The Trouble with Charles — Darrell Maloney

In a sense they were lucky, although few would consider themselves so. They were the tiny percentage of Americans who'd survived the blackout, although there was a good argument to be made it would have been easier to just give up. Most of the others did. The first few months had been the worst. Those who didn't already know how to do so had to learn to hunt, to fish, to defend themselves against the marauders and other evil doers. In the early days families lost touch with one another. Those who lived within shouting distance tended to band together. Those separated by any appreciable distance wondered and worried whether their loved ones made it. Sometimes wondering wasn't enough. Sometimes those who were bold enough struck out to find their families. Such was the case when young Sara ventured out from the tiny town of Junction, Texas to find her lost mother. All she had were a last known address and rumors she'd moved on. Against all odds, she found her mother and brought her back. And she brought back others as well, including a precious young girl named Millicent and her tiny partner, a boy named Charles. Charles wasn't so precocious.