After the Solar Flare (Book 1): Alone in the Apocalypse

by AJ Newman

“You are in the middle of our turf, Gringo.”

  “You are dying and still talking tough?”

  “My brothers heard the shots and they will be here in a few minutes. You are walking dead.”

  I shot him between the eyes and urged Mary to help me load up our stuff and hit the road.

  Mary called the Nuns on the radio and told them to get ready to bugout.

  We were a couple of blocks away when we heard the roar of motorcycles coming from the direction of the truck lot. They were searching for us, but luck was on our side today, as they didn’t find us.

  “Mary, we need to load up the children and get the hell out of here now. I don’t want to get into a war with a bunch of drugged out gangbangers while trying to protect the children.”

  “I agree, you load up our stuff and I’ll help the nuns get the kids ready.”

  “Sisters, there is no time to talk. We must leave now. That gang, the Diablo’s, is in the area and looking for us. We have to leave now.”

  It only took 10 minutes to get our stuff loaded, then I pitched in and helped load up the kids and their equipment.

  Herding kids is similar to herding cats, or like trying to load jackrabbits on a flatbed trailer.

  I started wondering about being trapped on a boat for several weeks with 11 kids and 2 nuns.

  In another 15 minutes, we were on our way out of town.

  ***

  Patty didn’t know it then, but while Mary and I were tending to the kids in El Paso, her group passed us by on their way to Corpus Christi.

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  Chapter 17

  Patty’s Journey

  Patty experienced a very harrowing journey and I wrote her story just as she told it to me. Her journey hardened her and gave her the resolve to survive; no matter what it took.

  ***

  Hwy 13

  New Mexico, USA

  Antonio stopped for the night at an abandoned hotel in Artesia, NM just off Highway 13. The trip had been uneventful except for a small scare in Roswell when several men jumped in front of the truck when they slowed to get around two stalled cars.

  Antonio was driving when it happened and floored the gas petal knocking one man down and running over another. The truck bucked and Antonio took them on out of town as if it never happened. Patty looked back in time to duck as the injured man shot several times at them as they fled the area.

  They drove around a motel to check for any threats and found none. They split up and began kicking in doors until they found two rooms that were clean and hadn’t been used.

  He parked the truck in front of the rooms so they could keep watch for thieves.

  Patty brought her backpack and Bug Out bag in from the truck and settled in for the night with her dog Max. The first thing she did was to wedge the chair under the doorknob so no one could get in the room.

  The second was to place a hammer by the window so she could escape if needed. Max and she ate alone by moon light in our room before turning in for the night.

  Patty came instantly awake hearing a low growl from Max. The doorknob again jiggled and she heard a bump on the door. She drew her pistol and heard a whispered curse from the other side, as the intruder retreated.

  She had felt that Antonio might be trouble and this convinced her to stay on her guard around him.

  Their sleep was interrupted several times by sounds in the night. It would be a long time before she was able to get a restful night’s sleep.

  The next morning Carla fried eggs covered in cheese and hot sauce, thanks to Antonio’s early morning scavenging trip. The tasty meal was a great change from the MRE’s.

  She was a bit surprised that Antonio was his normal self as he joked and played with the kids. He acted as though nothing at all had happened in the night.

  Carla got the kids dressed, and they loaded everything back onto the truck and drove towards Highway 10 passing through Carlsbad, Loving and Pecos before getting on Highway 10 east at Fort Stockton.

  They stopped for lunch on the outskirts of Fort Stockton and hid behind a large delivery truck near a Walmart parking lot.

  Antonio wanted to park in the lot, but Patty felt sure that with all the treasures inside, that there would be some well-armed squatters, that would not want company.

  They siphoned gas into the truck’s tank while Carla prepared lunch. Patty tried to help Carla, but she told her that she didn’t need any help.

  The children still thought they were on a road trip to visit relatives and were oblivious to the danger and tension, except for the bandit thing, but Antonia said it was the Frito Bandito, and that it was just a game. Some kids will believe anything.

  Patty joined them in a game of checkers while Antonio tracked down more gas.

  Things changed dramatically when they started east on Highway 10. They were passed by a string of Humvees heading east at a high rate of speed and saw several other cars and trucks ahead and behind them.

  Patty told Antonio, “I think we are beginning to see other people heading south. We need to concentrate on staying on guard.”

  “I think you are right. They are all heading towards San Antonio. I hope they stay there and don’t go on to Corpus Christi. I don’t want to find a million people looking for a boat to take them south.”

  “I’m hoping they’re just driving south and trying to stay in the USA as long as possible.”

  “Maybe, we’ll see,” said Carla.

  Either they passed a car, or a car passed them every half hour on Highway 10 west of San Antonio. Most were families with their possessions stacked on the car’s roofs or in trailers. They saw several military convoys heading east, but only one heading west. Most of the people waved; a few focused straight ahead.

  Antonio waved his hand and pointed ahead. There was a truck on the side of the road with its hood up and several people were trying to flag down passing cars. No one stopped. Patty felt horrible as they passed the truck. There was a young woman with three kids standing by a man who lay on the ground. Still, they didn’t slow down so Patty couldn’t tell what had happened to the man.

