Stormfront: Nibiru Rising: Book 2
Contents
Title Page
Copyright © 2018 by Chad Kunego
Dedication
Other books by this author
A note from the author
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Epilogue
Author's note
Notes
STORMFRONT - BOOK 2 - NIBIRU RISING
by Chad Kunego
Copyright © 2018 by Chad Kunego
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the publisher
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents
are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.
Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Printed in the United States of America
First Release, June 2018
What The…?!? Publishing
131 West Seneca Street, #109
Manlius, NY 13104
www.WhatThePublishing.com
business@whatthepublishing.com
www.ChadKunego.com
author@chadkunego.com
Formatting by What The..?!? Publishing
Cover Design by Melody Simmons
This book is dedicated to my wife.
I don’t know how you did it, but you managed to not kill me while I fought my way through this
one. Here’s hoping I live to see the completion of book 3. :)
Nibiru Rising Series:
— Hidden Potential: Book 1
— Stormfront: Book 2
— Kinetic Reaction: Book 3 - Coming soon
Guardians of the Fractured Realms Series:
— Syphon: Book 1
Hi, I know these things are usually talked about at the end of a book, and I’m going to mention it there as well, but I just wanted to ask you a favor before you get started. Basically, I wanted to ask you ahead of time if you’d be so kind as to leave a review of this book on Amazon if you enjoy it. Unfortunately, it’s a fact that the only way a book gets found is if there’s a bunch of reviews for it. No reviews = no sales. And no sales means it’s more difficult to afford the time needed to write. Not that I won’t keep writing, but reviews could mean the different between being another book in this series or me focusing on other books.
In other words, it means the difference between having a new book in a few months or a few years. The same can be said for any of the authors you like, so if you like their work, leave review for them as well.
If for no other reason, you let us know you like what you read. Thanks in advance and enjoy the story.
Click the link to leave a review:
Chapter 1
“WHERE IS IT!”
Beth wildly looked around at the sky, her heart banging out a staccato rhythm from the adrenaline surging through her body.
“It should be showing up at 2 o’clock based off the Doppler feed from NOAA.”
Without warning, the truck rocked violently from the high winds buffeting them first from one side, then the other. Beth continued scanning the clouds, focusing in the direction Dale, her tech specialist, had indicated the vortex should begin forming.
Her heart raced at thought of them possibly being moments from making history. If they could just get close enough, they might get good readings from the Doppler on Wheels following close behind. Just the possibility of being the first team in a position to analyze a bona fide, full-fledged, and certified monster of an EF6 category tornado was unbelievable. If verified, thought, it could change how they rated tornadoes going forward.
And her team would forever be attached to that update.
Cresting a hill, everyone in the vehicle gasped. The behemoth funnel cloud slowly worked its way across the landscape, devouring everything in its path. As best she could estimate, the base of the wedge-shaped storm had to be at least a mile across at the base. At the very least, it was well into the EF5 range, which was a good sign. Keeping her eyes on the storm, she yelled back over her shoulder.
“How much farther until we intercept?”
“At its current pace, we should be in position within five minutes.”
“Got it!”
She reached forward, grabbing the radio mic.
“Darryl, we have a projected intercept in five. Get ready.”
She heard a brief burst of static before the voice of her Doppler on Wheels driver came through on the radio, his voice cracking slightly from the stress.
“Intercept in five. Understood.”
“Make sure you lay out at least a few pods on the leading edge of the storm so we can get good readings of the inflows. Out.”
Clipping the mic back to the dash, Beth looked back toward the storm. Cocking her head, she stared at the super cell. Something didn’t look right.
“Bill, does that look off to you?”
She watched her driver examine the cloud formation in front of them.
“Seems kinda small if ya ask me. Would have expected a much bigger super cell, as violent as this sucker’s supposed to be.”
“That’s what I was thinking as well.”
Looking behind her, she nodded her head at the radar feed.
“How ‘bout you. What’s your impression?”
Ted glanced out the windshield before comparing it to his display.
“It does seem kinda small. Doesn’t matter though, NOAA’s feed is showing sustained wind speeds topping three hundred miles an hour, give or take a few. That’s why we need to get closer. If we can get confirmed speeds on the ground, you’ll definitely get noticed.”
Facing forward again, she continued studying the clouds. She just couldn’t shake the feeling of wrongness. She could feel it in her bones. After dozens of chases, she couldn’t just chalk it up to nerves. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something was off. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything they could do about her gut feeling other than calling off the chase, something she wasn’t willing to do.
