Survive the Day Boxset: EMP Survival in a Powerless World

by William Stone

  As the vehicle got closer, Jack did his best to scan the surroundings for an escape route. He had seen a few abandoned cars on the street, but now that his headlamps were off, visibility was close to nil due to the darkness, the wind, and the snow. All they could see were the two baleful headlamps coming ever closer in the howling darkness.

  Before switching off the lights, Jack had seen that there were large open spaces around the nearby house; if needed, he might be able to veer off around the side of the house and tear through the backyard. He hoped that it wouldn’t come down to that, for not only would a car chase at high speed through the thick darkness and howling wind be dangerous due to the possibility of a wreck, but it could also end up with him getting hopelessly lost in the suburbs. Without any visibility to orient himself, it could take them hours to get out of this place … if they even escaped at all.

  Everyone in the Humvee watched with bated breath as the vehicle got closer. And when it slowed down to a stop near them, they knew their headlamps were spotted earlier. Jack kept the Humvee in gear, ready to blast off in an instant, and the others readied their firearms.

  They could barely make out what kind of vehicle it was, but the dim halo of light around it, created by the reflection of the headlamps off the wind-blown snow, revealed it to be a Humvee. And when Jack and the others saw the vague silhouettes of men with rifles getting out of the SUV, they knew these were no friendly survivors or civilians.

  “I’m gonna try outrun ‘em,” Jack said to the others. “And it’s gonna be a bumpy ride. Get your heads down so they can’t see you through the windows. Get ready and hold on.”

  The soldiers could hear the Humvee’s rumbling motor over the howl of the wind, and they knew someone was in it. There were six of them, along with a driver who stayed in the vehicle. They fanned out, with their rifles shouldered, ready, and their fingers on their triggers, and they approached Jack’s Humvee warily.

  What they didn’t know, of course, was that Jack’s vehicle was bulletproof—something he intended to use to his full advantage. He waited until the men were a mere few feet away from the Humvee, and then he punched the gas. For two terrifying seconds, the wheels spun on the icy, snow-thick ground, but then they gripped and launched the massive vehicle forward.

  The soldiers opened up, peppering Jack’s Humvee with automatic fire as he sped away, but while their sprayed bullets drummed viciously against the doors and windows, none of them smashed through the bulletproof glass and steel.

  Jack had to flip on the lights since there was no visibility, but he knew that he’d gotten a good head start on the soldiers, even though his taillights would be a beacon on the dark for them to follow. If he could get far enough away before they caught up, though, the wind and snow would provide enough cover to lose them.

  He raced down the side of the house and veered into the backyard, sliding the big vehicle around a tight corner. There was a small wooden shed in his path, and he had no time to swerve around it, so he simply plowed through it. The shed exploded in a shower of shattered wood and flying debris, most of which was paint, tools and hardware items, and then, racing onward at breakneck speed, Jack smashed through the wooden fence and hurtled through the neighboring yard. He had no idea whether the men were pursuing him; he just knew that he had to get away as quickly as possible.

  As he tore across the next yard, he smashed through an artificial fountain, leaving a plume of water shooting up into the air behind him, swerved around a sprawling tree, and then burst through another wooden fence, but this time he found himself hurtling onto a street. He slammed on the brakes and skidded, pulling a swift ninety-degree turn that almost had the Humvee up on two wheels, and then sped down the street, pushing the big vehicle to its limits as he dodged dead cars, lampposts, and trees. He had to rely on his catlike reflexes to avoid the many potentially deadly obstacles in his path. Thanks to the wind and driving snow and the darkness, there was barely any visibility.

  He hurtled through another tight corner onto the next road and then plowed through another series of yards to take an improvised shortcut to another street. Once he was there, he finally slowed down and allowed himself to breathe. His heart was pounding in his chest, and his hands were tingling, tight with a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel.

  For a few seconds, nobody spoke; they were all too shaken up from the intensity of the high-speed ride. Finally, Jack uttered a few words. “Is everyone okay?”

