Blackout • NH

Chapter 20

Niall sits next to me on the cabin patio that overlooks a mountainous view. He is roasting a large marshmallow on a stick. He looks to me with a big smile on his face. He looks so happy, like this shitty world we live in doesn't matter. He leans over to kiss me and goes back to attend his marshmallow only to watch it fall off of the stick and into the fire.

"Aww, Jodie why did you distract me?" He said, upset that his marshmallow fell off.

"You only distracted yourself." I laugh. He grabs another marshmallow and puts it on his stick. This time I lean over and pull his face to mine, kissing him. Tasting chocolate on his lips. Suddenly, Louis speaks up.

"Haha Liam you owe me a bottle of liquor." He points to Liam

"God dammit, Niall." He shouts.

"What did I do?" He asks genuinely confused.

"I lost a bet to Louis. He bet that you two would get together within 2 weeks of being here and I bet you two would get together 4 weeks after being here." He explained.

"Hold up, you two bet on how long it would take for us to get together?" I question.

"Yes, and now I owe Louis a bottle of liquor." He frowns. We both laugh awkwardly.

I look back at Niall to see him blushing a bit. We haven't really talked about being together, we just kiss and hug a lot. We never put a label upon us.

We were suddenly interrupted by Ellen coming out with a radio.

"Guys I found a working radio! There are still survivors out there giving us details about the blackout!" She says full of hope.

"Turn it up, let's listen." Aiden says.

I lean into Niall's shoulder to get comfy and everyone gathers closer to the radio to get a better listen.

"We have reached day 72 of the blackout. We are sad to say that we lost our co-host to the glaze last night. May he rest in peace. In other news, local stations from London, England and Tokyo, Japan have contacted us with little power we have from backup generators and they have informed us that they have experienced a blackout 2 weeks ago. This seems to be a world wide event occurring. Things will get rough and you need to keep your eyes and ears available at all times. More people are are turning to glazers and others are turning on their groups. Thank you and have a good afternoon. Be safe out there."

Nobody says anything. We just stare at each other in awe for at least ten minutes. Until Marion speaks up.

"This is no longer a national issue." She said with worry written all over her face.

We all sit in silence taking in the news when suddenly we hear gunfire coming from the bridge.

Aiden, Niall, Louis and Liam grab their guns and climb the stairs to the cabin overlook to see what the issue was. Marion rushes Ellen inside and harry and I follow.

I hear Marion's walkie talkie go off.

"Marion, grab the emergency bags, we have got to flee the cabin!" Aiden says from his end.

"Jodie, Harry and Ellen, grab all of your equipment from upstairs!" Marion shouts.

We all climb the stairs as fast as we can, Harry goes into his room and grabs his stuff along with Liam and Louis' stuff. Marion and Ellen grab the stuff from their room and I rush to my shared room with Niall and began grabbing his stuff along with mine.

"Hurry up guys! Get to the trail fast!" Aiden yells from the back entrance of the cabin.

I rush down the stairs and Niall runs up and grabs his stuff and grabs my hand and pulls me out the door ahead of the others as they began putting in their backpacks.

"Niall what's going on?" I ask out of breath.

"Aiden spotted a group trying to flee from the glazers. There's a whole heard. It looked like a busy day at an amusement park!" He said, breathing hard.

"Come on, Aiden has something for us to flee!" Niall says quickly and drags me down the path at a fast pace, the others following quickly behind. We run down the path and get to a steep rocky edge in the forest.

There's a ladder hidden among the brush. Aiden helps Niall clear the brush and we begin climbing down one by one. When we get to the bottom we continue down a narrow path along a cliff edge overlooking the mountainous valley.

We come upon what looks like an old horse riding stable. Horses still in there.

"Alright there's 8 of us but I only have 5 horses. Marion and I will share. Ellen and Liam will share, the rest of you get your own." Aiden says as he's opening the main gates.

We run into the barn and began opening each stall and putting the tack and our gear on the horses.

"You never told us you had horses." Ellen said shocked.

"What do you think we've been doing on days we weren't hunting?" Louis says and laughs.

I grab a dark brown Arabian horse with the golden colored hair on its nose and around the hooves. Niall, Liam and Louis grab the three black and white Appaloosas and Aiden grabs a large, dark grey welsh pony.

We all get on the horses and take off down the rocky mountain road.

We ride for about ten minutes until we come across a river.

"It's shallow here so we can cross. The glaze doesn't do water so well." Aiden explained.

We crossed the river, one by one with Aiden taking the lead. When we get to the bank on the other side he began to speak. We all get off our horses and walk them up the river, following it.

"So, where was it you were heading again?" He asks me.

"We were heading to the Appalachians. We were told there was a bunker there."

"You've survived long enough without that bunker havent you?" Aiden laughed.

"I guess so."

"You know, in this world you'll have to keep moving. You can never stay in just one spot. The only safe places now are on a boat or an uninhabited island. Are you sure you want to just live the rest of your life in a bunker where you live by rules and can only kill the glazers when told?"

"What do you mean?" Liam speaks up.

"I mean, me and this group were planning on migrating to the Caribbean. Stealing a boat and finding an island. I have a book with all uninhabited islands in the world listed. We found one in the middle of the Atlantic closer to South America. Ironically enough it's called Uninhabited." Aiden laughs.

"You guys have helped us a lot. You are like family to us. We would be more than happy to have y'all become apart of the group."

I don't know what to say. Elliot mentioned there was a bunker but now that I know the truth about Elliot, I'm not sure if I should trust his input.

"Aiden give us a minute to talk it out?" I say.

"Go ahead."

"Niall, Liam, Ellen. Should we join them?" I ask.

"Weren't we supposed to go to the safe haven bunker?" Ellen asked.

"I don't believe there's a bunker. I no longer trust Elliot."

"What?" Liam and Niall say at the same time.

Oh fuck. I never told them.