EMP (Book 2): Chaos In The Storm

by Newman, AJ

  The next morning, they slept in later than they wanted. They ate cold venison roast and then packed up and left. They walked through a deep canyon with high walls as Walt filled her in on what he had seen at Roy’s place.

  “It looks like Roy has …” Was all Walt said before they heard the roar above them. Walt yelled, “Run.”

  He pulled Mattie with him as he ducked under a large outcropping of rock on the side of the canyon. There was an enormous explosion, and the ground shook. The meteor’s impact started a landslide of boulders, rocks, and pebbles cascading down on them. The outcrop kept them from suffering a direct hit, but stones bounced off the other side of the narrow canyon and hurled through the air at them. As abruptly as it started the landslide stopped.

  Mattie wanted to get back on their way, but Walt held her arm. “Wait up. That was a big one, so there are probably a hundred small ones with it.”

  They heard impacts above the canyon wall, but nothing reached the canyon floor. Walt made her wait for several minutes before leaving.

  Mattie and Walt continued to chat on the way back to their camp. Mattie asked, “Walt did that seem strange to you? What is their relationship?”

  Walt broke out laughing. “Sorry, but that was on my mind. At risk of being called a dirty old man, I know what was on Roy’s mind although I saw them several times around Roy’s place and didn’t see any hanky panky.”

  “Sleeping with Lisa is what I thought. Roy was very protective of her, and I don’t want to know what she promised to him to get him to let us move in with them.”

  “I had the same thoughts. Lisa appeared to tolerate Roy except when she wanted him to let us stay. She actually batted her eyes and flirted a bit with him. It’s been almost a week since we lost track of Lisa, so I don’t think she fell in love with a filthy and dirty old man in that time,” Walt opined.

  Mattie wiggled her lips and then scrunched her nose in disgust. “Darn, the thought of sleeping with that filthy old man gags me.”

  “I hope she hasn’t written any checks that she’s not prepared to cash,” Walt answered.

  Mattie nodded. “Did you notice the old man goes in and out of that hillbilly jargon but keeps the raspy, hoarse voice? Is he faking that crap?”

  Walt rubbed his chin and turned to Mattie. “I wonder about that myself. His place looks like it was tailor-made for us. I could only see the front of the valley where it’s located. There is a small stream but not much flat land for crops. He has some plants growing on the hillside though. I thought I saw a couple of cows. I think I saw why Roy is letting us join him. He and Lisa tried to raise a small wind turbine but couldn’t pull it up. He had pulleys, but they weren’t strong enough. I didn’t see anything that alarmed me, and Lisa moved about freely.

  The sun slid down behind the mountains as Walt and Mattie walked back to their camp. Walt made a wrong turn, and they found themselves at the entrance to a steep canyon. Just as Walt wanted to turn around, they saw a big pickup blocking their way. They slowly walked up to it, and Walt whispered. “It’s our darn truck. The trailer’s gone!”

  Mattie rose up on her tiptoes and looked over the edge of the bed. “Look, most of our stuff is still in the truck. Let’s take the truck. I know where the switch is.”

  Mattie threw her bag into the back and climbed into the driver’s seat. Walt had no choice but to join her. She flipped the switch then cranked the big diesel, which started up with a bellow and belched thick black smoke into the night. Mattie shifted the lever into reverse and roared backward out of the canyon. She changed into drive before the truck came to a stop and threw Walt back into the seat as the big truck squatted for a second and then roared away squealing tires.

  Walt yelled at Mattie. “Slow down and stop making such a racket. Those guys will know where we are going.”

  Mattie slowed down to 10 MPH, and the truck barely made any noise. Walt said, “Thanks. Keep heading to the camp. We have that big assed hill between us and where we left. I don’t think they can hear us now.”

  Mattie stopped a short way from their camp so Walt could walk in ahead of the truck so their friends wouldn’t shoot them. Meg guarded the entrance from the trail and heard the truck before she saw Walt. She called for the others and told them to go hide while she determined who approached.

