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“Donovan, I want you to go scavenge supplies with Ambrose."

My tail wouldn't stop wiggling as I thought back to the earlier conversation held back at Second Chance's Hub. Finally, Zachary was going to let me join one of the triplets in a scavenging trip beyond the town fence.

It had been close to a few months since I joined the Sauveterre's small community, but it already felt like years. Between learning new skills, making new friends, helping out with maintaining things, having sex with the various black cats, as well as enduring some freak weather phenomena, there wasn't much time to consider a road trip.

Luckily for us, pure gasoline had an expiration date, and one of the stockpile container's dates was approaching fast. Rather than have it go to waste, Second Chances' mechanic (an aloof but helpful and knowledgeable black bear named Sonny) wanted us to put the gasoline to good use. That meant going to a nearby unexplored section of the Upper Peninsula—called the Keweenaw Peninsula, between the western part of Lake Superior and Keeweenaw Bay—with one of the outfitted trucks to find supplies or items the town could really use.

So, there was me and Ambrose, the latter driving down an aged highway with the occasional abandoned car. Much like the other roads leading into and away from Second Chances, they hadn't been repaired in years, but what set them apart from the streets and boulevards around a major cities were how thorough Mother Nature reclaimed them; kudzu and wild grass covered some roads, with at least one gas station I spotted seemingly floating in an ocean of green. At least one small village we drove past had half of its houses sinking into murky marshlands, no doubt formed in the intervening years since the Collapse, and everyone started dashing for guaranteed safety—wherever they could find it.

“So which towns are we looking at again?" I asked Ambrose, staring down at a map in my paws. The morning sunlight was already peaked over the trees, providing enough illumination for me to make out the tiny names and markings on the unfolded paper. “Your dad mentioned a place called Hughtown?"

“Yep," he confirmed. “That's the first stop. There's a bridge connecting a portion of the peninsula to the rest of the U.P. We'd not checked that area in a while."

“So that means we're checking out…hang on," I mumbled, “Ridley, Handcock—" I let out a giggle with the black cat, “Penny Bay, Freemason, New Boston, the county airport, and…" I let out a confused sigh, “Camelot?"

“Never got why they name villages like that up here," Ambrose laughed, offering a smirk. “But yeah, those sound like great places to check out first. They gotta have what we're looking for."

Besides basic supplies and rations, Zachary had also given the two of us a list. They were mostly things various residence wanted us to keep an eye out for. I like an unused car part from an auto repair shop, certain cans of food, a few children's toys, books, DVDs, board games, batteries, etc. If we couldn't find all of them, it wasn't a big deal. So long as we returned with something, including our lives.

We have been driving for close to an hour. Every so often, Ambrose guided the truck past a fallen tree trunk on the road. How he managed to drive quickly without crashing, I didn't know. He didn't have a heavy foot on the gas but did ignore the remaining speed limit signs along the road. They were blurring numbers outside my window. A part of me wished I had gotten a driver's license before the apocalypse, despite the headaches. Still, I hoped for Ambrose or his brothers to teach me to drive one day.

“I'm sorry Cliff and Blaine couldn't come with us," I mentioned with folded ears. “Shame they couldn't wiggle out of their chores."

One of which included cleaning up manure from the animal pens.

“It wouldn't be the first time that either of us weren't on a trip together," he said. “Besides, it's not like I'm going at this whole thing alone…" we exchanged soft smiles, only to be interrupted by the sight of a Main Street that had to be one of the small towns. Ambrose turned back to me with a wry grin. “You loot the shops and I'll loot the houses?"

I reached for my makeshift weapon—a bat and an unloaded gun hidden in my pocket. “Sure thing," I said. “You don't think we'll need these though, do you? I thought that they mentioned there weren't any people left up here?"

“Not really," Ambrose said, parking the truck in the middle of an empty intersection, “but it doesn't hurt to always be careful."

I thought it back to me and the triplets narrowly avoiding raiders back in Milwaukee. “Good point," I acknowledged, gripping my bat in my backpack behind me. “Fine, let's go then."

