After the EMP- The Chaos Trilogy

by Harley Tate

  Dani took the bottle and did as Colt asked, pouring a couple glugs of the liquor straight onto the hole in his arm.

  He grimaced, but managed to point at the first aid kit. “Slap a bandage on it, will you? I’ve got to wrap my ankle.”

  While Dani applied a bandage to Colt’s bicep, he pulled up his pant leg.

  She paused. “Is that duct tape?”

  He nodded. “Stab wound. I sewed it up, but I think the fall popped a stitch.” He poked at the tape. “I’ll have to deal with it later.”

  “When were you stabbed?”

  He glanced at his watch. “Yesterday.”

  “Was it army guys? Four of them?”

  He nodded.

  “Did you kill them?”

  Colt nodded again and Dani reeled. “So it’s true? You ambushed those men and took them out?”

  “What? No. Who told you that?”

  “Colonel Jarvis. He said they were after you because you killed four of his men. Ambushed them and took them out for no reason whatsoever.”

  Colt snorted. “He would say that.”

  “It’s not true?”

  “Try the other way around. I’d just left a sporting goods store—the place I found all this gear—when they ambushed me. Trapped me in the loading bay. I tried to tell them who I was and not to shoot, but they didn’t care.” Colt rubbed his beard. “It was them or me, Dani. You have to believe that.”

  Dani rocked back on her heels and sat on the floor. “I believe you.” Colt never gave her a reason to doubt his sincerity. The army, however, had done plenty to erode her trust. Every last bit of it. She tugged on the hem of her sweatshirt to cover her bare legs.

  Colt motioned toward the pack. “I’ve got a pair of pants in there you can put on. One of the legs is ripped off above the knee. If you do the same with the other side, you’ll have some long shorts.”

  She nodded and dug through his pack before pulling out the pants. After cutting off the full leg to match the other, she pulled them on. They fell right off.

  Dani laughed and her throat threatened to close up, partly from the smoke inhalation during the fire and partly from exhaustion and too many emotions she struggled to keep in check.

  “Dani.”

  She didn’t look up.

  “Dani, look at me.”

  She risked a quick glance.

  “Are you okay? They didn’t…” Colt struggled with the words. “When I found you, you didn’t have any clothes on. They didn’t hurt you, did they?”

  Dani shook her head. “No. I locked myself in the bathroom once I decided to escape. The blanket wasn’t long enough, so I used my clothes to extend it as far as I could.” She grabbed the too-big pants and sat down. “I was halfway through the window when a soldier broke through the bathroom door.”

  Colt waited for a moment before asking what she hoped he wouldn’t. “What happened?”

  She shrugged and grabbed at the tie to her sweatshirt, pulling it through the hood as she replied. If she focused on the task, she wouldn’t have to look him in the eye. “I was in my underwear and he grabbed me around the throat. Shoved me up against the shower wall.” Her fingers shook, but she still managed to feed the tie through the belt loops on the pants, one by one. “At first I panicked, but then…”

  She risked a glance up at Colt. He looked at her with such compassion and patience.

  He didn’t make her feel ashamed or afraid. He was a good man. “You fought back?”

  Dani nodded and went back to working on the makeshift belt. She tied it around her waist as she answered. “I used my fingers just like you showed me, two spears. I… I gouged out his eyes.”

  Saying it out loud made it so very real. Dani couldn’t believe what she had done. She chewed on her lip and focused on the floor.

  After a moment, Colt exhaled. “Good job, Dani. I’m proud of you.”

  Her eyes flicked up. “You are?”

  Colt nodded. “It takes real courage to do what you did. And to run through that fire. You’re a survivor, that’s for damn sure.”

  She smiled under the weight of his praise. No one but Gran had ever complimented her before. Gran. Dani’s heart ached at the loss. “Gran’s dead.”

  Colt blinked. “I’m sorry.”

  She nodded back tears. “Thanks.” She had to change the subject. Enough hashing over the past. “How can I help with your leg?”

