DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Marvel Comics Group and are used without permission. No profit is being made.
NOTES: This story was written for anniesj's Day After Tomorrow crossover fic challenge.
ARCHIVING: If anyone wants it, go ahead; I do request to be notified (infinitepryde@lycos.com).

"So much for global warming, huh?" The redheaded kid - Kitty couldn't remember his name - turned away from the miraculously-intact window to flash her a worn but hopeful smile. Kitty took a deep breath and promised herself she'd punch the next person who tried that particular line in the face. And tried to remember if she'd ever been that young.

Then she remembered the kid was a year older than she was, and she wanted to hit something even more.

"Come on. Let's get moving." She congratulated herself on keeping a tone that was merely flat, not actually serrated and dripping acidic venom. "It's still a long way to Pennsylvania, and there's not going to be anybody picking up hitch-hikers."

The dishwater blonde girl glanced up in dismay. "But we've got walls here! And there's plenty of furniture for firewood - why not take a couple of days off and get some rest, get our strength back..."

It might've been tempting, if not for the whining note in the girl's voice. Kitty tried desperately to remember her name. Christina? No, that was the one who'd gone to look for the little kid they'd heard crying. They'd lost her when the building fell in on her. Jessica? No, that was the plump one who'd somehow stayed cheerful right up till the morning when she just didn't wake up.

Manhattan to Scranton was maybe a hundred and twenty miles. A couple of hours by car - but even if the roads hadn't been covered in snow, they'd still have been packed solid with vehicles. Stalled. Out of gas. Accidents. Kitty'd stopped looking in the windows of the cars they passed a long time back. Too many people had just never gotten out.

The Roman army had managed ten miles a day. At that pace, it'd take just under two weeks to get where they were going. Kitty had no idea how far they'd managed to get ... but it'd been a week now since they'd struggled free of Manhattan, and they still hadn't reached the Delaware Water Gap. Somehow, she suspected that getting through that was going to be a nightmare all of its own. No telling what the river looked like now...

Her mind was wandering. Kitty pulled it back with a note to give herself a stern talking-to later. "We're not taking that much of a break. If you give in at all, it gets that much harder to get started again. We've seen too many people who figured they could just wait a little while. All of them were frozen."

"It's not like we've got anyplace else to be going," the girl sulked. "I mean, what's there in Pennsylvania? Coal fires? Why not just stay here?"

Kitty took another deep breath and reminded herself: no punching. She glanced around at the others, taking a quick survey of their expressions. The redhead was on her side - well, the redhead was on her breasts' side. Blondie had two or three half-resentful supporters. The others were visibly undecided; Kitty'd led them out of Manhattan, kept this many of them alive. They'd started with twenty-some, come out with twelve... but every time they found a house near the road and still un-ransacked reminded them forcibly that fifty percent was a damn good average right now.

So she told them again.

"Pennsylvania's got power. Most New York-area power generation was fueled by natural gas. Even if the plants were still running, they wouldn't have any fuel. There were reports the Niagara Falls hydroelectric plant was wrecked, too.

"But Pennsylvania's got wind farms, and there's still plenty of wind out there. The closest ones are near Scranton and Hazelton. If we can get to either of those, help keep it running - we'll have electricity. Power. Heat. We'll be able to rig greenhouses, grow food, even if the weather doesn't let up. We'll be able to make it through the winter. Think about that one - this is June. Imagine what December is going to be like. You think burning furniture is going to cut it then?"

The shudder ran through the group the same way it had the first time she brought up the prospect. Like they'd all forgotten. Kitty forced her jaw to un-clench; they wanted to believe this was as bad as it was going to get. They wanted to hold on to the hope they had.

But her hope was bigger than theirs, and she wasn't about to let it go.

"So if you want to be around to see next summer," Kitty concluded. "you better start getting ready to go. The faster we can get out there, the better shot we've got."

And then one of them finally brought up the point Kitty'd been praying they'd keep not thinking of. He was hanging on the dishwater blonde, arm around her in a possessive way that said it was a lot more than sharing warmth. Michael, that was his name. She was fairly sure he'd found a gun somewhere; she wasn't so sure about ammo. "What if there are already people there? They're not gonna wanna share, right? So -"

"So," Kitty interrupted sharply, "we trade. I'm a techie. I can help keep their gear in shape. Jessica's books - you think we've been dragging those around as a memorial? Nope. Information on local plants, what's safe to eat and what's not - and what grows in colder climates. We've been through a couple of fights already; we can help hold off real bandits. We can pull our own weight, and we can help them out. We'll work out a deal."

Michael's eyes half-lidded. "Or we can kick 'em out."

Kitty let her voice chill almost to the air temperature. "If you two want to stay here, you can." And she turned and started for the door - exerting the effort to phase herself intangible as she did.

No bullets darted through her to impact with the door. And behind her, she heard people starting to move, to pull the last layers of clothing on and gather their packs together.

Inside, something in her exulted. One step further. If they could make it, if she could keep them together - power meant everything. If they could hold on to electricity, to generation -

It took power to mine raw materials. Power to process them. Power to heat buildings. Power to move food. Power to pump water. Power to store information. Power to communicate over distances and find out if anyone else had made it. (Please, God, let someone have made it. Anyone.)

If they could hold on to power, they could establish civilization again. They could fight the ice and the storms. Conquer the weather. Live.

Kitty let herself go solid again as the others gathered around her. When even Michael had reluctantly joined the group, she wrapped her scarf around her face and pulled the door open. The wind blew snow into the room - tiny ice crystals driven more than hard enough to sting exposed skin. Not so bad as it had been. If they kept moving, and it didn't get worse, they might not lose anyone today.

"God," the blonde muttered as they started out. "So much for global warming."

In the split-second before Kitty's fist hit the other girl's face, Kitty thought about the possibility that the blonde's boyfriend had a firearm, and decided she really didn't care.