After the EMP- The Darkness Trilogy

by Harley Tate

  Children and families, still so clueless and unprepared. It had been a week since the power grid failed and still no word from the government. How long would they all stand around waiting for someone to help them? How long before they all realized this was as good as it was going to get?

  Maybe shooting Bill would have woken them up. Jumpstarted their brains into survival mode instead of the cushy life they had all taken for granted.

  It was too late to wonder.

  Her parents’ neighbors were miles away, tucked into their delusions and deteriorating neighborhood. But Madison could still help the people trapped in the radio building. She’d made a choice when she lowered the shotgun and walked away from Bill. The world as they knew it might be over, but Madison wouldn’t turn into a monster. She wouldn’t lose what made her human.

  A bump against her leg caught her attention and Madison smiled as she bent down to scoop up Fireball, the cat her mother saved from Wanda’s apartment complex. She ran her fingers through his orange fur and the little guy purred against her chest.

  “I know you all think I’m crazy and that going into that radio building will only put us in danger. But we can’t turn our backs on everyone.”

  She glanced at her mother, who so far had stayed silent on the issue. “If you had driven by Wanda while she waited for the bus that wouldn’t come, we would never have gotten to know her.” Madison bent her head and snuggled Fireball closer. “We wouldn’t have this little guy or her father’s revolver or half of the food we managed to save.”

  Brianna shifted against the Jeep, her head bent as she stared at the asphalt beneath her feet. Her boyfriend Tucker spoke up from his position beside her. “Madison has a point. If Mr. Sloane hadn’t helped Drew when he got shot, he wouldn’t be alive. We’ve already made risky choices to help others. Why would we turn our back on people now?”

  “Because it’s a trap, that’s why.” Peyton ran a hand through his hair and took a step forward.

  Madison glanced at him in alarm. He might have been the biggest man in the group, but Peyton had always been a softie at heart. “You’re saying no?”

  “We’ve been lucky so far, but at some point it’s going to run out. Look at what happened to Wanda and Drew. They were shot for goodness’ sake. We don’t know what we’re getting into going to Chico. The whole campus could be a war zone. We barely have any ammunition, and Drew and your mom are hurt. Your father has to be exhausted. None of us have slept more than a handful of hours in days.”

  He kicked at a dandelion struggling to grow in a pavement crack. “At some point we have to put ourselves first.”

  Madison turned to her mom. While they had debated, she hadn’t said a word, her eyes focused on the burned skin of her left palm. Despite the expired antibiotics she had been taking, the blisters began weeping that afternoon, pus coating the angry red welts of raw skin.

  “Mom, tell me you agree with me.”

  After a moment, her mom raised her head, pinning Madison with blue eyes that usually held so much kindness. Now all she saw in their depths was regret and sadness. “If it were just our family, Madison, I would say yes. But we’re on the road to get Brianna home to her family’s cabin in Truckee. Stopping to help strangers will only delay us more and put us in even greater danger.”

  Madison opened her mouth to argue, but her mother held up her injured hand. “At the same time, we need medicine. Even if my hand heals, Drew needs antibiotics.” She glanced over at the man who had accompanied Madison’s father on his journey home. “Bullet wounds don’t heal themselves.”

  Drew winced as he pushed himself up to stand, the sunken pallor of his cheeks reminding Madison of apocalypse movies she used to watch for fun. Part of her wished the end of the world had come with zombies. At least then they would all have a common enemy.

  A bullet to the head wouldn’t restore the power.

  “I don’t want you all to make a decision based on my needs.” Drew ran his tongue over chapped lips. “There have to be a hundred pharmacies on the way to Truckee. We’ll find one that hasn’t been ransacked. We don’t need to go to Chico. For all we know, it’s already destroyed. A student infirmary has just as much reason to be broken into as a pharmacy.”

  Madison shook her head. “I don’t agree. Townies don’t go into college campuses. They don’t even know about student health centers. If anywhere is going to have antibiotics, it’s going to be there.”

