by AJ Newman
He was rocking from side to side. She was red faced and scared. He said, “We were just exploring the woods and stopped to rest.”
“Yeah, I heard you resting when I got here. You look about 18 and she looks about 15 or 16. You do know you could be charged with statutory rape of a minor, or child molestation. Tell me why I shouldn’t report this trespassing?”
The girl stammered out, “I’m 18 and he is my boyfriend.”
“Bull shit. Now get out of here and don’t come back or I’ll get the sheriff involved.”
“I promise we won’t ever come back.”
“Go, git, now!”
They ran to the jeep, and fled back down the trail. I explored the cabin and the area around it and found that there were signs this wasn’t the first time people had come to the cabin. There were beer cans, whiskey bottles and used condoms around the cabin. I had to get this stopped ASAP.
After they were out of sight, I went back to the edge of my property where the road entered. I discovered that I could cut three or four trees down and stop any normal vehicle from coming in by the road. I could do the same thing at the other entrance.
I would also post no trespassing signs on a cable across the entrance. I thought I should probably burn the cabin down since everyone in town had probably brought their girlfriend there at one time or the other.
I wondered why Mr. Williamson hadn’t blocked the road, but later found his chain across both openings had been cut. I would place a couple of trail cameras and trip wires to alert me back at the house. I would stop this crap.
***
The women arrived a little after 1:00 pm and brought lunch from the diner. I was starving since the events at the cabin made me late getting back to the house.
“Hello. Is that lunch?”
“Hello Matt. Yes, we brought some burger baskets from the diner. Betty and Gary told me to say Hi to you. Hi!”
“I’m glad you brought lunch. I was late getting back from my tour of the property. Did you know there is an old cabin in the back northwest side of the property?”
“Yes, and I had forgotten about it since it was in pretty bad shape and we never went back there. Frank had to block the road with a chain to keep the teenagers from parking back there.”
“I ran into a couple in the cabin this morning. They were very busy and didn’t hear me approach. I think I scared the crap out of them. The boy was driving a red Jeep.”
Patty spoke up, “The boy had black hair, was about six feet tall and very muscular.”
“That’s him. Do you know him?”
“Yes, he is Sheriff Alton’s boy.”
“Well the sheriff is about to become a grandfather if his son and that young blonde girl keep this up.”
“That’s the Merrill girl and she’s only 15. Bob has warned Robby several times about messing around with her.”
“Well anyway, I’m going to block the road and perhaps burn the cabin down to help keep these trespassers off my property.”
“Frank put chains across the road. How did they drive in?”
“Someone cut the chain. I’m going to drop several trees across the road and perhaps use the tractor to pile some dirt up across the road.”
“You might want to re-think that. The road is the only way to get a larger vehicle out the back way in an emergency. Frank knew he could unlock the chain or cut it in a pinch.”
“Damn, I hadn’t thought about that. Thanks for keeping me from making a big mistake.”
“Burn the cabin and the kids will stop trespassing.”
Shooting Range
The Ranch
We ate our French fries, burgers and cokes, and then went to the range to shoot.
Patty lowered her tailgate and placed a blanket on it before laying the guns down. I saw a large amount of ammunition behind the guns along with thirty to forty boxes that appeared to contain more guns.
Both were good shots with the pistol and 9mm AR. They were a bit scared of the 12 gauges, but shot them enough to be familiar with their operation.
I had them shoot from behind cover, reload and advance to cover and repeat. I put them through the paces for several hours. They were getting better by the minute. The last thing I had them do is shoot at the dueling target tree. The winner was the shooter who got all six steel targets on the opponent’s side. They both won twice before I called an end to the shooting for the day.
“Ladies, I can grill some deer steaks or take you into town to the diner for supper. Your choice.”
“We would rather eat with you out here. Patty and I will prepare the sides while you grill.
Before we leave the range, come over to Patty’s truck. We brought ammunition and extra guns.
The solar activity seems to be rapidly increasing, just as you warned, and we both think the big one is just around the corner.”
Patty spoke up, “We’ll try to get most of the stock out of the store. Whatever we can’t get out can be picked over by the survivors. Hopefully, those who get the leftovers find something useful.”
I must admit that I had second thoughts since I was suddenly filled with concern about the reality of being responsible for these two lives. Then I thought that’s definitely a win win. I really wanted to be alone, but the possibility of having partners was growing by the day. Besides, I had my man cave. Yeah, it was the absolute right and proper thing to do.
“I have to say one more time, tell no one about the house, property or survival supplies, and there cannot be anyone else coming out here with you. No kids, no relatives, nobody, period.
I don’t care if they are dying or will be killed by thugs. We can’t take in everyone or soon they will over run us and take our food and shelter.”
Patty replied first, “I agree. I know I will feel bad, but this is our survival. The others have had the same warnings and haven’t done anything to prepare for the apocalypse.”
