Chapter Ten

Dr. Blanche’s research on birds was inconsistent. She'd only recently been working on this for the past few months before the earthly calamity. Confused on what was going on, she continued to work with brainwaves on such local creatures.

There were no signs of visual signals sent to the brain to be able to peck and notice glass. It didn’t help that the local birds around Wrensdale weren’t ever doves, let alone ravens. However, despite these abnormalities, those two birds were the only ones who could see and tap on glass.

With the new info, she decided to search for ravens and doves and test the brainwaves on those birds. No signs of the necessary brain signals. They couldn’t see glass.

So what brought those two kinds of birds to learn about glass? She decided to test the water in the area, food, oil. None of them yielded signs of radioactivity. There was no science to explain this sort of reason. Blanche and her coworkers had to accept the fact that this strange trait surpassed the scientific barrier.

A lot of thoughts raced through Blanche’s head while she drove off; she thought of what could she have done, if she was wasting her time and should have focused on something else, or if she should have been more of a mother figure to her brother. With her guilt, she shut it off. She was not going to focus on the ones she had rescued.

“I’m sorry I had to meet you in person like this,” Blanche said, “I’m Blanche, Dimitri’s sister.”

The young girl held her bag tightly, "Thank you for the rescue, Blanche." She looked away sheepishly, "My name is Sabrina."

“Ah. The new spectrum girl,” Blanche claimed, “I met your parents before I let you on your little date with DeDe.”

“Really?" Sabrina asked, "And… they told you about my issues?"

“Well, yes,” Blanche replied, “I’m sure they trusted me enough to share that information. I have a funny feeling as to why, but fame doesn’t matter during the apocalypse, now does it?” She made a sharp turn to the right before driving evenly once more.

“Uh… Blankie, you’re kind of-- driving a little off today,” Dimitri remarked.

“Shushie!” Blanche snapped, turning once again. From the rear-view mirror she saw Dimitri’s head bash against Sabrina’s shoulder. Making a light chuckle, she decided to focus back on the road. “Whoopsies~! Road issues!” she sang. Perhaps it wasn’t justified to jerk around Dimitri like a ragdoll on her terms, but she wanted to make light on the situation: if this is even a time to take things lightly at all. The road conditions were tough enough for her. She wasn’t the best at driving on a busy street, especially when it was in flames and full of sand. Safety wasn’t the main issue anymore; survival was.

After a few minutes of silence, Sabrina spoke up, "I heard the other lady talk about a lab. Is that where we're going?"

“Yes, that’s where I work the most,” Blanche confirmed, “We’ll need to camp over there before your Succubina is here. I’m sure you have plenty of questions about her.”

Sabrina gasped, "So it really was her!"

“Well…” Blanche paused, refusing to give a definitive answer. She didn’t know the whole picture herself, so she didn’t want to give false information. “I’ll talk about it more once we're all at the lab. One thing I do know for sure is that she’ll survive whatever is thrown at her.”

In the mirror, to Blanche’s view, Sabrina was comforted by her words and settled into her seat.

***

Home sweet home; Blanche’s lab. She adored the familiar smell of dirt, mold, and dust bunnies. She noticed Dimitri’s hissing and groaning, but she knew what was expected. “I’m not sorry about the smell,” Blanche commented, “I don’t know how long it’ll take for her to come over, but it may take a bit, so get yourselves comfortable. It’s getting late so try to get some rest.”

Blanche heard a soft thud and turned around. Sabrina had selected a place on the ground and put her bag under her head with a small yawn.

She then noticed Dimitri dragging his feet to the corner of Blanche’s room and decided to set up there before curling up in the fetal position.

Blanche nodded from the reprieve of the kids' sleep, so she waltzed over to her chalkboard and started writing calculations. The probability of both surviving and of solutions was rushing through her head as she continued to write. She stopped and slid her back downard, defeated. I don’t see a future. Not like this. Exhausted, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.