Chasing the Dark: The Demon Inside

by A. P. Texan

  This book is dedicated to all the Husbands and Fathers out there who would die before they see harm come to their families.

  And to the Warriors of our Military, who knowingly sign their name to a blank check with a value up to and including their very lives, this Country owes you a debt that can never be paid.

  CHASING THE

  DARK

  The Demon Inside

  A Post-Apocalyptic Adventure

  Written by:

  A. P. Texan

 

  Copyright A Prepared Texan October 2020

  Acknowledgments

  First let me say thank you to the Lord God above, creator of the world, and my savior. Thank you for giving me the life I have and thank you for the life I will have.

  I want to thank my wife without her constant reassurance I would have given up on this project a long time ago. I love you Babe you are my world.

  To my kids, you guys are everything to me and I would stop the world from spinning for each and every one of you.

  Ryan Schow, what can I say you are the man. You inspired me to give this a shot and when I got bogged down with a horrible writer block, you gave me the tips and advice to get through it. Thanks man.

  Peyton and Raegan my under paid editors. Thank you so much. You took my rambling run on sentences and incomplete thoughts and somehow melded it all into a readable story.

  Gershom Reese Wetzel, Brother for life. Thank you for the incredible cover. Get ready to start the work for book 2 hopefully I won't take as long to write it as I did this one.

  Tom, you were the first to read it all the way through and give me my first review. Thank you sir, for being my Beta.

  Prologue

  11 September 2021

  The darkness is complete in the early morning hours of September 11. The only light on this moonless night is the stars reflecting off the calm waters of the Atlantic. Here a container ship sits, with all of its lights extinguished and its dark colored hull it seems to form a void in the darkness. An area even darker than the night. This ship sits about 500 miles off the coast of Virginia, this is the next to last stop on what has been a six-month journey from the port of Bandar Abbas, Iran. Bandar Abbas is a major port city in the rogue nation sitting in the busy Strait of Hormuz. It was here, that the ship and its sister now sitting off the coast of Galveston Island received their cargo of fire and death. The other ship in this trifecta of doom started its journey, leaving port in the hermit kingdom known as the People’s Republic of Korea, also known simply as North Korea. Now sitting off the coast of Los Angeles, it like it’s sisters, looks like any other commercial containership. The super structure sits near the stern of the massive ships so that the captain can look out over his cargo as well as the surrounding ocean. However, these ships are different, they hold a dark sinister cargo with devastating plans. When this cargo is delivered to the Americans everything will change, the landscape of the international geopolitical stage will be forever upended.

  Each ship holds two Chinese manufactured DF-5A nuclear-equipped ballistic missiles. With the simple push of a few buttons the Americans will be brought to their knees and, once America falls, the rest of the world will soon follow. Without America’s goods and money, the world economy will begin to collapse like dominoes, and that is exactly the plan. If these rogue nations can destroy the economy of all the superpowers, and then come in and claim America and its resources as their own. Then Iran and North Korea will be the new superpowers, and they will control the world. The Ayatollahs and the Kim family will achieve what no one before them has. Complete world domination.

  At exactly 0400 Central Standard Time on 11 September 2021 the attack is underway, all three ships simultaneously launch their payloads of death and fire. The downtown areas of Washington DC, Houston Texas, and Los Angeles California are the first targets as the three, one megaton warheads do their jobs to maximum effect. As the warheads drop through the atmosphere, they arm themselves and detonate at an altitude of one thousand feet above the darkened cities. The resulting airbursts cause damage only dreamed about in people's nightmares. Within ten seconds the fireball reaches a temperature of two million degrees Fahrenheit, where it quite literally vaporizes everything within three thousand yards of the explosion. Yet this is only the beginning of the nightmare, the extreme temperature compresses the air in the surrounding area and pushes it away in the form of a devastating wall. This wall of air expands out at roughly the speed of sound for three miles. Everything in its path is ripped apart from the density of the air and the dynamic overpressure of the atmosphere behind this front. After this comes the air wave flowing back into the area. These winds are traveling at speeds in excess of two hundred miles an hour finishing the devastation.

