by Ellis, Tara
“Don’t you think you’re overreacting?” Gary asked bluntly. He was waving his copy of the City of Mercy Disaster Response Plan in the air for emphasis. He then pushed at the sheets of handwritten documents on the table in front of him, scattering them. “You’re acting like it’s the end of the world.”
Patty clamped her jaw so tightly that a sharp pain shot through her temple. She’d spent hours that afternoon carefully drawing up the lists for each of them. They all had assignments and it was critical they were on board with the plan if it was going to work. “Overreacting?” Her voice was dangerously low. Her gaze flitted from Gary to Paul, his closest friend and usual cohort on the council. “Paul, why don’t you tell Gary here why you didn’t come into town last night?”
“Patty…” Gary cautioned.
“No!” Patty spat, turning back to Gary with eyes so wild that he flinched away from her. “You’ll listen to what Paul has to say.”
Paul fidgeted with a corner of one of the papers in his stack, curling the edge. “Nell died.” His voice was so low that it was hard to hear, but Patty already knew what he was going to say about his wife. “Figure her pacemaker shorted out or something. She just…dropped, right after the flash of light, when everything else stopped working.” His voice caught on the last words and the room fell into an uncomfortable silence.
Gary cleared his throat and stared back at Patty. “I know what happened.”
Patty slapped her hands down on the table, dispersing her papers and causing everyone to jump. “You mean to tell me, Gary, that you know what happened to Nell and the others, and you still have the gall to sit there and tell me that I’m overreacting?”
“Patty.” Caleb put a calming hand on her arm from where he sat next to her. He wasn’t on the council but she’d asked him to join them. Not only had he been on the disaster preparedness team, he had vital information to share with everyone. The police chief, fire chief, doctor, and corner market owner were also present.
Ned Allen, the oldest of the council members, rose slowly from his chair. He looked solemnly at each of them in turn, including the fourth and final councilwoman, Betty. “I think I speak for everyone in this room when I say the gravity of the situation isn’t lost on any of us.” He settled his milky gaze on Patty and she knew he couldn’t see her well through his thickening cataracts. “No doubt, Mayor Woods wouldn’t have called us together with such an elaborate plan of action without good reason. Why don’t we give her and Caleb a chance to finish what they were trying to say?”
Ned was Mercy’s previous mayor and the man knew how to capture an audience. She appreciated the smooth way he emphasized her title and the fact she was the town’s official leader. The noisy diesel generator hummed from the alley outside the wall of windows, reminding her of the false sense of normalcy the lighting created.
They had quickly discovered that anything plugged into an electrical outlet at the time of the flash, or any lights with a bulb screwed in was destroyed…burned up. They’d resorted to taking the only two cheap floor lamps Mr. Sullivan had in his store. He had a wide assortment of goods, but not much of any one thing.
Those two lamps were now tethered by long extension cords that trailed out a window. They were placed at either end of the table, affording a soft glow to the room as the sun prepared to set outside. Patty still took solace from the light. Proof that they could and would overcome whatever was happening. But they couldn’t accomplish that by fighting with each other and it was up to her as the mayor to make sure that didn’t happen. There’d been many times during her life when she’d refused to back down as a matter of pride and a sense of right or wrong. However, this was one time where her own needs simply didn’t matter. It was bigger than that. This realization brought a sudden peace to Patty and her shoulders relaxed as she looked at Gary in a new light. He was scared, just like everyone else, and denial was a powerful defense.
“Gary, I’m sorry.” Gary blinked at Patty, surprised by the kindness in her voice. “I’m sorry I lost my temper, but I’m scared. I can understand why you thought I was overreacting when you sat down to the material I gave you, without any explanation. I should have had Caleb open this meeting by sharing what he’s learned, so all of this would make more sense.” She picked up the disaster plan and held it to her chest. “The fact is, what’s happened is unprecedented and we’re going to have to work together to see us all through it.”
