrives. Larry tries to signal this to Jo, whose back is
turned.
LARRY
I'm sorry, Jo, but...
Jo turns the housing upside down, shakes out grass.
JO
Sorry? What good does sorry do? You
jam the driveboard, you blow the
photogrammetry to hell, particle
velocities aren't worth a damn,
vectors cant be read, the sigma-K
point's beyond three-SDs, we might
as well be out there with a goddamn
Brownie! Go seal this now. I don't
want to miss the next one for
something as stupid as this!
She slams the trunk of the car, still furious, then notices
Larry's expression. Still angry:
JO (CONT'D)
What?!
LARRY
Bill.
She turns. She's 35, with a grease smudge on her face, hair
in disarray; she'd be pretty if she gave a damn.
She looks at Bill as if she'd like to hit him. Larry steps
back. Suddenly, to the amusement of all, she puts on a big
smile.
11.
JO
Bill! Well...
(searching for words)
Welcome back.
BILL
Hello, Jo. Nice to see you again.
JO
(notes his manner)
Nice to see you too, Bill.
Larry stands there, grinning. In this tense moment, focus
turns away from Jo, to him.
LARRY
Hi, Bill.
BILL
Hiya, Larry. How're things?
LARRY
Pretty good. Got a big storm front
today.
BILL
Yeah, I'd say.
As she speaks, Jo tucks in her T-shirt, tidying up.
JO
Biggest in forty years! We got LP
contours, good overhangs, clean
updraft arc -- This is it! I'm glad
you stopped pouting and decided to
come back.
BILL
Pouting?
JO
What would you call it?
BILL
(gets hold of temper)
Jo, I'm sure you know why I'm here
today. I've come here because
because --
JO
(pointing to folder)
What's that? Somebody die?
12.
BILL
(reciting)
I've come here because it's time
that we both acknowledge that our
marriage is over --
JO
Yeah, we made a mess. I know.
BILL
And we both need to get on with our
lives...
JO
Yes. Right.
BILL
I'm sure you agree.
JO
(amused by his stiffness)
I do...
BILL
(opening folder)
Good. Then I just need your
signature on these stipulations and
waivers. And then the divorce will
be final.
Jo abruptly walks away, suddenly busy with her equipment. She
moves around the car.
JO
I already signed those.
BILL
(chasing her)
No, you didn't.
JO
Well, I signed something.
BILL
Well, it wasn't these.
JO
Well then, what'd I sign?
BILL
(frustrated)
I don't know!
13.
JO
Look, do we have to do this now?
BILL
Yes, we do.
JO
Because we have a monster LP cell
here, and you and I have a lot of
work to do, in fact you could --
BILL
I'm not staying.
JO
(disbelief)
Bill, this is the one we've been
waiting for! The biggest storm
since '49, and --
BILL
Jo...
JO
(joking)
What's the rush? You getting
married or something?
BILL
Yes. I am.
A dozen emotions cross her face.
JO
Oh. When?
BILL
Next week.
JO
Oh... Okay...
She turns away, to hide her feelings. She sees a portable
thermal-paper fax machine on the roof of her cat. Like
everything else in her team, it's beat-up.. It is printing
out an image of he big storm.
JO (CONT'D)
I guess you really need the papers
signed, then...
BILL
Yeah, I do.
14.
CLOSE ON JO, thinking. Staring at the fax.
CLOSE ON THE FAX, spitting out the storm image, on curling
paper.
Jo turns back to Bill.
JO
Well, sure. Of course I'll sign,
Bill.
BILL
(amazed)
You will?
JO
Of course. What did you think, I'd
stand in your way? Who are you
marrying?
(looking)
Is that her?
BILL
Yes.
JO
I've got to meet her. What does she
do?
BILL
She's a psychologist.
JO
Good! I'm glad you're getting
professional help.
Jo strides toward the car, where Melissa stands waiting. Bill
chases after her.
JO (CONT'D)
She doesn't look like a shrink.
What's her name?
BILL
Melissa.
They've reached the car. Jo reaches out both hands, shakes
Melissa's hand vigorously.
JO
Melissa. So nice to meet you. I'm
Jo.
15.
MELISSA
(friendly-cautious)
Hello...
JO
Congratulations on your marriage.
I'm sure you'll be very happy.
MELISSA
Thank you...
BILL
Jo... You gonna sign the papers?
JO
Of course. Got a pen?
Bill's pen is whipped put so close to her face, she has to
pull back. She takes the stack of divorce papers and puts the
on the roof of the car, starts to sign. The papers bristle
with red tags.
BILL
Where they're marked...
JO
Lots of place... Okay...
As she signs, Jo glances at Melissa, the two women appraise
each other, beneath superficial smiles.
JO (CONT'D)
TO tell you the truth, I'm glad
this is happening. It's a relief,
it's finally over...
(still signing)
Here, too?
BILL
Just initials.
Jo continues to sign steadily, one page after another. Bill
and Melissa exchange glances -- it's working!
JO
(still signing)
I'm sorry you had to go out of your
way for this... Where do you two go
from here?
MELISSA
Phoenix.
16.
JO
What takes you to Phoenix?
MELISSA
That's where we're going to live.
Jo is almost at the end of the documents. She comes to the
last page, pauses.
JO
Oh... I'd love to hear all your
plans.
Her pen is poised over the final signature. Bill and Melissa
holding their breath.
MELISSA
Well... I'm sure, but you see --
JO
(pouncing)
Great! Let's talking about it over
lunch!
(closes papers)
We can finish it all up then.
Bill and Melissa just stare. They have no choice.
INT. CATTLEMAN'S LOUNGE - DAY
A honky-tonk joint but it's the best place to eat in Winslow,
Oklahoma. Outside the window, storm clouds are dark.
At the table, Jo's elbow leans on the still unsigned
documents, pinning them down. Over coffee:
MELISSA
So we'll be down in Phoenix,
because Bill is going to work at
the television station there.
JO
(impressed)
Television...
MELISSA
Yes, he'll be reporting on camera.
Starting next week.
JO
(looking at Bill)
What will he be reporting?
17.
BILL
I'll be --
MELISSA
He'll be doing the weather.
JO
(sincere)
Weatherman in Phoenix! Great.
Steady work...
MELISSA
Well, Bill spent so many years
teaching meteorology at the
university, we thought weatherman's
a natural...
JO
Weatherman's a perfect fit for
Bill. And what about you, Melissa?
MELISSA
I have my clinical practice. I
specialize in the psychological
care of people with reproductive
difficulties.
JO
(looking at Bill)
Very challenging.
MELISSA
Yes, it is. I'll be sorry to give
it up, but... Bill and I plan to
start a family right away.
JO
Wonderful. I'm glad you're going to
give him all the things I never
could...
As she talks, Jo opens the papers to the last page.
MELISSA
Thank you. I appreciate how you're
handling this.
JO
Oh, it's time for everybody to move
on.
(picks up pen)
What's past is pas.
(before signing)
(MORE)
18.
JO (CONT'D)
The only thing I regret is that
Bill's leaving. Right at the moment
that his research is finally going
to pay off.
BILL
I couldn't care less.
JO
(to Melissa)
There are six hundred tornadoes
every year, and they destroy a lot.
Mostly her in the farmbelt. I grew
up here, and I can tell you -- when
you see a farm destroyed, you see a
poor family lose everything...
BILL
Jo, don't do this.
MELISSA
But there are warnings, aren't
there?
JO
The warning time's too short. These
storms are huge -- that front
(pointing out the window)
covers a hundred thousand square
miles. It'll drop a lot of
tornadoes today -- but nobody knows
where, because nobody knows what
makes a cell drop a tornado in a
particular place.
(empathetic)
We'll never understand the internal
structure of a tornado unless we
get right inside it.
MELISSA
You want to get inside a tornado?
JO
I want to put an instrument package
inside is. That was Bill's idea --
to put instruments right in the
vortex.
EXT. THE RESTAURANT -- BY JO'S PICKUP
A tarp pulled down the back of a pickup, revealing THREE
WHITE INSTRUMENT PACKS, laid out side by side. They're the
size of garbage cans, they bristle with dials and antennas.
But they have a distinctly homemade look.
19.
JO
Bill put five years of his life
into this...
Bill inspects the packs, lifts one out, sets it upright on
the ground.
JO (CONT'D)
They're designed to be placed in
the damage path, so they get sucked
up in the funnel, where they break
open, releasing a hundred little
transmitters...
Bill has lifted open the lid of the pack, and we see it is
stuffed with multicolored clear plastic balls, each ball
containing electronic instrumentation.
JO (CONT'D)
...that measure all parts of the
tornado simultanesouly.
BILL
You fixed the multiplexing?
JO
Wider frequency spectrum. And new
shear and static sensors.
BILL
(impressed)
Pretty good...
Melissa notices Bill's interest.
JO
(to Melissa)
We get one of these in the damage
path, we'll get a complete vortex
profile for the first time in
history -- enough to predict where
a cloud will drop a tornado. The
warning will go from five minutes
to fifteen. It'll save hundreds of
lives.
MELISSA
But how can you get one of these
inside a tornado?
20.
BILL
That's the problem. Nobody's
managed to get one in the damage
path. Howie Bluestein tried for
years.
JO
(meaningfully)
And Jonas has come close.
BILL
(contemptuous)
Jonas.
MELISSA
Who's Jonas?
JO
We both used to work for a guy
named Jonas Miller. Until he went
and --
BILL
Forget it, Jo.
JO
No, this is important --
BILL
Not anymore.
MELISSA
Jonas has packs like this?
JO
Yes, but Jonas's never done it,
either. Because you need perfect
conditions -- and we have them
today.
(MORE)
21.
JO (CONT'D)
(points to the sky)
The biggest spawning supercell in a
half a century. Lifted index minus
five -- it'll drop major vortices
around here: F-4s, maybe even an F-
5. No one's ever gotten close to an
F-5. And lived to tell about it.
MELISSA
F-5?
JO
Fujita scale, zero to five. Bill's
one seen an F-3.
Bill still examines the pack. Without lookin up:
BILL
Four.
JO
Three.
BILL
It was an F-4 in Ambrose.
JO
And you got pretty close to that
one.
BILL
Damn close.
(remembering)
I was a hundred yards from the
laterals, so close you could --
Then he realizes what he's saying, breaks off.
JO
Bill's the best vortex trackhound I
ever saw. Got an instinct for what
they're gonna do.
Bills puts the instrument pack back in the truck.
BILL
Sign the papers, Jo.
JO
(gives up, big sigh)
Okay. I'll take you back to your
car, and you can be on your way.
22.
BILL
And sign the papers.
JO
Sure. Let's go.
They get into Jo's truck.
EXT. DRIVING ON THE ROAD - STORMY DAY
All three together in the pickup truck. Uncomfortable
silence. Spotter CB radios cackle, talking from all around
about the cell and the cap will break. Light rain starts. As
she drives, Jo glances up at the sky. Bill does, too. When Jo
notices his interest, he ducks back, pretends indifference.
Melissa watches this without comment.
Now Jo is glancing along the side of the road, as if she's
looking for something. She sees a piece of rusty old fender
up ahead, smiles to herself. She swerves up ahead, drives
right over the metal.
There is a loud BANG! and the truck begins to wobble. Jo
pulls off the road.
EXT. AT THE SIDE OF THE ROAD - LIGHT RAIN
They all get out and survey the blowout.
JO
Ah hell.
Bill looks under the truck.
BILL
Where's the spare? There's no
spare.
Bill rolls eyes. Jo ignores the look, goes to the cab, picks
up the radio. A pause -- then with a glance over her
shoulder, she flips the dial to another frequency, with a
taped marker: SCUMBAG.
JO
(on CB)
Dusty? You reading? This is Jo.
I've got a blowout on highway 9,
four miles north of town. Dusty?
Come and get us. We need help.
She slams the door in apparent rage, leans against the truck.
Looks at Bill.
23.
Bill just shakes his head at her
Their pickup is alone on an empty road. The road stretches
away, disappearing in a cloud of fog and rain.
Then we hear A DEEP RUMBLING SOUND, from down the road. Bill
frowns.
Jo turns to look.
Melissa comes to stand beside Bill.
The sound builds. Lightning cracks down.
THEIR VIEW OF THE ROAD -- RAINY DAY
From out of the rain at the far end of the road, taking up
all lanes, come FOUR SILVER WINDSTAR VANS. Once in the clear,
they shift with military precision: two vans move to the
front, two stay behind.
A moment later, another shift, two dropping back into waiting
spaces, so all four are now in single file, boring down the
road toward us. It's the Blue Angels, but on the ground.
JO (CONT'D)
Ah hell.
MELISSA
Who is that?
BILL
That... is Jonas.
The four vans come right up to us, and then pull over at an
angle onto the opposite side of the road, one after another,
matching angles exactly. Then, in a group, they all back up,
swinging around in a 180 so they face outward, ready to go
again.
The silver vehicles are sleek. Stenciled on the side of each
vehicles is NSSL ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH TEAM.
Out of each van, TEAM MEMBERS leap athletically out, in
identical crisp clothes -- white T-shirts and black shorts.
They stand at attention by the vans.
Stepping out of the lead van is JONAS MILLER, 40, bearded,
and tough. He wears a bomber jacket and a tie, conveying a
vaguely military bearing.
The minute Bill sees him he bunches his fists, trying to
control himself. Bad blood here. Jonas comes over, all charm
and graciousness.
24.
JONAS
Happened to hear your transmission,
Jo...
JO
Of course you did, you listen all
the time.
JONAS
You look beautiful today. We all
really miss you at the lab.
(glances at truck)
Men! Firestone 325! The clock is
running!
Across the road, the men scramble. Open the back of one van,
which contains a complete travelling workshop and repair
area. Spare tires, everything.
JONAS (CONT'D)
(to Melissa)
Ma'am. Dr. Jonas Miller, director
of the Atmospheric science Lab,
Oklahoma Polytechnic University.
MELISSA
Melissa Huntley...
Jonas gives a charming smile, turns. Now all business.
JONAS
Bill. Thought you might come back
sooner or later.
(extends hand)
No hard feelings.
Bill doesn't shake it. His gaze is cold, furious. He forces
his hands at his sides.
BILL
Yeah, there are.
Jonas seems amused by how barely controlled Bill is.
Around them, Jonas's men move in balletic coordination, like
a pit-stop crew.
JONAS
Twenty-seven seconds!
(to Jo)
We drill in the off-season for
time. I always see that's the
difference between professionals
and amateurs.
(MORE)
25.
JONAS (CONT'D)
(back to Bill)
You're not still angry about that
old instrument-pack business are
you? After all, it was my lab.
BILL
You stole our idea.
JONAS
An idea's not worth much unless you
can execute it. You've got to put
the pack in the tornado. You're
never gonna do it, because you
can't. That's a five-hundred-mile
dry line running from Kansas to
Teas, average duration on the
ground two point five minutes --
how're you going to get there, and
get a pack in? You can't you've
already tried.
Bill's furious. Jo's watchful. Jonas's cold, laying out the
truth.
JONAS (CONT'D)
How many years did you try, Bill?
Running around the countryside,
never quite doing it... You wasted
your chance with the technology,
just like you wasted your chance
with everything else.
(lets it hang)
We have satellite comlink, we have
NEXRAD real time, we have on-board
pulsed Doppler, and we're going to
get this done. The days of sniffing
the dirt are over, Bill.
The tire is changed. Jonas's men leap back, at attention.
TEAM IN UNISON
Time!
JONAS
Thirty-nine seconds! Nice work!
They jog back to the vans. Lightning crackles from the sky.
Jonas glances up.
JONAS (CONT'D)
Well, nice to see you all again and
catch up. You take care out there.