  The downtown areas of Houston and Los Angeles cease to exist as does the area of D.C. containing the White House and U.S. Capital Building. Outside of this three-mile zone, the ten-mile radius surrounding the blast is not nearly as devastating; but most buildings are heavily damaged and will never be able to be used again. Then comes the fallout, everything that was vaporized in the initial blast begins to condense into a heavy white radioactive ash. This ash is carried up into the atmosphere where it is caught up in the Jet Stream and carried for more than a hundred miles. On the west coast the cloud of fall out carries out over the Beautiful Mojave Desert where it falls to the earth and gives the arid landscape a coating of dull grey ash. East Texas and North West Louisiana don’t fare any better, the difference being the ash begins to mix with the humid air where it falls back to earth as a radioactive mud coating Wildlife and vegetation. The resulting radiation begins to damage trees and wildlife, not to mention the people as soon as it comes in contact with the surface. Water supplies and food sources become unusable within days of the attack.

  Fifteen minutes after the initial attack three ballistic missiles detonate their five megaton warheads at an altitude of three hundred miles. One detonates just over Northern Oklahoma, one over Central Kentucky and the third over Eastern Nevada. What this accomplishes, is the most devastating High-Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse mankind could ever imagine. Modern electronics with the vulnerable micro circuitry are quickly overpowered and subsequently burned out deeming them inoperable and worthless. The power grid that delivers much needed electricity to our modern world also serves to be our undoing. You see the EMP destroys the large high-powered transformers and relay stations needed to move the electricity, and the millions of miles of wire only serve as antenna to transport and amplify the destruction.

  In the amount of time it takes to shower, brush your teeth, and get dressed for work The United States of America as the world’s foremost superpower disappears into an inky black silhouette of itself and the citizens of what was once the greatest country on Earth have been set back 200 years. Most of the cars and trucks on the road stop running, trains fail and continue to roll uncontrolled under their own weight. Satellites die and begin to fall from their place in the sky. Airplanes lose all power and begin their deadly plummet to the earth 30,000 ft below.

  All of this while the Nation sleeps on the twentieth anniversary of the worst attack this country has ever seen, until now. After the missiles launch the freighters turn and make for their final stop. The two Iranian ships will go directly to port in Tampico, a large port city on the east coast of Mexico and currently controlled by the Gulf Cartel. The Korean ship is headed for the same port but must first make its way through the Panama Canal. Once reaching Port in Mexico the ships will unload the rest of their cargo. Each ship has two thousand men as well as weapons, food, trucks and generators to support them.

  Chapter 1-The Event

  Faith: Whe
n you cannot see the end of the tunnel, but you keep moving forward in the dark because you know in your heart that the light will be there.

  0430 11 September 2021

  Keller, Texas

  I’m headed to work remembering what happened to our country twenty years ago today. I had been out of the Army for two weeks when it happened. The worst attack we had ever suffered when those cowards hijacked the planes and flew them into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. The night is pitch black and quiet, a wonderful time to reflect on what life has been like and how much that act of terror has changed the way our country, and the world, operates.

  “Oh wow, now that is cool”, I say to the night. A super bright shooting star is going from the Southern Horizon to the North. It catches me off guard, because I have never seen one that bright, or moving that slow.

  Just before it got all the way to the horizon, the shooting star expanded and becomes an extremely bright orb in the sky. This new Sun lights up the night and then just as quickly, everything is once again dark and eerily quiet, except for a strange iridescent green glow just above the horizon.

  The truck is no longer running, simply coasting down Highway 377, slowly losing speed. The headlights and dash lights are out as are all the streetlights. In fact, I can’t see one artificial light anywhere. Is this really what I think it is? Please tell me my phone works! Picking up the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 in the seat beside me I can’t get it to activate. Like the truck, the phone is completely dead. Okay, this isn’t looking good! Only three things I can think of would cause this and none of them are good.

