by Godsby Jim
Preppers of the Apocalypse - Part 2
A story of post-apocalyptic EMP survival
Chapter 1
As Ash drove the pick-up truck over the plains, he watched black plumes of smoke puff up into the air. They looked to be coming from the city, but whatever the source, it didn’t look good. The smoke was black and soft and it became an angry cloud over the otherwise blue sky. Ash hoped to God that it wasn’t coming from anywhere near the Bolton tunnel. The dual lane tunnel was their only direct way through the Lantern Mountains, and he badly needed to make his way through to the city.
“The ride feels heavy,” said Chad in the back.
The young army recruit alternated between bouts of hyperactivity and chatter, to napping with his eyes shut and mouth open. Sheriff Ellie Ashurst had taken the passenger seat alongside Ash, but not because she wanted to be near him. He suspected that she had sat there to keep an eye on him.
“We should have taken my 4x4,” she said. “Why’d we have to borrow this heap of crap from Tony?”
“Because he’s a prepper,” said Ash. “And he’s a good one. He’s made sure every single thing he owns ticks like clockwork, including this vehicle. When’s the last time you popped the bonnet of your car? Do you even know how to open it?”
“I know how to break your jaw, and you’ll find out how if you carry on like that,” said Ellie.
She reached to her pocket, as she always did when she was annoyed, and pulled out her tobacco pouch. It was leather and she’d sewn the badge of the Pasture Down Police Department into it. She pinched stringy tobacco between her fingers and spread it along a paper.
“Anyway,” said Ash. “Everything we packed is essential survival gear. You’ll be thankful for it sometime soon.”
Before leaving Tony Shore’s bug-out ranch, the prepper had let them borrow one of his pick-up trucks. On top of that, he had let them load up the trunk with survival supplies. That was the reason the Toyota was a little slower than usual, but Ash would take survival over speed any time. As long as it could bear the load, that was okay.
The truck was packed with Meals Ready-to-Eat; beef flavoured food pouches that delivered a 400 calorie dose and could last a couple of years. They had a crate of water bottles, as well as water filters for when they ran out and needed to locate a source in the wild. Each of them had a sleeping bag. That was the essentials covered; food, water and shelter. On top of that they had topographical maps of the Lantern Mountains, a couple of compasses, two kerosene lamps and a kerosene stove.
The idea was that they would get to the city and find Ash’s wife, Georgia. He hadn’t thought too far ahead of that, because getting back to her was the only thing on his mind. He had a vague plan that he would return to Tony’s bug-out ranch, because after the EMP hit it seemed a safer place than most. The drive to Ash’s house and back shouldn’t take them long. Three or four days at most, as long as they didn’t hit trouble, but they had enough survival essentials to last them over a week. You had to be prepared for anything.
“Think we’ll ever get back to the ranch?” said Chad.
“I want to,” said Ash. “Can you think of anywhere safer?”
Ellie looked at him.
“Things aren’t gonna be smooth for you, Ash. Sooner or later Tony’s gonna start taking in the people of Pasture Down. Tony might have forgiven you, but plenty of folks haven’t and most never will.”
“What about you?”
Ellie lit her cigarette, took a drag and blew sour smoke up at the roof.
“It’s best that you don’t ask me that question.”
The smoke hit Ash’s nostrils. He had always had an aversion to smoke since he was a child and had to spend school holidays at his grandfather’s house. His grandpa used to smoke thin cigars that tainted his breath and turned the walls yellow. Later in his life, of course, Ash had taken up the habit himself.
“Think you can wait until we stop for a break before you smoke that?”
“Who gave you the leader’s hat?” said Ellie.
Ash knew he wasn’t a leader, and never would be. He just didn’t have it in him. A leader had to be someone who could think on behalf of others, not just himself. Someone like his old sports coach, Louie Shamren. Louie coached their soccer team from their first match all the way to winning the local championship, and when Ash thought of leadership, he thought of him. He found out years later that Louie’s marriage had broken to pieces while their soccer team flourished, because the man spent so much time away from the house. Being a leader had its price, and Ash wasn’t sure he wanted to pay it.
“Times like these, people need small comforts,” said Ellie. She tripped her head back, closed her eyes and blew smoke out of her pursed lips.
Ash reached across from her with one hand and wound down her window, letting a draught into the car. The air outside sucked the smoke from the car.
“They also need compromise,” he said.
In the back of the pick-up, Chad leaned forward.
“So what did you do to get the town so pissed at you, Ash?”
Ash was really starting to like the recruit. He was always smiling, always enthusiastic. He alternated between being a bundle of energy who couldn’t sit still, to flopping sloth-like on the seat as though his whole body had been drained.
