Vanessa

Tuesday, April 19th, 2022 (Four weeks after the Shutdown)

“Vanessa, be a gal and hand me the flashlight,” Mitchell, her appointed “work partner”, said to her from under the scaffolds.

Handing it over, she looked out the window. In the weeks since the explosion, a peculiar fervor had taken hold of the community.

Despite the initial tension between the neighboring buildings on the block, strangers who’d never spoken to one another before Armageddon walked alongside each other like they’d been friends their whole lives.

The entire block had adopted the chores list that the West Wind Apartments had initiated, so beneath her on the street, Vanessa saw men and women alike working on the growing community.

Since the night of the explosion, an unspoken consensus had been reached and Mr. Morrison, who was the owner of the West Wind Apartments, had taken over as leader. How he dealt with the explosion and its aftermath must’ve impressed people; cleaning up the bodies and holding public funerals for those who died.

Even the leaders of the surrounding buildings like Trent from the Braun City Apartments had wordlessly followed him. The few who protested were overridden by the majority.

“Alright, I think we’re done here for today. Let’s head downstairs and get some grub in us,” Mitchell said, unstrapping his headlight.

“Yeah, sure,” she replied in a distant voice, her attention still on the street outside.

Looking back at her, he raised an eyebrow. “You okay? You seem out of it.”

Blinking at the sound of her name, she turned to him, taking in his look of concern. Smiling, she shook her head. “Sorry, I was lost in thought.”

“You wanna talk about it?” he asked, walking downstairs.

His hand tightened around the railing; a necessary precaution since the explosion destabilized much of the building. The West Wind Apartments had become a death trap. Yet the residents, including her, were too stubborn to leave it. There was nowhere else for them to go..

“No, it’s fine. There’s nothing to talk about.”

“You sure?” he queried. Turning around, his deep-set eyes studied her before turning back. “Yeah, you’re sure.”

Watching him leave, Vanessa let herself become absorbed in her thoughts again.

Back when the explosion happened, another incident happened around the corner at a Braun City Apartment depot – a safe house where they were storing many of their resources. It had been a bloodbath and supplies were stolen but with everyone's attention on the West Wind explosion, not many details were known about it.

The only mention of the robbery was heard in a council meeting after Trent threatened to leave their fledgling union if an investigation wasn’t launched. Morrison eventually talked him into waiting, but a few of his people who lost family left the meeting, fuming.

Weirdly enough, the deaths had united the communities, tying the apartments and other buildings through their common loss.

Descending into the lobby, Mitchell told her that he would sign them in and meet back up at dinner. Nodding as he turned to leave, she looked around her.

The lobby had undergone a major transformation since the explosion to become an impromptu greenhouse.

They weren’t the only ones. With Morrison taking charge, similar projects had been initiated across the block. They were finally growing self-sufficient.

Which introduced another development in the community.

The sudden collapse of society and the loss of electricity had thrown people into a panic. Now, with time to organize, Morrison and the rest of the new council began dividing people by profession.

People who were formerly carpenters or worked in construction helped raise walls around the area containing the three apartments, using scrap material or whatever they could pull from the debris of the surrounding buildings. Others had been spared for the restoration of the West Wind Apartments and the nearby buildings that had been damaged.

Social workers, plumbers, mechanics, restaurant owners, dozens of college students, and the bulk remainder of people had been dispensed wherever they could be – scavenging, restoring, and hunting.

Those who weren’t strong enough to join them were put in charge of the community meals. Growing nauseous at the thought of the meals, Vanessa walked past others as they punched in their work for today.

That was another brainchild of the council. With little to no value for money, the only incentive for people to work was the promise of food and water.

So with each task they finished, people were given a token they could trade in for food.

In less than a day, Vanessa was struggling to catch up with others who’d been running around taking every odd job available. Muttering curses under her breath, Vanessa set out to complete the rest of her assignments before the dinner bell.

***

Dinner had been an uneventful event as always. Glumly staring at the bowl of stew, she poked at the bits of mystery meat floating on the top, watching them swim in a thin film of oil.

Sipping her bottle of water, she sat beside Aaliyah and they did their best to distract themselves from their stale dinner by sharing gossip from their day. It was peaceful and it was a stark contrast to the initial days of Armageddon.

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There was no longer a fear of hunger as long as you did your share. But that’s all it was. Everything in her life had become as bland as the food she ate.

She felt needed, like she had a purpose when they weren’t a part of the Coalition. For example, if she didn’t bring batteries back, well shit… someone wouldn’t get light in their room. With hundreds of them, there was always someone to pick up the slack if she couldn’t do it.

It makes everything… strangely boring.

The only thing for her to look forward to was the upcoming council meeting.

Everyone within the community took turns sitting on the council like it was jury duty. Knowing about the procedure ahead of time from Maurice, she walked down the street to the building and found a place at the edge of the room.

Based on the low ceilings and cheap decor, before this place had been refitted to host meetings it was another one of the value marts or shops that lined the street. A large table had been placed in the center and a short while after she arrived, the council members began to take their seats.

