Survivors of the Sun Read online

  SURVIVORS OF THE SUN

  Mia Kingslie

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  EMPs, however, are not fiction.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying without written permission of the publisher or author. The exception would be in the case of brief quotations embodied in the critical articles or reviews and pages where permission is specifically granted by the publisher or author.

  Survivors of the Sun by Mia Kingslie

  © 2018 by Mia Kingslie. All rights reserved.

  “One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure.”

  William Feather

  In loving memory

  of

  Pippi

  SURVIVORS OF THE SUN

  Mia Kingslie

  Chapter One

  July 11, Day 1

  Afterwards Georgia did not remember, if that morning in July, had been any different from the start of any other day. She did not recall if the sun had seemed a little too bright, or if the color of the sunshine was a little off. While others later commented that there had been a sort of greenish tinge to the air, she could only say that she had not noticed it, but she did agree that it had been unusually warm. Her memories were of a morning only a little more chaotic than normal, the three Boston terriers getting underfoot in the kitchen as usual, hopeful of titbits being dropped on the floor.

  She had breakfasted with the kids as Nathan rushed off early, taking his half full cup of coffee with him, muttering something about having an early appointment at the law firm where he worked. Jamie and Rebecca had paused in their argument over computer times, only long enough to call out ‘bye Dad’, and ‘See you in two weeks.’ This last comment a reminder to Georgia that their mum, Nathan’s ex, would be arriving at five to pick them up. ‘Oh the joys of blended families,’ she thought to herself, rolling her eyes as she tipped cereal into her bowl.

  Then breakfast was over. Jamie had apparently won the computer time argument, and Rebecca had gone to sulk in her room, as only a thirteen year old could. Possibly to read, but more likely to ring her homeschool friend, Lexie (her BFF), and lament at the unfairness of her life, her younger brother and how awful it was to have a stepmother who didn’t understand.

  Gradually peace descended upon the house once more. The dogs had settled into a patch of sunlight in the lounge and Georgia went down into the renovated basement and unlocked the door to the calmness of her workshop. First thing she did was turn on the music, closing her eyes for a brief moment as the soft lilting tones of Celtic music filled her sanctuary, then she crouched down to unlock the safe and start her work day. The walls were decorated with charts of gemstones, sketches of rings, jewelry design awards she had won, and a scattering of postcards from friends back home in Australia.

  She had flown to the States five years earlier to take care of Elsie, a terminally ill aunt, inheriting Millie and Badger, her two Boston terriers after her death, and meeting lawyer Nathan at the reading of the will. Later he had asked her out, they had fallen in love, and here she was, wife to Nathan Phillips, part time stepmom to his children, and full time, working from home manufacturing jeweler.

  Her cell phone, still on vibrate, started jumping and bouncing along the workbench surface, Her sister-in-law’s photo flashing up at her as she picked it up.

  ‘Hey Maggie, what’s up?’

  ‘Sorry but I’m running late, traffic is terrible.’

  ‘Running late for?’ Georgia asked, somewhat confused. What did Maggie running late have to do with her?

  ‘For the dentist, oh for goodness sake, didn’t Nathan tell you?’

  ‘Tell me what?’ Nathan didn’t tell her everything.

  ‘That I have a double appointment with the dentist this afternoon, and as I have Deedee this week I am dropping her off at your house. I’m ten minutes away.’ There was a distant sound of honking, and an expletive from Maggie that Georgia didn’t think was aimed at her, but she wasn’t sure. ‘Just meet me at the bottom of your drive,’ Maggie continued, ‘I don’t have time to…,’ the rest was lost as another horn sounded through the receiver, this time much louder and more insistent. Then the call was dropped.

  ‘Oh hell no,’ Georgia thought, the last thing she wanted to do today was mind Maggie’s spoilt precocious ill-mannered eight year old step daughter. She would call her straight back and stop her coming. Yes, that is what she would do. She snatched up the phone and then thought the better of it. Maggie was obviously driving, and not in a position to be answering calls.

  Instead she rang Nathan. ‘Did you know about Deedee coming round,’ she asked as soon as he answered.

