Broken Orbit | ONC

Gone

              Tonya trudged after me as I pedaled the bike further into the flora. Once I knew I was far enough from the road, I got off the bike, broke off an icicle, and stabbed it into a tree. With it marking the way I'd come, I leaned the bike against a tree where the tree protected it from the wind. Tonya watched as I started to set up camp. Within half an hour, the tin was set up in a shelter and the tarp covered the bottom. I'd kept Chance hidden the whole time. Sitting down inside the shelter, I finally unzipped my coat a little.

   Chance wriggled from my jacket. Tonya stared as the puppy fell over himself and hit the tarp in a heap. Unperturbed, he got to his paws. She watched as he ran into the snowstorm to take care of business. Finally, she came under the small tin and sat down. It was incredibly crowded with the two of us. "You have a dog?"

   I nodded, watching his faint outline. "That's Chance."

   She observed him. "How long have you had it?"

   "Maybe two weeks. He'd only about a month old."

   "I'm amazed you took him in." She reconsidered. "Actually, never-mind. You're the kind of guy that would."

   I didn't know what she meant. Chance ran back inside and plowed into my lap, shaking from the cold. I picked him up and pulled the blanket from my bag. With him wrapped up, I wedged him into my lap. Chance apparently didn't want to sleep. He promptly began chewing on the fabric. My lips pulled slightly. "I think he's started teething."

   "Probably. They start teething at a month or so." Tonya offered her hand to him. Chance clearly wasn't picky about his teething options because he chomped onto her fingers. She yelled. I shook my head and pulled him away, but I didn't tell him off. He started to gnaw on my gloves. Considering there was no way his small teeth could hurt them, I let him chew for a bit.

    "What a brat," she muttered.

   "He's teething," I reminded her. Tonya muttered some choice words. I dug through my satchel. "Are you willing to share some food in return? I've let you into the shelter. I think it's fair."

    She rubbed her gloved hands, eyeing up Chance, before nodding. "Yeah. I've got some rations. Not enough for long, but some." She pulled off her bag. I caught glimpses of different tools before she pulled two ration bars. She handed one over. After opening it, I broke off part and gave it to Chance. It was tough enough to keep him occupied for a while. It'd feel good for his gums. I'd have to see if there was an abandoned pet store nearby. They'd have a rubber bone or something for Chance.

    The sun must've hit the edge of the horizon because the temperature rapidly fell soon afterwards. I unrolled my thermal bag and zipped myself in. Chance picked up his ration and took it to the end of the bag. Tonya's jaw fell. "Where did you get that?"

    "I used to hike in Canada. I often stayed nights outdoors in a tent and had to buy a good sleeping bag."

    "You mean you had that when we met? How did I not see it?"

    I shrugged. It'd been rolled up at the top of my backpack, just as it was now. She shook her head. From her own bag appeared a heat blanket. After bundling herself up, she muttered goodnight and turned away. Through the howling of the winds, I could still hear Chance chewing on the ration. The tin rattled and wobbled, but less snow was able to hit us. The wind pulled at my sleeping bag. I was chilly, but I couldn't imagine how cold Tonya had to be. Her blanket was thick and heavy, but it wasn't meant for the outdoors.

    It didn't take long before she suddenly rolled onto her back and looked up at the tin. "Why haven't you killed me, Drifter?"

    Surprise forced my eyes to open completely. I glanced at her briefly. "Because I don't hurt people unnecessarily?" My own voice sounded like a question.

   "I literally tried to kill you and you won't lay a hand on me." Tonya blew out a breath, judging from the cloud that seeped from around her scarf. "You know how much I would've given to have met a guy like that before all this shit happened?"

   I was willing to bet she'd would've given plenty. The tone of her voice told me enough. I didn't reply. She continued anyway. "Did you have someone? Before Lover went past?"

   My cold lips pressed slightly. "No."

   "Really? Not even a girlfriend?"

   "I'm divorced."

   "Oh." She seemed to grimace. "Whoops. Sorry. But why the hell did she divorce you? I find it hard to believe you were anything besides the perfect husband."

   I exhaled. Chance had finished his ration because he curled into a tight ball between my feet. He'd wedged my feet apart to get between them. "It's . . . complicated. I wanted a baby. She wasn't ready yet. She got pregnant one night. She aborted the pregnancy and didn't tell me. I figured it out when a doctor called the house to ask how she was recovering and that her medication refill was ready."

   "Damn. That's cold." Tonya wrapped her arms under the blanket. She actually sounded remorseful. "She didn't even ask you?"

   "No. I wouldn't have said no, either. But that was my own child. She was upset that I wasn't very happy with her. There were some other issues, but that was the main one." After a moment, I asked, "What about you?"

   Tonya nodded. "Yeah. Several boyfriends. Never anything serious. They never really took me seriously. Tried to have a girlfriend once, but that didn't work either. I just decided that I wasn't cut out for romance life."

   That seemed to be more common nowadays. When Lover broke Earth's orbit, the majority of humanity had abandoned reproducing. Everyone knew that unless there was somewhere we could survive, having children was useless. Humanity's energy had been turned away from expanding the population to rushing for safety.

   Silence fell for the night. Tonya rolled over and stilled. It took me a while, but I eventually dozed off to sleep. It was a light, stressful doze. Every howl of winds and creak of tin made my back jerk. Chance hardly budged the whole night. Only once did he shift a little, his head lifting, but when I didn't react, he went back to sleep. By the time streaks of light began to paint the sky, I was so cold that my body wouldn't budge when I first tried to move. The freeze was so bad that it hurt. The temperature was still dropping. Another few weeks and it'd be too cold to survive outside at night. I already felt the toll.

   Shifting in my bag, it took me a moment to remember that someone was supposed to be with me. Blinking my eyes open, I lifted a hand to shift the scarf a little to allow me to see. There was no one else under the tin. Confused, I pushed myself upright. Chance awoke. The bulge at my feet stretched as he yawned.

   Tonya was no where in sight. It appeared that she'd left before I woke up. My lips pursed. In all honesty, I wasn't surprised. She would have wanted to get to the Equator before me. At least she hadn't slit my throat to achieve that goal.

   Shifting so my back was less bent, I reached under the sleeping bag for my satchel. It wasn't there. I checked the other side. My heart began to sink when I realized it wasn't under the tin. Dread made my innards feel like lead.

   A glance out of the tin shelter confirmed it. The bike leaning against the tree was gone. Tonya had left, taking my satchel and bike with her.

14,048 total words.