EMP Post-Apocalyptic Survival | Book 1 | Shelter In Place

by Hunt, James

  By the position of the sun, Ben thought it had taken them around four hours to make the hike, and when he finally saw the road that led to the hilltop clearing near the facility, he found his second wind.

  “Finally,” Ben said, smiling as the facility came into view in the clearing ahead. “Never thought I’d be so happy to see that damned place again.”

  The training facility had been hell on earth for recruits, but it served its purpose in weeding out those who weren’t tough enough, or smart enough, to survive the training. It was a grueling three-month course, and anyone who went through the program, lived there the entire time. It was like being sent off to boot camp, except instead of shooting guns, you put out fires.

  “Ben, look,” Liz said.

  The pair slowed, and Ben turned. The top of the hill they crested provided a perfect view of the mountainside beyond. Before last night, the view would have shown a sea of green, with Asheville viewable from the front gate. But that view was gone.

  Across the river, what had been beautiful countryside, was now nothing more than a charred wasteland. There was a clear distinction marked east of the river. The fires had consumed everything, stripping the mountainside of any and all vegetation.

  But what was more concerning was the city. Like the forest, it was nothing but black and still smoking. The columns twisted up into the sky like signals for help. But Ben knew that the people down below were nothing but charred skeletons, like the remains of the trees in the forest.

  Ben looked down at Susan, who had the same view as them, and saw the tears in her eyes.

  Ben had held out hope that Kurt would have made it back, that he had survived the fires and the gunmen, but seeing the destruction caused and everything that remained in the wake, Ben realized what Susan had probably known all along. Kurt wasn’t coming back.

  Susan whimpered but then turned her attention back to her child, who seemed to react to his mother’s distress. She kissed him and rocked him and then shut her eyes.

  “We should go inside,” Ben said.

  Liz nodded, and the pair picked up Susan and then headed toward the gate, and it was there that Ben saw his first red flag.

  The facility was cordoned off by a large chain-link fence, topped with barb wire. It was to help keep animals out when they didn’t have a class, but it was also to deter people from venturing onto the property and messing with the facilities.

  So when Ben saw the gate unlocked, he knew something was wrong.

  “Wait,” Ben said, the authority in his voice causing everyone to freeze. He motioned for Liz to lower Susan back to the ground and then reached for his weapon. “I want all of you to stay here.”

  Liz walked to him and kept her voice low so the others couldn’t hear. “What’s wrong?”

  “People are already here,” Ben answered.

  “How?” Liz asked, her tone half frightened and half angry.

  “It could be other firefighters; it could be random civilians; it could be—” Ben stopped speculating. “I’ll find out who’s inside, and then we’ll go from there.”

  Sensing Ben’s worry, Liz grabbed his arm and squeezed. “Do you think it’s the gunmen from the city? Could they have made it all the way up here?”

  “I doubt it,” Ben answered, hoping he sounded reassuring. “But, I’ll go up alone just to be safe.” He motioned to the tree line, which provided some concealment. “Have everyone sit tight. I’ll come back down when I know more.”

  Liz hesitated, but she finally let him go.

  Ben waited until his family and the others were safe amongst the trees, and then he opened the gate and tucked the rifle’s stock against his chest as he walked up the dirt path.

  The training facility was massive, spreading over five acres. Most of the land was nothing but obstacle courses and buildings they had constructed to set on fire to simulate real-life scenarios, though nothing truly prepared you for the real thing. Ben had learned that the hard way.

  At the center of the property were the barracks, classrooms, and mess hall. The facilities were large enough to accommodate thirty people, and Ben was hoping the MREs they had received from the National Guard for storage at the facility weren’t compromised. They could be the difference between life and death in the coming weeks.

  Ben moved swiftly toward the compound, heading to the barracks first. It was already midday, and he doubted anyone would be sleeping, but it might tell him if there were people already living there.

  The barracks were small six-person pods on the backside of the classrooms, and Ben had to pass the mess hall to get there. But he slowed when he heard voices coming from inside the mess hall, and he veered toward it to investigate.

  Knowing that the enemy Ben had seen in the city was American, Ben didn’t let down his guard when he heard the voices speaking English. But as he neared the door and peered inside, he relaxed.

  “Marty?” Ben asked.

  Marty Shultz sat at one of the cafeteria benches with three other firefighters from the Asheville station and turned at the mention of his name. “Benny?”

  Both men smiled, and Ben lowered his guard as he stepped into the mess hall. The pair of men walked to one another, and then embraced in a hug.

  “Jesus, what the hell happened to you?” Marty asked, giving Ben the once over.

  “It was a long night,” Ben answered, and then looked to the other guys who walked over, each of them giving an embrace. “It’s really good to see you guys.”

  The Asheville Fire Station had a total of nine full-time employees who rotated on three shifts, each pulling twenty-four hours, and then having forty-eight hours off. And after some of the days they had, those two days off were needed just to gather enough strength to come back to work for the start of their next shift. But Ben only counted four from the station, including Marty.