  “I feel like I’ve just stepped off a rollercoaster,” Kate said, “but I’m okay.”

  “Definitely shaken and not stirred,” Nick quipped, “but yeah, I’m okay, too.”

  “I got thrown around a little,” Susan said, “and I think I’ve got a few bruises after that, but I’m okay, too, Dad.”

  Jack breathed out a sigh of relief, slumped forward against the steering wheel, and closed his eyes for a few seconds. When he opened them again, though, he saw a sight in the rearview mirror that sent icy dread coursing through his veins. In the distance, barely visible but rapidly coming closer, were the headlamps of the soldiers’ Humvee.

  Kate also saw them in the rearview mirror. “Oh, no,” she gasped. “How did they find us?”

  Then it hit Jack; in the snow, he couldn’t evade them no matter how fast he went, and regardless of whatever route he took, they would find him. “The tracks I’m leaving in the snow,” he said grimly. “They’re leading the bastards right to us.”

  “What do we do?” Kate gasped. “There’s no way to escape!”

  “There’s only one thing we can do,” Jack said. “We take the fight to them.”

  22

  “Whoa, whoa, hold up, hold up there,” Kate said, “I know we’ve got our backs against the wall, but these are trained soldiers we’re up against, Jack! We can’t just shoot it out with them; we’ll get killed!”

  “And I don’t intend to do that,” Jack said. “But I’m not going to run around the suburbs, burning up precious fuel, wasting valuable time, and getting hopelessly lost while they run us down like hounds after a fox.”

  “If there’s anything I can do to help, Jack, just tell me. I’ll do it,” Nick said determinedly.

  “There is,” Jack said, taking off at speed before the enemy Humvee got any closer to them. “It’s going to be risky, but I’ve got a plan that just might work.”

  “Jack, there’s gotta be another way. We can’t fight these guys,” Kate said, grabbing onto a handrail as Jack skidded at high speed through an intersection.

  “And we can’t outrun ‘em, either,” Jack said, gripping the steering wheel tight as he tore at breakneck speed through another corner. “Not until we prevent them from pursuing us.”

  “Prevent them from pursuing us?” Kate asked anxiously. “Short of blowing up their car, I don’t see how we can do anything like that.”

  “There’s where Nick’s going to come in,” Jack said as he floored it down a long stretch of road that was free of dead cars. “And I’m pretty sure it’s gonna work. At least I hope it will. You’re an athlete, right, Nick?” he asked before Kate could raise any more objections. “You ever play any baseball? Got a good pitching arm, by any chance?”

  “I’m a rower now, but I played Little League for years,” Nick answered, “and I played baseball all through junior and senior high. I’ve got a good arm, yeah.”

  “You’re going to need it,” Jack said, allowing a glimmer of a grin to come across his face, despite the circumstances.

  “Are we going back to the same place where those army guys spotted us?” Susan asked, frowning. One of her friends lived in this neighborhood, so she was somewhat familiar with these streets.

  “We are, yes,” Jack answered.

  “Jack, honey, have you lost your mind?” Kate asked. “Why are you going back to where they almost caught us earlier?”

  “Because there’s something I need there, and also because I’m playing a little game with them,” he answered, his grin broadening sli
ghtly. “A game up here,” he said, tapping his head. “A game I intend to win. Susan, one of those heavy-duty sleeping bags in the back is white. Find it and get it out, Nick’s gonna need it.”

  Jack explained the plan as he sped back to the house from which they’d first fled from the army Humvee, and when he finished speaking, everyone’s worries were put at ease for the most part. They knew the plan was risky, of course, and a lot of it counted on Nick’s ability to throw and hit a relatively small target, but under the circumstances, it was the best chance they had to escape from their relentless pursuers.

  Ten minutes later, everything was ready, and Jack, Kate, and Susan were waiting for the inevitable arrival of the army Humvee. They were parked at the end of a cul-de-sac, with no possibility of escape, close to the house they had first fled from. There was no way out except straight, which was the way they were facing—and that was the way the army Humvee would surely be coming very soon.

