When The Grid Went Down

by Nick Randall

Chapter Seven

  Coeur d’Alene

  Coeur d’Alene was not the thriving city it once was. In fact, it was no longer even recognizable.

  Before the EMP, it had been the largest growing city in Idaho, which in turn had been the largest growing state. During Christmas time, the city had one of the largest Christmas trees in the entire world at the resort, and during the summer it was always jam packed with so many tourists that not even all the hotels and motels in the area could keep up with the demand.

  Coeur d’Alene had just always been alive before. Alive and clean and filled with an unlimited number of different things to do, where it be motorcycle riding in the woods or visiting one of the many tourist shops downtown or going boating on the beautiful nearby lake (which had given Coeur d’Alene the nickname of “the Lake City”). It had been a little slice of heaven.

  But now, trash and sewage littered the streets. Windows in almost all the grocery stores and restaurants were broken, and homes were boarded up. A few stray dogs and cats and homeless people in little more than torn rags were scavenging what they could from the numerous piles of trash.

  There were also several rotting corpses on the ground, little more than skeletons actually. Their clothes were stripped off and most of the flesh torn away from the bones. Eaten by dogs and crows or by other humans? Randall didn’t want to know.

  “Damn,” uttered Robert, as the group of four walked down a sidewalk next to a Fred Meyer grocery store. “This isn’t the nice town I remember.”

  “No, I still recognize it, vaguely,” Randall responded. “But I doubt it will ever be the same after this no matter how quickly things return to normal.”

  Having been walking through the city and among its starved and depressed residents for the last half hour, Randall and Robert were both utterly speechless at the absolutely terrible state of the town they had grown up.

  “Oh shut up and quit crying,” Alexandra snapped. “Let’s just get those supplies and then get the hell out of here.”

  “No military or police,” Robert pointed out, ignoring Alexandra. “That’s surprising. I would have expected the entire city to be under martial law.”

  “Coeur d’Alene must not be that important of a town to the military, after all it’s not as big as Spokane or Seattle,” said Randall.

  “They left a week ago,” an old, wheezy voice behind them pierced the air.

  They turned to see an old man who was resting against the wall of a Fred Meyer grocery store had overheard them. He was filthy and in bad shape, and had an equally filthy old mutt of some kind resting next to him.

  “Who left?” Robert asked.

  “The whole damn battalion,” the old man wheezed out. “The Idaho National Guard, they pulled out. Had the whole city under arrest, forced everyone to stay in their homes, then they took away everyone’s food and water and redistributed it so everyone would have to stand in long waiting lines. Governor’s orders. Classic example of a military dictatorship right here in America. Never thought I’d live to see the day.”

  “The governor wouldn’t have ordered a takeover like that, he was a conservative Republican,” Robert argued.

  The old man laughed, coughing up mucus and saliva in the process. The group could see he was missing most of his teeth.

  “So, what’s that got to do with anything?!” he finally managed to say through his laughter. “The whole world’s gone bananas and we’re here talkin’ politics?! I admit, I sure didn’t expect ya to say that! That’s just funny! Oh man, I needed a good laugh!”

  “What about the police?” asked Randall once the old man had gotten over his laughter.

  “Police?” the old man said. “They’re like the rest of us, except ole me of course. They have families to take care of. They all stayed on duty for the first week, began dropping like flies after that, abandoning their posts. Chief sure wasn’t happy about it but eventually I think he just gave up too. Sad to see happen honestly.”

  “So what’s happening?” Randall pressed him. “Are we at war? Is that why the National Guard came in and left?”

  “Hey, I don’t have a crystal ball,” the old man said. “I don’t have all the answers. Spokane is still under lockdown though. I think the big generals decided this little resort town of ours in the middle of nowhere wasn’t worth keeping a whole damn battalion at anymore.”

  “If Spokane is under martial law, then most of the other major cities across America must be too,” Robert pointed out. “And if the military has control of the major cities, then that means there’s still government. And if there’s still government, that means there’s still a chance for things to become like they were again.”

  The old man laughed again, though not as hard as last time.

  “Kid, we’re living in times where hopeless optimism like that is gonna get ya killed,” he said.

  Those words pierced Robert’s heart. Perhaps it was only then that he truly realized the gravity of the situation they were in, and truly realized that there was a chance that things may never turn back to normal.

  * * *

  The four stood in the hallway of Randall’s apartment complex.

  The door to Randall’s condo was beaten down and they could already tell that the inside had been ransacked based on the trash that littered the floor.

  Randall cautiously led them in and they explored the inside of the condo. Randall’s worst fears had been realized.

