Apocalypse Coming

by William Dunaway

  Finally, there was a discussion on aid to the United States and the best approach to helping the American people themselves. Many members were highly concerned with the violence happening in the US. It was agreed upon that aid workers would have to have military protection, and due to the destruction caused in many of the major cities, evacuation of the American people may be the best option. Of course, then the problem would be where to resettle the evacuees. The members decided to table the rescue effort until after the vote on the unification of their military.

  Finally, the vote was taken, and the proposal was passed by a two-thirds majority. Great Britain and France led the opposition to the proposal, but since Britain had voted earlier in the year to drop out of the European Union by the end of the year, they didn’t have the influence that they have always had in the past.

  Once unification was passed, the vote to disband NATO passed with a 95% majority.

  At the conclusion of the voting, the meeting was adjourned for the day.

  Chancellor Kohl had received exactly what she wanted. The European Union was now a military superpower, and she was in control.

  No more would they have to fold to political pressure from the United States. And now they wouldn’t have to fear Russian aggression or even an oil embargo. With the American government being destroyed and their military being in complete chaos with the destruction of the Pentagon, there was no single government on earth that could stand up to her European Union.

  Eastern Kansas:

  Paul had been driving for a couple of hours. He didn’t have any problems, even though as the morning got later, he noticed more people walking down the road. Some tried flagging him down, but he forced himself to ignore them. He couldn’t take a chance on anyone causing problems.

  When he drove outside of Ft. Scott, Kansas, the National Guard was guarding the off-ramps into the city. Since he was continuing north, they didn’t attempt to stop him.

  He assumed that the guard unit was from Ft. Scott itself. He only saw a couple of military vehicles in position at the roadblock. He wondered if all military vehicles were built to withstand an EMP or was it because some guard units had older vehicles. He also wondered how many cities had guard units that weren’t deployed overseas.

  North of Ft. Scott, he only had to drive through a couple of small towns. He was so happy that he had decided to stay on the Kansas side.

  He got excited when he saw he was approaching Louisburg, Kansas. That was his turn onto 2 Highway and a short distance to the Missouri line and Harrisonville.

  As he drove through Louisburg, there was something different. He expected more people to be moving about as it was much later in the morning. But many of the people had a panic look on their faces, almost of desperation. One group even tried to block his path as he was driving around stalled vehicles but once again, playing chicken against a vehicle, the mob finally gave way.

  His gas gauge was on E. He was really worried that he’d run out while trying to get away from the mob. Finally, he made it out of town and was back in the countryside. He pulled over briefly and added the gallon of gasoline that he had saved from earlier. Then after driving approximately five miles, he started honking his horn as he crossed the Missouri line. Earlier, he had some doubts if he’d even make it but now, he was within an hour of the farm.

  As he continued driving, he started daydreaming about being out of prison, the life he now wanted to live, and wondering what life would be like now. Except for those that still had older vehicles, everything had gone back in time about 125 years. For most people, there’d be no electricity, fast food restaurants, telephones, or credit cards. The real problem today is society itself. Back in the late 1800’s, people had some survival skills and the means to defend themselves. For the most part, they had to do everything for themselves or hire it done. People grew their own food. They owned horses and most knew how to survive. People today aren’t like that. A lot of people didn’t even keep that much food in their home as they were use to going out to eat or running to the grocery store.

  The people living in the country will probably survive longer, as many have their own gardens, crops, cattle, horses, and if they own some decent land, they have wildlife they can hunt. The people in the cities, especially the large cities, would be doomed.

  Paul thought about the popular zombie series that’s on television and how eventually it would probably get just as bad, but it won’t be zombies it will be the desperate mobs we’ll be fighting and avoiding.

  Thinking about going back in time, even back then, most people had a little bit of money. But right now, by what he heard on the news, the dollar was worthless.

  Suddenly Paul broke out of his daydream as he drove around a curve and had to slow down rapidly. As he was approaching a small-town called Freeman, Missouri, that was a short distance from the Kansas/Missouri border; he noticed two cars that were sitting end-to-end across the road. He then noticed 2 or 3 people using the cars as cover and they appeared to have rifles. He stopped to think out the situation. “It could be just a town trying to protect themselves. Or it could be some thugs, wanting whatever they could find.” After he had sat for a moment, he noticed the three riflemen raised their weapons and had their sights right on him. “I can turn around and speed off but, they have me in their sights. There is a good chance I’ll be hit. Come on dumb shit, think of something, don’t just sit here.”

  Suddenly he saw someone riding up to the checkpoint on horseback. Paul could see that he was wearing a uniform and a badge pinned to his chest.

  Paul decided to drive slowly up to the roadblock. He kept both hands on the wheel, in plain sight. The officer climbed off his horse as Paul approached.

  “Ok, that’s far enough. Keep your hands where I can see them,” The officer ordered.

  As the officer approached the vehicle, all three riflemen had their rifles pointing right at Paul. “Could I see your driver’s license please?”

  “Shit! Think fast dumb ass.” Paul thought to himself. He decided to tell a lot of truth with a few lies.

