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somewhere level with Miami.”
    “Florida still has winter you know.  I spent a little time near Tampa over the years, before I got out of the service, and I remember it getting below forty once.”
    “I’m not saying it might not get cold down there.  But we won’t be looking at four months of it.  Conditions will be milder.  And we can always just move further south if a problem comes up.  A couple of days here and there of jacket weather I can get Candice through; five months of it could be a problem.”
    Austin shrugged.  “We’re basically near Macon right now; and off the top of my head, here to Tampa is something like five hundred miles.  We’re going to need fifty or sixty gallons of gas to run the SUV that far, which means we’ll probably have to stop twice to scrounge up more from stations along the way.  At least.”
    “Unless we find a lot of cans and a way to carry them all with us, yes.” she nodded.  “Which I’m not counting on.  If we can come up with a way to haul an extra twenty gallons along I’ll count that as a lot of luck.”
    “Then there’s the time involved.” he went on.  “If everything was normal, we’d hop on 75 South, set the cruise control, and be there in seven or eight hours.  With detours and caution, I bet we’re looking at making no better than forty; which throws an eight hour trip time right out the window.  We’re talking two days, minimum.  Even without the need to find more gas.  Plus who knows what kind of detouring we might have to do to route ourselves around trouble along the way.”
    Jessica sighed.  “So you don’t think we should go?”
    “Oh hell no.” he shook his head.  “I didn’t say that.  I think it’s a great idea.  I’ll follow you anywhere.  You know that.  I’m just helping you figure out what we’re going to have to do to make the trip.”
    She smiled, relieved at his response.  “I wasn’t sure if it was a good move or not.”
    “Yes you were.”
    “Okay, maybe I was leaning toward doing it.” she admitted.  “But we’re in this together.”
    “Yup.  You call the shots, and I do my best to make them.” he laughed.
    “Austin!”
    “Okay, maybe I need to heal a little more.” he grinned again.  “But you’re in charge.  A Florida winter will be easier without power than a Georgia one, so if we can make it down there, then let’s do it.  The sooner the better.”
    “I want to take a day or two to shore up our supply situation, as best we can.” Jessica said, gesturing broadly in the direction of downstairs.  “Gas and gas cans, obviously, but some more clothing, some more water jugs if we can find them, more food, things like that.”
    “You thinking about maybe hitting up a store?”
    Jessica shook her head quickly.  “No . . . I don’t think we need to take that kind of risk.”
    Austin frowned slightly.  “We might find something off the beaten path.”
    “If we do, and it looks okay, then maybe.” Jessica allowed.  “But honestly, what’re the odds of finding a store anywhere away from a town?  And if we do, one that someone else with a pulse hasn’t already stripped bare?”
    “We are out in the middle of the sticks you know.” he pointed out.  “It’s not like we’ve had a lot of problems avoiding people.”  Jessica had shied away from contact every time though.  She still wasn’t quite ready to trust people.
    Maybe not ever, but definitely not yet.
    “I remember what Vanessa said as well as you.” she said instead.  “And I remember those broadcasts coming out of South Dakota.  I don’t think the country’s been depopulated; people, survivors, are running around doing things.  A remote store with useful stuff still on the shelves would be fortune well past the point of suspicious if you ask me.  I’m not counting on something like that, and I don’t want to spend time driving around looking for it either.”
    “So more houses and gas