  Meg hid behind some rocks and was ready to shoot when she saw Walt. She noticed that he had his gun, so she thought everything was okay. She decided not to show herself until the truck was close enough to see the driver. She saw Mattie at the wheel and sprang out of the rocks waving at her daughter. “I hope no one followed you here. That truck is loud.”

  “Are Tom and Ann back yet?” Walt asked.

  “No, we haven’t heard from them since yesterday. That brings up the question of why are you back so early. Did you find us a safe place?”

  Walt gave Meg a hug and helped Mattie down from the truck. “We found Lisa, and she is staying at an old miner’s place. He invited us to stay at his place long enough to get back on our feet.”

  Meg was confused. “She stayed with the miner instead of coming with a friend.”

  “Mom, if you think about it, she only knew us for a couple of days but has been with the old guy for a week or so,” Mattie replied.

  They checked out their supplies and took most of the items into the shed for safe storage. Meg sliced several steaks off the deer shoulder and fried them in an iron skillet over their campfire. The smell was mouthwatering, and everyone lined up with plates and forks in hand. They ate the meat along with instant mashed potatoes and canned peaches.

  Meg chewed on a bite of steak and banged her fork on her plate. “Tell Tom we thought about him and Ann while eating this wonderful meal. I hope they are safe tonight.”

  Mattie suddenly laughed, “No one mentioned the meteor strikes this morning. It’s pretty bad when day to day survival trumps a big assed meteor hitting nearby.”

  ***

  Tom and Ann had to stop often to let the horses and their butts rest. They hid a couple of times when they heard vehicles on nearby trails but never saw anyone. They rode into the canyon where their friends waited and were shocked and frightened to see the truck that had been stolen from them. Tom and Ann quickly dismounted and took cover in the rocks so they could determine what had happened at their camp.

  A pebble hit Tom on the top of his shoulder a second before he heard a familiar voice. “This old Injun still has it. I saw you riding in, snuck up on you, and counted coup. I could have scalped you in the old days.”

  “It’s good to see you too you old fart. How did you get the truck back?”

  “We came upon it yesterday abandoned along a trail northwest of here. We fired it up and skedaddled back home. It still had most of our supplies and ammunition in the bed. The jerks found our weapon stash, but they missed two 9 mm pistols.” Walt informed them.

  Tom came out of the rocks. “Did you find a safe place for us to stay?”

  “Sort of, if you like crusty old farts and miners.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  Walt shook Tom’s hand and hugged Ann. “It means Lisa found an old miner, and he invited us to stay at his place. It’s kinda rough but otherwise fits our needs.”

  “You found Lisa!”

  “No, the miner and she found us trying to steal some meat from them and then invited us to move to his place,” Walt said.

  “Thank God Lisa is alive. Does she know about Bob and Luke?”

  Walt lowered his head. “Yep, I had to tell her that Bob died and Luke is missing. She took it hard but didn’t fall apart. She is a powerful person. She will be a good fit for our team.”

  Tom took the horses to the camp and hobbled them so they could graze on the abundant grass around the house. Meg ran over to hug him and listen to his story. He conveniently left out the whiskey drinking, Ann vomiting, and the pass Ann made at him.

  After they ate and swapped adventures, Tom asked the group if they thought
joining the old miner was a good idea. He looked around the group and saw a puzzled look on their faces. Cristy raised her hand. Tom pointed at her. “Dad, why wouldn’t we want to move there? He has much of what we need.”

  “Honey, I’m not for or against joining him. I just want us to make an intelligent decision. We don’t know the man. If we decide to move there, we must proceed with caution. I say we send a scout team over to watch the old man and learn more about him. Why would he let us join him? Does he need something from us? He could be a nice man or an evil one. We don’t know him.”

  Ann listened with her head nodding. “I know Walt took a look at Roy’s camp, but I think Tom and I should go over and take a good look at what is going on over there before we decide.”

  Sally agreed and said, “It could be a combination of Roy getting tired of living alone, and maybe he needs help like Walt said about the wind turbine. From Walt’s description, Roy’s place sounds like he has put some thought into surviving in these mountains.”

