Fulcrum

Bones

January 2019,

Crushed and partially exposed skeletons lie scattered around the supermarket rubble, this wasn't a foreign sight for Curtis, everywhere he looked was either skeletons and rubble, or snow and ice. This store had a particularly large amount of salvageable foods, the way the roof collapsed onto the shelves had left much of the product untouched and out of the weather. It also provided a sturdy shelter for the evening. He gathered some materials for fire, covered the skeletons and even managed to find a tent from what was left of the camping section. Life had been 'good' for Curtis since his experience in the subway, he had been finding enough food, good shelter, a new coat that kept him nice and warm, and now it seemed he would have a good night's sleep with more food and drink than he'd had in some time.

He sat by his fire, laughing softly at the sight of all that money he'd just burnt. He lit a cigarette, his first one in weeks, the stale tobacco crackled as the lighter touched it, a firm inhale, exhale. He'd not felt this comfortable since the day his world stopped turning. Moments after he finished his cigarette he fell into a deep sleep.

He woke up to sunlight, he sat up, unzipped his tent and rushed towards his fire pit. He pushed the coals around with some fresh twenty dollar bills and his fire started right back up. After warming himself by his fire. He draped his coat back on, filled his pack with the supplies he'd found, and made his way to the 'exit' of the crumpled building. Before making his final steps out of the shredded metal siding he heard a solid 'thud'.
He turned quickly. Frantically he looked around, something was alive, but where? He took two steps and heard a sliding noise on the concrete ground. His bible. He picked up the bible, looked up at the sky, and said a prayer he had recently learned for the safe passage of the souls in the building into heaven.

"Hotel street" he said with a smile. "I'm almost there"

He traveled for over two weeks to get to the coast and finally he was a block away. He walked with a spring in his step, not at all phased by the towering piles of what used to be five star hotels, he jumped over the giant cracks in the ground, and finally two frozen palm trees on either side of a sign that reads 'RED REEF BEACH'. He began to sprint towards the sign, when he reached it he stopped suddenly and gasped.

Before him was only white, the entire ocean was frozen solid. Decomposed carcasses from every sea dwelling creature lie frozen and scattered about the beach. Boats tipped over and frozen halfway under the water made an impossibly tragic scene in contrast to how he remembered his vacations years ago. For a few minutes he soaked in the scenes, comparing them in his brain with memories of the same scenery.  He was suddenly overwhelmed, falling flat after losing his balance.

"Two hundred miles on the ice." He said as if understanding that this would be an impossible feat.

SAVIOR was two hundred miles directly East straight out into the ocean. He gathered himself then made his way off of the snow covered beach and onto the solid ice of the ocean.