Small Town EMP (Book 3): Survive The Conflict

by Hamilton, Grace

  “He needs to check out Sarah first; she’s in rougher shape than me.”

  36

  Amanda paced the small room, anxious to follow through with her mission. For the last hour, while they’d waited on the airmen, she’d paced restlessly back and forth staring at the messenger and willing Austin to send her the go. She wouldn’t turn it on to check yet, as she didn’t want to waste battery and had to wait on these men anyway, but without a message, she had no way of knowing if Austin had succeeded. It was a shot in the dark. The door opened, and all of them turned to stare at the two men who had brought in a third, this one with graying hair and a set to his face that suggested many years of service. She looked to his sleeve, saw the extra stripes, and knew he was the one in charge.

  “I’m Amanda Peterson,” she said, stepping forward.

  “General Silas. The men tell me you want to launch our missiles and you have the codes to do so?” he said, his voice gruff.

  She nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  “That, and the story they’ve related to me, sounds rather insane,” he told her flatly.

  “Yes, sir, I know it does, sir, but I swear to you, this is real. Very real, in fact, and every minute we waste talking about the merits of our plan could be aiding the NWO.”

  She quickly filled him in on what the plan was, showing him the sat. messenger and stressing the importance of timing. At first, she didn’t think he believed her. The man had a stone-cold look on his face, his arms folded over his chest as she spoke. When she was through, his expression hadn’t changed. There was no indication of which way he was leaning. It wasn’t until he’d mulled it over for several excruciating minutes that he finally nodded.

  “We’ll take you downstairs. We have a first aid kit for your man, as well,” he said, looking to Drew.

  “Thank you,” she gasped, fighting back emotions.

  “I’ve heard it’s bad out there,” the lieutenant general commented.

  “It is. It’s terrible, and if the NWO is allowed to continue, there will be nothing left. It’s dangerous and deadly,” she said, looking him directly in the eyes.

  “I understand. We’ve had minimal contact, all through Morse code. It’s a little hard to explain details in that fashion,” he quipped dryly.

  “Is the government still functioning?” she asked.

  The man cringed. “We’re at bare bones. We get some Morse code and we’ve picked up some transmissions over our one working satellite, but I can’t tell you who’s where and what’s happening. We could have used some of those messengers like you have,” he told her, eyeing it.

  “We got two off of an NWO soldier. We’re assuming that’s how some of them have been communicating,” she said, relieved to finally be talking to someone on their side.

  “Do you have the target coordinates?” the general asked.

  “Yes, sir.”

  He stared at her, obviously waiting for her to tell him.

  “Um, my friends were supposed to somehow transmit them via the computer link at their end, setting up the launch, and then let me know we’re a go by using this,” she explained, holding the messenger up again. With that, she finally turned the messenger on, holding her breath as she did so. And, while it turned on, no message popped up. She let out her breath. “But I haven’t heard from them yet,” she said, more quietly.

  While one of the men attended to Drew under Gretchen and Tonya’s watchful eye, Ezra and Amanda followed the general into the launch center.

  “Sir, we’ve received a transmission from Boise,” a young woman announced. “The airmen we’ve been in contact with are on the other end, but it sounds like we have communication from the other half of this woman’s group, who are now with Airmen at a base the NWO were holding.”

  Amanda almost vomited with relief when she offered the general their all-important launch codes. The other group had made contact, the mission was out of her hands, and Austin was alive. He’d done what he’d set out to do. Amanda looked to the general, waiting for him to order the launch. In her hand, she still held the messenger, which had given her hope up to this point. Whether it was broken or not, she didn’t know, or maybe something had happened to Austin’s, but that no longer mattered.

  “Let’s do this,” the general said in a stern voice.

  Amanda and Ezra watched quietly as codes and sequences were called out. They checked and rechecked codes, entering them on a keyboard and verifying their information until a green light bloomed on the screen.

  “Sir, we’re ready,” the young woman sitting at the terminal said.

  “You’re sure about this?” the general asked Amanda.

