Curtis’ condition steadily worsens. He starts to have panic attacks during the day, seeing strange weather patterns and storms. Curtis’ anxieties about money go hand in hand with risky ventures like borrowing large sums to install a new tornado shelter. Relationships start to fray, first with his wife and then at work. Everything is revealed as precarious. Curtis knows that though one false step could cost him everything, he is still unable to stop his preparations for the huge storm he sees coming in his dreams. 

The dreams and visions continue, elements carrying over between the dream state and waking life. A fourth dream, which is not shown, involves his co-worker and friend Dewart. In the dream, Dewart drives a pickax through Curtis’ leg. A fifth dream involves Curtis’ wife Samantha. Though only the beginning of the dream is shown, we assume that Samantha attacks Curtis with a kitchen knife. Fear is now the principle emotion driving Curtis’ dream life and his waking acts. The acute fears of his dog, Dewart, or Samantha all relate to the overarching fear of an approaching massive storm, a storm that could be large enough to mean the end of days. He tells his wife, in his typical understated, masculine way that he is “afraid something might be coming.” 

Curtis’ life starts to unravel in predictable ways. Because he is now afraid of his friend, he requests that Dewart be transferred to another work crew. Dewart divulges to the boss that he and Curtis had borrowed equipment from the job to use on Curtis’ storm shelter. Curtis is fired. The health insurance for his daughter’s operation is now in question. Dewart has turned on him and spreads gossip around town that Curtis is out of his mind. 

At a Lion’s Club dinner Curtis is confronted with the collapse of his community. Dewart physically attacks Curtis for getting him in trouble on the job, resulting in a loss of two weeks’ pay. The violent scene provides the catalyst for Curtis’ internal turmoil to manifest itself externally. After kicking out Dewart’s knee and overturning a table, Curtis gives a short, fear-filled monologue about a coming storm – it is a prophetic warning about an approaching apocalypse. Curtis, the prophet, is also Curtis the pariah.