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then stared off in deep thought.
    “This isn’t just a power outage, is it?” Kyle asked. His dad was the smartest, and most deductive person he knew. If anyone could figure this out, he could. But his Dad just looked at him and shook his head.
    “No.” is all he said and then he headed back to where Adam and Jeff were. Arriving, he bent over Jeff and removed the gag from his mouth. “You told my son this was the beginning of the end. What did you mean?”
    The man looked up wide-eyed and whispered a single word, “Armageddon.”
    Adam let out a little chuckle and Cal shook his head, as if to say “don’t make fun of the crazy guy”, but Kyle wasn’t sure it was that easy to dismiss the guy’s ideas.
    “Dad,” he started, “what if he isn’t far from the mark?”
    Cal looked at his son with a very reassuring smile. It was the first time since the lights went out that Kyle had felt that everything was going to be okay. His Dad clapped him on the shoulder, “I don’t know what this is, but I am pretty sure it isn’t any kind of apocalypse.”
    The three men walked back up to the front, and Cal gathered the six of them together. It would be seven with Jeff, but Cal had left him bound up in the back of the store. “Okay,” he began, “we won’t be able to figure this out from here, but I think it is safe to say that we will be without power for a while. We have some decisions to make.”
    The skinny girl, Erica, spoke up, “Mr. Ward? Why do you think the power won’t be on soon?”
    Cal seemed to consider her question for a moment, not like he didn’t know, but like he didn’t know how to communicate it. “There are a lot of reasons. I will be more than happy to elaborate later, but we have to get to the rest of my family. You two have to decide if you are coming with us, or if you want to venture out on your own. You are both more than welcome, and I would strongly advise staying in numbers, but I have no hold over you if you want to go.”
    The women looked at each other, but it was Jessica who spoke up. “I don’t have anyone in this area. Can I come with you? I would rather stay with Kyle; he is the only person I know…except Jeff.”
    Kyle really hadn’t thought about Jeff. “What are we going to do with him?”
    “We can’t leave him inside. At some point he will figure out there are more than guns in this store. We can give him the option of joining us too, but that will mean continued restraint. My guess is he will head in the direction of his own home. We will keep his keys to keep everyone safe.”
    “I want to go with you also.” Ellen offered “My family is all the way in Walsenburg. If the cars don’t work, I can’t get to them. Friends are important; I would rather stay with you guys.”
    “Me too, I guess.” Erica added, “I didn’t really think about that, but I am here for school. My family lives in Nebraska.”
    Cal nodded again, as if accepting that what he thought would happen is just what happened. Kyle had seen his Dad do this before. He allowed people their own choices, but always seemed to know what those choices would be. “Then we come to the harder choices. I believe we have a long haul ahead of us. I would not normally suggest this, but I think we need to take some items from the store.”
    Cal’s head jerked up and his dad was staring right at him. “Pop, I am responsible for this stuff, for the store. I can’t just take things.”
    Cal sighed, but not with dismissal, more with the knowledge that his son was going to have to make a hard choice. “I know, bud. You are a responsible and honest young man, and I am very proud of you for it. Maybe I am wrong, and we won’t need anything. But, if I am right, we will need some help with survival and I don’t want to have to come back without a car to try to get stuff. Does that make sense? If I am wrong, I will pay for everything we take when the power comes back up. But, if I am right, it really won’t be