It's risky when you're unprepared.
(MORE)
26.
JONAS (CONT'D)
(turns)
Jo, always a pleasure.
And he kisses her hand, and heads back to the van. His care
are already pulling out in formation. Jonas jumps in lithely
in the lead van while its moving. And they all streak off,
down the road.
Jo swears, and they all get back into the truck, slams doors.
JO
You know what this is about?
There's a big NSF grant to the
first team that gets a package
inside a twister. Big grant means
big lab, and big lab means big
influence over the new storm-
warning system.
They start down the road.
JO (CONT'D)
We get the grant, we'll build the
warning system in six months. Jonas
gets it, it'll take six years. We
want to use the existing network,
which is perfectly fine, but
Jonas'll start from scratch. His
corporate sponsors see this as a
two-billion dollar government
project. You don't think they
contributed those fans vans just
for the sake of science, do you?
Jonas doesn't care if people die in
the meantime.
Silence in the truck. Judiciously:
MELISSA
Can you beat him?
JO
I could beat him if I had Bill.
All eyes turn to Bill. He shrugs, apparently indifferent.
BILL
Not my problem anymore.
JO
I don't know how you can walk away
from this.
27.
BILL
Well I am.
BACK AT JO'S TEAM IN THE FIELD - AFTERNOON
There is a light rain. Thunder rumbles ominously; the sky is
darker, as Jo's pickup pulls up beside Bill's rental car.
There is a sense of impending menace -- a tornado anytime
now.
They all get out. Bill slams the door, furious.
BILL
I knew this was going to happen --
Jo and Melissa get out. Bill is heading for his car.
JO
Just one day.
(to Melissa)
All I'm asking for is one day.
BILL
No, Jo.
JO
I'll sign tomorrow.
BILL
No! That's it! We're leaving!
MELISSA
Now, wait a minute, Bill...
BILL
(furious)
No. No!
They both get in the car, slam doors. Melissa is soothing.
MELISSA
Bill: remember our goal.
BILL
(furious)
The hell with the goal! I'm not
giving in to her! The hell with
her!
MELISSA
You're right.
(soothing)
You're right.
28.
BILL
The hell with her!
MELISSA
You're, you're right... But she
could tie up this divorce for
years. She can put our lives on
hold. I don't want to drag this
on... And you know it will.
Bill is shaking his head no, but he knows it's true. Her
arguments are working on him.
And, also, he's looking at the sky. The growing supercell.
MELISSA (CONT'D)
Honey, stay for a day and get it
over with.
BILL
I just want to get rid of her!
MELISSA
I do, too. One day. Do it for us,
and we'll be rid of her.
(kisses his cheek)
We can handle anything for one day.
Bill nods, gets out of the car, turns to Jo, holds up one
finger pointing to the sky and shouts:
BILL
One day!
Jo grins.
THE SUPERCELL ABOVE
The roiling supercell makes a HUGE RUMBLING and TWO BOLTS OF
LIGHTNING crack down in rapid succession. A reply from the
sky. The challenge accepted.
ON THE GROUND
The wind picks up, ruffling the divorce papers in Jo's hand.
She clutches them tightly.
THE REST OF HER TEAM
Looking up at the sky. Sitting in their cars, hearing the CB
radio voices, which are getting excited.
29.
RADIO OVER
A tristate tornado alert continues
for the rest of the day with four
reported sightings from Kansas to
as far south as Odessa, Texas.
National Weather Service emphasizes
that conditions remain extremely
dangerous...
(etc.)
JO TO ONE SIDE
Dusty works with Jo, loading the instrument packs from her
truck back into the van. They look at Melissa, standing
beside Bill. Obviously in love. Rick crosses, carrying a
camera.
RICK
Your mom called, Jo.
JO
(distracted)
Okay...
Jo can't take her eyes off Bill.
DUSTY
Why're you doing this, Jo? Let him
go.
JO
All I want is an instrument
reading.
DUSTY
Uh-huh...
JO
Hey. Bill places the instruments,
we get our readings, and he's out
of here. Everybody's happy. Okay?
DUSTY
(not believing)
Okay, Jo...
MELISSA AND BILL
A nearby RINGING of a phone. Bill pays no attention. He's
preoccupied, looking at the sky.
Melissa looks over, opens the car doo, sits in the front
seat, opens her purse. She takes out a phone.
30.
MELISSA
Dr. Huntley. Yes, well, I'm off
duty right now... Uh-huh... Well,
if it's that serious, all right,
put her on... I thought she was
going to start Clomed next month.
Melissa sees everybody begin to shout, and start running
toward their cars.
MELISSA (CONT'D)
(hand over phone)
What's happening?
RICK AT CAR
With the door open, he sits, listens to a radio, headset to
his ear.
RICK
Tornado! On the ground! It's on the
ground! Looks like five miles west
near R forty-five...
BILL
He squints as he sees:
A TORNADO - AFTERNOON
A long, narrow funnel has dropped down from the black sky,
several miles away. It is everyone's image of a tornado:
narrow, classic funnel, pale gray color, touching the ground
with a fine tip. Seen from a distance, it is graceful,
mysterious, and makes us want to see more.
MELISSA
She stares, mesmerized.
JO
Jumps in her truck, turns on the ignition.
TIMMY IN THE STATION WAGON
As he starts the engine, Rick leaps in. Dusty in another
truck. All the cars getting ready to peel out.
DUSTY DRIVING OVER TO MELISSA
He reaches out, hands her a radio.
31.
DUSTY
Follow us. Stay two miles behind.
Still on the phone, Melissa slides behind the steering wheel,
starts the engine.
MELISSA
(on phone)
Uh, something's come up, I got to
call back...
JO'S TRUCK
As Bill opens the driver's door. She smiles.
BILL
Move over.
He half pushes her to the passenger side, gets in, slams the
door, guns the engine.
JO
You're so butch.
Bill floors it. All around them, cars are driving off,
squealing tires, plumes of dust. A scene of frantic chaos.
MELISSA
Waving as Bill drives off. Then, worried, she starts after
them.
IN JO'S TRUCK
Jo looks back. In a voice imitating a newscaster:
JO (CONT'D)
Well, the weekend weather here in
Phoenix is going to be gorgeous!
Get zinc on that nose! Get some
umbrella drinks! Here are the
numbers, a high of a hundred and
seventeen, a low of a hundred and
one, and of course zero percent
relative humidity! Perfect!
As they drive, we barely hear superimposed the weather
service announcing a tornado warning, and the constant
crackle of CB voices, intense, active, everybody trying to
get to the tornado. (We always hear this whenever we chase.)
EXT. THE TRUCK ON THE ROAD
Bill races at eighty, toward pitch-black skies.
32.
Cars come in the opposite direction, their drivers glancing
over their shoulders, veering toward Bill. He swerves,
dodges.
IN JO'S TRUCK
Jo is looking at Bill as he drives.
JO
The subtropical moisture moving in
from Texas is causing some
thunderstorms in the central United
States but as usual, absolutely
nothing her in the skies over
Phoenix. We might even pop a
hundred and twenty today, so it's a
fabulous day to stay inside a dark
room with your air conditioner on
full!
DUSTY
(on CB)
Jo? Over.
JO
(serious now)
You stay in Phoenix, Melissa's
pretty skin is going to look like
an ostrich wallet.
DUSTY
(on CB)
Jo, it's Dusty, over.
JO
Weatherman? Are you kidding me?
DUSTY
(on CB)
Jo, over.
BILL
(trying to keep his temper)
Are you going to talk to Dusty?
Jo picks up the CB mike.
JO
(to CB)
Here, Dusty.
33.
DUSTY
(on CB)
We're on highway 40 going south.
Where are you?
JO
Where are we? I don't know, wait a
minute.
She looks at a map.
Bill takes the CB mike as he drives.
BILL
Dusty, we're on 424 going east.
JO
West.
BILL
East!
JO
No, Bill, it's --
BILL
East! Read the map! You still can't
read a map.
JO
I can read a goddamn map!
(furious, looks at map)
Maybe northeast...
BILL
East!
JO
Okay...
(sigh)
Why are we fighting. Look, it's
only for a day. Let's try to get
along.
BILL
Fine with me.
She looks at him, offers her hand. He reaches over and shakes
it.
JO
Friends?
34.
BILL
Friends.
JO
Good. I'm glad.
They both stare at the road.
JO (CONT'D)
Because I've been thinking about
our marriage, Bill. And the truth
is, it wasn't all your fault.
BILL
All my fault --
JO
You weren't great. And, I wasn't a
perfect wife. I admit it.
BILL
You weren't a wife at all!
JO
(tighter)
Look: everything would have been
fine, except you had a problem with
my career.
BILL
Your career? It had nothing to do
with your career.
JO
I don't know what else to call it --
BILL
We were going to buy a house, and
you took the down payment and spent
it on a new Doppler radar --
JO
Because we needed a new Doppler, ours
was outmoded, even you said so --
BILL
But that money was for our house!
JO
Bill: I'm sorry, but a house just
didn't that important.
BILL
I know!
35.
JO
Well, it didn't!
BILL
I know! That's the problem! It
wasn't a relationship! You just did
whatever you wanted you wanted to
do!
JO
(throwing hands up)
This is ridiculous.
Bill is looking across the field, at the tornado.
BILL
(no longer listening)
That's right.
THE TORNADO
Churning in the distance.
BACK IN THE TRUCK
As they chase it, hearing the mixes voices on the CB.
VOICE ONE
(on CB)
It's an F-1 going west, vortex
looks
(crackle)
fifty meters in diameter.
VOICE TWO
(on CB)
-- route 424, we're miles from it.
Is it turning?
DUSTY
(on CB)
Looks like it's crossing the road
about five miles from here, going --
(crackle)
JO
(grabbing mike back)
Say again, Dusty?
DUSTY
(on CB)
Going east...
36.
JO
East. Hey!
Bill steps on the gas.
THE TORNADO
It's closer, a mile ahead on their left, moving over a flat
alfalfa field. It's running parallel to the road. We can see
where the funnel touches the ground, swirling up dust
powerfully. We heard the DEEP RUMBLING ROAR that sounds like
an express train.
BACK INSIDE THE TRUCK
They stare in silence as the drive.
THE TORNADO
It's still ahead of us, approaching a barn near the side of
the highway. It HITS THE BARN -- THE TIMBERS BLOW APART like
pick up sticks.
BACK IN THE TRUCK
They swerve to avoid timbers lying on the road, and keep
going. They are pulling alongside the tornado, then ahead of
it.
JO (CONT'D)
You have to get farther ahead.
BILL
I know it.
Soon he's about a half miles ahead of the tornado, which we
now see out the back window.
JO
You're going to have to go into the
field.
BILL
(scanning roadside)
I'm trying.
He's going ninety down the road, and he has to pull left into
the field to intercept it. There's a sloping grass
embankment, leading down to a four-foot wide irrigation ditch
running parallel to the road.
JO
Go down here. Now. Now!
37.
BILL
Wait a minute, just wait a
minute...
JO
Lost your nerve?
That's it. Bill swerves left, the truck tilts onto the
embankment, it's hairy at a hundred miles an hour, then he
drops into the ditch. Feeling his way, the truck roaring
along. He's in the ditch. The truck vibrating like a
washboard. He get his left wheels up, out of the ditch.
Jo looks back at the tornado, now behind them and about a
half mile across the field. She swings forward.
JO (CONT'D)
Come on, let's go.
Bill's having trouble controlling the truck in the ditch at
this speed. The steering wheel shakes like a jackhammer. The
truck swerves, and then both wheels are back inside the
ditch.
JO (CONT'D)
Bill...
BILL
I'm trying.
Half a mile ahead, a concrete irrigation crossing blocks the
ditch. They're roaring right toward it.
Bill jerks the wheel left, trying to jump the wheels out of
the ditch. But the ditch is getting deeper. Soon its almost
three feet deep. He can't possibly get the truck out now.
The concrete bridge rushes closer.
BILL (CONT'D)
(sarcastic)
This was a good idea..
There's only one thing to do. He slams on the brakes, the
truck fishtails, the dust and chunks of dried mud fly, the
truck squeals and races forward to the bridge...
And stops, twenty feet before decapitation. They both jump
out of the truck. Jo goes to get the instrument pack.
BILL (CONT'D)
Jo!
He grabs her and they run for cover.
38.
BENEATH THE IRRIGATION DITCH COVER
They're squeezed together, huddled inside the covered
drainage ditch overpass. Turning back, they can see their
truck, the wheels and headlights. Jo stares at the landscape
beyond.
The tall grasses on the embankment whip, wilder and wilder,
and then finally flatten. The roar of the tornado increases
in fury, building unbelievably. The truck begins to shiver.
BILL (CONT'D)
Get back.
He pulls her deeper into the hole. She shakes him off,
annoyed.
JO
I know what I'm doing.
JO'S TRUCK
Suddenly it speeds forward as if shoved by a giant hand, and
it slams into the embankment, crumpled bumper inches from
their faces.
And in the next moment, the truck is gone.
They are staring at an empty irrigation ditch.
MELISSA DRIVING
Looking forward, worried, trying to find Bill. On the road
beside her, the truck falls out of the sky, smashing down and
falling apart.
MELISSA
(screaming)
Bill!
She stops, jumps out of her car, runs to the wreckage.
MELISSA (CONT'D)
Bill! Oh, Bill...
BILL
What?!
She turns. Bill and Jo and running flat-out up the
embankment, toward her. Jo clutching the pack.
MELISSA
Bill!
39.
BILL
I'm fine! Get in the car!
He signals her to go to the passenger seat. He jumps in
behind the wheel.
Bill guns the car, Jo climbs in the backseat. Jo is concerned
about the pack, is checking it carefully.
MELISSA
Bill, I thought you were dead, that
was the just the most awful
feeling, Bill...
BILL
(full of adrenaline,
focused)
Sorry, honey. It's fine.
JO
(referring to the pack)
Everything is fine! Gamma V is
twelve and holding! Go!
ON THE ROADWAY ABOVE
Jonas's sleek convoy rushes past, pursuing the tornado. They
swerve around the wreckage and the parked car as if they
weren't there.
JO (CONT'D)
Shit!
Melissa stares. Bill floors it.
THE TORNADO AHEAD
Still moving parallel to the road, it's now about a mile
ahead of them.
WIDE ON THE CAR
As it chases the tornado. Ahead in the distance are Jonas's
vans.
INT. JONAS'S VAN
In the lead van, Jonas wears a headset, sits with a monitor
in the dashboard. He looks from the monitor to the tornado
and back again.
ON THE MONITOR, the tornado is shown in false colors,
swirling. Little vector arrows flash, data overlaid on the
image.
40.
JONAS
We got a DD oh four on this? The
column's starting to look unstable.
Is the path moving, or do we have
asymmetry?
IN THE SECOND VAN
Windowless, low light, crammed with electronics. TWO AIDES
work among the monitors, which are analyzing the satellite
imagery, local video imagery, laying out damage paths,
calculating wind velocities.
AIDE ONE
Dr. Miller, NEXRAD calls it firm.
The 700 jet max is stable. That
path should hold.
JONAS
Okay, let's go for it.
AIDE TWO
Ready, Dr. Miller.
They get out their version of the instrument packs: black and
chrome, ultra-high-tech, glowing with dials and lights,
clearly expensive and sophisticated.
BACK IN JONAS'S CAB
Jonas sits forward, facing the tornado ahead.
DRIVER
Jonas, we got fleas.
Jonas looks in the side mirror. Behind them, he sees Bill's
car trying to catch up.
Jonas gives a dismissing wave. Forget it.