  “Are you sure this is gonna work, Jack?” Kate asked anxiously. Like her husband and her daughter, she had her gun in her hand, ready to fire, should their desperate plan fail.

  “They don’t know who we are,” Jack said. “We’ve got that on our side. They’ll approach us with caution … and that’ll be their downfall.”

  Sure enough, just as he said that, he saw the enemy vehicle's ominous headlamps shining a path through the driving snow. They had found them, as Jack had known they would, and now the army men had cornered them, trapping them. Jack watched intently as the enemy vehicle slowed down to a crawl and started inching closer to them. There were only fifty yards between them, a distance that was slowly but surely being closed.

  “What if they get out now?” Kate asked anxiously. “Then we’re screwed, then we’re really screwed!”

  “They won’t,” Jack said. “They’re not idiots. They know we might be a threat; they know we’re probably armed. They won’t want to risk their lives unnecessarily. They’ll get closer. Watch.”

  He flashed his bright beams at them, once, twice, then three times, taunting them to come closer. He also gave the motor a few good revs.

  “I hope this works, Dad,” Susan said, and her voice was choked with fear.

  The army Humvee continued to approach, slowly and steadily. Jack was sure that they would come close enough to block him from escaping completely; after all, that was the logical thing for them to do. And it was what would win him this game.

  The other vehicle kept rolling closer, doing exactly what Jack had predicted: attempt to cut off any route he might have for escape.

  Then, as the army Humvee got within twenty yards of Jack’s SUV, a pile of snow suddenly exploded near them. It was Nick, who had been hiding under the snow-covered white sleeping bag, and in his hand was a can of house paint that he’d salvaged from the debris of the shed Jack had plowed through earlier. He flung the can of paint at full force at the army Humvee’s windshield, and his aim was on target, although he didn’t stick around to double-check. As soon as he’d thrown the projectile, he sprinted over to Jack’s Humvee, where Kate flung open the door for him just as the enraged soldiers were piling hastily out of their vehicle.

  The paint can hadn’t smashed or even cracked the army Humvee’s bulletproof window—but that hadn’t been the point of the attack. The thick enamel paint had splashed and sprayed all over the glass, effectively blinding the vehicle. And, as Jack had said, if they couldn’t see him, they couldn’t pursue him.

  Nick dove into the Humvee, and Kate slammed the door shut just as the soldiers opened fire, peppering the vehicle with bullets. Jack floored it, launching the massive vehicle forward and aiming it straight at three of the soldiers, who had to toss their rifles aside and dive desperately out of the way to avoid being flattened.

  He sped past the enemy Humvee, missing it by mere feet, as bullets hammered his vehicle. For a few tense seconds, all everyone could do was hang on and keep their heads down as bullets drummed across the back and sides of the Humvee. However, soon enough, they were out of the range, and this time they knew they would be safe, for the enemy vehicle was incapacitated.

  “Brilliant pitch, Nick, amazing work!” Jack exclaimed, an ear-to-ear grin pasted across his face.

  “That was awesome!” Susan cried. “You painted their whole front window!”

  “They’re not going anywhere now,” Nick said, grinning proudly, “at least not faster than two miles an hour with the driver freezing his face off by sticking it out the window to see where he’s going!”

  They chatted some more, congratulating Nick on his precise and devastatingly effective throw, but although the mood was buoyant for a while, it soon deflated. The blizzard was getting steadily worse, and they still had a very long way to go. If they couldn’t get to Jack’s parents’ house, just outside their hometown in the mountains, they would have to find somewhere to shelter overnight, too.

  “All right, everyone,” Jack said somberly, after a more serious mood had settled in, “into the mountains now. Into the mountains we go…”

  23

  “You’ve been driving for over eight hours, Jack,” Kate said, yawning and struggling to keep her eyes open. “I think you need to take a break.”

