The Guardians

We stood there for about thirty seconds. Just me and Tyrock staring at Jane Blue, who still had an expression of shock on her face. Just as I was about to ask her if she was all right she jumped into the air.

“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!” she shouted as she jumped in a circle around us. Tyrock and I looked at each other. I then faced palmed.

“I’m already regretting my choice.” I said dragging my hand down my face.

“Aw come one cuz. Just think of the possibilities. A fresh start and a chance to do some good that doesn’t come at a heavy price.” Tyrock said watching the blue pony jump around. I followed her as she continued jumped almost high enough to look me in the face. As I watched I couldn’t keep her smile from invading my face.

“Maybe you're right. It would be a relief to have a job that is actually fun and with no restrictions.” I replied with a small grin. At that moment I felt a seventy five pound weight latch around my neck.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Jane exclaimed. I looked over the miniature horse’s death grip to see Tyrock with his hand over his mouth, struggling to hold back a laugh.

“I wish I had a camera.” He said letting out a small chuckle that only me and hunter could hear. At that point Jane Blue used my stomach as a springboard, launching herself across to Tyrock. She latched herself around his neck slightly knocking him off balance. As I stood there looking at him with Jane hanging from his neck, I could see why it was so funny. After Tyrock gained his balance again he looked at me and said

“Can you get her off?” the look on his face broke my resolution and I let out a laugh.

“I don’t think the Jaws of Life could break that grip cuz.” I said walking over. I tapped Jane on the shoulder.

“Jane, I hope you know that a human needs oxygen to live. Cause Tyrock looks like he’s running low on it.” She then looked at me then Tyrock.

“Oh sorry.” She said letting go and landing on her back legs balancing herself then dropping forward onto all fours. “I’m just so happy that you decided to help me.” She sat there for a few seconds. “So what do we do now?”

I pretty sure that if I could see my face I would be thinking ‘how did my eyes not pop out of my head’. I just looked at her then over to Tyrock.

”Is she for real?” I asked.

“Hey I have never gotten this far. The other two teams didn’t make it pass getting attacked.” She said in a raised voice. “I tried to get them close enough to my creators but I they died before I had a chance.”

I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. I then looked up at the house and started making some calculations in my head.

“One problem we're going to have is food and water. Possibly ammunition.” I said walking over to the house. “If I’m right, and I’m almost always right, is the food we have in the fridge and in the freezer will last about three days then go bad. This means the meat we have, can only last that long before we have to get rid of it.” I opened the front door and walked into a completely dark room. “Sarah what’s our status?”

When no reply came I reached over and flipped the light switch on and off. Nothing happened. I looked over at Tyrock and held out my hand. He looked down at it then pulled out a small flashlight he had in one of the vest pockets. He handed it over and looked back at Jane and hunter.

“Stay here for a minute we have to get the generators back online.” He said as I twisted one end of the flashlight turning on the LED light.

“Tyrock go see what we got for dry and canned food and take care of what’s left of breakfast. I’ll get the generator online.” I headed over to the stairway leading down to the basement. When I reached the bottem I saw a few things scattered on the ground. Probable from the house shaking and what not. I headed over to a couple of large generators. One was about twelve feet tall and fifteen foot long. This was the main generator. The other one was a 4x5 foot generator. This one we used to power the larger generator or power the house when the larger one is down. The smaller one will only power the main parts of the house. Like the kitchen, the bathrooms and the storage room. Along with the light and Sarah’s monitor. The big generator is what we use if the main power is down and we need work in the garage or the workshop. It can put out enough electricity to power a small city. The problem is it uses the small generator to generates it power by a set of pulleys. To do that we have to speed up the smaller one which mean we use more fuel. I walk past the large genie to the smaller one next to it and opened the panel on the side. It had two small gages, one for power output it generates and how much fuel it has left to run on. The fuel gage read full.

“Good that should last us about a month if we use it sparingly.” There was also two buttons next to the gages. The one on the bottom was red; the one above it was yellow. The red one primes the generator and shuts it off when needed. The yellow one starts it. I pushed my index finger down on the red one. After a few seconds a blinking red light flashes above the started button. I then use my thumb and pressed down on the starter. The generator started to shake slowly and gives of a little mechanical starting noise and then gives off a quiet purr and the shakings speeds up to almost a vibrate. I hear the sound of stomping on the floor above. I nod and head for the stairs. When I reach the top I see Tyrock gathering up the food and putting it away in the fridge. The lights are on in a few places giving off just enough light to see. The unicorn was standing off to the side looking at a picture on the wall. I walk over to see me and my cousin standing along with all the graduating members of our training school. There were only fifteen people that graduated that year. But we had the highest scores in the whole school since it opened.

“Who are they?” Jane asked.

“Comrades, friends, or brothers and sisters at arms. That is what most people would call them. We like the term Family.” I said turning towards the office. I could hear her clip clopping behind me.

