TWENTY-EIGHT
“What is that sound?” Nic asked, looking through the windshield. The siren was loud, blaring softly at first, rising and staying loud, and then drifting off before rising again.
The waves on their right were getting choppier, and the more Jo stared at it, the more she thought the water was getting closer. Out over the water, a wall of rain could be seen, and the clouds were strange looking, swirling in a way Jo had never witnessed, but then again, she had never lived along the coast. Maybe that’s how clouds were supposed to look?
Ahead of them, the taillights of two cars could be seen moving slowly across the road, clearly just as interested in what this section had to offer. A quick look at the tablet showed that the elves and the crows were just ahead of them, which meant, even with Frankie’s heavier weight, they weren’t doing half bad. The rest of the racers were ahead of them, out of sight for now. Even the goblins in their tank of a car were in fifth place.
Jo peered out the windshield again, looking up at the sky where the clouds were slowly coming on land. The way the world suddenly darkened, the clouds heavy with a rising storm, Jo had a feeling she knew exactly what this was.
“5FIVE5,” she repeated under her breath, staring up at the clouds moving in quicker than any storm she’d witnessed. To Nic, she said, “I had a friend who used to live around Galveston.”
“Texas?” Nic asked, eying the clouds warily.
Jo nodded. “Yeah. She lived there during Hurricane Ike, rode it out because she hadn’t been able to get her horses out fast enough and didn’t want to leave them unprotected.”
“This friend was a wolf?”
“No. She’s a dragon. Gidget. She works with my team.” Jo listened to the sirens, and as she looked at the water, she realized it was definitely getting closer now. “I remember her telling me about the sirens that blared like a bomb threat before the hurricane hit. It was a warning that all emergency services were being suspended. In a hurricane, with a mandatory evacuation, if you stay, they don’t come save you when things get rough.” Jo gripped her harness. “I think that’s what this is. A category five hurricane. Either that, or it’s a bomb threat, but this doesn’t feel like a bomb thing.”
The storm outside picked up, the palm trees whipping around, the wind swirling rather than moving in any one direction. Definitely a hurricane, which meant they needed to move faster. The storm, however, seemed to be picking up its own speed.
“At least we have weapons now,” Nic commented, his eyes focused on the road ahead of them. The crows and elves were closer now as he closed the distance, leaving them a bare twenty yards ahead. Despite her weight, Frankie was doing a fantastic job.
“A weapon won’t do shit against a hurricane,” Jo pointed out, her heart rate kicking up as the world darkened to night despite it originally being day in the section. The clouds were blocking out the sun, stealing the light, and with one broken headlight, they were relying on the streetlights more than they should. The taillights of the other cars ahead of them glowed red in the eerie approach.
“No,” Nic agreed. “But it’ll help if the other teams turn on us.”
Which was an excellent point considering the elves had already shown animosity to them during the events. They could take the opportunity to attack despite the storm rising right outside their windows. Lightning flashed in the clouds above them, lighting up the sky in the way only southern storms could. Beautiful but a warning of worse to come.
The high winds slammed into them a few seconds later, making Frankie jerk to the side as the wind whipped against the metal but because they were heavier, Nic managed to keep the car on the road. Ahead of them, now only about twelve yards away, the crows and elves weren’t faring better. Both of their cars, a Maserati and a Ferrari, were built to be light on their feet and quick. Their bodies were made out of fiberglass and aluminum, light contraptions that were meant to fly. What that meant for high winds was that they didn’t stand as much of a chance of holding their position. They were aerodynamic, but that didn’t do shit for the wind coming from the sides and swirling.
The waves began to crash against the edge of the road, splashing across their windshield.
“The water is rising,” Nic said nervously, keeping Frankie in the middle of the road as best as he could.
“Storm surge,” Jo replied, watching the water. “A category five hurricane can have storm surges over twenty feet.”
“Are you telling me that the water is going to come up twenty feet?” Nic growled, glancing over at her. “The road is barely two feet above it right now.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Jo met his eyes and they held gazes for a moment despite the storm brewing outside.
“Then it sounds like we should get our asses in gear,” he finally said, and gunned the car despite the high wind dragging at them and the tires losing grip on the road.
Jo pressed the button for the ice spikes, thinking it could help, but it didn’t grab the asphalt and didn’t help with the wind, so she pulled them back in.
Water droplets splashed against Jo’s window, and she took a deep breath.
“Guess it’s time to literally outrun a hurricane,” she said, and held on for dear life.