Charit Creek

by D A Carey

  Liz sensed his mood and tilted her head up to him with a Mona Lisa smile of contentment and belonging. Vince knew a kiss was coming that wouldn’t be silly or fun or friendly. It would change things between them. As a man, Vince desperately wanted this. As an older man who had been around, he second-guessed the intelligence of doing this even as he knew he wouldn’t, couldn’t stop.

  Then the lights went out, and the music stopped. At first people hooted and yelled, thinking there was a temporary “brown out” power outage. Someone loudly suggested an earthquake, although no one had felt a tremor.

  When Vince peered down at his cell phone and found it dead, he feared the worst. “Liz, we need to get out of here,” he said somberly, instantly sober.

  Liz didn’t care about the lights going out. She felt safe, secure, and happy here with Vince, her head resting on his chest. Right now, nothing else mattered to her. The present was lovely, and that was good enough. Swaying against Vince was enjoyable even without the lights and music.

  Then the reverie was broken when Vince said, “Liz, we need to get out of here now!”

  She’d heard that tone in Vince’s voice before. She wanted to cry and scream in rage at the same time. Why couldn’t she just have one night and hold a man close? She lifted her eyes to Vince, pain and longing lingering below the tears. “We will. Just let me finish dancing to this song.”

  “Liz, the power is out. The music stopped.”

  “Not in my head. I know this song by heart. Give me this song, Vince, please?”

  He nodded, and they danced slowly, not in a sexual way, and not even in the sensual way they had a few moments ago. Yet somehow this last dance was even more close and intimate than it had been before. The next few minutes felt timeless.

  When the song ended in Liz’s head, she stopped moving and looked up at Vince, mouthing, “Thank you.” She put her hand behind his head and pulled him down for a kiss. While it wasn’t the passionate kiss she had planned that could lead to a night of lovemaking, it was good in a way that reminded her of the time she kissed him on the boat in Carrollton, Kentucky. A time that was so far away in months and miles yet so chillingly close in circumstances.

  * * *

  A few minutes later, they made it to the street where they used Liz’s celebrity status to flag down someone driving a totally restored ’69 GTO for a ride to her home. She was forced to sit in Vince’s lap in the front seat while Bill and Ava rode in the back. The guy wanted to take some pictures of Liz leaning on his car for the ride, but his cell phone was dead. Liz made a likely empty promise to the car owner that he could come back for the pictures when the power came on. She and Vince had been whispering during the ride home. He feared the worst, and she trusted him.

  As soon as they got to her house, Vince asked to go through the panic room of prepper supplies. Throughout it all, Bill was quiet, allowing Vince to take the lead.

  “Okay, I suspect you and I have the same suspicions,” Bill said. “Let’s get it out in the open.”

  “What do you mean? What’s going on?” Ava asked with a tinge of panic in her voice.

  “If I’m not mistaken, Vince suspects an EMP has occurred,” Bill replied, making eye contact with Vince.

  Vince nodded curtly. “All the signs point to that. I don’t know why or how since relations with North Korea appear to be going okay, we haven’t heard much from Iran lately, and Russian and China don’t give the impression of being poised for something like this. I suppose it could have been some massive solar event like the Carrington Event that happened more than a hundred and fifty years ago. I don’t know the ‘why’s’ of it. I only know that everything I’m seeing points to an EMP.”

  “I agree,” Bill said. “I needed to hear it from someone else. So let’s talk about what comes next.”

  “I don’t know,” Vince said with weary acceptance. “I know what the studies say will happen after an EMP. What I don’t know is if that’s truly what will happen or how extensive the damage is. If it’s the entire country, we’re totally on our own, and we can expect as much as a ninety percent die-off in the chaos to follow. All those numbers are only theory. The government and utilities companies have hardened a small portion of the equipment over the last few years. Add that to the possibility that the impact of the EMP could be less severe than theorized. We could be okay. In that event, we are best to fort up and wait for help.”

  “What if it’s war?” Bill asked.

  Ava blanched. “War?”

  “If this was an attack, the U.S. will use everything at our disposal to knock any potential attacking nation back to the Stone Age. The government has done numerous studies on this scenario. They know that in weeks or months, we will be merely a skeleton of what we were yesterday. Politics are out the window. We have to make sure that no other country in the world will have to ability to walk in while our population is decimated and our technology has been rolled back a hundred years.”

  “What about the United Nations?” Bill asked.

  “That’s a concern. Our country is full of traitors. Many of the internal saboteurs are merely stupid and following someone else’s plan for a version of a utopia that doesn’t exist. A place where everyone can sit cross legged and sing kumbaya and be given free housing, food, and medical care for life for them and all the potential voters they can breed. That’s not our concern right now, though.”

  “What is?” Liz asked fearfully.

  “Within about an hour drive of where we sit right now live close to twenty million people who have morals and ethics that have been decaying for years. You saw that in Chicago last year with less than half of the population here. Additionally, in Chicago, we had a relatively small geographic area of risk. Here we have a much larger geographic area and twice as many people. Some will be getting crazy right now, although we shouldn’t see it get too bad for a few days.”

