Episode Details

A story I've written about the California power outage. Of course Sandcastle was affected! The Blackout~~~ 1 ~~~There was nothing but darkness surrounding Cassie Bale's home as she pulled into her driveway. It was a long, horrendous day at work as she had to answer calls at the power company explaining to residents why their power would be shut off for the next five long days. If people would simply understand that the combination of dry heat, dry grass, and wind creates the worst condition for any kind of catalyst including overheating hedge trimmers, tossed cigarettes, or even the dreaded dry lightning strike then her day would be a lot less stressful.As she unlocked her door she thought about walking straight over to her liquor cabinet and start her night with a nice shot of tequila. Instead, she tried the light switch and sighed as she stared into the dark hallway. She already knew there would be no power in town, but on the way home from work 32 miles away she had hoped they changed their minds. Not a chance.The bright light from her cell phone lit up the hallway as she stepped into her kitchen. While lighting a candle and switching off her phone, she swore something was off. After lighting a few more candles, she looked around the room and noticed the knife drawer was open. Grabbing the large kitchen knife, she turned on her cell phone again and began looking around the house. Figuring she had left it open before leaving for work, she took the knife into the living room along with a candle and her phone.At first, she didn't notice him sitting in the corner of the room. As Cassie placed the candle on the table next to the armchair, she saw his hand. It was shaking just ever so softly and was so white she could almost see it in the dark while her eyes adjusted to the dim moonlight. Stepping back in fear, she pointed the knife toward the intruder and shook it at him."What do you want?""Cassie, it's Don,' his voice shook as much as his hand."Don? What's wrong with you?" she held the candle up to his face and studied the dark eyes and pale skin. He looked like he had died and come back from the grave."I don't feel good, Cassie. My lights went out at home and as I was trying to find a flashlight in the garage some freak jumped out of nowhere and bit my neck." he pulled down the turtle neck and showed her the oozing wound. It was bleeding all down his shirt and soaking the cloth. A mix of pus and blood festered around the outside of the bite.Cassie held back the bile as she backed away slowly and looked at her phone. She began dialing 911 when Don pulled the phone from her hand. "What are you...""Don't." Don's voice was suddenly raspy and thick. He coughed and wheezed a few times then began to shake violently until his eyes rolled back into his head. The wound looked like it was getting bigger as the skin around it was turning black. Don's face was suddenly a very pale shade of gray and the veins around the wound and his face were black, still pumping something although it didn't look like blood.Cassie stepped back and looked for her phone. He was still gripping it with his left hand and as she tried to pull it out of his grasp, he grabbed her arm with his other hand. She watched his face contort and twitch until his mouth was wide open with black liquid oozing from his lips."Oh Don, what happened to you?" she cried as she pried his fingers off of her wrist. He squeezed tighter and leaned forward toward her. At first, she thought he was going to fall over until she felt his teeth rip into her skin. Cassie screamed at the pain and yanked her arm back, leaving freshly torn skin between his teeth.Cradling her arm and screaming, she ran into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. In the dark, she felt around for a towel and turned on the water. Stifling back her tears, she shoved her arm under the running water and then wrapped it up in the towel. The pain was unbearable. She crawled into the bathtub and squeezed her eyes shu