The mobile operations and repair van, or MORC for short, shuddered when another invisible inflow jet struck the side. She watched Bill wrestle with the steering wheel, swerving a few times before getting the vehicle under control again.
Grabbing the mic again, she clicked the transmit button.
“Be careful everyone, these crosswinds are brutal. I’m getting a bad feeling about this one.”
“Do you want to pull back and hope for another one?” Darryl asked.
Beth paused a moment, weighing their options.
“No,” she said finally, “we need to get this one. We might never get another chance in our lifetimes. Just be aware of your surroundings.”
“Roger that. Keeping my eyes peeled.”
“Ted, what’s this thing’s ground speed?”
“It appears to be moseying along at a lazy five mile an hour, which is unusual for something spinning so fast. I would have expected it to be moving at least thirty or more. Either way, we should have plenty of time to set up some PODs before it reaches the highway. I feel sorry for anything caught it its path though. Imagine being inside that hell for almost fifteen minutes.”
Beth considered the thought for a second before forcing it out of her mind.
“Okay everyone, this is what we’ve been working toward. We only get one shot at this. Let’s do it!”
She took another deep breath before letting it out slowly, keeping her eye on the massive wedge-shaped killer.
§§§§§§§§§§§§
Beth hopped out of the MORC with her camera. They’d finally gotten ahead of the huge funnel cloud, setting up several PODs in its projected path before pulling away to a safer distance. If they got lucky, at least one or two of them would intersect the funnel directly. Jogging back, she pounded on the door of the DOW to get their attention. She watched Darryl climb back into the front of the cab, rolling the window down.
“How we looking?”
“I think you’re right. Something is definitely odd about this one—”
“What about wind-speed and rotation?”
“That’s the thing. This one’s a multi-vortex system, probably around five sub-vortices. It’s making it difficult to get sustained wind-speeds. When it gets closer, we should be able to get better readings. If it’s any consolation, we’re getting gusts over three hundred and sixty miles per hour, so we're in the right neighborhood.”
Beth contemplated the new information. If they couldn’t get sustained wind-speeds, they wouldn’t be able to classify this as a true EF-6. Glancing back at the approaching twister, she nodded to herself. She looked back at Darryl, indicating the storm with her head.
“About how long before we need to move?”
Darryl glanced at the approaching storm, studying it for a moment.
“Assuming it doesn’t change its track, we should be fine where we’re at. Otherwise, assuming its ground speed doesn’t increase, we should have about five minutes, give or take a couple. It seems to have slowed down a bit though, so maybe a little more.”
He paused again, watching the storm.
“I’m keeping a close eye on it either way. I don’t want us to get caught with our pants down.”
“That’s a big understatement. Anyway, keep me updated. Especially with this beast.”
She headed back toward the MORC. Last thing she wanted to do is wander too far away in case this thing changed its mind. If it kept its current heading, it should pass behind them by at least a half mile. It wouldn’t be unheard of for it to change direction though. The last thing she wanted was for her team to get killed because of something they could have avoided.
Reaching in the passenger side, she pulled out a set of binoculars. She wanted a closer look at the vortex. After a few seconds of staring, she could just make out the multiple funnels rotating around a central point. All the debris and dust it was picking up made it difficult to discern at ground level, but several hundred feet up, the multiple rotating formations were easier to make out.
Looks like Darryl was off a bit. I’m seeing at least seven suction vortices. Glad this bad boy is only tearing up the countryside instead of plowing through a more heavily populated area.
“BETH! ARE YOU SEEING THIS!”
The sudden yell snapped her attention back to the DOW.
“What!”
She saw Darryl frantically gesturing toward the storm.
Bringing her binoculars back up, she studied the tornado again.
What the hell…?
She gawked at the storm, doubting what her eyes were telling her. This was something that should be impossible, but there it was.
“Are you getting this on the DOW?” she yelled, gesturing toward the funnel cloud.
“Yeah, that’s why I stuck my head out. I thought the reading were off. What the hell is going on with this storm?”
Beth shook her head, looking back at the storm that now had seven stationary sub-vortices. They should be rotating around each other, but somehow, they’d stopped, now resembling seven pillars reaching up into the heavens. It was like the main vortex had just disappeared. Their only movement, beside their stationary rotation, was a slight undulating wobble every so often.
“Is NOAA seeing this on their screens as well?”
“No! They said they saw something odd, but couldn’t make it out. That’s why they brought it to my attention. They were asking for clarification.”
Beth continued examining the storm. The storm before her went against everything she knew about meteorology.