“What does it mean brothers and sisters at arms?” she asked catching up. I headed over to the single computer in the far corner.

“It means we are soldiers in the same unit. We fight side by side and always have each other’s back. No matter what.” I said turning on the computer and its tower. I sat down waiting for it to warm up. After the tower powered up the air filled with the sound of a very angry women.

“STONES, TYROCK, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK, I REPEAT WE ARE UNDER ATTACK! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS?” Sarah’s voice yelled through the computer's speakers.

“Chill out Sarah, that’s over and done with. I need you to reroute power from the unneeded areas to the batteries, I also need the status of the fridge and freezers, along with the lights.” I said rubbing my ears.

“Stones what happened? Where are we? I can’t connect to any of the satellites or anything?” she said with a tone of worry. Her avatar popped up on the screen. She was using the computer's camera to look at me. Then the camera turned slightly to the right. “What the hell is that?”

I turned to see Jane standing behind me. She was looking around the room, almost like she was looking for something.

“That’s Jane Blue. She’s the reason you can’t connect to anything. Now like I said before I need you to rewire the unneeded power to the batteries and give me a status update on the fridge, freezers, and lights.” I said turning back to the screen. Sarah looked at me for a few seconds.

“Huh, I’ve been switched to low power controls. Give me a minute.” She said turning off the screen. I looked over at Jane.

“Looking for something?” I asked standing up.

“I don’t know. I think I can sense magic behind the wall.” She said before I could ask her what she meant Sarah came back on the screen.

“All power has been diverted, also my scanners indicate a strange amount of animal signatures in the area.”

“Ya that’s probably what left of the timber wolves that attacked us a little while ago.” I said walking over. “I need you to check storage records for anything we can use for a power source that doesn’t use fuel. Along with any wiring we have left to hook anything up.”

“All right back in a few.” She said again shutting off the screen. I turned back to Jane. “You said you thought you could sense magic behind that wall?”

“Yes I’m sure of it but then it disappeared when she appeared on that thing.” She said pointing to the computer screen.

“It’s called a computer monitor. And there is nothing behind the wall but the garage. There might be some left over from when you used it in there earlier.” I said walking over to the light switch and flipping them on. When I did she immediately looked up.

“That it that the magic I felt!” she said excitingly “you have magic flowing between the walls.”

“What are you talking about?” I said looking up at the light then down at her horn for a few seconds.

“Somehow you can sense the electricity in the wires. Hang on a second.” I walked back over to the computer.

“Sarah you there?” I asked tapping a few keys.

“What’s up?” she asked coming back on the screen. I took the window she was on and restored it down so then she was in the top left corner.

“I need you to put power back in this room.” I said opening up a video recorder. After turning it on I turned back to Jane.

“Jane I need you to close your eyes and see if you can sense where the power is.” She looked at me with a questioning look. “I need to test something.” I said.

She rolled her eyes then closed them. I turned to the computer. I open the note pad and typed a message for Sarah. ‘Cut power except for the far outlet. Leave this one on.’ Sarah looked at me and nodded telling me it was done. I turned back to Jane.

“Alright tell me where you can sense the power has been moved.” She stood there for a few seconds then she turned towards the outlet. When she was facing it she lifted a hoof and pointed at it.

“There.”

“Good let’s do that again.” I said typing out another message for Sarah. Jane turned till she was facing me. She pointed at the outlet on the wall. We tried this three more times, ending on the outlet on the far wall. I nodded each time she got it right and turned back to the computer.

“Okay, Jane can sense electrical output when active. Further test required for a proper confirmation.” I said typing in a few notes for the proper conduction of the test later. Then the lights went out. The outlet the computer was still working so the computer stayed on. I turned around to go see what happened to the generator. That’s when I saw Jane a few feet from the outlet, there was a streak of blue lighting going from the outlet to her horn, her eyes scrunched shut and she was screaming in pain.

“Jane!” I yelled running over I reached out to pull her away but some electricity jumped from her into my hand before I could touch her, causing my hand to go numb and making me back up.

“Sarah cut the power!” I commanded squeezing my hand trying to get the feeling back into it. Then everything went dark. I heard the sound of something hitting the floor. I reached down found Jane lying on the floor not moving.

“Tyrock get in here hurry!” I yelled out through the door. I layed my head down on her side listening for a heartbeat. I also heard Tyrock barreling in. when he saw her laying on the floor he went straight into medic mode.

“What happen?” he question as he ran over checking Jane for injuries.

“I don’t know all of a suddenly the lights went out and I turned to see an arch of electricity going from the outlet connecting to her horn.” I said backing up a little to give him some room to check her. He put his head down next to her mouth along with putting two fingers on her neck.

“She’s alive just unconscious. The shock didn’t do any damage that I can see, I’ll have to check when she wakes up.” He stated looking her over. He then slid his hand underneath her head and back picking her up. “Come on let’s lay her down for some sleep.”