“He screwed the town out of every cent they had,” said Ellie.
Thirty minutes later the smoke spread thicker across the horizon, and as Ash pulled the pick-up to a stop just short of the source, he felt his stomach sink. There was debris strewn all across the plains, some of it smoking, all of it smashed. It was obvious what had happened here. A plane had fallen from the sky and smashed into the ground. The body of it, a hunk of twisted metal, completely blocked the entrance to the Bolton tunnel.
“Jesus,” said Chad. “You would have thought that we’d hear this coming down.”
“I heard something,” said Ellie. “But I didn’t pay it any mind. We’ve had a lot to think about.”
Ash kicked the car door open and stepped out. He felt his face start to get red, and his shoulders were knotting up with tension. Rather than feeling sad, he felt rage run through him. It seemed like everything was conspiring to stop him getting back to Georgia, who was miles away and in trouble, and an EMP had caused chaos everywhere and completely cut off communication.
“Goddamn it,” he said, and kicked a piece of debris in front of him.
“So what now, boss?” said Ellie, making sure that ‘boss’ was said sarcastically.
Ash took a deep breath. Getting angry did nothing but burn up calories. He had to smooth over his thoughts and make them useful. How would his dad haver reacted to this? He wouldn’t get mad. He’d think about how they could take something good from the situation, and then he’d do something. Ash turned to his two companions.
“Look for the drinks trolley,” he said. “If it survived the impact, there might be some water bottles we can take.”
“If we find any airplane food I’m not interested,” said Chad. “Not even the apocalypse can make me eat that shit.”
The three of them combed through the debris and tried to find anything they could use. A lot of the wreckage had been smashed and twisted beyond recognition. There were bodies amongst it, too, but Ash tried not to think about it. He couldn’t afford to get emotional. Sentimentality did nothing for the dead and helped the living even less.
“Ash,” said Ellie.
He looked over and saw that she had stopped. She stared at something on the ground with her hand over her face. When Ash joined her, he
saw that it was the body of a little boy. This time he couldn’t hide the feeling of utter sadness that filled him so much that he felt like just sagging to the ground.
***
A few hours later, after finding nothing useful, they sat in the pick-up truck. They decided that the best thing to do would be to drive through the Lantern Mountains. The road through them started ten miles away and came out somewhere near the city. It meant going back on themselves, but there was no other option. It wasn’t as if they could move the plane wreckage away from the tunnel entrance.
“It’ll take over a week,” said Ellie. “But there’s no other way through.”
“Maybe we should head back to the ranch,” said Chad.
Ash shook his head. “No way. I need to get to Georgia. When all of this started, I was on my cell with her. She told me that someone was in the house with her. An intruder. And then my cell died. So I need to find her.”
“We better talk supplies, then,” said Ellie.
They worked out that they had enough MRE’s to last nine days if they rationed themselves. A man needs roughly 2500 calories a day and a woman 2000, but they were looking at getting 1600. If something happened on the mountain pass and they needed more food, they were going to have to hunt. In terms of water they were okay. They had enough bottles to last a week, and they had water filters with them. It just meant that when the bottles ran out, they’d have to find a stream.
It took thirty minutes to get to the mountain pass. The road was muddy and it was a stretch to even describe it as a road. The Lantern Mountains were rocky and seemed to be made mostly of dark coloured jagged stone that stretched monolith-like into the sky. It was a place that many animals called home, with common reports of rabbits, deer, and even the occasional mountain lion.
While animals of all kinds flourished in the environment, it wasn’t as friendly to humans. In some areas there were small patches of forest, and the road wound through terrain that was never really designed for travel. It was going to be a long trip.
“Here we go,” said Chad, as Ash drove the pick-up onto the trail. “I love a road trip. Someone crack open the beers.”
After an hour of driving Ash realised what a tough ride this was going to be. He was limited to going twenty miles an hour because the road would twist without warning, and in some places there was a drop at the side of them. As he guided the truck along a relatively straight stretch, the vehicle jolted and Ash saw something fly across his windscreen. He killed the engine.
“What the hell was that?” said Ellie. “It looked like a bird flew across.”
Ash wound down his window and saw a coil of rope on the ground next to the wheel. His chest tightened as he realised what had happened.
“Get your gun.” he said.
Ellie looked at him in surprise, but she followed his order and picked up her HK45 pistol and put it in her pocket.
Two men stepped out from the trees in front of them. They were dressed up to the nines with camouflage hunting gear, and they held shiny-looking crossbows in front of them. Their hunting jackets and khaki trousers looked spotless, and Ash got the sense that these guys were hobbyist hunters at best.
Ash, Ellie and Chad got out of the car. The taller of the men, who held his crossbow awkwardly, screwed up his face.
