They meet

One glance out the window and Sophie knew. "Oh girl, we're in trouble." She grabbed the leash and her purse and headed for the door. Now she remembered Molly whining and nudging her for at least the past hour. Enveloped in her project, she had dismissed the persistent beagle, but now that she was paying attention, she could hear the low roar of the wind against the brick outer wall of her office, drowning out the drumming of the rain.

On their way to the truck she realized the parking lot was starting to fill with water as the runoff from the paved surfaces had nowhere to go. She ran through ankle deep currents and felt the cold water seeping between her toes. She jerked open the door. Molly bounded in first and climbed in the passenger seat.

She started the ignition and pulled out of the parking lot towards her home downtown. The roads were worse than she had thought - water covered the roads and the wind was blowing so hard. Gripping the wheel with both hands, she drove quickly. The streets were deserted - everyone must have evacuated or hunkered down in their homes. She turned a corner and slammed on the brakes as a tree lay on its side - A Tree, roots and all, in her lane on 2nd Street. She stared at the tree, and looked around - she couldn't see where it had come from. All the other trees on the street were much smaller than this one, and there were no holes in the ground where it could have come from. What could throw a tree like that? A tornado?

She needed to get somewhere quickly. She slowly jumped her truck onto the sidewalk, easing around the branches protruding from the top of the tree. She kept going.

Dodging other strange objects in the street, she drove a half a mile down 2nd St. The bridge was gone. It appeared one bank of the river had collapsed in a mud slide, bringing the bridge down into the river. The river had swollen and was running around and over the cement pieces. Molly looked at her, as if expecting an update on their situation. "Girl, we are not going to make it home."

She had to think of something. The wind was loud, and it felt as if a force were pulling the truck down to the where the bridge had been, like a black hole. She backed the truck up farther into the street and stopped to think.

Looking out the front window, she could see a car with an open door, trapped in the currents on the side of the road. Water was pouring all around and someone had climbed out of the car and was wading through knee-deep water, moving towards the buildings across the street from her. She could see a raincoat with the hood up, and she pressed the horn and pulled the truck closer. The figure turned and waved its arms, and she leaned over and pulled the door latch open.

Molly scooted towards Sophie on the seat as a man pulled himself in easily with one arm. He pulled back the hood of his raincoat, and she could see his cheeks were red from the wind as he turned to face her. He was covered in mud, even his hair, and he sighed and leaned back in the seat, relaxing his whole body as if he were exhausted. "Thank God," he started, then sighed again. She looked over his shoulder at his car, water swirling frantically around it. "The current swept me to the side of the road and then it felt like the ground was sinking - I got out but couldn't see where to go. The water was moving so fast, it felt heavy, kept trying to push me down."

She realized the force she was feeling wasn't the wind - it was the current of the water flowing over the road, and she turned her focus back to driving farther away from the side of the road that was falling into the river. She stopped the truck again. Molly sat with her body facing the man, an avid protector, keeping her eyes on his face while leaning in slightly to sniff his coat. She glanced back over her shoulder at Sophie, waiting for directions on how to respond to the stranger. Friend?

She put her hand on Molly's wet coat, indicating everything was okay. "I'm Sophie, this is Molly."