Blatant LOPE Ripoff or Where is Everybody? nine

June second. Today, Vinnie and I went out together for the first time to have a drink of rum together, and away from the others. It wasn't the best experience.

I woke up to a pitch dark room with only the faint starlight to try penetrating the blackness, and that wasn't enough. I had to fumble around to find a match to strike, and with an LED keychain in me jaw. I finally managed to get it lit after a full minute, and put took the lantern handle in me mouth. Everybody was in either the den or living room, save Sweet and myself. When the others woke up, only a half hour of darkness was left, but the light of only my flame was something none of us had experienced before. We have all created a mood intentionally like this at one point or the next, but none of us have ever been in a potentially permanent power outage. Nor had this deathly silence except us twelve been creeping, and therefore just one of us being awake guarantees being alone as you can get.

I took a look at my stack of books and decided I would have to go to the bookstore or a library to find books on solar panels. And ask one of the others about installation and places where we might find one. It shouldn't be that difficult.

As I stepped into the den, Vinnie and Samantha were stacked on top of each other. I gave Vinnie a little nudge, and she snorted for a second before her eyes fluttered open. For a second she looked around then settled her beautiful green eyes on me.

"Oh, hello, Alex. Today's the day we go out to have that drink, is it?" I nodded. "Well, I hope you have a strong stomach, and plenty of solids to eat. "
"There're an abundance of dandelions growing wild everywhere. There's resilient plants like irises and roses still thriving in their owner's absence. No one has used weed and pesticide in seven days. I think there will be plenty to eat. And you can eat metal."

She shrugged. "Alright".

We took a short walk outside to the park before the break of dawn, but not without first writing a notice for the others telling them where we were going. I didn't write it by hand, but she did. With my dictation. I'm glad she's got hands.

We came to the park across the nearest major road, and ended up facing a hot, beaming sun. I brought an umbrella to walk us with, and Vinnie carried the sack full of liquor bottles. After we decided not to spread the sheet, we took cover under the natural canopy of the trees, preferably the ones with the least dead leaves. We found one near the center after I told her I'd been here many times.

Out came the bottles, and I twisted the cap off with my teeth. I'm starting to think this wasn't the wisest choice, but it was better just us two and out here rather than inside. There were some stone tables where there would usually be couples and parties occupying them. Now there were none.

Vinnie shrugged and turned her head at me with a slight grin. "So, you want to go first?" I shook my head and stated: "Both of us at once."

Vinnie uncapped her rum bottle and poured it down the hatch on the count of three, as did I. For five minutes nothing happened as I took some water to offset the effects. It tasted hot while being cool as usual, and she confirmed it too. When I bent over to pick a dandelion, I heard a belch, and was immediately struck with a sudden feeling of coolness right after a sudden influx of heat.

On reflex, I looked up to see a good portion of my coat was missing, the edge of the parts still there showing a clear sign of being singed. Miraculously, my skin didn't get burnt, but it was now subject to the early morning air, and later, the sun.

Vinnie was blushing, a hand over her mouth, head slightly turned. "I'm sorry! Are you hurt?!"

I shook my head. "Did you do that?"
She shrugged. "I think so. Suddenly, after nearly five minutes of nothingness, my gut suddenly got so hot, I felt as if somebody poured gasoline down my throat and dropped a lighted match down there! Like I was burning from the inside out. I have never felt so terrible. I'm glad we came here rather than doing it in your house. I won't ever have liquor again as long as I'm in this body. Not around anything but stone and steel structures and away from furnishings and clothing and likely people anyway. I will still have ale, beer and wine when I get it."

I took a small step backwards, then stopped myself. I lifted the box of rusted nails and told her to down the contents. She did, but quivered after taking the box from my upturned hoof.

Once we came back, it was dawn, and we felt the temperature rise into the sixties before we stepped in. There was a sound of humming and a smell of gasoline. When I looked, the generator was on. I thought about the other's future reactions when I came back in, as I could tell they were all stirring and/or wide awake. In I went, and the room was empty. The kitchen had a sound of sizzling coming out of it, and I stepped in. When I did, I predicted eyes would turn my way. I gave a swallow before entering. The Hadleys, Anthony, Sweet Stuff, and Val De Lump were all in there at the table with Pickering and Samantha at the stove frying eggs and sausage and ham. Will was in the bathroom if the sound of a toilet flushing was an indication. The little pooch was under the table resting and popped up suddenly when we stepped in. Sweet, Val, and Monica were the first ones to look up towards the kitchen door, and flinched at my sight.

"GOOD GOD, ALEX! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR COAT?" Everybody jumped at the sound of Monica's outburst, and widened their eyes when they saw me.

"Just a little accident trying to practice a campfire. Nothing serious. I just won't go outside for the next few days."

It took several minutes to get them to calm down, as they didn't buy me lie, but they didn't ask any more questions about it.

I guess my trip to the mall has to wait for two to five days until I can go out again. I'm not hurt, but my bare skin can't be exposed to the sun like this. Maybe someone else can handle this, find the hard materials and instruction manuals or other literature for powered mechanics. None of us here are experts, but we will have to train ourselves any way we can, preferably with as little trial and error as we can. I somehow think Monica, maybe Sherman will do that the best.

Speaking of which, Sherman *did* ask me what happened, to which I replied the truth... after making sure we were in the kitchen alone, and I didn't speak loudly. "Geese, Alex. How did this happen? You could have been badly hurt. Do you think it's wise to keep her around?"

"Sherm, there's only twelve of us in the entire world here for all we know. We can't afford to just cast out any of the few people we *do* find."
"Alright. Let's just hope there's not too many of her kind if there are more to be discovered.."
On an observational note, the Pekingese has been giving all of us looks of one sort or another. Her eyes don't have dark tinges in everything but the whites like most dogs do, but a strange blue. Almost like a human's eyes. Of course, weirdness lost its meaning over a week ago, so I should be used to it.

Nothing was recovered today, no surprise, but I had my fun around the house. I can't complain. Sweet Stuff gave me a look at her photo gallery on her computer, or rather, a picture she uses as her screen saver. It's a picture of her fiancé, Herbert. A handsome young man, if I do say so myself. She had a slight look of sadness. I bet she still wishes they could have tied the knot and is hoping to see him again someday. The odds don't look good, but I have me hooves crossed for her. I still have yet to see anything of her former look, or any documents with her name on them. I won't pry, though. Her privacy is her own.

I'll be back to this notebook tomorrow, Alex Chance Torrez.