We made it from town to town and village to village. It wasn't long until we could spot parts of Lake Superior, and even see it fully once we went south to an isolated hamlet called Jacobstown. Otherwise, the county we scoured was made up mostly of nothing but years-long neglected farmland and untamed forests. Nothing but empty towns in an empty region. The closest that I even found to encountering other survivors were a few boarded up main Street shops that used to be lived in, stocked full of supplies and weaponry. Did the owners flee without even bothering to take their stuff? Or had the owners been killed while out hunting or scavenging? I remembered walking through the small maze of items and didn't see any signs of recent life amid the small layers of dust. It was like they just up and vanished without a trace.

On the plus side, we had extra guns and ammunition and food to bring back to Second Chances. A great surprise for sure. Plus, one of the items on the list to be checked off: several packages of AAA batteries.

Ambrose had similar luck while poking through the next dozen or so towns we went through. According to him, the houses had been ransacked of valuables long ago, but some looters had been shortsighted enough not to search in closets or attics. They were more focused on electronics or clothing, shit that they wanted but didn't need as severe climate change turned the world into an unpredictable melting pot of extreme weather. Fortunately, Ambrose wouldn't let go of his grin after discovering a treasure trove of medicine, medical tools, art supplies, and even DVDs of old movies (like “Smokey & the Bandit", much to our joy!) in what used to be the backrooms of a nursing home.

“Not gonna lie, but I was worried I'd find a few elderly folks left behind in one of the rooms," he confessed to me as he drove us to our final stop for the day, Jacobstown. “But it looks like whoever owned the place before the Collapse had everyone evacuated to Chicago due to supply shortages."

“Chicago?" I asked. “How do you know that?"

“There were flyers and pamphlets all over the place," he said. “Apparently, in the days leading up to the Blackout, the government had been already planning to bring all the elderly to new facilities that were closer to the supply lines. I hate to think about what happened to the nursing homes that weren't evacuated in time…"

I didn't continue the conversation and neither did he. Admittedly, I too sometimes wondered about how much the US government had been aware of how much things had been fucked up before the end happened. Being trapped in a prison farm for juvenile delinquents didn't help much in terms of knowing current events. All that I could recall was that a major war was happening in the Middle East and an economic crisis happening in both China and the European Union, but that was it. Otherwise, who knew what was happening to the rest of the world?

Anyway, the final stop of the first half of our road trip turned out to be disappointing. Instead of a small town or village like we expected, Jacobstown could be best described as a small collection of ransacked vacation homes and rural houses loosely connected together by poorly maintained roads and dirt paths. Wildlife had already reclaimed most of the homes, and while we did manage to find a couple hordes of canned food and even hardware tools that we could check off of the list, it was already getting dark by the time Ambrose called in.

“S.C. Hub, this is Eldest Son with Dobie," he spoken to the CB radio, and I flashed the cheeky black cat a grin when he said my CB handle. “S.C. Hub, again, this is Eldest Son speaking. We're i'm out to retire for the night and just wanted to let Dad know that we're safe."

“Roger that, Eldest Son," spoke a light-hearted female voice belonging to a middle-aged vixen named Carrie, one of Second Chance's best cartographers. “May I have your location?"

Ambrose proceeded to list off of a series of numbers I couldn't interpret. It had something to do with the map I was holding, but I had no idea how their system worked. Still, it did the job well enough for Carrie to wish us good night.

“Tell him I love him and me and Dobie will stay safe, okay, Hub?"

Carrie/Hub giggled through her end. “Can do, Eldest Son. Sleep well, you two! Over and out."

The CB radio went silent, and Ambrose restarted the engine. It was already dusk, and a heavy twilight was scraping over the woodland trees. Ambrose drove the outfitted truck—the covered tailgate full of scavenged parts, supplies, weapons, and foodstuff—down a winding dirt path until we came across an old, dilapidated vacation home that faced Lake Superior. Mother nature had been vengeful to the previous owners but somehow still left the garage intact. It was somehow massive enough for our outfitted truck to barely fit in. It wasn't long before we manually closed the sprawling door shut just as it started getting dark outside, and then jumped inside the truck's back seat.

“A little jumpy there, eh?" Ambrose teased me as I leaned against him. “Why? Do you think Bigfoot, or the zombies are gonna be pounding on that door?"

“Ha ha ha," I mocked laughing. “Very funny."

“I know I am, thank you for telling me," he jested, patting my shoulder and pulling me to his chest as we lay against the cushions. “I dunno about you, but I think today's been a really great haul."