  Meg glared at Ann. “I think Tom and I should go scout the place.”

  Tom waited until Meg was through. “Walt, I want you to go with me to scout Roy’s place. We leave before sun up tomorrow. We’ll be back here by this time two days from now so we can have time to make our decision and meet Roy’s deadline. Ann, I want you to stay back here and give the ladies some training in self-defense and whatever else you think they need to survive short term.”

  Ann started to balk but knew Tom was right. She was the most qualified person and nodded in agreement.

  ☆

  Chapter 7

  Meg wasn’t much of an early riser, so Tom kissed her on the cheek and left an hour before the sun peeked over the ridges in the east. Mattie had guard duty that morning, and Tom saw Walt talking with her. Before he could walk toward them, he heard whimpering off to his right. He moved to the sound and saw Sally sitting on a boulder crying.

  “Sally, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. I just miss Bob so much. I think we would have had a great life together, but who knows. His darned wife and son showed up in the middle of this crap. Hell, he might have left me to go back to her,” Sally moaned.

  Tom didn’t want to touch that with a ten-foot pole. The fact was that Tom didn’t have a clue about women nor did he really want to be tangled up in the drama of a crying woman longing for a dead boyfriend. Tom loved women but hated drama and crying. Tom answered, “Sally, Bob is dead. Bob loved you, and he would have stayed with you. Now wipe those tears away and move on. I’ve seen you and Walt trading glances. Walt is a good man and my best friend. He cares for you and you two should pair up.”

  Sally started bawling again, so Tom joined Mattie and Walt. He told them about the conversation with Sally. Mattie shook her head. “I’ll bet that went over like a turd in a punch bowl. I sure as hell won’t look to you when I need to be consoled.”

  Walt went over to Sally to help console her, but she waved him off. Walt and Tom looked at each other and left the camp on horseback. Walt waited until they were away from camp to talk. “Tom the two toughest courses I took in college were Nuclear Physics and Calculus III. They whipped my ass, and I almost dropped out of school before I understood enough to pass both of them.”

  Tom frowned and looked at Walt. “What the hell does that have to do with anything?”

  “Those courses were darn easy compared to you trying to console a woman or get her to move on from a dead lover. Dumbass, don’t try to give advice. Just agree with her and tell her what she wants to hear. Otherwise, you will be the asshole in her eyes forever,” Walt advised.

  Tom argued with Walt. “Crap, I screwed that one up. It just doesn’t make sense for a woman to cry over one man when millions have just died. She needs to find another and move on with her life. A girl like her won’t survive by herself.”

  Walt laughed and then kicked his horse, which caused it to gallop away from Tom. Tom speeded up and joined Walt racing up the dirt trail for a few minutes. Walt pulled the reins in and slowed. “Tom that felt good. We need to cover another couple of miles and find a place to hide the horses. I will take us to the place where Mattie waited for me the other day.”

  ***

  Lisa woke up in her sleeping bag beside the fireplace. The night had been cold, so she moved from the couch to in front of the fire. She thought about Bob and Luke for a while before she heard Roy open the front door. She pretended to be asleep so she could see what Roy was doing. She was warming up to Roy and his gruff nature but had trouble trusting anyone in this new world. Roy walked into the small kitchen, placed some wood in the old kitchen stove, and lit a fire. Then he moved past her and added a couple of logs to the fireplace.

  Lisa felt guilty as she squinted through closed eyes because Roy was preparing breakfast for them. He had already brought eggs in from the chicken coop and milked the cows. She acted as though she yawned to get Roy’s attention. “Roy, I’ll get dressed and help you fix breakfast. I make some mean biscuits.”

  “I could eat me some of dem biscuits, Girly. We got deer steak and eggs to eat on this morning. Then, I need some help with the goats and that darn wind turbine. I gots an idear how to pull it up.”

  Lisa almost laughed at how Roy butchered the English language. “Roy, my friends will be here in a couple of days, and then we’ll have plenty of muscle to raise the wind turbine,” Lisa said.

