by AJ Newman
“Two more men from the house about a quarter of a mile this side of Mary’s house came to greet me. The short story was that they intended to rob and kill me, then do the same to you, and worse. I saw them first and ambushed them.”
She looked thoughtful for a second before saying, “I’m glad you did it. People like that must not be the ones to inherit the Earth.
I knew that kid followed us to Mary’s House. We should have known he wasn’t running around in the snow. The kid was their lookout.”
“Patty, I have to go back to determine if they are a threat to us. We have killed four of their men and there could be more looking to settle the score.
I’ll take one of the sniper rifles with a suppressor. My plan is to sneak up and determine if they are a threat. If they are, I will end that threat. If no threats, I’ll get my ass back up here.”
I considered; threats and tracks in the snow.
“When do you have to go?”
“Now, I hate to leave you alone again, but I want to neutralize any threats before they show up at our doorstep. Besides, we are blind until I can reinstall our surveillance cameras and sensors, and that’s not good.”
Patty asked, “Why not just put them back up now? The Flare is past, isn’t it?”
“No, you were only out for the night. The Flare should hit tomorrow sometime. Even then we can’t put them right back up because we don’t know if there will be more CMEs resulting from the shock to the sun. I think it’ll be best to wait at least a month before we set them back out.”
“Yeah, I understand. Look, Mary is still out, so take me to the bathroom one more time, place some snacks by my chair and I’ll be okay.”
“I want to place another bag of antibiotics by your chair. Can you manage to change it out when the other goes dry? I’ll change Mary’s IV now.”
I helped her to the bathroom again, got the IV restarted, placed the snacks, and water by her chair, thus fulfilling my nursing duties. I tried to kiss her on the mouth as I left, but she moved and I ended up by kissing her forehead.
“Matt, I’m not ready for a relationship, yet.”
“Okay, I understand. Thanks for being up front with me. I’m really sorry if I caused you distress, but, please let me know if you do become ready.”
“Yes, Matt, I’m good with that. Thanks for being so understanding.”
Oh, I was so understanding, yeah right; I was hurt and mad when I left.
***
I went to the gun safe to retrieve an AR 10 that I had set up as a sniper rifle. I knew I might have long-range shots, and the AR makes a fine close quarter weapon, too.
I changed into camo’s and selected body armor from the gun room. I needed to take more precaution when preparing to exchange gunfire with thugs. I did not want to get a bullet in the gut and die a slow, painful death.
Concerned about nightfall, I left the house about 2:30, drove towards the potential enemy and again parked off the road a quarter mile from the suspect house.
I carefully walked deep into the woods and circled around to the back of the house. As I moved closer, I wondered if I could shoot any of the women who might be a danger to our survival. Frankly, I was surprised I had so calmly killed the two assholes without even hesitating. Killing them was like killing a copperhead before it could bite you. There was a rush of adrenaline, and then relief. I resolved never to be bitten by snakes.
No one was outside so I snuck in closer to the house. I heard talking from the side window and moved close enough to listen in on the conversation, again tracks. My presence would not go unnoticed. No matter what I did, I could not hide those damnable tracks.
***
“Charlie, you know those men were bad. They would have eventually turned on us when the food ran out. We don’t even know where they came from.”
“Marge, I was fooled. I have to say I felt good at first when I felt we would have safety in numbers, what with everyone else gone. They had guns and I thought they would help protect us, and it was a good idea to scavenge from the empty houses. That is ‘til they got killed running Mary off.”
“Mary was a good person. I hope she made it safely to where ever she headed. I just wish someone hadn’t sabotaged our car.”
***
I listened in long enough to be sure these people were not a threat and then quietly walked upon the snow to the front door, drew my pistol and wrapped it against the door.
“Charlie…”
“Shut up Marge, quick hide in the potato bin…now, damn it, move!”
Marge ran to the bin, climbed in and closed the lid while Charlie made his way to door.
Standing beside the door, Charlie asked, “Who’s there? I got a gun.”
After hearing the conversation, I smiled knowing he had no firearm. I said, “Charlie, open this door now, before I kick it in and put a bullet in you! Now, Charlie, now!”
Fearing the unknown voice might carry out his threat, Charlie slowly opened the door, and found himself peering down the barrel of Matt’s AR-10.
“Please, sir, don’t shoot!”
I said, “If I open the door, and someone is waiting to attack me, you will die first.”
Opening the door, Charlie said, “Sir, no one is here with me, I swear.”
I entered, visually searched the room and asked, “Where is Marge? Get her in here.”
Please, we have nothing for you to steal. Please don’t kill us, well, just please, let us be.
Wait, how do you know our names?”
“I said; get her in here, now!” Quaking in fear, Charlie said, “Marge, get in here, quick.”
“All right, Charlie, sit down and relax just a little! If you play your cards right, you will get out of this without anything bad happening to either of you. Am I clear?”
“Oh, yes sir. We understand. We won’t cause no problem, thank you. How kin we be a’helpin’ you, sir?”
