Blackout: A Tale Of Survival In A Powerless World- Book 1 Read online

  “I’ve been a little busy,” I snapped.

  “Yeah, playing house with your boyfriend,” he replied, sneering at Eirian. “Meanwhile, my family—”

  “Your family is safe,” Eirian told him. “The first thing Georgie did was make sure that your mother and sister were okay.”

  “They’re asleep now,” I said, pointing to where we had moved Pippa and Penny out of the way of those who needed immediate treatment. “You can wake them if you want, but I wouldn’t suggest it. Pippa was pretty stressed out. She needs the rest, especially now that her baby’s overdue.”

  Jacob’s temper flared out as he watched his little sister’s baby bump rise and fall with the sound of her breath. “What about Mom?”

  “No change,” I told him. “She’s been in and out of consciousness.”

  “That’s bad, isn’t it?”

  “It’s not good.”

  As he studied his family, I noticed how much of him had changed in the weeks that we’d spent at Camp Haven. The designer clothes were gone, replaced with practical flannel and fleece layers. He’d grown out his beard rather than learn how to shave with a straight razor. He was skinnier now, having lost some of the muscle tone that came from lifting heavy at the gym. Now his physical was honed to complete whatever jobs that Ludo needed done. He looked like a completely different man than the one I had met in college all those years ago.

  “I should go,” he said. “You heard Ludo. I should be at the wall.” He backed away from Pippa’s bed and bumped into another cot behind him. “Can you let me know if anything changes, Georgie?”

  “Of course.”

  “Thanks.”

  As Jacob left, Eirian patted my hand. “You really care about him, don’t you?”

  “We were together for five years,” I said. “He took care of me, and vice versa. You don’t just forget about that.”

  “I understand.”

  “Besides, his mom and his sister were always good to me,” I added. “They deserve my care and attention.”

  “Fitz!” Jax said from Ludo’s bed. “I thought I asked you to check on all of the patients.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” I said, drawing away from Eirian. “Right away.”

  I moved to the other beds, picking shrapnel and debris out of skin with a pair of tweezers sanitized with moonshine. When Nita returned with the napkins from Dotcom, we worked together to rinse and bandage wounds. After we had finished, Nita turned to me.

  “Did you know that there’s a massive gash above your eye?” she asked.

  I reached up and prodded my forehead. Sure enough, the skin was tender, covered in a layer of crunchy dried blood. “I didn’t even notice.”

  “I figured as much.” Nita took my hand and made me sit down on an empty cot. “Let me clean it out for you.”

  She went to work, scrubbing off the blood that had dried to my forehead and cheek. I couldn’t remember what had happened to cause the wound, but I imagined that it had happened during the blast. Nita flushed it out with water so cold that it made me shiver.

  “Sorry,” she said, catching the rivulets that ran down my neck with a towel.

  “It’s fine.”

  She examined the divot in my skin. “Looks like you caught a rock or some debris to the face. It’s not too deep. Shouldn’t leave a scar or anything.”

  “I’m not really worried about a tiny scar on my face.” I looked up at her. Her mouth was set in a worried frown. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “You already said that.”

  “No, not for the water,” she replied. “I’ve been avoiding you lately because of what happened to Jove, and for the way I thought you were treating Jacob. I picked sides, and I shouldn’t have.”

  Suddenly, exhaustion swamped me, as if the adrenaline from the night’s events had finally worn off. “It’s okay, Nita.”

  “No, it’s not.” She mixed up an herbal paste and applied it to the cut. “I should have known that there were two sides to the story. This whole invasion has made me realize what an idiot I’ve been. We need to support each other. We’re all each other has.”

  “I’m glad you feel that way.”

  We smiled at each other in a rare moment of peace as she rinsed her hands of the herbal mixture.

  Kirsch, who lay in the next bed over, leaned toward us. “Excuse me, ladies? That woman in the corner looks far too pale for comfort.”

