The Fall of the Dragon: An Apocalyptic Survival Series

by Steven Kagey

  Must be dead, but I should have a full battery. What the hell is going on around here?

  He grabbed a flashlight out of the kitchen drawer and went down to continue checking the solar panel system. The breakers on it were not tripped and he got no response from any of the buttons.

  Brian slowly walked upstairs, his mind racing to figure out what was going on. When his thoughts hit on EMP or solar storm, he thought No way. We’re not at war, and there were no reports of increased solar activity.

  Being an electrician in the military, Brian had spent a lot of time training and learning the signs and effects of an EMP. He replayed all the signs in his mind and kept coming back to EMP.

  No, no this can’t be happening.

  He jogged out into the front yard and looked at the sun, which hurt his eyes. After wiping the tears away, he realized that even if it were the sun, he would not be able to determine anything by looking at it with his naked eyes.

  His eyes wandering around the sky, he spotted three airplane vapor trails. Then he noticed that all three had a downward arc at the end, and then just disappeared.

  “Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit.” Brian’s heart was beating so hard he could feel it in his throat. “There’s no way this is happening right now,” he said out loud. “Evelyn, Avery, I’ve got to get to them.”

  Brian’s mind raced, and his eyes darted around the property. He sprinted into the house, almost busting his ass on the entryway rug as it slid under his foot. He grabbed his keys off the table and ran back outside, jumping all four stairs leading from the front porch in one leap. He got to his truck, flung open the door, and hopped in the seat. The welcome screen on the navigation unit in the dash normally came on when the door opened; Brian did not even notice this missing detail. He shoved the key in the ignition and turned it hard. Nothing happened.

  “NO!” he screamed and tried it again. Nothing. He grabbed the steering wheel and shook it in frustration.

  He stepped out of the truck. “Calm the hell down. Breathe. Think. You’ve planned for this shit.” After a few deep breaths, Brian’s heart still felt like it was trying to run a marathon with tons of adrenaline coursing through his system, but his head was a little clearer.

  “Okay,” he said, thinking out loud. “We’ve got the radios that should work. Wait, shit. I can’t use them for an hour. Damn, how the hell am I going to know when an hour is up?”

  The group's plan was to wait an hour after any type of EMP event happened before turning on the radios and trying to establish communications in case the event was not over, and more EMPs were imminent. Brian then remembered there was a wind-up wristwatch in the junk drawer in the kitchen. He ran in and grabbed it, wound it up and, guessing at the time, set it to 10:50. He found himself feeling exhausted from the adrenaline dump wearing off and sat down hard on the porch steps.

  “An hour before I can pull the radio out, okay. I still need to get to Evelyn.” He could ride the bike down to Sean’s parents’ house in twenty minutes and get their car. Feeling satisfied with the plan that had formed, Brian quickly walked into the house and grabbed the radio in the Faraday pouch from his office and then his Glock and holster, and put it on his hip. He got one of their 72-hour kits from the hall closet and poured the contents out on the kitchen counter. He only wanted the bottles of water in the bag and the bag itself to carry the radio, then changed his mind and put one of the MREs, the pack of snacks, and the first aid kit back in the bag. He snatched the leash that was in with the bug out bag’s contents. He might need it for Beast.

  Brian retrieved the bike from the shed and started pedaling the five-mile journey to Sean’s house. It had been awhile since he had ridden the bike and his thighs were burning fiercely. He arrived at Sean’s house in less than twenty minutes. Sean, his wife, and his parents were standing out in the yard talking about the power outage when Brian pulled up with a concerned look on his face.

  Seeing his friend riding a bike with such a determined look about him, Sean called out, “Is everything okay, Brian?”

  “I need to borrow the Ford Falcon.”

  Sean and his parents looked confused.

  “What happened to your truck?” Sean asked.

  “The power outage,” Brian said. “My truck won’t start.” Apparently neither Sean, his wife, nor his parents had yet realized that their phones or newer vehicles didn’t work.

  Sean, sensing a bigger problem spawning from the power outage, asked Brian, “What’s going on, man? Why would the power being out have anything to do with your truck starting? What’s happening?”

  Brian looked Sean straight in the eyes. “I think the shit has just hit the fan.” He then went on to rapid fire sharing his thoughts about a possible EMP event and his findings with all his electronics at his house. Instantaneously all four pulled their phones out to see if they worked. Brian could see the panic and denial begin to set in.

  As their group switched into panic mode at the possible implications of what Brian had told them, he spoke up to calm them and take charge of the situation.

  “Evelyn is in town and was on her way to Avery’s school when the pulse struck,” Brian said. “I have to—”

  Christina had the same thought about her children around that same time. “We have to get Brenda and Brandon from their school!”

  Brian sighed at the realization and incorporated picked up Sean’s children into the plan in his mind. “I can take the car and swing by to pick up all the kids and Evelyn too,” Brian offered. He was on Brenda and Brandon’s emergency contact and guardian card and was authorized to pick them up from school. “You all start packing and make preparations to move to the homestead. Focus your loads on weapons and food first, clothes and other supplies second, and then tools and equipment. I’ll get Evelyn and the children and be back shortly.”

