Chapter 15
The cautionary signs have spooked you, so you decide to go left. You figure any path that doesn’t have a warning label is more promising.
You just wish somebody had cleared away the snow.
As you continue to drive, the road gets even more slippery.
The snow is piled up on the ground, and even though Blair’s car has four-wheel drive, it is struggling.
Even worse, when you stop again to check Avery’s directions, they don’t seem to be matching up with anything you are seeing.
None of the roads are labeled. It’s a bad sign.
You’re worried that you have gone the wrong way.
At this point, you should probably turn around and go back where you came from.
But the road is so narrow and slippery that turning around will be challenging.
So you keep moving forward, hoping that the road will clear and that you will suddenly arrive at the house for the dinner party, right on time.
Unfortunately, the further you go, the more obvious it is that’s not going to happen. You have taken the wrong path, and you must turn around.
You slow to a halt on the snowy road. You put the car in reverse, but when you try to back up, you can’t. Sighing, you put the car back in drive, but when you press on the gas, you don’t budge.
This time, you floor it. The car’s wheels spin frantically, but you’re not moving forward. The momentum must have been propelling you forward, and once you stopped, you lost that momentum. You’re now stuck.
You try a few more times to floor the gas, but it doesn’t work. There is obviously a bunch of snow in front of your car, and unless you clear it away by hand, you’re not going anywhere. So much for being early to the dinner party.
You start to open the door to the car, but as soon as it opens a crack, you hear a sound. It sounds like the howl of a wolf in the distance.
You freeze. The wolf sounds like it’s far away, but not that far away. It occurs to you that there are almost certainly wild animals roaming around these parts in the middle of the night. It might not be safe to get out of the car. If you’re inside, at least you can’t get eaten.
But what are you supposed to do? You don’t have enough gas to keep the car running all night long, and if you stay here, you’re going to freeze to death.
To get out of the car, turn to Chapter 17 (page 40)
To stay in the car, turn to Chapter 16 (page 38)