INT. BILL'S CAR
He's catching up to Jonas. Radio voices. But he's frowning,
looking at the tornado. He seems worried.
BILL
I don't like this...
JO
Just go!
He pulls out to pass the vans. Water spray from the vans hits
the windshield. Everybody's going a hundred.
41.
THE ROAD
They are running parallel, Bill passes one van after another.
JONAS'S VAN
DRIVER
Jonas? Look at this.
Jonas looks over. Bill's car is now neck and neck. Jo looks
out her window and smiles at Jonas. She raises both hands in
fists, and then flips the double bird
JONAS
(amused)
She's got a lot of spirit, doesn't
she?
Abruptly, Bill's car loses speed, and drops back abruptly. Jo
looks stricken, turns away from the window.
Jonas and driver watch in the rearview mirrors. Bill's car
fall back, then makes a U-turn, goes the other way.
DRIVER
They're turning around.
JONAS
Probably forgot something
IN BILL'S CAR
Jo's furious.
JO
What the hell are you doing?
BILL
The midlevel's disorganized. It's
gonna shift its track.
JO
Jonas doesn't think so.
BILL
Jonas has no instincts.
JO
Yeah, but he's direct-linked to the
storm center, Bill. And he's going
for it.
42.
BILL
Look at the column. Look at the
angle. Look at it!
Jo looks, studies it, frowns.
JO
Maybe... You think it's --
BILL
Yeah. I do.
MELISSA
What?
JO
It's gonna turn.
BILL
Wasn't there a road back here...
JO
Yeah, there was...
BILL
There!
THE FARM FIELD TO THEIR RIGHT
A dirt road goes straightaway from the highway. Bill turns
onto it, the car bouncing on the rougher road.
GOING DOWN THE ROAD
The tornado is diminishing, off to their right. Still going
away from us. We no longer really feel its power.
The phone rings. Melissa answers it.
MELISSA
Dr. Huntley. No, I'm off duty --
well, if it's really an emergency.
(covers phone with hand)
This'll be quick.
(into phone)
Louise? Now, honey, just calm down.
There's nothing to cry about.
Louise: didn't we already talk
about the penis issue?...
(covers phone)
Looks to me like it's still going
the other way.
43.
BILL
Wait.
THE TORNADO
Rumbling, churning up the dirt of the field. It's going right
for a farmhouse, some distance back from the road.
THE TORNADO ON A COMPUTER SCREEN
In false colors. Jonas is looking at the monitor.
JONAS
Looking good, looking very good...
THE TORNADO
It doesn't hit the farm house, but veers off to the left. It
makes a slow curve, turning away from the road.
DRIVER
Uh, Jonas....
Jonas looks up from his monitor, sees the tornado going away.
JONAS
No! No!
He looks back over his shoulder and sees the tiny shape of
Bill's car, driving across the field.
JONAS (CONT'D)
He's in position to intercept.
INT. BILL'S CAR
As they drive, Melissa is bent over, head down, concentrating
on her call. Trying to block out all the radio sounds in the
car.
MELISSA
Yes, it is unnatural... but we
don't have a choice here, with his
motility, a penis is just not gonna
do the job. Why are you crying? How
much progesterone have you have
today? Let's face reality here.
As she speaks, she looks up, sees the tornado.
THE TORNADO
Rumbling, much closer now. Looking powerful and churning, a
primordial force. It is much more frightening up close.
44.
INSIDE THE CAR
Melissa gets off fast:
MELISSA (CONT'D)
Louise? I'll call you back.
Hangs up. Car is filled with a mixture of excited radio
voices.
VOICE ONE
(on CB)
East southwest, shifting due south --
it's going south! Estimate Fujita
two, large wedge on the ground, and
it's very unstable...
DUSTY
(on CB)
Jo, it's looking really unstable.
JO
(on CB)
Yeah, we can see it.
They drive beneath the inky black cloud. The tornado spinning
toward them. Farmland, flat.
VOICE ONE
(on CB)
Wedge is eighty meters on the
ground, lateral columns unstable...
Melissa finally realizes it's coming toward them.
MELISSA
Oh my God...
Out the window, lightning cracks down. The storm gains power.
They are closing in on the tornado
OUTSIDE THE CAR
Rocketing toward the tornado at ninety miles an hour, we hear
a melange of tense voices over.
VOICE ONE
(on CB)
Rapid condensation! It's happening!
Rapid condensation!
45.
VOICE TWO
(on CB)
Very large
(crackle)
Dust picking up on the front
leading wedge! I have upflow!
BACK IN THE CAR
A conversation against a constant radio chatter. Melissa
stares at the tornado. She rubs her hands on her knees.
MELISSA
(tense)
Are we going to be okay?
BILL
Sure. We know what we're doing.
The car driving at eighty miles an hour toward the tornado.
JO
Yeah, we've never had a problem...
Except for, well, there was Ted.
BILL
Ted was a jerk.
JO
What happened was his own fault.
MELISSA
What happened?
JO
He ran out of gas. And got tossed.
She cranes her neck over, looks at the gas gauge.
MELISSA
Tossed?
The question hangs in the air. The car drives forward, toward
the tornado. No one answers her.
BILL
He pushed too hard.
VOICE THREE
(on CB)
Doppler estimate winds at one
hundred eighty miles an hour, so
stay back...
46.
MELISSA
(having doubts)
Listen, uh...
BILL
(to Jo)
Sounds like an F-2 or --
JO
Maybe F-3.
(turning on the instrument
pack)
What do you figure, another minute?
BILL
Yeah. Here's rain.
Rain spatters the windshield. Bill turns on the wipers.
BILL (CONT'D)
(explaining to Melissa)
First you see rain, maybe hail.
Then the wind picks up. Then you
see debris in the air, and you know
you're close.
Melissa is squeezing her knees so tight her fingers are
white. She is trying to keep it together, and asks as calmly
as she can:
MELISSA
When do you know you're too close?
The tornado is off to the right, on Melissa's side, dark and
swirling fast. Melissa stares in horror.
MELISSA (CONT'D)
I'm getting a really bad feeling
here... You're gonna have to
stop...
Bill doesn't her, he's squinting at the tornado with a
professional eye. He's totally focused now: this close, it's
dangerous.
Melissa is tense. Her phone rings again. She snatches it up
furiously.
MELISSA (CONT'D)
(edgy)
What! What's it about!
(MORE)
47.
MELISSA (CONT'D)
Look: I don't care if he doesn't
like boxer shorts, you tell him
that those tight little bunhuggers
are cooking his balls like a baked
potato. Tell him!
Hangs up. Fumbling with the phone, so nervous, she can't turn
it off properly.
The tornado is now developing a distinct sharp W-bend, a kink
in the funnel.
BILL
(worries)
We got helical procession...
JO
Let's go anyway.
MELISSA
Let's not. This seems very
unwise...
BILL
The vortex is breaking down. We may
get multiples.
MELISSA
Multiples?
JO
(looking up)
Or we may not.
BILL
(dead serious)
Jo... You're pushing.
JO
Do it!
A SECOND TORNADO FUNNELS DOWN on their left, touches ground
on the other side of the road. There're tornadoes now out
both windows.
JO (CONT'D)
(gleeful)
Yes! A carousel!
BILL
We're getting out.
48.
Thick dust everywhere. A few yards ahead of them, a COW FLIES
SIDEWAYS across the road, literally carried through the air
four feet above the ground, blown to the left by the tornado.
DUSTY
(on CB)
Jo? Get out of there. You're going
right into a big suction vortex and
you can't see it.
MELISSA
Oh my God we're gonna die! Bill!
From the left, out of the other tornado, THE COW COMES FLYING
BACK the other way, and Bill swerves to miss it, brakes
squealing, and the cow is blown in the field to the right,
instantly gone.
Directly ahead, A THIRD VORTEX spirals down, 100 yards from
them. It's lacy, almost see-through...
And Bill immediately turns away, but the wind spins their car
180 degrees, it's lifted and swung around like an amusement-
park ride, and Melissa screams -- she just loses it, throws
her hands over her face -- as Bill struggles for control, the
car sliding wildly in his hands, as if it's on ice. The are
enveloped in dust.
Suddenly there is a loud whump! and the two tornadoes suck up
back into the clouds above.
And then whump! the third goes.
Abruptly, it's over: the car is driving on an empty road.
Clear air between the black clouds overhead and the ground.
The CB squawkers very active. Bill now driving in calm. He
immediately puts his arm around Melissa.
BILL
Everything's fine. Are you okay,
honey?
MELISSA
(stunned, shaky)
What happened?
BILL
(kisses her forehead)
Multiple vortices are unstable.
Everything's fine now...
Jo watches this. She turns off the power on the pack beside
her. Suddenly:
49.
MELISSA
Stop the car!
Bill pulls over, and she flings open the door, leans out, and
throws up.
As she retches, Jo smiles slightly. Bill sees it, gets out of
the car.
EXT. THE CAR - DESERTED FIELD
Melissa is walking away. Bill goes over to her, hugs her. Jo
watches from inside the car. As Bill hugs her, he looks up at
the sky.
THE SUPERCELL ABOVE HIM
It rumbles, and flashes with inner lightning. It might be
laughing at him. He lost this round.
EXT. ROADSIDE TRUCK STOP - AFTERNOON
The sky is turning pink and gold as Jo's team pulls over to
the side of the road. They all get out. Melissa gets out on
her side of the car, and Jo gets out of the backseat.
MELISSA AT THE DOOR
She closes her door, looks stunned. Puncturing the metal side
of her door is a delicate twig, with leaves at the end. It's
slammed into the door like a missile. Jo pulls the twig out.
JO
I'm thirsty.
Melissa looks at the punctured door and shudders.
AT THE TRUCK STOP - LATER
Jo's team parked in sunlight, with dark skies behind them.
Larry on the telephone. Faxes coming in to Tim in one
vehicle. Over by the soft-drink machine, Melissa and Jo are
talking.
Bill and Dusty carry the instrument pack from the sedan to
the pickup. They strap the pack down in the back of the
pickup; Bill glances toward the two women.
DUSTY
Is Melissa okay?
BILL
Yeah, sure.
50.
DUSTY
On the radio, she sounded pretty
upset.
BILL
(squinting)
I think she's okay.
JO AND MELISSA TALKING
By the Coke machine. Jo gives Melissa a coke. Melissa's hand
trembles as she takes it.
JO
(sits beside her)
The first time you see one of these
things, it can be pretty upsetting.
I grew up around here, so I've seen
a lot of 'em.
Melissa just looks at her.
JO (CONT'D)
Every spring, the start up. You get
used to 'em after a while.
MELISSA
I don't think so....
JO
First one I ever saw, was in first
grade. We all had to go into the
school hallway and lie down,
holding hands. It blew all the
windows out. And our teacher peed
in her pants. Don't be embarrassed,
it's normal to be scared.
MELISSA
I'm not embarrassed...
JO
Good.
MELISSA
(getting offended)
Why should I be embarrassed?
JO
You shouldn't be, that's what I'm
saying.
MELISSA
Well, I'm not.
51.
JO
It takes a special kind of person
to do this.
MELISSA
(not saying all she could)
That's clear...
JO
(continuing her thoughts)
You can see how much Bill loves it.
He doesn't even think about it, he
just goes --
MELISSA
Look, let's get one thing straight.
The only reason we're here is to
get that paper signed.
JO
You think if I sign that paper,
he'll just walk away from here?
MELISSA
Yes, I do.
JO
It's not that simple.
MELISSA
Why don't you sign the paper, and
we'll find out.
JO
Let me tell you something about
Bill. He's not going to be able to
walk away from this storm. I know
him.
MELISSA
You used to know him.
JO
If you make him leave now, it'll
always be unfinished business in
your life. Because he doesn't want
to leave.
MELISSA
Then sign. And we'll see if he
wants to leave.
JO
It's about the papers --
52.
MELISSA
Yes it is. You just won't admit it.
Your relationship's over and you
can't accept that he loves somebody
else now. So you refuse to sign.
Classic.
JO
Save it for your patients.
MELISSA
He doesn't care anymore.
Melissa swigs Coke, looks at Jo with barely concealed
contempt. As if she's tired of this game.
MELISSA (CONT'D)
If you're so sure of yourself, then
sign.
Jo stares at Melissa. The two women stare each other down.
JO
Maybe I will.
Jo gets up, walks away. She looks over at Bill, standing to
one side, watching the storm with Dusty. Jo squints. Then she
turns away.
AT THE SIDE OF THE TRUCK STOP
Jo on the pay phone, making a call. In the background, a
flatbed truck brings in Jo's wrecked car.
JO (CONT'D)
Mom? Hi, it's me. We're fine... In
Seward. Yes, it's only twenty
miles, but -- you sure it's not too
much trouble? Dinner would be
great, Mom. The guys'd love it. oh,
Bill's here, too. Uh-huh. Well. I
don't know, it's complicated. He's
uh, kinda got somebody with him.
No, uh, I think we gotta bring her.
Okay, see you soon.
She hangs up. Walks over to the car. Where the team is
stripping out the scanner, seeing if it still works.
JO (CONT'D)
Hey guys, steak tonight!
53.
RICK
All right! Real food!
(lower)
You think it's a good idea?
JO
I think it's a great idea.
Jo glances back at Melissa, then:
JO (CONT'D)
Now, who's gonna rent a car?
The team in unison turns away from her.
TEAM
Aw, Jo.
(etc.)
JO
Who hasn't done it yet?
(choosing)
Larry? Larry, let's go.
INT. RENTAL CAR AGENCY - AFTERNOON
A stern-looking rental agent fills out the forms.
AGENT
How long will you be keeping the
car?
LARRY
(very tense)
Uh... a day.
AGENT
And will you be taking our added
collision and damage coverage?
LARRY
Yes.
AGENT
Is that the two-hundred-fifty-
dollar deductible or do you want --
LARRY
I want all the coverage. All the
coverage. Everything you got.
54.
EXT. RENTAL AGENCY - AFTERNOON
As Jo gets behind the wheel of a new pickup, squeals out in a
cloud of dust, goes down the road.
INT. SEVERE STORM CENTER LAB - AFTERNOON
Beneath fluorescent lights, intense activity, people
hurrying, scientists at monitors. Move past big swirling
images of the storm front, which covers several midwestern
states. A scientist talks on the phone.
FIRST SCIENTIST
We've got tristate watch advisories
from Texas to Kansas, the jet max
is still above three hundred
millibars and we should see more
tornado activity in all three
sectors... Conditions remain very
hazardous going into the night...
SECOND SCIENTIST
Jonas for you on two...
FIRST SCIENTIST
(punches button)
Yeah, Jonas. You're where?
As he listens, he moves his cursor over the huge cloud front.
He clicks near the center of the cloud. A little tag
onscreen: JONAS MILLER.
He punches buttons, and the storm colors change to artificial
reds and blues and greens.
FIRST SCIENTIST (CONT'D)
I'm looking at the radar now. I've
got no TVCs at the moment but they
seem to be developing all around
you... Yeah... Watch yourself out
there, Jonas.
WIDE ON TRUCK STOP - AFTERNOON
In a cloud of dust, Jonas and his team pull in, parking their
vans in formation side by side. Jonas gets out, acts
concerned.
JONAS
You okay in that last one, Joe?
JO
Yeah, it was nothing. Dropped a
pair of sisters and roped out.
55.
JONAS
(nodding)
The core was weak on Doppler.
That's why we didn't chase it.
JO
Uh-huh. Well, we have to try
harder.
JONAS
I'm just glad you're all right.
His tone says: You were a fool to chase it. Jo doesn't
answer. Jonas looks judiciously at the sky.
JONAS (CONT'D)
Well... looks like we'll get more
touchdowns before the day is over.
