by John Chapman
The Judge spoke over the murmuring in the court, saying, “Everyone keep your seats please, I’m sure the power will come back on in a moment.” Sunlight streamed through the courtroom windows, and Kasey decided to just relax; there was nothing she could do about the delays, and getting impatient wouldn’t help anything. After several minutes, another Deputy Sheriff came into the courtroom, approached the Bailiff, and whispered in his ear while holding and gesturing at his cell phone. The Bailiff then asked the court clerk, “Becky, do you know why the UPS power strips didn’t keep the computers on?” “No.” Becky looked frazzled, and stammered, “I don’t understand. They have always kept the computers working before. They must be bad.”
The Bailiff approached the judge, and after speaking to her he called the courtroom to rise and the judge adjourned for the day. All of the docketed cases were continued, and everyone filed out of the court. As soon as Kasey broke the threshold of the courtroom into the hallway she snatched her phone out of her purse and hit the power button. Nothing happened.
Kasey had been a cop for a while, had attended all the usual DHS briefings and in-service trainings about EMPs. While she was married to one of the foremost SWAT trainers in the country, with access to people, equipment and information most cops didn’t even know existed, she was no slouch herself; Kasey was a qualified SWAT officer, and the only State certified female Police Sniper in Ohio. Kasey had a decisive mind, and before she even exited the stairwell she had decided that she was going to treat this situation like an EMP or solar flare, until proven otherwise.
When she burst out the door of the courthouse into the sunlight, her fears were solidified. High Street in front of the courthouse was a mess of stalled vehicles with people milling around in the road. Kasey knew time was now of the essence, and sprinted across High Street to the parking garage and down to the lowest basement level where she always parked. As she ran she prayed the parking level was low enough underground to save her SUV from the effects of the pulse.
When she hit the bottom of the parking garage stairs and could see her 2018 Chevy Equinox she started hitting the unlock button on her key fob. Nothing happened; no lights, no sound, nothing. Now she was concerned, because even if the vehicle survived the pulse, her key fob had been exposed to the pulse, and her SUV was “keyless”. If the fob was dead she wouldn’t be able to get in the car or get it started. When Kasey got to the small SUV, she remembered the valet key option they had paid extra for when she bought the vehicle a couple of months ago. She ripped the plastic cover off the right side of the driver’s door handle, exposing the valet key slot. Then she fumbled with the key fob and removed the valet key, then used it to unlock the door; breathing a sigh of relief that at least she could get to her rifle and armor even if the car wouldn’t start.
When Kasey sat in the driver’s seat, she immediately noticed a couple of lights on the dash were working, and breathed even easier. She pushed the start button, and was surprised the Equinox started right up. The passive chip in the valet key must have been enough to tell the vehicle’s computer she wasn’t a thief and it was ok to start. Kasey quickly opened the back hatch and got her SWAT carbine, a BCM short barreled rifle, out of its bag, loaded it, and got back in the driver’s seat and closed the door. She wedged the rifle between her right leg and the center console. Kasey didn’t think things would get too violent yet, but she would be a 105-pound attractive female driving one of the few working vehicles through a city that wasn’t known for its domestic tranquility in the best of times. While she was already armed with her Glock 43 off duty pistol, she viewed that as a backup and wanted a serious fighting gun close at hand for this drive.
Kasey thought about her and Mark’s two children who lived 2000 miles away in Idaho, and felt herself starting to panic a little. The kids were adults now and living on their own, but Kasey had a mother’s instinct, and the kids were only in their early 20’s. She decided to close her eyes for a second and calm down. Panic was her enemy; clear thinking and decisive action would get her back to her husband, and eventually get her children to safety. She took a moment and prayed, “Heavenly Father, please guide me and give me strength to get home, and do what is necessary to fulfill your will for my life. Please protect my husband and the kids. In Your Son’s Name, Amen.” Now that her mind was right, she opened her eyes and drove out of the lot.
