Blackout Experiment 1.0

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Alpine, California, December 1

Twenty days.

Twenty whole days they'd been without power.

Everyone in town either used the generators they had or went out and bought them .

For eight days they worked. For eight days Kaden at least had refrigerated food.

He'd finally thought to charge his phone on the second night of generated power. He'd tried to text his relatives in other states. Problem with his server. Tried calling. Phone lines weren't working. Tried using his apps. No wifi.

The cable wasn't working. Something was wrong with the gas stations.

They were stranded. They had no actual knowledge of what was going on around them.

Then on the eighth night, with about a week of life expectancy for his generator, it went dead.

No, it didn't run out.

It just went dead.

But his house wasn't the only one.

For the second time since the power outage, Kaden ran out side to see his neighbors house's go dark. Heard the surprised cries of people showering or eating or playing board games, suddenly get shrouded in darkness.

Now he went to Tony's. The only thing he could think to do in such a desperate time.

Tony was already in his front yard.

"This is killing me. I don't understand whats even going on."

"Trust me, I'm dying too." Tony kicked a nearby stone.

Over the past weeks, the whole town had gathered at the school.

They'd discussed what the problem could possibly be, solutions, and what to do in the mean time.

"It can't be a problem here," One of the local electricians argued,"we haven't done any power line work in a month. Its in Sierra, now its here. It has to be something bigger."

"None of our supply trucks are coming in. Threes no way to replenish any of our food." The old woman who ran the grocery store looked like she might cry.

"We can't continue teaching students without power." The principal looked at his shoes. The tall man hated feeling so useless. "But we offer the school to those who need or want shelter."

The pleads and advice went on.

The community board was the one hearing everyone out.

They asked the community to vote on what to do.

They chose nothing.

So they sat. And they waited.

"I just wish we could do something." Tony's voice was distant in Kaden's head, as he remembered words long forgotten.

Then his head snapped forward and he looked around.

"Do you hear that?"

It grew louder. It was an alarm.

It seemed to be coming from the school.

And the grocery store.

And the car speakers.

Suddenly Tony's mother came running out of the house calling for her son.

"The television. Look!" And she ran back through her door.

The boys looked at each other, shrugged and went inside.

But stopped.

Tony's front door opened into a hallway, that opened into a living room. The flat screen television was in full view the second you walked in.

And what Kaden saw gave him hope.

It was on.

They raced to the couch, pushing and shoving each other in their battle to sit.

The screen was red. White words flashed acrossed it then made way for new ones.

Attention:please get all citizens indoors or in the presence of a television.

They held their breath. I'm pretty sure every person in the world sitting there, in the dark, staring at a television, held their breath.

A small man suddenly appeared on the screen.

"Hello, I am Dr. Mark Witt with the US government. As some of you may be aware, the majority of the United States, along with many other parts of the world, are completely without electricity. Not only this, but we have also disabled the cable, internet, gas lines, and phone lines. We allowed generators for a short amount of time, but that wasn't in the spirit of our experiment. The details of this experiment are not to be given out to the public. However, we are prepared to bargain. We promise to restore power, internet and cable to all effected areas if they agree to give us the following teens and young adults." Dr. Witt smiled a sarcastic smile. "No one will be harmed. We simply have a few more experiments that need to be conducted."

They started off with the states. They named cities. And counties. Sixty names a state. Everything was alphabetical.

Then they got to California.