Accidental Surrogate

Cora

The weather, bizarrely, gets worse as we drive. I’m usually not skittish about driving in bad weather, by as the miles pass I feel myself getting more and more anxious. The water pounds against the windshield and thunder booms around us, lightening flashing through. the forests through which we drive.

“What the hell is this,” Roger growls, leaning forward to look up into the sky. “I can’t believe it’s lasted this long and it’s raining harder, not letting up..

“Can you even see?” I ask, my hands gripping the leather of my seat anxiously now as I stare out the windshield in front of us. To me it looks like a vast sheet of grey water with the occasional flare of the guard car’s brake lights ahead of us.

“I can see,” Roger murmurs in reply, a little annoyed, apparently, that I’d even call his skills into question. I roll my eyes at this, but trust him there must be something about his wolf senses that can see into the road ahead of us that my eyes cannot make out. Still, despite my trust, I’m anxious. We could run into another car, or a fallen tree, or a lost animal at any moment – how could we even see it coming?

My phone lights up in the cupholder next to me and I release my grip on my seat to grab it, looking at the new text from Ella. “Roger,” I say, anxious, glancing at him. “Ella says it’s not even raining at home what –

But suddenly the car lurches, skidding sideways a little I see the diver’s wheel shift in

Roger’s hands, moving without his control – hear him curse under his breath as the car hydroplanes and drifts at high speed to our left. I give a little shriek, pressing my eyes. closed, my whole body tense – anticipating at any moment that we’ll slam into a tree, or fly off a cliff –

But we just slow, and then come to a stop, and I peek my eyes open.

“It’s all right, Cora,” Roger murmurs, frustrated but in control of the car again. “We skidded but we’re okay. We just hit some high water

I gasp, still freaked out, looking steadily

completely flooded…” the road ahead of us. Roger’s on his phone now, speaking to the guards in the car, who have stopped on the other side of the flooded road, separated from us. They speak

hanging up the phone and turning to me. “They can’t come back across the road. We’re going to have to backtrack and

front of us, which

fast?” I ask, a little breathless. “Between

the car in reverse, backing away from the rising water line. I watch

that he already knows what I’m just

words shaking. “What’s happening?”

get through it, Cora,” he promises, his eyes on the road as he turns the car

know it, deep down in my gut, that I trust him to get us out of this. But instead of telling him that, I just nod, sitting back tensely in my seat

above, threatening to come down on

starts to hail, big golf-ball sized pieces of ice, I open my mouth to say

“It’s no good, Cora,” he murmurs,

that for sure, I don’t want to ride on this road any longer in this storm – but what’s waiting for us when we stop? Something is fighting to keep us here. What happens

looks. I wait, holding my breath, not wanting to interrupt his concentration, looking out. the windshield along with him, unable to tear my eyes away. But as I watch – a red neon glow comes barely into sight in the distance. “Yes,” he

Roger pulls into the parking lot, the wind hitting us so hard now from the side the car rocks as he slides the gears into park. The rain is coming at

the car,” he offers, “if that feels safer. But…I think we should get inside, Cora. What do you think? Make a run for the lobby?” He gestures towards it, just a few feet away, but somehow in this insane weather it feels as if getting there means running a gauntlet.

his eyes. “What’s going on? What