Kasey was able to drive up to the ground level and find an exit gate that wasn’t blocked by a stalled vehicle, but the ticket machine wouldn’t work to lift the little orange stick that passed for a gate. As she sat and thought about whether or not to “ram” the gate, she noticed a man standing in High Street next to a stalled car pointing at her and yelling. Kasey couldn’t hear him, but from the angry look on his face she could tell he was working up the gumption to come take her SUV. That realization made her decision for her; she hit the gas, rammed the gate, and sped away. She turned right onto High Street, weaving around the stalled cars, and immediately busted a left then another left to get onto Broadway. Kasey continued to bob and weave around the stalled vehicles and walkers in the road, trying not to hit anyone, but not endangering herself or her now precious vehicle. As she came to the intersection at East Market Street, traffic thinned out, and she was able to speed up. After she passed Market Street, Kasey realized she should have gone that way in order to avoid the freeway on the way home. She quickly made a U-turn and drove the wrong way on Broadway until she got back to Market, then made a left.
About 4 blocks down she saw a stalled Akron PD car in the road with an officer standing behind it unloading equipment from the trunk. When the officer heard Kasey’s SUV approaching, he stood up, turned around, and looked at her. Kasey immediately recognized the officer as James Roberts, known by everyone as JR. Kasey felt a wave of relief flash over her. The Wallace and Roberts families went to the same church, and Kasey and Sarah, JR’s wife, were in many of the same women’s groups in the church. JR was on the Akron SWAT team and he and Mark trained together all the time. Kasey and JR had also been classmates in the State Basic Sniper School, and talked frequently about police sniper related topics.
Kasey screeched to a stop, causing JR to run behind his car and come to the low ready with his pistol. Kasey stepped out slowly and yelled, “JR, it’s me, Kasey.” Only then did JR recognize Kasey’s personalized license plates, LNGSHOT. JR stepped out and jogged up to Kasey. They shared a quick hug, and JR asked, “Are you OK? Why does your Equinox run?” Kasey replied, “I’m OK. It was parked in the courthouse parking structure basement. The pulse didn’t get to it.”
JR asked Kasey, “So, you think it was an EMP too?” Kasey said, “Yeah. I can’t think of anything else that would do this, can you?” JR said, “No. I am surprised no transformers blew up though.” Kasey nodded, “Yeah I didn’t think of that, but it is strange.” Kasey shook it off and told JR to cross load his gear into her SUV. He turned to do so while Kasey reached into the driver’s seat, grabbed her carbine, and pulled security. When he was loaded JR said, “Ready.” Kasey replied, “Lets go.” When they were moving, JR said, “Can you take me home? Sarah is off work today. It’s on the way to your house, if you want to stay off the freeway.” Kasey said, “Of course. Are you and Sarah coming to Alliance with me?” “Is that where you’re going?” JR asked. Kasey said, “Yes. I’m stopping by our condo first to take what ammo, guns and food I can with me, but I’m only stopping there long enough to load up. If I take too long Mark will think I’m stuck somewhere and leave a trail of bodies all the way to Akron trying to find me. He knows I was in court today.” JR agreed with that, and thought about going to Alliance while keeping his eyes facing out pulling security. Kasey let him think.
JR was torn. He knew his oath as an Akron Police officer dictated he return to the station, report for duty, and die fighting the dirtbags who were even now probably heading out to smash windows to steal TVs and sneakers. Without transportation and communications, the 500 officer Akron Police Department wa
s doomed to lose the battle against several thousand hood rats, probably within the first 48 hours. His duty as a man drew him to protect his wife; to get her to a place of safety and then evaluate the situation from there. Of all of the places within traveling distance of his home, he knew Alliance offered the best chance of safety for his wife. The range facility there had the equipment and numbers of highly trained people that would give them the capability to survive. He also trusted Mark and Kyle to organize a quick response to this event, whatever it actually was. He would talk to Sarah before he said anything out loud, but his mind was made up. They would go to Alliance with Kasey.
