Days of Fire: An EMP Survival Thriller (Blackout & Burn Book 1) by Rebecca Fernfield

Author:Rebecca Fernfield
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Redbegga
Published: 2018-03-26T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

CLARISSA STEPS out of the doorway and onto the wide stone steps. Stella follows and stands beside her. She looks back at her daughter and smiles. At least she’d listened and changed into more suitable clothes and had put on a pair of walking boots. Clarissa’s own boots were well worn from the family’s trips to the Peak District. It may be unorthodox to turn up at the office in her walking gear, but she wasn’t about to walk across the city in her work shoes—not today.

“You ready?”

“Yep,” Stella replies.

“Did you get the water?”

“Yep,” she smiles.

“You OK?” Clarissa asks with a note of concern; most of the time she couldn’t get her daughter to stop chattering, she wasn’t used to a mono-syllabic Stella.

“Yep … well … it seems weird—there’s no traffic,” she explains and looks along the street. “Well, there is, but none of it is moving and it’s so … quiet!”

“I know. It does seem a little odd,” Clarissa says as she looks down the street at the line of parked cars.

“Clarissa!” a reedy voice calls.

“Oh!” Startled at the sudden call of her name, she turns to greet her neighbour. “Good morning, Gerald.”

“Nothing good about it, Clarissa. I haven’t been able to have a cup of tea or boil my morning egg. What’s going on? I thought you lot could run this country properly! Seems like we’re going back in time what with this power cut. It’s not 1973 you know, Clarissa.”

Clarissa sighs. Fending off accusations about how the civil service and the government were running the country into the ground was almost a daily occurrence. She was thick-skinned—you had to be in her line of work—but it could be wearing.

“I’m not sure what’s happened to be honest with you Gerald. It’s not really my department.”

“Well, you’re in charge of the finances aren’t you?”

“Well …,” she’s loathe to get into a discussion about her work with Gerald.

“Is it part of the austerity measures?”

“I haven’t had a cup of tea either, nor anything warm to eat,” she replies ignoring his comments.

“Oh,” he replies a little taken aback. “Well, what on earth is the electricity doing off for so long for? Are the French holding us to ransom? Is that what it is? Cutting off our supplies?”

“No, I-”

“The Russians did it you know—a few years ago—they cut off the gas supplies to the Ukraine. Blasted government selling off our utilities to the frogs! It’s not what we fought for.” He turns away with a look of disgust and shuffles back through his door, the soles of his slippers shuffling against the stone of the steps then tiles of his hallway.

“Ignore him, Mum,” Stella says laying her hand on Clarissa’s shoulder.

“I will,” Clarissa agrees thankful for her daughter’s calming presence.

“He’s wrong though, isn’t he? They’ve not cut the electric off have they?”

“I doubt it, Stella.”

“Then it must have been the solar storm last night.”

“I’m starting to think you’re right. We’ll find out once we get to the office. Come on.”

Clarissa takes the remaining steps with a light foot and walks briskly to the end of the road.

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