The Void: Chapter 9: plenty of encounters

“Oh my god Millie! It’s you! You’re back!” It was Martha, my legal guardian since my mother disappeared, haven’t seen her in months, almost a year since I came back from the marines training camp. I was just standing there not knowing what to say, Alex was there too, Martha’s son and my legal ‘brother’. “Millie!” Alex yells as he rushes to hug probably the tightest and the hardest one I’ve had. “Okay, okay you can stop now, you’re killing me.” I say, pushing him off. I continue, “Still the same girly Alex aren’t you? Not even ‘special forces’ can change you huh?” he looks away, “so what? I’ll be who I want to be. ” “Come on guys, let’s gather at the dinner table and talk about this.” Martha cuts in.


“So you were home a whole month before I was? I thought all that tough stuff was going to take a lot longer than just a few weeks.” I ask while having dinner with finally, everybody I cared about, all three of us. “To be honest, the fancy training and all that wasn’t all that bad at all. I still have to go back after the leave for extended sessions though.” Alex answers, he was pulled from normal boot camp to some covert ops unit training of some sort, too fancy and sophisticated for me. I change the subject. “Martha, how was it for you? What did you do while we were gone?” I turned to her, I’ve also noticed something I never called her ‘mom’ in all those fourteen years I’ve been with her, and it never seemed to sound right. Nah, I should really stop thinking about this. “Pretty much everything that I usually do but minus you guys.” I interrupt, “It must’ve been so lonely though!” “Oh its fine, really is, I’ve got my own friends you know!” There was a long pause. “Man, it’s just great to be home for once.” I say “Hey, how’s Rich?” Alex asks. Oh man, Richard was a close friend of ours, I met him when I first entered the underwater district. He was also in the same marine training camp as me. But he had to stay behind though while everyone else left home for the leave.


“*sigh* Rich had to stay behind for some extended officers training thing of some sort.” I respond. “Does Allie know?” Martha replies. “Yeah, I met her before I got home at the New Moon Café.” Allie is Richard’s younger sister and tried to get into the boot camp during the district-wide draft like I did, but she was too young for enlistment. “Anyway, we should go to bed now, got some stuff to do tomorrow.” Martha says. “Alright, I’m tired let’s go.” Alex gets up and makes his way to his room. “Hey Millie,” Alex turns back at me. “Yeah?” I reply. “Good to see you back.” I smile at him “You too.”


The next morning, I see Martha cooking in the kitchen and Alex was slouching at the couch. “Any plans today?” I ask Alex, “Uh, no much to do really, you?” “Great! How about a walk to the park? Meet Allie at the café or something?” I say “sure, got nothing to do anyway, might as well have some fun.” Alex mumbles. “Hey, you mind if we go out for today?” I call to Martha. “Uh… yeah sure but be back by five-thirty!” “Alright! I’m going to change Alex, be right back.”


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As we were on our way to Allie’s café, we decided to detour to the park on the district center; I always went there when I was alone. I guess I could visit there again since I’m back. “Hey, did you call Allie yet? Said that we we’re coming?” I ask. “Oh shoot, I forgot, I’ll call her right now.” Alex gets out his phone and phones over Allie and he has a puzzled look. “What’s wrong?” I ask, “My phone’s dead, but I charged it this morning! Millie, you try.” “Mine’s too! What’s going on? Electricity went out?” I exclaim. “If it was, our phones should still be working though.” Alex explains. “Come on, let’s go see if Allies’ having the same problem.” “Let’s go” I say.


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“Allie!” Alex yells, we see her outside the café door, looking frustrated. “Hey, you guys know what’s going on? None of our coffee machines are working and the entire store went out, back-up generators aren't even working!” She tries to work her phone but like ours, it dies. “It’s happening to us too, when did it happen?” I ask. “Like twenty minutes ago? I don’t know.” “At least you’re okay.” Alex interrupts, “You think there’s a riot or something?” Alex questions. “No way, a riot couldn't possibly wide out power to every single device here.” I answer. Allie cuts in. “And it’s not just us, the whole district’s power went out it seems. And they can’t find the source of the problem!” And just then, a loud explosion goes off into the Main Gate of the district. ,