Dark Sky

11 - AM

Chapter Eleven

36 hours after the bombs

Joe had slept like a baby.

Considering what had happened he was surprised he had slept at all.

Last night had almost been like nothing had happened and he had forgotten for a moment how grave things were.

They had power and hot water for a while, but the generator had fallen silent a few hours ago and the farmhouse had plunged back into darkness. It was at that point he and Leila had settled on a couple of sofas in the living room and drifted to sleep.

They had clean clothes, the ones Leila had found. Joes were a little baggy and had obviously belonged to someone a couple of sizes bigger than him. Leila's on the other hand had been a tiny bit on the tight side, but Joe thought they showed her curves off very nicely. He didn't tell her that of course but he had thought it more than once.

After their showers they had sat and talked. They had even boiled a kettle and had two cups of extremely hot coffee. The farmhouse was well stocked but both knew that these things were not going to last forever. Soon a cup of coffee would be something they could only dream about.

Joe had listened as Leila told him about her life before the bombs. Her job, her failed relationship and how staying in the area had probably meant she would never see her family again. At one point Joe thought she was going to cry, but he had then told her about himself distracting her from her own worries.

He had even told her about his wife and the divorce she wanted. Something he didn't normally like talking about. Now with the world changed, his problems and his cheating wife seemed less important.

She was probably dead now anyway and so she wouldn't be an issue to him anymore. It was cold but Joe had suddenly realised he felt nothing at the thought. He didn't wish her dead, but he wasn't haunted by the reality either.

The generator had given out sometime around one in the morning, but they weren't sure exactly as they hadn't a working clock. Grabbing some blankets they had found laying around they each chose a sofa and settled down for the night. It had got quite cold considering the time of year and Joe knew that was only going to get worse in the coming weeks. Before they left the farmhouse they would need to prepare for an early winter.

Now Joe lay awake after a good five or so hours sleep. He lay in the dim room staring at the ceiling all cracked and warped from the explosions, listening to the silence. Other than the sound of Leila breathing everything was dead quiet. It was quite strange. Total silence was something he had not heard all that often and it was unnerving. There was no early morning bird chatter and no distant road noise. Before it was constant no matter what time of day it was.

He tilted his head an gazed over towards Leila who lay facing the rear of the sofa, breathing in that deep rhythmic sleep kind of way. He wished they both could remain in that sleep state forever. That state where you are peaceful and blissfully unaware of the mayhem around you. She looked like she hadn't got a care in the world laying there before him.

Joes mind wandered to the radio he had promised to fix for her. It was quite high on Leila's to do list and Joe didn't want to let her down. It may not pick up a signal, but if he could get it working it could also provide some answers.

He threw the blanket off of him and sat up on the sofa. There was a chill in the air and Joe rubbed his shoulders as if trying to warm up. He rose and headed straight towards the tv in the corner. It was a long shot but it could have the component he needed to fix the radio.

He probably should have tried to power it up on the generator when it had been running, but chances were the generator would not have been powerful enough to run all the lights, the boiler and a TV anyway. He picked the set up and ripped the power cord from the wall and disappeared into the kitchen to see what could be used on the radio.