The Last One Home

Part 8

A screeching tone rang out over the cars radio. The telltale warning that a weather report was being broadcast. Max stiffened in his seat, startled out of his angry thoughts. He had lost precious minutes while dealing with the officer.

A winter storm warning has been issued in your area with snowfall totals of up to six inches. A level two snow emergency has been declared. Stay clear of all roadways if possible. Counties impacted by the storm are as follows....

Max lowered the volume of the radio. He didn't need to hear the rest of the broadcast, he knew that he was driving directly into the storm. Illuminated in his headlights were large wet snowflakes. His worn out windshield wipers groaned with each swipe of the windshield.. The road appeared wet, but the snow had yet to begin to accumulate. Even so, Max lowered his speed. He had no desire to see how his old car would handle heavy snow with four bald tires. 

Max picked up his phone to see if he had any new messages. He had nothing but an email from school reminding him of the campus snow policy. He saw that an agonizing sixteen minutes had passed since his sisters message. He wanted so badly to put the pedal to the floor but knew that would be foolish in this weather.

Why hadn't he asked the highway patrolman for an escort? He didn't know if he would've done it, but he should've asked anyway.

He scanned the nearly empty highway to see that most of the cars had been replaced by snowplows with their emergency beacons reflecting off of the flakes falling steadily from the sky. He knew that if the snow began to accumulate he could just get in behind one of the lumbering trucks. He would have to slow down but at least he would make it in one piece.

An ambulance passed going the opposite direction, its siren wailing as if announcing the arrival of the storm. The snow intensified creating a thin white blanket on the road. The lines and markings were quickly becoming obscured. The howling wind pushed at the small car as if a giant hand was nudging it into the other lane. Rock salt kicked up by the tires bounced noisily off of the body of the car.

Max thought of his mother and sister. He though of the fear they must be feeling. The lump returned to his throat and his vision blurred. He should've been there to protect them but he had been too wrapped up in his own life. Now his family was paying for his selfishness.

Max knew his father would've been disappointed in him. His motto was always family first. He made sure everyone was taken care of at his own expense. Everything was easier when his father was still around. He held the family together.

The car shuddered as Max lowered his speed. The snow lay deep enough on the highway that he no longer knew what lane he was in. The accumulating snow crunched under the tires. It felt as if he were driving on sand rather than asphalt. The car began to slide as his brakes locked up, Max instinctively took his foot off of the brake pedal and his tires resumed there tenuous grip on the road.

Traffic began to build on the formerly empty highway as other drivers slowed down to accomodate the weather. Dozens of sets of taillights created an eerie glow. Max turned the radio up to hear an update on the weather, or possibly road closures but was greeted with static and the occasional burst of noise. He lowered the volume again.

Faced with the possibility of a traffic jam, Max picked up his phone to call the police back home. Before he could dial, the dim face of his phone indicated a severely low battery. He could call the police and risk his battery running out or he could conserve his power in case his sister sent him another message. He knew the police were already on the way to his families house so he set the phone down with a sigh.

The taillights of the beat-up suv in front of the civic flared as its driver stepped on the brake pedal. More rust than paint covered the tailgate. Max slowed to match the other drivers speed but thought that if he did collide with the old truck, he may just pass completely through it and emerge unscathed. Traffic filled the lanes to both the right and left. Max saw with a sinking feeling that all lanes were slowing. As a small gap opened to his right, Max maneuvered the car into the right lane in case he needed to make a hasty exit. He found himself next to the rusty suv, its broken exhaust rumbling loud enough to rattle the drivers window.

A reflective highway sign could be seen in the distance. Max squinted his eyes to read the partially snow covered letters. He was pretty sure it said half a mile. The decision was made. He would take the exit to get off of the rapidly slowing highway. The middle and left lanes of the highway were now approaching a standstill, mercifully the right lane continued to move. Emergency lights could be seen in the distance, but they appeared to be in the left lane or even the median. Max silently prayed that his luck would hold out. 

Several times traffic came to a complete stop, but just when he would contemplate driving up the berm, it would slowly begin to move again. Finally he could see the exit lane. Several cars in front of him had the same idea and they all took the exit from the highway. Unfortunately, the fresh snow had yet to be plowed and navigating the slight uphill ramp tested the abilities of his old car. When he finally got to the stop sign at the end of the ramp he nearly slid into the car in front of him.

Luckily, all of the other drivers seemed to be in a hurry as well, and did not waste time leaving the messy off ramp. Max guided the car onto the narrow county road heading towards home. He immediately noted how much darker it seemed. Far darker than the interstate had been. The gnarled trees pressed inwards towards the road. A few remaining leaves clung to the branches in defiance of the chilly, late November air. Not a single headlight shown in his mirrors. Apparently all of the other cars that left the slow moving highway had final destinations elsewhere. Max felt scared and very alone.

As he inched his speed towards the legal limit he noted that the vibration his car had developed on the highway had intensified. The entire car now shook enough to rattle the change in the cupholder. He backed off on the gas and it helped, but only a little. Only ten miles stood between him and his family but it may as well be a hundred with a broken down car. Max couldn't remember the last time he had an oil change let alone any major work done to the car.

The shifting wind howled, upsetting the car in its lane. With the arrival of the wind came more driven snow. Conditions were nearing white-out. Max tried desperately to find a working radio station. He was greeted with nothing but static. Gritting his teeth, he reduced his speed even more.

A few minutes later the inevitable happened. As if a great white sheet had been draped across the hood of the car, the snow became so intense that it was now impossible to see through it. Max began to feel disoriented as his eyes attempted to focus on the millions of tiny white flakes. Instinctively, he laid into the brakes to attempt to bring the car to a stop.The car immediately began to fish tail as the bad tires lost their grip and the howling wind continued to batter the side of the car.

Suddenly, there was a snap that could be felt through the floorboards. Whatever had previously been the cause of the vibration in the suspension had finally let go completely. For a few fleeting seconds it seemed as if the vehicle was unaffected, but Max soon realized that the car was no longer taking commands from the steering wheel and he had lost all control.

Veering off the right side of the road, the car broadsided the guardrail. Metal shrieked and a spray of sparks momentarily lit up the night. Max's head snapped to the right and he nearly kissed his shoulder. The entire car trembled as the guardrail removed most of the paint from his passenger door. Max viciously sawed the wheel to the left but the car continued its teeth rattling grind against the low guardrail. Pumping the brake pedal did absolutely nothing to slow his momentum on the snow covered shoulder.

The world tilted sickeningly to the right as the guardrail ended and the small car began an uncontrolled descent down the embankment. The thick snow proved to be an insufficient buffer as the car bumped violently several times over unseen obstacles. Max's head struck the roof of the car and he tasted blood in his mouth.

The entire structure of the car groaned as the passenger side tires found enough bite to flip the vehicle onto its roof. With a shriek of twisted metal the drivers side window exploded showering the interior with beads of glass. The car settled into the soft powder like a discarded toy, the warm engine still ticking. Max, suspended by his seatbelt, knew only darkness.