The Tornado Chasers (5 page)

Callum glowered.

‘Well, who cares what you think?’ he said, running to catch up with me. ‘It’s because of having a dweebus like
you
as my Home-Time Partner that I have to do it in the first place!’

I blinked defensively. ‘Well, I’m
not
a dweebus actually, so …’

Callum snorted. ‘Oh, of course not! You’re a regular tough guy, aren’t you? That’s why you can’t go to Ceri’s tomorrow night – because of all that “tree-climbing” you’ve been doing after school?’

I flashed crimson.

‘Er … well,’ I mumbled hopelessly. ‘I mean, my parents are quite strict about that sort of thing, and …’

‘Well, they don’t need to be!’ said Callum. ‘You? Climb trees?
As if
!’

I shot him a furious glance.

‘For your information,’ I muttered, ‘I am
extremely
good at climbing trees. I used to do it all the time. I was the best in Skirting. Then one day … well, my parents caught me doing it, and I startled. So I fell and hit my head. It’s why I have to wear the helmet. It’s not
because I’m a … a
dweebus
.’

‘Alright then,’ said Callum, taking a step forwards. ‘Seeing as you’re such an expert tree-climber, we’ll have a test.’

‘Fine!’ I said.

‘It’ll decide, once and for all, whether or not you’re a big fat liar. And the biggest wuss in the world.’

‘Fine!’ I said. ‘Name the time and I’ll be there!’

‘Tomorrow after school,’ said Callum. ‘After curfew’s started.’

My eyelids barely flickered.

‘A-after curfew?’ I squeaked.

‘Yep,’ said Callum. He glanced at me casually. ‘That’s not a problem, is it?’

I broke out into a cold sweat.

‘No,’ I said, shaking my head, ‘of course it isn’t.’

Callum looked me up and down, and grinned. ‘You mean it? You’ll break curfew and everything? You’re
really
going to do it?’

I looked at him. Was I really going to do it? Was I really prepared to lie to my parents, break the Storm Laws, risk being sent to the County Detention Centre, and possibly even get eaten alive by bears –
just
to climb a tree and prove Callum wrong?

Callum patted the tree beside him.

‘
This
,’ he said, ‘is the tallest tree in Barrow.’

I gazed up the tree. Then I wished I hadn’t. It was twice as tall as the one I fell out of in Skirting. The trunk was thin and wobbly, the topmost branches swaying perilously in the wind that blew down the valley. It was getting stronger and stronger every day now. I was quickly regretting yesterday’s snap decision. Callum strolled towards me.

‘Seeing as you’re so
extremely
good at tree-climbing,’ said Callum, a grin spreading across his face, ‘
you
are going to climb it. Right now. The whole thing. Every – last – branch.’

I looked up at the tree again. I’d never tried to climb
one like this before. The branches didn’t even look strong enough to hold my weight.

‘Are you … are you sure we have time?’ I said nervously.

Callum nodded. ‘Of course! Curfew doesn’t start for another five minutes! Besides, you organised your cover story – right?’

I had. I’d told my parents that my presentation had got the highest mark in class, before asking if I could stay the next night at Ceri’s as a reward. It was a risky strategy, but it had worked. After promising them that I would wear my knee-pads and sterilise the salad before I ate it, they had relented. After the test was over, I’d stay the night at Callum’s. It was foolproof. Which meant that there was no way I could get out of it now. I could have kicked myself.

‘Off you go then, Fearless Owen,’ said Callum, strolling back to the tree and leaning against it casually. ‘Let’s see how brave you
really
are!’

I gulped, and made my way to the base of the tree. The remains of a sawn-off stump lay just above my head. I gripped it in one hand, and slowly pulled myself up onto the first branch. I got to my feet, and tried to balanced myself. My legs suddenly wobbled, and I had to grip onto the trunk of the tree.

‘What a great start!’ said Callum, applauding loudly. ‘I certainly hope nothing goes wrong!’

I grit my teeth. I wasn’t going to let myself be humiliated again – not by him. I looked ahead. There was another branch just ahead of me, slightly higher up. In a snap I vaulted over to it, grabbing the trunk again for support as I landed.

‘Hey,’ I heard Callum say from below. ‘Not bad.’