  We looked to where he was pointing. Penny’s hand had slipped over the edge of her mattress, limp and lifeless. Her face was completely white with a purplish tint. I leapt off the bed, knocking the herbal paste to the floor, where the ceramic bowl shattered, and ran to Penny’s side. I pressed my fingers against her neck.

  “She doesn’t have a pulse!”

  I flattened Penny out against the mattress, pressed my hands against her chest, and began pumping her heart, but Nita and Jax soon pushed me out of the way to tend to her themselves. I looked on, pacing back and forth in front of Penny’s bed. Pippa slept through the resuscitation attempt.

  “She can’t die,” I said. “Please, she can’t die. Jacob and Pippa will be devastated.”

  “It’s no good,” Nita said.

  “Move!” Jax ordered.

  Nita cleared the way. Jax lifted her fist into the air and slammed it down on Penny’s chest, directly over her heart. Then she checked her pulse again.

  “We got her back,” she said. “It’s weak, but she’s here.”

  Relief surged through me. “That actually worked?”

  “Don’t get too excited,” Jax said, rearranging Penny’s limbs in a more comfortable position. She unwrapped the bandage around Penny’s leg.

  “Oh God.” I covered up my nose with the hem of my shirt. “What the hell is that awful stench?”

  “It’s her leg,” Jax replied, peeling the bandage back to show me the damage. The skin was a disgusting blend of sickly green and purple, and the wound leaked yellow pus. “We never got rid of the infection. It’s killing her.”

  8

  Penny was running out of time. She had been ever since that glass shard had pierced her leg on our way to Camp Haven. We were too blind to pay attention to her injuries. I had been so desperate to cater to Ludo, Jax, and the other department heads that I neglected to check in on Penny as much as I should have, but when I expressed this thought to Eirian, he didn’t agree.

  “You can’t place the blame for this on yourself,” he said. Jax discharged him from the med bay as soon as Nita had managed to wrap his leg securely. “There were a lot of people involved in this. Jax was the one that decided our antibiotics wouldn’t be able to keep the infection at bay. To use them would have been a waste of our resources.”

  “Don’t tell that to Jacob,” I said, helping Eirian test his weight on his leg so that we could leave the med bay. Nita had sent someone to bring Jacob to his mother, and I didn’t want to be here when he returned. “He won’t understand why we didn’t exhaust every possibility to save her.”

  “Sometimes, you have to make sacrifices for the good of the many.” Eirian’s leg held firm. There was no damage to the muscle. “That’s how it works here.”

  “You forget that not everyone was raised like this,” I reminded him. “That idea is relatively foreign to somehow who grew up having everything.”

  “I guess he’s going to learn the hard way then.”

  “I guess. We should go.”

  As we were leaving, I spotted Jacob hurrying toward the med bay. I ducked behind a row of bushes, tugging Eirian down too. We watched as Jacob, already covered in dirt and sweat from working at the wall, rushed into the building.

  Eirian poked the worry lines around my mouth. “You’re going to have to face him eventually.”

  “His mother is dying,” I said, pulling Eirian out of the bushes. “He needs some time to himself.”

  An anguished yell echoed from the med bay. Jacob. My throat closed up at the thought of him in th
ere with Pippa, both of them crying over their mother, unable to help her.

  “Go,” Eirian said, nudging me toward the front door. “You should be with them.”

  “I should get you to your room first.”

  He waved off my offer. “My leg is fine, see?” He bounced up and down a couple of times. “Besides, I’m not going to my room. I’m going to see what I can do to help the camp regroup.”

  “You should rest,” I scolded him, cringing as another cry went up from the med bay. “You’re no use to us if you get sick too.”

  “I’ll take it easy,” he promised. “Go inside. I’ll check on you in an hour or so.”

  He waved and, limping slightly, headed for the breach in the wall. The thought of returning to the med bay haunted me. I could just as easily leave Jacob and Pippa to their mourning and return to the communications office. The radios and walkie talkies were waiting to be assigned to department heads for a trial run. I could bury myself in work and avoid facing the people that, not long ago, were meant to become my family.

