by Ron Foster
“I don’t think I need to really repack anything; my bug out gear is pretty much ready to hit the trail on land or water now. I have lots of room in my Kayak for my gear and my food if I solo it.” Annie said looking out the window.
“What’s the longest that you have ever camped out, Annie?” Hogan said changing the subject and finally getting around to having that talk he wanted to with her.
“I guess about four days straight is the longest I ever camped out in the woods. I have thought about what a long term bug out would be like if that’s what you’re talking about. I can deal with sleeping out in the boonies a lot longer no problem. What is it that you’re thinking about specifically?” Annie asked.
“Well I am not thinking bug out to the woods so much as taking a four or five week vacation on the river. Let’s just think in those terms for now. What I am thinking here is that we hang around for a week or two and just play bug in quietly with the rest of the neighbors. If we don’t see the roads opening up enough for us to travel south we will go on vacation for awhile downstream and avoid problems around here for awhile.” Hogan offered.
“Going on vacation, Hogan? Really? You don’t need to talk to me like a child, I understand the dangers the same as you. I hope you know that by now. Spit out whatever it is you got on your mind and be done with it!” Annie said quite angry at Hogan thinking he was talking down to her.
“Now don’t be getting mad at me I wasn’t putting you down in any way. I meant to call it vacation; you can call it survival camp if you want because I want to teach you a few things before we have to bug out for real one day. Have you given any thought about how long it’s going to be before people get stupid desperate here? I don’t mean just plain “I am hungry and haven’t eaten in a couple days” desperate, I am talking will do and try most everything to eat as their mental processes go into delirium.” Hogan said seeing her calm down immediately and furrowed her brow to ponder what he just said.
“I would say the first stages of hunger and desperation varyfrom house to house. I would say that you and me are prepared with enough food storage to sustain us for maybe two months, maybe much longer if you do any fishing or hunting. That is as long as we have the river to access for water. I am still worried about what pollution we might get but nothing we can do about that. However, most people in this neighborhood I bet are not even close to being as prepared as we are.” Annie said still trying to estimate a meltdown point for the masses of people surrounding them.
“Annie, people will be eating whatever they have left in their cupboards and for a lot of people in this complex I am afraid that will not be much. You and I have a hard time understanding that some people can literally be out of food completely after only three days. I have seen it happen. One thing I discovered after talking to people about preparedness for a long time is that most of them live a pattern of eating out, picking up dinner on the way home from work, or buying just enough groceries for a few days.” Hogan said letting her know things could get bad rather quickly for some.
“I was thinking about those kinds of folks and how they might be faring. I know quite a few people that are like that. Mostly younger folks do that but I know a lot of businessmen and women do it also.” Annie declared thinking Hogan was the only person she knew outside her prepper friends at home whose lifestyle included having a bucket or two of rice and beans stashed away for a rainy day like this.
“I imagine the average person in this complex has only a week or so at best of food to rely on now and that won’t be eating well either. Remember whatever frozen dinners and meats they got in the freezer will be bad in a few days. I don’t think peoples exact situation has sunk in to them yet but it will. That’s why I want us to take a vacation away from everyone for awhile.” Hogan said letting the notion start to sink in.
“I get it! A vacation means we are coming back! Doesn’t it, Hogan?” Annie said quite happy with herself for catching on so quickly.
“See I told you there was no reason for being mad with me. A vacation, let’s take a nice long trip to the woods to meditate on nature and avoid some of the desperation and the crime in the city.” Hogan said making it sound more like a travel brochure than a short term bug out.
“So where are we going and when are we coming back? I probably know where we are going, your secret place on the river, right?” Annie said hitting the nail on the head.
“That’s the place, as for when we are coming back, that depends. How does four weeks sound to you?” Hogan asked.
“That sounds doable. Why four weeks though out of curiosity.” Annie asked curious how he had arrived at the timing.
“I don’t know, it’s pretty much just an arbitrary number I picked but I will tell you how I came up with that number later. If the road is passable and the cars still work tomorrow, then we will leave for Alabama. That is my preferred idea but I think it could possibly be impractical and maybe more dangerous than we realize. First thing to realize is that most likely we won’t have radio for a few days at least so we will be blind about what is going on in the city or on the interstates for that matter. We would have to get out in traffic and go see conditions for ourselves and as you know a lot of these roads have places you can’t get turned back around from once the road gets clogged. So that is maybe a bad idea. We don’t need to go to the store so we stay off the roads also and avoid the bedlam. That’s if the cars work mind you, if they don’t, then we are really in serious trouble because that means we are stuck here.” Hogan said as they discussed their plans.
“So when do we leave for our vacation then? I guess it won’t really be a vacation though if we don’t have working vehicles to come back to, will it, Hogan?” Annie asked wondering how this beast of a geomagnetic storm was going to affect them even further.
