Domed Judgment

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Why is it so quiet? The background hum of life went missing while I slept. I sat up looking out the French doors onto the ground level patio. The sun blazed like noon. I reached for my phone, my lifeline until recently. It was dead. I beat it on the side of the sofa. That can’t be, I charged it yesterday while I waited for mom.

I scoured the room for some kind of clock. We were scattered in various corners of the room on the cushioned furniture. No one was guarding the house. I bolted up onto my feet. I walked up to Darris, shaking his shoulder.

I whispered, “We need a guard.”

“What? Why? What happened?” Darris said too loud, waking the others. Comprehension wiped the sleep from his eyes. “What time is it?”

I shrugged.

“I’m hungry,” he said, “What time is it?”

“I can’t find a clock and I was trying not to wake everyone up. Emphasis on was,” I smiled wryly at him.

His turn to shrug, “The sun says it’s time to get up.” As he stood up, he stretched, scrubbing the surface of the ceiling. Dust cascaded down in a twirling spiraling dance in the warm rays of sunlight.

Anthony raced around the room flitting from electronic item to electronic item ending at the breaker box. “We have no power. Not even the ones with battery backups are working, like my laptop.”

“In the early gray light this morning, I saw a bright flash followed by a boom. All the lights on the gadgets went out,” Granny explained from the rocker recliner in the middle of the room.

“Why didn’t it wake us up?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I had to get up to use the bathroom.” Granny said, pointing the bathroom across the room. It was on the wall behind the mini kitchen, complete with microwave and mini- refrigerator.

“Ice cream for breakfast.” Darris said, opening the door into the storage room located next to the bathroom.

“I’m going to go check the car. Can I have your keys, Anna?” Anthony asked.

“It’s my car. I’ll go with you.” Anna got up off her recliner that sat in the reading corner. Romance books piled high on the floor around it. Mrs. Gilson read a lot. I never noticed how much until now. There must be hundreds of books in the corner.  Anthony and Anna left to check on her car.

Darris walked out of the storage room carrying an armful of ice cream flavors. “If the power’s out, these need to be eaten up.”

“This is the best breakfast ever,” Layla said with a huge smile. “I miss my mommy. She always made sure I ate a good breakfast. No ice cream at home.”

I put my arm around her. “I know. What flavor is your favorite? It might be awhile before we get some again.” I looked at Darris over Layla’s head. I mouthed, “Or never.” God, this uncertainity about people we love and our future scares me. Help me be strong.

As we polished off the Rocky Road, Anthony and Anna walked in. Their faces were mask of doom. “I think we were hit with something like an EMP during the early morning hours.”

“With a what?” I asked.

“EMP, Electro Magnetic Pulse. It’s a weapon that kills anything that uses electricity,” Anthony explained.

“Oh,” I said, trying process his explanation. “Isn’t that like everything we use on a daily basis.”

“Pretty much!” Anthony said, his shoulders slouching. “We’ll need to jerk all the venison in the freezer. It will keep us supplied for awhile.”

“What do you think it will do to the domed force shields around the quarantined areas?” I asked. Were mom and dad home wondering where I was, but only finding two dead bodies.

“It should collapse it,” Anthony said.

“That’s good, right? Our families could be free,” I asked.

“Maybe,” Anthony said, drawing out each vowel like a country music singer.

“I don’t like the sounds of that!” I said.

“I just want you prepared. Sometimes when electrical fields collapse, it’s like shrinking in on itself, and implosion.  Or?” Anthony said.

“I don’t like that or what?” I said, chewing at the corner of my lips.

“It could explode,” he said, biting his bottom lip.

I cried out, joined by everyone else in the room. God, help me stay calm. I want mom, dad and everyone we know to be okay!

“We need to see!” Anna said.

© 2013 Kim Izzy