The Longest Drive

Chapter 7 - "It Shows"

The last pack of food made I slung the satchel over my shoulder and made my way downstairs and through the basement door to where Orrin was packing away the supplies onto the four-wheel-drive gator that he'd discovered in a shed near the house. I gazed a bit mutinously at him, as I watched him stow away the supplies and tools that we had scavenged from the house and its surroundings in the last two hours.

We hadn't even made love this morning and within a few more minutes of time we would be leaving this cozy spot that had given us refuge from the storm. Feeling convicted, though for my errant thoughts because of the angst I felt for the open forest and what terrors it might hold, I focused on putting my trust in Orrin in that he was doing the right thing.

He took the pack of food from me and began securing it down. Not looking up, he said, "I'm sorry we have to leave, but I feel it's for the best. Something isn't right and I feel like we need to get inland farther."

He glanced up at me and I dutifully nodded my assent to his plan. He glanced down and then said, "Something else. Have you noticed how much colder it is today?"

I had noticed that, but I really hadn't given it a lot of thought other than to dress myself warmly. I started to ponder on the unseasonal occurrence of the coldness now though.

Speaking my thoughts I asked, "Do you think with all this ash and other factors that an end to summer and the beginning of an early onset of winter has begun?"

"The idea has crossed my mind. Not only that, but I know to some degree that an event of something like a mini Ice Age has been expected for a long time and has been extensively planned for by the elite. We've just recently within the past two years entered a solar minimum where the sun will put out less heat than typical for about the next 15 or 30 years. The global elite I used to work for knew about it and to some degree have viewed it as a global reset button by which to help thin the masses so to speak. I never gave it much thought as I really didn't care about living or dying, but now it's different. There's you. You and your belief in God make everything different!" He said with emphasis, as he finished tying off the canvas he had stretched over the mountain of supplies and tools that we had confiscated from the premises and packed onto the bed of the four-wheel-drive gator.

I smiled at him warmly and when he glanced over at me again, I asked, "So we head south for warmer country?"

Surprisingly, he shook his head no before saying, "You don't want any part of what is going to happen in the warmer regions with everybody fighting over limited resources and trampling over each other for continued breath. It will be a madhouse of humanity falling apart at the seams. No, we head inland and look for higher ground."

"You want to go higher in elevation? Won't that be colder still?"

"Yes and no. Yes, it will be cold, but there should be more sunlight and so at times it will be warmer than in the shaded valley bottoms below and if you're right about the animals then it will be to our benefit to be somewhere inhospitable and less likely for them to stick around in."

It made sense in a way I guess, but still I didn't like the idea of being cold. Still, as an option, it was better than being either eaten by former pets or extinguished by one of my own kind.

"With proper rationing I think we've got nine months to a year's worth of food here and if we can find more along the way all the better."

"Do you have a destination in mind?"

"I'm not sure how far off we are or exactly where we are when it comes to that, but in that general direction I know there is a ski resort." He said, pointing off towards the northwest before continuing with, "I've stayed at a mountain cottage there before and I know there's a good supply of firewood and when I was there a couple years back they were well stocked with food."