Natural Disaster

Chapter 5

Launa awoke slowly to the sound of Avi shuffling around, the sandy dirt scraping beneath his boots. The environment, despite what she’d been expecting, was a little less of a shock, this time, which she suspected had something to do with the soreness caused by sleeping on the ground. She groaned and rubbed her face to wake herself up.

"Good morning," Avi greeted her quietly, easing to the ground to sit beside her, "Sleep okay?"

She grunted at him. “Given that I was sleeping on dirt and haven’t camped in over a decade, yeah, I slept pretty well.” She stretched, and paused upon realizing that his coat was draped over her whole body. “Thanks, by the way.”

"No worries," he gave her a smile, "We don’t want you to get hypothermia."

Launa squinted up at the sky, glaring to the East at the rising sun. “I don’t know,” she groaned, “If today is anything like yesterday, I might welcome a little frostbite.”

"Come on," he laughed, pushing her gently in the shoulder, "We should get moving." She nodded and, with a sigh, hauled herself up.

______

The day passed much like the one before, trudging along with the wide river at their right, pausing at noon to take a break, thankful for every breeze that passed their way. The squishy, sand-like dirt did not ease their travels, either, though Launa remarked something about her ‘legs were gonna look fabulous when they were done’. Avi just chuckled at her and told her she sounded like a friend of his.

Joking and laughter seemed to be the only thing to ease the strain of their journey. They traded bits of information about themselves, back and forth, carrying on conversation and comfortable silences as though they were simply hanging out.

Launa cried out in relief when he mentioned his love of music. “Oh, thank god,” she exclaimed, “I love music.”

Avi grinned wide. “Of everything that’s important to me, it’s way up on my list, right next to family and friends,” he paused, considering his words, “and food. I would kill for a burger.”

She groaned, mumbling about cheese-fries.

"Oh my gosh," he pushed her in the shoulder and she stumbled, laughing, "don’t get me started."

It was only when they stopped for the evening that the relative peace was disturbed.

______

They plopped themselves down upon the ground next to the river, and Avi immediately pulled out the map, marking down where he supposed they were. “I figure we’re about halfway to the Monticello area,” he said, chewing on the end of the pen he’d found at the bottom of Launa’s bag, “we should see if we can find anyone, there.”

"Agreed." She frowned, suddenly worried. "You know, I’m still seeing damage from the earthquake out here."

"Well, yeah," he answered, capping the pen and tucking it and the map away in his coat pocket, "it was a pretty big one."

Launa wanted to argue that the damage should not have spread so far out, but bit her lip to rein in the urge. He might be right. Maybe it just was along a fault line. She pulled her knees up to her chest, watching Avi start the campfire. But there’s no big fault lines in Colorado. The next one isn’t until around Grand Canyon, and that’s not even a high-frequencey area.

"My mother always said, ‘If you keep frowning like that, your face will freeze that way’," Avi called to her, startling her out of her thoughts,

"What are you thinking about that has you making that face?"

"Oh, nothing, just thinking." Launa said, dismissing him with a wave of her hand. She didn’t want to burden him with her worries. He squinted at her, studying her face, and she felt her cheeks heat up. "Seriously, I’m fine. Stop looking at me like that."