The Blackout Read Online Free Page B

rooms downstairs and ten up here, so just hold the fort for maybe an hour tops, OK?”
    She nodded her head.  “OK,” Molly said.  She squeezed Cindy’s arm for reassurance. 
    Molly went back into the hall to face her own class.  They were buzzing with the possibilities of what such an outage could mean, but they were not nearly as troublesome as Cindy’s group. 
    “Alright,” Molly said, getting their attention.  “Dr. Longman is giving it about twenty minutes to come back.  If it doesn’t, he’s going to let you guys go, but one classroom at a time.  Since we’re on the far end of the building we might be waiting for a bit.  So sit tight.”
    A collective sigh rang out.  “So, what do you want to do?  Would you like to continue our discussion or just talk among yourselves?”  Molly asked.
    “I want to know what’s happening.”  Several voices sprang up in agreement.
    “Well, yeah.  So do I.  But I’m not omniscient, so I can’t help you there.  I couldn’t even begin to speculate what could cause the power to go out, as well as zap your phones, and seemingly my lap top – which I’m none too pleased about, by the way.”
    “Why?  Don’t you think it’ll come back?”  The student who asked sounded frightened. 
    “Oh, well yeah, it’ll come back.  I’m just hoping the surge didn’t fry anything.  I mean, if nothing else, I’ll get a brand new computer, but there were a few things I hadn’t had time to back up yet, so I’ll be a little peeved if that’s how it plays out.”
    “Do you think our phones will come back?”
    “Well, I don’t know.  I imagine since it’s such a widespread issue at the minimum the phone companies might provide you with replacements.  Might bankrupt them though.  Who knows.  It’s hard to speculate without knowing the cause of it.”
    One student in the middle of the classroom piped up.  “I saw on CNN this morning a thing about a catastrophic solar flare.  I bet it happened.  And I’ll bet the power doesn’t come back on in twenty minutes, or twenty days.” 
    The words “twenty days” echoed around the room, weighing heavily on the occupants. 
    Molly cleared her throat.  “Now, now, they’re always saying sensational things like that on TV.  I’m sure it’s not that serious.”  She made eye contact with one of the more panic-stricken students.  “Everything will be fine.”  
    The discussion went on like that for the next hour and a half.  One student proposed that it was a terrorist attack, that someone had sent out a signal that disabled all electronic devices, but that didn’t really explain why the lights went out.  Another student thought the surge was so dramatic that it disabled nearby electronics.  But other students debunked that theory, saying they would’ve heard or felt something if that was the case. 
    Just then, Terry poked his head in.  “Dr. Longman.  What’s the good word?”  Molly asked.
    “You guys can go now, but I want a slow and orderly departure, OK?  One girl already fell on the stairs and may have hurt her ankle pretty bad.  We’re still trying to figure out how to get help here.  So get yourselves home safely, OK?”
    One student brought up something Molly hadn’t thought of.  “Dr. Longman?  What about tomorrow?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “What do we do if the power’s still out?”
    “It won’t be,” he said firmly.
     
    After all the kids cleared out, Molly went to her office to try and call Gary from the landline, but the phone wouldn’t come on.  It was a cordless with an answering machine that she had bought herself.  She couldn’t remember what kind of phone Cindy had in her office; if it was one the school had issued, or one she’d brought in.  Molly decided to take a chance and see if Cindy was there.  Of course, she wasn’t.  Molly walked to Cindy’s room and it was empty as well.  Molly was surprised Cindy had left without saying anything,