  I went to the communications office and sat in relative silence, staring at the units that Eirian and I had assembled together. After several minutes of contemplation, I pulled one of the radios toward me, turned it on, and started broadcasting as far as the signal would reach.

  “This is Georgie Fitz,” I began. I had no idea who might be listening, but I hoped that someone else in the area would have the information that I wanted. “I’m currently located in the Rocky Mountains, northwest of Denver, Colorado. We have an emergency situation that requires a high dosage of antibiotics. I repeat, we have an emergency situation that requires a high dosage of antibiotics. If anyone’s listening, we need help.”

  I waited for a reply, any reply, but none came. I fiddled with the dials on the radio and tried again. For over an hour, I repeated the same message until my throat was dry. I slouched over the desk and rested my head between the walkie talkies. The crude devices mocked me from either side, reveling in my failure.

  And then my radio crackled to life.

  “Miss Fitz?”

  I snatched the radio up. “Hello? Yes, this is Georgie Fitz.”

  “If you’re looking for antibiotics, there’s a hospital at the edge of the city that wasn’t hit as hard as the rest,” the voice, female and tired, said. “We stocked up there just last week. Be careful though. It’s dangerous out there. Lots of gang members and addicts in the area.”

  “Thank you so much,” I said

  “No problem. Over and out.”

  The static returned as the anonymous caller disappeared. I took a few seconds to collect myself, reining in a sob of relief, then left the office to return to the med bay. I found Jacob and Pippa asleep there. Jacob had dragged Pippa’s bed next to their mother’s so that it formed one big queen bed instead. Jacob sat on the floor next to his mother, her limp hand clutched in his. His cheek pressed against the quilt, and his mouth was slightly open. I gently shook his shoulder.

  “Jacob, wake up.”

  He came to, blinking languidly. He lifted his head from the quilt, wiped a droplet of drool from his chin, and looked around. His lips quivered when his gaze landed on his unconscious mother and sleeping sister.

  “I almost forgot,” he said. “For a second, I thought we were back home in the apartment, and everything was okay.” He squeezed his mother’s hand. “But it’s not, is it?”

  “Jacob, there’s a hospital at the edge of the city that might still have enough medication to save Penny,” I told him. “We can send a salvage team in to get it.”

  Jax, who was sitting with Ludo a few beds over, perked up. “Excuse me? What did you just say?”

  “We could get antibiotics from the city,” I repeated, announcing it to the rest of the patients and workers in the med bay. “That way, we can treat everyone and save Penny.”

  The bay broke out in excited murmurs, but Jax planted her hands on her hips. “Who exactly do you think you are, Miss Fitz?”

  “Sorry?”

  “You are not a department head,” Jax continued as the room fell silent to allow her to speak.

  Ludo took his wife’s hand. “Honey—”

  “You have no power to authorize a salvage trip into dangerous territory,” Jax said. “Therefore, you have no right to instill false hope in our patients.”

  I stood from Jacob’s side. “Are you kidding me? Penny is dying! She needs treatment. Why wouldn’t we take this opportunity?”

  “How do you figure that any hospital within walking distance is still stocked with medication?” she challenged.

  “I called on the radio,” I said. “Someone answered. They told me—”

  “Whoever it was isn’t a reliable source,” Jax said. “Besides, most liquid antibiotics have to be refrigerated.”

  “It’s the only chance we have,” I argued.

  “It’s not worth putting our salvage team at risk,” she fired back.

  “Fine, then I’ll go!”

  Stunned, Jax finally backed off. “You want to trek into the city by yourself to look for medication that might not even be there for a woman that will most likely be dead by the time you return?”

  “Yes.”

  Jacob got to his feet. “She won’t be by herself. I’ll go with her.”

  “Jacob, no,” I said.

  “Yes,” he replied firmly. “I won’t let you go into the city alone. You need at least one other person to back you. Besides, it’s my mother we’re talking about here.”

