After the Solar Flare (Book 1): Alone in the Apocalypse

by AJ Newman

  “Mary, I plan to go around the larger cities, but we have to go through Rock Springs. If we want to arrive safely in South America, we cannot stop for anything but fuel, and whizzes. There will probably be former cops who will try to confiscate our truck, criminals will try to rob us and there might even be women and children needing food. We have to ignore them all and be prepared to fight it out to get our butts south.”

  “How do we handle the police?”

  “Respectfully at first, Failing that I will shoot them if they try to take our truck. Keep your carbine and pistol handy at all times. I’ll do the talking and decide when to fight, or run roadblocks.”

  “I hate not helping people, but have no problem with taking out anyone trying to take our ride.”

  Yes, I did remind her of that…other people’s problems thing. Yep, she shushed me.

  Our map showed that we would hit the Highway 80 interchange about a mile before the town, but in fact, the area was built up on both sides, well before the interchange.

  We drove towards Rock Springs and as feared, there was a roadblock on the south side of the interchange blocking entrance to the town, but also blocking us from taking the down ramp. As we approached the roadblock, several men with guns yelled for us to stop. I saw a man in a police uniform get out of a parked car and start running towards us.

  Mary, duck down, I’m going down the exit ramp and we’ll worry about which side of 80 we need to be on later. Duck!”

  I twisted the steering wheel, floored the gas petal and careened down the snow packed ramp dodging and sliding around stalled cars.

  I heard several shots and a bullet hit the trailer’s bed. We didn’t shoot back and soon we were out of range; slip sliding away.

  Well at least I thought we were until Mary yelled, “Someone’s coming up behind us on a snowmobile. They’re a mile or so back.”

  I knew I could not out run a snow mobile so I stopped the truck, pulled out my AR10, laid the bipod legs on a box in the trailer, aimed and squeezed the trigger. The man was still a half mile away and the bullet struck the road ahead of him. I aimed three feet high, held my breath, squeezed the trigger and saw the snowmobile explode in a ball of fire. I knew it was a lucky shot and wondered if the man’s wife thought stealing a truck was worth his life.

  Just then, several bullets struck the cab and bed. There was another roadblock on the east side of the town on our side of the road.

  I stopped and quickly aimed the AR10 at the men at the roadblock and fired 20 quick rounds just short of their position. I heard Mary’s carbine firing and a man fell. One fired back and I emptied another magazine of 30 rounds at them. Three dropped and the other two went running back towards town.

  I quickly checked the truck, found it to have no serious damage and we hauled ass thru the roadblock. Only two of the men were moving. I thought of ending their suffering, but decided not to as they may have access to medical help.

  The others had died because they wanted our truck and our supplies. I used the bumper to push several drums out of the way and we again headed south.

  “Do you think those men wanted our truck?”

  I looked her in the eyes and said, “Yes, some of them died for a damned truck, but it’s our truck and many more will try to take it from us, before we make our destination.”

  She looked at me, raised her carbine and said, “Try is the right word. You are right, Matt, we will do what we must do or die trying.”

  “Yeah, our motto is the same as the one used by the Ranger School: Can’t quit, won’t quit, die first.”

  “All right, I’m fully onboard, crap we’ve only covered a hundred miles and thee maybe four people are dead because they wanted to rob us. We have to get better at this.”

  We headed on down the road at 30 mph and only had to dodge an occasional car or truck. The drive was monotonous. I drove another three hours before switching places with Mary.

  I reminded her that there were only a few small towns off the interstate so she shouldn’t have any worries until we get to Laramie. That was 230 miles so I told her to wake me in six hours or about 50 miles from Laramie.

  Once we made Laramie, I planned to get off the main road and cut down below Laramie and Cheyenne to Highway 25. I’d figure out how to handle Ft. Collins when I woke up.

  I felt a hand patting my shoulder and woke up needing to pee.

  “Is everything okay?”

  “Yes, I hate to wake you, but I have to go.”

  “Oh yeah, me too, you get the bathroom by the trailer and I get the one in front of the truck. Don’t get your butt frostbit.”

  I looked around and noticed that we weren’t on Highway 80 and the snow was still over a foot deep. I actually didn’t see that we were even on a road. I could see that there was a raised line corresponding to a road leading away from us.

  I finished and asked, “Mary where are we, this doesn’t look like Highway 80?”

  “Oh we’re just southeast of Laramie at the junction of Highways 12 and 130, just northeast of the Laramie Airport. I fly out of here…er…flew out of here many times and I know the area quite well.

  Look here on the map. I know a short cut over to Highway 25 that will avoid several built up areas.”

  We looked at the map, and I felt compelled to point out the absence of any roads where she pointed.

  “Yeah, well, it’s true, there are no paved roads, but there are dirt roads and I’ve been through there many times.”

  “Really, dirt roads, and pulling 9 million pounds of gear? Wait a minute.”

  “The roads are frozen, and yeah, I’ll wait.”

  I went back to the trailer, returned with two 12-gauge pump shotguns and placed them on the console.

  “You’re driving. I’ll ride shotgun.”

