Aurora Sky: Blackout (Completed)

Chapter 26

A sharp claw pricked Isaac in his foot, waking him abruptly from his sleep. Robbie, Lacey's massive orange and white floofy haired cat, sat at the foot of his bed. His orange amber eyes glared at him mischievously. Adam noticed, yawned, then used Isaac's chest as a launch pad and chased after Robbie where they meowed and chirped playfully as they frisked in the hallway. The two cats had become best of friends in the past few days, Lacey and Isaac had even caught them a few times snuggling and grooming each other. I'm glad he's got a best friend. He's such a good boy.

Isaac woke up groggily with stiff joints despite doing a Yin Yoga practice the night before. The mattresses were too thin and he never had enough pillows to his liking. That's when he realized how spoiled he was having a king size bed and seven pillows all to himself. It made him think of his ancestors and the ancients who slept on harder surfaces and in far worse conditions than what he was used to. He suddenly felt living with A/C, heat, electricity, and running water was making him soft.

Following a meditation, the Meridian Exercises, and a light stretch, Isaac allowed himself breakfast. He sipped an instant coffee, ate a piece of peanut butter toast and a banana, then prepared his gear for the day. It was warm this morning, already sixty degrees with slight humidity. Dang, I bet it gets up to 80 today. He wore a fitted plain black t-shirt and blue jeans with a pair of Nike gym shoes, and equipped his katana, glock, and black steel Coal Miner knife to his back and belt. The last three things he vowed to never leave the house without again.

He followed Cameron, Evan, Warren, Rob, Jess, Brandon, and Duke, and the eight rode together in Evan's truck. Isaac sat in the bed with the rest of those who couldn't fit inside the cab, and held on tightly the entire drive to the Northern Kentucky Aggregates. Once they arrived, Evan and Rob went into the giant warehouse and gathered the keys needed, and left the door open on their way out. A trail of dust followed their footsteps as they moved hurriedly to their friends awaiting outside.

"Fill them up with gas if you need to," said Cameron, pointing over to the gas pump. He held up the keys for the pumplocks to see if anyone needed them. "We're gonna drive them to the fort."

"That's gonna look hilarious," said Duke, "I wonder what someone would say if they saw these coming for them."

Isaac jingled the keys in his hand, "Good thing it's a ten minute drive. It would suck to drive these for a long distance. I mean what's the max speed on these things? Fifteen miles per hour? Shoot, I bet you could race one home on foot and..." Suddenly, there was a soft sounding horn-like noise in the distance. His ears raised like a hound listening intently. The noise grew louder, humming powerfully as it came closer. "Did you hear that?"

His companions stopped and listened. The noise was coming from downriver. It approached but at a very slow pace. Around a mile away in the distance it finally came into view. A coal bard was passing through and coming towards them.

"Get down!" Evan whisper-shouted, dropping down to the ground on his chest.

Everyone promptly hit the dirt lying face flat into the earth. Evan pulled out his small pocket pair of binoculars and observed what he could while lying prone. A captain sat at the command of the bard, and twenty armed guards with assault rifles who dressed from head to toe in all black military gear surveyed outward towards both beaches of the river.

Another horn blasted but this one didn't come from the boat. Further down in the woods across the river, Evan could make out a train moving at a steady pace. He couldn't tell if anyone was on board other than the conductor. There were some carriages that looked like passenger carriages but the majority were hopper cars that appeared to be empty.

The bard then blasted its horn back at the train in response. Some of the armed men on the port side signaled and waved at the train. Together they slowly traveled eastbound, and eventually out of sight.