  “You should stay here, Jacob,” another voice said. It was Eirian, who had appeared in the med bay from the hallway that led to the offices. He’d been listening in to the entire conversation without me realizing it. “You should be with your family in case something happens. I’ll go with Georgie.”

  The fact that I didn’t immediately feel the need to tell Eirian that he should stay in Camp Haven made me realize that I didn’t want to go into the city alone. I wanted someone to come with me, someone who knew the mountains, could hold his own during the trip, and could keep a level head if things took a turn for the worst. Eirian was the best fit for the job, but it still wasn’t his responsibility to take care of the Masons.

  “Eirian—”

  “Don’t argue with me, Georgie,” he said. “If Jax doesn’t want to send a salvage team, and you’re determined to go, then I’m going with you. My leg is fine, and you know that I’m the best person to have with you. No offense, Jacob.”

  “None taken,” Jacob said. “Georgie, listen to him. I think he’s right. I’ve seen the two of you work together. If anyone can get to the hospital and back in one piece, it’s you and him.”

  Jax cleared her throat and crossed her arms. “You still need approval from a department head to leave the camp, which you’ll find difficult to acquire considering this harebrained scheme.”

  “I approve,” Ludo chimed in. His wife leveled him with a withering stare, but he held firm. “Face facts, Jax. We’re heading into winter with no medication and no first aid kits. If it stays like that, I can guarantee that more people will die. We have two options. First, send a team to Camp Havoc to regain what was taken from us, which would result in casualties on both sides. Second, send Georgie and Eirian into the city to salvage what they can. That’s the safer route.”

  “And what if there’s nothing to salvage?” Jax challenged.

  Ludo looked at me and Eirian. “Then we go to plan B.”

  THERE WAS no time to waste. Penny was deteriorating by the minute. Eirian and I prepared for our trip in little under an hour. We packed hiking bags, layered up in clothes and boots that would protect us from whatever harsh weather we might encounter, and gathered supplies that would help us survive in the woods. Then Ludo’s second in command assigned us each a rifle to take with us in case things got nasty. I hoped I would never have to use it.

  Jacob took a break from watching over his mother to see me and Eirian off into the woods. As the security team we
nt to work opening the gates, he adjusted the straps on my backpack so that it rested more securely on my shoulders. Eirian pretended to help open the gate so that we could have a moment alone.

  “You don’t have to do this,” Jacob said. “It’s my mother. I should be the one to put myself in danger to save her. You don’t owe us anything.”

  “Jacob, if the situation were reversed, would you sit around and do nothing when you had the opportunity to help?”

  “No, of course not.”

  “Then it’s settled,” I said. “Stay with Penny and Pippa. They need you now more than ever. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

  I kissed Jacob’s cheek and joined Eirian at the gate. The locking mechanism squeaked as the men pulled the massive door open. Outside Camp Haven, the mountain woods stretched on and on unbroken. I took a deep breath and squeezed Eirian’s hand. Together, we stepped beyond the wall.

  “That wasn’t so bad,” I said, advancing into the woods.

  The gate behind us slammed shut. We were officially locked out until we returned from the city. Doubt in my own survival abilities rose in the back of my throat like stomach bile. I swallowed it down. Eirian looked equally spooked.

  “Are you okay?” I asked him.

  “For now,” he replied. We walked down the mountain, following the guidance of a handheld compass. “I’ve been outside Camp Haven a number of times since we arrived here. Sometimes, the miscellaneous crew gets assigned to salvage. This is different though. It’s one thing to comb through a couple of warehouses that fell out of use. It’s a whole different story walking into a city of dead people. The last time—”

  Eirian had been out to Denver with the salvage team shortly after the EMP blast, when they combed the calmer parts of the city for materials to build the radio tower. That alone had scared him, but it would be even worse now that weeks had passed. I wondered how many people had actually survived in the city.

  “We’ll be okay,” I assured him. “Let’s just get in and out as quickly as possible.”