Haven (on hold)

6

"Everyone of us needs to show how much we care for each other and, in the process, care for ourselves."
-Diana, Princess of Wales

~Aurora's Pov~

We all got blood drawn by a man named Dr. Jenner, it was the only way he let us stay. He gave us food, rooms, we were able to take showers with warm water for the first time since this all went down. I walked out of the restroom fresh out of the shower to see my mom sitting on the couch. I looked around and noticed neither Carl or my dad were here, it was just her. "We need to talk baby.." She said softly. I shook my head, "No we don't, I'm sorry." I said, She kept looking at me. "What?" She asked, confused by my response. "Shane told us dad was dead.. We all believed he was dead. I understand why he said it now.. He wanted you." I said tossing the towel I was using to dry my hair on the cot I was going to be sleeping on tonight. She nodded, "I already talked to him, he's not coming anywhere near you or Carl. Okay?" She asked. I nodded, "Good.." I said softly as I looked at her.

"Does dad know?" I asked. She shook her head, "No, he doesn't." She said standing up. "And i'm asking you to please keep this to yourself." She said standing up. She walked over to me and put her hands together, bringing her hands up to her mouth for a second then she held my hands. "Please, baby. I'll talk to him when the time is right. And I will tell him everything. But I need time. Do you understand?" She asked. "It was more than kissing wasn't it?" I asked looking at her. She kept looking at me, not knowing what to say. "I've seen you two go to the woods sometimes mom. I'm not blind. I just wasn't sure about it until I saw you two kissing in the tent. So I'm asking you again, was it more than just kissing.?" I asked.

"Yes." She said. I nodded a bit as I pulled away from her. "You need to tell him mom. And I mean really tell him. He'll understand, I know he will." I said running my hand through my wet hair, untangling it. I turned back to her. "What if he doesn't?" She asked, I saw tears appear in her eyes. "Mom c'mon.." i said softly and went back to her. "I understood, dad will too. He was basically manipulating you." I said holding her hands. "Carl and I were convinced that dad was dead because of him. He'll understand, okay? But promise me you'll tell him. He needs to know." I said. She sniffled and nodded, "I will." She said. I nodded a bit too. "Okay, good." I said softly and pulled away, she wiped under her eyes. "Where's dad now?" I asked. "I'm not sure, Carl's in the rec room with Sophia and Carol." She said, wiping her nose.

"I was gonna go right now, do you wanna come?" She asked. I shook my head. "No it's okay, I'm tired.. I wanna sleep if that's okay.." I said. She nodded, "Yeah." She said and reached out. She pulled me in for a hug, I hugged her back. "Goodnight baby." She said and kissed my head, "Goodnight mom." I said softly. We pulled away and she walked out of the room. I grabbed the wet towel from my cot and hung it on a chair then laid down going to sleep.

~The next day~

"Mom? Something wrong?" Carl asked. I looked up from the book I was reading to see mom waving her hand at the vent above us. "Uh, nothin' it's just the Air Conditioning stopped." She said looking back at us. The lights in the room suddenly went off and Carl pushed his books aside quickly. Mom went to the door and Carl got up, going to her. I put my book down too and got up, heading over to them. I looked out to see everyone else out of their rooms too. We saw Jenner walking down the hall in a white lab coat. "Why is the air off?" Mom asked. "And the lights in our room?" Carol asked as she followed Jenner. "What's going on? Why's everything turned off?" Daryl asked, popping out of his room with a bottle of alcohol in his hand.

Jenner took it from his hand as he walked by him. We all started following him. "Energy use is being prioritized." He said as he kept walking down the hall. "Air isn't a priority? And lights?" Dale asked. "It's not up to me. Zone 5 is shutting itself down." Jenner said, mid sentence the lights in the hall went out too. "Hey! Hey! What the hell does that mean?!" Daryl called out, pushing by everyone to get to Jenner. "Hey man, I'm talkin' to you." he said after Jenner ignored his question. "What do you mean it's shutting itself down? How can a buildin' do anything?!" Daryl asked again. "You'd be surprised," Jenner finally spoke.

"Rick?" Mom called out, we looked down to see Dad, Glenn, T-Dog and Shane running in the room from the lower level. We all went downstairs. "Jenner, what's happening?" Dad commanded the doctor. "The system is dropping all nonessential uses of power." Jenner said, Dad looked at us and held his arm out slightly for a second. "Designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. That started as we approached the half hour mark. Right on schedule." Jenner said pointing at a big red digital clock on the wall,

00:31:28

He handed the bottle back to Daryl who took it back roughly, some of the alcohol spilling on the floor. "It was the French." He said suddenly while looking at Andrea before making his way up the stairs to where all the computers were. "What?" Andrea asked. "They were the last ones that held out as far as I know, while our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs till the end. They thought they were close to a solution." He explained. We all looked at him confused. "What happened?" Jacqui asked nervously. "The same thing that's happening here. No power grid, ran out of juice." He said and walked again. "The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?" He said and turned around, walking to the computers. "Let me tell you-"

"To hell with it Shane. I don't even care." Dad cut him off and stopped him before he got to Jenner. He looked back at us. "Lori, grab our things. Everybody get your stuff. We're getting out of here. Now!" Dad said. I jumped at the sound of a loud alarm going off, followed by red lights. "What's that?!" Carl asked holding on to mom's hand.

I went up to dad and he put a hand on my back then the back of my head. "30 minutes to decontamination." the computer spoke. "Dad?" I asked, starting to get scared. I held his hand and we walked. "Doc, what's goin' on here doc?!" T-Dog called out. "Everybody, Y'all heard Rick! Get our stuff and let's go! Go now! Go!" Shane called out looking at everyone. Dad pulled me and we headed towards The exit but a silver door slid up, blocking us. "Wh-" I gasped as my heart dropped. "Did you just lock us in? You just locked us in!" Glenn called out. "Dad?" I asked as my voice shook. "No- no. It's okay." He said putting his hands on my arms. "Mom!" Carl called out scared too. "You son of a bitch! You locked us in here!" Daryl yelled and went after Dr. Jenner.

Word Count:1295