wormwood, pt. 12

Winston frequently wondered why he put up with Rosalind. She had no right to tell him to just shut up and stay put. The news was trickling in and it was not good--he could be helping. He could do something. Of course, on the other hand, the roads were closed. He thought that maybe it had something to do with assessing damage, but if that's what was going on, it seemed off. There were no road crews, as such--or rather, they had come and left.

These were blockades manned by some police and some officials who didn't say much. And the police weren't being too friendly to questioning.

But Winston always had a plan, and when he didn't he always did his research. In this particular situation he had a plan to get back to the city--that much, he was certain, would be easy. He did not know what was going on with the roads, though, and that was more important. Rosalind didn't do research. She could get herself in serious trouble.

He took up shelter in the library and started doing research--it seemed to be the place where a lot of the townsfolk whose homes had been damaged were sheltering, as well. He didn't notice the storm outside, because he had more important things to worry about. Then the lights started flickering and the wind started howling, and he started trying to hurry. By the time he heard the first thunder, he made sure his laptop was plugged in and started trying to save everything.

Then the lights went out and, despite being early afternoon, it went pitch black in the library. There was a moment of silence, then someone screamed, and the panic began.