The Overgrowth

Chapter 5: The Next Morning...

"Dad, wake up!" Chelsea woke me up. "Uncle Jason...he's arguing with someone outside!" It was two o'clock in the morning. I put on my coat and went outside. The snow had stopped falling.

"...Dammit you can't have any of our food! Just leave!" Jason yelled. The strange man pulled out a gun and aimed it at us.

"Jason, just give him some," I said.

"No. I worked hard for this, I'm not gonna give it to some stranger," he replied.

"What? You just picked it up off the floor," I laughed.

"Fine. Give him the cereal." The strange man accepted it and ran off. Jason threw an angry look my way and walked back into the house. I went back to sleep.

The morning was crisp. The smell of bacon permeated the air. Marie was back.

"Ethan, you're awake. Good. Now come get your breakfast," she said. I got up to see that she was hurt.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I was up all night helping to evacuate people in a blizzard. What do you think happened?" she replied.

"Well, are you ok?" I asked.

"Yes, don't worry about me. I'll manage."

"Ok...did you hear about the explosion in Brooklyn?" I asked.

"Yeah, the military thought that if they released a little gas into the air, it would melt the snow," she said.

"The military, huh? Figures."

"Yeah, one military scientist said he's made a substance to melt snow. He wants to release it into the air soon. Just this once. We should eat." The power was back on and Chelsea was watching the news with Jason and his wife, Amber.

"Hey, Amb. I didn't see you last night.

"Yeah well there is a thing called sleep. I was getting my beauty sleep."

"Beauty sleep, huh?" I laughed.

"You know what? Screw you! I don't need you to-"

"Honey, calm down. He's joking," Jason said. Amber and I had never liked each other. The day that we first met, she told me she didn't trust me. I ate my breakfast and went outside.