Daimones - Book 1 of the Daimones Trilogy. Booktrope Publishing Edition

Others?

I snapped. "I'm scared, Mary. That's why. I am scared..."

I hadn't gone nuts, but I felt we were walking a very fine line. What I had managed to do so far would not be the solution of a lifetime. I knew it.

I remembered Albert Einstein once said, "We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking, if mankind is to survive," and I thought his words were perfectly applicable to our situation. I knew I had to find out who was out there. Was I adopting a new manner of thinking? Would it allow us to survive or ruin us?

An email from anyone alive in some distant location, unable to reach us, posed me no problem at all. It was safe knowledge that others far away were struggling to survive the same way we did. Maybe we would exchange news and facts and nurture the hope that life, in some distant future, was going to be better. I was prepared for the possibility, dreamed about it even, that we'd be safe in our own bubble without external interferences.

Already, a sense of stability and safety had crept in as what we didn't know about the rest of the world couldn't harm us, could it? Now everything was different.

Mary had struck a chord. Why was I hesitating? Was that the vision I was preparing for Annah, for us? A life spent in a cocoon, pretending?

For no matter how safe it was at the time, things could become worse at any moment or at least more difficult to cope with. We would surely have to adjust to the loss of electricity, of Internet, running water, etc. We already had very little use of the phones. Could we ever adjust to being alone? And what about Annah?

We weren't going to be alive forever. One day will see our demise and what would become of Annah then? Living the rest of her life completely alone? Not the fate anyone ever had, even at the dawn of civilization. It would have been cruel. I hugged Mary and hid my face in her hair:

"I'm sorry. I will find out who that was," I whispered in Mary's ear. "I only need to think about how and in what terms."

***

The next morning I explained what the night had told me in its wisdom, and I faced lots of disagreement, of course. Disagreement. Who am I kidding? It was more of a fight. First, no, I was not going to show up at the mall and start to call out, nor was I going to drive around blowing the car's horn. Forget about that. And I was not going to bring them home with me either, or post notes with directions to our place and how to find us. No way. Instead, I would go alone with Taxi and wait, hide where I would have a clear view and surveyed the entrance unseen. We knew they had been there; they didn't. I wasn't going to change my mind and lose our advantage, not immediately at least. Possibly I would be spending the night in town, if necessary, even a few nights. Gather all possible information before making contact.

Mary shook her head a few times before her first comment. "Where do you think you are, Dan? You're not in a combat zone."

We had a lively breakfast that morning. I did not give up and, although the vote was two against one, the majority lost the case. No democracy to invoke. There was no case. I would not go and look for anyone in town if not under my conditions. The only thing I agreed to was to come home before dark—at least for the first days—and to be in touch constantly.

It was Sunday, the first of April, and it amused me to end my remark with, "And I'll go on Monday. Today's April Fool's Day and I am not going to play that role any time soon." That defused the tension a bit. It was a glorious day and I even managed to convince Mary, with help from Annah, to stick to our previously established plan to prepare for a picnic and hit the golf course. Annah had wanted to show Mary her progress in the game for days, and it would have been just so good to spend some time together, as a family, leaving all the bad thoughts behind. In my heart, I hoped once more nothing was about to ruin what we had managed to build.