NSSL's got mesocyclones near the
Kansas border, and more in the
south, too. Hard to know which
direction to head.
JO
Uh-huh... So: which way you going
to head, Jonas?
JONAS
(smiling)
I'm going to have a cup of coffee
and consider the data.
(turns to one of his team)
Watch the cars, Eddie.
Still smiling, Jonas goes into the truck stop with his crew.
JO
That son of a bitch is going to
wait to see what Bill does.
THEIR POV - BILL
Standing with Dusty, staring at the sky, hands in his
pockets. Kicking the dirt, watching the wind puff it. Staring
up again.
INT. THE CAFE
Jonas and his team slide into a Naugahyde booth. Everybody
pops open their laptops in front of them: pow-pow-pow! It's
an IBM convention. Then they turn
56.
BACK TO JO AND TIMMY
Jo sees Jonas and his boys, sitting in a booth, staring out
at Bill.
JO
What a bunch of vultures.
Jo takes out a pack of gum, unwraps a stick, offers some to
Timmy, who shakes his head.
TIMMY
You really think Jonas'll just wait
and follow us?
JO
No law against it.
Jo unwraps another piece of gum, and pops it in her mouth.
Timmy looks as she takes out a third stick of gum, chews it
too. Her mouth is now a little bulging. Timmy looks
bewildered.
JO (CONT'D)
Would you excuse me?
She strides past Melissa, who stands to one side, talking on
her cellular phone.
MELISSA
Yes, I understand it's a problem...
Well, we just have to get through
these bad days...
BY JONAS'S VANS - AFTERNOON
As Jo comes up, chewing, EDDIE, a fresh-faced college boy,
stands by the van, looking up at the big thunderhead.
JO
Hey, Eddie.
EDDIE
Hiya, Jo.
JO
Hell of a cloud.
EDDIE
Yeah, sure it...
(as Jo comes closer)
What're you doing here, Jo?
57.
Jo casually leans back against the van on the driver's side,
standing beside Eddie.
JO
Oh, I'd just like to look at your
new FA scanner.
EDDIE
You know I can't show you that, Jo.
Jonas'd kill me.
JO
Yeah, he would. Want some gum?
EDDIE
Sure.
As he opens the gum, Jo turns her attention skyward, to the
thunderhead.
JO
I think we're getting a bigger
anvil. The dry line may be
widening.
EDDIE
Yeah. It looks like we're getting
more updraft.
JO
No beavertail yet.
EDDIE
(pointing)
I was wondering that could be one
starting there.
JO
Where?
As they talk, her hand slips inside the open driver's window.
EDDIE
There. See along there? Maybe some
early striations...
JO
I think you're right. That could
very well be the start of a
beavertail.
EDDIE
That's what I think, yes.
58.
JO
Then that cloud could be dropping a
tornado any minute now.
EDDIE
I don't think so, Jo.
JO
Why not?
EDDIE
'Cause you're standing here like
nothing was happening.
JO
(punches his shoulder)
Not for long Eddie.
(walking away)
You ever want a decent job, come an
see me.
Jo heads across the parking lot, to where Bill stands with
Dusty.
BILL AND DUSTY - AFTERNOON
Backs to us, they stare at the gigantic thunderhead rising
five miles into the sky, beautiful in the afternoon light.
They are dwarfed by the huge cloud formation as they study
it.
BILL
Wind's dropped.
DUSTY
Yeah.
Lightning crackles down from the base of the cloud.
INT. THE CAFE - AFTERNOON
CLOSE ON A COMPUTER SCREEN showing overlapping windows:
Doppler radar in false colors, millibar contour diagrams,
velocity fields, etc. These are abstractions of the storm
outside.
JONAS
Looks like rapid gusts fronting
away from the main updraft. You got
this curve at three hundred
millibars where the low-level
vorticity isn't exceeding point oh
two.
59.
WIDEN to see Jonas and his team ignore the sky and looking at
screens on a table cluttered with coffee cups and portable
computers, cellular modems, and cellular faxes.
JONAS (CONT'D)
The meso is never going to develop
this low, but... do we have any
data higher up?
(aides shuffling papers)
Find me some data on what's
happening at higher levels...
EXT. HIGH LEVELS OF THE STORM CLOUD - AFTERNOON
The thunderhead roiling, an anvil cloud cutting horizontally.
Thunder rumbles. PAN DOWN the giant cloud to Bill and Dusty,
their backs to us, still watching the sky. The cloud is now a
distinct purple-green.
BILL
Going green.
DUSTY
Yeah.
Bill holds out his hand. Dusty drops the car keys into it.
They continue to stare up.
BACK INSIDE THE CAFE
Jonas and his team nose to nose with their screens.
JONAS
In the absence of a mechanism to
generate low-level rotation, I
don't think we'll have a tornado,
no --
ANOTHER AIDE
Hey, Jonas, look!
They turn to look out the window -- where they see Jo and her
team climbing into their vehicles, getting ready to pull out
of the parking lot. Melissa is still talking on her cellular
phone, Dusty grabs her and pulls her into his car.
The booth empties as Jonas and his team clamber over each
other and rush outside.
EXT. THE TRUCK STOP - AFTERNOON
As Jonas and his team come out. The sun is setting,
everything is red around the ugly purple-green cloud. They
are just in time to see Jo's vehicles pulling away.
60.
JONAS
Go!
His team sprints for their cars. Jonas gets in the passenger
side of the van; Eddie is driving.
INT. JONAS'S VAN
Jonas stares down the highway, focused only on the departing
cars. Eddie's putting the key in the ignition.
JONAS
Move it, Eddie!
EDDIE
What the...
Eddie bends around the wheel to look. The steering wheel has
A HUGE GOB OF GUM COVERING THE IGNITION stuck into the lock.
EDDIE (CONT'D)
Where's the keys...
JONAS
(on intercom)
Nitrogen! Nitrogen! I need spare
keys for van one! Now!
(accusing)
You were talking to her. How man
times have I told you --
From the backseat, he's handed a small spray can with a long
plastic tube. Jonas sprays the steering column. It turns
frosty white around the gum.
JONAS (CONT'D)
Jo is not to be trusted.
The frozen gum pulls away in a lump, unclogging the ignition.
Meanwhile, a van pulls alongside, Jonas opens his door,
catches tossed keys, gives them to Eddie.
JONAS (CONT'D)
Go!
WIDE ON PARKING LOT
As Jonas's team peels out, in louds of dust.
INSIDE JONAS'S VAN
Ahead, the road is deserted. They zoom down it.
61.
JONAS
Get on the frequencies, monitor
them!
TECH VOICE
(on intercom)
We already got 'em, Jonas.
Eddie punches a dashboard button.
MELISSA
(on radio)
Are you between eleven and
fourteen? And it still hasn't
turned blue?
EDDIE
Must but some kind code...
MELISSA
(on radio)
Remember, lie on you back afterward
for fifteen minutes. No, no, oral
sex would just be a waste of
time...
JONAS
Turn that off.
EDDIE
But...
JONAS
Off!
Eddie turns it off. Jonas stares out the window.
EDDIE
(resentfully)
There might have been some good
information there...
JONAS
(staring out window)
They'll have to quit for the night
pretty soon. It's getting too dark
for them.
(opening panel)
But we can keep going all night,
right men?
62.
INT. THE BACK OF THE VAN
Illuminated by a red nightlight, it is crammed floor to
ceiling with electronic equipment.
TECHNICIAN ONE
Right, Jonas. Go all night if you
want.
INT. BILL'S (REALLY DUSTY'S) PICKUP TRUCK - DARK AFTERNOON
Jo and Bill driving along.
BILL
Getting dark... We're going to have
to stop soon.
JO
Unless you want to keep going.
BILL
Night tornadoes? We don't have the
equipment, it's much too dangerous.
JO
(incredulous)
Too dangerous?
BILL
I'm on my way to Phoenix tomorrow.
JO
And you don't want to hurt
yourself. You have a goal in life.
You're going to Phoenix to get
domesticated.
BILL
I'm going to settle down, yes.
JO
Have a steady life.
BILL
Right.
JO
Going to the TV station every day,
wearing makeup... playing golf with
the station manager... getting
ahead in your career as a
weatherman.
63.
BILL
Sounds pretty good to me.
Lightning cracks down, sharp and close. It starts to rain.
Bill flicks on the wipers.
JO
I sure never thought I'd see you
with a leash around your neck,
eating out of a dish with your name
on it.
BILL
The trouble with you is, you think
you know everything about me, and
you don't.
JO
Yeah?
BILL
Yeah.
JO
What's going to keep you from
running away from her, the way you
ran away from me?
BILL
Ran away?
JO
Hey. I came home one day and all
your stuff was gone. You didn't
even leave a note on the pillow.
BILL
What's the difference? You never
talked to me.
JO
Well, Mr. Communication, neither
did you. You just hit the road.
BILL
I got tired of trying to talk to
you.
JO
And you'll get tired again.
A beat of silence.
64.
JO (CONT'D)
You don't know what trying is.
EXT. THEIR TRUCK IN ON THE ROAD - SECOND TORNADO
Passing a row of tall trees along the side of the road, a
windbreak for a farm. As their truck passes the trees, we see
off to the right ANOTHER TORNADO. It's black against a dark
green sky, and distinctly bigger than the last one.
INT. THEIR TRUCK
Bill and Jo are entirely focused on the tornado.
VOICE ONE
(on CB)
(going crazy)
On the ground! Tornado on the
ground!
JO
(on CB)
Dusty? You see it?
DUSTY
(on CB)
We see it, Jo. Looks like a hundred
meter wedge.
BILL
Maybe more. Good shape, F-2...
JO
Vertical columns...
BILL AND JO (CONT'D)
(in unison, the same
thought)
...should hold.
BILL (CONT'D)
Yeah, it should...
CB VOICE FOUR
Large wedge, going north northeast,
I'm seeing it from highway 44...
moving about thirty miles an
hour...
They're both looking at the tornado. Judging it.
BILL
This might be the one...
65.
HIS POV - THE TORNADO
Churning toward them, it will intersect their road a few
miles ahead.
BACK INSIDE THE PICKUP
BILL
(talking to tornado)
You're gonna cross the road? Go on,
do it... I'll be there...
JO
(on CB)
Dusty? Get ready to set up.
INT. DUSTY'S CAR
Driving along, across from the farmhouse with the windbreak
we just saw -- they're a few miles behind Jo and Bill, on a
parallel road. Beside Dusty, Melissa sits tensely. The
tornado is off to their left.
DUSTY
(on CB)
You gonna go for this one?
BILL
(on CB)
Yeah. We are.
Melissa reacts with concern. But Dusty's businesslike:
DUSTY
(on CB)
Where are you now?
JO
(on CB)
We're about two Miles from it...
and we have hail.
INT. BILL'S TRUCK
Outside, hail starts to fall, rattling on the truck, bouncing
on the road ahead. It's small -- golf ball-size.
DUSTY
(on CB)
When should I set up?
JO
Set up now.
66.
Bill watches the sky, choosing the moment.
JO (CONT'D)
(on CB)
We have upflow! Dusty! Upflow!
BILL
I'll untie the pack.
He pulls over, jumps out, climbs into the back.
Simultaneously, Jo gets behind the wheel, floors it.
In the open back of the pickup, Bill bends over the
instrument pack, and starts unstrapping the buckles. The
tornado is still a distance away, but the wind is howling
around him, flattening the prairie grass, whipping his hair
around his face. The hail hammers him. Hitting his hands,
making it difficult to work.
JO
(leaning out of cab)
You okay?
BILL
DRIVE!
Jo is driving at eighty miles an hour toward a black sky and
a blacker tornado, which has an ugly greenish-purple tinge.
Bill is in the back of the pickup, fumbling with the knotted
ropes that hold down the instrument pack, trying to get them
open in this whirlwind.
Inside, Jo is concerned.
JO
We have debris.
Inside the cab, clouds of earth and tree branches thump
against the windshield, the side of the truck.
Bill, in the back, debris flying around his head. It's all
getting slowly worse...
EXT. DUSTY'S CAR - SIDE OF THE ROAD
His trunk is up; he and Timmy hastily take out tripods, video
cameras, computers, radio receivers, while listening to the
CB radio.
VOICE FIVE
(on CB)
Getting really wild
(crackle)
67.
VOICE SIX
(on CB)
I don't believe this. I just saw a
red pickup driving right into the
core
(crackle)
guy standing up in the back!
MELISSA
Is that Bill?
DUSTY
Probably.
(on CB)
Rick?
RICK
(on CB)
Setting up now.
DUSTY
(to Melissa)
Take this.
He hands her a video camera with etched plastic panels
mounted in front of the lens.
Dusty moves away from the car toward the field, where he sets
up a tripod. Melissa hurries after him. By the time she gets
there, Timmy takes the camera and places it on the tripod.
Meanwhile, Dusty is hurriedly setting up the radio receivers
and connecting them to the portable computers.
DUSTY (CONT'D)
Bill's putting the pack in the
path. We'll record the data.
(working fast)
Video, for photogrammetry. And over
there, telemetry data.
(points)
Rick's over there.
Rick is across the field, about half a mile away, also
setting up.
ACROSS THE FIELD
Rick and Larry are setting up. They work fast.
LARRY
(with tripod)
Gimme that mount...
68.
RICK
I'm getting hungry.
LARRY
And the calibrator...
Rick hands him more equipment. They can see Dusty and Melissa
in the distance.
BACK TO MELISSA AND DUSTY
MELISSA
You're triangulating?
DUSTY
Yeah.
He sights through the video camera. Through the camera, with
the REC buttons and day-timers lit, we see the powerful
twisting cloud.
Beside him, Melissa is worried. The sky is dark and low. She
looks at the tornado in the distance.
MELISSA
This is dangerous, why do you
people do this, when you think
about it, it's kind of crazy, it
really is...
BACK TO BILL'S PICKUP
The hail is denting the surface of the hood like a thousand
hammer blows. The whole car is starting to look lumpy.
In the back, Bill's hands are cut by debris and hail as he
struggles to untie wet cords. The wind is a continuous high-
pitched scream, and we hear underneath it the deep ominous
rumble of a gigantic freight train. He looks up at the
tornado.
THE TORNADO
Harsh and roaring, a dangerous green. This is the closest we
have ever been. The deepening green sky is illuminated by
sudden flashes of lightning. It's a nightmarish scene.
The tornado hits power lines across the field, causing a
series of FLASHING EXPLOSIONS.
BACK ON THE ROAD
It's clearly dangerous here: a whole tree flies through the
air, and sheets of metal siding spin like giant Frisbees.
69.
The entire wall of a house, with a window and door, comes
tumbling end over end down the road. The air is dense with
dust.
JO DRIVING
Grim as she goes down the road. Debris bangs constantly
against the truck and windows. Suddenly something shatters
the side window by her face. She slams on the brakes, twists
the wheel.
JO
That's it!
EXT. THE TRUCK
It comes to a stop, Bill still in the back. Jo gets out of
the truck and heads for the tailgate. They shout in the wind,
hardly able to hear each other.
BILL
Get back in the truck!
She throws down the tailgate, and starts to pull at the
instrument pack. Bill is up by the ca, near the top of the
pack.
There's still one cord tied.
JO
Come on!
BILL
Jo, don't! I haven't --
She pulls hard, and the breakaway lid of the instrument pack
pops off, and Jo falls back, pulling the rest of the pack
with her.
That releases the contents of the pack -- dozens of round
plastic balls tumble out of the pack, bounce around her on
the pavement, and spin away in all directions as the wind
catches them.
Jo looks stunned, turns to Bill. She climbs on the truck.
