Catastrophic

Chapter Six

    “The Storm Society?” I ask, testing out the name to feel it on the tip of my tongue.

    “Yeah, that’s us!” the dark-haired one says. “What we do is we stop storms ―”

She’s interrupted by the other girl who motions with a shake of her to stop. I guess I’m not supposed to know or something, but I can’t understand why. If I didn’t belong here, why didn’t one of their members *cough cough* Ryan tell me to get back on that throne and go back to where I belong?

    “I’m sorry,” the blonde one says. I can tell she’s truly sorry, and not just mocking me for her own happiness *cough cough* Emilia. “You have to complete the test first before we can tell you anything.” she says that last anything with a pointed look at her roommate.

    I can already tell they’re really close. Close enough that they have their own silent language.

    “I’m Janet, by the way, Janet Kinnile,” the dark-haired one says all of a sudden. “I forgot to introduce ourselves so...um...yeah!”

    “And I am Opal Lesnock! Janet and I are together,” the blonde one says with an airy tone. Instead of offending me that she would jump to conclusions like that, Opal’s unexpected defenselessness makes me appreciate her even more. Add in the fact that Janet gives her an raw, loving look, and I ship them right off-the-bat.

    “Hey. I’m Kassandra Talm, but you can call me Kassie or Kass, whatever you prefer really,” I respond.

    After we’re done greeting one another, both of them rush to me and envelop me in a warm hug. Off guard, it takes me a few moments before I wrap my arms around the two of them. We stay like that for a minute, just hugging. It’s weird, but the hug makes me know them more, and I to them. It’s as if all the talking we could have done is transported through our embrace.

    They let go of me, and immediately I’m pulled outside the tent. They tell me that we’re adventuring on a tour, and I gladly join in. It’s time to see what this place is made of.

Janet and Opal don’t have shoes, and in an effort to join them, I take off my UGGs and throw them inside the tent.

Janet begins to give me a tour of their camp. “If you look around, you’ll see about 30 tents. About 20 of those tents are used for housing and the other 10 are for our equipment. Each tent can hold up to 3 people, so all in all, we have about 60 members of our society.

“Now, if you look on top of each and every tent, you’ll see a mini solar panel. While it is small, we have fashioned these solar panels so that they can soak up more energy than its larger brethren. In times when we don’t have sun, we deal. In days prior to these “cloudy” days, we’ll stock up on the energy that we’d need for days ahead of time.

“As for the necessities, we do not have a formal bathroom. We have two port-a-potties, and if there is a long line and you absolutely need to go, no one will judge if you go more caveman style.

“Our food is often times transported from your… how do I put this without giving it away…. section by the leader and their closest followers. We have sponsors sworn into secrecy who gives us our food, and in return, we give them information we collect.  If we’re running low, sometimes animals roam around these parts, and we have what’s called a “hunting day.” About once a month when animals do show up, we kill one or two of those animals and ice them so they will not perish as fast.

“As to how to cook our meals, we usually have a campfire and 13 wood stoves. That’s all the kitchen supplies we have, so cooking is always open to the public. I would tell you about our government, but that’s not under my tour-guide handbook (which promptly doesn’t exist) so you’ll have to wait.