Blackout • NH

Chapter 43

Jodie's POV

I made it back to the treehouse safely and locked the door shut. I ran across the bridge and climbed into the larger house and went inside to find Anne in the kitchen eating apple pie filling out of a can.

"Where were you Jodie? You're missing out on dinner." She said.

"I was out looking for you! It was getting dark and I just wanted to make sure you got back safe. You scared me." I say, catching my breath.

"I'm sorry I scared you Jodie. I was out but I decided to climb some trees around the small house to kill time." She said, innocently.

"As long as you're okay." I say, breathing heavily.

"Anne, we need to stay put in this treehouse for a while." I say.

"Why?"

"When I was out looking for you. I overheard two male voices talking about a mile away. I climbed a tree to see who these men were and it turns out it was the men I told you about. The guy who tried to kidnap me and the other guy who turned on me." I say.

"Oh shit. What were they doing out here!" She jumps up in fear.

"Apparently just hunting for boar. We need to be more careful and keep the lighting to a minimum during the night."

"We should secure this place up." Anne suggested.

"We should. Let's secure the entrance to the small house."

Me and Anne make out way to the small house and shut the wooden blinds. We move the heavy couch over the door so nobody can get in. We then make out way back to the big house and close the blinds. And push a heavy bookshelf in front of the door, sealing ourselves in.

"That should do it." I say.

"What if we run out of food?" Anne asked worriedly.

"When the time comes, we will decide what to do. But for now we need to stay hidden."

Anne nods her head in agreement and heads to one of the pod bedrooms for the night. I make my way to the observation deck where we left the door to the balcony unlocked.

I make my way outside and look out towards the fire tower and put my bag down on a chair. I still see smoke, so that means someone is still there.

I pull out my binoculars and get a good look at it. I jump when I see something moving. I pull my binoculars from my eyes and put them back, adjusting the quality of the lenses.

I see a light shining from the top of it. I stand up and lean forward to get a better look when I someone standing on the balcony of the tower. I can't tell any features of this person but they have something shiny in their hands.

Suddenly, I got an idea. A stupid idea but my curiosity was getting to me. I dug into my bag and pulled out the half geode heart. I held it up to the moonlight and slightly moved it, making it flash in the moonlight towards the person on the tower. I continued to look through the lenses of the binoculars.

They must have saw it because the figure jumped back and fell. But quickly recovered and got back up. Suddenly, I see a light flashing back at me. They saw me.

I continued to shine the geode into the light at the stranger and they did the same back. It gave me an oddly comforting feeling. Almost as if everything will be okay. Like all of my worries were lifted from my shoulders.

Me and the stranger did this for about 2 more hours until I decided to get some sleep for the night.

Niall's POV

I was on the balcony still going through my thoughts. How will I get this group to safety?

So many thoughts. I began to get a headache.

I continued to move the geode around in the light and looked out to the distance. Wait.

The light in the trees are gone. I see nothing now. It's pitch black out in the distance. I look through my binoculars to see I could see the treehouse but it was too dark to make any marks on where it's at.

Suddenly something flashed in my eyes, scaring me and causing me to lose my balance and land flat on my ass. The group must have heard when I heard Harry speak up.

"Niall, are you alright out there?" He shouts.

"Yeah, just lost my balance on the railing and fell!"

"Haha what a dumbass." Louis said while laughing.

I ignored his remark and looked back through the binoculars to the direction of the light I saw just a second ago. When all of a sudden I see it flash again. I got up and quickly moved the geode around in the light, flashing it back.

The stranger returned the form of communication by flashing it back at me. I smiled feeling at ease with this strange form of communication.

I felt as if good things were to come. The light from this stranger putting me at my calmest. I haven't felt this calm in a while. I really enjoyed the feeling.

I continued to communicate with the stranger for a few more hours until I no longer saw the light shine back. I felt a bit disappointed but I brushed it off and went back into the tower house for the night.

Jodie on my mind, praying that she's alive out there. Praying that our baby is okay. Praying that she's still thinking about me. Praying that she still loves me just as much as I still love her.

I lay down in my little chair and rest my head against the wall. Silently crying, not wanting to wake the others.

I miss her so much.

My crying got harder and I began to breather heavily, still keeping quiet and wiping the tears from my face. I am still holding the geode in my hand, not letting it go.

"Please be out there Jodie. Please be okay. I love you." I whisper. I look at the geode one last time before closing my eyes and crying myself to sleep. Hoping that tomorrow will be better.