Grid Attack (Cyber War #1) (6 page)

I was getting hungry and because we had been so busy trying to get other things set up, it never even occurred to me to check the gas. I had a gas hot water heater which didn’t require electricity as well as a gas stove.

The oven was electronic, but the stove could be lit with a match.

I grabbed the long lighter we used to start the grill and went into the kitchen.

As I turned on the gas, the stove didn’t click like it used to but I could smell the gas as I lowered the lit lighter down towards the burner.

Poof! I had a lit burner. I smiled a little as I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Well, at least we have gas…at the moment,” I yelled out to Tony, happy of my discovery. “It will allow me to cook and boil water for cleaning and bathing for as long as it lasts.”

“Does the gas company use electricity to send the gas to us?” Tony asked.

“I have no clue. But we have it tonight. So we should save our propane and use this as long as possible.” I said.

It’s funny that I never checked on that before. I mean, I knew about the water and sewer, but I never thought to check on how the natural gas actually got to our house. Oh well, it didn’t matter now.

I looked through the fridge and pulled out any leftovers we had to cook them off. We needed to eat as much of the stuff in the fridge that we had first so it wouldn’t spoil.

We could always put some things in coolers outside. Actually, we could probably just move the refrigerator out on the porch as well. It was cold enough, and would keep animals away.

Tony took some of the candles and put them on the dining room table, as I brought our plates of hot food and set them down. He picked up a bottle of wine and looked at me.

“Shall we open it? Shall we toast to the new reality?” he asked, half joking and trying to make me feel better about our situation.

I thought about it for a moment.

“No, let’s save it. We never know when it might come in handy. Cash isn’t going to work soon. Food, water, and alcohol will be better than gold.” I suggested.

He agreed.

We did crack open a couple of beers with dinner, though. That helped us feel like we were just camping out.

Any leftover food we put down on the floor and let the cats lick the plates clean. They weren’t going to be too picky when they got hungry.

The water was still running and was hot, so I was able to clean the dishes before we went into the living room.

Our normal routine was to eat and watch TV for a while before crashing. Tonight, it was so quiet we could hear the house settling.

I snuggled up under Tony’s arm as we sat in silence for a while. We were both pondering things and our brains and bodies were exhausted from the day.

Even though it was still pretty early, I could feel myself drifting off as I pulled one of the afghans over me.

Tony petted my head for a few minutes and I could feel him relaxing into the couch as well. It was nice to just be still. I didn’t realize it at the moment, but these still moments would be hard to come by soon.

I watched the candles flicker gently as I began to fall asleep on Tony’s lap. I was thinking about how much work we got done in such a short time and was proud that we both managed to do it without losing our heads.

My peace didn’t last long.

Bang! Bang! Scream!!!

Tony and I both jolted awake at the sound of a woman screaming and what sounded like gunshots.

It was time to live in our new world.

Chapter 8 - Anthony

Shit! Just as I was beginning to calm her down somebody has to go crazy and start shooting already?

The sound of the shots had me on my feet, with my pistol in my hand as I peeked outside through the side of the pulled shade.

I couldn’t see anything, dammit. It was so dark. I mean REALLY dark. We are used to the city having some glow from street lights, car lights and house lights. It was pitch black and there was no moon shining on us tonight.

I carefully opened the door to the porch so I could try and listen to hear if someone was close by. I didn’t want to be seen either and my porch had lattice around it so it was hard for anyone to see me even though I could see them.

There was the sound of a woman crying coming from across the street and up a couple of houses. Normally, I wouldn’t have been able to hear that, but the silence made it easy.

“Annette?” I yelled out, hoping that it was her. “Is that you, are you okay?”

“Tony? Please, help me!” she yelled back.

My heart jumped as I quickly went back into the house and grabbed a flashlight and headed to the door.

“Tony, wait!” Kat whispered, grabbing my sleeve. “What if someone is out there? I don’t want you to get shot!”

“Babe, it’s Annette. She sounds like she is hurt or something. I’m not just going to sit here.” I said as I pulled away.

Annette lived alone with just her dog. She was retired and didn’t have any family in the area so she was all alone. I imagined being alone with all this made her a little jumpy.

I opened the front door and called out to her.

“Annette, I’m coming. Don’t shoot me, please!” I yelled out as I made my way through the blackness towards her house.

I could see her up on her front porch, her revolver in her hand. I stayed mostly behind the tree until I could see if she was okay and that she wasn’t aiming at me.

“What happened?” I asked as I slowly walked up the front stairs.

“Someone…,” She breathed heavily, “Someone tried to break into my window on the side. I couldn’t see who it was, I just heard them. My flashlight batteries are dead.” She explained.

“I will go take a look, okay? You just sit here on the porch and relax. Don’t go firing that thing again, okay?” I coaxed.

“Yeah…okay.” The anxiety in her voice was palpable.

I took the flashlight and carefully walked around the side of the house, making sure to keep myself low and hidden as much as possible.