“Okay, bring your supplies out here and we’ll unload them in the barn until we can get them down to the bomb shelter.”
I was deep in thought as I checked the steaks on the grill, when Mary said, “Patty, I’ll make the sides while you fix us some stiff drinks. I know I could use one.
I broke free from my thoughts enough to reply. “Make mine a Bulleit and Coke. Make it a double.”
I made a mental note to have Mary order 10 cases of Bulleit Bourbon. Money wouldn’t really matter when the lights went out. I needed to stock up on some luxuries along with necessities. My mind was going a hundred miles an hour trying to think of things that would make post-apocalyptic life easier.
“Mary, please order 10 cases of Bulleit, 10 cases of Jose Guervo Tequila, 10 cases of Vodka and 20 cases Of Bloody Mary mixer. Add 20 cases of Blue Moon beer. We also need to order some board games and games like bean bag toss.”
Patty shouted back, “I never thought of that, but we do need something to pass the time.”
“I believe we will be consumed just trying to survive for the first six months to a year; after that we will have long winters to contend with.”
We finished supper and retired to the great room to discuss our survival plans when Mary said, “Matt, please turn the TV and radio on. I want to know how strong the reception is today.”
The radio was sketchy and the satellite reception for the TV was poor at best. I looked outside at the satellite dish and noticed it was not getting dark outside. I stepped out on the patio, looked to the north where I saw a beautiful display that rivaled Fourth of July fireworks.
“Holy shit, come on out, you ain’t gonna believe this shit.”
✪✪✪
✪
Now inside the orbit of Mercury the Alpha Omega III Planet, as large as Jupiter followed the other two planets tracking directly into the heart of Sol, gaining speed as that star’s gravity inevitably pulled her toward their union.
Chapter 5
Aurora Borealis
The Ranch
Fortunately, the flare missed, a
nd caused only minor damage. Television and radio signals returned to normal, and most of the world went back to pre-scare living. People went to work, watched football, played, vacationed, spent too much for Christmas gifts, and fussed about how the government got everyone all riled up for nothing.
World attention was drawn away from the solar flare scare, and pivoted to the three, previously unknown comets, which were readily seen by the naked eye.
These huge and beautiful comets, travelling in line was believed to have fallen from the outer reaches of our solar system. They rapidly passed by and continued on their inward leg around the sun.
Of course, very few knew that these were not comets at all, but a trio of rogue planets on a collision course with Sol…T-32 days…
***
At the ranch, things continued to come together as our end times preps continued. We knew, and we did our best to be ready.
We were very busy over this two-month period, placing the girl’s caches, my 200-gallon drum, purchasing, and stocking, a vast quantity of supplies, marksmanship training and watching the sky for the change we knew must come.
The Northern Lights could barely be seen above the northern horizon. Then just a week ago, they began dancing around until the northern sky was filled and continued to extended further south each night.
The Borealis became so bright the stars could no longer be seen. The moon became a pale shadow of reflective brilliance. There were several times when they intensified as the solar activity grew in magnitude.
The news media, somewhat cowed after the scare reported that the change was due to the normal ebb and flow of flare cycles of the Sun.
Conspiracy theorists raised the alarm and made claims government was hiding the truth about an upcoming disaster from the public.
Government talking heads responded by giving yada yada canned speeches about the Sun’s cycle of intensity and the clamor began to fade.
For once, the conspiracy theorists were correct, but they had no idea how right they were until it was too late.
Riots began when the computerized payments of Social Security and Welfare checks came to a screeching halt because of a malfunction of the computer system that tracked all payments.
Numerous government offices around the country were ransacked, and stores were looted.
***
The 59 days leading up to the solar collision passed all too quickly. I knew that light took eight minutes to travel from the sun to our eyes here on Earth and was scared shitless that this was an Extinction Level Event…an E.L.E.
Patty, Mary and I had finished eating and watched the sun above the western horizon. The collision was due any minute according to Frank’s notes. How scientists can pin down when two big assed bodies are going to hit down to a minute is far beyond me and I was a science teacher.
The bunker was prepared for quick access. I did not trust scientists to be able to tell how big the boom was going to be.
I wondered if the Dinosaurs suffered from a similar fate. Of course, we didn’t want the collision, but like watching a slow motion train wreck, we simply could not stop looking. We had to see the collision.
Patty said, “The radio and TV are on and I have my Kindle hooked to the internet. We’ll soon know what effects the solar flare has on communications.”
All other electronic devices not in the shelter or barn were unplugged and turned off, even though the surge would not arrive for a couple of days following the assault on our sun. All vehicles were in the barn and shielded.
“I replied, “Most of the charged particles take a day or two to travel from the sun to the Earth, so don’t be surprised if we only see a small flash of light today.”
The eastern sky was dancing and shimmering with greens, purples and indigo colors as the sun began to set in the west. We changed our focus to the western sky and watched the sun fall below the horizon.
