Solar Fury by E A Chance

Author:E A Chance [Chance, E A]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781951870034
Publisher: Darlington Publishing
Published: 2020-06-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Julia and Hannah had found a tattered blanket and hung it in their cabin to block out the morning sun. Julia pushed the makeshift curtain aside and rested her arms on the window frame to let the sun warm her face. For the past three mornings, she’d relished those first quiet moments in the sun before she got up to begin her chores. She loved their little camp, and if the nights hadn’t been so freezing, she would have wanted to stay until summer.

The thought of giving up their sanctuary and getting back on the dangerous roads frightened her, but Coop was almost recovered and kept reminding her that if they found a vehicle, they could be to Uncle Mitch’s ranch in a day. Each time they’d said that before, they’d ended up facing nothing but tragedy. Even her mom didn’t seem to be in a hurry to restart their journey. They had enough food to last weeks. Julia saw no reason to rush.

On their second night in camp, Riley had presented her with the copy of The Hobbit she’d rescued from the wreck. Julia thought it would be fun to read together around the fire pit after dinner. Hannah said her family used to do that in summers on their houseboat at some lake.

Hannah stirred behind her, so Julia closed the curtain and stretched before pulling on her boots to go to the outhouse. She wanted to lounge around, but her mom had hammered in the importance of getting chores done early and going to sleep around seven, so they could make the most use of daylight and not waste the batteries in the flashlights. Julia felt like a little kid going to bed so early but understood that it was necessary.

“Is it time to get up?” Hannah mumbled.

Through a yawn, Julia said, “Afraid so. Mom’s already building up the fire.”

Hannah groaned and pulled the sleeping bag over her head. “Does she ever sleep?”

Julia pulled on her coat and smiled. “I’ve never seen it, but she’s been perkier for the past two days.”

Hannah sat up and rubbed her eyes. “That’s probably because Coop’s better.”

“And we’re not running away from catastrophes every two seconds. I’m going to the outhouse. You’d better get dressed.”

She bounced down the steps and waved at her mom as she passed. She never thought she’d be happy to have an outhouse, but anything was better than that disgusting bucket. The cold temperatures and the fact that the toilets were mostly empty kept the smell down, so it wasn’t too terrible. As she unrolled the toilet paper, she thought of how shocked Emily would be to see her cheerfully roughing it, but everyone has to adapt when the world comes to an end.

Hannah was with Riley at the fire-pit by the time Julia finished. Pancakes were browning in a pan and her stomach growled from the aroma.

She leaned over the pan and took a whiff. “I could eat ten of those.”

“Go ahead,” Riley said. “With what I brought back from the group camp yesterday, we have enough to feed an army.

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