Marge slowly came into the room and nearly fainted when she saw my AR.
“Oh, God, are you going to kill us?”
I pointed for her to sit beside Charlie.
After she was seated, I sat across from them and lowered my pistol.
“As I said, I am not here to do you any harm. I know your names because I overheard your conversation a few minutes ago, and overhearing it saved your life. I showed them my stethoscope.
If you had said the wrong thing, you would both be dead by now.”
“Thank you, thank you, but what do you want from us?”
I smiled at him and said, “Right to the chase, very good Charlie.
Okay, here’s what I demand, notice I did not say request. I will return the distributor and wiring so you can get on the road.
If you stay here you will freeze, or starve, or become slaves. You must leave here by dawn tomorrow…not one minute later, and you must never return. Clear?”
Both said in unison, “Oh, bless you sir. Leaving here is all we want to do, and tomorrow at dawn definitely works for us. Where do you think we should go?”
“Head south, old buddy head south…and be quick about it.”
“Yes, sir, we will.”
I left four things for them in the car, a note telling them where I hid a pistol, a case of MREs from the truck, and a hose.
Yeah, I know, I’m just an old softie. They didn’t have a Preacher’s chance in hell, even with the pistol.
No sheep dogs here. I had no doubt they preferred to be in the center of the flock. Still, I had to give them a small, all be it a very small chance to make it.
***
I arrived back at home, put away the truck and equipment and went into the great room to see how Patty and Mary were doing. I saw them still asleep, so I pulled a chair up beside Mary and held her hand while I watched her sleep. I noticed she was becoming restless and hoped it was a good sign that she would wake up soon. Patty squirmed in the chair for an hour before waking and seemed very happy to see me.
“Matt, how long have you b
een back?”
“Oh, about an hour I guess. You were sleeping and you need your rest, so I didn’t wake you.”
“Matt, I want to tell…”
“I think you have said it all. What do you want for supper?”
“Okay. Wait, I forgot. What did you find out about the people down the road?”
“They are good people, but entirely too weak to have much of a chance in this new reality.
The bad guys wandered in to the area last week and promised to provide security if the people would share their food. There wasn’t enough food, so they started raiding the area and had the bad luck to run into you and Mary.”
“I’m glad. I hate killing over food and property.”
Suddenly a very weak voice said, “What the hell are you two talking about and who beat the crap outta’ me?”
Mary was still in bad shape and needed constant attention, but with luck, it seemed the worst might just be over. The drugs had beaten any infection and now it appeared she just needed lots of time to heal.
Patty replied, “What do you remember?”
“I remember we were going to your house to get our stuff and then nothing.”
Patty filled in the gaps and pretty much took over caring for Mary as they both healed. I still had the chore of transporting them to the restroom and a while later to the supper table. We decided that supper was the one time that we should all be seated around the table.
The radio buzzed with the special emergency alert signal. The static caused us to hear only about half of what was said, but it scared the crap out of us.
“Ladies and…sklxxt...the…sklxxt… of the United States of America.”
“…sklxxt...the CME will reach us early…sklxxt...the …sklxxt...the morning. Stay in…sklxxt...sklxxt... You will be safe. I want to assure…sklxxt...the…sklxxt...The DHS and FEMA…sklxxt... This is the last communi…sklxxt... the power on. I repeat…sklxxt...”
“We can’t take questions at this…”
“Mr. President, Reuters has reported that the USA has invaded…sklxxt...invaded India and Indo…sklxxt...and Russia…sklxxt...the…Mid…sklxxt...and Africa.”
“The President has a pressing…sklxxt...taking questions.”
The reporters all yelled at once.
“It has been reported that there are three planets that collided with the sun; is that true?”
The Press Secretary must have continued to follow the Presidential party.
“There are numerous reports…sklxxt...that the major…sklxxt...are invading the equatorial regions of the world in a simultaneous attack. What the hell is going on? Is it the end of the world?”
There were no answers to the many questions.
***
What we didn’t know at the time was that there was a clamor in the room as the reporter’s phones vibrated constantly with messages from their offices.
All communications from the room to the outside world were immediately cut and those reporters were arrested and detained.
***
I turned the radio off and said, “This is confusing and alarming. The government continues to down play the upcoming disaster and now we have reports of massive invasions of other countries by several world powers, and I’ll bet those invaders are from northern climes. That possibility did not bode well for us.”
We discussed the reporter’s questions, but we didn’t connect the dots between Franks warning, and the invasion of countries in warmer climates.
***
I sulked by myself in the gun safe for several hours wondering how I had gone from hating women to falling in love with one who could care less about me. Honestly, I reacted like a brat who didn’t get his way. I planned to be polite to Patty, but run her off at the first time I could when I knew she would be safe. Yeah, that’ll teach her.
I decided to take a better inventory of my arsenal while I was hiding from Patty. I had placed several guns and ammunition in all of the caches and the cave, but felt I needed to add a few selected weapons to the cave. I would keep the .338 Lapua in the house gun safe, but would move the Barrett .50 cal to the cave along with plenty of ammunition. I found a mixture of several different rounds. There were ball, tracer and armor piercing rounds. All of them could wreak havoc on anything short of a tank, but I liked the idea of being able to kill a truck at half a mile using the .50 cal armor piercing rounds from a mountain hiding spot.