  All of the food had been taken out of the refrigerator and the pantry, both of which were left with the doors hanging open.

  In the utility room, where Randall had kept his gun safe and his stockpile of food and water, everything was taken too. The fact that the food and water was gone was bad enough, but seeing his gun safe literally missing from where it was made Randall furious inside. He had a lot of money invested in the guns in that safe, and many more of the guns he had inherited and had strong sentimental value attached too.

  Even his clothes and blankets were missing from the closet. Trash and everything else not of value littered the floor.

  At least his MacBook Pro was still on his desk, largely untouched, but because of the EMP it was obviously useless.

  After Randall had taken in what had happened, the four of them assembled together in the living room. It was Alexandra who broke the silence.

  “So where’s the food and supplies?”

  “I’m sorry,” Randall responded after a moment of silence.

  “Sorry?! You promised us half of your stuff, and I’m not seeing shit! Are you saying we’ve come all this way for nothing?!”

  “There’s a few more places we can check, my brother’s place and my parents house.”

  “What makes you think they’ll be any different than this dump?”

  Robert interjected.

  “It’s not your fault, Rand,” he said. “You didn’t know everything was going to be gone. There was no way you could have known.”

  “I was the one who argued for this expedition, Robert,” said Randall. “This is my fault that we came here.”

  Alexandra stepped up to Randall.

  “We came with you because you promised us supplies,” she said. “And we are not leaving this damned city until we have what you promised. Fifty-fifty.”

  “Then we’ll check my parents place and my brothers place,” said Randall. “They had food and supplies too.”

  “And if there’s nothing there either?” Alexandra asked.

  Randall didn’t say anything to that.

  Duncan had stayed silent all up until that point, having not spoken a word. But now, he spoke to them for the first time.

  “If I may speak, this ain’t their fault, Alexandra,” he said. “They wouldn’t have come here on their own if they thought there was nothin’ here.”

  “Shut up, Duncan,” she snapped. “I’ll handle this.”

  Duncan took a few steps back with his head lowered. It was clear he wasn’t exactly the best at standing up for himse
lf.

  “I am going to need reassurance that my people will have the supplies you promised,” Alexandra said as she turned back to Randall and Robert. “Or else if you fail to deliver…”

  “Or else what?” Robert interrupted.

  “Or else this story isn’t going to end well for the two of you or your stupid little sister back at our camp,” she responded.

  Suddenly, Robert lunged forward and flung Alexandra against the wall!

  Stunned, he had his hands gripped around her neck before she could recover and respond.

  “Robert!” Randall shouted.

  Through Robert’s hands were wrapped tightly around her throat, Alexandra managed to gurgle out: “You lose.”

  Robert looked down and saw that she had Randall’s 1911 .45 pointed directly at his gut. The hammer was cocked and the safety off, and her finger was on the trigger. Only one press as light as a feather and the powerful .45 slug would be sent point blank into Robert’s intestines

  “Let go of me, right now,” Alexandra managed to speak again.

  Slowly, Robert released his grip over her.

  “Now step back,” she ordered. “And both of you, hands in the air.”

  Robert did as he was told and raised his hands. Randall followed.

  “I’ll have that big revolver of yours now,” Alexandra said. “Pull it out slowly and with your non-dominant hand.”

  Slowly, Robert pulled out his big Ruger .357 from under his waistband.

  “Duncan,” Alexandra said.

  Duncan hesitated, not sure what to make of the recent turn of events.

  “Duncan!” Alexandra yelled again.

  Duncan reluctantly stepped forward and seized the .357 from Robert.

  “Now you,” Alexandra said to Randall. “I know you must have got another pistol under that jacket, or else you wouldn’t have so willingly given me this one. Pull it out and hand it over like he did.”

  Randall unzipped his jacket and slowly removed his Beretta 9mm from his shoulder holster and set it on the floor before kicking it over.

  With both eyes on the two of them and her .45 stilled aimed at Robert, Alexandra knelt down, picked it up, and jammed it in her belt.

  “Alright,” she said. “You say we’ve got two more homes to check out for supplies? We’re gonna pay them a visit. You will lead the way, but neither of you will speak unless I ask you a question and I don’t want to see any kind of non-verbal communication between the two of you. But if it’s the same story, if there’s nothing there at those homes, I hope you say your prayers quickly because I am not going to hesitate to shoot the two of you. Understand?”

  Randall and Robert nodded.

  “Alright, now lead the way,” Alexandra motioned to the door with the pistol.

  Chapter Eight

  Hill Overlooking Priest Lake

  Gale was leading the scouting expedition to find the Parker family, with a total of two vehicles, Mitchum, and seven other armed men under his command.