  Her father cleared his throat. “We can talk about this until the morning, but it won’t get us anywhere. I say we put it up to a vote. Majority wins.” He glanced at Drew and then Tracy before focusing on his daughter. “I’m sorry, honey, but my vote is no. It’s too risky.”

  Madison swallowed. From the way he stood so solemn and reserved throughout the debate, she had known her father would say no. But it still stung to hear him say it out loud. She turned to her mom. “What do you think?”

  Her mom reached out with her good hand and gave her father’s hand a squeeze. “I understand your reasons.” She turned to Madison. “I vote yes on one condition: we go to the health center first. Antibiotics should be the priority. We need to save who we have before we think about saving anyone else.”

  Tucker spoke up next. “I vote yes, too. Even if it’s a trap, we should try. If we were stuck on campus, I would hope someone would have the decency to save us.”

  Madison smiled at Brianna’s boyfriend. She had gotten to know him a bit through her roommate, but it had taken the end of the world for Madison to really bond with Tucker.

  Brianna sighed next to him. “I vote no.” She turned to Peyton. “How about you?”

  Peyton glanced up at Madison. “Sorry, Madison. I vote no. Your dad is right. We can’t risk it. After what happened to Wanda…” He trailed off and pinched the back of his neck, his face contorted with conflicting emotions.

  Madison exhaled. “Obviously I vote yes, so that’s three yes votes and three no votes.” She turned to the only person left. “What do you say, Drew?”

  He exhaled and glanced at her father. “I don’t think it’s right for me to make the call. Walter already risked his life to save me. I can’t ask him to do it again.” He rubbed at his wound. “I’m abstaining. You all will have to figure this one out.”

  Madison groaned to herself. A tie? How could this be? She stepped toward Peyton. “I know you’re upset about Wanda, but can’t you see we need to do this?”

  “For all we know someone else is already there rescuing that Mandy chick and her friends.”

  “And if they aren’t?”

  “It’s not our problem, Madison.”

  “But they’ll die.”

  “She could be bait. We could be walking into something we can’t get out of. I went along with it when you all insisted on going into that convenience store and I kept my mouth shut when your mom and Brianna and Tucker hit the Walmart. But I can’t go along with this. One of these times, someone is going to die.” He shook his head. “This time it could be you.”

  Madison blinked. Peyton voted no to keep her safe? She glanced at her father. He stared at Peyton with an expression Madison couldn’t read. Were they in on it together? Had they talked about it somehow?

  She shook her head. “You all are crazy. I can’t believe you’re just going to let this girl die.” Madison stared at each person who voted no in turn. Her father, best friend, and roommate.

  After a moment, Brianna pushed off the Jeep with a scowl. “Fine. I’ll change my vote.”

  “Brianna, no!”

  She waved Peyton off. “I’m only doing it because Madison’s right. A student pharmacy is our best bet. And if that doesn’t work, Chico State has a veterinary school. There will be antibiotics there.”

  “Are you sure?”

  She nodded. “I looked into it when I applied to college. They have a huge agriculture department and vet program. It’s not as big as UC Davis, but it’s a close second.”

  Peyton glanced up. “If the
y have an agriculture department that means plants and seeds. Livestock, even.”

  Madison’s father added his opinion. “There might be a truck we could use, too. We could swap out the Jetta for something that can transport more supplies.” He glanced at Brianna. “I hate the idea of showing up at your folks’ place empty-handed.”

  “Then we’ll go? We’ll try to save those people?”

  Her father exhaled. “Let’s find a place to make camp and sleep for the night. We’ll go first thing in the morning.”

  DAY EIGHT

  Chapter Two

  WALTER

  California State University, Chico

  8:00 a.m.

  This is a terrible idea. He felt like Admiral Ackbar. The girl over the radio couldn’t sound like more of a scam if she tried. His daughter’s best friend pegged the whole scenario right from the start: sweet-sounding Mandy Patterson was bait.