  Roy turned away from the frying deer meat to see Lisa slip on her jeans. He quickly turned away. “Now Girly, you gots to go to the bathroom to change yer clothes. Can’t have no neckid women prancing around. It’s disgraceful.”

  “Why Roy, don’t you like women?” Lisa said as she flirted a bit with Roy. She kept talking as she found the flour. “I’m sorry, but you had your back turned, and it was too cold to go into the bathroom. Does my body look that bad? I thought I had a great body. I’m sorry if I shocked you.”

  “I’ve seen a few neckid girls in my time, and yours will do, but we’ll git along just fine iffen you keep yer clothes on. Now pop those biscuits in that oven and quit yer yacking. My stomach thinks me throat got cut. I’m so hongry,” Roy scolded.

  “Why Roy, your face is red.”

  Roy was a bit agitated. “And yours will be red tomorrow morning when you got yer hands full of cow teats trying to git us some milk. Yer gonna take over de farm animals whilst I hunt fer some meat.”

  While Lisa was a very strong-willed and independent woman, she wasn’t afraid to use her assets to charm men. She could tell that Roy despite his bluster had succumbed to her charms. She disliked depending on a man, but she also knew she didn’t want to end up a sex slave at a gangbanger camp. Roy was a decent guy who she could put up with to stay safe and survive.

  ***

  The next day the glow of the sun could barely be seen behind the mountains as it marched its way to the sky. Tom could see storm clouds bumping against the hills to the west and was pleased because they needed the water. It didn’t rain much in this part of Arizona historically, but there had been twice as much precipitation of all types for the past eight years. The scientists blamed it on Global Cooling before the shit hit the fan. The ranchers and farmers were happy because the creeks and Verde River never dried up anymore and ran deep each spring.

  Walt whispered, “We watched them all day yesterday and didn’t see much other than the old man is teaching Lisa how to tend the animals and make more of those terraced gardens. The raised gardens on the side of the hills and rocks are a great idea for this terrain. There aren’t many flat places for a large garden. We could learn much from the old fart.”

  “The man is supposed to be some kind of gold miner slash mountain man. Do you suppose he knows that we’re watching him?” Tom asked.

  Walt chuckled and looked Tom in the eye. “I’ve been thinking the same thing. Every now and then, he goes into that shed, and I catch some movement. He took a rifle in there that had a big assed scope on it. He could be watching us. Well crap. Let’s
hold up a white flag and go on down to introduce ourselves.”

  Tom said, “Yep, I’ll bet he has spotted us a while back. We’re lucky he didn’t shoot.”

  They progressed down through the rocks to a small ravine and worked their way down to the valley floor. They scanned the area from the cabin to the terraced garden where Lisa worked but didn’t see Roy. Tom said, “I don’t see the old fart. Do you think he’s back in the shed looking for us?”

  A raspy, hoarse voice behind them boomed. “That old fart is behind you with a big assed focken gun. Now shut up, drop yer guns and slowly turn around. Hey, ain’t you dat Injun from de other day?”

  Walt turned slowly to face Roy. “Yes, I am. To tell the truth, we wanted to scout you and your place out before deciding to join you.”

  The old man pulled his whiskers as he lowered his pistol. His voice was almost normal as he started speaking and was hoarser as he continued talking. His English also went downhill. “I expected you to check me out. I was surprised dat you were so easy to spot being an Injun and everything. Iffen dat girly Lisa likes yer den I gives yer a chance. Foller me.”

  Before they were very close to Roy’s cabin, several geese ran out from a shed to greet them. The geese were followed by several goats. The geese honked and made a lot of noise, but the goats just ran to Roy and bleated softly to him. “That’s my alarm system. I’m too old to sit up all de night, so I trained these critters to be my alarm system.”

  Tom and Walt traded glances as they walked behind Roy to the other side of a shed. They saw Lisa shoveling manure into a wheelbarrow. Tom said, “That looks like a shitty job.”

  Lisa looked up and grinned as she went to them and hugged both. “I’m glad to see you. Did we pass your inspection? I would really like some female companionship along with all of these big strong men.”