At that moment the lights came back on. Making it so I could see a scorch mark burned into the hardwood floor. Most time when a wood plank gets burned by lighting it leaves a lightning bolt type pattern in the wood. The mark on the floor looked like a shield on a computer monitor. The burn was so detailed that I could see a six point star on the shield along with the controls buttons on the monitor.

“What do you think that means?” I asked pointing it out to Tyrock. He looked it over and shrugged.

“I don't know it looks like some kind of symbol. Check and see if Sarah is all right.” He said heading to one of the guest rooms on the second floor not giving the burn mark a second thought.

“Why can't anything go right to day?” I said slightly irritated. As I looked at the mark I was clenching and unclenching my fist. Trying not to go and threaten Jane to take me to her leaders. With that thought I let out a small chuckle. “Great now I’m quoting old space movies.”

When I calmed down enough to function I categorized the mark as a something to deal with later. I turned to go check on the generators but noticed I was still wearing my torn up vest. At that point the Sarah decided to chime in.

“Stones I've check the storage manifest.” She said almost worried about my reaction.

“Did you find anything?” I asked reaching up and removing the trashed piece of cloth.

“The records show we have twenty 10X5 foot solar panels in storage along with 200 miles of high powered cable to wire them.” She stated pulling up the records on the computer screen.

“Which blocks are they stored?” I asked walking over to the monitor. I pulled open the top drawer of the desk and pulled out a small earpiece. After placing it in I headed for the back storage area. The earpiece gives me direct radio contact to Sarah.

“The panels are in block B, the wire is in block F.”

“I arrived at the door that connected the storage area to the house. The door was half way between the dining area and the kitchen just left of the hallway. I picked up the two sets of key hanging on a hook next to the door. The first one unlocks the large back door that leads outside. Allowing us to move items in and out of the storage that wouldn’t fit through the smaller doors. The other unlocked the doors to the blocks and the tool boxes we have stored in there. When I walked in I pulled out the flashlight that Tyrock gave me earlier. After switching it on I found myself in a 20 foot by 100 yard hallway. I turned and aimed the beam it to the right. A large stenciled letter ‘A’ was painted on a 15X10 foot metal door came into view. I aimed it down a little farther finding a letter ‘C’ on the next one. I turned to the wall behind me and found block ‘B’. I headed over and started flipping through the keys trying to find the one I needed. After flipping a few I found the right one and stuck it in the lock near the bottom middle. After unlocking it I pulled up on the handle just above it causing the door to slide up like a garage door. The storage rooms was something like a storage room you can rent about an 18 by 20 foot room. Inside were the panels. They were all sitting side by side like a DVD collection. Each was about an inch and a half thick allowing the electrical components to be protected from the elements., there was a protector sheet in between to create a less of a chance of them being damaged. I turned to the right and there was a large shelf attached to the wall. On it I found an assortment of metal bars some square some round, and about four different sizes. On the other side I found small rectangular plastic containers on another shelf. Each one had a number from 1 to 20 written on it with a black marker.

“Sarah can you send one of the flat bed pigeons to block ‘B’?” I said into the ear piece.

“On it.” she acknowledged.

The pigeon is like a track carrier, it was named after the thought of a carrier pigeon. It is about 5 foot tall and 5 foot wide and 15 feet long. It can carry up to five tons at about ten miles per hour if needed. It is controlled by the same radio network as my earpiece, making it so Sarah or Tyrock and I could control it. I was going to use it to move the panels and there stands outside, along with carrying the wire I would need to connect them together.

After a few seconds of waiting I heard the sound of the carriers rubber track on the concrete floor. Then I rolled around the corner. It was painted army green with a picture of a pigeon on the side. It turned away from me then backed up to within a foot of the panels. I started loading up the panels onto its flat bed. After securing them to it with the help of a couple of ratchet straps I loaded up all the containers and the frame bars on to the rest of the open space on the pigeon. I then knocked on the top activating the shadow program and walked out of the block with the carrier right behind me. The shadow program activates it sensors so it can track the earpiece and follow me. After the carrier was clear I shut and locked the door.

“Alright bud let's go get some wire huh?” I said heading for block ‘F’. After opening it I walked over to a large shelf of wire spools. Each one was a foot in dynamiter and a foot long. The wire that was on it was about a quarter inch and was colored black. I pulled one of the spools off causing the one behind it to roll forward and take the empty space. The shelves were designed almost like those canned food shelves you can buy at the store. I took the spool and attached it to the front of the carrier and feed it into the cutter. I pulled of a few more and set them on the empty rack on the carrier. After I made sure they wouldn’t fall off I shut and locked the door. I then headed for the large door at the end of the hallway. Off to the right of it was block ‘Z’ the one where all the tools were stored. I opened a smaller door next to the large on and grabbed a small wrench set. I walked over to the large door and pressed the open button causing the door to slowly lift up letting in the lunch time sun.