JO
(coming closer, shouting)
What happened?
BILL
It was still tied!
He turns and leaps over the side panel, lands on the road.
70.
Bill climbs in the cab and accelerates hard in a U-turn. She
hangs on, slides open the window behind Bill's head, and
thrusts her face through, into the cab and screams:
JO
Why didn't you tell me?
BILL
I can't tell you anything!
As the truck drives away, we see the tornado coming across
the road, right where they were. A few of the balls are
picked up, but not many.
IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR
Bill sees that the balls aren't picked up by the wind. He is
attentive to this. Even though he's driving like hell.
in the back of the Pickup
Jo turns to look at the tornado crossing the road, spinning
some of the balls that are still there. It flings aside the
white shell of the instrument pack.
JO
(to herself)
We had perfect position.
Then she turns, puts her face back into the cab.
BACK IN THE CAB
JO (CONT'D)
We had perfect position. Perfect!
That was the one!
BILL
And we woulda had it! If you
weren't in such a rush...
JO
Why didn't you tell me?
BILL
I tried.
JO
Not hard enough!
BILL
You didn't listen, you were in such
a goddamn hurry...
71.
JO
That's right, everything's my
fault, the marriage is my fault,
it's all my fault --
BILL
This time it is --
JO
Hey, you left me!
BILL
I didn't want to! I was crazy about
you!
BACK TO MELISSA AND DUSTY
Down the road, packing up the equipment, they hear the argument
on the handheld radio, the shouting voices on the CB.
JO
You never said so.
BILL
I'm saying it now! I was crazy
about you!
JO
Great, now you tell me! It's over
now, right?
BILL
You're impossible!
JO
Just tell me! Come on, say it,
cowboy! Tell me it's over for good!
Tell me you love somebody else!
Tell me to my face!
Melissa listens more intently than she lets on.
BILL
(on CB)
You're so goddamn pushy...
JO
(on CB)
(contemptuous)
Look at you, you don't know what
you want!
Dusty shakes his head. Melissa is listening to all this, very
cool, her face impossible to read.
72.
MELISSA
Unhealthy relationships are very
hard to end...
Dusty senses her distress, tries to smooth it over.
DUSTY
They never did get along. Always
picking at each other.
He clicks the radio. We now head scattered spotters, shouting
excitedly about the storm. They trudge back to the car, Dusty
first, Melissa following.
MELISSA
Second marriages are usually much
healthier. More mature.
DUSTY
(still walking)
Uh-huh.
They continue back to the car. Thunder rumbles.
INT. JO'S TRUCK - LATE AFTERNOON
Jo on the CB as they drive.
JO
(on CB)
Dusty? Get going. We're gonna be
late for dinner.
DUSTY
(on CB)
We'll beat you there, Jo. Rick's
already on his way.
RICK
(on CB)
Steak! Steak!
LARRY
(on CB)
Gravy! Hash browns!
BILL
Wait a minute...
JO
We're going to Guthrie.
BILL
No we're not.
73.
JO
It's all arranged. Mom's expecting
you.
BILL
No, Jo.
JO
Relax: we're just gonna eat. Looks
like you haven't had any meat in a
long time.
EXT. OUTSKIRTS OF GUTHRIE - LATE AFTERNOON
The cars drive past an old 50s gas station, a motel, and a
drive-in movie theater with a neon sign that says: THE GALAXY.
EXT. JO'S PARENTS' FRONT YARD - EVENING
The mailbox says JIM & MARGARET WILDER. It's painted red,
white, and blue. The house is a white wood-frame house. The
team's cars all pulled around it.
Larry inspects the pockmarked rental car, shaking his head,
then turns away.
EXT. JO'S PARENTS' BACK YARD - EVENING
Margaret, Jo's mother, brings out a big platter of steaks.
Bill immediately takes it from her, helping out. Jim follows
with several pounds of mashed potatoes, a pile of bread.
(Nothing green served here.)
At the table in the backyard, everybody falls to as if
they've never eaten before. Everybody talking, lively.
Melissa stand to one side, uncertain. Margaret goes over to
her, hands her a cup of coffee.
MARGARET
You take cream?
MELISSA
Just a little.
MARGARET
From around here, Melissa?
MELISSA
Dallas, originally.
MARGARET
I've got a sister in Dallas. Big
city now.
74.
MELISSA
Yes, it is.
MARGARET
(not knowing what to say)
Yes... it is.
The moment goes awkward. Jim comes over, puts his arm around
Melissa, steers her to the table.
JIM
Come on, darlin', better get in
there. These boys won't leave
anything but tablecloth.
Melissa slips into a spot at the table. They pass her food,
all still talking. Rick's piling stuff on her plate.
RICK
Better fill up. In this business,
you'll never know when you'll eat
again.
LARRY
Keep your strength up.
Melissa picks up a fork, hesitates. It's not her style. She
glances at Bill, across the table. He's eating, but silent.
Timmy sees Melissa hesitate.
TIMMY
Here, gotta have gravy.
Timmy pours a big puddle of gravy over her entire plate.
RICK
Margaret's gravy is famous.
LARRY
Makes the meal.
TIMMY
Yeah, we haven't had it since --
Jim, when did that last twister
come through here?
BILL
'92.
JIM
That's right, bill, '92. That was
the year that you and Jo got --
Margaret elbows Jim. Melissa starts to cut, furiously.
75.
DUSTY
Say, Jim, you ever find out whose
leg that was?
TIMMY
(explaining to Melissa)
That tornado dropped a guy's leg on
Jim's roof.
Melissa looks at the roof.
JIM
Heck of a time gettin' it down offa
there. Boys helped me some.
JO
(mouthful of food)
Had a nice snakeskin boot on it,
too.
RICK
Damnedest thing, a whole leg, just
lying on the rood.
Melissa is appalled. They're all eating continuously as they
talk. Melissa resumes cutting her steak, slowly.
DUSTY
What'd you finally do with that
leg, Jim?
JIM
Put it in the freezer. Margaret
hated that.
MARGARET
(nodding as she serves)
I did.
JIM
But I figured somebody might come
to claim it... 'Course it coulda
blown from Tulsa. Coulda been
hundreds of miles.
TIMMY
Like that birdcage?
JIM
Yeah.
(to Melissa)
My brother in Shawnee, finds a
birdcage in his cornfield. Bird's
still in it, shriekin'.
(MORE)
76.
JIM (CONT'D)
Cage got a pet-shop sticker from
Norman, eighty miles away. My
brother called. Pretty soon the
owner showed up and took it back.
Some kind of expensive bird. Guess
they were glad to have it.
TIMMY
What happened to the leg? Still got
it?
JIM
Well. Nobody claimed it, so we
finally buried it.
MARGARET
I needed the freezer for my steaks.
Melissa is about to bite the steak, stops.
JIM
Put it out by the petunia bed over
there. They're doin' real good,
too.
Thunder rumbles. Bill gets up from the table, to look at the
sky.
MARGARET
Always makes me nervous when he
does that.
THE SKY
Rolling clouds, streaks of gold as night falls.
BILL STARING
Thoughtful.
BACK TO THE BACKYARD - LATER
It's dark, the meal is over. Lanterns on the table as they
all clear up, still talking. The house lit inside.
Melissa outside with Timmy, clearing the table.
TIMMY
So, these, ah, reproductive
problems you deal with in you
practice, is it usually the man's
fault?
She is looking past Timmy, toward the house.
77.
Through the kitchen window, she sees Jo and Bill at the sink,
scraping dishes and washing. Nothing particularly happening --
but they're together. Working in an easy, coordinated way.
MELISSA
(distracted)
No, there's many different
etiologies...
TIMMY
'Cause I read that thinning hair is
a sign of virility.
MELISSA
(not listening to him)
Is what?
TIMMY
Thin hair. Is it a sign of, you
know... virility?
MELISSA
Yes, there are studies that show
high testosterone levels in balding
men. Yes...
As she talks, picks up plates to take them in -- an excuse
for her to go inside.
MARGARET
Here, let me take that.
MELISSA
It's no trouble.
MARGARET
I wouldn't dream of it. Guests
don't work at our house.
Melissa looks at the kitchen, where Bill is working.
INT. KITCHEN - EVENING
As Margaret enters.
MARGARET
Bill, you've got to get out of here
now, I love to have you for a
couple of hours, but let's face it.
Anywhere you are, sooner or later,
there's gonna be a storm.
78.
BILL
Not for a while, Margaret. Air's
too dry.
MARGARET
So you say. But I want you moving.
JO
We gotta fix the packs anyway. And
the cars need work. Henderson's
station still open all night, mom?
MARGARET
I believe so...
EXT. FRONT YARD - NIGHT
Everybody saying good-bye, hugging, getting into their cars.
Margaret hands Rick a big aluminum foil-wrapped pack.
RICK
Thanks, I'll need a snack later.
First engines start. Melissa in the backseat with Bill, she
waves to the parents.
Jo embraces her mother, kisses her good-bye. Mother whispers
in her ear:
MARGARET
Be smart, honey.
JO
Take care, Mom.
Cars drive off. Jo runs to get in with Dusty. Waving good-
bye, the team pulls out onto the road.
EXT. GAS STATION - NIGHT
As seen before, an old 50s gas station, with a Mobil flying
horse sign, and an adjacent motel -- a row of little log
cabins. A buzzing neon sign says FREE TV IN EVERY ROOM.
A short distance away, the drive-in movie plays to a handful
of parked cars. The screen big and blue.
The chase vehicles are pulled up around the station. The
garage door is up, and the area around the grease pit is
brightly lit.
79.
INT. GARAGE - NIGHT
The station wagon up on the lift. A MECHANIC, late 20s, helps
Timmy down in the pit, working. Bill working at a tool bench,
Jo getting boxes out of the back of the sedan.
Horns honking from the street. Jo turns and looks out.
OUTSIDE ON THE STREET
Jonas and his team, honking and driving fast down the road in
the night. Jonas waves cheerfully.
JONAS
(on CB)
You boys quitting already? We got
two hook echoes in a fifteen-mile
radius, going to be a busy night.
JO
(to herself)
Blow me.
BILL AT THE WORKBENCH
With the white instrument pack upright and before him. The
pack is full of balls. Bill has removed one of the balls, and
is gluing the electronic innards into a box instead; he has a
stack of these boxes. Jo comes over, bringing more.
JO (CONT'D)
Jonas is still going.
BILL
Yeah? Hand me that tape.
Jo does, picks up one finished unit, inspects it
thoughtfully.
JO
Why didn't we think of this before?
BILL
(nodding)
I don't know, spheres were a
mistake. They'll never get lifted
up. You need flat surfaces for
lift... that's why airplanes have
wings...
JO
(opening a ball)
You wrap the sensors with tape?
80.
BILL
(head nod)
Yeah, that tape there.
JO
And you set 'em in like this?
BILL
Other way.
(as she flips it)
Yeah.
They're working smoothly together, side by side.
JO
Glue?
BILL
(head nod)
There. Pass me those pliers.
Melissa comes over, trying to hide anxiety.
MELISSA
Bill, I'm sorry to interrupt you,
but I need to ask you something.
BILL
(looking at equipment)
Yeah...
MELISSA
Alone.
BILL
Now?
MELISSA
Right now.
BILL
(turns to her)
What is it?
She doesn't answer, just puts her arm on his shoulder, starts
to lead him out. Stay with Jo at the table, as she hears:
BILL'S VOICE
(soft laugh)
Really...
MELISSA'S VOICE
Can't work all night...
81.
Bill laughs again. Jo tries to continue working, finally
can't stand it, turns to look. She sees Bill and Melissa arm
and arm, going across the street to the motel. In front of
the motel room, Melissa grabs and kisses him, a passionate
moment.
The rest of the team is standing around in the garage, trying
not to notice.
Jo turns away, her face tight. Dusty crosses to her.
DUSTY
Guess Jonas's going all night. He's
got the equipment for it.
JO
Nothing we can do about it.
DUSTY
He's got a couple of hook echoes
out there, just a few miles away.
JO
(blowing)
I know that! Tell me something I
don't know!
She stalks angrily out of the garage.
INT. MOTEL ROOM - NIGHT
Bill and Melissa rolling on the bed, kissing passionately and
struggling to get each other's clothes off. Buttons an
zippers, urgency... He can't get her tight trousers off.
MELISSA
Just a minute...
She rolls away, onto her back, kicks her legs in the air,
getting her pants off. Meanwhile he hears the TV, looks
toward it as he unbuttons his shirt.
TV ANNOUNCER
Going into the night, severe storm
warnings remain in effect across
Kansas, Oklahoma, and down into
northern Texas...
(etc.)
She throws her pants away, rolls off the bed, circles to the
TV, clicks it off and walks directly toward him, swinging her
hips. He grabs her, she jumps on him, straddling him, they
begin kissing again. It's hot.
82.
While they kiss:
MELISSA
Oh honey... feels like it's been so
long...
BILL
Ummm.
MELISSA
I miss this...
BILL
Ummm...
MELISSA
Oh, I wish we could leave now.
BILL
Yeah... I know.
MELISSA
Let's... let's do it...
BILL
Ummm...
MELISSA
I mean tonight. Let's go.
Bill lifts his head away.
BILL
What?
MELISSA
(kissing his ear)
Let's just get in the car... and
go.
BILL
(kissing her again)
Melissa... I know... I know how you
feel..
MELISSA
You feel good...
BILL
But I can't...
MELISSA
(still kissing)
Why not?
83.
BILL
The papers...
MELISSA
(kissing)
Forget the papers. We'll get a
lawyer... Let's just go.
BILL
I can't.
MELISSA
Honey, you can. We can just go.
BILL
No, I can't. I've got to finish
this.
This breaks the kissing, she pulls back a little.
MELISSA
Why?
BILL
I know how to make it work.
The break widens. They're apart now.
MELISSA
(annoyed)
Who cares?
BILL
I do. It's important. We're talking
about saving lives.
MELISSA
What about our life?
BILL
If I can get those instruments in a
tornado, I'll learn more in two
minutes than anybody has learned in
the previous two hundred years. I
can't stop now.
She looks at him, sees his obsession. She makes a choice, and
has to work very hard to come back, warmly:
MELISSA
I understand, Bill.
(kisses him chastely)
I love you. Got and do what you've
got to do.
84.
He looks at her, uncertain how she is really feeling. She's
smiling as she starts to put her shirt back on.
MELISSA (CONT'D)
I can wait until tomorrow. Go on.
Really.
EXT. BURGER STAND - NIGHT
CLOSE ON BILL'S HANDS as he works on one of the electronic
packs. Cup of coffee nearby.
Wider, we see everybody on Jo's team sitting at wooden picnic
benches, finishing coffee and doughnuts. Jo is trying to fix
a portable fax, which spits out bits of paper and crackles.
In the background, the huge blue screen of the drive-in movie
theater. The picture plays against scattered cloud lightning.
A radio on the table gives us spotters and Jonas
intermittently, but mostly just crackles static. Occasional
distant thunder. Black night, no wind.
Everybody turns to look at Melissa make an entrance.
Melissa has changed clothes but has a carefully disheveled
look. She has pinned her hair up; little wet tendrils hang
down. She enters languorously, yawns, stretches, pretending
she got laid.
MELISSA
Boy, am I hungry. I could eat a
horse. Anybody want another one?
Jo gives her a black look.
THE REST OF THE TEAM
They are awkward. Then:
RICK
Sure, I'll take one.
DUSTY
You just had two steaks!
RICK
So?
Jo glares at them like they're traitors. Melissa come over to
Jo.
MELISSA
How about you, Jo? Hungry?
85.
JO
(stares her down)
Yeah. Get me a hot dog.