  “Grab me two magazines from the table and the duct tape.”

  After she returned with both, Dani watched while Colt rolled the magazines into a pair of tubes and taped them to his ankle. After he finished, he pushed up to stand and test it out.

  “Will it work?”

  He shrugged. “Don’t have much of a choice. Let’s grab the gear and go. We need to get out of Eugene.”

  Streets of Eugene, Oregon

  5:00 a.m.

  Colt stumbled and fell to one knee and Dani bent down to drag him back up to his feet. “I think we should stop.”

  “No.” Colt’s single word came out in a growl, the pain of his injuries turning the man into a stumbling, monosyllabic mess.

  Dani didn’t know how much longer she could support his weight. He’d been so optimistic when they left the apartment, but he underestimated his injuries. Half-carrying him for miles took its toll. Every time Colt stumbled and Dani kept him upright, her back screamed. Pretty soon both of them would collapse.

  She looked around her. They were in a residential neighborhood. From the looks of the quiet, shuttered houses, the army had already cleared this sector. That meant they weren’t safe. No one would help them here.

  Wrapping her arm around Colt’s waist, Dani helped him walk.

  They made it another twenty feet until he fell, face first, onto the sidewalk. Dani slammed her hands over her mouth to keep from screaming.

  She crouched beside him, yanking on his arm. “Colt! Colt, you have to get up!”

  It was no use. Colt was unconscious.

  She kneeled on the ground and smacked his face, her open palm as loud as a gunshot in the silence. Colt didn’t move. Dani didn’t know what to do. She bent closer to his ear. “Colt, please. You have to get up.” She tugged on his arm again. Nothing.

  Dragging herself up, she approached the nearest house, a little bungalow with bright yellow paint and daisies out front. She took the front steps two at a time and knocked on the door. “Hello? Hello? Is anyone there? My friend needs help. Hello?”

  She leaned back to look at the second story, but not a single curtain moved. Crap. She tried the next house, another two-story with a rocking chair on the front porch and a welcome sign by the door. No answer.

  The next and the next and the next were the same. Either the street was abandoned, or no one was willing to help. No one would take the chance.

  Dani ran back to Colt. She beat on his back. “Wake up! You can’t freaking quit on me. Everyone else in my life has quit on me. You’re not going to, do you hear me?” Her words turned to sobs. “Please, just get up.”

  The sound of a car engine filtered through the houses and Dani lurched to her feet. She grabbed Colt by the arms and tugged. He moved an inch. She pulled again, but it was no use.

  Two hundred pounds of dead weight were impossible to move. After all they had been through. After everything they survived that night, they would be captured.

  She thought about the soldier in the bathroom and her hands went to her neck.

  “Hey!”

  Dani spun around, her eyes wide with the fear at what might be coming. An older man stood across the street. He waved. “Are you with him?” He pointed at Colt.

  “Yes.” She hesitated, but what choice did she have? She had to trust him. She looked at Colt. “He’s unconscious. I can’t move him.”

  The man crossed the street and bent to check Colt’s pulse. “He’s still alive. Let’s flip him over. I’ll grab one arm, you grab the other. We can drag him into my cellar.” The engine noise increased as the man
flipped Colt onto his back. “We need to hurry.”

  With the stranger helping, Dani managed to pull Colt across the road and into the side yard between two buildings. As they eased into the shadows, headlights lit up the street.

  “Hurry. Down here.” The man motioned to a pair of open storm doors. He went first, holding up Colt’s torso, and Dani picked up Colt’s feet. Her head disappeared below the opening as the headlights lit up the house.

  The second the lights disappeared, the stranger reached up and shut the cellar doors.

  DAY TWENTY-ONE

  Chapter Thirty

  COLT

  Basement, Location Unknown

  Eugene, Oregon

  9:00 p.m.

  Colt groaned and twisted onto his side, but pain in his arm forced him back. His hands rubbed over soft sheets and he blinked. Where am I?

