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Because Darwin wasn’t already isolated enough, we’d just lost all communication with the outside world.
I went to the door, almost hesitant to open it, but the silence on the other side gave me false hope.
I was expecting the wind to grab the door and I gripped it hard... only to find the world outside was calm and quiet. Hell, there was even a peek of blue sky.
“What the fuck,” I said.
It didn’t seem possible. Like I’d opened the door and walked on to the wrong movie set.
If it weren’t for the state of the yard, the water, the mud, the debris, branches, part of someone’s roof, I’d think maybe we imagined the whole terrifying thing.
I peered around the balcony, surprised to see the Jeep still there. The canopy was torn and hanging by two clips, there was a branch in it, and it looked like it had been towed out of a swamp, but it was still there.
I went down the steps, past the Jeep, and around to the back of the building. There was more debris at the rear of the yard, more roofing iron, a tarp, the plastic parts to a child’s playhouse. The kind Zoe’s kids had...
And the small concrete slab against the back wall by the ladder was still there, where the generator used to be.
The generator was just gone.
A rusted metal bolt stuck out of the concrete, bent and stripped bare.
Jesus.
I climbed a few rungs of the ladder, which was more rickety than it had been yesterday. I got up high enough to see the roof and didn’t need to see anymore. All the ariels and antennas, gone. The satellite was twisted on its side, the bracket that once fastened it, now bent with screws facing up.
But by some miracle, the roofing iron looked secure. Nothing lifted or bent, nothing likely to become a liability once the second half of the storm hit.
I jumped back down, squelching into the mud as I trudged around the other side of the building. All the window boards I’d put up looked to be holding, and as I got to the front of the building, I noticed someone across the street standing out the front of their house. An elderly man, lookin’ a little lost.
I walked toward him, talking through the fence. “You okay? How you holdin’ up?”
He gave a shaky nod and gestured around. “House’s okay, I think. Is it all over?”
“No. This is just the eye. Still got the backend to go yet. You should go back inside.”
He grimaced. “Better go check on Jean and Michael,” he said, going towards the house next door.
“Don’t stay out long,” I said, but he didn’t say anything, just kept walkin’.
I trudged through the mud, back up the stairs, and inside. Jeremiah’s phone torch was the only source of light and it took my eyes a second to adjust. “The generator’s gone,” I said.
Doreen’s eyes flashed in the dark as she stood up straight. “What do you mean gone?”
“I mean no longer there. Just one bent and rusted bolt stickin’ up where it used to be.”
She grunted. “Fuck.”
“And the roof,” I said. “Antennas are all out. Satellite’s still there, but it’s blown over and hanging on by a screw or two.”
Both Jeremiah and Doreen turned to the one and only working radar. “This old thing is still working,” Jeremiah said. “That means there’s one radio tower still operational.”
“It bounces off the Coastal Radio Service,” Doreen said. “But it’s east of here.” Jeremiah’s gaze cut to hers, like that was bad news, and she gave a nod. “We won’t have it for long.”
“I’ll try and fix the satellite,” I offered, going to the shelf where I’d put the drill... the drill that needed power.
Fuck.
“Is there a screwdriver anywhere?” I asked.