Suddenly a brilliant light flashed from the sun that hurt my eyes and lit up the sky brighter than high noon. All three of us snapped our eyes shut in an instant. We lost vision for a few seconds and our eyesight maintained a fright filled, blurry glow for several minutes.
Patty was stunned, but finally screamed, “What the fuck was that? Pardon my French, but that was more than any solar flare that I’ve heard of.”
Mary replied, “That was Alpha Omega I.”
“Oh dear God!”
“It’s the first of the three planets that will hit the Sun. The next is in three days and the last 29 days later.”
“So we have 32 days before we find out if we live like cave men or get fried like shrimp on the barby?”
I spoke up, “Frank was right about the first planet hitting the Sun and even had the time down to the minute. I prefer to think his astronomer friends will be right about the impact of Alpha Omega II and III.”
I told my companions, with more gusto than I felt, “We are prepared, and we will survive. It won’t be easy, so we have to suck it up and do what it takes to handle the immense challenges after The Flare.”
I took Patty in my arms, hugged her and said, “You are going to be okay. The world will change and we will adapt.”
This seemed to calm her down. We sat and talked over drinks. I tried to change the topic several times, but the conversation always shifted back to the elephant about to hit the Sun. (You know – “elephant in the room.”)
We watched as the light dissipated, but the deepening sky remained much brighter than before. The Sun ducked below the horizon and again, we had the full effect of the Northern Lights.
The Ranch
Today our cell phone, radio and TV reception went to hell. They were all out for hours at a time and filled with static, when they worked.
We suffered a power outage caused by damaged transformers and found that several of our electronic devices were dead.
We had numerous discussions during the next 72 hours while waiting on the next collision. Most centered on how to help Mary and Patty’s friends without hurting ourselves.
We decided that Patty and Mary would have a 50% off credit card only sale on the types of survival food and gear that would be needed after the Flare. They both knew that credit cards would soon be worthless, so this was a way for Patty to help the community.
She made sure she had very few guns and ammo on display and limited the purchase to one gun and two boxes of ammo to make sure no one person hogged the weapons and ammo.
Yes, it was somewhat hypocritical of us, since we had enough guns and ammo to equip a small army. Tough shit! I trusted us; I did not trust the rest of the world.
The Wyoming winter weather certainly did not improve as snow fell, and cold intensified.
We’d spent a fortune in the days leading up to the first collision and couldn’t think of another item we would need after The Flare.
People were afraid after the first collision and swamped the store, buying everything that wasn’t nailed down. Because of the 50% sale, Patty’s store was the first to have only empty shelving. Mary felt this factoid might mean Patty’s store would not be destroyed.
***
The Ranch
The anticipated second collision would occur at noon according to the notes Frank left for Mary. As before, we gathered behind the house and waited to see what this event would produce. This time we all had sunglasses and a piece of welder’s glass to look through to keep our eyes from being damaged.
The actual collision as seen through the sunglasses and welder’s glass resulted in a large visible swirl of flaming material that appeared to reach out and break away from the Sun. The sun was so bright that this was missed by anyone not using eye protection.
The skies held no clouds and the sun reflected off the snow covered ground, creating a dazzlingly brilliant glare, which became even brighter, painfully brighter.
Five people on the streets, who happened to be looking toward the sun were blinded by the flare. Those remaining citizens grew alarmed when the sun got brighter
for a few minutes before returning to normal. Several of them stormed the mayor and sheriff’s offices to get an answer to this terrifying event.
“Matt the Sun just gave birth to a smaller Sun.”
“That’s a cloud of plasma and it’s heading our way. I doubt that it will hit us, but the cloud will be a million miles across by the time it gets here. This will cause electronics to fail and the grid may go down.”
“Will planes fall?”
“Damn good question. The government should ground the planes, again, like they did back during the first flare.”
Patty replied, “I’m driving over to the airport and warning Mr. Simpson. We have several friends that fly.”
“Whoa! What will you tell him?”
“I don’t know, come with me and we’ll think of something on the way.”
It was a fifteen-minute drive and we decided that Patty would tell Mr. Simpson that she had watched one of those doomsday prepping shows and it warned about solar flares causing planes to crash. We arrived as one plane was taxiing to take off.
We walked into the small concourse and went to the administrator’s office.
“Mr. Simpson. Hello.”
“Hi Patty. Long time no see. Who is your friend?”
“This is Matt Jones, he bought the Williamson place.”
Smiling, Simpson said, “Well, hello Matt, it’s a pleasure to meet you.
Patty is this a social call, or do you need to charter a plane?”
“Actually, we’d like to make a suggestion. I’m sorry to interrupt, but since we just had a major solar flare don’t you think you should close the airport and ground the planes.”
“What solar flare?” asked Simpson, “Oh yeah, that’s right, I did notice it got a lot brighter outside at noon, but I haven’t heard anything about a solar flare.”