  The last thing he remembered was trudging through the night with Dani at his side, every step more painful than the last. He tried to sit up and a familiar voice spoke up.

  “Hey, stranger.”

  Colt opened his eyes and a pretty young girl came into focus. Light brown hair cut short in a pixie style, bright brown eyes open wide. A smile that would light up the darkest room. “Dani?”

  She smiled even wider. “Hey, Colt.”

  He struggled to sit up. They were in a bedroom with a pair of twin beds and a small nightstand between them. A little lantern lit up the space. “Where are we?”

  “Mr. Wilkins’ basement.”

  “And that would be where?”

  She exhaled. “Inside the army’s cleared zone. We’ve been safe so far, but it’s touch and go. Now that you’re awake, we can talk about options.”

  Colt shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

  Dani smiled again. “You’ve been asleep for almost two days.”

  Damn. Colt glanced down at his arm. The bandage had been changed. He pulled back the covers to reveal a clean T-shirt, shorts, and a leg free of duct tape. A fresh bandage covered the knife wound. “Who’s helping us?”

  “They call themselves the Resistance.” She almost giggled. “If you think you can walk, you can see for yourself. It’s just about time for the nightly meeting.”

  Colt twisted in the bed and reached for a pair of folded-up pants. He slid them up over his tender ankle and bandaged leg and managed to stand without collapsing. Dani helped him to the door. “You’re sure they’re trustworthy?”

  She nodded. “Come on. You’ll see.”

  Together, they hobbled out into a basement living room. Six people turned and stood at the sound of their approach. Colt took in their faces. A pair of men in their early thirties. A woman of fifty, maybe older. A young man who couldn’t have been much older than Dani.

  Colt paused at a woman holding a little brown and gray dog. “Melody?”

  “Hi, Colt.”

  Dani glanced up at him. “You know each other?”

  Colt rubbed the back of his neck. “We met on the street after the ambush. She was nice enough to talk to me. She told me the truth about the army’s activity here.”

  Melody nodded. “It’s good to see you up on your feet.” She held one hand out to the man standing beside her. “This is Harvey Wilkins. It’s his house we’re in.”

  Colt turned to the man and paused. He was older, maybe mid-sixties, with thinning gray hair and a patient expression. Something in Colt’s memory caught and he tried to place it. “I’m sorry, have we met?”

  “Only in passing. I own a book shop across from the sporting goods store.”

  The memory clicked. “You were there when the ambush happened. I saw you standing across the street, watching.”

  Harvey held out his hand. “Yes, that was me. When I saw you in the street here, I knew you were one of the good guys. I helped Danielle get you inside.”

  Colt glanced at her and mouthed, Danielle?

  She shrugged, smiling. It seemed like so much had happened since he’d been unconscious. “Thank you all for helping us. I don’t know what we would have done without your generosity.”

  Harvey nodded. “You’re welcome, but it’s not all altruistic. We’re hoping once you’re well, that you can help us.”

  “With the army?”

  “Yes. We have to do something. They’re still clearing sectors of town, but it won’t be long before they’ve finished. Then what will happen? Work camps? Raids? They won’t let us stay in our homes forever.” Harvey glanced around at the group of people assembled. “We won’t let them take everything from us. It isn’t right.”

  Colt turned to Dani. He’d always thought that if something like this happened, he would disappear, turn into a nomad and live in the backcountry all on his own. No one to care about but himself, no hard choices.

  But she changed him. He didn’t want to leave her here and set off with nothing but a pack and his wits. He wanted to protect her, keep her safe, watch her grow into the adult he knew she could be. Colt reached out and took her hand.

  She squeezed.

  “Going up against a group like this won’t be easy. They’re well-trained, follow orders, heavily armed. They won’t go down without a fight.”

  “We know. That’s why we need your help.”

  Colt didn’t know what to say. How could this little group of civilians ever hope to go against an organized militia? Colt could help, but not enough.

  The boy close to Dani’s age spoke up. “Grandad, it’s about time. Can I turn it on?’