  “What happens in a few days?” Ava screeched.

  “People will get hungry. National averages say people have less than three days of food in their home. I suspect it’s less around us because those numbers are boosted by people in the more rural areas. Similarly, I expect many policemen will stop going to work when their families run out of food and need protection. Not because they’re bad, but because aren’t getting paid well and supported by the public. They would rather stay home and protect their own families.”

  “Damn,” Bill said. “I’ve always known those things intellectually. Having it slap you in the face like this is harsh.”

  “For tonight I say we get some sleep. We should take turns keeping watch. I don’t expect much more than some thieves checking to see who is home. A show of force will run them off.”

  “Shouldn’t we be doing more to get ready?” Liz asked.

  “To be honest, Liz, I’m dead on my feet. I can’t think straight right now. Let’s take some time to rest. Tomorrow we can fill all the water bottles we have, check to see what vehicles we have that run, and inventory supplies.”

  The group paused, deep in thought. It was Liz that broke the silence. “Vince, get some sleep. We need you at full strength physically and mentally. I have a feeling we have some long days coming.”

  “Thanks. This isn’t like me. I’m sorry.” Vince slowly stood and headed up the stairs.

  << Liz >>

  Vince was pale and looked dead on his feet. The last few days of work and parties must have taken more out of him than he’d thought. That shook Liz. She’d always thought of Vince as a rock, a man who couldn’t be hurt or die. Seeing him like this was wrong at a visceral level. As he stood and walked upstairs, she went with him. She wanted to be there in case he wanted to talk to her, away from the others.

  “Ava was barely holding it together,” she said when they were out of earshot of the others. “I’m worried about Junior, Kaley, and Tyler too.”

  “I’m sure they’ll be fine. Things won’t be too crazy for a day or two. Junior is a resourceful young man. He will get them ho
me. I expect Junior will come trotting in by morning.”

  “Get some sleep. We’ll talk more in the morning.”

  “You need sleep, too.”

  Liz couldn’t sleep, so she paced. Ava took some pills and was instantly asleep in one of the spare rooms. Bill positioned a recliner facing the huge windows with a commanding view of the front lawn and driveway and settled in. It was hard to tell if he was sleeping or not. Occasionally as Liz tiptoed through the room he’d raise an eyebrow or make a comment. “You should get some sleep, Liz.”

  “I can’t. I’m sure I’ll wind down tomorrow and we don’t have anywhere to go.”

  “You’re probably right.”

  Every sound made her jump. To keep her mind busy, she moved all the non-perishable food to the basement panic room. She filled the bathtubs and as many water bottles as she could find.

  Around four in the morning, Bill moved silently to the edge of the window, gun drawn.

  “What is it?” Liz hissed, trying to keep her voice low.

  “I’m not sure. I need you to get down the hallway to be safe.”

  “Do I need to go wake Vince?”

  “Not yet. I’m not sure it’s anything to worry about. Just stay back.” Three people were moving toward the house, staying close to the shrubbery. The two in the back were obviously not skilled at moving stealthily and didn’t try. The one in the lead had some skills. Bill prayed for them to keep moving past Liz’s home.

  Bill’s prayers didn’t work. They headed directly toward the house. Bill holstered his 1911 .45 and picked up the M4, moving silently to a shadowed area by the front porch so he could listen to the sounds from the intruders. His rifle was not outfitted with night vision, and while it did have a laser on the underside, Bill wasn’t ready to announce himself to the intruders yet. If they expected to rape, pillage, and plunder tonight, this was a bad place for them start. While he wasn’t ready to commence killing yet, that could change in a hurry.

  The man in the lead turned and motioned for the other two to stay back. He then turned and worked his way carefully to the darkened home. Bill could see a handgun of some sort in the man’s right hand down by his side.

  “That’s far enough,” Bill commanded. “Drop the weapon and raise your hands!”

  “Bill, it’s—”

  “I said drop the weapon!” Bill barked in his commanding, drill sergeant way.

  The man complied, dropping the weapon to the ground. Bill’s adrenaline was receding. He had a better idea what was going on now. Scarcely a moment ago, he was close to pulling the trigger and didn’t have time to second guess. His training had taught him not to relax until the situation was under control. Once everyone was safe and disarmed, there would be time for apologies. No amount of apologies worked when a buddy was dead because of someone’s lapse in judgment.

  “Identify yourself!” Bill commanded.

  “Dude, it’s me, Junior. Heck, I thought you were going to shoot me.”

  “Nope, you’re fine, though I wasn’t going to take any chances. Pick up your gun and you and the others can come on in. Don’t forget to wipe down your weapon.”

  “You saw them, huh?”

  Bill chuckled. “Yeah. Kind of hard not to.”

  “Okay.”

  “And be quiet. Vince and Ava are asleep. Liz is up and pacing. We’ll get you all bunked down and debrief together in the morning, unless you have something urgent we need to know.”

  “Probably nothing you don’t know or assume already. Tomorrow morning is fine.”