  “Sir, I lost it. This isn’t even my vehicle. I was staying with a friend down in Oklahoma when all this happened, and a plane crashed right outside the house, destroying it. I barely made it out alive.”

  The officer stared at him for a moment and looked around the inside of the vehicle and asked, “If that’s the case, what are you doing up here?”

  “I’m heading up to my dad’s farm east of Harrisonville, Missouri. I wanted to avoid the interstate and going through the Joplin area, so I came up through Kansas. Now I’m getting close enough; I thought I’d cross here and try I-49.”

  “What’s your name?”

  “Paul, Paul Johnson.”

  “Are you armed?”

  “Yes, sir. I have a handgun on the seat next to me.”

  “Ok, using your left hand, reach over and grab the gun by the barrel and set it up on the dash in plain sight.” Paul moved very slowly and followed the officer’s instructions exactly as stated.

  “Good. Now, you said the truck wasn’t yours, whose is it?”

  Paul could tell the officer was sizing him up to figure out whether he was telling the truth.

  So he decided, to tell the truth.

  “It was given to me by a store owner that was being robbed, and I was walking by at the time, and I stopped the punks from killing him and his son.”

  The officer eyeballed Paul for a moment more, then replied, “Alright, I believe you. I don’t think anyone could make up a story like that on the fly.” He gave a signal to the riflemen to lower their weapons.

  “It’s a good thing you didn’t go through Joplin. We have a ham radio operator, and things were already bad there before everything went dark. Since the darkness hit, it’s supposed to be chaos there. Plus, he heard reports that the interstate is just jammed with people and some of the vehicles that worked were taken from the driver by force.”

  Paul got out of the truck
and shook the officer's hand. For the first time, he noticed the officer’s name tag which read, “Carson.”

  Officer Carson shook his hand, “Ted Carson is my name. Sorry about all of this but we had a group that thought that when the lights went out, it was “blue light” special time and everything was theirs to take. Three of them are laid out in front of the police department, awaiting burial. At least two of them got away. Between them and the reports our ham operator got about the chaos in Kansas City and the interstates, we decided it would be prudent to put up checkpoints.

  How did you get your vehicle to run?”

  Paul told him the theory of the EMP and that vehicles that were made before the mid-seventies should run. “That’s about the time that most vehicles started using electronic circuitry.”

  “Wow! That makes sense. At least as much sense as anything else concerning what’s going on.

  Listen, I’d like to ask you a favor. We’re trying to set up a large tent in front of the church as an emergency shelter for folks. We need to haul it and the equipment from storage. Could you haul it for us?”

  Paul really wanted to get to the farm, but he didn’t feel like he could say no.

  “I’ll be glad to, but the only problem is the truck is running on fumes. I’m surprised I made it this far.”

  “Gas! Well, we can get you that. We’ll siphon the stuff from the cars that aren’t running. If you help us out, we’ll get you a tank full.”

  Paul smiled, “You have yourself a deal.”

  Ted started barking orders to several people, and within 30 minutes, they had 25 gallons of gasoline for the truck. As soon as it was filled, five men jumped on the back of the truck, and they drove to the storage shed where the tent and equipment were being stored.

  When the men carried out the tent, they weren’t talking about a small tent. “No wonder they needed a truck,” Paul thought to himself. The men then returned to the shed and started carrying out several long, foldable poles and several hundred feet of what looked like ¾” rope. They also walked out with a generator and several cables and portable lights. The job took most of the rest of the day.

  By the time they had the tent, and everything set up, it was about 7:30 in the evening.

  Ted said to Paul, “We can’t thank you enough for all your help. Can we interest you in dinner before you leave?”

  “I really need to get to the farm before it gets dark.” Then Paul looked and saw several women laying out a potluck type dinner. When Paul saw the fried chicken and cheeseburgers, he looked at the MRE’s laying on the floor of the truck, “Well, maybe I can stay for a fast bite.”

  Ted laughed and climbed out of the truck, “You’re more than welcome.”

  They walked over to the tables and food layout that they had set up and it reminded Paul of church socials he remembered as a kid.

  As they sat down and ate, and everyone talked, Paul could see that this community had come together and how people like this would have a good chance of making it if the situation turned out to be long term. Paul listened to the conversations, and everyone seemed to be good people. Most importantly, everyone was pitching in and doing what they could. No one appeared to think they were special and above doing the labor that needed to be done. People gave because they wanted to give, not because they were being told that they had to give. Everyone knew they had to do what was right for them, to take care of their families and this particular group looked like they would come together as a family.

  At about 8:00 p.m., Paul announced that he had to get on the road.

  “Ladies, I have to tell you, that was the finest food that I’ve eaten in a long time.” The ladies just thought he was being nice, but Paul was speaking literally. Prison food was something that you couldn’t get used to and lately, the meals were barely tolerable, and there was very little of it.

  Ted walked Paul to the truck, “We really do appreciate your help, and you are welcome back anytime.”

  Paul thanked him for the fuel and the food. Ted then asked about the area Paul was driving to. Paul not wanting to give the exact location said, “The farm is northeast of Garden City.”