  “Can we go now, or do you have some other little thing to take care of?”

  “Nope, I’m ready, thanks for asking.” I know my natural charm just seems to overcome all obstacles.”

  I looked over at the Laramie skyline and saw large columns of black smoke rising over the city. I knew the rioting had started; people were freezing, being murdered, and dying of hunger. The road would be tough from here on. I also wondered why we had heard nothing from the federal government of late.

  Mary really did know the way as she wound around the countryside. The truck went off the side of the road a couple of times, but kept on chugging until we were skirting subdivision after subdivision as we travelled around Laramie. We crossed several railroad tracks before getting back on a real road heading south.

  “Mary, I fell asleep thinking about Patty and how to find her. My mind finally connected several facts as I began to fall asleep. The reporter’s questions about major powers invading countries located around the equator and my friend Sam and Frank’s warning finally matched up. The major countries kept the collision and resulting disaster a secret so they could prepare to take over other warmer countries and start their new homes at the previous owner’s expense.

  Sadly, that is just a repeat of human history. It’s kind of like, boy meets girl, boy loses girl, new boy gets girl, only now it’s invaders like land, invaders take land, and then invaders lose land to new invaders.

  I’ll bet the “New USA” is now somewhere near or on the Equator in South America. That’s where we are going.”

  “Do you think Patty’s captors know about this?”

  “The world heard the same broadcast we did. I think the race is on to get to warmer climates and the countries between us and the equator will try to stop the invasion of immigrants.”

  “I can’t fault them for protecting their countries. The USA installed the wall across the border back in 2018 to stop terrorists from attacking our country. Millions of people will die from this disaster because the southern countries will try to protect their resources.

  It reminds me of a story I once read about a one armed Confederate Major, whose troops kept fighting after the war was over. When a Uni
on Major asked him, under a flag of truce, why did these rebs keep fighting when they knew the war was over? He replied, ‘Because this is our land and you are on it.’

  I think that is what we are going to find. I don’t think we will be welcomed as rich tourists.”

  “Crap. Mary, we have to cross the wall ourselves. If the USA doesn’t stop us the Mexican government will surely try.”

  “So we need a plane or a boat.”

  “I guess we’ll cross that bridge or border when we get there, but yeah, I think you are spot on.”

  I caught myself and said, “Damn, if we decide on a boat, it would be nice to be by one of the oceans.”

  “I was going to say that myself, but what if Patty escapes and is waiting along Highway 25 for us to come along and rescue her.”

  “We can’t have a plan for every possible scenario for rescuing Patty. I know it sounds cruel, but we have to rescue ourselves and do our best for Patty as things develop.”

  “Matt, I know you are right, however, I can’t get Patty out of my mind.”

  “Me neither.”

  “Now changing the subject to our trip; this is Highway 287. It takes us south to Ft. Collins, Denver and Colorado Springs. We need to stay as far away from them as possible.

  I plan to go about 15 miles east above Ft. Collins then head south until we get near Colorado Springs. That route avoids the most people and puts us in ranching country where we have less chance of running into criminals or having the police try to steal our truck.”

  Mary replied, “I like the plan; what do I need to do?”

  “Take over driving while I navigate when the time comes.”

  “Just let me know when.”

  Matt added, “Okay. We can make our way to El Paso and then decide one if by land or two if by sea. If we decide by sea, we can work our way over to Corpus Christi or South Padre Island and then go by water down to Brazil.”

  “The Corpus area may have way too many other people planning the same thing, besides the fact that there will still be crooks trying to take our shit.

  There is also no chance of making it to Padre Island. The Naval Air Station is there, and I do not think they will be too friendly, either.”

  “Do you know much about Open Ocean sailing or boating?”

  I replied, “Damn near nothing, I know fresh water boating and can sail and navigate a sailboat, but navigating without a GPS on the open ocean will be dangerous.”

  “Matt, we need to stop at a few libraries along the way and pick up the books holding the necessary knowledge.”

  “We’ll also need to pick up food, water and ocean type stuff to make a long voyage.”

  “Your ocean stuff comment did not instill confidence in me at all.”

  “Me neither, but I’ll read some books and figure it out. I kind’a like the idea of driving all the way there better all the time, but I don’t think it will be possible, but we’ll see.”

  “Yes, driving safely through 15 Latin American countries that weren’t safe before The Flare makes me feel so much better.”

  The realization that we had little chance to make it to South America had begun set in, but I knew that freezing was not a good choice either. The second thing that had set in was that the almost million dollars I had spent on a safe home to live through a disaster was up in smoke. I just hoped that a chest full of gold, silver, platinum and jewels would help us bribe enough officials to get to our destination.

  Yeah, bribes always work, I mean, surely they wouldn’t kill us and take it all.

  ✪✪✪

  ✪

  Chapter 15

  Patty

  The Ranch

  Wyoming

  Patty slid over to the far side of the helicopter to make room for Mary and Matt to join her in the back seats. She was shocked to see that there were only two seats and one of them would have to sit on the floor with the baggage. Mary climbed in behind her, followed by Matt.

  Just as Mary was dealing with where to sit, Bill yelled, “Now, take off.”