Without a pause I grabbed the next branch above and swung myself onto it, before using the trunk to shimmy up another few feet and elegantly leap onto the branch above that. I glanced down. Callum was staring up, open-mouthed.

‘Whoa,’ he said quietly.

I grinned. ‘I
told
you I was good.’

I looked around. I could do this. Halfway up to the next branch was a knothole, big enough for my foot. I wrapped my arms around the trunk and wedged my foot inside it. Now, all I had to do was push myself up and reach out to …

‘STOP THAT AT
ONCE
!’ cried an angry voice from the ground below.

I startled. My legs sprang out like pistons and catapulted me away from the tree like a squirrel, and sent me plummeting to the ground. Fortunately my fall was broken by the patch of stinging nettles at the bottom.

I leapt up, skin on fire. A yellow car was parked in the
clearing behind us, the words BARROW TRUANCY OFFICER marked out in big black letters on the side. In front of it stood a man in a bright yellow uniform. He had dark wiry hair, hard eyes, and a mean face. He was staring at me furiously.

‘
Well
?’ he barked. ‘What the hell do you two think you’re doing out here?’

I mouthed hopelessly. Answers, explanations, excuses, all evaporated to dust in my mouth. I had no idea what I could possibly say. Callum suddenly leapt forward.

‘Why, Officer Reade!’ he cried. ‘What a surprise! I was just on my way home, actually, and er … got a bit lost …’

‘You live on Magnolia Crescent, Brenner,’ the man growled, swinging round to face him. ‘The other side of the village. Care to explain what you’re doing here
two minutes
before curfew is due to start?’

Callum slapped his face with shock.

‘Two minutes!’ he gasped. ‘Well, I’d better get going right away, then! Thanks for your help, Officer Reade …’

He made to walk away, but the man threw him a furious glare and Callum stopped in his tracks. The man looked him over as one would a dead rat in a trap, before turning back to me. I squirmed hopelessly in the light of his mean eyes. I couldn’t shake the feeling that he seemed somehow … familiar.

‘Do you know who I am?’ said the man.

I shook my head. The man stepped forwards.

‘I’m Officer Reade,’ he said. ‘The Barrow Truancy Officer. That means that I’m the one who makes sure children in Barrow are either in school or at home.’

I tried to ignore how much my legs were shaking, and the sickening hot-cold floods that were swelling up inside me.

‘And
yet
,’ he said, throwing a glance at Callum, ‘while I’m patrolling the village on my afternoon rounds, I find two children – two of my own daughter’s classmates! – walking around outside and climbing trees.’ He paused dramatically. ‘
Trees! Outside!
During an
SW5
!’

Callum and I squirmed.

‘Do you have any idea how dangerous it is out here?’ Officer Reade cried, the pitch of his voice getting higher and higher. ‘The tornado could land any time! Bears are going to start roaming the valleys soon! Do you want to end up dead? Or in hospital? Or in the
County Detention Centre?
’ He darted his eyes between us. ‘Well,
do you
? Because that’s where you two are headed, as far as I’m concerned. Let’s see if you can explain to the Warden himself what you’ve been up to. Ha! I’m sure he’ll be
very
interested!’

At the mere mention of the name, Callum let out a little squeak. His face had turned pale.

The clock tower in the distance suddenly chimed – once, twice, three, four times.

‘Curfew’s started,’ snapped Officer Reade. He folded his arms. ‘So unless you have a
very
good reason to be here, then I’m taking the two of you home and explaining to your parents what happened.’

I floundered, my mouth gaping and shutting like a fish on the floor of a boat. That was it. I was done for. My parents were going to kill me.

‘I …’

‘The Dewbridges’!’
Callum suddenly cried, leaping forwards.

Officer Reade looked at him in surprise. I stared at Callum as he flailed his arms wildly.

‘He’s supposed to be staying the night at Ceri Dewbridge’s!’ he said. ‘That’s why we came this way! Owen forgot he was supposed to go to hers tonight, and he didn’t know how to get there, so I said I’d show him myself because he’s new, and we cut through the woods so I could get back in time, but we got lost, and so Owen said he’d climb a tree and find the quickest way out the forest, and …’

‘That true?’ said Officer Reade, turning to me.