As they rounded the corner turning onto North Adams Street, intending to cut behind the Akron City hospital, Kasey was startled to see a white guy in a red flannel shirt standing in the middle of the road about 75 yards in front of them, pointing what looked like a shotgun at the SUV with one hand while gesturing them to stop with the other. She blurted out, “Contact front.” And let off the accelerator. JR said, “My rifle is in my bag. Can I borrow yours?” Kasey levered the carbine up and over the center console, handed it to JR, then started accelerating right at the man. The narrow road and high curbs meant she had nowhere else to go. The guy in the road put his left hand on the shotgun and fired a shot at them. Kasey ducked instinctually but nothing hit them. JR yelled, “Stop with my side towards him.” Kasey got the SUV stopped about 40 yards from the man with the gun, with JR’s door about 45 degrees offset from the guy who by now had racked another round and was firing again. The shot missed Kasey and JR again, not surprising either of them given the fact he was shooting a shotgun and they were over 40 yards away. Kasey thought Thank God he isn’t shooting slugs. JR rolled down the window, crouched in the seat until he could stabilize the carbine on the sill, centered the Aimpoint’s dot on the man’s chest, and pressed off 4 shots. It felt to JR like a drill in a vehicle tactics class. Neither JR nor Kasey could see where the shots hit but the man fell down on his back like a puppet with the strings cut.
Kasey and JR sat in silence for a moment until Kasey broke the tension by saying, “Well, 25 minutes into the apocalypse and you’re already on the scoreboard JR.” JR was quiet for a minute, finally breaking his silence with, “It’s going to be a short apocalypse if everyone is as dumb as that guy. Let’s get moving.” As they drove past the man’s body, giving it as a wide berth as possible, JR said, “Stop real quick. I should grab that shotgun.” Kasey stopped and JR jumped out, ran over to the guy, and dead checked him by poking him in the eye with the muzzle of Kasey’s rifle. When the man didn’t move JR grabbed the shotgun off the ground and jogged back to the SUV. After he was in and they were moving again Kasey said, “Please tell me there is still ammo in that thing. I’d hate to think we killed a guy who was out of ammo.” JR checked the magazine of the Remington 870, and found one round in it. He then opened the action and a round popped out. “Yep, two rounds in it.” JR said. Kasey just breathed a sigh of relief and kept driving.
JR rolled down his window, and asked Kasey to roll down the others. It was cold as hell, but he didn’t want to eat glass if one of the windows was hit. JR reloaded the shotgun with the OO Buck rounds that came out of it, figuring to use up those two rounds first, saving their limited 5.56mm rifle ammo. As he engaged the safety on the shotgun, JR noticed an “Akron Hospital Property” tag with an inventory number on the side of the receiver. Dammit, he thought. JR prayed he hadn’t just killed an Akron Hospital Police officer in plainclothes who was trying to commandeer a vehicle. If so, the guy was an idiot. Shooting at them first from that far away when armed with a shotgun was just a dumb move. Still, it would suck if he had just killed a brother cop. JR pushed the thought out of his mind; he had to focus on getting to Sarah, then protecting her and Kasey until they could get to Alliance.
The remaining 12 minutes of the trip to JR’s house near Goodyear Heights Park was uneventful. When they pulled up in the driveway JR jumped out and went in the front door. Kasey shut the SUV off, hoping to not draw the attention of JR’s neighbors to the running vehicle. In a couple of minutes the garage door came up, Kasey started the Equinox again, then turned around and backed into the garage. JR lowered the door by hand and Kasey came with him into the house. Once inside, she saw Sarah sitting on the couch staring at the wall. Kasey walked over to her and sat down. “Are you OK sis?” Kasey asked her. “I’m trying,” Sarah said, “it’s a lot to take in. I thought it was just a power outage, but my phone wouldn’t work; and when I decided to go to Grace (the church they all attended) to kill some time, my car wouldn’t start.” Kasey asked if JR had told her what they thought was happening, and Sarah said, “Yeah, he just did. It’s all so unbelievable. I’m not sure what to think. Can’t the government fix it? I mean it’s just some electronics, right?”
“Unfortunately, I don’t think so sis.” Kasey replied. “Whatever this is has probably affected the entire country. The power grid is down and the vast majority of cars are dead, probably permanently. The problem is too big. It will take years to restore basic services like power, water and sewer. I think we are on our own for a long time honey.” Sarah sighed and nodded, then said, “We aren’t on our own; the Lord is with us.” For the first time since things fell apart Kasey felt thankful. Kasey had trouble forming close friendships with women; she found most of them to be shallow, soft and dependent on others. Sarah was such an emotionally strong woman, with such a deep trust in God that Kasey felt overwhelmingly lucky to have her as a friend.