  Patty yelled, “No, they’re not in,” as she saw Bill push Mary into Matt and knock him out of the helicopter. Bill then hit Mary’s hand, which caused her to fall out and to the ground. Patty tried to jump out to join her friends, but Bill grabbed her and they were soon too high off the ground for her to jump.

  Patty yelled, “What the fuck is going on? Why did you kick them out and keep me?”

  “Because we don’t need them and we can trade you for fuel.”

  “I thought you were Frank and Mary’s friends.”

  Bill laughed and replied, “We met Frank’s friends a week ago and the idiots told us of their plan to head south. We killed them and stole their helicopter. If you want to live do what I say when I say and I won’t pitch you right out of this bird.”

  The UH-72A Lakota helicopter had a cruising speed of 150 mph and a range of 426 miles. The helicopter had a fuel cell added that added another 100 miles to their range, but this still meant they had to make a series of 400 mile hops to cover the 2,500 miles to the edge of South America. It was an additional 2,300 miles to the equator. They had to assure that they never ran out of fuel, so many of the legs would be short due to the low range of the helicopter.

  It only took a little over three hours to reach Four Corners Regional Airport in Farmington, New Mexico. The airport was covered by six inches of snow. It was below freezing and the wind was blowing at 10 mph. The pilot tried to make radio contact with the airport tower to no avail.

  “There’s no response. We’ll have to go in blind. We have plenty of fuel so I’ll circle the airport and find the refueling station. The worst case is we siphon fuel from another aircraft.”

  “I agree. Team, be ready for hostiles. Some government do gooders might try to confiscate our copter. Worse yet, some criminals might try to steal it from us. Have your guns ready. Barbara, shoot our captive if she causes any trouble or tries to talk to anyone.”

  As planned, they circled the field, found where the fuel tanks were located and landed close to them. The pilot and one of the men found the tank with the proper fuel and ran a hose to the helicopter. They only had a hand pump and slowly filled the fuel tanks.

  Barbara and one of the men took Patty into the nearest building to look for anything useable, but only found some candy and chips in a vending machine. Patty was hungry so she took a bite from a chocolate bar.

  “Bitch, who told you to eat,” said Barbara as she slapped Patty across the mouth drawing blood.

  Patty covered her face with her arm and said, “I’m sorry just tell me your rules and I’ll obey.”

  The leader replied, “My rule is don’t do anything until I tell you to.”

  “Please tell me to use the bathroom.”

  “Don’t be a smartass. Barbara, take her behind the fuel tank.”

  Patty searched for something to use as a club or knife and came up short. She did her business and walked back to the helicopter with Barbara pointing a pistol at her the entire walk. Patty knew she had to escape soon or she would never be able to get back to her friends. She was mad as hell and focused her anger on finding a way to escape. She knew that most of the time they would be in the air and thought it was about 450 miles to Farmington, so she would be approximately 900 miles away unless she could make them land without getting herself killed.

  She felt strongly that Matt and Mary would head south earlier than they planned and would look for her. She had to figure out how to get away and then increase her chances of being found.

  She racked her brain to remember the roads and cities of New Mexico. She convinced herself that Matt would end up coming down Highway 25 on his way south. Assuming they left the next day, she would have 2-3 days to reach Highway 25 and still be there before they arrived.

  Barbara was looking at a map and Patty saw she was looking at New Mexico. She confirmed that she would fly over or near Highway 25 about two thirds of the way from Farmington to El Paso, before head
ing into Mexico. Barbara caught her looking and told her to mind her own damned business.

  Patty surveyed the area around her and saw Matt’s bag was against the back of her seat. She knew Matt had his survival gear, ammo and some guns in the bag.

  “Barbara, can I get a blanket from my bag? I’m cold and I want to take a nap.”

  The woman was annoyed, but reached behind her seat and threw a blanket at her. Patty covered herself and slouched down in the seat to hide her attempt to get into Matt’s bag.

  She reached down from under the blanket and felt his bag. She slowly pulled it closer. Then she waited until the pilot started the engine and pulled the zipper to open one end. During the takeoff, she pushed her hand into the bag and felt around, but only felt MREs, a compass and some pistol magazines.

  She slowly pulled the bag around the bottom of the seat to reach the other end. She reached back into the bag and found the barrel end of a pistol. She slowly moved the pistol closer to her as the others looked out the window. She placed the pistol in her coat pocket and then pretended to be asleep. She knew she had to force the helicopter down as close to Highway 25 as possible, but wasn’t sure how to tell when 25 was close.

  “Where are we crossing the border? I heard the Mexicans had blocked all traffic into Mexico?”

  “Dip shit this is a helicopter, we can fly over roadblocks. Shut up.”

  “Don’t you think the Mexican Military will be ready to shoot down intruding aircraft? Matt told me that we could take a plane down there if…”

  Barbara slapped Patty and told her to shut up.

  Bill knocked her hand away and said, “Let her talk.”

  “We planned to fly south until we found all of the plane’s electronics fried. Anyway, Matt said our best chance was to fly into Mexico very low from El Paso into Mexico.”