by Dave Bowman
They walked past a man dressed in a suit. He peered under the hood of his Maserati and shouted obscenities.
“Whatever happened, it seems like a carefully orchestrated attack,” Jack said. “Whether it’s terrorists or a foreign power, they may have more up their sleeve than just an EMP.”
He picked up his pace. The other two did as well without a word.
“It doesn’t seem like a good time to be in the middle of the city,” Brent said darkly.
“No, it doesn’t,” Jack said. “We need to get out of downtown as quickly as possible.”
They climbed the upward slope of the overpass. The sun bore down on them. Jack felt his mouth getting dry and the skin on the back of his neck getting hot.
Finally, they arrived at the top of the hill and got a good view of the road and what lay ahead. The highway sloped down to the ground and stretched out straight before them.
As far as the eye could see, there was an endless sea of stopped cars. But even worse was the chaos brewing in the streets.
People were panicking.
The three of them stopped for a moment. It was a lot to take in.
The country’s second-largest city was falling apart.
And if they didn’t come up with a good plan to get out of the middle of the city, they’d fall apart with it.
Jack’s heart pounded wildly in his chest. His vision blurred.
It wasn’t just his own life on the line. Now, he had Brent and Naomi to think of.
And most of all, Annie.
He had to make it back to Annie.
What was happening in Austin? Was she getting to safety?
She has to be okay.
Failure wasn’t an option. He had to make it home to his wife.
If he didn’t come up with something fast, all of their lives would be at stake.
4
“Where exactly are we going?” Charlotte asked.
Annie exhaled through pursed lips. Her heart was racing.
I can’t freak out right now.
“We’re going home,” Annie said. “My home.”
“And we’re walking there?” Charlotte asked. “Your house is at least four miles away. And I’m in heels.”
“Well, unless you have any better ideas,” Annie said. “Your house is even farther away. Way out in the suburbs. And I don’t think we’ll be taking a taxi right now.”
The two women crossed through the parking lot and began walking west on the sidewalk.
A few feet away, the street was clogged with stalled cars and angry, perplexed drivers.
Charlotte looked around nervously. “No, I don’t think we will be taking a taxi. I guess you were right about that E - M - whatever.”
“EMP. I’ve heard Jack talk about these things. I guess it’s some kind of weapon that can be detonated.”
“And make all the cars stop? And the power go out?” Charlotte asked doubtfully.
Annie nodded. “I guess so. It can change all the electromagnetic fields, and that makes everything electric stop working.”
“Crazy. I’ve never heard of anything like this.” Charlotte sighed loudly. “Of course, this had to happen today. I’ve got a ton of papers to grade. And walking all over the city won’t leave me much time to work tonight.”
“I don’t think we need to worry about grading papers right now,” Annie said. “Can you walk any faster? The sooner we can get out of downtown, the better.”
Charlotte ran a few steps, huffing and puffing, to keep up with Annie.
“I think we should leave Austin after going to my place,” Annie said. “We’ll stop by my house to get supplies. Food, water, warm clothes.”
And Jack’s gun.
“Leave Austin?” Charlotte asked. “Are you kidding? We have school tomorrow. Where would you want to go in the middle of the week, anyway?”
“Jack’s family ranch in Loretta, about three hours away. Three hours by car, I mean.”
Charlotte snorted.
“It’s where he grew up,” Annie explained. “There’s a farmhouse. Lots of land. I think it would be… safer.”
“Annie, I think you’re overreacting. I’m sure everything around here will be sorted out quickly. They’ll get the electromagnetic fields all fixed up in no time, right?” Charlotte asked, chuckling.
Annie shook her head. “I don’t think it’s that easy. This is a big deal. Someone has attacked the city. Maybe the whole country! And anyway, people freak out when there’s just a simple power outage for a few hours.”
“Yeah, sometimes people break into a gas station or something. But they don’t flee the city.”
“But you don’t understand, Charlotte,” Annie said as she hurried down the sidewalk. “This is more than just a power outage. No one’s vehicles are running. That means no more trucks delivering food to the stores. No communication via phone or internet. Think of what that will mean for the schools, for government or law enforcement. For the infrastructure that everything runs on.”
“But you’re talking like this will be permanent,” Charlotte said, laughing again. “They’ll get this figured out soon. They have to, right?”
Annie swallowed. “I don’t know.”
“And anyway,” Charlotte continued, “how are you going to get to – where was it – Loretta? Are you planning to walk nearly 200 miles?”
Annie glanced over her shoulder as they moved. There was so much commotion everywhere. She was on edge.
“I don’t know yet. Maybe we could ride bicycles there,” Annie said.
“Annie Hawthorne, this whole EMP thing has made you a little batty,” Charlotte said. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
“Of course,” Annie said, setting her sights straight ahead.
But she didn’t feel all right. Not at all.
Inside, she was panicked.
What was going to happen? What had happened to her family out east, and what was happening in LA?