  There was a momentary silence, then clearly not understanding that she was irritated, he chuckled. ‘Oh right Babe, yes, I knew there was something I had forgotten to tell you. At least you know now. Is she there yet?’

  ‘No, not yet, but you know I can’t be looking after Deedee, I have work to do and….’

  ‘I know Babe,’ Nathan interrupted, still sounding amused, ‘but you know how I find it hard to say no to my sister, and you’re at home anyway with Jamie and Rebecca.’

  ‘Well yes,’ Georgia thought, ‘I am at home anyway, but I am working and I cannot work if I have to watch that brat.’ Aloud she said, ‘I guess it will be okay.’

  ‘That’s great Babe, anyway, I have to go, I have another meeting, see you tonight, love you.’

  ‘Love you more,’ Georgia replied, before realizing Nathan had already hung up. Well there was nothing for it now, but to go and wait for Maggie and Deedee. It was only a few moments before Maggie arrived with a screeching of brakes, slewing gravel as she slid to a halt. The engine still running, Dee-Dee leapt out of the car, slamming the door onto something Maggie was saying. Then she skipped past Georgia without a word of greeting and headed up the drive to the house.

  Maggie wound down her window, seemingly unfazed by Deedee’s behavior. ‘I’ll be back at six,’ she said as she slid the car back into gear.

  ‘Sure, no problem, just take your time, do what you have to do. Deedee will be fine.’ But Georgia was talking to a cloud of dust, Maggie was already speeding off down the road.

  As she slowly walked back up to the house a sudden breeze leapt up. A breeze that should have been welcome on this, much too hot, hazy afternoon, but instead, it sent a chill through her as it rustled the leaves of the butterfly bush next to the steps. It was a creepy sound and looking down, she saw that goose bumps had sprung up on her bare arms. She shuddered for no reason at all and felt a deep emptiness within herself, a feeling of unease settling over her. That feeling she would remember later when they talked of the too bright sunlight, and, the sort of greenish tinge to the air, but she would not mention it. There didn’t seem any point.

  As Georgia pulled open the screen door, Ant the youngest and smallest of her Boston terriers pranced around her ankles yapping and begging to be picked up. She was no bigger than a miniature Chihuahua even though she was nearly three. Georgia swept her up, giving her a quick hug before putting her back down on the tiles and watching her scamper off.

  Only then did she become aware of Deedee standing just inside the doorway, staring imperiously at her. Arms akimbo, her spoilt bottom lip stuck out, somewhat incongruous with her so very sweet face and bouncy short curls, the way too grown up sparkly clothes, handbag, nail polish and…. Good God! Was she wearing lipstick? She was! Now Rebecca would be whining that it wasn’t fair, Deedee wa
s younger than her, and she was allowed to wear make-up. Well, she would let Nathan handle that one. Serve him right!

  Smiling brightly at Deedee, determined not to be intimidated this time, she asked, ‘so what would you like to do this afternoon?’ Then she panicked. No, that was wrong; always give a child a choice of activities, never give them carte blanche.

  Especially not one like Deedee, Georgia thought. Maggie and Brent believed in the Anti-Hierarchical Parenting Method and as a result Deedee had learnt that she could do whatever she wanted, and have whatever she wanted.

  Her room was testimony to that, crammed full of toys, designer label clothing and all the latest trends in technology. She even had her own email address, Facebook page and Instagram account. ‘Just a pity that Deedee’s ‘wants’ trod all over everyone else’s,’ Georgia thought. She had lost count of how many times Deedee had made Rebecca, or Jamie or both of them cry, despite her being several years younger.

  ‘Shall I read to you then?’ Georgia asked, when Deedee remained silent, ‘or would you like to do some coloring in?’

  ‘That’s for babies,’ Deedee said. ‘I want to go to the park, just me and Rebecca.’

  ‘Rebecca and I,’ Georgia corrected, ‘and, no you are not going to the park alone, but I am more than happy to take you all to the park if you…,’

  Deedee stamped her foot, beginning to raise her voice, ‘But I want to go just with Rebecca!’

