The world today is filled with threats that have been foreseen for a generation or more. Although this story is fictional, it has a backdrop from one of these threats. Let's all hope it never happens.
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Ch 1 The attack
It was a warm spring day. The sun was bright and the sky was clear. I was working on my truck. The computer was giving me fits. I had pulled the whole assembly out looking to see if there was a broken pin or if the circuit board was cracked. Then it came without warning. The blinding light above the city was intense to say the least. Anything electric or electronic instantly went out or shut off. The same question was asked by everyone. 'Is this the EMP attack that we all feared?'
My sister called out the front door that we had lost electricity. I ran into the garage and grabbed the coolers. We packed all of the food we could get in them and dumped the ice we had on top. We cooked some of the meat for dinner so as not to waste as little as possible. People in the streets were going nuts. Thank God our parents were not alive to see this. They were killed recently. I was on active duty when it occurred. Susan was still under age, so being the only remaining family, I am more than 5 years older than her. I was given a medical discharge due to hardship circumstances. The military was looking into getting rid of me anyway due to the fact that I was seriously hurt while in combat. So it was easier to separate me then to keep me on active duty and only could do light duty until I healed. So now I was the V A's problem. Susan and I decided that we were going to move to our cabin in the mountains. The situation was not going to get any better any time soon.
I put the computer back together and tried to start the truck. Since it was not connected, I was hoping that it would still work. It didn't. My father had an old truck that the two of us were restoring, each time I cam home on leave, that was kept in a warehouse in town. I went inside and grabbed the keys to it, then walked to the warehouse. There were plenty of times that I almost sold it just to get rid of it. Am I glad I didn't. It didn't look like much, but it did run. Mechanically it beat a lot of trucks on the road, it just looked like an old rust bucket. It was made prior to all vehicles having a computer installed in them.
It was an old 4 speed, with over drive, on the floor, with a 350 hp engine. Dad had replaced the front trans-axle in it. We had beefed up the suspension to be able to haul heavier loads. I just hoped that the gas did not turn into varnish since it was sitting for several months. I put the key in the ignition and it started right up, it had almost a half full tank of gas. We had replaced the original gas tank for twin 20 gallon tanks for making longer trips. Only the right tank had gas in it. I drove home to get ready to move out. Susan and I grabbed what gas cans we had and took all of the gas we could out of my and her vehicles. Filled the one tank on the truck up and the rest in the cans. We packed the truck up with clothes, food and tools. Then left the following morning. The trip should take us about 2 days. That was without problems.
The first stop was to hook the generator to one of those ice machines and get what we could. I needed to bypass the coin machine. We got all that we needed and let anyone else grab what we left behind.. It took Susan and I about 3 hours to navigate out of the city, but once past the limits, the driving was easy. To conserve gas I would push the clutch in and coast downhill. Letting gravity have its way. We ate the sandwiches that Susan made as we continued to drive, so as not to have to stop in fear of being robbed. We each had a 9mm pistol in the door, but we did not want to have to use them. My .308 was behind me in the tool area. We knew that we would need to hunt after we got to the cabin.
When we passed through the outskirts of a small city late that afternoon, I drove into a car dealership and pulled into the maintenance garage. There were several cars that were being worked on. After checking each vehicle for gas, we found all of them still had some in their respective tanks. We siphoned as much as we could and filled the truck, generator and refilled the cans. I busted into the snack and soda machines and we had a carb filled dinner. Also, we had bottles of water that were badly needed.
Later that evening we searched the area and found one of those big box outdoor stores. One of the back doors were broken into already, so we went inside. I went to the knife and gun display and found a good hunting knife. The gun rack was still chained, but I was able to pick the lock and took a shotgun, along with several boxes of ammo. Also, there were still some boxes of ammo for the pistols and the rifle. Susan found us some warm weather clothing. I grabbed some of the fishing tackle that was on display to assist in getting any fish we can catch. We bagged up the bags of beef jerky and other food stuff that was left behind and went back to the dealership before someone else showed up.
We closed the doors and spent the night.
In the morning Susan gathered what snacks and soda was left and put it all in the truck. There was a big box auto parts dealer next door so I went into the store and found some parts for the truck and replaced the wiper blades. I also took all of the batteries, especially the deep cycle marine batteries for the solar system at the cabin. Also, they sold gas cans and we filled those as well from the cars in the showroom. Before we left I checked to see if anyone was in the area. There was not, so we hit the road again. We arrived at our cabin late that afternoon. It sits on 25 acres of heavily wooded property. The property has been in the family since my great-grandfather. There is a small lake that is fed from a stream. The fish in it will provide us with food for quite some time. The woods have plenty of game, providing that we are not over run with people trying to escape.
Susan unlocked the door, opened the windows and curtains to let the place air out. I brought in our clothes and supplies in the meantime. Susan went out back and turned the propane on for the stove and hot water heater. I went to the back room which held the control unit for the solar panels and checked to see what power we had. I also connected the marine batteries I had obtained to increase the available power. I told her that we should not cook on the stove so as to save as much gas as possible. She told me then that I needed to cut some more wood if that was the way things were to be. So, ax in hand, I ventured out to play Paul Bunyan. By the time I got back, Susan had all of the cold stuff put away and a fire going in the wood stove, a la heater, to cook dinner. I piled the wood on the back deck and built a small fire in the barbecue pit for cooking the next day, next to the one we used for just having a camp fire. After dinner, using one of the big cast iron pots, I heated some water to wash up with. We both cleaned up and went to bed feeling totally exhausted from the ordeal of the past couple of days.
We retired to the master bedroom because Susan did not want to be alone. She was afraid that we would be attacked. She asked me if I would hold her, so I put my arm around her midsection and pulled her to me.
"Susan, I put my pistol on the nightstand so if anyone does come into the house, they will not live long."
"Thank you Josh. This whole thing has me shaken. As you know, I do not scare easily, but this is a whole new experience."
"I know. I have been in a war zone. Have been shot at, and have dodged mortars, but this is totally new to me. Don't worry. I have been taking care of you for some time now and I will not stop now. I love you and will not allow any harm to come to you."
"I love you too. I have since we were younger. You have been my hero all of my life. Do you think that we can go back into town and see if there is a dog at the animal rescue?"