14. Rain and refuge

Fifteen days passed without another unpleasant encounter. Things seemed to go better: the road was reasonably clean, and there were many tree trunks that made it easy to hide and shelter during the nights. They even found several groups of houses that hadn't been ransacked. Some had corpses, but very few had rotten, unusable. However, they were lucky enough to find some cans and smoked meats that stood the time. They also found small reserves of bottled water that prevented them from looking for it in blackened ponds or streams.

Until correcting their route, the provisions had not given problems; but the surround of dangerous points increased the distance in hundreds of miles. The distance had almost doubled, and they needed to be very aware of several dangerous turns on the road. Some secondary roads began with gaps, and it was easy to confuse them with tertiary roads. Fortunately, many of the old signs were still standing, and on several occasions, they helped them to find the right path.

Without a doubt, the map they carried was excellent; and Lincoln proved to have a sense of orientation that he didn't suspect. He was constantly correcting Lori, and although she felt bothered at first; soon realized that Lincoln was the best by far in handling the map. So they decided the wisest way: Lincoln traced the routes, and she supervised, criticized and improved them.

The arrangement worked very well. The routes became reliable; Lincoln cared about the road, and Lori could keep her mind clear to watch for possible dangers and find shelter and food.

Everything went fine for many days. Despite the difficulties, Lori estimated that they had managed to travel about 155 miles, and had reached geographic center of Ohio. The West Virginia limit was perhaps 250 miles away. From there, they would have to travel about 500 more miles to Spruce Knob.

Unfortunately, the weather began to change. The rains lasted for much of the day, and were increasingly intense. The wind dampened, and became colder. They began to suffer from coughing, and found themselves in need of mouth covers all the time.

The central part of Ohio had become a semi-desert. There were dead trunks of trees everywhere, and the roads became difficult and heavy to travel. The road became irregular, with many ups and downs, which caused the water to fall in small torrents between the trees on the side of the road. Now, when they set their camp, had to be aware not to stay in the course of a water current. The road was damaged and flooded. The cart could no longer pass easily, and sometimes they had to wait several hours for the water to absorb or evaporate.

The worst came when the first heavy rain caught them in the middle of the noon. They had to cover themselves with a tarp, and could only advance a few minutes under the rain. The cold began to penetrate through his clothes. They had to put their mats together and cover their clothes with plastics, to stand that noon and night.

The next day, the rain started even earlier; and Lori realized that the weather wasn't going to improve. Apparently, the season of heavy rains had begun. Then, she gathered all the waterproof plastic available and, with Lincoln's help, covered their clothes, backpacks and shoes. They put over their plastic googles, and carefully wrapped all their supplies and ammunitions in plastic bags.

With these cautions, they managed to walk a little more than before; until the puddles covered their feet and the wheels of the cart. Maybe they could pressing on a little longer, but Lori was aware that they couldn't get too wet. If that happened, they would surely get sick. They had some antibiotics, but with their shortage of supplies they couldn't survive with a serious illness.

Days later, the advance became even more difficult. The cart had almost emptied, and they considered getting rid of it. They didn't see any house to register for many miles, so that the cart was becoming more of a ballast than an aid. However, it still served to transport ammunitions and heavy items that they couldn't carry in their backpacks. At last, they decided to retain him, until they had no choice but to get rid of it.

After another week, their supplies ran out. They only left two jars of honey, the vitamin jars, chocolate bars, and the food replacements they carried in their backpacks. Lincoln suggested that they take honey with vitamins as their only food while they could, but Lori wasn't agree. They took a tablespoon of honey in the morning and another at night to protect their throat. She was sure that this had kept them safe from diseases, and wanted them to have that protection while possible.

So from that day, they went off to a strict rationing: they took a meal replacement with a vitamin tablet in the morning, a chocolate bar with honey in the afternoon, and honey with another vitamin tablet at night. It was all they could eat during the day.

Less than a thousand calories a day.

"Lori!" Lincoln shouted, excitedly "It's a house! We can sleep under cover tonight!

The girl took her binoculars and looked carefully. The house was more than a kilometer away from the road, hidden between trees and rocks. Only someone attentive and with an eagle sight like Lincoln could see it from the road.

It seemed empty. It was already beginning to rain, so the promise of resting that night under shelter was very tempting.

They hid the cart, and approached carefully with their guns in hand. When they were at the threshold, found that only one of the leaves of the front door was in place. In spite of that, there were no signs of fighting or disorder inside. The house had been abandoned, not looted.

"Cover me, Linky. I'm going to explore" said the girl.

They were anguishing minutes for both. Lincoln heard that Lori searched all the rooms, one by one. For a moment, he was tempted to enter. But Lori gave him very clear directions: if something happened to her, and he couldn't fight back from outside, he had to run immediately to get safe.

At last, Lori left. A smile of satisfaction illuminated her beautiful face: the girl carried in her hands a large jar, full of fruits in syrup.