Tammy reached over to turn off her alarm. She thought she had overslept, but the green numbers stared out of the darkness, 5:30 am. Pulling her covers around her, as the room was still chilly from the falling temperatures, Tammy turned on the bedside light. It was dark, too dark. "Must be a storm," she murmured. She half listened for the shower, as her roommate was usually up before her feet hit the cold floor.
Sampson rolled off the bed. Tammy's old cat, big and fat like a stuffed sausage, slept at her feet, as it had for ten years. Tammy walked over to the window, as Sampson waddled out of the bedroom, down the wooden stairs, to find out if Jamie had set out breakfast.
Jamie always fed Sampson before making coffee and taking her shower. She was raised on a farm and the animals were fed first, then the family.
Tammy heard the shower. "Jamie must be running late," the younger woman thought. Tammy pulled the blinds and looked out over the grass boulevard in front of her apartment. It was pitch black outside, unnatural, creepy. She reached over and turned on the radio. Nothing. She looked at the plug. The plug was firmly in the socket.
Tammy then shuffled over to her computer and turned it on. The weather was on her desktop.
When the computer came up, the Network was down. "Blast it," she muttered. Tammy slipped on her robe and matching slippers and crept down the wooden stairs to the kitchen. Sampson was eating and did not bother to look up at her.
Tammy's phone was on the counter, next to the television. As she turned on the television, she also turned on her phone. A text came up on her home page. It was from Derek.
"Told u this wd happen. Off to FD." Tammy felt chilled and sick. She looked out the back window into the patio. Such blackness she had never witnessed.
The television screen had a message. "Signal not found." As the message bounced about her blue screen, Tammy looked at her phone again. The Net was down on the phone, but there were three texts. The last was Derek's. The second to the last was from Casey. "Gone to SC. Plan B."
Tammy knew what that meant. Why did Casey know something was up and why did he not tell her? Maybe there was no time.
Tammy felt like she would throw-up. She took a soda out of the fridge. She looked at the third text.
"P assassinated. On to the group." Tammy sat down in one of her bright green chairs. Jamie always made the kitchen homey in the morning is this apple green kitchen, all retro and spanking clean.
The last text was from Joe. She knew what this meant. They had been talking about the crisis in California just two nights ago at Costa Coffee. Joe had warned her. "Someone will do something stupid," he said. And, they had.
So, all the guys had deserted her. Joe was off, Casey gone, and Derek called up from the reserves. Man, so fast, so fast.
Jamie called down, "Hey did you see the blackness outside? No lights anywhere. Power outage, again." Tammy slowly got up and stood at the bottom of the wooden stairs. She called up the staircase, "Yes, Jamie and the guys are all gone."
Jamie appeared at the top of the stairs with wet hair, drying it with her white towel. "All three, gone?"
"Yep, check your phone to see if you have texts. There is no television and no radio. A blackout."
"I did not think it would happen this soon, " mumbled Jamie as she went into her bedroom for her phone.
"Yep, one text from each one, but the Net is down."
"Hold on while I get dressed, Tammy." Within minutes, Jamie, looking like a model, perfectly dressed for work, was standing in the kitchen reaching for coffee.
"One from Joe, which is mysterious. One from Derek, who is called up, and one from Casey, who has bugged out."
"I hate that, " Tammy cried. "Bugging out without telling us." Just then, the intercom buzzed. Jamie answered.
"Hey, we are here, Casey and Joe, let us in." Jamie looked over her shoulder at Tammy as if to reprimand her for her lack of faith in friendship. She pushed the buzzer and in two minutes the two men were at the door. They were dressed for traveling.
"There are police everywhere. We only got past because Joe knows two of the guys."
"Derek has been called up," said Jamie, while Tammy gave both men a short hug. "Boy, am I glad to see you. I am scared, I admit it."
"Well, it is scary. Martial law, blackout and no traffic. All cars are being stopped. Some of the highways are shut down completely. Do you have anything to eat? We have been up all night, talking." Joe was rummaging through the fridge. "Help yourself to anything you can find. Today was shopping day, so there's not much. How did you know?"
Casey spoke first, "I can't tell you. I knew last night and phoned Joe, and he came over after taking out all our money. The ATMS are empty. He got to the bank ten minutes before closing and lied, saying we were moving." Joe and Casey, as brothers, shared accounts, although they lived at different addresses.
"Luckily, we could take out most, but not all. The banks have limits. We went back to the ATMs this morning on our way and every last one was shut down."
"Great," said Tammy, "And I only have about forty dollars in my wallet."
Jamie spoke up, "I had a premonition four days ago and over the last several days took out my max each day. I have two-thousand."
Joe smiled. "My psychic sister," and he beamed. "Well, it may not help, but between us and Tammy's widow's mite we have quite a bit but we need to talk about the next step. As the bridges are closed and the highways, which we anticipated, we have to take country roads, all the B roads, if we can get to those. There are not enough police or highway patrol to cover all of them. We have a plan."
Casey interrupted, "Let us eat first, before the electricity goes out. Look there are four dinners in the freezer. Nuke those and make more coffee. please, Jamie."
She did and Joe noticed she was dressed for work. "Silly girl, you look like a model and we have to be walking miles today. You will have to change." The four ate in silence and watched Sampson curl up under the table. "We can't take him, you know." Casey spoke quietly.
Both young women looked at each other. They could not speak.
"OK, here is our plan," Joe interrupted the sad thoughts on purpose. Then, as suspected, the electricity went out and the four were in the dark. "Should we use flashlights now?" Jamie was practical, as ever. "No, save those. We can just see each other and we can hear each other.. So, listen."
Tammy interrupted this time, "Before we start, do we have time for a rosary?"
"Absolutely," answered Casey, and the four prayed...Jamie reminded them, "Please, let us pray for Derek." Joe put his hand on Jamie's shoulder. Derek was her fiance, and now he was back at F.D.
to be continued...
