Deprived of cars, looters could only carry a limited amount of food and essential items with them. However, because they were so numerous, the shelves of supermarkets to warehouses had been emptied like never before within three days. Yet, some people had not yet grasped the seriousness of the situation and were still trying to prioritize taking high-tech products, thinking they could sell them at a good price later when electricity was restored.
Stephanie's father had been forced to fight, literally, to bring back some food home. In the end, he could only bring back a packet of noodles, cheese, a jar of pickles, toilet paper, toothpaste, bandages, and disinfectant. His harvest could be considered good at this stage since there was something to eat. This, along with medical supplies, was what was most sought after. Noodles in particular, because they lasted a long time. If this package had not ended up in a dusty corner behind a tall storage shelf in a storeroom, it would have been stolen long before he found it. As for the bandages and disinfectant, he had the good idea to look inside a small box near the toilets in the storeroom intended for the exclusive use of the shopping center's staff.
Meanwhile, Stephanie had no choice but to stay at home since the streets had become too dangerous. She really wanted to go see her friend Morgane, but even that was forbidden to her. Furious, Stephanie locked herself in her room and only came out to eat. She felt like a prisoner in her own home. The worst part was that her phone was still out of order, which drove her crazy.
Damn it! I'm fed up! I've had it! I want everything to go back to normal! Now!
The day was endless without the support of YouTube and social media. She wanted to know what was happening outside her neighborhood, outside of Paris, and in the world! Because nothing was working, it was impossible to know if they were the only ones affected and if help was coming soon. Unfortunately, her parents and their neighbors were in the same situation as her. Everyone was powerless in the face of the magnitude and seriousness of the crisis that no one had anticipated, at least as far as they knew.
Because she had nothing else to do, Stephanie started to read. All the comics lying around the house had been read, even though it was only the third day without electricity, but that wasn't enough to occupy her day. Stephanie then took white paper and a gray pencil and started drawing. Before the power outage, she had occasionally drawn, but she wasn't very good, especially when it came to depicting characters. The limbs were not the right shape or length, the hands were strangely deformed, and don't even mention the terrifying faces? She wasn't like her sister, who had an almost natural talent for it. She had often seen her do it, sometimes spending hours on a single drawing, and had tried to reproduce her works. Marie's bedroom walls were covered with them and changed regularly as she improved. She, on the other hand, did not improve.
"Damn it! This is too ugly!" exclaimed the young girl, crumpling the sheet into a compact ball of paper before throwing it into her small plastic bin already filled.
"Steph! Marie! Dinner!" a voice came from the ground floor.
The evening meal was better than lunch and consisted of cheese noodles cooked in mineral water. They carefully kept the cooking water by letting it cool to be able to put it back in bottles. Drinking water was precious. It was unfortunate, but the Lemoine family had to use it to flush the tainted toilet water. After pressing the toilet button, the water had drained, leaving the tank empty. They had realized too late that they could have collected this perfectly drinkable water and replaced it with rainwater collected in the garden.
In just a few bites, everything was devoured by the family without a single scrap left. The conversation had been almost entirely monopolized by Xavier since he was the only one who had seen what was happening in the city. His report had been terrifying for the other three members. He recounted, among other things, that a man had been beaten and left for dead in the middle of the road by five individuals in front of his family's eyes as they left the city with all their most precious belongings, including food. No one had intervened, not even Xavier, for fear of being next.
"Ah... I hope they get stripped the same way as that poor family! Poor guy. They really smashed his skull. He must be dead by now," the head of the family concluded, recalling the scene he had witnessed.
"Xavier! We're at the table!" Christine scolded, more terrified than angry.
"Oh, sorry. But you asked me how it was. Anyway, to prevent that from happening to us, I think tomorrow I'll take one or two kitchen knives. The biggest and longest ones possible. It'll deter looters."
Stephanie froze upon hearing her father speak like that. She could hardly imagine her father as a survivor. He was more of a "gentle teddy bear" type. In a survival show, she certainly wouldn't bet on him to last the longest.
"Geez, what a world!" Christine said, putting her head in her hands.
"Yeah. What a world... But I'm sure everything will be back to normal. When, I don't know, but one day. In the meantime, I think it would be good to get away from Paris for a while. Get away, go to the countryside."
"And where? Do you know a place?" Marie asked curiously.
"No, but surely there will be farmers looking for people now that they are without tractors!"
"Xavier Lemoine, a farmer?! Haha! I'd like to see that," Christine chuckled, imagining her husband in the fields. "Honey, you already have trouble maintaining our little garden."
"Yeah, well, I can learn!" he replied, blushing, visibly offended. "And it's because I didn't have enough free time to take care of it properly. Between grading papers, preparing lessons, designing homework, meetings... I didn't have the best conditions!"
"But of course, dear."
Leave Paris?! Live in the countryside?! On a farm?! They've gone mad! No way! I don't want to leave home! And for what?! Work the land like a peasant?! Yuck! Just the thought of it gives me chills! I don't like bugs, mud, and sweating!
"I want to work with animals!" Marie exclaimed.
Don't encourage them, Marie! What are you talking about?!
"Haha, it's true that you've always been close to animals. Why doesn't that surprise me?
"I can see her milking a cow or chasing after a chicken.
"HAHA!"
They're crazy! They've all gone crazy! No way I'm going near a stinking cow! Or stepping in shit! My God, please bring back electricity soon! So I can fulfill my dream of being an influencer!
