“I’m sending you an e-mail with an attachment. I should’ve sent it to you this morning, but with everyone calling me to get you home, I forgot,” Tim replied.
“So what of the others in the group?” Nathan asked. The group was twenty-two families strong that had formed an LLC and bought a thousand acres on the northern Idaho-Montana border. They used it for a hunting ranch, but it was really their bug-out area. Rusty was the first one asked to join eight years ago; then he asked if Billy, Aidan, and Nathan could join. Once they were voted in, they each were allowed to build structures on the land. Tim and Sherry were part of the group, but they were classified as Nathan’s family and stayed with him at his house at the compound.
Nathan stared at Tim on the screen, then looked up at the road. Tim had close-cropped brown hair and a very boyish face, but was stocky as an ox. “The others that aren’t at the compound now are all getting ready to roll,” Tim told him.
“Everyone?” Nathan asked in surprise.
“Yeah,” Tim replied with a serious expression.
“Okay, if something happens, make sure you follow the plan. Wait for a day if you can before bugging out,” Nathan told him.
“We will, just get back here,” Tim replied. “We’re in your house now and I pulled my truck into your empty garage slot.”
“That’s cool, brother, and if you leave, remember to get all my shit,” Nathan said.
“We already pulled your stuff out in the living room. I’m not emptying the gun safes till we have to leave,” Tim said.
“When did you hear all this that got you all fired up?” Nathan asked.
“An hour before I called you yesterday afternoon,” Tim told him. “Then everyone keeps sending me more stuff to reaffirm it. I just don’t want to say more over a cellphone,” he added.
“You really need to change your tinfoil hat,” Nathan replied.
Tim shook his head on the screen. “When you stop for gas, read what I sent, then say that,” he said.
Shaking his head, Nathan changed the subject. “Has Patrice called?”
Suddenly Tim was pushed out of the phone’s screen. In his place was a very cute, short-haired brunette. “Your bimbo hasn’t called here or us,” she told him. Hearing Sherry, Ares started barking.
“I’m talking, Ares, knock it off!” Nathan shouted over his shoulder. “Sherry, she’s not a bimbo. Patrice has a bachelor’s degree,” he added.
“In cosmetology. I can have a better conversation with the chair she sits in than her,” Sherry told him.
Nathan laughed at her. “Sherry, she does make pretty good money.”
“She models women’s lingerie. To listen to her trying to explain what she does, it sounds like she’s trying to find the cure for cancer,” Sherry said disparagingly. “I’m actually surprised she has the intelligence to get mad over something,” she added.
“Well, if she calls the house, tell her I’ll be home Sunday,” Nathan replied as Tim joined Sherry in front of the camera.
“I wish you would’ve left yesterday,” Tim said.
“Shit, I want to go back to that gun store. He had an M-60 for sale,” Nathan told him.
Tim and Sherry both shook their heads as Tim replied, “You have one already.”
“Well I could’ve had another one,” Nathan answered, bobbing his head from side to side.
“Please get home as quickly and safely as you can,” Sherry urged him.
“I will,” Nathan promised. “I’m stopping to let out the gallon of soda I drank and top off the tank, then I’ll not stop until I have to get more gas.”
Sherry glared at him over the little screen. “Oh, you can stop and pee, but when we go with you, I have to hold it,” she snapped.
“I don’t have an empty bottle and Ares wants something else to eat. I had to feed him all of his emergency food,” Nathan told her.
“You better be nice to Ares,” she threatened. Ares heard her say his name and stuck his head between the front seats, looking for Sherry. “Hey Ares, you take care of Nathan and hurry home,” she said, kissing the screen. Ares barked and started licking the phone on the dashboard.
“Damn it Ares, get in the back. This is my area, that’s yours!” Nathan yelled, pushing Ares back. Tim and Sherry laughed as they watched Nathan struggle with the big dog.
“We’ll call you later today to check on you,” Tim said when Ares finally moved to the back.
