Eventually things calmed down around the property and inside the home.
Uncle Mack was tended to, and dinner was made as night descended around us.
We werenât attacked again, and no new scouting missions were sent out so the family bunkered in to prepare for the night ahead and eat the big dinner prepared.
Big in the sense that a lot of food was made, but it wasnât necessarily a feast.
All the big cooks in the family got together and made large helping of chicken soup. There was plenty of other things to cook in our pantries and freezers which all surprisingly still worked, but considering we werenât sure when weâd be able to get more food, things like soup and stew would go along away to ensure things lasted longer.
There were a lot of tough things to deal with today, but thinking about not having food in a couple days or weeks was ranked pretty high on the list of worries for me personally.
Which is why I suggested to Grandpa that we do a grocery run during the night.
And that was the current talking point in our second familial meeting. It would definitely be dangerous to run all the way to the grocery stores, and back, but at some point we would have to do something. There were no gardens growing on the compound, and who knows when the power would go out and all of our perishables wouldâ¦well perish.
Plus, there was no way we would be the only ones that had the idea of stocking up on food in the grocery store. That was literally Florida behavior 101 when a hurricane was coming.
We werenât dealing with a hurricane here, but the principle was the same, when a disaster came, make sure your stocked up on essential goods like toilet paâ¦dammit we canât run out of toilet paper.
Just as I was about to raise my hand to interrupt the meeting and remind everyone that toilet paper should be priority number one and the grocery trip was a necessity, a notification sounded.
Based on the reactions of everyone else in the room, they all got it too.
Ding!
System Integration is complete
Mana Integration is complete
There wasnât any time to even consider if those words had any deeper meaning to think about.
The ground beneath us started shaking.
First it was slow, but it didnât stay that way for too long as it picked up to the point where we could hear a massive rumbling all around us.
It was like a massive giant had grasped the planet within their grasp and began to shake it.
That was just supposed to be a random thought in my head, but in this new world of oursâ¦could there be a giant shaking the world right now?
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
âEarthquake!!! Everyone get down!!!!â
Whoever yelled that obviously didnât think it could be a giant person shaking the planet, and against my vivid fantasy imagination, I agree with them.
The earthquake continued its rumbling activity for a few more minutes before things finally settled down.
Everyone got up and after a quick scramble around the house, it was verified that all members of the family was okay.
A couple of my younger cousins were crying but theyâll be fine. The only damage of note was a few different things around the house fell over and broke, but at this point that didnât matter all that much.
Everything was mostly fine.
Until a few moments later, when the lights in the house started flickering.
We all paused as we stared up at the ceiling watching the lights flicker ominously.
And then the flickering stopped.
The lights were out.
No one had gone to check the fridge and freezer as of yet, but I didnât think there was a need to do so. The AC had turned off with the lights. The power was out.
Silence descended for a few moments then the sounds of something sparking then sputtering out could be heard.
âThat was probably the batteries for the solar panelsâ¦if those didnât work then the generators should kick in next.â
Grandpa didnât sound very confident.
And he was right to have doubt.
It didnât take long for loud sputtering noises to be heard coming from the rear of the house as the generators were trying to start, but to no avail.
I know without a doubt that it wasnât a maintenance issue with either the solar power batteries, or the generators, as everything was properly maintained. Grandpa wouldnât allow for anything less.
So either the earthquake knocked something loose on the outside, or that mana integration thing messed things up. I had a feeling I already knew the answer.
About a 30 minutes or so later, candles were lit all around the house. Over the years, Grandma had bought hundreds or thousands of candles and she never threw away a single one.
Of course, a lot them were used, but they were plenty that had never been touched and Grandpa didnât throw away a single one after she passed.
So now the entire house smelled like different sections of a candle store depending on what room you walked in.
After that was over, the grocery store run idea had a reached a point of forced necessity now. With no signs of power coming back, and all of perishables now on a timer, we simply had no choice but to go.
But of course we were met with a massive surprise when we finally exited the house for the first time since the earthquake.
All of our windows had closed shutters on them. Taking that into account and the fact our cameras no longer worked, nobody knew the state out of the compound until now.
There was massive gash running from the western wall all the way across to the eastern wall.
And It was filled with water.
The walls all around the compound were cracked in most places but nothing too damaged except for the area where it was completely destroyed and now a damn river ran through the compound from west to east.
Now If our compound looked like this, I could only imagine what happened to the rest of the area around us.
I really hope the grocery store we had in mind wasnât badly destroyed. We needed that toilet paper.
But apparently the world didnât want me to get it.
As we all took in the scene of the small river running through the property while also being geared up with our remaining guns and ammo, loud yelling could be heard coming from the front of the compound.
Shit.
Didnât need AI to tell me what was happening.
They were back.
And this time they were here in full force.
âGet back in the house!â
Everyone that had been out gawking at the river scampered back into the house at the sound of my dadâs voice.
Everyone except those of us armed with guns.
And once the first sights of the red people could be seen we brought the guns to the ready and didnât waste time squeezing the triggers.
â¦
There was only one problem.
Not a single gun had successfully fired.
No matter how much we squeezed the triggers, nothing was firing.
Now unless we just broke a record of how many guns could jam at the exact same time, then itâs quite obvious that not a single gun is going to start working anytime soon.
A dark feeling crept up my spine as scary thought made its way into my mind.
The reason why the red people backed off earlierâ¦they knew.
They fucking knew.
Fuck.