I nodded violently. Officer Reade kept his gaze fixed on me for a moment, before turning to Callum.

‘And you?’ he said. ‘Where are your parents?’

Callum paused, and scuffed the ground with his foot.

‘They’re … they’re out of town for the week.’

Officer Reade nodded. ‘Your babysitter at home?’

Callum glowered at him. ‘She’s not my babysi—’

Officer Reade made a growling noise in his throat, and Callum stopped. He looked at the two of us for a while longer, his brain ticking slowly over, his mean eyes flitting between us.

‘That was a
very
unsafe idea,’ he said eventually. ‘So consider this a warning. Take him to Ceri’s, and then go straight back to yours. Understand?’

Callum nodded quickly. Officer Reade turned back to his car. Then he stopped, and glanced over his shoulder at me.

‘You should probably get out of those nettles,’ he said.

I looked down. Maybe it was the fear, or the adrenaline of plummeting twenty feet to the ground, but I had somehow forgotten that I was standing chest-deep in stinging nettles. I clambered out. Officer Reade stepped back into his car, and quickly sped off through the trees. Callum and I stood in the billowing dust left by the wheels, watching him disappear.

Callum waited until all was silent. Then he picked up a dead branch from the ground and threw it in the
general direction of where Officer Reade’s car had headed. It landed with a thump five feet away. Callum turned round in triumph.

‘Ha!’ he bellowed. ‘That showed him!’

I pulled a strand of stinging nettles from out of my helmet with red raw fingers. I couldn’t get Officer Reade’s face out of my head.

‘That man,’ I said. ‘He looked … he looked just like …’

Callum nodded. ‘Yep! He’s
Orlaith’s dad.
Can you believe it? No wonder she’s such a dork! He’s the one who makes sure nobody leaves their house once curfew starts. He even drives around the village every single night, making sure no one’s on the streets. Honestly, he thinks he’s so hard. Everyone around here’s frightened of him.’

‘But not you,’ I said.

‘Yeah, not me,’ said Callum. ‘Obviously.’ He paused. ‘So, er … yeah. You’re in, I guess.’

I looked back at him. ‘Pardon?’

Callum scratched the back of his head. ‘My gang. The Tornado Chasers. You passed the test. I suppose you’re in now.’

I looked confused. ‘But I wasn’t trying to be in your …’

‘Yeah, well,’ said Callum. ‘You seem to be able to take
a lot of injuries without dying, and that could be pretty useful if I ever need a human shield. Might as well let you in, seeing as you’re so desperate for it. It’ll shut you up about it at least.’

‘Er … thanks,’ I said.

Callum held out a hand.

‘Welcome to the gang,’ he said.

I gazed at Callum. For all his faults – and there were lots of them – I had to admit that I’d never met anyone quite like him before. He was big and mean and full of rubbish, but then so are garbage trucks – and they’re pretty hard to ignore when they’re charging full speed ahead. And he had something I couldn’t put my finger on. I’d have
never
thought up starting up the Tornado Chasers again. It was all Callum’s idea, from the very beginning. Maybe he really was brave. Then again, maybe he was just stupid.

Either way, only an
idiot
would have agreed to join a plan that was so clearly ridiculous. And unrealistic. And dangerous.

And exciting.

I took his hand.

‘The Tornado Chasers,’ I said.

‘Everyone off the bus!’ cried Miss Pewlish. ‘Stick with your partners!’

Callum and I clambered outside and stood in front of the zoo gates. It was pretty hard for us not to stick with each other, seeing as we were tied together with bits of rope.

‘Stupid Storm Laws,’ Callum grumbled, picking at our bound wrists. ‘Can’t believe we have to go on this stupid surprise trip.’

I shrugged. ‘Well, it’s nice to be out at least. I never would have thought they’d let us leave the classroom during an
SW5.
’

Callum nodded. ‘Yeah … Weird.’

I gave him a glance. ‘Plus, it means we don’t have to watch that stupid play again.’

Callum laughed. ‘Ha! Yeah, exactly!’

He suddenly stopped, and we glanced at each other. It was the first time I’d heard Callum laugh when he wasn’t laughing
at
me. There was an awkward silence as the rest of the children filed out the bus behind us.

