Downpour

Katie hadn't gone very far before she felt the first raindrops land on her head, shoulders, and chest. Then came more. Within seconds, the rain was a deluge. In the span those few seconds, she was soaked from head to toe. She stopped walking. Katie hoped the rain might somehow make it possible for her to loosen her bonds, but she realized after several minutes of struggling with her handcuffed wrists that the water was making no difference.

Giving up at long last, Katie looked at the road in front of her. The rain was so heavy, she saw, that it reduced visibility to only a few feet. Beyond about five feet, everything was black, like she was walking into a tunnel.

The rain was making it cold out here. Katie shivered. After a while, she realized she was itching less. Perhaps the rain had washed some of the itching powder away. Katie wished the rain would wash it all off.

She stood still for what she estimated was an hour, waiting for the rain to stop, or even to let up enough for her to continue walking. It did neither. Finally, Katie decided she was going to have to make a choice. She could stand and wait out the rain, or she could continue walking, and hope the five feet or so that she could see was sufficient visibility.

If she stood here, she had no idea how long the rain would last. The bar would be closing in a few hours, disgorging what she imagined as a horde of drunken rednecks who would be unable to pass up her unwitting invitation, and she didn't want to be this close to it when it did. She also didn't want to be standing in the open like this tomorrow morning. On the other hand, if she could only see a few feet, she might stumble into something, fall down a hole, or some such. And she couldn't use her arms to feel around her as she went. She wouldn't be able to break her fall, if she did loose her footing.

Knowing she had to make a decision, Katie decided...