Caleb stood and, not being one to mess with formalities, jumped right to the point. “I’ve managed to communicate with other ham radio operators from different areas of our country…and the world.”
“The world?” Betty echoed. She was a young schoolteacher who had moved to Mercy only two years prior. A single mother with a young son, she’d always been a reasonable person and level-headed. Now, she was rather pale and obviously frightened.
“Yes,” Caleb confirmed. “It’s the same everywhere. This was a worldwide event.”
“How’s that possible?” Sheriff Waters asked. He had chosen to stand at the back of the room and now slowly approached the table. Pulling out the chair on the other side of Caleb, he sat down and glanced at the sheet of paper with his handwritten name across the top. Ignoring the list of jobs on it, he instead stared at Caleb with an intensity backed by years of police service. “What could have possibly caused a global blackout?”
“It’s not just a blackout,” Caleb corrected. “They’re saying it was some sort of radiation burst from space, probably from a nearby star exploding or collapsing. We’re the lucky ones, we’ve basically only experienced the massive EMP, or electromagnetic pulse, that resulted from the radiation impacting the upper atmosphere.” Caleb looked around the room before taking a deep, shuddering breath. “It sounds like the southeastern hemisphere was literally wiped out.”
Betty gasped and Ned reached out blindly to put a comforting arm around her shoulders. Gary and Paul exchanged a nervous look.
“You said radiation,” Dr. Melissa Olsen spoke for the first time since she’d entered the room. “What kind?”
“Gamma.”
Melissa tilted her head at Caleb and it was clear to Patty by the way her color drained, that the doctor knew what that meant.
The room then erupted in an explosion of questions as everyone began speaking at once.
“Quiet!” the fire chief’s deep voice boomed. Patty appreciated the stunned silence that followed.
Chief Carlos Martinez was seated at the far end of the table, in between Paul and the store owner, Mr. Sullivan. He had a habit of playing with his thick mustache when stressed and was doing so now with such vigor that Patty was afraid he’d pull his hair out. He was in his early fifties, short and muscular, and much like the sheriff, had come to Mercy as a sort of pre-retirement after serving a couple of decades in a much larger district. Carlos had a vast arsenal of experience in the fire service and Patty knew that included certification as a hazmat technician, so he might also understand the implications of gamma radiation exposure. He stared intently at Caleb. “So, you’re saying that some catastrophic wave of space radiation created this EMP, and that’s what destroyed the electronics all around the world? Is that what you mean by ‘wiped out’?”
Caleb pressed his fingers into his forehead above his eyebrows and gave his head a shake. “No, Carlos, not exactly.” He dropped his hands and leaned back in the chair. “Communication is extremely difficult, due to the radiation and interference, so it’s all been by CW, or what you’d call Morse code. Those of us who have been radio operators for a while use a type of shorthand called Q codes. While it makes sending messages much faster, it also leaves some things open to interpretation, not to mention some language barriers. Bottom line is that from what we can gather, the part of the world that received a direct hit from this gamma ray was literally destroyed. In parts of Europe and our own East Coast, people are already dying from radiation poisoning.”
“We’re going to die?” Gary croaked. “I don’
t even feel sick.”
“Can’t we take iodine pills or something?” Paul asked.
“No,” Melissa answered. “Obviously, given that my work isn’t exactly glamorous, I haven’t studied radiation poisoning much, but I do know that gamma radiation is penetrating, meaning it goes right through everything, including our bodies. I’ll have to try and find some books about it, though I believe it all depends on how much you’re exposed to. Small amounts don’t cause enough damage to be noticed, but if there’s enough, it basically shreds your DNA and can do anything, from causing flu-like symptoms to a quick death. I think the worse the exposure, the sooner you’d show symptoms. I’m guessing we must be far enough away that if we did get any exposure, it was mild. Paul, iodine only works against radioisotope radiation, like from a nuclear reactor leak.”