There were 20 of them in total, each with a different role. Food, security, defense, structural management, and social well-being were a few of the categories that were accounted for. And at the head sat Morrison, Trent, and Lachlan — the trio of apartment leaders.

Raising his hand to get everyone’s attention, Morrison started. “Well, ladies and gentlemen, I think everyone should be here aside from Nadine whose team is staying back to work on the walls.”

“There’s always something wrong with the walls,” complained a man Vanessa had never seen before.

A wave of agreement met his remarks.

The walls they’d installed outside were growing higher every day, bolstered by metal sheets, pieces of timber, and duck tape.

Memories of the explosion at West Wind Apartments were still fresh in everyone’s minds and the only thing protecting them against another incursion was that wall.

Noticing the heavy silence, Morrison quickly stepped in. “We’re discussing putting in guard towers near some of the walls, so she’s getting a… uh, a trial run ready for tomorrow. I hope that soothes any concerns you might have.”

“For those attending the weekly meeting for the first time, I’d like to extend a hand to you all and say welcome. Thank you for sparing some of your time to participate. As ground rules, your participation is limited to voting so please refrain from interrupting and asking questions unless the floor is opened to you. Can everyone raise their hand so I know that you’ve understood.”

Around the room, everyone raised their hands.

“Alright, we’ll start with the debriefs.”

Each section went around the table giving a recap of what they accomplished that week and their plans for the next.

Weary from the day’s work, Vanessa started nodding off when Morrison suddenly stood up to address the people sitting on the outside of the room.

“That is a wrap on the debriefs. Thank you for your patience. If you have any questions, now is the time to ask them.”

Half of the hands in the room went up.

“Oh, well this will take a while,” Morrison heartily chuckled and many joined him.

Some of the questions were things they’d already answered in the debriefs and the heads of the department had to clarify what they said. Other “questions” were comments about things the jury members noticed and brought to the attention of the council members.

Doing her best to absorb as much information so she could share it with her floor later, she forgot that she was raising her hand.

When it got around to her, there was an awkward pause as Vanessa furiously thought of what to ask.

“Uh… how l-long will the food uh… last?” she asked.

Immediately, everyone turned to face her. Should I have not asked that?

“... Well, Oscar, that's your department. Do you want to answer that?” Lachlan, the leader of the Greenwich Apartments, prompted.

Raising his head, the Asian man raised his head and noticed everyone staring at him. Sighing, he deliberated, “Maybe enough for another week or so.”

It was like a pool of piranhas had descended upon the table. Shouts of outrage and alarm echoed around her as people started to rise from their seats.

“Oi! Everyone calm down! Right, it’s not the end of the world guys. I’ve already discussed this with the scouting team, and we’ve agreed to increase the area of our sweeps, meaning we’ll be able to bring in more food very soon,” Oscar yelled over the ruckus.

It took a few more times of him repeating that for everyone to finally sit down and listen.

Everything was rushed after that point. Some questions were deflected while others were outright avoided.

A growing vexation rose amongst the jury members but Morrison stepped in and did his best to dispel it. Yet as they left the meeting room later in the night, Vanessa realized she’d been left with more questions than answers.

As people filed past her, Vanessa looked up at the night sky.

The stars are out tonight. Without any light, everything seems so much prettier.

“Oh, you’re the one that asked the food question, right? Vanessa was it?” a voice beside her called out, making her flinch.

Even with his face obscured by the shadows, Vanessa could tell who it was. Lachlan was standing right behind her, following her gaze up the stars. “They’re beautiful, aren’t they.”

Raising her eyebrow at the uninvited conversation, she replied, “Yeah… Sorry, did you want something?”

“Mmmm…” he hummed, staring at her profile in the faint light from the building. “I just wanted to say, be careful of what you say.”

“... Is that a threat?”

“What? No! I’m just saying that everyone is tense and all, so if it is a real concern, think before you talk. A few wrong words and we’ll be in hot soup,” he reasoned.

Crack. Crack.

The sound of ice shattering stopped Lachlan from continuing.

The whites of his eyes widened and Vanessa thought she heard him whimper.

Looking back up, the night sky had completely changed from what it was a few moments ago. A riot of colors swept across, blocking the stars from view.

What the fu—

Like a sea of color, waves twisted and turned, basking the street in greens and blues.

Lachlan fell to his knees.

Turning away from the light show in the sky, she saw thin beads of sweat covering his face. What’s his problem?

“What's wrong? It’s the Aurora Borealis, it's a natural phenomenon.”

“No… it’s worse. It's so much worse than that…”

Green, reds, yellows, and blues now covered every corner of the night sky. People started to spill into the street, brought out by the surprise. A course of laughter rose from the sparse group of children that lived in the community.

Affected by their mirth, adults began whooping and cheering at the sight. After days of tension, Vanessa wanted to join them but something was holding her back.

Lachlan had fallen on the pavement, shivering though it was nearly summer. Over the growing noise from the crowd, all Vanessa could hear were three words.

“Not again, please.”