  “All right, you guys come on in.”

  << Christy >>

  The condo Mary and Christy shared in an affluent section of San Antonio went dark. It was a gorgeous location on the top floor of a prestigious Dwyer Avenue building in the King William area near the downtown Riverwalk area. It was close to parks, the arts, shopping, and work. Unfortunately, it was also in the middle of the most populated area in the region.

  “Mary, did we trip a breaker?”

  “I don’t think so. I was out by the infinity pool, and lights went out all over the city.” Mary’s voice sounded more angry than scared, as was her nature when she was frightened.

  “Damn. A power outage? That’s weird. Texas has a lot of redundancy built into their power systems and not a lot of natural disasters to impact the system.”

  If the lights had been on, Christy might have seen Mary roll her eyes. Christy was the prepper in the couple and spent a lot of time reading and studying this stuff. Mary was sure this small power outage would inflame Christy’s prepper mindset once more. Soon she would insist they head out to the community escape plan Christy had insisted they buy into out in the country. Mary only went along because it was a good investment.

  “Our panic room is battery powered. I’d advise bringing our bikes inside, though.”

  “Isn’t that a little paranoid? I’m sure they will have the power back on soon.”

  “Mary, bear with me here. It won’t hurt to go downstairs and check the cars. If the engines start, I won’t worry as much. If they don’t, then we need to bring the bikes indoors.”

  “At least let’s lock them up in the storage unit downstairs in the garage. I don’t want to carry them up eight flights of stairs.”

  “I’m good with that for a day or so. If the lights are out and our phones and cars don’t work, it’s only a couple days before things change drastically. This neighborhood will be a prime target, and the storage units in the garage will be easy to break into.”

  Seeing the fear in Mary’s normally strong face softened Christy’s approach. She pulled her in for a hug. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I’m just as scared as you are. I have studied this and planned for it, all the while hoping it was silly and we would never need it. Even now, I desperately hope I’m wrong. If I’m not wrong, we have plans, and our options won’t improve with time. It’s like that old saying we use at work, bad news doesn’t age well.”

  “You’re right. I trust you. Let’s get busy.” With a kiss, Mary was back to being strong. This was their strength, relying on each other and taking strength from each other.

  * * *

  With the bikes stored and their worst fears confirmed, they sat on the eighth floor rooftop pool area under the pall of a dark and eerie city. Occasionally, they heard screams. Christy couldn’t help but feel they were watching the calm before the storm, like the moment of quiet after an explosion before people started screaming. When their phones, lights, computers, and cars didn’t work, she knew better than to gaze out over the city and expect see much more.

  “Would you like some more wine?”

  “Yes and no. I feel like if there ever was a night to get drunk, this is it. However, I want to be clearheaded while we think this through,” Christy said.

  “This would only be my second most appropriate night to get drunk,” Mary teased nervously.

  “The second?”

  “Yeah, after the night I came out to my parents.”

  “Oh…” Christy said, her voice trailing off. Every person had their own personal experience with that conversation. Some memories didn’t get easier with time. Mary had been especially close to her father, and the disappointment in his face with the thought of not having the family line continue through Mary had hurt him deeply. In time, he got sick and died, and Mary never really got over it.

  “All this has me thinking about my family back in East Texas. I hope they’re okay. They’re farm people, so I assume they will be, but my mom is older, and I worry. I’m glad my dad didn’t live to see this.”

  “Let’s not worry about it for now and just look at the stars.”

  << Jim >>

  Big Jim was getting good and thoroughly drunk. Clyde Bandera was there as he always was. Clyde had been a young man in Big Jim’s father’s employ before he left for the Marines. After a dishonorable discharge, he came back home to find that the elder Jim Tarpley had died of a heart attack and the younger, bigger, meaner, le
ss intelligent Jim Tarpley was now in charge of the family fortune.

  That didn’t matter to Clyde. He didn’t judge, and the occasional trip south of the law on Big Jim’s behalf was usually fun and paid well. The Tarpley name was known all over Texas for oil, cattle, and other business ventures. That wasn’t enough for Big Jim. He wanted to be known around the entire U.S. and the world. He wanted to be asked to run for governor and turn it down. He wanted to hold the purse strings of the man who did become governor. He wanted to be an old school Texas land baron crushing those in his way.

  To achieve all that he dreamed of, he needed more wealth and power than his father had left him. He made one risky investment after another. Every time one of them paid off, he celebrated like he’d brought home a wildcat well, ignoring the five or ten ventures that failed. All of that led him to today’s drunken binge. His accountants had finally been brave enough to tell him that the credit lines extended by the oilmen-led banks had run dry. His reputation and lack of business sense were becoming known. Some of the more upstanding men were worried that word of Big Jim’s more unsavory business dealings would get out, and they didn’t want their reputations tarnished. Doors were closing to him, and he was mad and embarrassed. What was worse was that he was running out of ideas.

  “Jim, why don’t we mosey on down to the cathouse and drown our sorrows?” Clyde suggested.