  “Well, I’d suggest going around Harrisonville. Run down to 7 Highway, towards Garden City. We’ve seen a lot of fires coming from the Harrisonville area. I know some cities are using their National Guard units for security, but I know for a fact that Harrisonville’s MP unit is deployed in Afghanistan.

  Plus, the larger the town or city, the more likelihood of violence. You be careful.”

  Paul gave him a strong handshake, “All of you, take care of yourselves.”

  He jumped in the truck and was back on the road.

  Within 15 minutes, he could see Harrisonville. Ted was right; there were several fires in the area that he remembered Walmart to be at. He wasn’t going to take any chances and even though he’d have to get on Interstate 49, it would only be for a few miles.

  As he got off the on-ramp to I-49, the car obstacles were terrible. He had to maneuver just like he did in some of the downtown areas he’d driven, but by what he could see, it was non-stop all the way down the interstate.

  Most of the foot traffic was in the northbound lane. Several ran across the median towards him as he drove by. Why so many were heading into Kansas City was a puzzle to Paul.

  “Kansas City has to be a living hell right now. But all these people are thinking about, is getting home. How many don’t even realize what they’re walking into?”

  Several times he had to drive on the shoulder of the road, as vehicles had stalled side by side, blocking both lanes. One area was almost unpassable, due to four semis-trucks blocking the entire road. Finally, he spotted the 7 Highway off-ramp.

  “Now only about 15 miles and I’ll be there.”

  Highway 7 had almost as many stalled vehicles, but not quite as bad as the interstate. He had passed a couple of running vehicles that were traveling the opposite direction as he was. One looked like a mint 1967 Pontiac GTO. A vehicle a couple of months ago, would have been worth about $50,000 but now it’s priceless.

  The other was a green flatbed Ford that seemed to be stopping at every stalled vehicle. Obviously, it was taking whatever they could find in the abandoned vehicles.

  When Paul drove by them, he could see two trashy looking guys that looked a bit younger than he was. He was driving fast as he drove by. One looked as though he was raising the weapon that he had with him, but Paul didn’t slow down to find out.

  After a few more minutes, he saw the Garden City exit. As he was going up the off-ramp, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of a large whitetail buck. He didn’t even have time to react before he slammed into the side of the deer, throwing the deer through the air, and causing Paul to start skidding as he slammed on the brake. The front right side of the truck slammed into a stalled vehicle.

  He was thrown into the dash stunning him, as he hit his head on the rearview mirror. His vision was dark for a few moments, and he ended up laying on his side across the bench seat of the truck. When he finally came out of the drowsiness, he looked in the mirror, and he had a huge bump on his forehead. He didn’t seem to have a cut, but the bump was like a big knot.

  He attempted to back the truck and when he did, he could hear a loud scraping noise and then a loud “thunk.” The truck was off the stalled car that he had hit, but the right front fender seemed to be almost touching the pavement. The truck would barely move, and when it did, it was making a very loud grinding noise.

  He jumped out of the truck to check the damage. He couldn’t tell what the damage was for sure, all he knew was the truck was done.

  “Son of a bitch! Only 7 miles to the farm and this had to happen. Damn it!”

  He stood in frustration and looked around. Garden City’s city limits was about 100 yards to the right and the farm was to the left. Now he had to walk, and of course, it had to be dark now. So, he grabbed his rucksack, the equipment he had laying in the truck, an MRE and t
wo bottles of water and he then started his hike.

  While still feeling mad at himself for not spotting the deer earlier, suddenly rationality came to him. He started thinking about how lucky he was. He thought he was going to have to walk all the way from Oklahoma. He realized that he probably wouldn’t have made it the way things sounded. He also realized that he could have had a serious injury or even been killed when he hit the stalled car.

  “Thank God I slowed down on the off ramp.”

  Suddenly he was grateful. He only had a seven-mile walk, and he would be at the farm.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  After Carmen had walked over to help move Mike, Tag came walking sheepishly from around the jeep. He had obviously heard the whole thing between Carmen and me. He had a small sympathetic grin on his face.

  “Sorry, but I was filling the jeep while you guys were talking.”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  “She’s quite the spitfire, isn’t she? I see why you care for her.”

  “Yeah, she is,” then after thinking a couple of moments, I asked, “Are you ready?”

  “Whenever you say.”

  “Give me one more minute.” and I ran into the house.

  As hot as it had been, we needed to come up with relief from the heat. I went to our small safe and grabbed a couple of bars of one-ounce silver bullion, along with a couple of ½ ounce bullion coins. I then went to the gun safe and grabbed my M-4 and another 2-way radio. Finally, I walked into the kitchen and told Kim that we were heading to Blake’s and told her I had an idea if I could talk Blake into it. She asked what the idea was and I said with a grin, “It’s a surprise.” then I gave her a kiss goodbye.

  I jumped into the jeep where Tag was waiting in the driver’s seat. I told him to drive east and then turn right at the intersection.

  As we passed Jake’s, I saw him welding something at his shop. As stated earlier, he had a gas-powered welder that could be used as a generator. I always wanted one, but it was an expense that I never justified at the time.