“So far," I pointed out. “We've still got Camelot all the way to Copper Cove tomorrow. How much do you wanna bet that we could find stuff up there?"

“I'll believe it," he said. “The lakeshore towns tend to have quite a few supplies left behind. Though it likely won't be much. It's just…so remote. The storms and harsher winters make it harder to live on your own up here."

I let out a grunt as my reply. Apart of me worried about the future and if the winters were only going to get worse as well as longer. Even so, I knew that Second Chances would do fine. I'd seen the community for myself and how much they, or rather we, valued working together to survive. No, not just to survive. To thrive.

It had grown pitch black within the creaking garage. Thin moonlight leaked through one of the grimy windows along the wall, causing Ambrose's feline eyes to have an amber glow. I had seen him before and could feel it on my neck as we lay there on the backseat of the parked truck.

I could also feel something hot and pulsating pressed against my backside.

“You know," I bashfully interrupted the silence, “I think there's one way we can occupy our time?"

For emphasis, I blindly moved my paw from holding his right paw, to guiding it so he could start palming the front of my bulge. The blast of hot air exhaling through his whiskered nostrils into my neck told me he got the message. Him squeezing the crotch of my tented jeans told me he received it loud and clear.

***

Minutes later, we were panting feverishly in the backseat, our clothes lying on the truck's interior floor. Thank God for abandoned garages, and for Ambrose bringing a small bottle of lube in his backpack.

I straddled the black cat's lap as he pushed his hips upward, that barbed feline cock thrusting in and out of my stretched, spawning tailhole. My canine whining got drowned out by his resonant purring. Our panting and gasps for air made the interior foggy. Our tongues danced together in a lustful waltz, saliva dripping down our chins as Ambrose held me by my trembling elbows. His Amber eyes were glazed over, yet still shined at me through the darkness.

I could barely see but I could definitely feel everything. His calloused paws that caressed my hips and the brown nubs of my nipples whenever he squeezed into joyful rapture. How he purred beautifully while leaving sweaty kisses along my neck and trembling chin, those whiskers as soft as silk.

I ended up coming so hard, so suddenly, I teleported somewhere else. My mind went into a haze that could only feel sensations. Ambrose nutting inside of me, my babbling lips forming words that I couldn't comprehend, the black cat gently easing me off of him and using a scavenged roll of paper towels to clean up the backseats. Then pulling me against his chest as we drifted off to sleep and cuddled close for warmth.

It was later that morning that I learned what I told Ambrose during our splendid afterglow; how I wanted to learn how to drive, if he would let me. We had finished cleaning ourselves up and getting dressed as the light of dawn started creeping from under the horizon, and the black cat had me at the wheel of the truck, slowly driving and learning the difference between the gas and the breaks as I held the wheels in the correct spots.

Several dozen jerking motions later along the road, I started getting the hang of it.

“I'm still shocked you can drive fast without crashing," I told him.

“Maneuvering while speeding isn't difficult when you get the hang of it," he admitted in the passenger seat. “Don't look away from the road. Doing this all wrong gets you killed, Donovan, so don't forget that!"

“I've seen you look away once or twice when driving," I pointed out, deciding to park it to a standstill. Looking at the relaxed feline, I asked, “Is there even a right way to drive? Besides not crashing?"

Ambrose chuckled at my added comment.

“If you want it done right," he said, “you need to keep practicing until it becomes second nature. Until you can talk and drive."

“If I ever learn to…"

“Don't be hard on yourself, Donnie. You're doing better than me or my bros when we started practicing for our licenses. I bet you'll get the hang of it soon before…" Ambrose grew quiet.

It dawned on me. “Right, before cars no longer start working." Sighing, we got out of our seats and switched places as I spoke. “I keep forgetting that's gonna happen one day."

In a sense it was already happening. People were traveling across the continent and over rivers the same way our ancestors dead nearly two centuries in the past. The automobile was slowly going extinct each year. So was gasoline and diesel. Without refineries or the people to work in them, it wouldn't be long until wagons or walking was the only way to travel long distances.

He nodded. “Yeah, I also imagine cars aren't going to be usable forever once there's no more gas. Speaking of which," the black cat buckled his seat belt, “we better get going. It's gonna be a long day and I want to get back before sunset tonight."

“Hit the road, Bandit!" I proclaimed.

He laughed, “You got it, Snowman!"