"I guess it's decided," Xavier said, nodding. "Tomorrow morning, we leave. Pack your things while we can still see, only the essentials since we'll have to transport all this with whatever means we can find. Keep in mind that everything you leave behind will probably be lost forever.
"In that case, I should take the big photo album, the brown one. There are pictures of us, grandma and grandpa, our trips, etc.
"That's a good idea, Marie. Bring spare clothes. I'll take everything that's water and food. We have chocolate bars in the garage. We should eat them now. With this heat, they won't survive transportation. What else? Ah! Medicines! We'll take everything we can! That way, if we get sick or injured, we'll have something to use.
"We'll never be able to carry everything! There are too many important things!
"I know, Stephanie, but we have to do our best to take as many things as possible. We'll have to sort through it even if it's not easy and keep only the most important things. I don't know, some clothes, important memories, things that can be traded for water or food, candles, lighters... That kind of thing."
Although everyone had a hard time realizing what they were about to do, they set about sorting their belongings. The members of the Lemoine family spent the evening doing this until it was too dark to see clearly. Quickly, suitcases were filled and placed at the foot of the stairs in the entrance.
On her part, even by being very strict, Stephanie couldn't reduce her belongings enough.
"Damn shit! I'll never be able to carry all this!"
There were half of her clothes, all her jewelry, her favorite plush toy, which was an important memory for her, a small blue dolphin that she had named Marco, her UK-colored blanket, her phone, charger, earphones, her laptop (in case there was electricity outside of Paris), and many other things. The sorting had been drastic, but there was enough to fill three or four suitcases.
Although it had only been three days since the electricity had disappeared, which was both short and extremely long, Stephanie could not bring herself to abandon the objects of her daily life simply because they were not currently working. Not knowing what life was like outside the capital, it was impossible for her to assert that everything had stopped working elsewhere like here. From the bottom of her heart, she hoped that this outage had only affected Paris. Locked in her phone's memory were hundreds of photos, mainly selfies, dozens of videos, as many contacts, and a few games. She couldn't part with them so easily.
No! I really need this! If the Internet works outside of Paris, I need my PC! And cables!
Several hours had passed since the Lemoine family had gone to bed. The house was plunged into darkness, the same darkness that had engulfed the city after the sun disappeared on the horizon. In this profound silence, all sounds seemed louder. Stephanie was suddenly awakened from her sleep by a strange noise coming from the ground floor without being able to say what time it was.
It was like a clap or maybe a loud creak. She had not been the only one to hear it since she saw her father leave his room as she left hers. Marie came out of hers a few seconds later, her face very slightly illuminated by a half-moon and a timid northern lights. To bring in as much light as possible into the house, all the shutters upstairs had been left open.
Xavier lit a candle that had been intentionally left on one of the shelves of the large hallway bookcase and ordered his wife and daughters to stay there, quietly. All that could be seen was the wooden railing disappearing into the darkness. They couldn't even see the front door, the doormat, the coat rack, or the photos hanging on the wall.
He slowly descended to the ground floor, as quietly as possible, all senses on alert. Stephanie, Marie, and Christine anxiously waited at the top of the stairs and jumped in surprise at the same time when they heard loud cries and sounds of struggle downstairs.
"Dad!
‒ Xavier!
‒ Argh!
‒ Asshole! I'm gonna kill you, damn it!"
Stephanie was terrified. It was as if a hand had closed around her poor little heart beating wildly in her chest. The most terrible thing was that she didn't know exactly what was happening. She could only imagine, and right now she imagined the worst. The three women heard many objects breaking and many insults. After several sounds of blows, a heavy and distressing silence fell over the entire house. From upstairs, the three women listened to what was being said downstairs. There were at least three people from what young Stephanie could hear. As her mother grabbed a decoration that seemed heavy enough to knock someone out and prepared to go downstairs to help her husband, they saw five threatening silhouettes appear at the bottom of the stairs.
"Hey! There are three chicks upstairs!" exclaimed a man joyfully with a deep and threatening voice.
"Haha!"
Stephanie, Marie, and Christine immediately took refuge in the former's bedroom and hurried to close the door behind them. Leaning against the small wooden door, they desperately tried to prevent the intruders from entering. On the other side, the attackers were pounding the door with metal bars, shaking the entire wall. In tears, they struggled to keep the door closed.
Internally, Stephanie couldn't think anymore. Her brain seemed to have stopped functioning. She prayed repeatedly and begged God to help them.
While they were hammering the door with metal bars, the intruders insulted the three women. While threatening them, they laughed as if it were all just a game. Maybe it was a game for them. For them, however, it was a nightmare. This scene resembled the famous scene from the movie The Shining with Jack Nicholson. Stephanie had seen this movie and at the time, it didn't scare her. Now that she found herself in the same situation as the woman barricaded in her bathroom, this scene seemed horrible to her.
Suddenly, the door gave way and the five men invaded the room. Stephanie almost immediately received a big punch to the face and another in the ribs that made her lose consciousness. She hadn't had time to do anything, not even to put up a weak resistance. She had, however, discussed the subject with her friend Morgane and had trained with her in slow motion to make defensive gestures in case of an attack. All of this proved useless against dangerous individuals determined to take her out of commission.
The last thing she heard was the screams of her mother and sister.