  Matt’s voice began ringing in her ear. It could be an ambush. Yes, even though Patty felt bad, she didn’t really feel that bad.

  Patty said a quick prayer hoping the man was okay. They kept driving and Patty knew stopping could place them all in danger.

  They finally saw the first signs for San Antonio and a short while later Antonio pulled the truck off the road into the garage at a new Chevrolet Dealer in Kerrville. He had to jimmy the lock on one of the overhead shop doors, but he quickly had the door up.

  “Carla, fix dinner while Patty and I go get some gas. We’ll spend the night here.”

  He poured all of the gas from the five-gallon containers into the truck’s gas tank and gave two to Patty. He retrieved a short piece of garden hose and two more five-gallon cans and followed Patty. They walked out to the lot, stopped at a Chevy Z71 4X4 pickup and he was able to fill all four cans.

  Antonio looked over at Patty and said, “You haven’t said much about yourself. Are you married or is one of your friends a boyfriend?”

  “My husband died a few weeks ago and the two people I’m trying to find are my best friends. I don’t have a boyfriend. What about you and Carla, I know she is your sister-in-law, but is she your girlfriend?”

  Antonio laughed, “The puta would like that, but, oh Hell no! She’s too much like her sister. I had a nice young girlfriend back home after my wife died, but Carla ran her off. I was about to throw Carla out when everything went dark.”

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”

  “It’s okay, don’t worry. I just need someone to talk to every now and then that isn’t mui loco.

  Where will you go when you leave us? You know that you are welcome to stay with us.”

  “Thanks for the offer, but I need to find my friends. I’ll keep searching for them.”

  “I like you and want to be your frien
d.”

  “You are my friend.”

  Antonio confused Patty, he was so sweet, caring and tender in person, but skulked around at night trying to get into her room. She liked him, but intended to keep this friend at arm’s length. She noticed Antonio was different to her in front of Carla, and she wondered if they were much closer than he told her.

  Carla was polite enough, but she wouldn’t speak to Patty unless she spoke first. Patty knew she had to get away from this family as soon as possible, because she just wasn’t sure what the danger really was.

  They carried the gas cans back to the truck and filled it before having dinner with Carla and the children.

  Dinner was quiet when Carla spoke up, “Antonio, please hurry up. It’s cold and the kids need the heat in the truck. They are freezing.”

  He looked over at his children playing and replied, “They look okay to me. Oh what the hell, come on Patty let’s go get some more gas.”

  Antonio and Patty went back outside with the empty gas cans to go fetch more gas before dark. They had no trouble finding cars with half-full tanks.

  Antonio talked a lot about his life and his children. He disliked his dead wife, but he really loved his kids. He spoke several times about his dislike for Carla and her being too much like his wife.

  “Antonio, why do you keep her around if she is mean to you and the kids?”

  “She’s not mean to the kids. She’s just stern. If she were mean, I’d get rid of her in a single heartbeat. She cooks, cleans and takes care of the kids so it’s like having a free maid.”

  “Is that fair to her? I think she loves you and is jealous of any woman around you.”

  “You got that right. She hates you and asks me every day to leave you on the side of the road.”

  “Will you do that?”

  “No, you are my friend and you are a big help with protecting my family. Carla couldn’t handle a rifle or help get petrol, but watch out for that dagger she keeps under her apron.”

  That scared Patty to the bone and probably explained who was trying to get into her room at night.

  The sun was ducking below the horizon as they walked back to the truck. Patty could see Antonio’s breath dance in the waning sunlight as he spoke. Patty guessed she was growing a bit fond of this man, but still feared him, she definitely didn’t trust Carla.

  Antonio found a motel and they performed their regular routine of checking for other people before settling into suitable rooms. This time they had to search three hotels before finding one with no one present. He drove to the far end before choosing rooms for the night.

  Patty secured the door with a chair, cleaned up the best she could and went to sleep. She awoke in the middle of the night again, to hear Max’s low warning growl because her door was yet again being rattled as someone tried to force their way in to the room. The door wouldn’t budge and the noise soon stopped. This happened once more during the night and again the person couldn’t budge the door and gave up. It had to be that bitch Carla or was it Antonio who tried to get her to fear Carla.

  Patty lay there unable to sleep thinking that Antonio must have a dual personality. He never made a pass at her to her face, but he kept trying to break into her room to…well, she didn’t want to think about that.

  Antonio smiled at Patty and said, “Good morning sunshine. I hope you slept well last night.”

  She didn’t want to call him out so she just replied, “I slept very well thank you. How are you doing this morning?”

  “Mui bien, gracias.”

  They had a cold breakfast of left over sandwiches before getting on the road again.

  Antonio pulled away from the hotel and drove down Highway 10 towards San Antonio. The kids were asleep in the back all bundled up against the cold air. They decided to take Highway 37 south around the city and drive straight to Corpus Christi. Patty remembered Matt saying something about Corpus maybe not being the best place to go, but just couldn’t remember why, but she was a bit worried. The traffic was very low for normal traffic in a city this size, but they saw cars heading both ways on Highway 37, so they took that as a good sign. This was the first incidence of anything resembling real traffic that they had seen since the lights went out.