I also selected a Ruger American .17 HMR for small game hunting and picking off intruders when I wanted to save the larger caliber ammo. Frank had 5,000 rounds of .17 ammo. I was busy keeping my mind off Patty when it dawned on me that the CME was due to hit or pass by in the next 5-10 hours. I locked up and headed upstairs to join the girls.
***
“Patty I heard the last bit of your conversation and it appears you two aren’t hitting it off as I hoped. What’s wrong?”
“Oh Mary, he’s fallen for me and his feelings are hurt because I don’t feel the same way about him?”
“I can’t see why you didn’t fall for him. He’s good looking, a kind and wonderful person and has a great home.”
“I don’t know. I like him, but I think George made me leery of all men. George started out a nice guy then changed over the years as he failed at one business after another. He resented my success. George never valued hard work and always drank a bit too much.”
“Matt drinks, but he never drinks to excess. If I were a few years younger, he would be my man. I know the heart wants what the heart wants, but you won’t find a better man.”
“Go for it. You are a very beautiful woman and no one would guess you are in your forties.”
“Hell girl, I’m 42, Matt is about 35 and I want a man a little closer to my age so we can grow old together. No I’ll leave him for the young fillies like you.”
***
I woke to the sound of my alarm at 2:30 and remembered that the outer fringes of plasma cloud should be hitting the Earth at any time now. I prayed that we only received the dissipated particles and not the concentrated core. I went into the great room and woke the girls.
“Ladies, it’s 2:40 and the Northern Lights have kicked into high gear. There is a very bright and very large cloud traveling away from the Sun, but away from us that has lit up the sky. My guess is that the CME is approaching fast, which is good for us because it should pass with the U.S. faced away from its path.
I really don’t want any harm to come to any other country, but the worst part of the hit on the Earth is going to be China, Russia and the Middle East. I just hope the Israelis have taken precaution because that part of the world is going to be hit very hard. I could care less about the others.”
“Can you help me outside so I can watch it pass by,” asked Mary?”
“Yes, I’ll help Patty out to the back deck and then come back for you.”
“I can make it on my own. Please help Mary.”
“Okay Mary, let’s get you up and outside.”
Mary was a trim 130 pounds and easy to assist through the kitchen and out to the deck. I helped her into a chair beside Patty and then went in to make some coffee.
“Look Patty, it’s a weird green daylight out here. The sky is like a soup made of iridescent colors. That huge blob of green light is passing by as the Earth turns us away from it. That’s why we’re just seeing the glow and not the cloud.”
I returned, heard Mary’s comment and added, “That’s right, if we were hit by the main body of the cloud we probably would be dead in a few hours. The Earth is blocking the worst radiation and charged particles from hitting us.”
***
The outer fringe of the CME plasma cloud bombarded Europe, Russia, China and the Middle East. The plasma interacted with the Earth’s magnetosphere creating an enormous electrical surge that fed into the world’s electrical grids.
Power generation stations with copper windings in the generators melted along with blown transformers, and melted transmission wires. Most
electronics suffered fused components and were ruined.
The side of the Earth away from the plasma suffered the same type of damage, but to a much lesser extent. Electronics were fried, but most copper wires did not completely melt down. The grid was down, but only because of blown electronics and transformers. Most people on the receiving side of Earth took a massive dose of radiation. Many died within a week, and no one really knew what cancers and mutational changes to the human genome would come.
Cars, trucks, jets, ATVs and any vehicle made with electronics controlling their ignition or fuel system failed and would not run again unless those systems were replaced. Overheated electronics and wires caused millions of fires, which resulted in large swaths of cities being burned to the ground.
The entire Earth was now back to horse and camel transportation except for the people who had pre 1975 vehicles without electronics, or military vehicles that had been hardened against EMP blasts.
Fire trucks would not be available to help put out fires even if the fire hydrants could provide water. Police cars were dead. The police that stayed on the job had to walk or ride a horse to chase down those who considered this disaster to be an opportunity to be looters, or rather, undocumented shoppers.
Men and women with pacemakers died that day and millions of others began the downward spiral to death as their medications ran out. Insulin, blood pressure medicine and antibiotics were no longer manufactured or any other medications. People would soon start dying from infected cuts and decayed teeth.
There was no ready source of clean drinking water so disease would spread rapidly. Mankind would lose 80 percent of its population in a few short months, perhaps, and probably more. I could not comprehend just then what a world of 7,000,000,000 would be like with only seven hundred million, at best.
It would be a few days before the major riots began to finish the destruction of the modern large cities. Grocery stores only had three days of goods at most, and trucks weren’t delivering from the warehouses. The warehouses would become battlegrounds as survivors fought and died for the scraps of a civilization thrust, in the blink of an eye, into the dustbin of history.