  Jack, who was fighting sleep and barely managing to stay awake, glanced at the clock on the dashboard. It was three o’clock in the morning. He hadn’t stopped driving since escaping from the army Humvee back in the city. Nick and Susan were sleeping, and Kate had almost drifted into the realm of sleep herself, despite the weather. The blizzard had gotten even worse, and the howling winds were now reaching speeds of upwards of sixty miles an hour. Even the heavy Humvee was being battered and rocked on the road like a flimsy rowboat in a storm out at sea, and snow had piled up in tall banks on both sides of the winding mountain roads.

  Because of the intense weather, Jack hadn’t been able to drive faster than twenty or thirty miles an hour, and in some sections, he’d had to crawl forward at a mere ten or fifteen miles an hour. A journey that should have taken six hours was now taking more than double that, and, he guessed, would probably take triple the time, ultimately.

  “Come on, Jack, you can’t go on much longer without sleep,” Kate urged. “Find a spot to pull over, and just rest for a few hours. If you insist on pushing on like this, we’re going to go over a cliff or something. You know how dangerous some sections of these mountain passes are.”

  Jack nodded wearily. Kate was right; he needed to sleep. He was losing his ability to concentrate, and out here, on these winding roads, some of which had vertical drops off the sides that plummeted hundreds of feet down, even a small mistake could end up causing the deaths of everyone in the vehicle. “All right, all right,” he said, unable to suppress a yawn. “I’ll find a sheltered spot where we won’t get buried by snow while we stop.”

  He drove on through the wind, snow, and darkness, and after around twenty minutes, he found a suitable place where a rocky overhang created a natural shelter over a bend in the road. Here, there was at least a little protection from both the incessant wind and the ceaseless snowfall. He pulled over, put his seat into a reclining position, and then was fast asleep in seconds.

  When he awoke, he wasn’t sure whether he had opened his eyes to reality or some strange dream realm. Dawn had broken and everything was white, almost glowing in the light of the new day. Despite the protection the overhang had provided, plenty of snow had piled up on the Humvee. There were a few inches of it on the hood and plenty on the windshield. The wind had stopped, and the snowfall was light, and everything seemed almost magical and fairytale-like. Jack knew that this was, however, a temporary state of affairs. This was just the eye of the storm, and it would certainly be raging at full strength soon enough. However, he allowed himself to enjoy this temporary haven of calm serenity for the next few moments.

  He was just about to drift back off to sleep when he picked up movement out of the corner of his eye. He tensed as he scrambled for his rifle, but when Jac
k saw what was moving, he relaxed and breathed out a slow, soft sigh. He reached over to Kate and gently shook her awake.

  When she opened her eyes, he pressed his fingers against his lips, signaling to her to remain silent, and pointed to what he had seen. She saw it, and her eyes widened with surprise, but she managed to restrain herself from letting out a yelp of surprise.

  A few feet from the Humvee, a big male mountain lion was walking by. He had taken a battering in the storm and looked quite haggard, but his baleful eyes still burned with primal defiance. He paused in his loping, looked up, and made eye contact with Jack. For a few moments, man and beast locked eyes, but there was no aggression in the gaze of either of them; instead, there was merely a respectful acknowledgment of the other’s presence. After a few seconds, the mountain lion padded away, scrambled down the slope on the opposite side of the road, and then was gone.

  “He’s just trying to survive like we are,” Jack murmured softly. “And I hope he makes it.”

  Before he’d noticed the mountain lion, Jack had been feeling groggy and had been planning to sleep a little longer, but now, after seeing the magnificent wild creature, he was wide awake, as was Kate.

  “We should get going,” he said to her. “It’s gonna be a long, slow, and difficult drive. Should we wake those two up?”

  Kate looked at Nick and Susan, who were still fast asleep. “No, let ‘em sleep a little longer,” she said.

  Nick was snoring. His head was tilted to the side so that there was no pressure on his injured ear. Kate and Jack shot each other a glance of concern; the dressing on Nick’s ear was dark with blood, but there were also splotches of yellow discharge that had come through the gauze. There was no doubt that his wound was now infected.

  “That doesn’t look good at all,” Jack said. “I’m worried about this kid. We’d better get him started on a course of antibiotics.”