  He was heading into a trap with his injured wife, his former co-pilot with a bullet hole in his shoulder, and four kids who weren’t old enough to drink. It wasn’t that different from a grunt officer heading out on patrol.

  Walter snorted. Reason one out of a hundred he opted for that flight contract. Flying in for a mission with no one to rely on but himself was easy. Placing his trust in a bunch of kids with guns they barely knew how to shoot was one of the hardest things he’d ever done.

  These weren’t seasoned Marines with a deployment or two under their belts. These were college kids who up until a week ago worried about exams and hangovers and whether their plants were growing all right. They hadn’t seen combat. They didn’t know what war was like.

  Walter frowned at himself in the rearview mirror. His daughter shouldn’t have to be a part of this. She should be tucked away somewhere safe while the world went to shit.

  His wife should be relaxing and treating her burned hand. Instead she sat in the passenger seat with a pistol shoved under her waistband, checking for possible targets out the window.

  Walter had made it home, but his family wasn’t the same as when he’d left. He should be protecting them from the realities of this new existence and keeping them safe. Not leading them straight into danger and a potential trap they couldn’t escape. He shifted the mirror to get a glimpse of Madison.

  Only nineteen. So damn young and full of life. She shouldn’t have bruises from a shotgun stock on her shoulder and cuts and scrapes from escaping a raging fire. She shouldn’t have watched a woman bleed out from a gunshot wound or sifted through the wreckage of her home for things to salvage.

  He’d failed her. A week into the apocalypse and Walter had failed to keep his family safe. But that would change. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel and turned his attention back to the road. From now on, no matter what danger they faced, he would ensure his family’s safety.

  Madison’s roommate Brianna led the way in front of them with her canary-yellow Jeep. She claimed to know the way and despite wanting to be in front to scope out the situation, Walter had acquiesced and let her take over. As the Jeep slowed, Walter caught a glimpse of a sign up ahead.

  California State University, Chico

  Undergraduate Campus

  He inhaled and glanced at his wife. “Looks like we’re here.”

  Tracy nodded. He could tell by the lines around her mouth she was in serious pain, but she never admitted it. Her hand looked like rotting hamburger, raw and oozing. She needed better antibiotics. It was the main reason he’d given in at last.

  Brianna pulled the Jeep over to the side of the road and stuck her hand out the window, waving them forward. Walter pulled up alongside and Tracy rolled down the window.

  “I don’t know where anything is on campus. It’s been too long since I’ve been here. Do you want to take the lead?”

  Walter leaned over his wife to answer. “Sure thing. First sign of trouble, I’ll tap the brakes three times. Got it?”

  Brianna nodded and the window rolled up.

  Here we go. Walter eased past the Jeep and turned right onto campus. So far, the drive had been uneventful. When the road was clear, they were the only cars on it. When it was crowded with abandoned vehicles and accidents, it looked like a ghost town.

  Every strip mall they drove by had been looted: windows smashed in, blackened soot clinging to the signs, debris littering the parking lots. A few places appeared intact, but Walter assumed it was by sheer force of will. Whoever sat inside those stores had serious protection.

  He hoped the college would be spared from the chaos of the rest of town. As they drove down the main street, his daughter gasped in the back seat. Guess hope didn’t make it to Chico State.

  “Why would someone do this?” Madison’s voice warbled as she stared out the window. “It’s senseless.”

  Walter exhaled. The first building they drove by looked like a bomb had detonated inside. Papers littered the rangy grass out front, covering up the growing brown spots from lack of water. A soda machine sat on its side, front door pried open, dozens of cans sprawled in a circle around it. Someone had taken a spray can to the stucco, scrawling something about armageddon and justice.

  “It doesn’t take much to set off a mob.” He’d seen it firsthand in LA twenty-five years ago. Then again in downtown Sacramento only a few days before. “Get enough people together and no law enforcement and this is what happens.”

  “But why?” Madison pointed out the window. “Why destroy things you can use?”