Please keep Jack safe. Please keep them all safe.
More than anything, she wished her husband was there with her at that moment.
They crossed the street. With each block, there seemed to be more people out. More people yelling at each other. More aggression.
Up ahead, there was shouting. Two men were yelling at each other about a car accident they had been involved in.
One pushed the other. Soon, they broke out in a fist fight.
Annie and Charlotte took a side street to avoid the erupting violence. But on the next street over, two women were slapping each other. One pushed the other to the ground and kicked her.
Shops were closing their doors. Storekeepers looked at the streets warily, and then hurried to lock up.
All around them, the city began to take an ominous tone.
“Everybody’s going crazy,” Charlotte commented with an edge of fear in her voice. “It seems like every minute, it gets worse.”
“It feels like panic is spreading through the city,” Annie agreed. “It’s like it’s contagious.”
They turned south on Congress Avenue, toward the Texas Capitol building. As they drew closer, Annie saw a young man standing on the capitol steps in front of a large gathering of people.
“Let’s cut through the capitol grounds,” Annie said. “Maybe this guy knows something.”
Charlotte’s heels clicked on the sidewalk as they walked briskly through the manicured government estate.
Soon, they heard the panicked voices of the swarm of people in front of the capitol. Everyone was speaking at once.
The young man appeared to be fresh out of college and surely an intern. He stood on the steps before the entrance to the large granite building. The steps had been barricaded off to keep the crowd back.
Several police officers stood in a row, shoulder to shoulder. They were lined up along the metal barricades to keep the public in order. As Annie got closer, she saw the officers were in full riot gear.
This doesn’t look good.
; “If you folks would just let me speak –” the lone man behind the barricade said, his voice strained.
“We want to know what’s happening!” a middle-aged woman shouted in his direction.
“Where’s the governor?”
“Tell us what’s going on!”
“The governor has issued a statement,” the young man said above the buzz of the crowd. “He urges everyone to remain calm during this time. There have been widespread power outages –”
“You call this a power outage?” roared a man in front of the barricade.
“… We ask that you remain patient while the state and city authorities work hard to restore power to electrical and telecommunication systems.” The young man read from a small piece of paper.
Annie could see that his hands were shaking.
His voice began to quiver, too, as he read. He tugged on the tie at his neck.
A woman in the crowd turned away from the intern and addressed the crowd.
“We’re under attack! North Korea has finally dropped a bomb on us! And this guy won’t tell us the truth!”
“No, no, it’s not North Korea,” a man nearby answered her. “It’s got to be China. Or Russia.”
“What a bunch of idiots!” a guy in the back yelled. “Obviously, this is a terrorist attack.”
“Please return to your homes and await further instruction,” the employee read.
The hand holding the sheet of paper fell to his side. He looked around at the crowd. It had become larger, and more agitated, while he had read the message.
“This guy is just some intern!” yelled a voice from the crowd. “We want the governor! We want the truth!”
The state employee on the steps watched as a few people in the crowd began to push against the barricade.
The young man turned and ran up the steps, flinging the heavy front door open. He disappeared into the ornate building, his shoes tapping on the marble floor as he ran.
The police officers readied themselves, urging the crowd to settle down.
But the voices grew louder. The people began to push harder.
“Let’s get out of here!” Annie said to Charlotte.
The two women quickly moved away from the rising tension of the gathering.
They heard the voices of the police officers warning the crowd to stay back.
Annie and Charlotte broke away from the crowd. They walked quickly down the sidewalk and continued crossing the capitol grounds. Soon, they were on the opposite side of the state building, where they could no longer see the crowd.
Suddenly, a gunshot rang through the air.
Charlotte froze and turned to Annie, her eyes wide.
They looked at each other for a moment, then continued walking, this time at a faster pace.
“It’s like the whole world is falling apart!” Charlotte exclaimed. “You were right, Annie. We do need to get out of here.”
Annie gritted her teeth and pushed her body forward. But as they trudged ahead, the knot in her stomach grew tighter. She didn’t want to continue.
As they headed west, they began to hear more sounds of commotion. Approaching First Street, Annie stopped in her tracks.
People were everywhere on the streets and sidewalks. Looting. Rioting. It was a madhouse.
Someone threw a large rock through the glass storefront of an electronics shop. Immediately, a crowd of people rushed inside. Moments later, people began to run out, carrying television sets or cellular phones.
Or whatever they could grab.
“Let’s see if we can go down a different street,” Annie said.
She scanned the surroundings quickly. There was no safe route, she realized with defeat. Violence was breaking out all around them.
The situation was changing moment to moment. Everywhere they looked, there was chaos.
Suddenly, Annie couldn’t breathe. Fear compressed her chest like a vice.
She took desperate gulps of air with her open mouth. She doubled over with her hands on her knees.
Charlotte put her hand on Annie’s back.
“Are you okay?”
Annie gasped for air.