  “I want to go along,” Christina objected.

  “Beast is with Evelyn and there won’t be enough room in the car for everyone. Christina, your time is better spent making preparations to move.

  “Sean, you contact Craig and the Doc via the radio in thirty minutes and let them know the plan.”

  The Ford started without a hitch, and soon Brian was hauling ass down the road.

  Chapter 6

  6 Hours Earlier (10:30 a.m. Local Time)

  Thursday, September 19th

  San Vito Solar Observatory, Italy

  55th Space Weather Support Squadron, U.S.A.F.

  Dr. Jamie Jenkins walked into the office.

  Technician Darren Valdez looked up and said “What’s up, doc?” in his typical imitation of Bugs Bunny complete, with the hand motion of pulling a carrot cigar out of his mouth.

  Jamie thought it was funny the first time. The next six hundred and seventy times were about the most annoying thing she could think of on Earth. No matter how politely or meanly she asked him to stop doing it, Darren persisted. He and the other technician on duty, Fredrick Bowers, were engaged in a heated battle of chess.

  “Who’s winning?” Jamie asked.

  “It’s tied one to one,” Darren answered, “but I think Fred is cheating.”

  Fred chuckled. “He wishes.”

  Jamie walked over to her desk and set her lunch and coffee on it. She then glanced up at the monitors on the desk behind Darren and Fred.

  “What archived footage are you guys looking at?” she asked.

  Staring intently at the game board, Darren replied, “We’re not looking at any.”

  Confused by what was on the monitors, Jamie frowned. She had studied every recorded solar flare on record and could tell you the name and when they happened just by seeing a small sample of it. She didn’t recognize anything about this one. She stepped up to the monitors to get a better look.

  Sensing the violation of his personal space, Fred looked up to see what the doctor was referring to. He squinted, looking at the screen. “What is that?” he asked.

  Jamie asked, “Is this live footage? This can’t be in real
time.”

  Darren’s interest had piqued so he looked up to see what his co-workers were talking about. “Whoa, that looks like a direct hit on Earth! That cannot be live footage.”

  Jamie leaned in further to examine the image on the monitor as the screen went dead. The power went off in the whole building. The computers all shut off, the air conditioner cut out, the ceiling fan started to slow down.

  “Oh no…it can’t be,” Jamie breathed.

  Everyone looked around at each other, panic creeping in. The generator could be heard starting up. The lights came on, and the computers started booting up.

  Darren shook his head. “Whew, that must have missed us. I was afraid it might have been out for good.”

  “Pull the footage back up and calculate where the primary focus of the solar flare hit,” Jamie instructed. She went over to her desk and after her computer restarted she tried to open a chat window with her superiors. Her computer failed to get a connection.

  That’s weird, she thought.

  She tried to open a Google web page; no connection.

  “Darren, Fred, do you have an internet connection?” she called.

  The men looked at their icon bars and said, “No” in unison.

  She picked up the phone which was voiceover IP, and there was no dial tone.

  Makes sense. If we don’t have internet connectivity we aren’t going to have phone service.

  Fred finished the calculations relatively quickly. “Doc, it looks bad,” he reported.

  “How bad?” Jamie asked. “How strong was it and where did it hit?”

  “It was an X3. It looks like it was a direct hit on Earth, and looks to have hit smack dab in mainland China, far up north into Russia, and as far east as Japan. It seems like we are far enough away that we only got a ripple from the EMP, and it simply restarted the electrical grid. It must have taken out some phone lines or computer lines since we do not have an internet connection,” Fred said.

  Solar flares had different classes, with “A” being the smallest class, followed by B, C, M and X classes, “X” being the largest. “M” class flares could disrupt radio transmissions and endanger astronauts. An “X” class was ten times greater than an “M,” and the following number was its additional multiplier, meaning the X3 solar flare that just hit the Earth was three times stronger than an X1.

  “Dr. Jenkins, I have good news and bad news….” Fred said.

  “Let’s have the good news first,” Jamie said with a sigh.

  “The coronal mass ejection (CME) that typically follows behind a solar flare by ten to twelve hours looks like it is going to miss Earth.”

  “Really?” Jamie said in surprise. “That is good news. What’s the bad news?”

  Fred said, “I don’t think it matters. It appears the flare did all the damage it needed to. I believe that it fried all the satellites in orbit.”

  “Why do you say that?” Jamie asked.

  “I can’t get in touch with any of them, nor can I get any GPS signals,” Fred replied.

  “How can that be? There are over one hundred radio telescopes in orbit right now. You should at least be able to reach one of them. What about any communications satellites?”

  “I have bad news to tack on to Fred’s,” Darren said. “And I have good news of my own. The computer modeling of the event finished, and it appears the radiation from the solar flare hit the Earth’s atmosphere at just the right angle. Part of it broke through in an intense beam, and that’s what hit China and Russia. The other half of the flare deflected perfectly. The deflected energy was grabbed by the Earth’s magnetic field and pulled around the entire Earth at such rate that everything in low Earth orbit was affected by the force of the X3, even on the far side of the Earth. That’s why all the satellites are dead.”

