Lightning flashed overhead. The low rumblings of thunder off in the distance, gave their warnings of what was to come.  Jim, and his fellow REGENEX crew, Veronica, Lydia, and Connor all quickened their pace.  They dared not run for fear of expending too much energy. 

"That group of trees on the hill over there look like our best bet!" Shouted Connor

The group made their way, very quickly, to a large swath of very thick trunked trees.  The wind began to pick up as they dropped their backpacks and began quickly rummaging through them.  They'd set up their camp a few times now, but never with an impending storm zeroing in on them.

"Toss me the stakes!" Lydia demanded, survival on her mind.

The group started building their shelter, it didn't take very long, but now they were racing against time.  This storm could open up at any minute.  Lightning flashed again, and the canopy above them was lighted for one brief moment, casting eerie shadows on the ground.  The wind had picked up even more, making it more difficult to strap their makeshift tent together.

"Veronica! Help me tie these down!" Jim shouted, anxiously.

The tent was beginning to come together.  The raindrops started to fall little by little.  Veronica had to wipe her eyes clear from the droplets.

"We've almost got this thing! Veronica shouted, trying to beat the wind at a decibel game.

Both women got on one side of the tent, and threw a couple of ropes over top.  Jim and Connor grabbed the ropes and secured them to the stakes that Lydia had placed.  With that, They all ran inside.  The rain had now picked up considerably, but the storm was just warming up.  The entrance to the tent was flapping violently in the wind.  Jim managed to wrangle it under control and pulled its zipper shut.  

The sound of the storm outside was greatly lessened.  The tent was another invention of the man they called, Simon.  It was Simon who had decided to stay behind with his shelter the REGENEX.  While the rest of the crew were still very much invested in their continuing mission, it was a time like this where some small part of their brain wished they had stayed.

The REGENEX had everything you could ever possibly want, or need, to survive.  For Jim however, it was more of a place to waste away the rest of their lives, while there could be other survivors of the nuclear fallout that happened over two hundred years ago.  He realized of course, that original survivors would most likely be long gone.  He also knew that if there was someone out there, it would be the multi-generational offspring of those survivors.  If these people did exist, who might they be?  What would their culture be like in comparison to the one that he and his crew had known?  Did they even speak Jim and the crew's native tongue English.?  It was questions like these that drove his desire to continue looking for others.

"I know it's been a while, but were storms always this violent?" Connor asked, while holding Lydia close to him.

The storm outside was reaching its peak.  The tent was holding up perfectly, built out of some type of special material none of them had heard of.  The tent exterior was designed in such a way that when wind came into contact with it, it would be diverted.  This design would incur far less wear and tear.  The tent was also fitted with an incredibly strong, polymer plastic, set of windows that did two things.  They allowed for ventilation with a thousand tiny laser cut holes.  They also had an internal blind that would make the interior of the tent invisible from the outside, while providing perfect vision from the interior to the world outside.  

From one of the backpacks, four inflatable chairs were produced.  They were blown up and placed on the fours corners of the tent, all facing toward the center.

"Who's got the battery pack? Veronica asked, reaching for her dead flashlight.

Lydia pulled it out of her bag, and passed it to Veronica.

"With all of the sun the past few days, it should have a full charge." Lydia assured.

"How are we doing on our jerky supply?" Jim asked, his stomach growling

Connor pulled a pouch from his bag.

"Not bad, but we only have a couple of days left at our current ration rate." Connor informed.

Connor pulled a piece of jerky out for everyone.  Everyone began chewing on their piece.  The storm outside continued to rage.  The occasional flash of lightning outside lit up the windows periodically.  The rain outside could be heard pelting the tent.  The exterior was made to be hydrophobic.  This made the dismantling and stowing much quicker and easier.

Jim pulled a compact LED lantern from his bag and secured it to a strap dangling from the center of the roof.  The tent lit up, and the exhausted faces of everyone were now visible.  Old trails of sweat saturating them.

"This storm is probably going to be an all-nighter. We should probably disrobe and use the buddy system to take turns standing in the rain.  Nature's makeshift shower." Jim suggested.

It had been since before they left that any of them had showered properly.  This was the first rain they had seen on the journey, and none of them were about to pass up the opportunity.  In a situation like this, modesty didn't really exist.  They all removed their suits using the device Simon had given them prior to their departure.  Connor and Lydia then removed their undergarments and, holding them, stepped out into the storm just outside the door.

"We're going to freeze to death from bathing without some heat." Veronica stated, pulling another object out of her own bag.

Veronica detached her flashlight from the charger, and plugged the device in.  A warmth began to emanate from the center of this round object.  This was also hung from a loose strap on the ceiling.

Connor and Lydia both came back inside, completely soaked, but clean.  Jim and Veronica averted their eyes long enough to strip from their clothes and do the same thing.  

They stepped outside, sealing the door behind them.  Surprisingly, it wasn't very cold out with the rain coming down.  For that, they were thankful.  Jim couldn't help but watch as Veronica opened her arms wide, closed her eyes, and stuck her tongue out to catch rain.  She was an exceptional beauty in his eyes, and knew she was his forever.  Witnessing her enjoyment from this, made him smile.  He scrubbed himself down with his shirt, and started wringing out the excess water.  Veronica gave him a quick kiss on the way back in.  Connor and Lydia were already reaping the benefits of the heating device.  Everyone had a change of dry clothes and dressed up again.

"So, where are we in relation to the shelter?" asked Connor, chewing on some berries that Veronica had found along the way.  "And thank you, Veronica.  These berries are delicious."

"We all have to survive out here somehow." Veronica said, acknowledging Connor.

"It's not easy to tell, but we've been heading consistently east thus far.  We've been averaging a pace of between three and five miles per hour, and we have been gone now for... let's see... tomorrow morning makes four days... we stop and rest for approximately 8 hours a day... we're about two hundred and fifty, miles away, give or take."  Jim announced, calculating the math in his head.

Connor looked at him, impressed.

"We've already travelled that far?" Lydia asked, perplexed at the thought.

"The numbers don't lie." Jim responded, casually.

The storm started to show signs of letting up. The worst was over, but the rain continued to come down steadily.  The wind had certainly died down substantially.  An owl could be heard hooting in the distance.  For them, it was great to know that wildlife had somehow managed to survive.  Nature always finds a way, they supposed.

Each of them were exhausted from that day's hike.  They all knew they had to get up as early as possible to continue their trek.  They had decided at the beginning of their journey to follow the brook downstream.  They knew that if any civilizations existed, they would be built along a supply of fresh water.  They unfolded their inflatable chairs into makeshift air mattresses.  They weren't the most comfortable surfaces to sleep on, but it was a far better option than the ground.  Lydia pushed her mattress against Connor's and Jim pushed his up against Veronica's.  They pulled a thermal blanket out of the backpacks and draped it over themselves.  Feeling that sudden warmth from both the blankets and their respective partners, it didn't take very long to fall asleep.