Natural Disaster

Chapter 11

Their dance had continued on, alternating between fast and slow songs, and the stereo finally died in the middle of a poppy song, warping the tune into something creepy as its battery gave out. The whole thing left them breathless and giggling, leaning into each other for balance. Avi let out a slightly shaky sigh, “Oh, that was fun,” he said, pressing a kiss to her forehead before smiling down at her. “Thanks for making me dance.”

Thanks for making me feel like an actual girl. Launa shushed the thought. “Thanks for letting me.”

Reluctantly, they set the stereo back by its original home, almost as if to thank it, too, and piled back into the truck, settling back on their destination of Chinle. The atmosphere in the cab of the vehicle was odd, shifting somewhere between giddy, awkward, and all-too-comfortable. She watched him tie the tail back into his hair to keep it out of his eyes as he drove, not daring to turn her head, and not admitting that she was staring.

No, she told herself firmly, This needs to stop. You’re in a life or death situation, and getting sentimental and gooey toward your travel partner is likely to get you killed. She sighed inaudibly. Maybe if we’d just bumped into each other. Maybe if our first meeeting wasn’t because and earthquake separated us from the rest of society. Maybe- She pulled the emergency brake on her thoughts. Stop.

”- right, Launa?” his voice suddenly came into focus, “Launa?”

She snapped her focus to reality. “Yeah, totally.”

Avi gave a strange, worried look, but stayed quiet, bending to start the engine up and peeling off from the tiny town. Launa hunkered down in her seat, the rumbling of the engine coupled with Avi humming a slow song they had danced to lulling her into a doze.

______

The sound of engine dying and Avi swearing was what woke her from her nap. “No, no,” he muttered, pressing harder on the gas pedal and slamming his hands into the steering wheel when the truck continued to slow, "Dammit!”

Launa straightened in her seat quickly, both worried about the state of the truck and Avi’s sudden anger. “I take it that we ran out of gas?”

"No," he snapped, pulling the hood latch and flinging the door open, "we have plenty of gas. The damn thing just decided to quit." He dropped out of the truck and propped the hood open, peering inside. Launa heard him swear again, this time in a language she didn’t recognize, and he slammed the front of the vehicle shut, looking positively furious.That shouldn’t be attractive.

He heaved himself back into the driver’s seat, fists clenched.

She waited a few moments, listening for his breathing to slow before she spoke. “So, we’re back to walking, are we?”

______

They hadn’t consumed even half of the water that they had swiped in Moab, but they had, thankfully, had the foresight to pick up another two travel bags- making it a grand total of two bags and a pad of thin camp bedding for each of them. They still couldn’t carry everything they’d taken with them, and the packs were heavy, but it was still better than going without it.

"How much further to Chinle?" she asked as he studied the map, "It can’t be far, now." She peered around his shoulder, standing on her toes to try to see. He wasn’t very tall, but neither was she. "Quit hogging the map, buttmunch."

"Buttmunch?" he grumbled at her, still a little cranky from the frustration of the vehicle breaking down. He obliged and gave her one side of the map to hold while he held the other, plotting their path.