Nathan looked at the screen and could see worry on both of their faces. “Guys, I’ll get home. If something happens, just do like we’ve practiced. You both know what to do. Just remember to stay safe,” Nathan told them. “Don’t worry. When I get home we can pick on Rusty for scaring everyone,” he added, trying to break the tension.
Tim smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Okay Nathan, be careful, we miss you,” he said.
“Miss you too, guys,” Nathan said.
“We love you,” Sherry said, then Tim hung up.
“Me too, guys,” Nathan said as the screen went blank. His phone’s screen lit up, saying he had new mail. Tapping the screen, he opened it and told it to download the attachment. As it downloaded, he replayed the conversation in his head. Both Tim and Sherry seemed worried, but Nathan couldn’t dream of anything that could upset them like this. Finally he just blew it off as them being young.
Then he thought about the rest of the group. They were all near his age or older and they were getting ready or had already bugged out. The group was all composed of professionals or what Nathan called ordinary people that were relatively successful in life. They were not supremacists; they had two black families, three Hispanic and two Asian families in the group. The group could be called survivalists, but Nathan just preferred to think of them as prepared.
When Rusty asked him to join, Nathan thought he was crazy. Then he listened and realized he was already doing what the group was doing. He just did it at home. The group could provide a place to run to if something happened. Plus the area where the compound was at had some choice hunting and fishing areas, not that that was a factor in Nathan’s choice to join. Well, it might have had a little to do with it.
Nathan’s bladder reminded him it was past capacity and he noticed signs coming up on the Interstate. The first let him know Alabama was twelve miles ahead, and the next told him a truck stop was at the next exit.
Pulling off the next exit and heading down the ramp, Nathan didn’t see the truck stop but a sign pointed south. Driving under the Interstate, his bladder informed him it was getting close to taking emergency measures. Finally, Nathan saw the station a mile down the road. It was a pretty large truck stop but there were only a few trucks parked at it, and several cars in the parking lot. He looked at the phone and noticed it was just after eleven a.m.
Pulling in, he eased up to a pump and jumped out. Ares started barking letting him know he had to go as well. Grumbling, Nathan opened the door and Ares bounded out, heading for the grass. Taking a card out of his wallet, Nathan swiped it on the pump. Grabbing the nozzle, he opened the tank and started filling it up. With both forty-gallon tanks full, he could go twelve hundred miles and figured he wouldn’t have to stop again till he hit Kansas. He just had to get a bottle to take a whiz in.
Ares came running over as the pump stopped. Nathan put up the nozzle and opened the door for Ares. Seeing his phone on the dash, he grabbed it and threw it in his new tote bag in the passenger seat and closed the bag. Not that he was worried about someone stealing it with Ares in the truck, but he didn’t want Ares to pull an arm off when they tried it. Lowering the driver’s window halfway, Nathan closed the door and hit the alarm button, then speed walked toward the store.
The young girl at the counter looked up. She had seen that walk many times. When the man walked inside, she looked him over. The measuring tape on the door frame told her he was just over six-foot-two. He was clean shaven with broad shoulders and a muscular appearance, and thick, light brown hair that went just past his should
ers. Stopping just inside the door, he looked over at her, and even with his dark sunglasses on she could tell he was cute. As the man drew a breath, she pointed to the back of the store.
Nathan smiled upon seeing the restroom sign. The small clerk giggled as he walked by really fast. Well at least she knew what I needed, Nathan thought. Walking in the men’s room, he saw the urinals and sighed. Making sure the 1911 he was wearing with an inside-the-waistband holster and the extra magazines and flashlight didn’t pull his pants down, he sighed as relief hit him.
If I’m fixing to do a marathon driving run, I’m taking some of this shit off my belt, he thought as his bladder told him it was nowhere near done. Nathan started running through drink bottles that he could use as a urinal when the lights in the bathroom went off.
Standing there in the dark as his bladder finished, Nathan thought of an old song: ‘Shot in the Dark,’ and laughed. Buttoning back up, he wondered why some kind of emergency light hadn’t come on. Reaching for his flashlight, he turned it on, washed his hands and looked in the mirror. Then he noticed his Bluetooth earpiece wasn’t blinking. Taking it off, he pressed the button to turn it on but nothing happened.
