Cut The Lights

1.1 - Power Outage

A curse slipped from eighteen-year-old Harley Warner's mouth as her hand slipped and was pinched by the engine of her car. She put her finger in her mouth and slowly eased herself down from under the car and sat up on the creeper.

"Stupid car," she cursed and hit the bumper with her fist.

Her grandfather, Herb Campbell, appeared in the driveway over her car and looked down at her, "everything alright?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied, "just pinched myself." Harley paused, and a distant hum reached her ears. "Is that the generator?"

"Yeah, power's gone out all over," he explained.

"There an accident at the power station?" Harley asked.

"Maybe," he answered, a cryptic tone to his voice, "must have been an accident in Detroit, too."

That stumped Harley. What was he trying to say, that the power was out all the way to Detroit? How could that even be possible? Weren't different cities on different power grids? How could an accident in their city spread all the way to Detroit?

"I don't understand," she said, standing up and wiping her greasy hands on her tank top and jeans.

"This is not a standard power outage. This is something very different. Something a little bit bigger than that," he said.

Harley looked at her grandfather in confusion. Before she could ask another question, the sound of a car sounded in the distance and she turned to see an old Omega pushing down the street. She recognized it in an instant as belonging to Adam Daley, who lived next door to them with his parents and younger, twin siblings.

After Harley and her grandfather moved in next to them, the Daley family had sort of taken them in as honorary family members, inviting them to every holiday dinner they had. Adam's dad was a pilot and his mother was a cop, and they were both currently away and working. Adam and his dad were building some kind of small plane and Herb had loaned them all sorts of tools and suggestions for it.

Adam pulled in next to the other car in the driveway and he started to climb out with his young siblings, Danny and Rachel, and his best friend Todd.

"Hey, Adam!" Herb called out.

He turned around. Todd nudged him and they whispered something to each other. Harley sighed but followed after her grandfather. Harley was pretty confident in herself and her appearance and was used to the looks she got from guys. Especially high school guys like Todd and Adam (mostly Todd), but Harley knew that if she wanted answers about what was going on, she was sure that this was where she should be.

"What's it like out there?" Herb asked.

"Pretty quiet," Adam said. "Nothing is moving."

"Nothing that has computers," Herb said. "Obviously, your car is old enough to still work, like Harley's."

"When I get it fixed," Harley added.

"Sometimes older is better," Todd said, sending a wink in Harley's direction.

"I've been saying that for a while," Herb agreed with a smile. "It's just good to see you made it. Even with a car that works I was worried that you might not be able to get home."

"It was a little tricky, but it wasn't that big a deal. I'm sure it'll all be fixed pretty soon," Adam said, trying to sound reassuring.

"Optimism is a fine quality," Herb said.

"We spoke to a guy who said it was the same in Milton," Todd said.

"This is not a standard power outage. This is something very different. Something a little bit bigger than that," Herb said. He turned to Adam's brother and sister. "I have a generator, so there's electricity at my house. If you two are interested, you can go over to watch a DVD and have a cold drink."