  Antonio spoke up after a few minutes, “What do you see that’s odd about the traffic besides there are only a few dozen cars and trucks on the road?”

  Patty looked around for a few seconds and replied, “They are all older cars without electronic ignition.”

  “Damn, you are right. I wonder why new cars aren’t running.”

  Patty replied, “the solar flare destroyed the electronics in all new cars, phones, TVs and the electric grid.’

  “How do you know this?”

  “Scientists have known this could happen for many years. Nuclear bombs will also destroy electronics by producing an electromagnetic blast. Preppers like me study and prepare for this possibility.”

  “I feel dumb.”

  “Don’t feel bad. Most people have never heard of the possibility that a solar flare could wipe out our electronics and power distribution.”

  Carla said something in Spanish that she understood to be, “That bitch thinks she is so smart. I’ll show her how dumb her ass is.”

  Antonio replied in Spanish and Patty caught most of the meaning, “Shut the fuck up you old puta. She is a nice lady.”

  Patty coughed and said, “It’s not nice to talk in another language in front of people.”

  He replied, “Sorry we were being rude.”

  They drove around San Antonio before noon and were only 10 miles from Corpus Christi by mid-afternoon. Stalled cars on and beside the highway slowed their pace considerably. They had to weave between stalled cars and personal objects left in the middle of the road from people trying to carry too much luggage after abandoning their cars.

  He drove much closer to the town than they planned because there were so few people. The place was practically a ghost town. Then they noticed graves everywhere beside the road and rotting bodies in alleys and front yards. Buzzards were everywhere. The stench was sickening, but they kept moving towards the Gulf of Mexico.

  Antonio wanted to find a safe place to hideout while he went to the docks to find a boat suitable for the journey to Guatemala. They chose an abandoned house beside a park about half a mile from the Gulf. He parked the truck and trailer in the garage and then they prepared to stay there until he found a boat. He would get up before dawn and walk down to the harbor to search for a large deep draft powerboat or perhaps a deep sea fishing boat.

  Antonio headed out an hour before dawn since he wanted to get to the harbor before anyone was awake for the day. The city was almost too quiet. The only noise was the occasional bark of a dog. About half way to the docks, a pack of six large dogs started following him. They kept getting closer until he found a garbage can lid and banged it against the side of a building. He was very glad they took off, but he would keep an eye out for them and other dangers. After all, he didn’t want to be eaten before he got his children safely to their new home.

  He struck out that morning. There were only wrecks, burned out hulks and a few boats in dry dock of the size needed to go out on a deep water cruise.

  He had expected to see many more boats at the Corpus Christi Yacht Club, but there were only a few dinghies and four sunken boats. He sat on the dock at the Yacht Club thinking about his next move when he heard a voice from the shore.

  “Mister, there ain’t no boats left here in the city. The people got scared of the snow coming and hauled ass south. Hell they fought for the boats. Hundreds were killed and a shit pot full of boats were burned.”

  “Where can I find a boat?”

  “Not in Corpus Christi. You might have to go up or down the coast and find a small village where they haven’t heard about the permanent winter.”

  “How did you hear about it?”

  “My son is in the Coast Guard and was stationed here. He wanted me to go wit
h him, but I’m 71 years old and I ain’t moving to South America. I might freeze my brass balls off here, but I won’t go to no dang “ferrin” country.”

  “Thanks for the help. Have you seen any gangs?”

  “There were at first after the shit hit the fan, but they either killed each other off or moved south. Now don’t you be fool enough to try to cross the border, even if you are a Mex. Hell, you’ll end up drafted in the Mexican Army. We’re now at war with them damned Mexicans. Them that din’t git pushed south, or kilt, are killing Americans on sight if they catch ‘em trying to cross in to Mexico.

  Our Army wiped their military out before loading up and moving south. Still, them soldier boys from Fort Hood left a Infantry Battalion, and one of them Tank Companies. Biggest danged things I ever did see. Yep, them tanks scared all them gangbangers back across the border, though they is some still around, so you best grow eyes in the back a your head, ya’ hear?

  Now down in Mexico the drug gangs run things wherever our army ain’t. It might take a while to settle ‘em down, but Mexico will become a part of the Union. You just wait, things will be better for them Mex’s, too.”

  “Thanks for the advice.”

  Antonio didn’t know what to make of the old man, but he believed what he’d heard. He traveled back to them quickly.

  ***

  “Ladies, there weren’t any boats in the harbor that I would trust to make it off the wharf. I’m going to drive north to several small towns and maybe I can find one there. If not I will come back and then travel south until I find a boat.

  There’s one out there waiting for us, there’s got to be.”

  Carla was disappointed and replied sarcastically, “Are you sure you checked every marina?”

  “Si, I know what I’m doing, so shut the hell up, you old bat. People took every good boat and headed to South America just like we are wanting to do.”