Blackout • NH

Chapter 44

Jodie's POV

I woke up the next day feeling more motivated than ever. Anne and I hung out in the tree house all day and kept watch for any survivors or glazers.

It's unusually dark and windy today. Strange.

I wonder what the group is doing right now. If they're okay or if they made it to Uninhabited.

I'm about 2 months pregnant. I have a small bump. It's a bit bigger than usual. I look about 4 months pregnant. Maybe the baby is going to be one of those giant babies you'd read about in those world record magazines.

Oh fuck, I hope not. Every one of those women had health issues and complications delivering. I hope I have an easy delivery.

All women are different. Some gain lots of weight and get big. Others don't even look pregnant.

All that matters is that I can still climb trees. I just need to start taking it easy.

I put my hand on my belly and began to rub it. Feeling the small bump. I still can't believe I'm even pregnant. If only Niall was here to feel it and experience this with me.

I get sad and start to tear up.

"What's the matter?" Anne asked. She must have popped into the room without me knowing.

"Just thinking. About this baby, about Niall, about my group. Do you think I should have stayed?"

"To be honest, I understand what you did and why you did it. But you should have stayed. I'm glad I met you through your choices but you would have had so much support and that's what keeps you going. Especially in tough times like this." She said.

"Yeah. I guess so." I replied.

I sit there for a few minutes in silence. Just thinking.

"Hey Anne. Last night while you were asleep I saw something."

"What do you mean by something?" She asked, hesitant.

"I saw smoke coming from the fire tower. And don't kill me but I saw someone on the tower holding a reflecting device. I shined this geode in the moonlight to them." I say, pulling out the geode.

"They must have seen it because we communicated back and forth for a while by this." I say, looking at the geode.

"What!" Anne jumped.

"The weird thing is that I didn't feel scared doing it. I felt calm. The person on the other end gives me a good presence."

"Oh my gosh! We have to find them." She shouts.

"Woah hold on Anne. We don't even know if this person is alone or not. They could be in a group. And you know a group means more competition for survival." I say.

"That's true." She pauses.

"We should build another rain catcher. We haven't got anything lately but the clouds are building off the shore and we may get a storm today." She said.

"Yeah, it looks like a bad storm." I say. Looking out the window.

"Wait!" I look back out the window with my binoculars and look towards the ocean.

There are white caps on the waves which means it's high tide and the water has risen and went over the sand dunes that protect the beaches. There is also a wall of dark pitch black clouds that go for miles and miles down both sides of the coast. Thunder and lighting being shown off in the distance.

The wind making the trees near the shore bend nearly in half. Oh no.

"Anne. Start blocking the windows with whatever we have!" I shout.

"What's wrong!" Looks at me worriedly.

"That's a hurricane! It looks to be a category four or five! Similar to hurricane Katrina or Hazel." I say. Remembering that I read about those two storms. Many lost lives and went missing.

"Holy shit." She gasped.

"Will this treehouse hold up?" She looked at me worriedly.

"I hope so. If this thing has a metal bridge then I'm sure whoever built it added metal and hardcore hurricane supports in this bad boy." I say.

We begin rushing, finding everything we can. Bookshelves, tables, chairs, anything to block the window.

Once we get everything blocked I open the last free door and go outside. I want to warn the person from the fire tower of the danger.

I grab a flashlight from my bag and the geode and run outside onto the balcony.

I shine the flashlight onto the geode and wave it back and forth. Hoping to grab the attention of the mysterious person in the fire tower.

I do this for about 10 minutes but I don't get any response. It's still too light out for the geode to reflect but dark enough to shine if I had a stronger light.

"Anne!" I shout.

"Yes!"

"Do you have a flashlight or anything?" I say.

"Hold on!" She runs back into the treehouse. I begin to hold onto the railing, the wind picking up even more.

She comes back a few seconds later with a giant flashlight. One you would use in the military.

"Where did you get this!"

"I stole it!" She replied.

I shake my head and have her turn on the light and shine it onto the geode. Moving it around to catch the attention of the other survivor.

I pull the binoculars hanging around my neck up to my eyes to see better. The light is strong enough to shine onto the house on the tower. I move the geode light straight into the window.

After about 5 minutes I finally get a response back. I see more than one person on the tower. It's a group.

"Anne, I see a group! There's a few survivors!" I shout. Shocked.

I can't be concerned now, I need to get to safety. I shine the geode a few more times and then they shine it back. They begin to run inside the tower. I can see them scrambling around in the house on it.

They must see the storm behind me then. I hope they'll take for cover soon.

The wind gets so strong that I'm knocked to my knees. I get up and grab Anne and we head inside. Blocking the last door and going towards the corner of the room, away from the blocked windows. Hoping that not only me and her stay safe, but the mysterious group on the tower stay safe as well.