Apocalypse Coming

by William Dunaway

  “What the hell is going on? Tag, do me a favor. Jump in my truck and move it over here so I can have lights to see. I need to grab my backup generator.”

  I have an additional older 7,000-watt generator that I bought to use out in the field.

  Tag yelled from the truck, “It won’t turn over. The lights come on, so I don’t think it’s dead.”

  He then walked over to his jeep, and it started right up. He turned it around and shined the light on me as I hooked up the older generator. It started right up, and as soon as I plugged it into the grid, the lights in the house came on.

  My mind started clicking. “No, it can’t be!” I mumbled and walked over to Kim’s car and tried starting it. Nothing.

  I then knew what it had to be, but the reality of it was almost too hard to grasp.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Some sat in darkness, in utter darkness, prisoners suffering in iron chains, because they rebelled against God’s commands and despised the plans of the Most High. So he subjected them to bitter labor, they stumbled and there was no one to help.

  As Red and Wit were just entering Harrisonville, Red was still struggling with himself on having to kill the Latino leader. He had killed in combat, but this was different. He never thought he would ever have to take someone’s life again. He was making peace with himself though, by knowing if he wouldn’t have killed the guy, Wit and possibly Otis would probably be dead.

  Wit’s voice came over the radio, “Red, I want to thank you again. You saved my ass.”

  “Hey, you already thanked me. You would have done the same for me.”

  “Yeah, I would. I feel I dropped the ball though. I should’ve reacted faster.” Wit said with a bit of guilt.

  “Man, you didn’t have time to react. You have nothing to feel the least bit guilty about.”

  After a pause, he replied, “I guess you’re right. Either way, we only have about 12 miles more to go and I’m ready to get there. I………”

  The radios went dead, the lights in town went off but their motorcycles kept running though.

  “Red, can you hear me? Red!”

  Red at the same time was trying to talk to him. They started noticing that all the oncoming cars were stopping in the street. Some had their lights on, and some didn’t. He motioned for Wit to pull over.

  They pulled over at a Casey’s on the east side of town. The whole area was black with darkness, but the strangest part was the lack of noise. It was like someone had shut off the sound.

  “This is just weird,” Wit said with a little bit of fear in his voice.

  “Why did our radios quit? And what’s up with the other cars stalling?”

  “I don’t know, but I don’t like this.”

  They heard a man’s voice cussing about 100 yards to the east. The road was so dark; they couldn’t see anyone.

  “I’m going to call Tag and see if they’ve heard anything,” Red said while pulling out his cell phone. “It won’t work. I know this was fully charged.”

  Wit pulled out his cell phone, and it was dead also.

  “Let’s just get to Vince’s house.”

  They started their bikes and pulled out on the street. As soon as they did, they could see a car with its hood up that was stopped in the oncoming lane. A man was apparently looking at his engine with a flashlight, and they could see a woman standing next to the passenger door.

  They pulled up to the man and shut off their engines. Red left his headlight on to give the man more light. He jumped off the bike and asked, “Can I help, I’m a mechanic?” The car looked like a brand-new Dodge Charger.

  “Yes, can you? I don’t know what happened, but just about the very same time the lights went out, the car just quit. The radio, the lights, everything went dead.”

  “Yeah, we saw several cars that seemed to stall.”

  Red grabbed his flashlight and checking out the engine. He checked the master fuse, the wiring and got into the car and checked the fuse panel. He turned the key, and it didn’t even click.

  “Man, I don’t know. I can’t find anything wrong.”

  “Why are your motorcycles running?”

  “We don’t know. They just didn’t quit.”

  Just then, they could hear a vehicle approaching from the east. A 1975 Chevy pickup pulled up behind the car. Two guys jumped out and said, “Damn guy, you should’ve turned on your emergency flashers.”

  “They don’t work. The whole car just died. These guys said all the cars that were driving apparently died also. Well, apparently not all of them. Their motorcycles run, and so does your truck.”

  “This is weird. The power goes out, and most of the vehicles stop too. Also, we tried calling our wives to mention the power outage, and neither of our cell phones work.” the man driving the pickup said.

  Wit blurted out, “I remember hearing about this. I can’t remember the name of it, but I’ve heard of two things that can cause this. One is if the sun has a massive solar flare and it hit’s the earth. Supposedly it can knock out anything electronic.”

  “Well, if that was the case, why are the truck and your motorcycles running? They have electronics.”

  Red spoke up. “No, it’s not the same. Our vehicles are older and run on points. Your car has an electronic ignition, and everything runs through the computer system of the car. Even your lights run through the computer. That would explain the cell phones as they have computer chips. That would even explain why part of the stalled cars we saw still had lights while others didn’t. I’m willing to bet that the ones without lights are almost new.”

  “Oh, my God! How long does it last?” the women asked.

  “Well if this is what I’m thinking of, your computer system and all the electronic components are fried. They’ll have to be replaced.”

  “I’ve never heard of anything like this,” the truck owner scoffed.

  “Hey, I’m not saying that’s what happened. I just remembered what I heard in an Army briefing.”

  “You’re military?”

  “I was. I just retired.”

