by Miles Maresh
Detroit was recovered in relatively the same manner as Chicago and both cities were free from invaders. They sent Chinese that surrendered across the border to rejoin the troops in Canada. President Ryan had been in touch with the British Prime Minister who had also survived. They jointly announced that all Chinese military and civilians were expelled from Canada. With more countries recovering from the EMP the Chinese no longer has support of world leaders and quietly retreated from Canada and the South American countries they had invaded. President Ryan knew that leaving northern cities unpopulated was making it too easy for invasions from various other countries, although China had been expelled it was decided not to leave the cities empty. Restoring power to limited neighborhoods in most northern cities was made easier by the research and development of new technology that had started to rebuild the South .Although the bulk of the rebuilding would still be in the South, the Northern cities would start to rebuild their power grids as well. By using the EMP shielding technology that had been developed most power grids were repaired more easily than had been thought possible. Each city still needed engineers to explain the process, but it was easily trained and did not require specialized materials. The new technology was shared with other counties starting in Europe but spreading around the globe including China.
Over the next year the United States and the world returned to as normal a life as was possible considering the horrible loss of life caused the EMP and some countries’ reactions to it. In the United State over 80% of people had perished from starvation, disease, exposure or nuclear radiation. In other countries the death rate was higher, even without the nuclear strikes China and the U.S. used on each other. David returned to his house in Pittsburgh once power was restored to his part of the city. His parents retuned to the farm upstate, the power was not restored there yet, but they could live off the grid until it was. Judy started college but stayed close to home. Barry served his military stint in the Air Force at Luke Air Force Base. Megan attended Arizona State University when it reopened and the two got married. Jim and Kaitlyn also got married. When conflicts ended Jim had been released from his commitment to the reserves as had David. Kaitlyn still worked for the restored federal government in Denver and she and Jim spent time there and weekends in his cabin. Other members of the family either found a new life in the rebuilt southern cities, or moved back north when the power returned to their areas. David stayed a prepper. Although he had been assured that the country, and most of the world was now immune to EMPs, there were other natural or manmade disasters that he wanted to be prepared for.