This post is third in a series by Edward W. Pritchard. To read more of his writings please visit: http://eddwardwpritchard.blogspot.com
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it’s 2012 already – Part 3
fiction
edward w pritchard
- Image via Wikipedia
Many disaster movies in our time spend a few obligatory frames trying to describe what it’s like to flee from your home in a large natural disaster. Be it meteor, volcano, or earthquake, in the movies there is always somewhere to go to find sanctuary.
What if your decision to move was not rational, but instinctual and ancient. Suddenly you have to move out of your house now. You don’t know why, but bad air is coming, and to breathe it is to die. Don’t think. Just keep moving, step after step. Success in your tribulations is time’s duration. You are divinely granted a few more breaths; but you must suffer and you must not plan or aspire. You only are driven to move.
Here’s something I wrote before about the start of the journey.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
the movement of vast amounts of people
fiction
edward w pritchard
The noxious vapors drifted slowly, North to South, at no more than seven miles per hour, but to not keep moving meant death to human and most larger animals. Steadily, day after day, I stumbled forward. My strength was long gone and my will shattered, but blindly I stumbled, on and on, going to where I don’t know or care anymore, but driven to move and escape the burning of the lungs and confusion that stopping caused, even if one stopped only for a moment in a desperate attempt to regroup or plan a new exit strategy.
The vapors continued to drift South and although alone, I stayed with the pack and patiently continued forward.
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What would you carry as you left your house in this scenario? If you were an astute business man before, maybe asthma medicine, for everyone’s burning lungs – it might become the new currency. Cognac, VSOP to prop up sagging morale and to keep the memory of civilization alive for a few more weeks – while the flask endured. And a watch, keep track of the time, for this ordeal has to eventually, mercifully, end soon.