  There was Jeff Sutton, a short, tan man with a bald head which he kept shaved. Tony Kipper, the gentle giant who stood six foot seven. And finally, Carl Foster, the second youngest of the group and only bachelor in the department, who got nagged and harassed by the wives of the rest of the crew.

  “What are you doing here?” Ben asked.

  Marty glanced at the guys, and the smiles from their unexpected reunion faded. “We were on shift when all the power shut off. Captain told us to go home and come here.”

  “I saw him,” Ben asked. “At the station in the city after you guys left. I had gone into the city to pick up my boys after everything went down.”

  Marty perked up, along with everyone else who gathered closer. “Was he all right?”

  Ben hesitated. “I left him with Kurt Johnson. He came with me into the city, but he got shot—”

  “What?” Marty asked, and the rest of the guys mirrored the same level of concern.

  Ben wasn’t sure how much the guys knew about what was happening in the city, between the fires and the gunmen, but he caught all of them up on what he knew. The snipers, the fact that the people responsible for this were shooting civilians, and how some of them were Americans.

  Everyone’s expressions ranged from anger to shock to disbelief, but each of them clung to every word that Ben said.

  “I don’t know how many of them there are, and I don’t know what their endgame is, but these people are definitely coordinated.” Ben reached around for the radio he stole off of the sniper in the city. “They were smart enough to protect their electronics in a faraday cage from the EMP.” Ben had already explained to the group what the EMP was and how it worked. All of them were familiar with his prepper practices.

  “The radio works?” Marty asked.

  “It does, but whatever language they’re speaking, I can’t understand it,” Ben answered.

  “Turn it on,” Carl said. “See if they’re talking now.”

  Ben reached for the power button, unsure if the talkie survived the water, but judging by its cover, it looked sturdy enough to survive the plunge, which was confirmed when the power light ca
me on and static flooded the radio.

  Ben hadn’t done anything to change the channels, and he didn’t know how long the range was on the device, but he turned up the volume and static blew through the speaker. Everyone leaned closer to listen.

  After the silence continued for a while, Ben reached for the power button, thinking they were too far out of range for the talkie’s capability, and then a voice broke through the static.

  “What the hell are they saying?” Jeff asked.

  “It’s the same language I heard before,” Ben answered. “I don’t know what—”

  “It’s Farsi,” Marty said.

  Everyone stared Marty, who looked concerned with the knowledge he’d just unearthed, and Ben suddenly remembered Marty’s wife was Iranian.

  Marty stepped away and rubbed his face. “Shit.”

  “Hey, Marty, I don’t think your wife knows these people,” Carl said.

  “Of course she doesn’t know them,” Marty snapped. “She’s an American citizen.”

  “Marty, that’s not what he meant,” Ben said.

  Marty raised his hands, trying to calm himself down. “Sorry. It’s just… Ali has had a lot of racist bullshit happened to her before. And if the people behind this are middle eastern, then it’s only going to be bad for her, you know?”

  Ben understood. He and Liz had been out with them a few months ago at dinner and had witnessed the racism first hand. Both Marty and Ben had gotten up to do something about it, but it had been Ali who had pulled them back. She was a kind woman. And it broke Ben’s heart to see her subjected to such ignorance.

  But it did present an opportunity Ben hadn’t foreseen.

  “Is she here?” Ben asked. “Ali?”

  “Yeah,” Marty answered.

  “Do you think she could translate for us?”

  Ben waited with the others as Marty went to collect Ali. She was with the other mothers and wives with the kids out on the tire obstacles. The kids had energy they needed to burn, and the obstacle courses provided an endless loop for them to run around and play.

  Ali’s face lit up with surprise when she saw Ben, hugging him. “Thank God you’re alive.” She pulled back and looked concerned. “Liz and the boys?”

  “They’re outside the fences, but they’re fine,” Ben answered. “I wasn’t sure what to expect when we got here, so I decided to come up here alone.”

  “Probably a smart move,” Carl said. “We’re a rowdy bunch.” He cracked a grin, and everyone groaned and rolled their eyes.

  “Ali, I need your help,” Ben said.

  Ben explained as quickly as could about what he had seen and what he knew so far about the people who might be behind this. He studied Ali’s reaction, and her stoic glance made it difficult to see how she felt about the situation.

  “We need to know what they’re saying,” Ben said. “It might help us to figure out what they have planned next, where they’re going, how many of them there might be.”

  Ben held out the radio and waited for Ali to take it. She stared at it as if it were a weapon. But she eventually took it and then turned up the volume.

  The radio remained quiet for a while. The chatter had died down after Marty had gone to get his wife. But after a few minutes, another voice appeared, speaking the same language, and Ali concentrated on translating.

  “They’re talking about putting someone into position,” Ali said, repeating it slowly as she continued to listen. “It’s in the mountains.”

  “Which mountains?” Ben asked. “Anything more specific?”

  Ali frowned and shook her head as she continued to listen to the rest of the radio transmissions, but her frowned deepened the longer she listened. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “What?” Ben asked, eager to learn what was being said.

  “They’re talking about hitting targets, or targets that they’ve already hit,” Ali stopped, cutting herself off as she brought the radio closer to her ear. “The power plant?” She looked at Ben as though he might understand what that meant.

