Read Wormwood Dawn (Episode II) for Free Online Page B

borough, or who had done it. Signed, Strahd71.”
    “Jesus,” Drew said. “Manhattan.”
    “It’s that Strahd71 again,” Dan said. “I wonder if he runs the forum, and where the hell the server is located.”
    “How do they still have the power to run it?” Drew wondered.
    Dan looked at his cell phone. It was almost dead. “I better charge it for a while. Laptop, too. But you’re right. They must have solar, or big generators. Big generators.”
    Drew thought for a moment, then stuck his finger up in the air. “There’s a wind farm near Greencastle, I think. I know it’s around there somewhere. Maybe the station relocated there and took their people with them. This Strahd71 might have worked for the station when it was operational.”
    Dan pulled the generator’s starting cable, adjusting the choke until the engine smoothed out. “This piece of shit won’t last much longer.” He went back to the table and poured more whiskey in his glass. “He doesn’t seem like the techie type. Maybe a blogger.”
    “He’s obviously paying attention, though,” Drew said. “But I wonder how he’s getting all of this information.”
    Dan shook his head. “This underground shit must be bigger than we think,” he said. “I just wonder how many other bulletin boards there are.”
    “Well, once all of the cell towers are destroyed, there won’t be any.”
    Dan lit a cigarette, fishing his bottle of pills out of his pocket. He took the last Vicodin, hoping it would calm his nerves. Reading the post about possible nukes had jarred him a little. The whiskey was helping, but a little kicker ought to do it better.
    He looked at the battery indicator on his laptop. It was almost half charged. The cell phone was still only a third of the way. “We’ll leave the generator going for a while longer,” he said. “I want to make sure everything is fully charged. Plug your phone in, too.”
    Drew fished out his cell phone. It was dead. He hadn’t used it at all since he had arrived. “Man,” he said. “I forgot I even had it. The funny thing is, I haven’t missed it at all.”
    Pauli appeared beside them, whining.
    “Shit,” Dan said. “I forgot about the dog. I bet he’s hungry.”
    He got up, gathering a few cans of sardines he had stashed in the cupboard. He wasn’t sure if dogs liked tiny little shitty fish, but opened them and scooped them into a bowl nonetheless.
    Pauli liked tiny little shitty fish.
    “Nasty little fucker,” Drew said, smiling as he plugged in his phone. “I’m beat, man. Think I’ll lie down for a while. Wake me up if the world ends again.”
    Dan turned the dial on the portable propane heater, pushing the ignition button to start it up. He sat cross-legged in front of it, holding his hands out to feel the comforting warmth. The fireplace was dying down, he noticed, but he was reluctant to go outside to bring in more wood.
    Pauli sat down next to him, wagging his stumpy tail and leaning his head against Dan’s leg. Dan reached down to scratch his head.
    “You’re alright, Pauli,” he said. “Just don’t go mutant on me.”
    There was a dinging noise that came from the laptop. Dan got up and sat down in front of it, seeing the phrase reply posted flashing in red in the bottom right corner of the screen. Curious, he clicked it.
     
    Strahd71 wrote:
     
    That sounds like a pretty fucked up night. Good description and nice job taking out the baddies. If you look on the main page, you’ll see an icon that looks like a dialog balloon from a comic book. Click that and you’ll see a list of users online. You can chat with them there.
     
    Dan went back to the main page, looking for the chat balloon. It was there plain as day along the menu bar at the top. He clicked it, and a list appeared in the bottom right hand corner. Strahd71 was among the few users who were currently online. When he clicked the name, a chat box popped up. Before he could start typing, a red camera symbol began to