“If the cars don’t work it won’t be no vacation by a long shot. We will be stuck out on the river with no place to go and probably with a bunch of other hungry people getting hungrier in the same position. That is not the future I care to look at for us however at the moment. Say the cars do work, hopefully after four weeks or so the worst around here people wise will have gotten settled down some maybe and then we can try risking driving out.” Hogan said opening their patio door they had closed for privacy but the temperature was getting stifling inside the apartment.
“It’s not that much better temperature wise out here but at least there is a slight breeze.” Annie said commenting on the heat as she walked out on the balcony with Hogan.
“I am thinking Annie that we need to siphon some gas out of the vehicles and lock it up in the apartment if we do decide to go on vacation. I am sure someone around here might need some gas and consider borrowing some from cars in the lot without asking if they are thinking about leaving town. We are going to need to do that siphoning thing at night or early morning if we end up doing that; I don’t care to give anyone ideas, if you get my drift.” Hogan explained.
“Are we just going to leave our vehicles parked right here? Not that I can think of a safer place to move them to though, mind you.” Annie asked.
“I thought about moving them closer to where we are going to put the boats in at because it would be a safer spot if we were worried about fire but I decided against it. That place is away from any flammable buildings but you know whoever can, will be coming down there to fish. I thought about moving them over by the dumpsters too for fire safety but again all the foot traffic around here will be going that way for awhile to dispose of trash. That’s another good reason to go on vacation; can you imagine what it’s going to smell like around here in a couple weeks?” Hogan said thinking people would be throwing out a lot more crap than dirty diapers most likely.
“Leaving the vehicles sitting right out in front of the apartment makes sense then. It makes it look like we are home and maybe no one will bother them.” Annie said considering that the gas in the tanks was less likely to be siphoned if someone was worried about getting caught in the act.
“Next question is how do we get the boats and all this gear and food down to the beach if the cars don’t work?” Hogan asked regarding Annie with an “Oh NO!” look on his face.
“My Kayak is very easy to transport as you know inflated or deflated. I can wear my backpack and maybe load some food in my roll around suitcase and drag it along.” Annie said before acknowledging that even with the wheels on Hogan’s boat it was going to take several trips by foot to move boat, motors, extra gas, etc., etc. down to the landing.
“I could stay at the beach and guard stuff while you go back and forth bringing things.” Annie offered.
“I see how you’re going to treat an old man. I guess I am going to be the designated pack mule then.” Hogan said jokingly scolding her.
“Well I can make a few trips for you and maybe you can rest and stand guard then?” Annie started to offer before she caught on to his small joke and smiled at him as he grinned devilishly back.
“We will work it out one way or another. Hey, do you feel like taking a walk with me down to the road? Not that there is anything much to see down there mind you. But that is the closest thing I can think of to my desire to get a news bulletin that I know of at the moment.” Hogan said getting antsy about all this inactivity and lack of internet news to be speculating on.
“Sure I will go, did you notice that there are not a whole lot of cars that came back here after leaving earlier today? Well at least in our area, I don’t know about the rest of the complex.” Annie remarked.
“Yes I noticed, no telling where they are all at. They could be stuck in traffic on the far side of town or maybe they got lucky and made it out of the city if that is what they wanted.” Hogan said.
“Well I for one hope they did make it out. I guess we will see what tomorrow brings and then we decide to stay or go.” Annie replied.
“Annie, it’s a cold world out there and we can’t do anything to change it. All we can do is try hard to not let it change us personally and that will be impossible if we end up staying here for any length of time.” Hogan said remorsefully.
“We will make it one way or another, Hogan.” Annie said wondering about tomorrow.
I have learned that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
-Henry David Thoreau
4
Sitting Tight
The eerie lights in the sky had quieted down and dissipated by around midnight. Annie and Hogan had said earlier in the day that they were going to alternate standing fire watch but the excitement of the previous day had taxed their bodies as well as their brains and getting some sleep seemed inevitable.
Hogan had asked one of the returning neighbors what they had seen out on the road when they drove in around 8 o’clock this evening and was told that the electrical substation about two miles up the road was destroyed and looked partially burned but no open fires were present. There were fires scattered around the city and the fire department and police were out in full force but they couldn’t tell him much more because they had come in from the interstate loop and then the back way to get home. They didn’t know what the conditions in the city proper might be. They said they had spent ten hours creeping along in traffic on a short stretch of highway just trying to get here and said the exchanges exiting the interstates were just as bad traffic wise. The good news was once you got a few miles away from an exit and into the neighborhood it was very light traffic with hardly anyone on the roads.
