“Let’s go,” Tina said clearly. She could hear the cacophony of voices
babbling out on the terrace. “Invasionattackragheadsfucking
killers” There wasn’t a calm voice in the mob.

“Let’s go this way,” Helena pointed toward the hall. There’s a side
exit to the parking lot. We’ll grab whatever we can use and get going.
If all goes well, we can be at my place in two hours or less.”

“Two hours,” Bette snorted. “Sure, you planning to crawl. Helena?” She spat out her name.

“No,” Helena let a chill crawl into her voice, “but you’re not going to be walking very fast, not in your condition.”

Bette pulled herself up, weaving only slightly side to side. “I can match you stride for stride, *****.”

“Bette!” Tina hissed. “That’s enough!”

“Yeah, standin’ up for your girlfriend, Tina? I shoulda.”

A pale hand shot out of nowhere and slapped Bette. Her head rocked back
on her shoulders. Alice’s face was waiting when she regained her
balance. “Bette! You need to shut the ***** up and get a grip. You can
deal with your consequences later.”

Tina was fumbling around on the floor for her purse, found it and
pulled out her cell. “I’m just going to call Kit and Ivan. Make sure
Angelica’s OK, let them know what we’re doing.”

“I’m sure they’re doing fine, Tina,” Lara soothed. “By now, Ivan’s got
the house blazing with candles and he’s probably standing watch with a
plumber’s wrench. Nobody’s going to get anywhere near your baby.”

“OUR baby,” Bette muttered to no one’s attention.

“I know,” Tina stammered, “I just need.” She flipped the phone open
and waited while it searched for a signal. She waited a long time. ‘No
service area available at this time’. She stared at the message on the
small backlit screen. “*****,” she whispered hoarsely.

“What?” Helena tried to keep the edge out of her voice.

“No signal.”

One by one, the others pulled out their cell phones, hands shaking as
they waited what seemed like an eternity before getting the same
message.

“*****!” Shane swore softly under her breath.

“OK,” Alice cocked her hand on one hip. “A power outage is one thing. I
mean, that’s electricityit could be anythinga tripped switch, blown
circuit, an overloaded grid, even an explosion. Butthat doesn’t
explain why the phones don’t work.”

“No” Lara whispered, “it doesn’t.”

The steely reserve and calm common sense they’d clung to as they’d made
their plan began to crumble. The same fear was rising in them that
drove the fundraiser crowd out the doors.

“We can worry about that later,” Helena spoke up again. There was
something soothing and self-assured in her voice. Maybe it was the
accent. Maybe it was the fact that her house was the nearest thing to
refuge they had. “We need to go now. Alice? Light the way for us, would
you please?”

“Yeah,” Alice nodded, mostly to reassure herself that this wasn’t going
to be a complete catastrophe. She’d seen all the Twilight Zone shows.
She knew the drill, what could happen in a situation like this. She
didn’t like any of the options, but doing nothing wasn’t any better.
“Yeah, let’s go.”

link it to the world
link it to yourself
stretch it like a birth squeeze
the love for what you hide
for bitterness inside
is growing like the new born
New Born by Muse