Aurora Sky: Blackout (Completed)

Chapter 25

The morning sun was shining as bright as ever. It was around nine when the companions within the Gray Fort arose and most were running on less than three hours of sleep, but they didn't feel tired or drowsy. Watching the first sunrise in a week sparked a fire within them and it made them feel more alive than ever before. Being outside in the warm sun again after a week of nothing but cold darkness was a surreal feeling and something they never thought would happen again.

The temperature had risen to above freezing and showed continuing signs in the upward trend, and that was critical to not only their survival but to the ecosystem. Cold weather out of season meant crop failure, and more than likely the entire planet would experience worldwide famine. But if the summer weather came back, at least those at the Gray Fort could establish growing crops. Having over twenty people to assist a lifetime farmer would make cultivation significantly easier.

On a personal note, Isaac was eager to learn under a professional farmer about growing and caring for his own food. Learning how to be self sufficient was his main motive of moving out from the city and suburbs to rural Petersburg, Kentucky. But since he had lived there for such a short amount of time, and due to recent apocalyptic events, he never had an opportunity to start a vegetable garden. Now, there was plenty of time to learn, plant, and grow.

Aside from growing crops, increased sunlight meant that by the end of the day the solar panels and the powerwall batteries would reach a full charge and conserving electricity would no longer be an issue (unless there happened to be another attack). It was a soothing feeling knowing they wouldn't have to spare modern amenities, even if it was only for a short while. Aside from books, puzzles, board games, and a deck of cards, having things like a television, a tablet, video games, a computer, and electronic music equipment would be a great stress reliever for Isaac and his housemates.

Cameron, Rob, Duke, and Paul made plans for battling each other in Super Smash Brothers to see who was the best of the four. All of the young men had a strong urge to turn on the Xbox 360 and play Halo 2. Even the ladies of the house wanted in on the gaming action calling out and reserving the Nintendo 64 and various Mario games for later in the night. The children however were growing bored of doing puzzles and coloring and were desperate for any form of electronics or television to watch. Thankfully there was not a shortage of televisions in the house. Sean though had an itch to play some music on Isaac's Fender Stratocaster. He made due playing on the classical and acoustic guitars, but it just wasn't the same as playing an electric guitar and an amplifier to chase those psychedelic sounds he heard in his head.

With power to spare, Arthur insisted on installing the wireless hunting cameras taken from Arms and Accessories in the woods around the property. Without the internet, they wouldn't be able to view the cameras live, they could however still record film and view it via USB on his laptop or Isaac's computer. In the end, it was decided that it was a project that could wait for their next day off. Arthur instead decided to begin the backup process of all of the electronics in the house onto his external hard drive. Unlike his former computer programming job, storing digital information didn't require him to be present. It was sit, click, and wait work, so he figured it was the best side job to do at the moment in addition to his other duties.

There were more pressing issues at hand today, and that was securing the perimeter of the fort. Seventeen people were prepared to leave, the rest were prepared to do manual labor of shoveling gravel up against the inside of the walls. Evan had convinced Isaac, Larry, and Jess, to join him in loading up the dump trucks with gravel, though it didn't take much convincing. Isaac was happy to learn how to use some heavy machinery, it honestly sounded like a fun time to him.

But before all the volunteers could do their work, a scout team of four was sent ahead to scope the area for unfriendlies or infected, and also to get a count on the heavy machinery available to their disposal. There would be no point to risk sending extra people out if the equipment wasn't there to use. Evan, Rob, Cameron, and Isaac made up the scout team. Together they rode in Evan's F-150 in a less than ten minute drive from the Gray Fort to the quarry.