Aurora Sky: Blackout (Completed)

Chapter 14

Three days passed, and the wall was up and fully operational. Sturdy enforced ten and eight feet high walls surrounded the little over five acre property in a perfectly symmetrical square. Where the driveway wasn't covered by the square, walls lined its sides all the way to the street. Two iron bolted gates sealed the entrance to the street and the edge of the square where it met the driveway. From an aerial view, it looked like a hollowed out building with a smoke stack.

To their surprise, they had collected enough supplies to also build three guard towers; one had been completed on the north wall inside right next to the inner iron bolted gate, and two they were planning to build on the southeast and southwest corners. If they could find the supplies, they would build two more towers on the northeast and northwest corners as well. On the third day, Isaac expressed how it felt like living in a fortress to him, and after that Paul jokingly nicknamed it as "the Gray Fort" after Isaac's last name which caught on with the others.

The days gone by were surprisingly quiet. Everyday, Isaac led a team to scout the woods behind the house near a two mile radius with no encounters of the infected, nor had there been any more of the black rain since the Fourth of July. But still as a precaution, if anyone went outside they wore their bright orange ponchos, respirators, and gloves as protection, although most chose to spend their free time inside the house when they weren't busy assembling the wall. During their nights off, they either read some of Isaac's books, played cards, board games, or sat around the fire and talked. Whatever they could do without the use of electricity, they did.

Conserving energy was of utmost importance. With little to no sunlight, the solar panels had become nearly useless and captured only ten percent of its full capacity. During a house meeting, they agreed to make the sacrifice to conserve the reserve battery as much as possible. The only things using power now were fridges, freezers, and occasionally the stove and oven. During this same meeting, they came to a consensus to only heat the house by use of the fireplace. The way the air ducts flowed from the fireplace through the walls and floors, the house stayed fairly warm even without the heater, but if it ever became too cold they resolved to use a generator to power a few space heaters inside. Aside from their power usage, water was put on conservation as well with a limit of two showers a week which everyone thought was more than fair.

Throughout the last few days, Isaac looked for any sign of the angelic being, Malakai . Unfortunately there had been nothing since the dream. He began to question if it was nothing more than a crazy dream or true prophecy. Regardless, he remained true to his word and spent most of his free time in the zen room doing yoga, meditating and practicing his teacher Master Lings unique martial art forms of Pǔbiàn Wǔshù. He had even stuck with sleeping in the zen room to maintain his drive and determination, and also for the benefit of having his own space in a cramped house.

His best friend Sean Graham joined Isaac in a Yin Yoga practice on the first night and every night since after suffering from a little back pain from all the lifting and construction work. They also privately practiced hand and sword forms as well to keep their skills sharp, but on the third night, the two were not alone. Cameron, Paul, Warren, Arthur, and Rob joined them, expressing an interest in the benefits of yoga and in learning how to fight and handle a sword. Sean and Isaac recognized their drive to learn, it was similar to their own when they had first started. They gladly taught them the introductory sword sequences of Pǔbiàn Wǔshù that Master Ling had showed them years ago and led them through a Taoist Yoga practice combining Yang strengthening with Yin stretching for a balanced practice. During that first nights practice with his friends, Isaac could feel the energy balance in the house shift.

The rhythm of life in the house was beginning to show amongst the people as well as the animals. The dogs and cats were only allowed to access certain areas of the house to keep some rooms clean for those with animal allergies, but they didn't seem to mind. They were allowed to frisk and roam freely inside the safety of the walls during the days which was a paradise to them. But since the horse was all alone in the barn, Jess made sure to give it the individual attention it needed. She rode him around the walls and let him graze the yard by himself a few hours every day. She even let her nieces have a ride so the horse could see some new faces. When Alexis and Marie rode Paisley for the first time, they shouted giddily with joy and contagious laughter that spread to those looking on.