  His wife spoke up next to him. “No one is thinking about the future. They aren’t focused on what life will be like a year from now or even a month. Most people don’t understand the gravity of the situation.”

  Madison mumbled something in the backseat before speaking up. “How long do you think before they figure it out?”

  “That the power’s never coming back on?” Walter mulled it over. “For some, the denial will last until their last breath. Others already suspect or know.”

  He wished he could save his daughter from all of this, but she needed to understand what they were up against and why sometimes she needed to say no and ignore cries for help. “There will be countless people who can’t adapt. Without skills, and foresight, millions of people will simply starve to death over the next few weeks.”

  The next building they drove past looked the same as the first: broken windows and chaos. “Instead of breaking into stores for food, people broke in to steal TVs and sneakers. It’s the same in any riot. People go for the things they think have value. No one places importance on food and water anymore. Those are too easy to come by.”

  “Not for everyone.”

  “In the major cities, it is. I saw it downtown. Grocery stores and pharmacies burned, all the stock turned to ash on the shelves.”

  Tracy agreed. “Those two guys in Walmart weren’t thinking about the future. They used half the ammo in that place for target practice.”

  Walter snorted in disgust. If he’d only been home, his wife and daughter would never have had to do the things they did. Their house would still be standing. All the supplies Tracy left behind in Walmart would be tucked away in their garage. He would never forgive himself for boarding that flight when his gut told him to go home.

  “Dad, look! It’s the cafeteria. They might have—” His daughter’s excitement cut off mid-sentence as the building that once housed the campus dining hall came into view.

  The red brick and yellow stucco still stood, marred by giant swaths of black soot and fire marks. Every window gaped at them, showing off the blackened maw of destruction inside the building.

  “All that food. All the supplies. Gone.” Madison’s voice took on a tinny quality and Walter glanced in the rearview in time to catch her wipe at her cheek. “Where are all the students?”

  “It was spring break, remember? The ones who stayed on campus are probably on the road by now. As soon as the campus police force broke down, the whole place probably devolved into a riot. Most kids wouldn’t stick around to r
ide it out.”

  Tracy shifted in the passenger seat. “Let’s find the student health center. Then we can talk about helping that girl.”

  “We are helping her, Mom.”

  Walter bit back a comment. Now wasn’t the time to take a side. “Keep your eyes out. As soon as you see a sign for the health center, let me know.”

  They drove through most of campus, circling down and back on every road in an attempt to find the place. There wasn’t a single part of campus untouched. Every third or fourth school building had been struck by vandals and looters. Walter’s hope dimmed with every new block.

  “There! It’s right over there!” Madison jabbed her index finger at the window and Walter followed the trajectory. A newer building sat at the end of the block, the outside apparently unharmed. “It looks all right!”

  Walter pulled into the parking lot one building over and parked next to an abandoned vehicle. Brianna pulled in the Jeep beside them. Everyone piled out and stretched their legs.

  “Do you think it’s empty?”

  “Without any windows busted out and no fire damage?” Walter shook his head. “Not a chance.”

  “That’s what I was afraid of.” Peyton frowned at the building. “Whoever’s inside is doing a good job of keeping everyone out.”

  “It doesn’t matter.” Brianna pulled the rubber band out of her hair and redid her ponytail, collecting all the ringlets up into a sloppy bun on top of her head. She dropped her voice as she continued. “Drew is getting worse by the minute. He’s too pale and his head is hot. He won’t last much longer without medicine.”

  Walter nodded. He’d feared as much. “Tracy needs medicine too.”

  “I’m fine.”

  He smiled at his wife. “I can tell you’re in pain, dear. You put on a brave face, but that hand is killing you. You need pain medication and better antibiotics.”

  Walter surveyed the motley crew assembled around him. Drew hadn’t even gotten out of the Jeep. He couldn’t be counted on to do anything but keep breathing, if he managed that. That left two young men, himself, his injured wife, and Madison and her roommate.