  CME- A Coronal Mass Ejection wouldn’t cause the sky to light up like that. It also isn't likely to disable small electronics or vehicles.

  Nuclear Blast- Possible, but if it was a nuclear blast close enough for me to see the explosion that clearly would I still be among the living? Probably a Nuclear explosion but not your standard Air burst which brings us to option three.

  HEMP-High Altitude detonation EMP. Most likely the “shooting star” I saw would have been a nuclear warhead re-entry vehicle followed by the detonation. The altitude was so high that the explosion was most likely hundreds of miles away in Oklahoma or possibly even Kansas.

  The truck has almost come to a complete stop, so I muscle the little Colorado to the shoulder and put it in park. Now that I know what has probably happened, I need to weigh my options. I am about a mile from the Highway 170 intersection which means three miles back the way I came to home, or five miles to work. Time to go home, stepping out of the truck I open the back door and begin to inventory and prep my gear. First, I grab my Get-Home Bag (GHB), and Trauma kit. Then I step around to the non-roadside of the truck and open the GHB. Out of the bag I take my head lamp and press the switch. The inside of the truck is illuminated in a bright LED-white light blinding me for just a second. This is good, it means not everything electronic has been destroyed. I place the lamp on my head and begin to get ready. I pull out my Vertex tactical pants and a t-shirt, and Bellville ultra-light boots. The early September mornings are still on the warm side, so the wind breaker stays in the bag. I work as a security supervisor and the polyester uniform we are issued isn’t comfortable in the best of conditions, so walking in the dark with a bag on my back, a 1911 in a drop-leg holster and an AR-15 slung across my chest is out of the question.

  Having changed my clothes, I lift the back seat and pull the Diamondback DB15 out of its hiding place. I check the chamber and safety and set it on the bed of the truck. Also, in the cubby is a battle belt with my drop-leg holster, four extra 1911 eight round magazines, as well as two thirty round AR mags and my Whole Earth Supply Damascus Tracker knife in a horizontal cross draw sheath. Behind the seat is a Delorme Atlas and Gazetteer, and the floorboard has my Leatherman multi tool, Ka-Bar G10 mule folder, and Nitecore tactical flashlight. All of these except the Nitecore go in the bag. The Nitecore goes on the mount towards the muzzle of the AR and I attach the touch pad adapter to it putting the normal on/off button in the GHB. In the cup holder is a pack and a half of Marlboro Lights and two Bic lighters, those go in my pants pocket, my Yeti of coffee and a bottle of water. Now that I got all my gear sorted, I put the battle belt on and strap the drop-leg holster to my right leg with its double straps. From the trucks center console, I grab my Sig Sauer 1911, remove it from its Kydex paddle holster, check the chamber and safety, then place it into the holster on my thigh. The Kydex Texas flag holster I then place in the GHB. Finally, with everything else in my bag, I put it over my shoulders, sling the AR across my chest, close the truck and Start my trip back home.

  I get about twenty yards when I realize I have left my tumbler of coffee and extra water bottle at the truck. Well crap I will need those especially the coffee, if I’m correct on what has happened, it will soon be a rare commodity. After retrieving the coffee and water bottle, I start the three-mile trip back to the house.