“I – I can’t do this,” she sputtered.
She watched as a group of people raced past them on the sidewalk. They carried packages in their hands. She could barely focus her vision enough to see what they were carrying.
Annie’s heart was pounding. She was totally out of control. She felt dizzy, disoriented.
“Just breathe,” Charlotte said, patting Annie’s back.
Annie had never felt like this before. The sense of panic and doom overwhelmed her.
Is this a panic attack?
Her vision turned blurry. Fractured images of the people on the street seemed to swim around in front of her eyes.
This can’t be happening. It can’t.
She exhaled slowly, struggling to control her breathing.
Get a grip, Annie.
Charlotte’s hand on her back was like an anchor. Annie focused on that. She willed herself to keep it together.
She took another breath and felt a bit calmer. The worst of the panic was fading a little. But in its place, she felt defeat.
How would they ever survive this?
“I don’t know how to continue,” Annie said. “We’ll never make it home with the streets like this.”
Annie looked around. Then she squeezed her eyes shut, as if to block out the nightmare happening all around them.
If only Jack were here. Why did he have to be in LA this week? Of all weeks!
“I can’t face this,” Annie muttered, shaking her head. “Not alone. I don’t have the strength.”
Charlotte grasped Annie’s shoulders and helped her friend to stand up.
“Look at me,” Charlotte said. “First of all, you’re not alone. I’m here with you, remember?”
Charlotte smiled at her friend. Annie nodded, but the worry was still etched in her face.
“Anyway, you’re the strongest person I know,” Charlotte insisted. “If there’s anyone who can get through this, it’s you.”
Annie shook her head in protest, her green eyes becoming watery. “But this is too much.”
“Hey,” Charlotte said. “Look at everything you’ve already been through. You escaped that terrible first husband you had. You’re the first person in your family to go to college. You moved away from your hometown to start a new life. A little rioting in the streets is nothing compared to all that.”
Charlotte laughed at the ridiculousness of giving her friend a pep talk as the city fell apart around them.
Annie blinked back tears. She smiled in spite of herself.
“Anyway, what choice do we have?” Charlotte asked.
Annie nodded. “You’re right. We have to keep going.” She straightened her shoulders and took a deep breath. “Sorry for the breakdown. Thanks for talking some sense into me.”
Charlotte was right, after all. Annie was strong enough to face this.
“Anytime,” Charlotte said. She looked up to see a throng of people headed their way. “But what do you say we get moving?”
Annie nodded, and they started walking again. Faster, this time.
Annie didn’t know what had come over her. But she was grateful that Charlotte had talked her off the ledge. There wasn’t time to spend on freak-outs in the middle of the street.
From then on, they would have to focus on one thing only.
Survival.
Annie looked around at the familiar streets, now being turned upside down from the chaos. They needed to decide on a route.
“We’ve got to cross the river,” Annie said, formulating a plan as she spoke. “Let’s head for the First Street bridge.”
There were still several blocks between them and the bridge. Along with the looting happening in stores, violence was breaking out on the streets.
Two blocks behind them, shots rang out. Annie glanced back to see a man fall down, dead. A mob of peo
ple who had been looting a corner store scattered.
“Just keep going,” Annie said to Charlotte, who had stopped to watch the scene unfolding. “We’ve got to make it home.”
Charlotte ran a few steps to keep up with Annie. “But what if it’s just as bad at your house as it is here?”
That dark thought had already crossed Annie’s mind. What if people were already breaking into her house? What if there was nowhere safe to go?
Annie shook her head. They couldn’t waste time on worries like that. It would just slow them down.
“It will be fine once we leave downtown,” she assured Charlotte. “It’s only crazy right here because we’re in the middle of the city.”
Annie could only hope it wasn’t an empty promise.
Charlotte didn’t respond. They both knew to brace themselves for the worst. Nothing was certain anymore.
Watching the state employee at the capitol had taught them that. He had been so young, just an intern. Surely he didn’t hold a high-level position with the state government.
Which begged the question: where were the people with power?
Why hadn’t the governor or any state officials shown their faces? Why hadn’t they addressed the angry crowd of citizens demanding answers?
And why had the state employee been so scared, running away from the public like he did?
The more Annie thought about it, the less faith she had that the government could handle this crisis.
No one was coming to help them.
Jack was 1,400 miles away. Annie had no idea what was happening in LA. Maybe Jack was trying to get to safety as well. Or maybe he knew nothing of the situation in Austin.
One thing was clear.
She and Charlotte were on their own.
A half block ahead, a group of people smashed the window of a small computer store.
All at once, the scene erupted in confusion. Men and women rushed past Annie and Charlotte toward the store, pushing their way inside. Charlotte almost lost her balance as a man pushed her out of the way.
Amid the shouting and commotion, Annie watched as the looters carried packaged laptops and computer equipment out the door. They knocked over a display case of snack foods.
In their hurry to get to the electronics, people began to trample the packages of food.