“Better stop where you are,” he said. His accent wasn’t local. If anything, it sounded like he was from New York.
“Come on boys,” said Ellie, and pointed to the police badge on her jacket. She had her gun hidden in her pocket.
The smaller man spat on the floor. He had a ginger beard that was light on his face but thick around his neck. He reminded Ash of a colleague at a sales office he used to work at who used to spend his weekends on adventure trips, but got scared when he saw a spider.
“The badge doesn’t mean shit now, darling,” he said, with a voice like sandpaper.
“What do you want?” said Chad.
The taller man grinned. “A toll. This is our road now and we have a mind to let you cross. But we need something to persuade us.”
“Like what?” said Ash.
Ginger Beard nodded at the pick-up.
“Half your supplies,” he said.
Ash felt like leaping across the bonnet and punching him, but the tip of the arrow poking out of the end of the man’s crossbow kept him in check.
“How about you have some common decency?” he said. A second after saying the words, he realised how hypocritical they were. Common decency. As if I had any decency when I swindled people out of their savings.
The man scoffed. “Politeness, decency, helping each other. It’s all a thing of the past, and you better get used to it.”
Without a word, Ellie reached into her pocket, pulled out her pistol and pointed it at the taller man’s head. When he saw the gun he stepped back. He still held the crossbow but his grip was less certain than it had been before. Ellie’s eyes became black balls and she stared down the sights of her gun.
“Drop it, broomstick” she told the taller man.
He dropped his crossbow so quickly that Ash was surprised. He was expecting more of a fight than that. Ash bent over and picked it up from the grounds beside the man’s feet. It was heavier than he thought.
Ellie nodded at Ginger Beard. He still held his crossbow, and his grip was surer than his friend’s.
“You ever actually used that thing?” said Ellie.
Ash pointed his crossbow at the taller guy to keep him in check, but judging by the panicked look on his face, it wasn’t needed. He pointed at Ginger Beard.
“You have two weapons drawn on you now,” said Ellie. “So even if you’re a novice with that bow of yours, you still ought to know it can only fire one bolt at a time. Whether you shoot me or my jackass friend, you’re still getting your head split open seconds later.”
Ginger Beard’s shoulders sagged. He looked to be considering his options, but his finger was nowhere near the trigger. Ash noticed that the hunting jacket that he wore still had its store tags on. He’d bought in a sale at Turner’s Outdoor Supplies.
“So,” said Ellie. “Are you gonna shoot me, or listen to me? Make up your mind. You got two seconds.”
It only took him one second to decide.
“Listen to you,” he said.
Ellie grinned, but her smile wasn’t warm. She looked tiger-like.
“I can’t exactly arrest you, so I’m going to teach you a lesson.”
She looked at Chad.
“Pass me a can of something from the trunk.”
Chad walked to the back of the pick-up and rummaged around the trunk. He threw a can of spam toward Ellie, who caught it and passed it to the disarmed hunter.
“Take this and go stand by that tree,” she said, pointing at an ash tree thirty metres away.
The man looked confused. Ellie shifted the crossbow in her arms. Ash couldn’t help but think that the weapon suited her, and he completely understood how she’d got the job as sheriff. If you were going to uphold the law you had to be tough and you needed an air of authority, and Ellie Ashurst sure had that.
“My finger’s getting itchy,” she said.
The man walked over to the ash tree with the spam in his hand. Just five minutes earlier he had been a brigand armed with a crossbow, and now he was a scared man taking orders from the sheriff. He got to the tree and then turned to look at Ellie.
“Good,” she shouted, her voice echoing through the forest. “Now stand with your back against it. No slouching.”
As the man positioned himself, Ellie turned to his taller friend. Ash started to see where this was going, and he wasn’t sure he liked it. He held the crossbow in his hand and wondered if he was going to have to step in.
“Okay,” said Ellie. “I know you probably bought your bow so that you could go turkey hunting with your buddy here. And I’m guessing that you never thought to practice using it. So we’re gonna have some target practice.”
She turned and loo
ked at the man stood by the tree in the distance.
“Put the can on your head,” she said. “And then stay still.” Then she nodded at Ash. “Give him his bow back.”
Realisation of what Ellie intended dawned on Ash, and he felt emptiness in the pit of his stomach. He could only imagine how the two men felt, and judging by the paleness of the man with the bow, he knew full well what Ellie had planned for him.
“Now raise your bow,” said Ellie.
The man’s eyes widened. His skin was concrete-grey, and his knuckles had turned white as he gripped the weapon. Ash looked at Ellie’s face and saw nothing but stone.
“Raise it,” said Ellie, and pointed her own bow at the man’s head.