  0500 11 September 2021

  Keller Texas

  Hi, my name is Chase Williams, and this is my story. I am just a guy nothing special about me. I am 43 years old, with four kids and on my third marriage. I spent six years in the Army as an M1A1 Tanker and Cav Scout and then another ten years in the Texas State Guard, where we were disaster relief specialists. I work a mind-numbing job as a security supervisor at a UPS facility where I make fifteen bucks an hour. Barely enough when combined with the wife’s income to keep our cars paid for and food in our bellies. I have always been interested in apocalyptic fiction and TEOTWAWKI scenarios. And as such I have become something of a Casual Prepper. When I say I’m a casual prepper I mean; I don’t have a year’s worth of dry beans and rice hidden in my garage and I don’t have 1000 gallons of water in airtight opaque containers. I just casually, when I have an opportunity, pick up some freeze-dried meals or MREs, I keep a GHB in my truck and a large Bug out Bag (BOB) at home. I have a couple of well stocked trauma kits as well as several first-aid kits. I also have a large base camp medical kit with everything in it I could need. From gauze to IV fluids, from band aids to sutures and staples this kit has it all. The Primary component is an Adventure Medical Marine 3000 kit and then added to that I have three IV bags of lactated ringers and three bags of sodium chloride. I have 6000 4x4 gauze pads another 2000 2x2 gauze pads. Bottles of wound flush and just about anything else medical you can think of, including antibiotics. Medically I am set for just about anything, food and water however could be a problem.

  I have walked about a mile letting my mind wander to everything that I now need to worry about. Bills and making payments are no longer high on that list, now I’m more concerned with food, water, bullet’s, and band-aids. The sun is just starting to lighten the eastern sky and I can see without the aid of my headlamp. I am taking a break to put the headlamp in the bag and pull out my black Kryptek contractor ball cap when I notice in front of me about 30 feet is a cross street, the first one I have come to in my walk. At the southwest corner is a woman looking more than a little upset walking around stabbing at a phone that will most likely never work again. She is wearing yoga pants, a pull-over hoodie and tennis shoes, probably early to mid-twenties and looking very upset. Continuing my walk, she notices me and begins to walk across the street towards me.

  “HEY, you with the bag, Sir do you know what’s going on?”

  As I turn towards her, she must have noticed the fire power on my leg and across my chest because she starts to back pedal and puts her hands up in front of her.

  “I’m sorry, please don’t hurt me, I ahh, umm I..., I just don’t understand what is going on.”

  Typical millennial snowflake, she sees a gun and immediately thinks I want to hurt her. These kinds of people are what has brought this country to its knees and now someone has decided to cut off the head, I think to myself.

  “Calm down I’m not going to hurt you. And stop stabbing that phone you’re going to crack the screen and cut yourself good Lord. I think I know what’s going on, but if I’m right you’re not go
ing to like it.”

  Crossing the street to meet her, rather than make her walk over to me. I take a knee and take my pack off my back to take a breather. Remember I’m in my forties and a smoker, on top of that I’m not exactly in great shape, although if you consider it has been over 4 years since I’ve seen the inside of a gym, I’m not in BAD shape either.

  “Okay, what do you know?” I ask her.

  “Absolutely nothing, I was out for an early morning jog before work when the sky got super bright and everything just sort of quit. My phone shut down, all the streetlights went out and I haven’t seen a car, in like FOREVER.”

  “The event happened an hour ago and you’re still out here. Why didn’t you just turn around and go home?”

  “I need to finish my jog. I still have a mile to go before I can turn around to go home, and I can’t finish my jog if I don’t have Pandora or iTunes”

  “Okay ma’am, here is the deal you need to get home to your family as quickly as possible. That light you saw was, most likely an EMP. Do You know what that is?”

  “No not at all? What is it?”

  “An EMP, or in this instance, a HEMP is when you detonate a Nuclear warhead in high atmosphere, it produces an electromagnetic Pulse. This pulse destroys everything with microelectronics in it. It will also charge the powerlines with a massive amount of electricity that the transformers can’t handle and destroys the power grid. What I’m telling you is this country has just been sent back to the dark ages. Well, maybe not the dark ages, more like the 1800s, the days of the covered wagons, Cowboys and Indians”

  “Oh, so you`re one of those crazy conspiracy theory nuts that is probably planning to raid Area 51 on the 20th. You’re an idiot and crazy. Take your stupid Assault Rifle and go home, you don’t know what you`re talking about!”