Aurora Sky: Blackout (Completed)

Chapter 29

Around noon was when everyone went back indoors for another meal. Lunch was being informally served by Joanna and Sheri who made grilled cheese sandwiches and a big pot of tomato soup made from the last batch of tomatoes from the Thomas farm. It was a small lunch but it was hearty and pleasant.

Isaac again took his food out to the front porch, but this time he ate with his friends. They felt nostalgia for their grade school and high school days when they used to sit and eat lunch together, and then play football or some other sport in the parking lot during recess. It gave them the urge to play sports again, and with nothing left on their agenda for the day, the friends made plans with each other to spend some time playing two hand touch football in the field, but not until after a brief hand to hand combat and sword lesson.

The group continued showing interest in learning self defense and how to fight. Sean though expressed his need to practice sparring with Isaac to keep sharp on his training. Isaac felt he could use the practice too and jumped at the proposition. Following lunch the two grabbed their bokkens and met one another in the driveway to practice before leading an informal class.

"It's been awhile since we've done this." Isaac said to Sean as they faced off in the driveway. Since Sean had moved away for school in Colorado, it had been over a year since they had sparred together. "Hope I'm not too rusty."

"I'll make sure to take it easy on you," joked Sean. "You ready?"

"Yeah, let's do this."

The two bowed to each other as a sign of respect, and prepped their fighting stance. The two were ten feet apart from each other, but when they gave each other the head nod to go, the space closed immediately. The two clashed their wooden swords back and forth, swinging low and high. They blocked each others advances and kept finding themselves in a stalemate but they persisted in sparring. After a few minutes of no contact, Isaac turned up the intensity. His movement threw off Sean's footwork allowing him an open space to thrust his wooden sword, but he stopped the blow before he fully connected with Sean's stomach.

"Ahh... got me." he said. They stepped back, took a breath, and went back at it again. This time Sean threw off Isaac. He used his strength and size to bully his way in, and when Isaac made a misstep Sean executed his bokken swing and lightly tapped Isaac on his left shoulder. Shit, he's faster than he used to be.

Back and forth they went, ten rounds in total. Six rounds went to Isaac, four to Sean. "Hands?" was all Sean said to his friend, indicating he wanted to switch and practice hand to hand combat.

"Yep."

Pǔbiàn Wǔshù, the sacred martial art Master Ling had created and taught them was as much a defensive style as it was offensive. Its core was rooted in the Taoist philosophy of the balancing forces of Yin and Yang. The style specialized in using the opponent's own force and movement against them using passive Yin defensive moves, and combatting with fast, powerful, aggressive Yang strikes to neutralize the opponent. Pǔbiàn Wǔshù was heavily influenced by the disciplines of Wun Yuen Yut Hei Jeung (Primordial Chaos One Chi Palm), Hou Quan (Monkey Kung Fu), Wudang Quan, Shaolin Kung Fu, Tai Chi, Yīng Zhǎo Pài (Eagle Claw), Fu Jow Pai (Tiger Claw), Taekwondo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Krav Maga, and Wing Chun to name a few.

A few years of training had made Isaac and Sean proficient in several disciplines, but their guru Master Ling was more than exceptional. His skill was unprecedented, unparalleled, and prodigious in over thirty systems of martial arts. Before sparring again, Isaac said to Sean, "I wish we could've had more time with Master Ling."

"Me too. I think about that a lot actually." Unfortunately after four years of training their master died of natural causes when he reached the ripe old age of one hundred. "But I'm glad we got to train with him and with David for as long as we did."

"I wonder if he's still alive."

"Me too... ready?"

The two knocked each other around, putting each other on their backs a few times with tackles, grapples, kicks, and punches. Jesus, he's kept up on his training, was all Isaac could think as he battled his friend. I need to practice more. It took them a while to notice, but before long every member of the Gray Fort was on the front porch watching the two spar each other. Nobody cheered, only looked on in admiration at the two martial artists.

For a long while, the fighters blocked every move from each other. They kept their hands high stopping high leg kicks, they hopped over each others low leg sweeps, deflected punches and submission movements until eventually Sean caught Isaac in his side with a leg kick. After another ten rounds with their hands, they ended their practice. This time it was six rounds to Sean and four to Isaac. Sean's height, weight, and reach gave him a slight advantage, but Isaac never complained about it. In fact, he thought it was better to train that way. It wasn't like he would be able to choose his opponents if he were ever in need to fight outside of the walls.

The two took a short water break before beginning a sword lesson to their companions, but during the break Joanna pointed out to the now dark gray clouds that were now blanketing the sky. "I think we should go inside," she said to the others with a slight hint of worry, "It looks like it's about to storm." Then a booming thunder let loose.

"Yeah...you're right." Larry agreed. "Just in case. Everyone inside."

A bunch went over and collected the dry clothes off of the clothes line to spare them from the rain. Evan called in those on watch duty on the radio warning them to come inside. Duke sprinted to the wells to make sure their lids were secured tightly. Lacey, Jess, Kimmy, Krissy, and Isaac rounded up their animals together, and eventually they all made their way in. Ron however, who was still working in the field, didn't notice their movement.

"Honey!" Sheri tried to call out over to Ron, but her voice was weak. He had his back turned towards her as he was tilling more rows with his motorized tiller. We he finally noticed her calls, she again shouted as loud as she could to him "Honey! Bring the tiller and come inside!" She pointed up to bloated the clouds.

"Comin' Darlin'." He said obediently to his wife and reeled in the hose running for the house leaving half of the grounds unwatered.

When everyone was accounted for and inside they instinctively separated to do a sweep of the house to ensure all windows and doors were closed. Once the room was checked, it was shouted out. "Got the living room!" Rob announced. "Kitchen's good." Yelled Warren. "Basement's closed!" Sean shouted. And so on until every room was done.

And then it happened. The first drop of rain touched the living room window, and then another. The sound of thunder roared again, and then the rain picked up its intensity. "The rain is clear!" Natalie exclaimed in excitement. She sat next to the window and peered out at the storm. Others gathered round the windows to look around but they weren't sure how to react.

"I wonder if the rainwater is contaminated though," mentioned Paul concernedly, "I mean the skies only been clear for a few days. What if whatever that chemical is is still lingering in the atmosphere or something?"

"Well..." Isaac retorted, "I guess we're gonna find out here soon. If it's another attack, then there should be some hail soon, and the water is gonna turn into gas."

"Guess we're staying inside for the rest of the day then, huh?" said Rob.

There was a long period of silence. The wind picked up, but there was no hail falling. An hour passed and there was still no change except for the rhythm of raindrops tapping the roof and windows. The sky remained gray throughout the storm but nothing was out of the ordinary. No gas rose from the fallen water, only steam from the hot asphalt driveway.