  Parked on a hill overlooking Priest Lake, Gale was scanning the lake through high powered binoculars.

  “See anything?” Mitchum asked.

  “A few camps, RVs, and houses along the lake,” Gale responded. “Let’s check ‘em out.”

  “Wait, you can’t literally suggest that we go and talk to people,” another of the men said. “I thought your father said no contact was to be made.”

  Annoyed, Gale put down his binoculars and said, “I’m in command here. Is that understood? And in case you didn’t realize, we’re not going to find the Parkers just by running around and looking through a spying glass. Besides, how are we going to get more people to join our side if we don’t even engage with them?”

  Mitchum and the other men stayed silent.

  “Fire up the trucks,” Gale continued. “I see a tent with four people outside of it and we’re going to go talk to them. Let’s go.”

  * * *

  Everyone was anxiously awaiting the return of Randall, Robert, and Jane at the Parker lake cabin.

  Jane was usually on watch but since she wasn’t there today, Claire, Marcus, and Bruce took shifts in patrolling the surrounding woods. Susan, Angela, and Christine were preparing food inside the cabin.

  Thomas was recovering quickly from his injuries, faster than anybody had anticipated. His hands and fingers were still bandaged, but he was on his feet and walking around outside to get some fresh air.

  He found his grandfather, Barry, outside conducting maintenance on the Ford RV that they had resting outside. The RV served as the sleeping quarters for those who couldn’t squeeze into the single story cabin.

  “What are ya doing, grandpa?” Thomas asked.

  “Just a little routine maintenance,” Barry replied.

  The hood to the RV was open and Barry was tinkering around with the engine.

  “You do realize that’s not gonna run because of the EMP, right?” Thomas asked.

  “I know, I know, probably not,” Barry replied. “But it gives me something to do.”

  Thomas could tell that his grandfather was anxious.

  “They’ll be back,” Thomas said. “Randall said they would be back within twenty four hours. It’s only been like six so far.”

  “If you’re feeling well, maybe you should help out your father and uncle on patrol,” Barry said, still not looking up from the engine.

  “I would, if only…” Thomas said as he held up his hands.

  His dislocated fingers had been put back into place but he was still in a lot of pain and for the time being he couldn’t use them. It would take a good week at least before Thomas would be able to remove the bandages and attempt to use them again.

  “Yeah, yeah…” Barry’s voice trailed off.

  Thomas could tell that Barry wasn’t exactly in for a long conversation so he turned and walked out into the open area in front of the lake. He could see a few other houses and tents set up on the other side of the lake through the trees, but the Parker’s hadn’t bothered to engage with any of them as far as Thomas knew.

  Thomas ventured out to the beach and then strode out onto the dock. He sat down and at the edge of the dock just above the water, and waited his brother and two cousins return.

  * * *

  Gale, Mitchum, and the rest of their men stood in front of a family of four who were camped next to Priest Lake. They had a tent and some basic camping supplies, and as far as Gale could tell, they were unarmed too.

  “You know the Parkers?” Gale asked.

  “Yes,” said the father of the family. “Barry and Christine and their family.”

  The very fact that Gale had two working vehicles and eight men armed with rifles and shotguns was enough to intimidate the family into submission. The father was trying his best to act as unafraid as possible, while his wife stood behind them with their two small children, a boy and a girl.

  “And do you know where they live?” Gale asked.

  “Northern end of the lake, they’ve got a nice little cabin up there,” the father said. “But Barry and Christine are good people. Why do you have beef with them?”

  Gale turned to his men and then turned back to face the father.

  “They killed my brother,” Gale said sternly.

  “What?” the father asked, surprised.

  “That’s right,” Gale said. “He was out on patrol with a couple guys, and two of the Parkers got the jump on him and gunned him down in cold blood.”

  Gale was lying through his teeth and he knew it. His hatred for Parkers burned and seethed in his breath.

  “What was your brother’s name?” the father asked.

  “Gerald,” replied Gale. “His name was Gerald.”

  “Gerald,” the father said the name out loud, taking a moment before speaking again. “So what are you going to do?”

  “We’re going to do what needs to be done,” Gale replied. “Bring justice to the Parkers. This is a dangerous world and with people like them out there right
next to us, it’s a threat to our families and our children…including yours.”

  Gale gestured to the father’s wife and children behind him.

  “You’re not suggesting going after them and getting in a fight, are you?” the father asked.

  “They attacked us first,” Gale said. “They launched a surprise attack on the Compound at night for no reason. One man is dead and two are in critical condition. They all have wives and children.”