“I bought the good one so this wouldn’t happen,” he groused, putting it in his pocket. Grabbing his flashlight, he headed out the door to find the only light was that coming in through the windows at the front and side of the store. Putting his light back in its holster, he noticed the young clerk pushing buttons on her cellphone. On the other side of the store a security guard was taking his cellphone apart. “Weird,” Nathan said, walking over to the windows.
Outside he saw one of the semis had stopped on the road; then he looked across the road to a little strip mall with four stores. In the middle of the parking lot, a man had the hood up on his car looking at the engine. With growing uneasiness, Nathan stepped outside and the first thing he noticed was how quiet it was. The Interstate was only a mile away but he couldn’t hear any vehicles. He lifted his arm up and looked at his watch to find it dead. Closing his eyes, he said a silent prayer as he pulled out his keys.
He hit the automatic start and nothing happened. Then he hit the button to disarm the alarm and again nothing happened. Walking over, he could hear Ares barking in an alarmed tone. Unlocking the door, he sat down, took off his sunglasses and put the key in the ignition. No chime came on and nothing happened when he turned the key.
Fear gripping his stomach, Nathan climbed out and looked up. “Oh shit!” he yelled out.
Chapter 3
Day 1
Putting his hands over his face, Nathan fought the urge to start cussing and crying. Then he heard a humming noise, which rapidly grew louder. Nathan looked around for the source, then looked up. The power lines running along the side of the road were humming.
Nathan looked up in the sky and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. “Well I would’ve missed the explosion in space,” he said out loud. Then a thunderous KA-BOOM shattered the quiet. Nathan crouched defensively as his right hand went for his pistol. Looking at the power pole at the front of the store on the road, he saw four transformers were in flames. Then he heard more explosions in the distance and the transformer for the small strip mall exploded.
“This is impossible,” Nathan said, standing up. Just then the florescent lights on the awning started glowing.
Turning around, he walked over to his truck and grabbed his sunglasses. “Ares, come,” he said and walked to the back of the parking lot. Looking across the field, he could see the Interstate and vehicles stopped everywhere. Then he started hearing a screeching sound in the air. Looking up, he didn’t see anything, but when he turned around he could see a big jumbo jet falling out of the sky toward the east.
“Damn,” he said in shock, watching the plane plummet.
The plane hit the ground about five miles away with a loud boom and Nathan felt the earth shake through the soles of his shoes. Panicked, he spun around, searching the sky for more planes. Particularly ones heading toward him. Off to the north he saw two more, but they were way off. He saw several more coming down in the east. Several booms rolled in over the next few minutes as Nathan just stood there in disbelief, watching as planes rained down.
Then he noticed another humming sound, but much fainter than the ones from the power lines. Looking around, he edged over to the field and stopped, noticing it was getting louder. Looking down, he traced the sound as coming from the three strands of barb wire on the fence. Looking out across the field, he figured it was miles of barb wire and stepped back. Ares edged closer to the fence and Nathan yelled, “Ares, back!”
Ares jumped and started looking around to see who was attacking them, and then looked up at Nathan. “Boy, if you piss on that fence your goober will get fried and so will you,” Nathan said, pointing down at the ground beside him. Ares walked over and sat down next to him.
“I’ve never read anything about an EMP that could release this much energy,” Nathan said to himself. “Then again, the assholes who said it wouldn’t hurt your car were full of shit. Yeah, you listened to a government-run study, idiot,” he answered himself.
He started pacing the parking lot, arguing with himself. Finally he looked up, then down at Ares. “Okay, guard the truck. I’m going to get us some stuff,” he told his dog.
Ares barked and ran over to the Suburban. Nathan followed and pulled out his keys, hitting the unlock button, “Dumb ass,” he muttered, sticking the key in the rear door and opening it. Moving bags over, he uncovered his backpack and opened a side pocket, pulling out a roll of cash. He tallied up his money and put it in his pocket.
