In Dark Times: Book 2 Dark Trilogy

Chapter 2 Having Fun In Dark Times

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Chapter 2. Having Fun In Dark Times

We walked the grounds of the shelter. At the river, I took my shoes off and waded knee deep in the cool water. I could hear the water falling on the giant water wheel straight out of the 1800's. The constant turning of the wheel allowed us to have power. I'm not sure how it works exactly, I am just glad that it does.

"Do we know what caused the end of times?" I asked no one in particular.

Sean was the first to speak up, "Bill, the old guy over mechanical things, says that the general consensus is a really large solar flare. It was enough to give a major power surge to anything running on electricity or battery power. We know from contact with other Academy shelters, that the flare affected at least America."

"How did they make contact with other shelters? And, couldn't power have been restored to America? I mean, we have power here at the shelter."

North answered me first, "They have a HAMM radio. It doesn't work the same way as other power operated things. And, power probably could have been restored, maybe after a couple of days or even a week. But you saw how people fucking reacted! Everything running on some form of power all of a sudden stops working. Cars stopped running where they were, planes fell out of the sky as giant tubed death traps." I cringed, looking down at the river as tears pricked my eyes remembering that fateful day.

"What North is trying to say, Sang," Silas continued, "Is that the electricians who should have been working to restore power, or police who should have been restoring order, fell into the same fear trap everyone else did."

Nathan spoke up next, "So instead of anyone working toward the good of society, they were too busy thinking about themselves or their own families? I don't know if you know this yet Peanut, but my Father is a Pilot."

"Oh Nathan!" I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand, searching his face frantically with my eyes for what is best to say to him right now.

He looked down at his feet on the edge of the river, nudging the toe of his shoe into the grass edge of the river. "I hope he was on the job when the solar flare struck." He mumbled.

I looked to Kota, then Victor and finally Owen to understand what Nathan is saying right now. "Nathan's father," Owen explained, "was never father of the year. We had to make sure he was working in another city to ensure Nathan's safety. In fact, all of us have come from less than stellar households."

I looked around at each of the guys and saw the sorrow, hurt, and shadows in their eyes. We were all a bit broken. But as a group, we can be made whole again. I made a mental note to do what I can to complete each of the guys instead of being a drain on them.

"Before we have curfew, do you want to play a game with me?"

Gabriel fist pumped the air, "Fuck yeah! What game do you have in mind?"

"I use to watch kids in Elementary play a game called 'Foot Stomp'. It looked like fun, but I was never invited to play." I shrugged, if they don't want to play, it won't be the first time for me to go without.

"How do you play?" Luke beamed at me. "And those kids you went to Elementary with must have been idiots. Especially the boys! I would have invited you to play." Some of the guys agreed with grunts and "yeah's" to Luke's statement.

Victor teased Luke, punching his shoulder as he spoke. "You would have invited Sang to play a private game with you behind the dumpsters, just like all the other pretty girls." I giggled at the thought of an Elementary aged Luke asking the girls to play with him behind the stinky dumpsters. Would I have agreed to go with him? Probably. Although, the smell from the dumpsters might have tainted the appeal of being asked to play with a young Lucian.