He had seen that same look only minutes before.
He reached down and grabbed the woman’s shoulder. Arlene snapped her head up to look at the man standing beside her. She paused for just a minute before continuing the chest compressions. A few more and then blow into his lungs.
Arlene pushed on his chest just a couple of more times, knowing that her attempts were in vain. She looked down and the lifeless body of her savior, her knight in shining armor, before her training kicked in and she accepted that she had done all she could do.
Arlene bowed her head and cried. Harold knelt beside her and wrapped his arm around her and hugged her as she let go of the torment the past two days had brought to her life. It was as if she had lost Ron all over again.
The rain stopped.
Chapter 15
Tuesday’s gone
Evening fell on the small Texas town. Harold had walked Arlene back to the house and turned her over to the women in the house. She regained her composure and recognized the people around her. She had gone to nursing school with Alice many years ago and had worked with her at numerous Nursing Homes during her career. When she found out that Alice had passed away shortly before she had barged into their lives she felt terrible.
Kay assured her that there was nothing to feel bad about. It had been a very eventful day, and nothing was within their control. Outside influences had affected all of their lives and nobody, especially the people in this house, had anything to do with it.
Roxie was in the spare bedroom, arranging things to make it more comfortable for Ashlyn and the girls. She had decided that she would sleep on the couch and let the little family have the bedroom. That would be better for them and would give Harold and Kay a little quiet. They sure needed it.
Bailey took a nap in the master bedroom. The day’s events had completely overwhelmed her, and she fell into a deep sleep in minutes.
Harold went out and filled the generator with fuel and then carried a small can of gas to the old, rusty pickup to bring it and Levi to the house. Calvin met him on the road and learned about what had happened. He offered to help get the truck home. He also volunteered to help dig a couple of graves the next day.
Calvin helped carry Levi’s lifeless body in the house. They laid him on the floor in Alice’s room and closed the door behind them. Harold moved the couch across the room to block the doorway and prevent anyone, especially the children, from going in.
He pulled the pickup around to the back yard where he could keep his eyes on it. Given the situation, it would be very tempting to someone to take some of the fencing material from the truck – or to take truck and all. He raised the hood and removed the coil wire as insurance. You can never tell what evil is out there.
When he walked back into his mancave, Harold was met by a teary-eyed Bailey. She was sitting at his desk, looking into the growing darkness in the back yard.
“Uncle Harold,” she said, “what are we going to do?” He had heard that same question so many times since the emp turned the world upside down. He still didn’t know how to answer it.
“We’re going to go in there and sit together for a little prayer session,” he said. “Then we’re going to bring a cot in here and make you a place to sleep tonight. After that, we’re going to go to bed and get some rest. This has been a rough day for all of us. Prayer and rest are exactly what we all need, in that order.”
“And what about after that?” she asked.
“After that we’ll take one day at a time,” he told her. “If you had told me yesterday morning that we’d be standing her having this conversation right now I would have laughed in your face. I’ve feared this day for a long time, but I never thought it would actually have happened. Now we have to deal with the cards we hold. We may not like the hand we’ve been dealt, but we have no choice but play them out.”
She reached out and hugged his neck. He hugged her.
“Don’t stay up on the computer all night,” he winked at her.
Harold and Bailey walked into the kitchen. Roxie was pouring everyone a cup of coffee. Ashlyn was sitting at the table, obviously emotionally drained. Kay was also there, sitting in her spot. Harold grabbed his cup and stirred in a spoonful of sugar. He leaned against the counter. Bailey opened the fridge and grabbed a Dr. Pepper and joined him by the sink. Roxie took her cup and sat at her place at the table.
“Frrrruuuuuuuuumph,” the sound of methane leaking into the air filled the silence in the room. All eyes turned to Kay. She was known for moments like these.
Everyone busted out laughing. A deep, genuine laugh. Sometimes a little … mid-size fart is the best thing on the planet.
- - -
Tucked away in the Sacramento Mountains in Sunspot, New Mexico, a team of researchers from the Air Force Research Lab gathered at the John W. Evans Solar Facility to analyze the latest data. Outside, the usual vehicles did not fill the spaces in the parking lot. Instead were an abundance of government and military vehicles.
MP’s manned blockades that had been hastily installed near all entrances to the facility, and armed soldiers set up a perimeter around the entire property, in essence shutting the entire facility off from the rest of the National Forest that encompassed it. The only people allowed to enter were approved military personnel and confirmed agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Franklin Powers, the ranking agent for the Directorate Intelligence Division, sat silently in a makeshift office in the Visitor Center waiting for the completed analysis from the scientists. He had his hopes, but it wasn’t his job to hope. It was his job to gather information and relay that information to his direct supervisor.
Time was of the essence.
He looked up as the office door opened. A man in a pressed suit, one of many in the same style suit, walked in the room and directly to Powers. He reached across the desk and handed over an envelope. He then turned and walked out the room, closing the door behind him. Not a word was spoken.
Powers placed the envelope in his breast pocket. He walked out of the office, across the parking lot and into a small building that had been brought to the site only days before. Inside the building was a ham radio, which he used to relay a coded message. He then returned to his office.
Many miles away a man in an identical suit walked out of an office and down a long hall. He walked down several flights of stairs and down another long hall. He stood before a closed door and allowed a laser to scan his retina. The door slid open. He stepped inside.
Before him was a long conference table with generals and high-ranking government officials seated around it. The man seated at the end of the table spoke.
“Well,” he asked. “Have you brought me good news?”
The man in the suit nodded. “Yes, Mr. President,” he said. “It looks like the solar ejection has passed. There have been no further coronal mass ejections detected. It’s safe to implement Operation Recovery.”
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