Okay, I have close to three grand cash plus two ounces of gold and five ounces of silver in my belly band. Credit cards will be worthless soon, so let’s try those first, he thought. Ares jumped in the back of the truck. Nathan left the hatch open since it was pointing directly at the store.
Walking inside, watched closely by Ares, he grabbed a shopping hand-basket and started walking the aisles. For the first time he studied the lay-out, realizing the store was actually quite large. There was a diner on the far side with a closed-off area that held poker machines, and at the back were the restrooms and showers for truckers. Throwing stuff in his basket, he studied the store aisles and saw they held a lot of food items, but also many other things mostly related to camping. In the front of the store was a gift area for souvenirs. With his first basket full, he headed to the counter and set it down. Taking out his wallet, he set a credit card on the counter and turned around, grabbing another basket.
The young girl looked at the full basket and started pulling stuff out and writing down the cost. Just then an older woman walked out from a door behind her. “I found one that works,” she said, putting a calculator on the counter. “What is all this?” she asked and the young girl pointed at Nathan filling another basket. Turning around, she helped the young girl add up the stuff.
Nathan walked back over and set another basket down as the young girl looked up. “Sir, can you afford all this?” she asked.
“Young lady, I have more than enough money in the bank to cover this and could probably buy everything in this store,” Nathan snapped back.
The girl looked down. “I’m sorry, sir, I was just asking,” she replied.
Nathan let out a long sigh. “Miss, I’m sorry for my rude behavior. It was uncalled for. If you want I have cash to pay for that,” he told her, and she looked up and smiled at him.
The woman looked up at Nathan. “Renee didn’t mean anything, sir, and we can take cards for one hour if the power fails,” she told him.
“I apologize, ma’am, this is just a lot to handle,” Nathan said, turning around and grabbing another basket. Walking the aisles, he filled up basket number three and sat it on the counter. Then, looking at a display on the counter, he noticed Zippo lighters and watches. “I’ll take two of those, fluid, flints, and the watch on the end,” he said, then walked back down an aisle and grabbed two ten-
pound bags of dog food.
When he put them on the counter, Renee looked at him and asked, “What’s wrong with your watch? It looks expensive,” she asked.
Nathan lifted up his arm so she could see it. “It is expensive but it’s not working anymore,” he told her. “Not after what just happened.”
She looked down at her watch. “Mine works,” she said.
“Mine too,” the woman said, looking at her watch.
“This one has a transparent membrane on the front to gather light, and I think that’s what fried it,” Nathan told them as he turned around to fill another basket.
“What do you think happened?” the woman asked. He noticed she had a tag that read ‘Manager’ pinned to her shirt.
“Name’s Nathan, Nathan Owens,” Nathan told her, filling his fourth basket. “I’m not sure but I think we got hit with an EMP. I just haven’t read about one that could do what this one is doing.”
“Connie, Nathan,” she told him. “Who do you think did it?” she asked.
Nathan shrugged his shoulders. “Have no idea,” he said, setting the basket on the counter.
The young girl looked puzzled. "What's an EMP?"
Nathan looked at her and smiled grimly. "An EMP is an electromagnetic pulse, sometimes called a transient electromagnetic disturbance. They can be caused by a nuclear weapon." The girl gasped.
“Have you got a radio here?” he asked.
“Yeah, but it doesn’t work,” Connie told him.
Nathan looked behind the counter and saw several emergency crank radios of different brands. “Open the end of one of them, and if it’s wrapped in a silver bag I’ll buy it,” Nathan told her. Connie opened two brands and found the third one wrapped in Mylar. “Of course it’s the most expensive one,” Nathan said as Renee totaled up his sale.
“Six hundred and twenty-one dollars and seventy-three cents,” she told him.
“Damn,” Nathan said, pointing to the credit card on the counter. Taking the radio, he pulled it out and cranked the handle. Then he turned it on only to find static. Hitting the scan button, he handed it back to Connie. “I’ll be out in my truck. If you hear something let me know,” he told her.
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