  “Sure, Will.” The boy rushed to the coffee table and kneeled in front of it. A little radio sat on the tabletop with a cord running up the wall. At first Colt thought it was power, but when he saw the kid crank a lever on the side of the radio, he realized it was an antenna.

  Will twisted a knob and leaned back, waiting. All of the locals went back to their spots in chairs and the couch. Dani tugged on Colt’s hand. They walked over and Colt sat in an overstuffed chair, Dani on the arm.

  The radio crackled to life. “Good evening. The time is nine thirty Pacific Standard, and it has been twenty-one days since the United States power grid failed. My name is Walter Sloane.”

  Colt stared at the radio. The pilot from the plane? It can’t be.

  “I’m broadcasting again this evening to give everyone listening hope. Although we are facing the toughest ordeal our country has had to face in over a generation, we will survive. Everyone listening tonight has the ability to weather this storm.

  “Wherever you are, start preparing. Stop looking for the government or the military or anyone else to help you. The best person to help right now is you. Look around you. Find friends and neighbors you can trust. People who want to beat these odds. Don’t let adversity stop you.”

  Colt leaned back in the chair. The voice was indeed that of Walter Sloane, the pilot who emergency-landed the 747 that brought him to Eugene, Oregon. He’d made it. Wherever he was broadcasting from, the man had survived.

  Walter kept speaking about the future, how to prepare, what needed to be done to survive. The more he talked, the more Colt knew the man was right. This wasn’t a time to go off on his own. Even if he could convince Dani to come with him, how long would they last out there in the wild? A year? More? At some point, they would have to stop running. They would need to settle down.

  Colt had been around enough; he’d experienced enough of life to know he could survive without a wife or a lover or even friends. He glanced at Dani. She was only fifteen. All of that was still ahead of her. He couldn’t ask her to give it all up.

  Not if he didn’t have to. Colt turned back to the radio.

  “Assemble the basics. Water. Food. Shelter. But go beyond that. Find a favorite book. A treasured necklace. A picture your kid made before the world fell apart. Make it your talisman. Hold onto it. Remember our life the way it was before.

  “Not the video games and the 24/7 news and the never-ending quest for escape. But the little things. The simpler things we can all get back to. Tha
t’s how you’ll stay human. That’s how you’ll survive.

  “This great country of ours will rebuild. This isn’t the end of us and it isn’t the end of you. Have faith. Until tomorrow, this is Walter Sloane, saying goodnight and good luck.”

  The radio fell silent and Colt looked up. Harvey sat in a chair opposite Colt, watching him.

  “How long has Walter been broadcasting?”

  Harvey glanced at the radio. “Only a few days. Why?”

  “He was the pilot who landed my plane.”

  Everyone in the room turned to look at Colt. Will, the teenager, spoke up. “You know him?”

  Colt nodded. “Last I saw of him, he was headed to Sacramento to find his wife and daughter.”

  “Even with the antenna, I don’t think we could get a Sacramento signal here.”

  Colt thought it over. “He must have made it out and come this way.”

  Dani leaned close. “Do you really think he’s right? Can we get through this?”

  “If we can find enough like-minded people, then yes, I think we can.” Colt turned back to Harvey. “If you really want to stop Colonel Jarvis and his men, I’ll help. It won’t be easy. Hell, we might be signing our death warrants. But if you all want to take a stand, I’ll stand beside you.”

  Melody spoke up. “Why? Why help us?”

  “For one, you helped me. You could have left me in the street to die, but you risked your safety to bring me here and take care of me. Two, you’ve kept Dani safe.”

  He paused, choosing his next words carefully. “But more importantly, you’re all willing to fight. It’s easy to surrender. It’s harder than hell to fight back.”

  Harvey stood and closed the distance between them. He held out his hand and smiled. “Welcome to the Resistance.”

  Chaos Gains

  Three Weeks Without Power

  DAY TWENTY-TWO

  Chapter One

  COLT