Caleb pulled a book out from under his handouts, and slid it across the table to the doctor. “I stopped at the high school library and found this. There’s only a small section on gamma ray bursts, but it does give some helpful information. It also says that one was believed to have caused an extinction-level event about two hundred and forty million years ago.”
“Extinction level,” Sheriff Waters echoed.
The chill in Patty’s stomach that had taken up residence for the past two days intensified, making her shiver. “Yes.” Her voice cracked and came out like more of a hiccup. “Yes,” she repeated with more resolve. “It’s very likely that right now, at least half the people on this planet are already dead and more are dying. And this is just the beginning.”
The room was drenched with fear as the ten people sat staring at each other, bound together by a horrific knowledge and the realization that their lives would never be the same.
Gary was the first to move, and reached out to slowly pick up the list of tasks Patty had assigned him. He cleared his throat. “It would seem that Patty has taken the correct approach. We’ll need to start by focusing on what we can control, which at this point is only our immediate surroundings.” He looked up at Patty, and gone was his normal arrogance. “I’ll go see Al over at the gas station as soon as we’re done here and help him figure out how many gallons of gas and diesel we’ve got.”
“I brought my store’s inventory,” Mr. Sullivan added, holding several sheets of paper out to Patty. “The town’s welcome to it all. I don’t want for much.”
As Patty’s hand brushed the older man’s, her resolve wavered and a tear spilled out and onto the papers.
Sheriff Waters stood. “My deputies and I will have a census by the end of the day tomorrow. How many people, where, and what their immediate needs are.”
“Here’s my list of the deceased, injured, and missing,” Melissa offered, adding her paper to Patty’s pile.
“Water, shelter, and then food are our immediate concerns,” Chief Martinez walked over to where a large whiteboard dominated the wall. He wrote the three words across the top. Under those, he wrote: Purification, sustainability, medication, security.
“Mercy is a unique place.” Patty held up the disaster plan. “Please, read it if you haven’t already. It addresses the water and sustainability concerns. We have several homesteads that still have working handpumps with their wells, and the new spring well is an incredible source of pure water. We just have to come up with a workable way to get it to whoever needs it. We’re isolated in a protected valley with amazing farms and plenty of livestock.”
“Not to mention all of the Montana born-and-raised hunters,” Mr. Sullivan said proudly. “We know how to take care of each other.”
“Yes, we do,” Patty agreed. “However, in spite of all the good people here in Mercy, fear and desperation will do things to a person. We already got a small glimpse of that just this morning, which is why I’m calling for a town meeting tomorrow. Spread the word, make sure everyone knows. We have to reassure everyone that their basic needs will be met. That they won’t run out of water or food, or else people will lose hope. And that’s a dangerous thing.”
Chief Martinez tapped at the word security on the whiteboard. “Which brings us to security. We might have the resources to sustain our population, but larger cities like Helena won’t. They simply lack the infrastructure to cope with the residents’ needs and things will rapidly deteriorate.”
“He’s right,” Sheriff Waters agreed. “It’s going to get ugly.”
“I get it,” Patty said, her anxiety ratcheting up again. “Like Gary said, let’s focus on what we can control today. I don’t think we need to worry about defending Mercy just yet.”
“Maybe not today or tomorrow,” Sheriff Waters said gravely. “But it’ll be sooner than you think.”
Chapter 19
DANNY
Near Ogden, Utah
“I’m not sure about this,” Danny whispered. She glanced over her left shoulder at the retreating form of a woman pushing a shopping cart through the parking lot.
“We aren’t looting,” Sam countered. He shielded his eyes against the setting sun and gazed at the front of Smith’s Marketplace. “It’s a life-or-death situation, and we’re only taking what we need.”
Danny rolled her eyes and then swallowed her pride. “Geeze, Sam, I know that. I don’t have a problem scavenging for bikes and stuff, it’s just that…there aren’t any windows in there.” It was a warehouse-style building so the only source of outside light was from the front doors. The burning pain in her arm was a constant reminder that they needed supplies, but it wasn’t enough to push aside her phobias.
