Free The Sky Grew Dark (The End of the Golden Age) by E.L. Montclair Page A

how things went on the surface. We planned to wait it out in the cave for one month, not leaving for any reason, to avoid any contact with the contaminated air.
    After one month, we would send one person to scout the area and see what was going on. At the three month mark, there was a designated meeting place to inform the refugees of any further information that had been obtained.
    The plan had been to set up several areas that were stashed with supplies, but we hadn’t really had time for all that. This had happened much sooner than we expected. We only had one area prepped, and that was about eight miles away.
    We quickly stashed our supplies and proceeded to close up the door of the cave as best as we could. Ian and Joey used a large camouflage tarp and tacked it to the side of the mountain. Then they covered it with branches and dirt and snuck in under one corner. This cave had been chosen for its proximity to the ocean; we hoped contaminated air would pass by us. It was also very large, going so deep into the mountain we hadn’t yet found its end.
    The chart that the organization had made showed us how much water to bring, so we should have a sufficient amount of water to last us until the one month mark, then we could go find water. We didn’t bring wood because it wasn’t quite cool enough to require a fire, and if we all huddled together we should stay warm in the cave inside our sleeping bags.  We had brought propane and a camping cook stove to cook our food on. We had figured if we only ate one hot meal a day, and conserved the propane lantern light, we should be able to make it last six weeks.
                  Then we waited.
                  We immediately set to work, trying to make this cave into a decent living space. The opening was about five feet wide and eight feet high. The opening faced the ocean, and was positioned on the side of a mountain. A steep cliff was just above us, and the freeway several hundred feet above that. The area where we were was mostly flat, and had a steady decline until it reached the water.
                  The cave had a wide opening that went into the mountain for about twenty-five feet, then it split off into four different directions. One ended immediately, while the other three we had not explored. Living in a cave wasn’t my first choice, but obviously it was better than trying to build something out here.
    I had Seamus, who was seven and Gaiden, who was five, begin collecting any debris on the floor of the cave. Leaves, sticks, moss, and rocks, and sort and stack them against one wall. Seamus was tall for his age, and thin, and seemed to be eating everything in sight these days. He had short brown hair and hazel eyes, just like me. In fact, he looked exactly like me at that age.  He was sweet, and very smart, but didn’t talk much.
                  Gaiden was the spitting image of my husband. He had lighter brown hair and pale blue eyes. And he never stopped talking. I was concerned about him being out here and the fact that we would need to keep quiet sometimes. He argued with everything I said, always thinking he knew what was best.
    I took a deep breath and tried to focus on what needed to be done around here instead of worrying about the kids. There were a few things that needed to be taken care of right away. Namely, what we were going to do about a bathroom. We selected the arm of the tunnel that ended to designate as the place, and dug a hole about three feet deep. Every three days we covered it and dug another in that area. Problem solved. It really didn’t smell that bad.
    Another item on the list: we had brought rabbits and chickens. Since we really didn’t know how long all of this would take, we had brought them to start providing additional food in the future- meat from the rabbits, and meat and eggs from the chickens. We had them in two little dog carriers, but that wasn’t going to work after a week or so.