  Everyone stood there absorbing what was just said. The man with the Charger finally asked, “You said there were two things that could cause this. What’s the other one?”

  Wit got a very sheepish look on his face. He hesitated and replied, “A nuclear weapon exploding several miles above the ground.”

  The woman started crying, “Honey, I’m scared!” The driver walked over to her and put his arms around her and tried to calm her down.

  “Miss, I’m sure that didn’t happen. We haven’t seen or heard any bombs going off. I was just talking. Don’t go by anything I say. I’m sure everything is going to be alright.”

  “Hey, I have to get out of here. I have a tow strap in the truck. Can I at least tow you to Casey’s or something?”

  “If you don’t mind, we live just a few blocks from Casey’s. I’ll pay you to tow me there.”

  “Don’t worry about that. Let’s just get it hooked up, so we can all get out of here.”

  Red and Wit helped them hook up the car and then took off, heading for our house.

  Johnson Farm:

  I ran into the house. The first thing I did was try starting the computer. Nothing. I grabbed a pair of two-way radios that I kept on a shelf. Again, nothing.

  I then tried the television, but it was dead also. I checked the water and it was barely running as though we were just getting what was left in the pipes. Finally, I checked the home phone, and there was no dial tone.

  Mike asked, “What’s going on?”

  “I’m convinced an EMP was set off. At first, I thought about a solar flare but remember, right before the power went off the Emergency Alert came over the television. This must be an EMP.”

  Mike and Kim knew exactly what I was talking about as I had talked about them before.

  Tag asked, “What exactly is an EMP?”

  “An electromagnetic pulse. It’s a super-energetic radio wave that
will burn out all electronic systems that are in its range and not protected. In theory, there are two basic ways for it to happen and cause a widespread outage. A huge solar flare hitting the earth just right and a nuclear weapon detonated at the right altitude. I’d say, somebody, exploded a nuclear bomb above the edge of the atmosphere.”

  “We didn’t see a flash or anything,” Angela commented.

  “We probably wouldn’t, and if it was outside of our atmosphere, we don’t need to worry about radiation.

  Everything seems to be evidence that there was one. Everything with electronic circuits doesn't work, the car and truck won’t even turn over, but Tag's jeep did start. The main generator is relatively new, and it wouldn’t work, but the old generator did. The phones, radios, televisions, and computer all don’t work either.”

  Mo formed an angry look, “So we’ve been attacked. We’re probably at war. They could be dropping nukes all over the country.”

  Mike jumped in, “Maybe, but I doubt it. Whiteman Air Force Base is only 60 miles to our east, and it’s one of the bases our B-2 Stealth Bombers are located at. If they were hitting several targets, they’d definitely hit them. If they had been hit, we would’ve seen the flash from here, especially since the sun is down.”

  Angela walked over and held Lulu, even though she was asleep.

  “We’ve got to find out what’s going on.”

  An idea came to me. I went to the gun safe, where I had most of the guns, a survival solar/crank shortwave radio, some portable ham radios, and several 2-way radios I had bought. I didn’t have my ham license but bought them for emergencies. I had only played with them a little bit when they arrived, but I didn’t know how to work them effectively, so I stored them and planned on getting my ham license but never did.

  I picked up the shortwave radio and turned it on. The LED came on. I scanned the FM and AM channels, and there was nothing but static. I switched to the shortwave bands, and I was able to pick up what sounded like the BBC, obviously from overseas.

  They weren’t reporting anything yet.

  “We need to monitor this. Sooner than later, they’re going to report something.”

  I then checked the ham radios, and they also came on.

  “I wonder why they’re working?” Tag asked.

  “I don’t know unless the safe protected them somehow. That’s a high dollar safe.”

  Angela asked in a nervous voice, “What do we do? Mo, does that mean the bus isn’t going to run?”

  Mo just shook his head like he didn’t know, “Vince, let me borrow your flashlight.”

  Angela and Kim stayed in the house with Lulu while we all went out to check out his bus.

  As Mo entered the bus, he hit the interior light switch, and they did come on. He then tried to start it, but it didn’t even click.

  “Damn it!” he said while hitting the steering wheel.

  “Why do the lights work?” he asked.

  “Probably because the bus is old enough that the lights themselves don’t run through the bus’s computer system.”

  “Is there any way to fix it?”

  “I don’t know Mo. I know a little bit about EMP’s but just about the general theory of them. I’m assuming whatever is burnt out is going to have to be replaced. The problem is, if this outage covers more than just the local area, I don’t think you’re going to be able to get the parts.”

  I needed time to think. My mind felt like it was about to burn out as well. My back and shoulders were killing me, and my head was just pounding. I needed to take some time and think things through.

  As we were walking back into the house, there was a huge explosion and fireball about a half mile to our west. Our instincts all kicked in as we dove for cover.

  “What the hell is going on? Are we being bombed?” Tag yelled.

  We could see a huge fire burning, reaching 100 feet above the ground.

  We all stared towards the fire. Except for the sound of the fire, it was silent again.

  “We have to go see what it was!” Mike proclaimed.

  Kim and Angela came running out. “What was that?” Kim asked in a panicked voice.

  “I don’t know. We’re going to go see.”

