CHAPTER 82: LEVEL UP.

Secretary Ceasar had just given his latest speech, assuring the nation that the power outages would soon be fixed, and he had ordered the Department of Energy to deal with the matter.

But it was a lie, he had not done a single thing. The Secretary of Energy was hiding away somewhere in a bunker, and he was unreachable. Despite Ceasar’s presidency claim, in the real world, his presidency was not felt.

It would have helped perhaps if he was seen outside, doing something to help the people. But he was in hiding like everyone. He was not the president of anything.

This much, President Finch knew, and he said so from where he was tied to a chair in the command center, forced to watch Ceasar play the role of fictional president.

Marina was also in the room, sitting nervously beside President Finch.

Rather than respond to Finch, Ceasar looked at Marina. "I have always wondered what he saw in you that he could neglect duty and all reasoning just to be with you. Sure, your tits are nice, and the ass is perky but being President of the greatest nation on earth is incomparable." He smiled at her lewdly.

Marina shivered and leaned closer to President Finch. She hoped that someone would soon come and rescue them before Ceasar laid his nasty paws on her. Even mistresses had standards.

Secretary Ceasar whirled around and faced the screen. Reports were coming in of mist in the sky and other places. He grinned and prepared himself to give another speech.

He needed lab rats. Inviting people to the white house under false pretenses of distributing food and water was a good way to capture new lab rats. Half of the white house was still standing. They could be held there.

Being president was awesome.

****

Sunshine was in the space, and she was thrilled because she had just repaired the last dog leg in her most recent order and completed level one.

Her eyes were glued to her stats; she was waiting to see the change to her class with her very own eyes.

[Repairman: Sunshine Raine.

Points: {3400}

Gender: {Female}

Planet: {Private}

Level: 2 {0/200}

Class: {Novice}

Repair success rate: {30%}

Expertise: {Robot legs}

Favored tool: {Hammer}

Weakness: {Unknown}

Speed: {average}

Intelligence: {40/100}

Worlds visited: {0}]

[Congratulations host on leveling up. Your foldable tool bag had been upgraded automatically. It has more space for your tools. You also get two free upgrades for any tools of your choice. The Repair mall is now open, and you can contact vendors and repairmen on other worlds directly with any of your phones.]

Sunshine wanted to explore the options, but it was time to feed the children, give them baths and send them off to bed.

When Hades returned home, he found a very heartwarming scene. Sunshine and the boys were wearing matching pajamas. They were sitting in the living room in a line formation, blowing each other’s hair dry.

Earl was drying Castiel’s hair, Ariel was drying Earl’s and Sunshine was drying Ariel’s. Sunshine’s hair was wrapped in a towel. His eyes located a camera that Sunshine kept on the shelf in the living room. He took a few pictures of them and joined them.

"So, whose hair am I drying?" he asked.

"Mommy." Castiel replied eagerly.

Earl surrendered the blow dryer in his hands to his father. Hades settled on the arm rest of the sofa and removed the towel from Sunshine’s head gently. He had never helped a woman dry her hair before, so he took his time, gently drying and running his fingers through it.

Cathy walked into the living room and saw them sitting in the formation. She shrugged and took a picture of them. Sunshine had said memories were important in the apocalypse because anyone could die at any time.

"Off to bed you three." Hades told his sons when he realized that it was getting late.

Ariel took his siblings hands and led them to bedroom which they shared. All three were also sharing one large bed.

Sunshine gathered the blow dryers, one by one and she sent them into her space.

"You seem to be getting along with the children just fine." Hades said. "I will be honest; I thought that it would be difficult to cultivate a relationship between the four of you. Castiel can be clingy, Earl is playful, and Ariel is.... Ariel."

She looked at him and laughed. Only briefly. "Yeah, Ariel cannot be described with words. He is an enigma but a lovable child in general. You should have seen him giving the kitchen stuff hell today. He was very unhappy to see potato skins that had been thrown away. Did you know that he has a list of all edible things in the world?"

"I did not know but I am not surprised." Hades laughed.

Sunshine laughed a little more. "He printed the lists out after berating the kitchen staff and then pasted the lists on the wall in the common dining area. Then he found Lisha and told her to make sure that every dining area in ever wall had copies."

"Oh God..." Hades groaned.

Sunshine pulled his hand and led him to their home kitchen. Ariel had glued the copies on these walls as well. There were fourteen things on the lists which normally, people would consider waste, despite being edible. "Onion skins, stale bread, watermelon rind, pumpkin skins, corn cobs..."

"Corn cobs!" Hades exclaimed. He could not think of any way in each corn cobs could be eaten.

The corn was gone, just throw the cob out!

"Apparently when boiled, it can make a flavorful broth." Hades shared with him the exact response Ariel had given her. He had used the words apparently because he had never tasted the soup as well.

But in a time of scarcity, he thought this was knowledge they could use.

"I have a feeling that he will be giving cooking classes on the base soon." Hades muttered.

Sunshine could not wait to see the looks on their faces when that moment came. For now, she had to go and read the kids a bedtime story. She left Hades in the kitchen, searching on the internet for all the ways the rest of the edible waste could be eaten.

Ariel was already reading his brothers a bedtime story when she got to the kid’s bedroom. It was the story of a brave young boy who fought a giant that had attacked his homeland.

Castiel was between his brothers, and he was already sleeping. Earl was trying to fight but he was losing the battle.

Sunshine did not want to bother them. She kissed each boy goodnight on the head and left.

****

The rest of the week was quieter; there was no trouble within or outside the wall. During that time, Sunshine concentrated on training her body and skills with Nimo and Hades on occasion. When she was not doing that, she was repairing something or bonding with the children.

Just as she promised, she taught the kids a lot of survival skills for self-defense, stranger awareness, food foraging with caution, shelter basics. She also taught them old school navigation with a compass and hand signals for secret communication.

They also taught her some things. Ariel taught her about fire safety and building a fire in the wild. Earl taught her basic first aid and she taught him about first aid in the wild where tools were not available.

On the day that marked a full week, the rain increased. Half of the country lost power, including the base. Luckily, the solar power was working just fine.

But there was just one problem which Major Elio noticed. Girl bubble was showing signs of weakening.