The Storm and the Darkness by Sarah M. Cradit

Author:Sarah M. Cradit
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9781490589480
Publisher: Createspace
Published: 2013-07-06T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Two: Finnegan

Finn shivered violently, the cold penetrating him to his core. He had never longed for the crackling heat of the fireplace as much as now.

He knew cold; he’d been raised in it. He’d learned all the tricks for staying warm. How to be aware of your pulse at all times. Methods to protect your body from frostbite. To wear layers, but make sure you never sweat inside your warm clothes. Ways to insulate your extremities. He knew all of these skills, but being a cautious islander–in a town that was often cut off from the world during storms–he had mostly avoided situations where he would be forced to use this knowledge. He logically knew how to build a house as well, but if someone put a hammer in his hand and wood at his feet, he couldn’t be confident that there’d be a functional house in the end.

Taking the snowcat out was foolish, but it was also their only viable choice if they intended to avoid going hungry. Even if the island’s roads opened, the lone grocery store would be sold out quickly. It was a near certainty that the ferries would not resume with another storm imminent. Mayor Cairne had been trying to get the city of Portland to be more flexible for years–other islands did not suffer the same transportation blackouts, because they were larger and had a louder voice in the matter–but he had never been able to get beyond initial discussions. With a population of only 204, Summer Island was no one’s priority but its own.

Asking others for help was out of the question, too. Other than the Auslanders, there were not any neighbors nearby, and even had there been, they were likely rationing their own resources. The first storm had been stronger than anyone had predicted, and this was why they had voted on the town food storage building in the first place.

And the Auslanders...Jon thought Finn was an idiot, or at least blind. Finn knew the reasons Jon didn’t want to go see them, and Finn more than understood, he agreed. Jon’s quick jump to silence the phone anytime it rang did not go unnoticed to Finn either. Had he not been the one who had worked for years to protect Jon from his own, unfair reputation? He could only imagine what Alex and Gertrude were presuming was happening at the St. Andrews house. He hoped that Jon had a plan. For now, all Finn could do was make this beast of a machine run long enough to get to the food storage and back. It had taken him several hours to get it running and stocked with supplies, and as a result, Finn had started his trek much later than he wanted to. Darkness would be descending soon.

The snowcat did not move very fast. Compounding the lack of speed was the necessity of restarting each time it died, his heart racing each attempt, fearing it had finally given up and quit for good.

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