  She looked and could see the flames to the west.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, we’ll be ok. Go back inside. We’ll be right back.”

  Kim and Angela went back inside with Lulu.

  Angela started crying loudly and said to Kim, “I’m so scared. What’s going on? I can’t believe all of this is happening. It’s like the end of the world.”

  Kim thought to herself, “She doesn’t know how right she probably is,” Then replied, “Angela, I’m scared too. We’re all scared. If Vince is right about the EMP, things are going to be different from now on. He has talked about EMP’s in the past, but I didn’t think it would actually happen. But whatever it is, we have to keep faith.

  We have food and supplies. Vince has been preparing for situations like this. We’ll make it as long as we keep our cool. We don’t even know for sure what happened. Whatever it is we can’t panic. One thing Vince has taught me that he learned in combat, is if you panic, things will only get worse. People that panic are the ones that suffer the most and usually cause others to get hurt or killed.”

  “You’re right.”

  She then looked at Lulu, who was still asleep on the sofa. “I’m worried about Lulu. I don’t want her to have to go through anything like this. I don’t want anybody too! Who would do this to us? Why didn’t the government stop this from happening?

  I’m sorry, I don’t even know what I’m saying. All I know is I’m just scared to death.”

  Kim went over and gave Angela a hug, “I know. As I said, I’m scared too. We all are.”

  We jumped into Tag’s jeep and drove to the fire. There was one main fire and several small fires spread out over the field. The heat was like a blast furnace blowing on our skin.

  “What the hell is that burning?” Mo asked excitedly.

  “That’s a plane!”

  The second Mike said that, I was hit with panic. Mia and Carmen’s image flooded into my mind.

  Then I realized that they had just received their fuel earlier. It gave me a moment of minor relief.

  We were almost yelling, due to our adrenaline pumping and to be able to hear one another over the roaring flames.

  “You’re right. That’s what the explosions were that we’ve been hearing. Planes are dropping out of the sky. They quit working just like the cars did,” I replied.

  “Look! That had to be a twin-engine plane. There is one engine there and the other one over there,” Tag stated while pointing them out.

  “They were right next to a road that they probably could’ve landed on and didn’t even know it. Then again, he probably didn’t even realize the ground was so close as dark as it was,” Mike said.

  Mo proclaimed sadly, “There is no way anyone survived that! Oh my God! Think of all the airliners; … all those people. How many thousands of people died tonight?”

  We all stood there stunned, thinking about MO’s comment.

  My mind started churning non-stop. “What about Mia and Carmen? Were they in the air? Had they even taken off?”

  Thought after thought overwhelmed me. Then it hit me.

  “Mia’s plane is a 1964, in original condition. Would it keep operating like the jeep did?”

  I had a hard time thinking very clearly, but I had to have hope.

  After a period of silence, I said, “Well, we don’t know how widespread this is. Maybe, with the country in turmoil, not too many were flying…. Let’s go back!”

  We jumped back into the jeep and headed back to the house.

  As we pulled into the driveway, we could see two separate headlights peaking the hilltop as Kim and Angela came running out of the house to see what the fire was.

  Tag exclaimed, “Those headlights have to be Red and Wit.” The headlights stoppe
d momentarily, probably trying to figure out what was on fire. They slowly proceeded to the house. When they pulled in, we were waiting to greet them.

  The first words out of Red’s mouth was, “What the hell is that fire up there?”

  “A plane!” Tag replied.

  “Oh my God!”

  We still embraced but not with the excitement that would’ve happened in normal circumstances. There were a few jabs thrown back and forth about how we had all aged but not like there would have been.

  When we introduced Angela and Kim, Red became totally embarrassed when he met Kim as he looked at her puzzled and said, “Belinda?” which was my previous wife’s name.

  Of course, he didn’t know that I had remarried years earlier.

  After everyone had finished laughing at his embarrassment, Kim stated, “Kevin, Greg, come on in. Let’s fix you guys some dinner.”

  “We won’t turn that down,” Red said with reserved enthusiasm.

  “You’re a lifesaver, Kim. I got tired of eating junk food on the road,” Wit added.

  Kim had me break out my camp stove and camp oven, where she warmed up the food.

  At first, we all took turns sharing our personal experiences during the previous days. When it got to the story about Mike taking down Jerome Jackson, both Red and Wit quit eating at the same time, staring at him.

  Mike jumped in before they could say anything, “I’ve already heard it. I know, the last time you saw me, you were probably chasing me around the barracks.” Everyone laughed at that.

  “Listen!” I said in a way trying to get everyone to quit talking. “Hear that roar? Those are B-2 Bombers leaving Whiteman. Man, I’ve heard and seen a couple fly over before but that’s a lot more than a couple.”

  Mike added, “They’re probably scrambling them in case they get hit.”

  I knew all of us were in a form of shock. All the guys have been trained to accept things as they came; but the power was out, we were possibly at war, and airplanes were falling out of the sky. The reality was almost too much to take in.

  I knew in my heart though, that it was my job to try and find a way to form a bond between all of us, just like the guys and I had in the past. I knew that it was almost a miracle that we all came together, right at the right point in time.