‘So – everything go OK at Ceri’s yesterday?’ he muttered. ‘Her parents didn’t rat on you, did they?’

I shook my head. Thankfully Ceri’s parents had believed my terrible excuses for turning up at their house without warning. After they had supervised Ceri making the salad and made us both wash our hands several times, they had left us well alone so Ceri could interview me about my grandparents. It was – well, it was fun.

A loud whistle suddenly silenced the crowd, and we swung round. Miss Pewlish was stood beside a stone wall up ahead. The wall dropped down into a deep pit. It was just big enough for a child to look over, and was lined on every side with enormous red warning signs. Miss Pewlish fixed us with a beady eye.

‘We have been invited here today,’ she said, ‘for a
very important purpose.
It’s not often the Warden allows groups outside during an SW5! It is so that you children
can understand the very real, and the very
frightening
threat of bear attacks once the tornado has landed.’

Miss Pewlish took a moment to clear her throat.

‘During a storm,’ she said, ‘when whole houses are ripped from the ground and villages destroyed, you’d think that bears would want to hide in their caves for safety … but you’d be wrong. You see, the tornadoes scatter all their other sources of food. The starving bears are forced to roam the valleys even more than usual. And when this happens, their primary source of food is reckless young children, wandering the streets at night on their own.’

Callum shuffled his feet nervously beside me.

‘That is why,’ Miss Pewlish declared, ‘while the valleys are under SW5, it is
even more
important that you stick to the rules of the curfew. Barrow might be the safest village in the valleys, but the stormtraps won’t stop a hungry bear from waiting outside your bedroom window! Would
you
like to turn a corner and find this waiting for you?’

Miss Pewlish stepped aside, and a gasp escaped the crowd. In the centre of the enclosure, in amongst the tufts of grass and stagnant blocks of still water, a single bear lay slumped asleep. It was very old. Its brown fur was shedding and patched with grey, and its huge chest billowed weakly with grunting breaths you could only
just hear over the terrified whispers around us. It didn’t matter that the bear was old, or asleep. It didn’t even matter that there was a wall between us. It was a bear, the greatest threat in the valleys. No one felt safe.

‘Everyone line up!’ Miss Pewlish barked. ‘Each child will take turns looking at the bear! By order of the Warden!’

I felt a sudden tug on my wrist. Callum was heaving at the rope linking us, his face turned away from me.

‘Let’s go,’ he said. ‘This is boring.’

‘We can’t leave,’ I said. ‘Don’t you remember what Miss Pewlish said on the bus? We can’t leave the crowd or …’

‘She’s an idiot,’ said Callum, his voice suddenly striking a higher pitch than normal. ‘Come on, I need to talk to you. It’s important.’

I frowned. ‘About what?’

Callum groaned. ‘What do you think?
The gang,
stupid.’

I beamed.
The gang.
I was actually in a gang, for the first time in my life. I wasn’t exactly thrilled that it was with Callum, but that didn’t really matter. I was finally going to be a daredevil – just like my grandparents. And climbing trees was
nothing
compared to what we had planned.

Callum dragged me to a secluded spot at the back of the crowd, and leant in to whisper.

‘So, here’s what I was thinking,’ he said. ‘We’re going to need a hideout. A top-secret one. My mum and dad are away almost all the time so the house is pretty empty, but then my babysit … er, I mean, my
cleaner
’s always there looking after me. And we can’t go to yours because your parents are clearly mental.’

I blinked. ‘They are?’

‘But get this,’ said Callum excitedly. ‘I’ve got a storm shelter in my back garden! A proper one, made of metal – it’s underground and everything. It’d be perfect – no one would ever think to look down there! Not even Officer Reade. And let’s face it Owen, that’s the
last
thing we want. That’s why we can’t tell anyone about our plans, obviously.’

My stomach dropped.

‘We … we can’t?’ I muttered.

‘Course not!’ said Callum. ‘We don’t want any losers or wimps wanting to get involved, do we? This gang’s for the bravest. The strongest. The hardest.’