Scanning the storm from the ground up, she noticed something tiny hovering motionless in what should have been the eye of the main vortex. She stared at it, trying to determine what it was. After a few seconds, she realized it wasn’t rotating, or even moving at all, for that matter. It didn’t make sense.
Taking the binoculars away from her face, she yelled back over her shoulder, trying to keep an eye on the object floating in the eye of the storm.
“Darryl, I’m seeing something floating motionless in the eye, about three hundred feet up. Is the DOW seeing it?”
“Checking…”
She resisted the urge to look through her binoculars again while waiting for Darryl to report. The outer vortices had ever-so-slowly started revolving around the core again, but this time they were going in the opposite direction, something else never heard of before.
“Hurry up Darryl! The storms doing more crazy shit!”
“I’m seeing it! Yes, the DOW can see the object. If I’m reading this right, it’s about five to six foot tall, dead center of the core. Am I reading this right? Are the sub-vortices spinning in the opposite direction?”
“Yeah, this storm is a freak of nature. Start the upload. NOAA needs to analyze this data in real time for us. Nobody’ll believe we didn’t fudge the numbers if we wait.
“Go away! Leave me alone!”
The soft voice caught her by surprise. She looked around the area.
What the hell?
“Go away!”
The sound of the voice came from all around her, making it impossible to determine a specific direction.
“Who… Who are you!”
“What’s happening to me?”
“Where are you? You can’t stay here! You’re in danger!”
Beth looked around the area with more urgency. The last thing she wanted to be responsible for was someone dying in this storm if she could help it. A gust of wind hit her from the front, lifting her off her feet before dropping her to the ground.
“We need to go! The storm’s picking up energy again and heading this way!”
“Everyone! Let’s go! Leave the PODs.”
Jumping back into the MORC, she slammed the door before sticking her head out the window. The storm was now bearing down on them directly. She stared in horror as the storm picked up speed. Bill slammed the vehicle in drive and spun the tires. Her head bounced off the frame of the vehicle from the sudden movement. Accelerating away, she looked behind them. A sinking feeling grew in the pit of her stomach as the DOW gradually dropped further away behind them. The heavy vehicle just wasn’t able to accelerate as quickly as the MORC.
Snatching the mic from the dash, she yelled into it.
“Darryl, floor it! The storms gaining on you!”
“I’m trying! This thing’s not designed to win the quarter mile!”
Her eyes flickered to the speedometer, watching the needle inch past the seventy mark. Sticking her head out the window again, the wind whipped her hair around
her face. The funnel was now less than a quarter mile behind the DOW. She keyed the mic up again.
“The storm’s right on your ass! Punch it!”
“I’m going as fast as I can!”
What she witnessed next made no sense. Almost in slow motion, one of the sub-vortices lifted off the ground like someone rearing their hand back before swinging back down, swiping at the DOW. The impact blasted it off the road, tumbling across the open plain like a discarded toy.
Before she could comprehend what she’d just witnessed, the storm surged forward toward them. The last thing she remembered was seeing what appeared to be glowing eyes, a horrific impact, then nothing.
Chapter 2
Rick looked down at the dull black iron ball in front of him. Nearly the size of a basketball, it weighed close to two hundred pounds. Squatting down, he picked it up, balancing it on his outstretched hand while he got a feel for it with his senses. Hefting it slowly, he marveled at how easily he could handle the weight of it without invoking his aura. After recent events, he still couldn’t get over the fact that he no longer suffered headaches when using his abilities. The significant boost in his powers was taking some getting used to as well. Which was one of the reasons he was standing here.
Letting his senses play over the sphere, he noted that it wasn’t nearly as dense or durable as the ones he carried in the tube on his back. The Skywatch scientists responsible for boosting his abilities were never able to determine why objects, after becoming attuned to him, slowly become more dense and durable the longer they remained near him. The ones he’d carried for the better part of two decades were nearly indestructible and weighed almost twice what they did when he’d first got them.
“Are we going to do this, or are you going to keep contemplating your navel?”
Kaitlyn’s voice in his ear, codenamed HellKat, brought him back to the present task at hand. Tapping the microphone attached to his throat, he dropped his hand while the iron ball remained floating in the air.
“Very funny. Start the countdown,” Rick said, focusing on the target in front of him. The island he was on had originally used for nuclear testing before one of their blasts had cracked the tectonic plates. The result was dormant volcanoes woke up, becoming fully active and nearly quadrupling the size of the original island. It also increased the size of the cone, which now rose nearly two miles into the sky.