  Georgia massaged her temple with her fingertips, feeling a headache coming on, quietly counting to ten in her mind, but before she had reached five Rebecca came to the rescue, appearing at the kitchen door with her brother, a DVD in her hands.

  ‘I have the Princess Diaries, would you like to watch it with me?’ Her voice had that half-placating half-pleading tone she always developed when she was around Deedee.

  ‘Good idea,’ Georgia said with some relief.

  ‘But that’s a girl’s movie,’ Jamie said.

  ‘Yes it is,’ Georgia agreed, ‘but you were playing on the computer, so let the girls have some T.V. time together.’ Deedee, who had been about to protest, suddenly decided that she would actually quite like to watch the movie after all.

  ‘What are you going to do?’ Jamie asked as Georgia popped the DVD into the player and turned on the T.V.

  ‘Who? Me?’ Georgia asked, looking round at him.

  ‘Yeah,’ Jamie nodded.

  ‘Well, I have a couple of ring sizings to do, would you like to come to the workshop with me?’

  ‘Yeah,’ he nodded enthusiastically. So once the girls were settled, Georgia and Jamie headed downstairs, followed closely by Ant. Jamie settled into an old rocking chair, a safe distance away from the business end of the workbench, arranging the cushions so he and Ant would be comfortable. Picking up the metal shears, Georgia began cutting tiny squares of gold solder, laying them out in readiness.

  She lit the torch and adjusted the flame and as she worked she explained what she was doing, falling silent only when the solder suddenly took and flowed gratifyingly along the joins of the gold wedding band. She turned off the flame and dropped the ring into the pickling solution, quickly placing the lid on the glass container as the liquid hissed and spat.

  She glanced over at Jamie and as she did so, the most peculiar thing happened. Actually several things happened, seemingly all at once.

  Firstly above her, somewhat muffled by the floorboards, she heard Millie and Badger whining and Ant, still on Jamie’s lap, leapt up and began howling. Then the air around them became alive with a prickling, crackling sensation and Jamie’s hair stood straight up. ‘Rather like a pissed off porcupine,’ Georgia thought, as she watched in bewildered amazement. He stared back at her, his eyes growing very round, his mouth forming a perfect ‘O’.

  Then the lights went out and they sat in total darkness as Ant’s howls echoed around the room.

  Chapter Two

  They both sat motionless and then Jamie said, ‘the bulb must have blown.’ He sounded very matter of fact.

  ‘Yes that must be…,’ Georgia did not finish what she was going to say because Rebecca and Deedee burst into the room.

  ‘The power has gone out,’ Rebecca said.

  ‘And we were just at the best part,’ Deedee added.

  ‘Not a bulb then,’ Jamie said. ‘The grid must be down.’

  Georgia smiled to herself at that, as she stood up. ‘Well, we should probably go and unplug the T.V. and the computer then, so we don’t have any problems when the power comes back on. It shouldn’t be too long.’ Hopefully, not too long, the last power outage had lasted six hours.

  Together, with a shiver of excitement at this unexpected turn of events, the kids and dogs trampled noisily back upstairs, and into the half gloom of the lounge. Georgia pulled back the drapes that the girls must have closed so they could see the T.V. more clearly. As the late afternoon sun streamed in, she was struck by the total silence outside. The usual constant background stream of traffic sounds had stopped. She stared into the street. A car appeared to have stalled half way down the road. A man was getting out of the vehicle and walking to the front. He paused, and then lifted the bonnet. The hood she reminded herself, here it is called a hood.

  Apart from the stalled car, everything looked very normal. Nevertheless, something was wrong. She felt fear grip her and chided herself. She was being stupid. It was a power failure nothing more, nothing less.

  Rebecca came and stood next to her. ‘Why is it so quiet?’ she asked, pushing her glasses up onto the bridge of her nose as she peered outside.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Georgia said.

  ‘It sure does seem real quiet,’ Deedee said, opening the window and leaning out.

