Natural Disaster

Chapter 7

The following morning, Launa studied the map, frowning as she slowly chewed her breakfast. “You know,” she said, pointing to the course of the river, “The Colorado lines up with the highway, here. We should be coming up on it, soon.”

Avi sat next to her, his hip pressed to hers, and he leaned in to squint at the map. “Yes,” he agreed, “You’re absolutely right. And,” he ran his finger along the line of the highway, “if we follow that, we’ll end up in Moab.”

Launa nodded and turned to look at him, startled at how close he was. “It’s closer than Monticello, that’s for sure, and we won’t have to deviate from the river to get to it.”

"That is true." He studied the map a little while longer, scratching idly at his chin. She got up, handing the map over and muttered something about her mouth feeling like death, digging through her bag to pull out mouthwash she’d thought to grab from the store.

"Alright," she said, sighing in relief at the mintiness as she handed the bottle to him at his request, "Next destination: Moab?"

He nodded and turned to spit the mouthwash out behind him. “Sounds good.”

______

The flatness of the land had unnerved her, but felt strangely closed in when they started to enter canyon territory. She’d grown up around mountains her whole life, but she wasn’t used to huge pieces of rock being so close. She was grateful for the shade they provided, though. Even though the temperature had dropped somewhat throughout the week, the shade was welcomed with open arms.

"Hey," Avi suddenly asked for her attention, "Do you know what day it is?"

Launa counted how many days it had been since the earthquake that drove them from Grand Junction, then added that to the date. “Uh.. October 2nd, I think.”

He swore under his breath. “We’ve already been at this for two weeks?” She nodded. “Not half bad, now that I think about it.”

Launa grinned and elbowed him in his side. “We’re sturdy bitches.” 

______

Moab was a decently sized town- about as big as her hometown. The stillness to it was eerie. Vehicles lay thrown about, as though they were toys, houses collapsed in on themselves. The two of them dared not set foot in the residential houses. If there had been any stragglers, two weeks- especially in this heat- would have had no mercy on their bodies. It was far safer to chance the shopping center of the town.

Launa squeezed through the door of a convenience store, pushing a board aside to allow Avi through. “Move quickly,” he reminded her, “Grab what you need. Don’t waste any time.” They flew through the store like starving thieves, grabbing non-perishables and bottles of water as fast as they could. Launa paused to grab more water-purifying tablets and scrambled for the door when the structure creaked, protesting their disturbance.

Sitting on a bus stop bench, they paused to reorganize their packs, making room for the new items. Launa waved a bag of peppermints above her head in triumph. “We didn’t need that,” he scolded her, giving her half of his comical frown, “you just-“

"Oh, shut up," she interrupted, pressing a peppermint into his palm, "mouthwash helps in the morning, but our breath smells like a cadaver by the time we’re done for the night."

Avi gave her a disgusted look, but popped the mint in his mouth all the same.

They wandered the town for awhile, not entirely sure of where to go from there. “What now?” She wondered aloud, “It looks like the whole town’s been evacuated.”