Remnie's last story.

The Fall of Tech

It was 2am. Hunter had been traveling on foot sense 9am. It was only a 5 mile distance, but he had to hide often behind dumpsters, in back yards and at one point he stood on the rungs inside a man hole waiting for these insane people to pass. He had a hikers pack on filled with basic supplies and clothes. His cellphone was rendered useless after the line cut out while he spoke with his sister. He had a small am/fm radio he was listening to via ear buds. The only station playing was an am station where the broadcaster happened to be a hobbyist with a generator. He had been reporting for hours as other H.A.M and CB operators reached out. The government was not interfering with this attack. The possibility that they either had foreknowledge of the attack or involvement had been mentioned. The man's wife asked him to sign off for now and the broadcast went to static just as Hunter had finally made it to his sister's building. The streets were empty. A few families could be spotted on their balconies grilling food on small coal or gas grills. No power. No water. No gas. He knew his sister would have already saved some water. He just hoped she wasn't over thinking herself into a wreck. Hunter fished his flashlight out of his pack and made his way up three flights of stairs where his sisters apartment was located. He had a key and let himself in. Her radio was still on. Hunter turned the static off to save the battery and noticed a candle nearly burned out in a pool of wax sitting in the middle of a plate. Remnie stirred, glanced at her brother and then groggerly at her watch. She had slept for hours. The new meds worked to well. She could smell grilling meat and pulled her hair out of the towel she slept in and into a sloppy bun. "Hey, let's try to eat somthing and you can tell me what you learned. It must of been rough to take so long." Hunter nodded and headed to the liquor cabinet. He poured a double shot of whiskey and met his sister on the porch where she lit her small gas grill and then went to her kitchen to pull some chicken and steak out. It was still cool to the touch, but she knew it wouldn't be okay much longer. Thankfully it was just her so she wasn't going to have much waste. she put some chopped veggies in a foil bag with butter and seasoning and set it on the back of the grill while she put the meat closer to the front. She had also grabbed a coke from the fridge and sipped it waiting for her brother to speak. "It's cold Rem. It's to damn cold. What did they do? They were out there destroying cell phone towers and transformers for hours. Everything is black." Hunter looked ragged. Like he had trudged his way through hell. Remnie looked at the darkened, now blood red sky thoughtfully."They excited the particles in the air, it was like they expedited damage from pollution or something. I'm not a scientist, but we've seen the sky take a red hue before. We've seen pollution make the moon look like it rusted. Your right though it is to cold for a normal October morning." She flipped the meat and stepped back a momment fishing her cigarettes and lighter out. She lit it and took Hunter's whiskey glass from him She downed it and chased the double with her coke. "Hey!" he said agitated."Whatever, there's plenty. Get the bottle and some plates while your at it." They ate well while they could, both sitting close to the grill for warmth. Dark angry purple and black clouds began to roll in as day break approached. A storm?

Remnie asked Hunter to put a couple logs in the fire place and then busied herself filling a large thermal lunch pack with ice packs from her freezer and then pushing the last of her raw chicken and fish inside. She placed it all in the back of the freezer. Luckily most of her food was canned and dried goods with just a bit of perishables. She could probably feed them for four days comfortablely, seven days uncomfortably. Who knew what the storm would bring?

Hunter cleared his throat and Remnie looked up at him with her eye brown slightly raised. "Yes?" she said wondering what was on his mind now. It was 5am and a cold wind had kicked up outside. "Rem I gotta wash up. Any idea how?" She smiled and wondered out loud "I wonder if I have water still. It's included in my rent." She walked to her kitchen sink and the tap was in fact still running. The gas was gone now..so no more stove or hot water, but still count your blessings you must she thought to herself. "How?" Was all that Hunter could muster. "Oh, right! This building has a water tower, now I wouldn't drink it right now because it's whatever is sitting up there without refilling or draining periodically..and well this water pressure feels off, but you can fill the bathroom sink and grab a wash cloth and kinda bird bathe in it." She handed her brother a candle and lighter and smiled.

Hunter washed his hair in the sink and let it drain, he then refilled the sink and washed his body quickly with the cool water.

He had brought a change of clothes and a towel to the bathroom: sweat pants, a long sleeve black T-shirt and some fresh underwear and socks. He got dressed and towel dried his dark wavy hair. After brushing his teeth he headed back to Remnie, who had now pulled her sleeping bag and pillows out and had even set his bag up as well. Everything was laid out near the fireplace. Hunter smiled and said "To bed we go kiddo." Rem laughed and retorted " Slumber party bro!" The two passed the whiskey bottle a couple more times and drifted to sleep.