  Georgia tied back the drapes. ‘I don’t think it is anything to worry about.’ It is only a power cut.

  As if in agreement with this, two squirrels, tails fluffed up, suddenly darted down the oak tree in front of the bay window and chased each other round and round the ancient gnarled trunk.

  Jamie laughed. ‘Look they are playing tag.’ The girls giggled.

  ‘Certainly looks that way,’ Georgia said, as she walked over to the computer desk. ‘Deedee you need to shut the window. Don’t want to let any of that hot air in, not with the A/C not working.’

  Surprisingly Deedee shut the window without a murmur.

  Georgia bent down to unplug the computer, glancing at the wall clock as she did so. The flip down display showed 3.18. Still early, at least another six hours of daylight before she would need to worry about candles and less than three hours before Nathan would be back.

  They played a couple of rounds of crazy eights and the power had still not come back on. Deedee lost the third time running and stood up. ‘I don’t want to play anymore, it’s a stupid game and I want to watch the movie.’

  Her voice had a whine to it that scratched at Georgia’s brain like chalk on that hateful blackboard. ‘Well, the power is still not on,’ Georgia reasoned. ‘Perhaps you would like to play a board game?’

  ‘I don’t want to!’ and as Deedee said this she stamped her foot. ‘I want to watch the movie.’

  Georgia shut her eyes, breathing deeply. ‘Okay Deedee,’ she sighed. ‘If you can work out how to watch the movie without power then please do so, if you can’t….’ Oh how stupid, she could use Nathan’s laptop. It was fully charged up, and had a DVD player. Why hadn’t she thought of that before? She opened up the laptop and carried it to the coffee table. ‘Okay girls, get the DVD and you can watch it on Dad’s computer.’

  She bent over and pressed the on button.

  ‘Um, Georgia?’

  ‘What is it Rebecca?’

  ‘I can’t get the DVD out, need power for that.’

  Agh! Why is nothing simple?

  ‘Oh, I know,’ Jamie said. ‘I know how to get it out. I need a paper clip, there should be a tiny hole and you can get it open with that.’

  Georgia looked down at the laptop. It had not turn
ed on. She pressed the ‘on’ button again, still nothing! She tried again, again nothing. ‘Odd, it had been plugged in all day; it cannot possibly have a flat battery,’ she thought.

  ‘Got it,’ Jamie said, waving the DVD triumphantly as he handed it to Georgia.

  ‘That’s great Jamie, but it seems that the laptop battery is flat and I’m sorry Deedee, but you will have to watch the movie another time.’

  ‘But you said I could watch it on the laptop.’

  That voice!

  ‘Well you can’t!’ Georgia said, a little firmer than she should have, wishing it was way past six, that Nathan was back, and that Deedee was strapped in the back seat of Maggie’s car and on her way home. She glanced over at the clock. Shouldn’t be too much longer. Then she looked again, in disbelief. The digital display still showed 3.18. The clock had stopped working as well!

  ‘Anyone seen my phone?’ she asked as she tried to remember where she had left it. Her cell phone would have the correct time.

  ‘I put it in your handbag,’ Rebecca said, ‘it’s in the kitchen.’

  In my handbag? Georgia shook her head, she wasn’t even going to ask why. She walked into the kitchen leaving the clamor of Deedee’s whining voice trailing behind her and picked up her handbag. She dug around inside and then in frustration tipped the contents out onto the counter. A couple of nickels and dimes rolled across the surface and fell to the floor. She snatched up the cell phone and press the ‘on’ button. The screen remained blank.

  ‘Shit,’ she said aloud and the word echoed round the kitchen.

  ‘You swore,’ Deedee shrilled. ‘I am going to tell my Mummy.’

  ‘Can I have this money on the floor?’ Jamie asked.

  ‘Doesn’t the phone work either?’ Rebecca asked.

  Georgia looked at the three faces staring up at her. Wow, when things started going wrong they really started going wrong. In her mind she could imagine telling Nathan, ‘then imagine, not only did the power fail, and the laptop not work, the clock stopped working, and just to end it on a perfect note, my cell was flat as well.’