JR came back into the living room lugging a big duffle bag. He set it down and sat on the arm of the couch next to Sarah. He closed his eyes for a second, gathering his thoughts, and told Sarah, “Honey, I think we need to go to Alliance until this blows over.” He had a whole list of reasons and arguments prepared, expecting her to object. Instead she just said, “I agree.” He stared at her for a moment, and she said, “Baby I trust you; and if you and Kasey are right, this could change the world for the rest of our lives. What do we need to pack?” JR had always loved and admired his wife, but never as much as that moment. She was a woman to ride the river with.
“I love you Sarah,” JR said, then continued, “OK, we have very limited space in Kasey’s Equinox and she still has to load a bunch of stuff at her house, so I already packed as many of our outdoor clothes and shoes in this duffle as I could fit. I need you to pack underwear and all your heavy socks in a backpack then fill the rest of it with whatever toiletries will fit. Then grab our little document safe and put as many of our hard copy pictures in it as you can, along with whatever flash drives we have in the house. I need to sort guns and ammo and load whatever bottled water we have in the house into the SUV. After that, we will grab whatever canned goods and boxed dry food we have and take all of that. I’d really like to be back on the road in 20 minutes if we can.” “I’ll do the food,” Kasey said. They all got to work.
It took 35 minutes until they were ready to pull out. JR ended up leaving most of his guns in the safe and locking it up; there just wasn’t room in the SUV. He did take all 4000 rounds of 5.56 and 1000 rounds of 9mm ammo he had, along with 500 rounds of .22LR he found. In addition to his work guns already in the Equinox, he only took his work precision rifle, a Tikka T3x Tac A1, and his Ruger 10/22 rifle. Everything else would have to keep for now. They found 2 cases of water and about 1 medium cardboard box worth of food and packed that in the SUV next to their clothes and small safe.
JR put Sarah in the back seat behind Kasey, who was driving. He uncased his work carbine, a Hodge Defense 14.5 inch carbine. When he function checked the gun, the Aimpoint was toast from the pulse, but his Magpul iron sights would do the job until he could figure something out. He armed Sarah with the 10/22, and told her to only shoot outside the SUV. Before her car door closed, Sarah said, “I forgot our bibles.” and ran inside to grab them. She returned quickly with the 2 bibles in hand and got back in the SUV.
When they were ready Kasey started the Equinox and JR opene
d the garage door. Kasey pulled out, JR closed the garage and jumped in the passenger seat, and they were off. JR was thankful none of their neighbors came out to gawk at the working vehicle, and perhaps try to take it. JR was a former Marine with combat deployments and had a couple of shootings as a police officer, but would be perfectly happy going the rest of his life without killing anyone else. Today’s events so far made him suspect it was not to be.
The drive to Kasey and Mark’s place in Cuyahoga Falls was fast. Kasey was able to stay on residential streets until the last half mile, and they only encountered one problem. When taking a shortcut through the Chapel Hill Mall Parking lot a Cuyahoga Falls Police officer on foot tried to wave them down. Neither Kasey nor JR recognized the guy and they just went around him. As they passed him he started yelling and put his hand on his pistol. JR brought his carbine up into view and pointed it at the officer, who saw the gun and JR’s police uniform and turned around and walked the other direction.
Kasey backed into her driveway a few minutes later, and gave JR the key to the front door. He did the “in the front door / open the garage routine” and Kasey backed in. JR closed the garage and they huddled there. Kasey said, “JR, load as much of that 5.56 ammo as will fit in the cargo area and put cases of 9mm on the back-seat floorboard. I’ll open the safe. Please grab all of the rifles and put them on top of the 9mm ammo. There are only about eight rifles, the rest are already in Alliance. Put the three cases of Hornady 168 Amax ammo for our sniper systems on the back-passenger side seat and stack whatever .22LR you can find on top of that. I’m going to grab our clothes and shoes.” Sarah said, “I’ll grab food and whatever water you have and wedge it in where I can.” “Thanks sis,” Kasey said. “There are several buckets of Wise LTS food in the pantry. Please grab that too.” Sarah said, “You got it.”