PKOTA) Chapter 2 Part 2 (Patreon)

The basement was like heaven on earth. It was the perfect temperature. Not too cold or too hot. Right around seventy degrees. It was morning, and I sat on the couch in the living area and watched the news once more. “They just keep repeating the same things…”

“Jade you should look at social media as well. On IG and Birdie, there are many people posting things.” Momo made a good point: if you want real news half the time, it was best to check social media since people would record this stuff.

I picked up my phone and signed into my Birdie account first. There were thousands of videos from all over the world already posted, and many of them were quite grim. Bodies lying in the street. Not many, just a few here and there, seemingly elderly from what I can see. Most likely dying from heat exhaustion.

It was a sight that was hard to watch. The person who was videotaping it was sobbing. It was a young woman who said she had already called 911, but the line was busy. She couldn’t get through. This meant no one was going to be coming to pick these bodies up for a long time.

“This is just too much…” I couldn’t help but frown as I scrolled through the feed only to stop on a video that showed something weird. “What is this? 3D slime?”

“What do you mean?” Momo leaned against me and looked at my phone. “Ah right! I have been seeing those too. There is more than just these slime but stray cats and dogs with different mutations.”

“That seems kind of strange. Are you sure it’s not 3D?” I couldn’t help but ask once more. I mean, it was hard to tell nowadays what was real and what wasn’t.

“I am not sure. It is hard to say.” It seemed Momo agreed with me on this point.

At any rate, the temps are supposed to be a hundred and ten today and then a hundred and thirty tomorrow. I was now using the game room to train my swordsmanship. I could do it at night but it was just much cooler down here. Plus, there were plenty of rooms down here to train in. I might not be able to do certain moves due to the low ceilings I could at least swing my sword around quite easily.

“Momo! Jade! We are here!” Momo’s mother called down to us. I heard the door open and footsteps moving down the stairs. Momo’s mother’s name was Claire, and her father’s name was Hank, but he preferred to be called Han. Something about the name Hank irked him. But from what Momo tells me, any time her mother is mad at her father she will always call him Hank. They both had black hair like Momo and luckily, Momo got her looks from her mom.

Claire was a beauty. She was in her late thirties but still looked around twenty years old. It made me wonder if I will still look that good when I reach her age.

“Mom! How are you doing?” Momo quickly jumped up and ran over to her parents and checked them over. I won’t say I didn’t feel slightly jealous because I did. I missed my parents as well, but they are now gone.

“You are over reacting! We only walked next door!” Claire pushed her daughter away and walked over to me. “Where should we put our things? We have two coolers and a few bags of dry food.”

“For dry food can go in the storage room at the end of the hall. Cold food can go in the fridge down stairs or upstairs. As for your room, besides the play room I use for training the others are open. Each one is furnished with bedding. We only have around two years of food stock so while it will not be easy we will need to go out and check for rations at some point if things do not change by then.” My weird, paranoid side was chowing again, but I did not care. I had a feeling things were not as simple as they say on the news.

“I think for the first time since this all started that you might be right.” Claire sighed as she looked at the new broadcast I had on mute. It was showing the weather for the next ten days and well. It was not looking good.

“I brought some wood I had stocked up for some things and will be boarding up the house later. You father had meant to put a steal door at the top but never did. Boarded windows and doors will help keep the place secure. Since going out is impossible the next few days, there is no need to worry about leaving the house for the time being. Claire and I talked about it and we both feel something is off with the weather. We just wish we had the foresight as you did.” Hank smiled bitterly. He seemed to be kicking himself. But to be honest, I think my thought process was a little too over the top sometimes as well.

“I will help you with boarding things up. But we do need to be able to take down the back door one if anyone dares to touch my solar panels out back.” I did not know if anyone would try to steal my new solar panels.

“We can figure something out. Momo, you will help as well.” Hank gave Momo a look. I watched as my best friend ran over to me and hugged my arm. “Of course! How can I let Jade do all the work when she is letting us stay here?”

Hank nodded in approval as he said: “It’s good you.”