The Longest Drive

Chapter 2 - Overwhelmed

"You're a Christian, right?" Orrin suddenly commented tensely from the driver's seat interrupting my misery filled forecast of what the future would be like.

I turned my head to him and asked, "How did you know?"

"It shows." Was all he said, before admitting, "I'm not ready to die, but I'm going to in short order if something doesn't change!"

Seeing a new aspect of this man that had been pressed to the limit I reached out a hand and patted his shoulder reassuringly to say, "You'll be all right. Take the next right that you come to."

"Why?" He asked uncertainly.

"Don't know, but something says that's what you should do."

He gave me a quick glance before then glancing once more at the rearview mirror. A junction lay just up ahead and curiously I waited to see what he would do.

He actually slowed down despite the surging tsunami of all waves behind us and on two wheels we rounded the corner and sped down the secondary road. It led into a valley and abruptly the road hooked around a rise in the topography and with the tires screeching Orrin took the chance that he saw.

He sped up a gravel inclined pathway that led upward toward the top of the knoll that was now buffered between us and the oncoming wave.

"Stop." I said and instantly he did to the point that I was flung against my seatbelt and had the breath half knocked out of me.

Air wheezing back into my lungs I glanced at him as I saw him engage the parking brake. Speaking out loud, I stated, "You actually trust me don't you."

His face was awash with sweat and nervous tension and tersely, he said, "You're the one that claims to be talking to God and all! I ain't got nothing!" He exclaimed out at the last.

I patted his knee, "You have me."

He glanced at me and then we both looked forward as the top of the immense wave shot out over the top of the knoll even as a power slide of water surged around the sides of the knoll and filled the valley behind us up almost to the brim. Water cascaded down upon the Jeep and I feared that the windshield would cave in under the pressure of the endless water cresting out over the top of the knoll.

Why we weren't swept away, I did not know other than that the Jeep seemed to be completely rooted in place. My hand found Orrin's and together we held each other's hand tightly as an endless barrage of seawater swept down over us.

Tears came to my eyes again as the unimaginable loss of human life today made its full impact on me. So many had died, were dying and would die in the days to come.

The thought of how humanity would turn on itself in the aftermath of such a global disaster was a horror in and of its own. I glanced over to the man who would no doubt possess my body very soon and I wondered for the thousandth time if my choice to attempt to save his soul was truly worth the effort it would take just to survive him and what remained of the world in the aftermath of this disaster.

I didn't know, but I'd made the choice and now I had to live with it. I closed my eyes as the endless deluge of water continued to wash over us and somehow in the midst of destruction I went to sleep.

~~~~~~~

Startled I sat up in my seat. The water had stopped and Orrin was gone!

His door was open. Pulling my shoes on I got out and gasped aloud at what I saw.

The land was stripped bare and strewn with the carnage of debris gathered up of the remains of every seaside community along the coast of Oregon. The sky was a sooty gray and in the distance I could see magma shooting into the sky in a fiery display of molten heat.