‘Of … of course,’ I squeaked. ‘But say, one of us accidentally mentioned it to someone else, say last night for example, and then …’

‘And on that subject,’ said Callum, cutting me off. ‘There’s one person I think we
should
invite.’ He quickly checked no one was listening, and leant in even closer. ‘…
Murderous Pete.
’

I almost leapt back in surprise.

‘
Murderous Pete?
’ I said. ‘Isn’t he supposed to be a psychopath?’

Callum shrugged. ‘Well, yeah. But a psychopath in our gang could be pretty useful. You know, in case we have to fight off any bears while we’re out chasing the tornado. I’m the leader, after all. I can’t afford to get my hands dirty.’ He tugged at my wrist. ‘Come on, let’s enrol him now!’

He dragged me into the crowd before I could protest any further. Finding Pete was easy – he towered over the crowd like a brick wall. Orlaith stood at his side, tied to his wrist. Callum jabbed her shoulder and she spun round. Her face immediately took on the look of someone opening the fridge to find nothing but a pint of old milk and a raw fish.

‘What,’ she muttered.

‘We need to talk to Murderous Pete,’ said Callum.

Orlaith fumed. ‘His name is
not
…’

‘Blah blah blah, whatever,’ Callum snapped. ‘Come on, we’ve got business with him and it doesn’t concern you! Go invent a machine that shuts you up for ten minutes. Something everyone can enjoy.’

Orlaith considered saying something, then just turned her back to us, shaking her head and muttering.
Callum turned round to Murderous Pete, who gazed back down at him blankly. I wondered if he was going to rip Callum’s head off and start playing basketball with it. Callum’s eyes suddenly flooded with panic. He pushed me forwards.

‘Go on, Owen,’ he squeaked. ‘Tell nice Mr Pete about the plan.’

I looked up at Pete. It was like looking up the tree the day before, except this one could stamp your head into butter.

‘Er … Hi Pete,’ I said. ‘Well, we’re over here because Callum and I were thinking about starting up a gang. Remember the Tornado Chasers? The ones from my presentation the other day?’

Pete stared at me. His brow unfurrowed, ever so slightly.

‘You mean … like in those planes you said about?’ he said. His gentle voice always surprised me.

I smiled with relief. ‘
Yes!
That’s it! Well done, Pete!’

I stepped forwards.

‘We’d like you to join us. We’re going to have meetings in Callum’s storm shelter, and when the storm lands we’re going to break out of the village and chase after it. We’re going to be daredevils. Real-life daredevils, Pete!’

It felt exciting just to say it. Even my heart was beating
faster. All my life I’d wanted to be like my grandparents – to laugh in the face of danger, to live without fear. And now here I was, planning to break the Storm Laws, and dodge bears, and chase a tornado, and …

‘That’s a terrible idea.’

Our heads shot round. Orlaith was shaking her head beside us, deeply unimpressed.

‘Oi!’ said Callum. ‘Why are you listening? This is none of your business!’

‘How are you going to do it?’ asked Orlaith.

Callum stumbled. ‘Er … what?’

‘
How
are you going to chase a tornado?’ said Orlaith. ‘You don’t have planes.’

Callum was scuppered. ‘Er …’

We looked at each other. We hadn’t really thought about that bit yet. Callum’s eyes suddenly lit up.

‘We’ll run!’ he said triumphantly.

Orlaith nodded. ‘Oh,
right
! You’ll run after it. Well,
that’s
a load off my mind. For a moment I thought you two didn’t have a clue what you were doing.’

Callum eyed her suspiciously. ‘That had better not be sarcasm.’

Orlaith sighed, and turned to Pete.

‘Pete,’ she said. ‘I’m not going to let you be led along by these two morons.’ She held up the rope that
connected their wrists. ‘If Pete’s in, I’m in too.’

Callum took a step towards her. ‘Oh, are you now? Says
who
?’

‘Says my dad,’ said Orlaith, stepping forwards to meet him. ‘
That’s
who. As long as he’s patrolling the streets, you can forget ever getting out of Barrow.’ She cleared her throat. ‘Unless, of course, you have someone in your gang who knows his routes round the village each night. Who knows how to get past him. Me.’

I glanced at Callum.

‘She … she’s got a pretty good point, Callum,’ I said. ‘You saw what her dad’s like.’