  “Is that how they shut everything off?” Carl asked. “I mean, the power’s not working, right?”

  “The EMP did that, not the power plant,” Ben said, but a thought pricked in the back of his head. “What else are they saying?”

  Ali continued to listen, following along as best she could, but most of what they were talking about now were about weapons and casualties, of which they had many and few, respectively.

  “Now they’re talking about the success of the water treatment plant,” Ali said. “They’re saying it’s almost done.”

  Ben remembered the explosions from last night. One had been in the vicinity of the powerplant, the other the water treatment facility. But what did they have in common? They were both utility plants. But why would they go after utility plants when the power was already out?

  “They’re talking about going to the dam now,” Ali said. “They said the dam would be the last job.”

  “The dam?” Carl asked. “They planning on taking a tour?”

  “No,” Ben answered, realizing what the enemy had been doing. “They're making it impossible for us to rebuild. They blew up the power plant, the water treatment plant, and now they’re going after the dam. That thing breaks and it’ll flood the valley, drowning anyone who survived the fires and wiping this place out with it.”

  The news definitely dampened the mood of the room, but Ben wasn’t here to tell people what they wanted to hear. “We need to deal with this now,” Ben said, then turned back to Ali. “Are they saying anything about when they’re going to take it out? Or how?” Ben assumed they would use the same types of explosives they used on the other two facilities.

  Ali continued to listen, and Ben waited eagerly for her response.

  “They are sending people up there now,” Ali said.

  “You’re sure?” Ben asked.

  Ali nodded but then backtracked. “I mean, I think. They’re not giving a lot of detail. I don’t know how many people are going, or when—”

  “It’s okay,” Ben said, gently touching Ali’s shoulder, realizing he was pushing the woman beyond her comfort zone. “We have what we need.”

  Ben looked to the other firefighters and knew only Marty and Jeff were good with weapons. “Did you bring any firearms?”

  Marty and Jeff nodded.

  “We need to go take care of this,” Ben said, turning toward the door.

  But both Marty and Jeff protested against the move.

  “You want us to go after these guys?” Marty asked. “After what you said they did to the people in the city? After what they did to Kurt?”

  “Ben, we’re not a bunch of soldiers,” Jeff replied. “We go hunting sometimes during season. We’re not snipers or sharpshooters.”

  Ben knew they were frightened, and after everything he had seen, he knew they had a right to be, but there was a time to stand aside, and there was a time to fight.

  “If they blow the dam, then this place will be washed away and us with it,” Ben said. “We don’t go up there now and stop them, then our families will die.” He felt his anger rising, and he took a breath to steady himself. “I’ve never been an absolutist. People do what they need to survive. It’s wired in our DNA, and sometimes those choices for survival aren’t morally righteous. But I can tell you that anything we need to do to protect our family is right. But I can’t go up there alone. I’m already gassed after the night that I’ve had. I need your help.”

  Ben hoped the plea for assistance would be granted, and when Marty stepped forward, he knew the answer before his friend spoke.

  “We’re with you, Lieutenant,” Marty said. “We’d follow you anywhere.”

  Jeff stepped forward and nodded with the same sentiments.

  “Then load up,” Ben said, and he turned to fetch his wife and kids and bring them inside.

  21

  Ben loaded what remaining ammunition he had. Aside from the half-used magazine in th
e rifle, he had one other magazine and his 9mm pistol with two full magazines. In all, he had about forty rounds. He hoped that would be enough. But if he ran out, then he always had the knife for close-quarter combat.

  “You’re sure this is what they’re planning on doing?” Liz asked.

  Ben had told Liz everything. They didn’t keep secrets. It was how they wanted their relationship to work, and it had served them well so far.

  “It’s what Ali heard over the radio,” Ben said. “And it fits a pattern of what they’ve already done.”

  It wasn’t the answer Liz wanted, but she nodded. “Just be careful, all right?”

  Ben kissed her and then hugged her tight. “I’ll come home.”

  “You better,” Liz said.

  Ben didn’t want to let go, but he knew the longer he lingered, the more time the enemy would have to blow up the dam. There was no time for second place here. If they failed, then everyone who was here would die.

  “If you hear the explosions—”

  “We’ll get to the tower,” Liz said. “I know the drill.”

  The tower was one of the training buildings on the property. It allowed the cadets to carry all of their equipment up the ten flights in the blazing hot sun so they could get a feel for what it was like to climb the high rises when the elevators were out. It was a grueling process, as the trainers forced the cadets up and down until they collapsed, vomited, or gave up. Ben had vomited.

  Ben wasn’t sure if the structure would hold against the rush of water that would come flooding down, but it would at least give everyone a chance.

  “Carl and Tony will stay behind and act as muscle in case you need it,” Ben said. “Just to be safe.”

  “Right,” Liz said.

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  The pair kissed one more time, and then Ben turned his attention to the boys, both of whom could barely keep their eyes open.

  “I know you’re tired, but you two remember to take care of yourselves, all right?” Ben said. “And listen to your mother.”