Melissa goes to the stand.
A gust of wind blows Jo's hair. Thunder rumbles again. Jo
frowns. Suddenly the CB radio starts to go:
VOICE ONE
(on CB)
Tornado! On the ground! Jonas, do
you see it?
VOICE TWO
(on CB)
Tornado on the ground! It's on the
ground! Jonas? Over.
Everybody freezes. Everybody listens to the CB.
VOICE THREE
(on CB)
Jonas, are we going for it? Over.
JONAS
(on CB)
Damn right we're
(crackle)
in perfect position.
VOICE TWO
(on CB)
It's F-2, going north northeast,
near highway 80.
JONAS
We're on highway 80 right in the
damage path. It'll cross right
where we are.
VOICE ONE
(on CB)
Going to place
(crackle)
JONAS
I'm placing the package now. Men!
Prepare to place!
Jo's team listens, exchanges glances. Everybody waiting to
see if it happens.
86.
JO
Damn it...
She tosses her crumpled-up doughnut paper toward the trash
can. Misses -- it falls to the ground, and blows away in the
gathering wind.
JONAS
(crackle)
Right, the instrument pack is out,
it is right in the damage path...
(crackle)
Satisfactory.
VOICE TWO
(on CB)
Say again, Jonas? Jonas?
Tense silence. Bill fingers one of his spheres, nervously.
JONAS
Coming right toward the pack,
perfect placement...
(crackle)
Still coming...
(crackle)
Here is comes...
VOICE ONE
(on CB)
Jonas, the tornado
(crackle)
VOICE TWO
(on CB)
(crackle)
Moving to --
VOICE THREE
(on CB)
Damn, it's
(crackle)
VOICE TWO
(on CB)
Jonas?
VOICE ONE
(on CB)
Jonas? Come in. Jonas?
A ling silence. Nothing but crackling radios.
Tense looks among the team.
87.
VOICE TWO
(on CB)
Jonas?
JONAS
Goddamn it, I missed it!
(crackle)
Can't
(crackle)
believe it!
The group breaks into cheers as tension releases.
VOICE TWO
(on CB)
Jonas, why did
(crackle)
JONAS
Damn it.
(crackle)
incompetents!
VOICE THREE
(on CB)
Say again? Jonas?
JONAS
(crackle)
Pack up, men! Damn!
Jo's cheerful, smiling in relief.
JO
Anybody want coffee?
A few isolated drops of rain spatter down. The wind is
higher. It's hard to work outside. They all get up, start
heading back.
BILL
I'm going back to the garage.
JO
(to counter boy)
Five coffees, please.
VOICE THREE
(on CB)
Changed direction, heading
(crackle)
88.
VOICE RWO
(on CB)
Never catch it now, but it's still
(crackle)
on the ground.
BY THE HAMBURGER STAND - NIGHT
Inside the hamburger stand, LIGHTS FLICKER momentarily.
COUNTER BOY
Which way did he say it was
heading?
Lightning flashes for an instant behind Jo showing us A THICK
BLACK FUNNEL ILLUMINATED BY THE LIGHTNING. This is a night
tornado, seen only when lightning shows it. It's very
dangerous and very scary.
The lightning fades and the tornado is again hidden in the
black night sky.
COUNTER BOY (CONT'D)
Holy shit! Pa! Pa!
They boy runs toward the motel office. As he goes, TWO POLICE
CARS, sires howling and lights flashing, rush by. Jo turns
and looks back at
THE SKY
Two lightning flashes in rapid succession show us the funnel
clearly. It is thick and churning and wide, looks about a
quarter mile across. And coming toward us.
THE DRIVE IN
The handful of cars empty, patrons running to the basement
beneath the projection booth.
BACK TO JO
The wind blows harder, more insistent. Jo watches a final
moment, her curiosity getting the better of her caution.
BILL
(O.S.)
Jo! Come on!
She starts to run.
89.
JO RUNNING
Fast as she can. We hear the freight-train rumble of the
approaching tornado.
AT THE GARAGE
Bill is at the side door, shouting, waving her in.
BILL (CONT'D)
Move your ass!
JO RUNNING
She reaches the garage and runs inside. Bill pulls the door
shut behind her, but after a moment the door bangs back and
forth on its hinges.
INT. THE GARAGE - AS THE TORNADO APPROACHES
Wind whining, papers fluttering, lights flickering. Bill
gestures urgently:
BILL
Down there!
IN THE GREASE PIT
As they jump down into the pit. It's six feet deep and
everybody else is down there already -- Dusty, Tim, Rick,
Melissa, and the Mechanic. Above them is Tim's station wagon.
MELISSA
(clutching him)
Oh Bill, I'm scared.
BILL
It's okay.
He puts his arms around her. Jo watches them. Bill's eyes
meet Jo's for a moment.
The freight-train roar comes closer. Muffled EXPLOSIONS. The
sound of breaking glass, as windows blow out. They
instinctively look up.
BILL (CONT'D)
Get you heads down!
The wind is howling and building above them. Stuff is
beginning to fly around the room; sound of banging and
breaking glass.
90.
They can see the destruction above only through the spaces
between the station wagon and the edge of the concrete pit.
And they have to duck; things are dropping on their heads.
The wind builds, faster and faster. It doesn't seem possible
for it to get faster, but it does. RIVERS AND LUGS slam
against the side of the car like a rainstorm of metal.
Melissa clutches Bill, holding him hard.
A hissing pneumatic air hose falls and whips like a writhing
snake around the pit, making them duck away. The mechanic
grabs it and steps on it, to hold it fast.
The mechanic grins. In the next instant, a metal lid slashes
his cheek, drawing a gush of blood and a scream we can't hear
over the wind.
More dust is flying the air is now thick, dense. The wind is
a shrieking scream.
The car above them begins to rock back and forth ominously.
There is the sound of an EXPLOSION up above, but we don't
know what it is.
They glance upward, squinting in the dust.
The car above rocks back and forth more wildly. Suddenly,
ANOTHER CAR comes slamming in from the side and knocks Tim's
car off its hydraulics.
Hubcaps, spinning like saucers, bang down into the pit, carom
off the walls.
Tim's car, toppled partly on its side, hangs lower into the
pit. Unbalanced by the weight of a second car, one side of
the metal runner bends. Tim's cat comes lower.
Oil begins to glug down. The wind screams.
The Galaxy drive-in sign, its neon arrow pointing, slams into
the car above them, and the neon sputters out.
Melissa buries her face into Bill's shoulder, her fingers
clutching him. And suddenly the wind lessens... and
lessens... and then stops. Abruptly. Silence
She realizes, takes her face out of his shoulder, looks down.
At her feet, a spinning hubcap goes slower and slower, then
stops.
Melissa looks up.
91.
WHAT'S ABOVE THEM
The two cars overhead. The glug of oil. An unearthly silence
from everywhere else.
Bill starts to climb up, picking his way around the cars.
INT. THE GARAGE - AFTERWARD - NIGHT
As Bill and the others climb out of the pit, one by one, in
silence. Tim's car has been punctured so many times by flying
metal it looks like the car from Bonnie and Clyde.
Bill walks forward. One wall of the garage has been knocked
in by the car that hit Tim's car, and through the open wall
we see the gas station pumps outside, the lights flickering
above them. A Cadillac is up on two wheels, leaning against
the pumps. A FAAT DRIVER staggers out.
Sound of distant SIRENS.
Dazed, Bill and the others walk outside, through the open
wall.
MELISSA
That was awful...
BILL
We were lucky. That was just
downdrafts and microbursts.
(point down highway)
The tornado missed us.
Jo rushes out, energized, worried about her family.
JO
Which way did it go?
EXT. THE GARAGE AREA - NIGHT
As Jo runs out to the center of the road, into a transformed
landscape. The hamburger stand leans at a crazy angle,
distorted, as if a big hand has pushed it sideways. The
drive-in screen is just gone, dazed people coming out to look
for their cars. The motel office is a shattered heap of
rubble. The counter boy walks with his father away from the
wreckage; he's holding his head. But he's okay.
JO
Dusty! The radio! I want to know!
Where did it go?
Dusty runs to a car, turns on radio. Jo stares a moment. Then
a POLICE CAR and AMBULANCE rush by, lights and sirens.
92.
She starts running back to the car.
DUSTY AT CAR
With radio in his hand.
DUSTY
Jo? It's going north.
JO
(starting to run)
Nooo...
They all pile into the cars, and head off following the
police.
EXT. GUTHRIE - NIGHT
The neat little town dark, asleep. Lightning flashes in the
sky. Suddenly the air-raid sirens go off.
Lights start to come on in the houses.
INT. WILDER HOUSE - PARENTS' BEDROOM - NIGHT
Sirens continue as Jim flicks on the light, and they both get
up, pull on bathrobes. We see the contents of the bedroom.
Jim goes to the window, looks out. Margaret, sleepy, picks up
the bedside clock, then turns.
MARGARET
You see it?
JIM
Yeah.
He turns away from the windows, takes her hand. Sound
buildings, curtains at the windows blowing harder.
INT. WILDER KITCHEN - NIGHT
They don't turn on the lights, they make their way by
lightning flashes as the open the basement door, head down.
Jim at top of the stairs, pauses, looking.
JIM
Where's that flashlight? Someone's
always movin' it.
MARGARET
Leave it.
He finds the flashlight, flicks it on. Wind steadily
building. He pulls out the stove, turns off the gas line.
93.
MARGARET (CONT'D)
(over)
Jim! Come on!
Suddenly, all the kitchen windows explode, flying glass
everywhere.
EXT. DRIVING ON HIGHWAY - NIGHT
Following a police car, its lights flashing. It's going to
Guthrie.
INSIDE JO'S CAR
VOICE FIVE
(on CB)
Wedge moving north northeast, past
Guthrie now...
VOICE SIX
(on CB)
I see it from highway 80...
VOICE SEVEN
(on CB)
Still very strong. Right by highway
80... Very stable and holding.
VOICE FIVE
(on CB)
Looks like it hit Guthrie pretty
bad...
Click! Jo turns the radio off. Silence in the car.
The car turns off the highway, toward the town.
EXT. BILL'S CAR - NIGHT
As they drive off the highway toward Guthrie. The sky is lit
by lights and fires. Even from a distance, a scene of
destruction.
THE ROAD AHEAD
Fire trucks spray foam over burning telephone poles and
timbers which lie like pick up sticks across the road.
EXT. GUTHRIE - DRIVING SLOWLY - NIGHT
Harsh sweeping searchlights reveal houses flattened to heaps
of timber. Rescuers work to get survivors out of the rubble.
94.
Dazed families walk the street, looking at the apocalypse
scene.
There are police cars and ambulances; flashing lights
everywhere.
THE GLARE OF HOT TV LIGHTS
A crew interviews Jonas.
JONAS
This tornado was an F-4 or F-5, and
you can see the terrible
destruction and suffering... This
is exactly what I want to avoid
with a proper warning system, which
I intend to supervise.
BACK TO BILL'S CAR
Progress is difficult, the road in places entirely blocked
with timbers and rubble, power lines down and crackling. They
have to proceed at a crawl.
Rescuers shine lights up into a tree, we see a child's
bicycle, nothing else.
IN THE CAR
Melissa is stunned. Jo near tears
JO
Left up here.
They drive on, past the harsh glare of acetylene torches as
rescuers cut open a car crushed like a beer can.
A RESIDENTIAL STREET - NIGHT
Houses are crushed, or tilt at an angle. A car has turned
upside down, its headlights shine into a tree across the
road. A man impaled on the branches like a spear. A dog
whimpers at his feet.
Bill drives around the tree, going onto somebody's lawn. Then
back on the road.
JO
Right, turn right. It's just ahead.
They turn the corner; their progress is blocked by a heap of
timbers that once was a house.
95.
Jo can't stand it any longer, gets out of the car and starts
to run. Bill parks, runs, too. Melissa gets out of car,
dazed.
EXT. FRONT OF WILDER HOSUE - NIGHT
The mailbox tilted over at an angle. As Jo runs up, we see
the house is partly crushed. You can still recognize the
ground floor, but the second story has been smashed halfway
down as if by a giant fist.
EXT. WIDLER BACKYARD - NIGHT
The picnic bench they ate at has been driven laterally into
the side of the house; it sticks out, tablecloth still there.
Rubble and timbers all over the lawn, heaped up toward the
house. Jo runs forward.
JO
Mom! Dad!
She starts pulling timbers away. Trying to get to the
kitchen. Her way is blocked. She flings timbers in
frustration, frantic.
Bill comes up behind her. He has a flashlight.
BILL
Up here.
He jumps up onto the piled rubble. It shifts precariously. He
goes in through a window. She follows.
INT. WILDER HOUSE - NIGHT
As Bill lands in the back bedroom. Everything is cockeyed.
The whole house is creaking ominously.
BILL
Jim! Margaret!
He hears faint voices, rhythm like a radio. He moves forward.
Jo starts crawling through the window behind him.
IN THE KITCHEN
Water overflows from the sink, onto the floor, which is
tilted at a crazy angle.
A scraping sound from above. A lamp crashes at his feet.
96.
He looks up -- the entire ceiling has broken loose and is
hanging down, so we can see up to the second floor bedroom
above. Everything tilts down, the furniture threatening to
fall on us at any moment. Bill shines his light up, trying to
see what might happen.
A side table slides down and falls, fluttering farm magazines
and shattering knickknacks on the ground.
Bill goes to the sink, turns the taps off. A PORTABLE RADIO
on the counter gives news:
RADIO
-- and very dangerous tornado
estimated at F-4 has hit the town
of Guthrie a few minutes ago with
reports of damage and some
casualties. Police and ambulances
from the neighboring --
A beam swings down, and smashes the radio. He ducks away.
Jo comes in after Bill
JO
Mom? Dad?
JIM'S VOICE
Jo, be careful --
She looks over. His voice is coming from behind a toppled
hutch, dishes smashed on the floor. She and Bill pull the
hutch away. It's hard work on the slanted floor.
Around them, the house creaks again.
THE BEDROOM ABOVE
Big stuff still up there. A bed, dresser, a big TV set.
Furniture shifts slightly.
THE KITCHEN BELOW
Jo peers down, calling:
JO
Dad? Are you all right?
(no answer)
Dad?
JIM'S VOICE
(after pause)
Think so.
97.
JO
How's mom?
He doesn't answer. Behind the hutch, the door to the basement
is gone. A gaping hole. She steps forward.
JO (CONT'D)
Dad? Where's Mom?
JIM
Jo... there's no stairs.
She turns to Bill, holds out her hands. He takes them, and
holding her by the arms, lowers her down into the basement.
BILL
Okay?
JO
Yeah.
He releases her. More sliding sounds make him look up. The
dresser smashes down as he jumps back. He has to push it away
to get to the basement.
UPSTAIRS
The heavy TV set begins to move, then stops.
IN THE BASEMENT
Jo coughs, looks around. She moves over to her father, who is
crouched down by her mother. Margaret is pinned to the wall
by the refrigerator, which has come down from above.
JIM
Can't move it by myself.
JO
Bill? We need you.
BILL
(climbing down)
I'm here.
JO
(to Mother)
Mom... we'll get you out.
Her mother does not speak, nods weakly.
They start to pull away the refrigerator. As it moves clear,
we see her dress is bloody around the shoulder and chest. It
looks bad.
98.
JO (CONT'D)
Maybe we shouldn't move her.
BILL
Got to. Get that ironing board.
Right over their heads, visible from where they are, is the
bedroom and its contents. A standing floor lamp falls like a
missile.
THE BEDROOM UPSTAIRS
The TV slides, then stops, held only by its cord.