Callum’s eyes widened. He looked hopelessly from Orlaith to me, and then back again. His eyes struggled to process whatever was going on in his head. Finally he threw up his hands with frustration.

‘Fine!’ he cried. ‘Whatever! She can be in this stupid gang if she has to be, I don’t even care about it! God!’

Orlaith beamed. ‘Glad to hear it. What shall we say: first meeting tomorrow afternoon? We might as well use your storm shelter, Callum. So long as your babysitter doesn’t notice us.’

Callum trembled with frustration, and smacked me on the helmet.

‘Nice one, idiot!’ he hissed. ‘“Oh, let’s go invite Pete”
… great idea that turned out to be! Any more of your
loser
friends you want to tell about our top-secret gang while you’re at it?’

‘Oh, what,’ said a voice behind us, ‘you mean the Tornado Chasers?’

I froze. Callum froze.

We turned round. Behind us stood Ceri, calmly changing a lens on her camera. Flossie stood linked to her wrist, weighed down with several bags of camera equipment.

‘W … what did you say?’ Callum managed to choke out.

Ceri looked up. ‘Your gang. The Tornado Chasers. The one Owen told me about in our interview last night.’

I had already started trying to scramble away, but Callum wrenched me back. He was making short spluttering noises, like the type an engine makes before it explodes and kills everybody.

‘He … told you … about it?’ he croaked.

Ceri snorted. ‘Well, of course he did! He invited me to join the gang.’ She frowned. ‘Wait – that’s the right word, isn’t it? “Gang”? I think that’s right …’

The ground swallowed me up. Or rather, I wish it had. At least then Callum wouldn’t have been able to start using me as a human maraca.

‘I’m sorry!’ I cried as he shook me. ‘I didn’t realise we
weren’t supposed to tell people!’

Ceri leant in between us, completely unaware that anything was the matter.

‘Great!’ she said. ‘So, when’s our first meeting? How about in Callum’s storm shelter? You know, when his babysitter’s not looking.’

Without warning Callum spun round and lunged hard, shoving her backwards. Ceri stumbled, her leg braces scraping on the dusty cobbles. She glanced up angrily.

‘Hey!’ she said.

‘There
is
no first meeting!’ said Callum. ‘Not for you!’

A gust of wind suddenly picked up across the zoo, blowing hard against us. Ceri stepped forwards.

‘
Why not?
’ she demanded.

I glanced around nervously. Miss Pewlish was nowhere to be seen.

‘Because,’ Callum shouted, ‘it’s for the bravest, and the strongest! It’s for people who aren’t frightened of anything! And look at you … for God’s sake, you can’t even
walk
properly!’

It silenced us. No one knew what to say. Ceri stared at Callum, shifting the weight on her legs.

‘I’m ten times stronger and braver than you, Callum,’ she muttered.

Callum let out a bitter laugh. ‘Oh you are, are you?
Go on then, prove it!’

He turned around and jabbed a finger into the bear enclosure.

‘Climb inside that pen then, seeing as you’re so
brave
,’ he said. ‘Go on! Let’s all see you do it!’

Callum turned to us with a triumphant grin. We stared at him in silence. He placed his hands on his hips, reminding us exactly who was in charge. Then he spun back round to Ceri.

‘And if you mention this in your
stupid
paper …’

He trailed off. Ceri had disappeared. In her place stood Flossie, sucking on a short length of rope that dangled from her wrist. It had been cut.

‘Huh?’ said Callum.

‘
CERI DEWBRIDGE!
’

We all spun round. Miss Pewlish was sprinting towards us, holding a fresh cappuccino.

‘
GET OUT OF THERE!
’

We looked at each other in confusion. Then we turned, and slowly looked over the wall of the enclosure. Our stomachs dropped.

Ceri was climbing on top of the sleeping bear.

‘
GET OFF THAT THING AT ONCE!
’ Miss Pewlish screamed. ‘
YOU HEAR ME? AT ONCE!
’

Ceri ignored her, and kept climbing. The bear wriggled
weakly beneath her, grumbling lazily before falling back asleep. Handful by handful Ceri heaved herself across its back and onto its shoulders. In one quick movement she slung her leg braces over the blades of its back, and sat upright to face the crowd.