Hearing this news, Hogan had advised that he thought it would be alright for them to get some shuteye tonight but he voiced his concerns to Annie later about the apartment complexes smoke alarm system. Evidently it must have an emergency backup somewhere because the small red led light on theirs remained visibly on. Annie thought this evidently working alarm was a good thing at first and also expressed her surprise they hadn’t noticed it previously. But of course everything was basked in the glowing reddish light of the storm so it was easy to miss.
Hogan said that although it was pretty cool that they might have some modern early warning of an impending fire to wake them, he didn’t trust the system. He mentioned that if she remembered right the alarms had gone off during the storm and that their silence now while being operative might not be a good thing. Just because they didn’t see any more Auroras didn’t mean the geomagnetic storm was over or for that matter it didn’t mean another one might not be on its way. They had already experienced two solar storms, why not three or more, he had asked?
Having evidently DC powered systems still operable was an exciting prospect but that also meant circuitry that could possibly catch fire later no matter how safe it normally was. Hogan reminded Annie what happens when you accidentally ground a car battery by crossing up the jumper cables or touching a car body with a wrench or a screwdriver when working on the positive connection of a battery. He also reminded her that most of these new lithium batteries people were using have electronic circuitry in them and don’t have the built in fire retardant or anti grounding features his Relion Lithium battery did that he used for his trolling motor.
They both found it kind of odd and interesting that there would be a second lights out in the coming weeks then as battery operated emergency exit signs and lights would fail as the batteries run down. Technically speaking, the city would still have emergency lights on for awhile. Hogan jokingly remarked that particular fact would give everybody lights to loot by! He remembered how well lit up a Wal-Mart was in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and the media showing cops as well as regular citizens happily wandering around with shopping carts going down the aisles helping themselves to whatever they needed allegedly for free. It was blatant looting: grabbing shoes, electronics and many other non food or survival items but the mob mentality thought all this stealing was ok.
This free for all of looting spree didn’t start up immediately in most areas and not until the media fueled the fires of peoples psyches with false as well as true reports about the hopelessness of help not being forth coming. Well this time the thievery might be different because the government had come right out and said nothing was coming for a month or so to a whole bunch of people that had been hoping and wishing for just this sort of thing to occur so they had an excuse to run amok.
On the flip side of that coin, Hogan also knew there were a whole lot of people that had plans to defend their stores and businesses from looting and surprises awaited the unwary in this no holds barred fight over goods.
Hogan and Annie had wisely decided they would stay in and avoid getting caught up in the crossfire of such looter business owner confrontations which was bound to be happening.
Some places would be better defended than others. For example, Hogan knew from a conversation he had with the neighborhood gun store owner previously. He and his employees as well as a few chosen friends had plans for defending that store’s contents with overwhelming firepower until they could transfer the inventory to an unmentioned safe spot located in the country.
Big Hoss the proprietor of the establishment as the man was called, had jokingly or not advised Hogan that if he ever needed to find protection quick to haul ass in the direction of his store. This was because he and his crew would be loaded for bear as well as business. He planned on staying open and servicing his customers awhile if he could depending on the nature of a disaster.
Hogan had gone in long before this solar storm was predicted and just shot the breeze with the proprietor and his staff on several occasions. They had discussed about how stuff works in a disaster and Hogan was as interested in their plans as they were in his.
Everyone’s expectations and actions are different in how they plan to overcome adversity or confront known threats. That’s why the gun store had wire mesh on all the windows as well as a pull down steel door to secure it when they closed the business every night. Pretty much normal security precaut
ions for a crime ridden city any gun store would have installed.
Hogan had seen and admired a lot of pictures on the walls of this gun emporium depicting their shooting team and hunting club and he had remarked that the man had his own standing militia if need be. The man then had given him a sly wink and reminded Hogan that he was a Class Three automatic weapons dealer also and showed him a picture and a YouTube video of him and his buddies shooting up one of the full auto gun ranges he owned out in the country not too far from here.
“Holy hell, you all look like Delta Force or something!” Hogan had joked thinking they looked pretty formidable just decked out and camo’d up for duck hunting in a photo but these suckers in a picture with UZI’s and what not sitting next to their historic re-enactor authentic Gatling gun and civil war cannon was really mind blowing. They definitely had their destructive fire power bases covered.
Hogan had an open invitation extended to go shoot the cannon with them next time they took it out and he had really been looking forward to that. It was after the realization that that particular day would never happen when he and Annie started to speculate on whether or not that gun range might be one of the stores security rally points and maybe they themselves should be thinking about making their way there.
Annie thought that idea of the gun store employees being found there might be highly possible because no one in their right mind but a regular member of the range would think about approaching it in hard times. But neither he nor Annie had ever visited it before let alone become paying members of it. Hogan said that he bet ten to one Old Hoss was still hanging out at the main store and that they could maybe go visit with him and try to be a camp follower. That didn’t sit well with Hogan though, too many unknowns to consider.