IN THE KITCHEN
They get Margaret up on the makeshift ironing board
stretcher. Jim and Jo above, Bill still below, pushing up.
Margaret is halfway out and vulnerable to the TV above.
Bill sees it and pushes hard.
THE TV
It slides, falls free, and hangs from the cord for the
briefest instant before the cord snaps at the back of the set
and the set descends like a bomb.
THE KITCHEN
Margaret pulled clear and Bill twists and the set crashes
down, splintering the kitchen floor, then falling to the
basement, right where Bill was. Jo looks horrified.
THE BASEMENT
Dust obscures our view. Bill scrambles to his feet, he's
okay, and climbs onto the trashed set, reaching up to haul
himself out. Above him, the whole house creaks.
MELISSA OUTSIDE THE HOUSE
Running to meet and ambulance driving down the street.
DRIVER
Ma'am? You all right?
MELISSA
(pointing to the wilder
house)
There's somebody inside.
The ambulance pulls over.
99.
AT THE WINDOW
As they get Margaret out. The paramedics take her. Bill goes
back, helps Jim climb out. We see that his trouser leg is
bloody.
JIM
It's okay. See to Jo.
Bill helps Jo out the window, she climbs into his arms. THey
move away from the house.
With a rumble the house collapses, folding like a house of
cards.
Bill holds Jo, doesn't set her down.
JO
Thanks.
Melissa sees it. But it was only a moment; Bill sets Jo down,
they go over to Margaret, being loaded into the ambulance.
Jim gets in the ambulance with his wife.
Overhead, a HELICOPTER thumps by, light glaring down.
IN WILDER BACKYARD
Jo is trying to get into the ambulance with parents.
JO (CONT'D)
Mom...
PARAMEDIC
She's going to be okay. Got a
broken shoulder.
Jo looks stricken.
MARGARET
You go on now, honey.
JO
(tearfully)
I just want you to be okay, Mom.
MARGARET
I'll be fine. Go get it, Jo.
The ambulance pulls out, siren going. It reveals Dusty and
Timmy and the other cars. All pulled up at the house,
Jo sighs. She looks at her parent's house, which is gone.
Bill puts his arm around her shoulder.
100.
JO
Shit.
BILL
Yeah.
Thunder rumbles overhead. Bill looks up, frowns.
THE SKY ABOVE
Start of dawn breaking, a pale ugly green. A flash of
lightning, a challenge to Bill, rousing him.
ON THE GROUND - PREDAWN
From Dusty's car, they hear the CB radio, still going. The
spotters, everything, still going. Jo slowly hears it,
realizes.
VOICE FOUR
(on CB)
Tornado is still very stable, going
southwest now...
JO
(disbelief)
It's still on the ground?
VOICE TWO
(on CB)
Large wedge on the ground
(crackle)
west... it's been down fifty
minutes now...
VOICE THREE
(on CB)
No sign of letting up...
VOICE ONE
(on CB)
Now
(crackle)
Ashland... passing Ashland...
JO
(realizing)
Ashland? That's only ten miles from
here.
Bill's still looking at the sky, thoughtful.
101.
BILL
(to himself)
I'm going to get this one.
JO
Dusty? Mount up.
DUSTY
We going?
BILL
We're going.
Everybody heads for the cars. Bill looks over at Melissa.
MELISSA
Bill, I can't do this.
(beat)
I could never do this.
BILL
I know.
They look at each other. Deeply into each other's eyes.
MELISSA
I need to get on with my life now.
(beat)
Do you understand what I'm telling
you?
He nods, slowly.
JO'S VOICE
Bill, you coming or not?
Bill doesn't answer. HONKING.
JO'S VOICE (CONT'D)
Bill, let's go!
Bill turns, runs. Abruptly, Melissa turns away, walk off.
THE TEAM'S CARS
Moving out, single file, through the rubble in the town.
EXT. A SIGN - LEAVING GUTHRIE - PREDAWN
As the team drives past it, in their cars. Back onto the
highway. Bill turns his lights on as he drives, going fast.
102.
EXT. DRIVING ON HIGHWAY - EARLY MORNING
Sunrise over flat farmlands. From beneath, it lights up low-
hanging clouds, making an image both beautiful and menacing.
The tornado is in the far distance, many miles away, obscured
where dark clouds reach the ground.
IN BILL'S TRUCK
The usual excited CB babble of voices. Bill squints at the
tornado.
ON THE HIGHWAY
There are other cars on the road -- all going the other way,
away from the tornado. They honk and flash their lights in
warning.
The tornado is rumbling, churning up debris.
BILL
Place it right in the road, I
think.
JO
Unless you think somebody'll hit
it.
BILL
Nobody'll be there. You want to
place it on the side of the road?
JO
Might be safer.
BILL
No...
JO
We only have one backup left after
this. We got to do this right.
The tornado ahead is menacing and grim.
JO (CONT'D)
(focused)
Half mile more...
BILL
Right.
There is now debris in the air.
103.
JO
Debris, we have debris.
(on CB)
Dusty, set up!
Only a crackle comes back from the radio.
BILL
Did he hear you?
JO
I don't know.
(on CB)
Dusty?
BILL
He's gotta set up, we're close now.
JO
(on CB)
Dusty, we're close now.
And they are.
THE TORNADO
The funnel as wide as the two-lane highway, it is greenish-
yellow up close, and seems to pulse with inner fury. Debris
swirling in the funnel is large -- sides of barns, whole
trees.
Jo stares at the churning funnel. It's really scary, even for
her.
DUSTY
(on CB)
Hear us
(crackle)
BILL
Yeah.
DUSTY
(on CB)
(crackle)
Set up
(crackle)
need to
(crackle)
JO
Dusty?
104.
DUSTY
(on CB)
Can't see you, you must be on the
other
(crackle)
JO
Say again, Dusty?
DUSTY
(on CB)
Try to
(crackle)
JO
Damn! I don't know if he's in
position.
BILL
We are!
EXT. THE HIGHWAY - DAY
Bill spins the truck around in a 180 and jumps out, running
to the back to unload the instrument pack. Jo jumps out the
other side. They work quickly together.
They place the white instrument pack in the center of the
road -- perfectly in the path of the tornado -- and run back
to the truck.
BACK IN THE CAB
As they jump in.
JO
Let's get moving!
Bill floors it, and the truck races away from the solitary
white instrument pack.
JO (CONT'D)
(looking back)
Dusty?
DUSTY
(on CB)
(crackle)
Jo...
JO
(very tense)
Dusty, are you in position? Shit,
we're in position and he's not!
105.
A hundred yards down the road, Bill slows to a crawl. He and
Jo look ack at the instrument pack, white against the ugly
swirling cloud.
JO (CONT'D)
This could be it...
Jo rests a video camera on the back of the seat, and begins
to film.
JO (CONT'D)
Five seconds, Dusty.
DUSTY
(on CB)
We're all set up, Jo.
JO
(relieved)
Great!
DUSTY
But I'm not getting any readings
yet.
JO
You will!
WHAT THEY SEE
The instrument pack upright in the road, alone. Farther up
the road, there is a line of twenty tress planted as a
windbreak. As the tornado approaches, the branches whip and
snap; the trees bend... writhe... Then, staring at the far
end of the line, the trees begin to be uprooted, one by one,
pulled out by the giant hand of wind.
BACK IN THE CAB
They stare, mesmerized.
THE APPROACHING TORNADO
The trees uprooted, as the tornado approaches the waiting
instrument pack. One tree lands on the road and skids
sideways, narrowly missing the instrument pack -- which still
stands.
BILL
Close.
The pack is starting to shiver in the strengthening wind. The
sound is louder.
106.
JO
(talking to pack)
Come on... come on... just a little
more...
Their truck is struck by increasingly large debris --
branches -- branches and flying clods of dirt bang hard
against the cab, sometimes rocking it.
They watch the instrument pack.
THE PACK
The top of the pack is rippling as the wind builds... the
pack shimmies... and then begins to slide laterally, across
the highway.
BILL
No!
The pack picks up speed, sliding sideways.
BILL (CONT'D)
It's too light.
JO
Easy... easy... Don't give up...
The pack almost skids to the side of the road... then a
branch off a tree strikes a glancing blow... and then a big
limb comes down splat! and crushes the pack. Gone.
JO (CONT'D)
Okay. Give up.
The atmosphere now is thick, lots of dirt in the air. The
asphalt begins to life up from the highway in big chunks.
Tree limbs scrape across the hood of the truck and blow away,
screeching on metal, scratching the paint. It's nightmarish.
BILL
Let's get out of here.
Bill puts the truck in gear and floors it, and the truck
streaks forward. But a big tree limp, blown by the wind,
comes skidding sideways across the road, and slams beneath
the truck. Like a wedge it lifts up the rear wheels,
entangling branches in the underside of the truck, and
spinning their truck around so they face the approaching
tornado again.
Bill puts the truck in reverse, tries to back off the limb.
The wheels engage, spin in the air.
107.
Bill shifts gears, back and forth. He's trying to rock the
truck, trying anything to get free.
Jo stares at the approaching funnel. The wind screams.
Bill's hand shifting gears.
JO
Bill? getting close.
BILL
I know.
JO
(staring ahead)
Holy shit, what is that?
THE VIEW AHEAD
From the core of the tornado, A SOLD WALL OF METAL as wide as
the road itself emerges, and comes straight toward them. It
looks impossibly big. But they can't tell what it is, its
online obscured by other debris.
JO (CONT'D)
Bill...
And suddenly the shape comes clear: they are looking at the
roof of a BIG DIESEL TRUCK AND TRAILER, caught by the
tornado, and literally flying toward them through the air.
As they watch, the truck touches down on the concrete, and
starts tumbling toward them, rolling side over side. It fills
the entire width of the road.
They are still trapped by the branches of the tree, with the
huge diesel truck tumbling toward them. Fast.
Bill stomps the gas and spins the wheel. The truck grinds
against the branches. They don't move.
BILL
This is not good.
The diesel trailer tumbles down the road toward them.
Bill steps on the gas, rubber burns the branches of the tree
holding them up.
The trailer tumbling forward, filling their entire field of
view.
108.
Bill's truck gets free, bumper ripping away and then the
wheels contact concrete and squeals as the truck jolts
forward...
The trailer tumbles up just as they start to move. They're
going to get away -- then the trailer hits them a glancing
blow, not a full impact, but it sends their little pickup
truck spinning away like a toy, spinning in concentric 360s,
to one side of the side of the road and then down the
embankment.
IN THE SPINNING TRUCK
They hang on for dear life, the landscape swirling around
them like a bad carnival ride.
BENEATH THE UNDERPASS - DAY
Their truck careens down the embankment, and comes to a rest
in a concrete underpass, built for another road that crosses
beneath the highway. Bill's truck spins a final time, and
unexpectedly comes to rest in this place of relative
protection.
Several other cars are parked there, their passengers hiding
up in the angle of the underpass. They stare as the wind is
whipped all around them, dust and debris flies, the tornado
passes, and there is relative silence.
Bill and Jo stare at each other. Both gasping in the
aftermath.
DUSTY
(on CB)
Jo! Jo! Are you there? Jo!
Jo reaches for the radio answer him. Then they hear a
creaking, almost human cry, but it is metal rending...
RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM
The big diesel comes crashing down, nose first, and for a
moment pauses, standing upright. Its radiator grill is on the
ground, its rear wheels are still hooked to the roadway
above. The creaking continues...
The truck begins to twist sideways...
The truck folds and partially falls on a parked car -- a 50s
car painted sparkly metallic red. It flattens the front like
a tin can, but the rest sticks out unharmed, like the ruby
slippers of the Wicked Witch.
A gigantic cloud of dust and steam rises.
109.
Then silence.
INSIDE BILL'S TRUCK
They watch as people run toward the truck, to help the
driver. To one side, a TEENAGE BOY looks dejected at his
crushed ruby car.
DUSTY (CONT'D)
(on CB)
Jo! Bill! You all right? Jo!
JO
We're all right.
(looking)
We're in the underpass of 80 and
124. Ten miles north of Guthrie.
DUSTY
Twister's still heading northeast
down 80 --
JO
(realizing)
Down 80? Let's go.
Bill steps on the gas. The truck squeals out of the
underpass, starts driving diagonally up the embankment, back
onto the road.
BILL
The pack's too light.
JO
Make it heavier.
BILL
Have to be a lot heavier...
A moment. They smile at each other, realizing...
JO
Dusty? Where are you?
BACK ON THE HIGHWAY
Now patchy, with places where asphalt has been lifted up,
Bill speeds south, chasing the tornado.
DUSTY
We're north on 80, Jo, east side of
the road.
110.
JO
We're on our way. Where is Jonas?
DUSTY
Haven't seen him.
THE TORNADO
Powerful and rumbling. Unchanged in form. It's now several
miles ahead of us.
BACK IN THE TRUCK
(on CB)
Crossing that farm near 80 and 5
now...
Bill is focused on the tornado, frowning. He shakes his head.
He sees something he doesn't like.
VOICE ONE
(on CB)
Large wedge, must be a quarter
miles across.
VOICE THREE
(on CB)
Lateral columns very strong, it's
an F-4, F-5...
JO
Jeez...
BILL
Yeah. This is the one.
EXT. WIDE ON THE OKLAHOMA COUNTRYSIDE - DAY
Dense black storm clouds in the distance, several miles away.
A dark focus tells us where the twister is, though we can't
see the funnel yet. Lightning flashes. Bill drives fast.
Dusty's and Rick's cars pulled over on the side of the
highway. They stand and watch the storm.
AT THE SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY - DAY
Bill screeches to a stop, jumps out of the truck.
BILL
Dusty! You still got those bungees?
Dusty ducks down, comes back with a snaky handful of cords.
Bill grabs them, turns:
111.
Down the highway -- thoom! thoom! thoom! thoom! -- Jonas's
silver fleet rushes past.
BILL (CONT'D)
GO!
He runs back to Jo, jumps in the back of the truck.
BILL (CONT'D)
Drive!
Jo squeals out. Rick and Dusty follow, gunning engines,
spewing dust.
JO DRIVING
Listening to the spotters talking. Jonas is miles ahead.
IN THE BACK OF THE PICKUP
Bill lifting the final pack.
POV DUSTY - FOLLOWING THE PICKUP
We see Bill in the back of the tuck, lifting up the
instrument pack and starting to tie it upright to the rear of
the cab.
DUSTY
What the hell is he doing?
(on CB)
Jo, what're you doing?
JO
(on CB)
Just...
(crackle)
don't follow us too close.
DUSTY
(glance to Timmy)
Oh boy...
EXT. THE BED OF THE TRUCK - DRIVING ALONG
Bill at work, tying the pack upright, wind whipping his hair.
In the distance, lightning crackles. Bill looks up. We can
see the tornado now, wide and churning, about ten miles away.
Jo throws the window. she's got the CB mike in her hand.
JO
You do it?
112.
BILL
Where's Jonas?!
INT. JONAS'S VAN
Driving fast. Much closer to the tornado, and getting ahead
of it. Jonas hears it, talks on the headset.
JONAS
About to eat your lunch, Bill.
Outside, the car drives past a John Deere dealership.
Tractors laid out in neat rows. The tornado on the other side
of the road.
JONAS (CONT'D)
We'll be drinking champagne by the
time you get here.
(to his people)
Go another five miles, then van
number 2, take highway 18 and place
the pack while we set up.
(looks at tornado)
Not gonna be long now...
EXT. BACK OF THE FLATBED - DRIVING ALONG
Bill stares forward, trying to see the geography.
BILL
He must be on the side road!
JO
Yeah!
Bill squints in the wind, stares at the tornado.
THE TORNADO
Rumbling, moving, churning beneath the storm cloud.