When I got to the window a raccoon jumped out of the trash can and ran off, scaring the shit out of me in the process. I fell backward on my ass as he scurried off, breathing a sigh of relief it wasn’t a human.

I couldn’t help but giggle a little. This whole thing had us all on edge.

Making my way back to the front, Annette was still shaking from the whole incident.

“It was just a raccoon,” I said, trying to calm her. “He was trying to get into your trash can under the window.”

“Are you sure? I mean, it sounded like someone was trying to break in.” She insisted.

“Yes, I’m sure. The screen isn’t even removed. It looks like he was scratching at it or something.”

I understood how easy it was to mistake noises in the dark. Especially, if you have only lived in the city. Living in the country, you learn that some noises are just animals doing their thing. We normally don’t notice them in the city, even though they live along side us.

“Here, take this flashlight. Don’t use it a lot, but keep it for an emergency. We don’t have any backup batteries.” I said.

She thanked me for the flashlight and went into the house and locked the door behind me. Thank goodness it was just a raccoon and not an intruder.

As I looked back towards my own house, the darkness was a little spooky. I knew about where all the trees and driveways were, but not being able to see them made it harder to get back to the house.

Fortunately, we had white trim and the two columns on the front porch were white, so even in the lack of moonlight, I was able to see a faint outline that I could walk towards.

I could also see Kat peeking from behind the shade. The candles lit up the room behind her so it made it easy to see inside, even though there was just a sliver of light.

It made me realize that we would need to really find a way to not allow the light to show at night. It would be a dead giveaway to anyone walking by that there were people inside.

That would go on my to do list for tomorrow for sure.

I got back to the house and Kat asked me a bunch of questions. I explained it was a raccoon and not to worry.

While I knew everyone was on edge, I felt like the overreaction was making it worse. We needed to be able to keep things under control and not allow our minds to play tricks on us while we learn to live in this new reality.

“I left her the flashlight so she had something to see with.” I told Kat.

“What? Tony, we can’t just go giving away our supplies!”

She was not happy at all.

“If we give away all of our supplies, then what happens when we need them? Dammit, Tony!”

I knew she was right, but I am also not the kind of person who is unwilling to help if I can. I’ve always been available to help if I can, and whatever this life is now isn’t going to change that.

“It’s just a flashlight!” I yelled back at her, hoping to shut her down. I didn’t need to be judged right now.

“Oh, okay. Well, yeah, so it’s JUST a flashlight now. Then it will be JUST a can of food later. Then you will be starving because you gave away OUR supplies. This isn’t the same world anymore. We have to think long term. We have to make what we have last as long as possible.” She was pissed.

“Dammit Kat, I’m not that stupid. Give me a little credit here. I’m trying to figure out how to make this work, too.” I said, hoping she wouldn’t keep grilling me.

She grabbed her pistol and headed upstairs.

“Blow out the candles so we don’t waste them. I’m going to bed.” She huffed, as she stomped up the stairs.

I sighed as I blew out all the candles. It was going to be a long night.

But I had an idea that I hoped would make things better.

Chapter 9 - Katherine

I didn’t know if I was more frustrated at the moment with Tony or just the whole damn situation. Being in this kind of environment made everyone edgy. I just didn’t get him some days. I know his heart was in the right place and he wants to help everyone, but these aren’t the times to be overly generous.

It was so dark outside. No lights anywhere except the occasional glow of a candle in a window. I was amazed at how far light traveled. I could look down our street and after a few minutes, could see which homes had candles or some other kind of light. It looked quite bright in the total darkness that seemed to envelope us.

Fortunately, tonight it wasn’t supposed to be too cold so we could throw enough quilts on the bed to stay warm. When we had gone through the previous winter storm we slept pretty good snuggled under the weight of the blankets.

I pulled off my sweats and socks but decided to leave my shirt on for warmth. The sheets were cold against my skin and I shivered as I tried to find a spot to curl up. Tonight I wished I had my electric blanket to warm the bed up ahead of time. I guess I could have heated up some water and put a hot water bottle down where my feet were going to be. I would have to remember that for the future.

I could see the candle glow reflect off the walls as Tony entered the room with it. I asked him to blow it out so that anyone walking down the street wouldn’t be able to tell we were here. He made sure his pistol was on the night table before blowing it out.

Under normal circumstances I would have had the window shades pulled down to block out the morning sun so I wouldn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn. Now, I needed to keep them up so I could be up when there was light.

My plans were to use the sunlit day to get as much done as possible. Since the days were shorter it made sense to work as much as we could while it was light outside. There would be plenty of time to rest when it was dark. It wasn’t what we were used to, but it would be the best way to utilize our time.

Tony slipped into bed beside me and scooched over so he could use my body heat to warm himself. I was always warmer than he was and he used to tease me that he needed my BTU’s, which stood for Butt Thermal Units. He would snuggle up to me and within a few minutes have to kick off the covers because I would always put out too much body heat. I’m sure this winter, he would be grateful for the fact that I kicked off as much heat as I did.