Sam turned to face her. Crossing his arms over his chest, he offered her a crooked grin. “You trying to tell me you’re afraid of the dark? I thought you were a firefighter.”
“Paramedic and firefighter,” Danny confirmed with some heat in her voice. “And I’m not so much afraid of the dark as I’m afraid of what might be in the dark. I have strong survival instincts,” she added for good measure.
“Then they should be telling you that this might be our last opportunity to hit pay dirt like this,” Sam said. His expression grew serious. “Once people realize the power isn’t coming back on, they’ll swarm all the stores. These first couple of days have been mostly looters hitting the big-ticket items and electronics, as ironic as that is. As the water left in the pipes is used up and help doesn’t come, people will start to venture out and get frantic. The lack of knowledge and inability to travel are in our favor right now, and it won’t last long.”
“Yeah,” Danny interrupted waving a hand. “The whole seventy-two-hour thing. I get it, and I know we have to do it.” She kicked at a rock, sending it under the car they were standing next to. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
Sam chuckled. “Grace will keep you safe.”
Danny knelt down next to the retriever and leaned into her big furry neck. She hadn’t been sure the dog would stay with them, but she’d plodded along the whole twenty miles they’d covered that day. They were now on the southern edge of Ogden, Utah, in the sprawling suburbs. Sam had taken them on yet another smaller interstate in order to avoid the more densely populated areas.
The freeway followed the base of an immense mountain range that ran north-south, and the Great Salt Lake was to the west, with all of the towns nestled in between. Fortunately, they were able to hug the lower slopes and avoid too much interaction with the locals. Most of the people they’d encountered were simply trying to get home or reconnect with family members. It was becoming remarkably clear that everyone’s world had been instantly redefined and made much, much smaller.
A high mountain waterfall along the road had replenished their water supply, but it was almost gone already since they only had two water bottles with them. They’d been lucky to find a clean source. Otherwise, without any way to boil the water or filter it, their five-hundred-mile trip would come to an abrupt end. The weather was still hot with clear skies, but they couldn’t take that for granted, either. Sleeping outside on the ground was already taking its toll on her, and she was
half Sam’s age. In addition to their ragged attire, they were slowing down and lacking calories. He was right. They had to find a faster way to travel and get some gear or they’d never make it home.
Danny looked back at the supermarket and noted the charred corner where what appeared to be a large air-conditioning unit had burned. Other than that, the building itself was unremarkable. The surrounding neighborhood hadn’t fared so well.
Numerous fires were still burning, and the hot air was heavy with smoke, making their eyes water. People could be heard screaming in the distance, and there was an unmoving body visible in a wrecked car in the nearest intersection. Another body was strewn next to a half-full cart two rows over in the parking lot, likely another implant victim, but Danny didn’t investigate. She wondered vaguely how long it would take for town officials to get organized enough to at least remove the dead.
Her hands sweating, Danny wiped them on her dirty jeans and stood up. “Let’s get this over with so we can get out of here.”
The store had two entrances and as a woman stumbled out the glass doors to their left, clasping a laptop and dropping videos as she ran, it was clear where the electronics department was. They veered for the smaller entrance to the right.
Danny looked around the parking lot again. While it was littered with vacant cars and shopping carts, there were only a few other people either coming or going. “No sign of the police.”
“We’re on the far edge of town.” Sam stopped at one of the doors, looking at the broken glass. “These big chains like to set up on the outskirts in urban areas, near a freeway for easy access. You saw what was happening in Salt Lake City. While Ogden is smaller, I’m sure the stores in town are already stripped bare and whatever police force is still operating will be trying to contain the violence. Everything is a matter of logistics still, including the police. I imagine there are some who suited up this morning and tried to make it to work, but don’t you think the majority are going to prioritize the safety of their families?”