BILL IN THE BACK OF THE TRUCK
BILL
It's not gonna hold that path...
JO
What do you want to do?!
BILL
Turn left up here!
JO
Too early!
113.
BILL
Do it!
INT. DUSTY'S CAR - FOLLOWING
He sees Bill working, as Jo turns left, onto a smaller road.
The tornado is ahead and to their right, still in the
distance. The usual cacophony of voices and radios:
VOICE ONE
(on CB)
Big wedge! High vortex, high
condensation! Moving north
northeast!
VOICE TWO
(on CB)
Oh, mama! Picking up speed!
VOICE THREE
Jonas, it's going north northeast.
JONAS
(on CB)
Roger! Men! Position!
THE TORNADO
It is moving through farmlands, open fields. It is huge.
VOICE ONE
(on CB)
This is the big one! True F-5! F-5!
VOICE TWO
(on CB)
Vortex turning, it's turning...
JONAS ON THE ROAD
Three vans pull over, the fourth continues rocketing along.
They are all ahead of the tornado. There is light wind as
they get out, set up their equipment.
BILL IN THE BACK OF THE TRUCK
Squinting. Too far away to see, be he senses:
BILL
What's he doing?
JO
Setting up!
114.
BILL
Gimme the radio!
JONAS PARKED ON THE ROAD
Jonas looks through binoculars at his final van, now parked a
half mile away, the men setting up the instrument pack. Jonas
expects the tornado to pass him and hit the pack. Jonas is
surrounded by telemetry instrumentation, antennas sticking up.
BILL (CONT'D)
(on CB)
Jonas! Get out of there!
JONAS
(on CB)
Bill, you just lost.
(drops CB handset)
Men! Ready to read!
BILL
(on CB)
Jonas! It's gonna turn! Get out!
JONAS
(ignoring him)
Stand by!
The tornado is closer. Wind whips wildly.
CLOSE ON JONAS
Staring forward, entranced.
JONAS (CONT'D)
Beautiful...
BILL
(on CB)
Jonas! Get out! Get out!
JONAS
(on CB)
We're in control!
WIDER ON JONAS'S TEAM
Past their cars to the tornado in a field, a quarter mile
away. It is thick and black and roaring. And turning.
Jonas's team sees it, panic on their faces. They run to their
vans but it's too late. The tornado engulfs them, a sudden
instant of flying bodies and tossed cars. Then roaring
blackness.
115.
The tornado moves past. Everything is gone -- their vans,
everything. Not a trace.
BILL IN THE BACK OF THE TRUCK
Staring.
Jo looks at him, concerned.
BILL
Keep going.
THE TORNADO
Rumbling toward us.
THE JOHN DEERE DEALERSHIP
Tractors all laid out, and the tornado approaching from
behind it. It moves in, and the dealership explodes.
JO DRIVING
As the first of the flying tractors comes banging down,
bouncing across the road. She swerves.
Another tractor coming. She squeals, turns again.
In the back, Bill just hangs on. She swerves left and right.
It's raining tractors.
BEHIND THEM
Dusty following with Timmy. Crumpled tractors all around. One
blows laterally across the road, twirling like a top.
INT. RICK'S CAR BEHIND DUSTY
Rick's frightened.
RICK
I don't believe this.
JO
(on CB)
Heads up!
A BIG TRACTOR comes swinging through the air, bounces in the
road in front of him. He swerves. The wheel breaks free,
smashes forward into the windshield.
116.
IN DUSTY'S CAR
Timmy looking back.
TIMMY
(on CB)
Rick! Rick!
BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD
A big dent in Rick's car. The wheel jammed into the
windshield. Rick pushes the door open, shaken.
RICK
(on CB)
I'm okay.
JO IN THE FRONT OF THE TRUCK, STILL DRIVING
DUSTY
(on CB)
He's okay!
IN THE BACK OF THE TRUCK
Bill was looking back, now turns forward again.
BILL
Tell Dusty to stay back!
IN THE TRUCK
JO
(on CB)
Dusty, stay back! Stay back!
(looking forward)
Oh shit!
DIRECTLY AHEAD - A WHOLE HOUSE
Complete and upside down, sliding on its roof toward them,
and spinning like a top as it goes. There is no time to avoid
it.
They drive straight into the house, hitting the second floor
window.
INT. THE HOUSE
The truck crashes through the bathroom. Fixtures on the
ceiling. The truck spins with the house, twisting. A SINK
crashes down in the back near Bill.
117.
EXT. THE HOUSE
As the truck comes shooting through the other side.
IN THE TRUCK
Shaken, Jo accelerates, driving again. Looks back.
IN THE BACK OF THE TRUCK
Bill gets to his feet, throws the sink out of the pickup,
looks forward.
ON THE ROAD - JO'S TRUCK
Driving toward the tornado. Dusty following at a distance.
THE TORNADO
Close now, all menace and power.
BACK OF THE TRUCK
Bill tying the last of the knots. He finished, knocks on the
window. Gives her the high sign. She nods.
INT. DUSTY'S CAR - FOLLOWING
JO
(on CB)
Dusty, set up here.
DUSTY
Here? What're you doing?
JO
(on CB)
We're going in.
He pulls his car over the side of the road. Bill looks back,
waves good-bye from the back of the truck.
DUSTY
Crazy bastards. They're gonna punch
the core.
TIMMY
Yeah. In your truck.
VOICE ONE
(on CB)
(crackle)
(MORE)
118.
VOICE ONE (CONT'D)
just blew the hell out of a bunch
of tractors. Twister's going toward
a farm near Lincoln now.
THE TORNADO
Rumbling with immense power. PAN to A SUBSTANTIAL FARM, with
many buildings, freshly painted. A beautiful place.
EXT. THE MAIN FARMHOUSE
A housewife, LOUISE, 35, stands by the open door to the storm
cellar, yelling. The tornado in the distance. The air is
still.
LOUISE
George! Where's Dorothy?
Her husband GEORGE is across the farm, closing the door.
A young girl comes running.
LOUISE (CONT'D)
Get in there with your brother.
George, come on!
The husband comes up, they both pause to watch, mesmerized.
Then George looks to one side, stares.
GEOERGE
What the hell?!
WHAT HE SEES
Jo driving a pickup truck across his alfalfa field. Bill
standing up in the back.
GEORGE AND LOUISE
LOUISE
Get in!
They climb down, and she closes the door.
EXT. THE PICKUP - DRIVING ALONG
Bill stands, holding on, as the truck jounces across the
field toward the tornado.
INT. THE CAB
Jo has trouble holding on to the wheel as the truck bounces
in the field
119.
THE TORNADO
Getting very close now.
THE INSTRUMENT PACK
As Bill ties the last of the bungees, making it secure.
IN THE CAB
Jo glances back, then forward.
Up ahead, the tornado churns, dense and powerful and wide.
They are a quarter mile away.
DUSTY
(on CB)
Jo? Its's too big. Get out! It's
not worth it!
She stares forward grimly.
JO
Yes it is.
Ahead, a split-rail fence blocks her way. She glances back at
Bill, then drives through it.
BILL IN THE BACK
He sees it coming but is still knocked on his butt. He shakes
his head He's taking a lot of abuse here.
BILL
(to himself)
Next time I'll drive.
He quickly stands, stares at the tornado.
THE TORNADO
Seen this close, it's unbelievable. The sound is deafening,
shaking them, ferocious.
BILL IN THE BACK
Awestruck by the power they are driving toward. His face is
coated with dust. He leans down to the window.
BILL (CONT'D)
Get ready!
120.
INSIDE THE CAB
Ahead of Jo, the entire windshield is filled with the
swirling tornado. Jo drives tensely. She's terrified.
JO
(tense)
Ready! Ready!
BACK OUTSIDE
Bill faces the tornado. He grimaces, shouts.
BILL
Count of three! THree!
INSIDE THE CAB
Jo staring forward.
BILL STANDING UP IN THE BACK OF THE TRUCK
BILL (CONT'D)
Two!
JO INSIDE CAB
JO
Two?
Suddenly, he sticks his head in the window.
BILL
JUUMMMMMMP!
FOLLOWING THE TRUCK
As they both bail -- she jumps out the driver's side, he
flings himself off the opposite side of the flatbed, as the
truck races forward.
JO LANDING
Hitting the dirt hard, rolling in alfalfa. She scrambles to
her feet, looks around.
BILL IN THE FIELD
Getting to his feet. Jo comes running up, sees he's okay.
They watch the truck driving away, toward the vortex.
THE TRUCK
Driving away from them, as they watch.
121.
The truck drives forward, chasing the tornado... And then
drives right into the funnel. And disappears.
For an instant, nothing happens. Then suddenly, the dark
swirling funnel is filled with BRIGHTLY COLORED BOXES that
spiral upward in every part of the funnel.
BILL AND JO
Stare in amazement.
EXT. THE ROADSIDE A FEW MILES AWAY
Dusty watches through his video recorder.
DUSTY
Is it registering?
Timmy looks at the computer screens, which squeal and beep
and fill with descending columns of numbers, reading
telemetry off the packets.
TIMMY
It's reading! Incredible! It's
reading!
DUSTY
All right!
TIMMY
They did it!
They start screaming and cheering, too. They don't pat
attention to the following CB babble:
VOICE FIVE
(on CB)
What the hell?
VOICE SIX
(on CB)
What is all that junk?
VOICE FOUR
(on CB)
Beats me, I thought it hit a pickup
truck.
VOICE TWO
(on CB)
Wedge is changing direction, now
going due east, guys. Changing
direction!
122.
Dusty and Timmy just keep cheering.
BACK TO JO AND BILL - IN THE FIELD
Still jumping around, yelling, giving high-five, low-five,
sideways-five.
THE TORNADO
As if it senses their victory, it turns, rumbling angrily.
BILL AND JO
They look at the funnel, instantly realize.
JO
It's turning...
BILL
Yeah.
Bill grabs her arm, and they start running across the field.
Ahead of them is the farmhouse, previously seen. The tornado
is behind them. It is a half mile away. It is rumbling toward
them.
BILL AND JO
Running hard. The thick black funnel fills the sky behind
them. Closing in.
UP ON THE ROAD
Dusty watches.
DUSTY
Oh boy.
(turns to Timmy)
What're you doing?
TIMMY
(video in hand)
Filming it.
JO AND BILL
Running hard, gasping, going on. The wind screaming in their
ears.
AHEAD OF THEM
A large SHED, a substantial structure, the first of the farm
buildings.
123.
Without hesitation, they run inside, slam the door.
INT. THE SHED.
They've crouched over, hands on knees, gasping for breath.
They slowly look up, around them: the shed is full of
sickles, scythes, reapers, and hay rakes -- sharp, curving
metal blades that hang on the walls and stand on the ground,
gleaming in the light.
BILL
Not in here.
Still gasping, they run out again.
OUTSIDE THE SHED
The tornado has gotten much closer while they were inside. As
they run toward the farmhouse, the shed behind them EXPLODES
as the tornado hits it.
BILL (CONT'D)
Down!
He drags Jo facedown, in the dirt, just as a DECAPITATING
BLADED REAPER screams through the air, bouncing in the dirt
all around them, scattering the blades.
They get up and start running again. Ahead of them is the
FARM POND and beyond that the SPLIT-RAIL FENCE which leads to
the main farm buildings.
They pass the pond, running hard. The water is ruffling,
whipping. Spirals up dense spray as the tornado hits it.
BY THE FENCE
On the run, Bill vaults over it, so he's on the farm side,
runs side by side with Jo, parallel to the fence.
BILL (CONT'D)
Come on!
Jo looks uneasy, and we think she can't do it, then... she
vaults easily, landing on the other side of him.
Behind them, the tornado tears up the fence, flipping rails
like matchsticks, shooting them in all directions.
THE TORNADO BEHIND THEM
It passes the pond, and SLAMS DOWN THE ROOF OF THE SHED,
still intact.
124.
EXT. THE FARM COMPOUND
Bill and Jo see the farmhouse up ahead, but it's too far
away, they head for the barn, which is nearest. As they open
the big barn door, FENCE RAILS THUNK into the wooden door
like a series of missiles, penetrating several feet into the
wood.
INT. THE BARN
Bill gets the door closed as more rails slam into the door,
right behind his hands. Another almost smashes his face. The
wind is screaming. Jo grabs him, and they turn.
They look desperately for someplace safe. The air in the barn
is starting to fill with bits of swirling hay -- it's like a
blizzard.
The wind screams. The hay flies faster. It lashes their faces
and arms, leaving thin streaks of blood. Jo pulls Bill down
to the ground.
They are surrounded by flying hay. The wind is worsening.
Above them, pieces of the barn is being pulled away,
revealing black sky above.
They move forward against the wind. They see nothing but hay
on the floor around them. But as the wind continues, they hay
is blown away, revealing a SMALL WOODEN PUMPHOUSE nearby.
EXT. THE PUMPHOUSE
Jo sees it, tugs at Bill, pulling him forward. As they go,
the side walls of the barn start to creak inward, then are
sucked upward, board by board.
BILL AND JO
Moving away, into the pumphouse, they close the door. There
are pipes inside. They stand on either side of the pipes,
clutching each other and the pipe. They wind builds.
ISIDE THE PUMPHOUSE
As the boards of the house are sucked up, one by one,
streaking into the sky, progressively exposing them. The wind
louder and louder.
Finally the entire pumphouse is gone, they are just standing
exposed exposed, holding on to the pipe for dear life.
THEIR FEET
Being pulled away from the ground.
125.
THEIR FEET
Being pulled away from the ground.
THEIR BODIES
Swung up by the vortex, until they are hanging upside down.
THEIR HANDS
Clutching at the pipe and each other, hugging and holding on
to dear life. The pipe they are holding on to is starting to
shiver, to pull free from the concrete...
THEIR HANDS
Inexorably slipping away, as they are being pulled up into
the storm.
THEIR FACES
Wincing, fighting to hold on. The sound building to a
crescendo, and then changing... the light is changing, too.
Now a pale unworldly blue.
THEIR BODIES
Being slowly released by the lessening wind, turning in the
blue light back to the ground. They fall to the ground and
look up, not understanding what has happened.
THE VIEW ABOVE - THE EYE
The roof lifts away in big chunks, and suddenly they are
staring right up into the center of the tornado, a bright
blue swirling circle like the eye of God.
For a moment, they see it, then the tornado moves on, and
LIGHTNING CRACKS DOWN, harsh and malevolent, and they duck as
the wind screams. They clutch each other.
They are obscured from view by flying dust and debris.
CLOSE ON BILL AND JO
Pressed together, face to face, with chaos all around them.
Then, slowly, it diminishes.
Then silence.
The tornado has passed.
They are very close together. She looks at him. He looks at
her. Their faces inch closer.
126.
JO
We did it.
BILL
Yeah. We did. The pack really
world.
JO
It was a good idea.
BILL
Yeah...
(suddenly uneasy)
Well...
He looks away, breaking the moment. Jo looks away, too.
JO
We have a lot to do.
BILL
Yeah...
JO
I mean, I've got to get grant
approval for the new warning
system, and we need a bigger lab,
and you have to start the computer
analysis of the data --
BILL
I do?
JO
Yes, of course, we have to generate
models off all this data, and I
need to run the lab --
BILL
No. You can do the analysis, I'll
run the lab.
JO
I don't think so...
BILL
You don't?
JO
No, I don't.
127.
BILL
(a pause, then)
Do you always have to do things the
hard way?
JO
(really considering it)
Well, I married you...
At that moment the tension between them breaks, and then,
surrounded by destruction, they start to laugh.
The tornado fades in the distance, dissipates...
And is gone.
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