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Author Insight
I Threw a Tornado at My Heroes On Purpose
I love a good weather event, like any born-and-raised southern girl (or midwesterners have this strange fascination, too, so I know I'm not alone). But throwing a tornado when your heroes are racing on foot to reach the capital before a madman dictator and his even more insane Director of Prisons launch the world's most sophisticated weapon? That's next level cruel, even for me. I've been that kid, then that adult, standing on the porch, watching the clouds overhead for the hook cloud. I've stared at the tv and doppler radar for hours, tracking exactly where a storm is headed. Tornadoes are a yearly thing where I'm from, so I know what it feels like to survive one. United is the final book in the Divided Series and I wasn't about to make life easy for Jason and his team. Nope ⎯ I threw a tornado at them in the middle of nowhere!
Book Excerpt
United
A storm was coming. The kind of summer thunderstorm with torrential rains and thrashing winds if the smell and electricity in the air were anything to go by. And here they were, outside in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by tall pine trees.
Jason didn’t want to admit it, but his entire body hurt already. He couldn’t have pushed on to find a road even if he’d wanted to. And no telling how awful he’d feel tomorrow. If they had to wait another day for their bodies to heal, he thought he’d go nuts. Forget about the impatient members of his team — Rose and Roberto. Jason would be the lead impatient.
A crack of thunder startled Jason and he flinched.
“That’s getting closer by the minute,” Rose said from next to him.
Grace dug in her backpack, shoving aside various items before reaching the bottom. She lifted a folded blue tarp out with a smile. “Look what I have!”
“Oh, wait!” Roberto said. “I have one, too, right? How could I forget?”
“You should,” Grace said. “I gave it to you, so unless you left it behind…”
“Here it is,” Roberto said, producing a similar tarp.
Thunder crashed right above them, and the first drop of rain fell.
“Let’s huddle beneath these,” Grace said, standing and fanning hers out. “It won’t keep us completely dry, but maybe we won’t be so drenched. Girls under mine.”
The girls all scrambled underneath Grace’s tarp, each of them gripping an edge. Jason watched them pile up their backpacks in the center and thought they were smart to do so.
“Let’s do what they did,” Jason said, already removing his backpack and piling the others’ into the center. “Then we can hang on to the corners with two hands.”
Jason held down the corner facing the girls and felt the humidity rising underneath the tarp. Soon, rain fell in sheets against it, drenching his legs up to his knees and his arms where he struggled to hold the tarp corner in place.
“We should’ve gone into the woods!” Xavier yelled over the downpour.
Jason scowled, realizing Xavier was right. The canopy would’ve shielded them somewhat from the sheets of rain.
A crack sounded nearby, electricity zipping through the air, and Jason ducked his head between his arms. A tree crashed in the woods on the other side of the girls, bringing a scream to his lips.
In the distance, a sound like a roaring wind combined with the torrential sheets of rain chilled Jason to the bone.
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