Aurora Sky: Blackout (Completed)

Chapter 8

Isaac Gray jogged lightly up the wooden steps using his flashlight to guide his way to the door. When he was inside, he dropped off his gear and cat carrier on the living room couch and let his cat run free. His friends, family, and their pets, filtered in one by one into the safety of the house, most with bags in hand, some empty handed. He ushered them to their new rooms upstairs and in the basement to help settle them in, but offered his room to the Wesley family: Jonah, Susan, and their children Marie and Alexis. They thanked him repeatedly for this kind gesture as they climbed their way up the stairs to their new room.

The rest of his friends and family however were in a debate over which rooms they would take to sleep in, though all of them were perfectly comfortable sleeping on the floor if need be. It made him feel great to be around those who were willing to give up their comforts to help others, it reminded him of why he associated with them in the first place. In the end they went with what they thought was most fair compromise. Everyone would rotate between sleeping in the rooms, couches, and floors until further notice.

It was during the middle of the debate when Larry came into the house carrying an armful of rifles. He dropped them off on the couch alongside Isaac's gear and headed back out for another, asking for help along the way. The majority of the party dropped what they were doing and went to help move the food, firearms, ammunition, knives, and the assorted melee weapons into the house while the others situated themselves and their animals. As they moved, Isaac suggested taking the arsenal of assorted weapons into the garage for safe keeping, Larry accepted it without refusal.

On their last trip moving supplies, Isaac noticed in the smallest glint of light coming from the SUV's interior that the drivers side window had a dried stain of black blood streaking from top to bottom.

"What happened here?" He asked his father.

Larry took his cane and twisted the head to reveal the black stained blade within. "One got too close when we were stuck behind your sister. Didn't want to shoot it and draw more to me. So I put this through his eye." When he spoke, he did so nonchalantly as if ice were in his veins.

"Nice." said Sean Graham coolly.

They were walking back inside when Isaac noticed a small circle of light flashing around on the ground to the side of the garage. He strolled over casually and found Paul standing by the cables to the solar panels, working busily into the night.

"Need any help?" asked Isaac.

"Sure. Can you hold this flashlight for me? Yep, that's good right there," he said as he fiddled the cables and the junction box full components. Paul for years worked as an electricians apprentice and knew his way around setting up solar panels. He noticed a few cables had detached themselves from the great storm and lay scattered on the ground next to a pile of broke panel fragments. He picked them up and plugged them back into the converter box to the main connection to the house and toyed around with a few other things that he thought needed to be done. "I hope this works... I'm assuming the inverter is in the basement, right? Let me go check it out and see if I can get this thing working again." He took the flashlight back from Isaac and went inside to finish the job he had started.

When he stepped back inside, his sister Jess caught him in the hallway and asked where the animals should sleep. Adding her pets, their cousins, and his, they had eight animals now roaming around.

"Let them stay in the house for now. Maybe we can set them up in the barn or something in the morning. We'll figure it out later."

"Thank you so much. Speaking of the barn, can I ask you for a favor?" She looked rather timid when she spoke, and obviously still a little shaken from the events not even an hour ago.