  Fred stared as he thought about what Darren told them, and Jamie murmured, “Wow, so what’s the good news?”

  Darren looked at them. “It looks like the U.S. didn’t get hit or affected by anything, and the only thing they will have to deal with is the total loss of the satellites and interrupted communications.”

  Fred and Jamie each breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank God,” they said in unison.

  “We need to brief command at Schriever, get the radios out of protected storage, and get connected with them,” Jamie said.

  “Roger that, Doc,” Darren said, hurrying off to get started.

  Chapter 7

  5 Hours Before U.S. Outage

  Friday, September 20th 4:00 a.m. (Mountain Standard Time)

  Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado

  55th Space Weather Support Command

  "General, we have a woman claiming to be a doctor from San Vito trying to reach you on VHF comms," said Senior Airman Hawthorne.

  "VHF comms?” General Miller replied. “Huh. Tell her she needs to call back on a secure line. I do not have time to deal with some nutjob with a radio.”

  "Yes sir," Airman Hawthorne replied. After a few moments, "General, she is pretty adamant that she needs to speak with you right now. She said…" the airman paused.

  "What did she say?" the general prompted impatiently.

  "Sir, she said, and I quote, to tell you that ‘this is urgent, a matter of national security, and for you to get your head out of your ass and speak with her.’"

  The general's face turned sour. He walked over to the microphone and snatched it off the counter. "Listen here, whoever this is, this frequency is for official government use only. If you have a legitimate national security concern then you cannot broadcast it over an unsecured line. You need to contact this office through official—”

  "Listen here jerk off,” Jamie cut in. “I have been trying to get ahold of you for the last forty-five minutes."

  "Do you know who you are talking to!" the general snapped.

  "General, I know who you are,” Jamie retorted. “I know what happened to all of our satellites, and I know what natural disaster just impacted our planet on a global scale. So it seems I know quite a bit, and you appear to be the one that doesn’t know anything. Now if you do know what's best for the country, you will let me give you my report."

  Airman Hawthorne got his attention and said, "Sir, we were able to verify her identity through a valid challenge code. She is Dr. Jamie Jenkins calling from San Vito Solar Observatory in Italy."

  The general's shoulders relaxed and he spoke into the microphone. "Please go ahead, Dr. Jenkins."

  With a deep breath, Jamie explained about the X3 solar flare that came out of nowhere and with no warning. She explained what happened to the satellites and how China and Russia suffered the brunt of the flare's energy. She told the general about the mild EMP surge that came through Europe which must have only caused the power grid to restart itself. She explained that the CME that normally followed a solar flare would miss the Earth and spare the U.S. any further damage.

  A sigh of relief came from the general at the last part. After a few moments of digesting what the doctor had reported, he said, "Dr. Jenkins, thank you for your report. I apologize for the troubles getting ahold of me earlier. Please maintain contact with this facility and report any new findings immediately. I must go brief the president now.”

  The general hurried off to make contact with Washington D.C. even though they had yet to establish a communication link. Working diligently, the personnel at Schriever were finally able to establish communications, and the general was able to brief the president about the situation. The U.S. immediately began trying to reach Beijing and Moscow to offer any aid or assistance.

  Chapter 8

  1 Hour Before U.S. Outage

  9:00 p.m. (Local Time)

  People's Republic of China Presidential Mansion

  Beijing, China

  The Chinese military advisor, General Huang, finally arrived at the presidential compound to brief the Chinese president on as much as he knew about the horror that had befallen their country. He did not have a whole lot to r
eport. It took time to get damage reports back from the field. Most bases had not checked in yet, and initial reports were suggesting most of their vehicles and communication gear were insufficiently hardened against the EMP blast they had obviously been attacked with.

  There were no reports of a nuclear explosion from anywhere in the country, so the military advisor was unsure where the attack took place or who was responsible. Still, it seemed that whoever had orchestrated the attack had planned it well. He had also seen reports of fires spreading out of control across the country and had witnessed no fewer than a hundred smoke plumes rising from the city on his way into the President's mansion. Although it was nighttime, the glow from the fires burning throughout the city provided enough light to see and move around the compound.

  As the Vietnam era jeep pulled up in front of the mansion, General Huang noticed other jeeps offloading passengers. He recognized many of the other advisors coming to report to the president. The presidential guard had the compound locked down, and security was on high alert.

  The advisors were checked for possible weapons and explosive devices then ushered into the central conference room where President Li Xinping was overheard yelling at some subordinate. Once the advisors were in place and seated, a presidential aide whispered something to the president, who sat at the head of the table to start the meeting.

  President Xinping looked at every person sitting at the table before he spoke. “I will hear everyone’s report. The main thing I want to know is who attacked us.”

  “My forces have no information on where the attack originated or all damage assessments only point to the electronics all across the country,” General Huang said, speaking up first. “We have only made contact with about twenty-five percent of our bases. Nuclear facilities have all reported in, and the statuses of those bases are better than the regular bases. The EMP hardening performed on our other facilities and vehicles was severely insufficient and that effectively crippled our ground and air forces.”