  Amanda took a second to think about it, and then, suddenly, her messenger beeped and she looked down at the incoming message. A smile lit her face as she confirmed, “Yes, I’m sure.”

  “If we launch those missiles and shoot down our own satellites, we could be further crippling our country,” he warned her.

  “Yes, sir, I understand that, but those satellites are not in the government’s control. At any time, the NWO could launch those missiles, and there’s a good chance they’d be using those satellites to induce another EMP and counteract any efforts the government is currently undertaking to get things back under control and the grid up and running. Those are nuclear warheads, am I correct?” she asked, going off of what Sarah had told her.

  “Yes.”

  “If the NWO is in control of those warheads, the entire world is at risk. I’ve met several of them. They would not hesitate to use those weapons to destroy the planet. They are martyrs—suicide bombers, if you will,” she said. “With them controlling those satellites and those warheads, we are all in danger.”

  He nodded, turning back to face the screens. “Launch the missiles,” he ordered.

  Amanda and Ezra stood shoulder to shoulder, watching the computer screen as it showed the missiles shooting into the sky. Within what felt like seconds, the monitors showed the trajectories and destinations of each missile. And then another caught her eye.

  “What’s wrong with that one? Is it broken?” she asked.

  The general smiled, shaking his head. “Not broke at all. Those are the coordinates.”

  “Where is it going?” she asked, worried someone had missed a number.

  “New Mexico,” one of the young men at the computer announced.

  Amanda gasped. “No! They’re supposed to be going into space!”

  “Those are the right coordinates,” the man replied.

  Ezra and Amanda exchanged a look of horror. “What did we do?” she moaned.

  “Pull up our map, tell me where that thing is headed,” General Silas ordered.

  There was a lot of tapping on the keyboards, and then an image came onto one of the display screens. “Sir, it’s Alamogordo, New Mexico. White Sands.”

  General Silas hissed through his teeth. “That’s Holloman.”

  Amanda was shaking her head. “Air Force? We just bombed our own Air Force base?” she asked, her mouth going dry.

  “We lost that base a couple days before the EMP,” he told her.

  “What? How? Why wasn’t it in the news?”

  “It wasn’t known to us that the base had been lost until hours before the EMP. The NWO had infiltrated the command system. They were hiding right under our noses and none of us were the wiser. They took over the base, killed those that tried to fight back, and ran the rest of them off. We had just begun hostage negotiations when everything happened. They used a similar maneuver to initiate a coordinated attack across the country. They launched warheads that detonated in the atmosphere all across the country and over other nations around the world. We were helpless to do anything. The damage had been done. I think this is swift justice. The NWO are going to be toast in about thirty seconds. That’s their central command, and we’re hitting it.” A grim smile played across his lips.

  “We’ve taken out the NWO headquarters?” Amanda asked with disbelief.

/>   “Yes. In about thirty seconds, the base and the NWO operations will be destroyed. We’ll radio the remaining commands and let them know it’s time to make a move on the NWO positioned around the country. We’ll take them out in full,” he said confidently.

  Amanda had no reason not to believe him. It made perfect sense. “She never mentioned that little tidbit. I wonder if that’s what she found on the USB?” Amanda murmured, more to herself than anyone.

  “Who?” General Silas asked.

  Ezra and Amanda exchanged a look. “It’s a really long story.”

  “Why don’t we go get something to eat and you can tell me all about it. I’d like to know how a few average citizens managed to save the world,” he said, heading out of the room.

  Amanda chuckled. “I don’t know if you can describe Austin or Sarah or even Ennis as average, but we did it.”

  37

  Austin carried his cup of coffee out onto the covered porch of the cabin he called home in the Sawtooth Mountain range, about thirty miles northeast of Boise. It was late afternoon and the sun had begun sliding into the hills, casting the landscape in beautiful warm hues. He loved this area. He loved the mountains. It made him feel closer to his brother. Ennis would have loved the cabin. Sitting down, Austin stared out at the vast acreage surrounding him, filled with tall pines and the sounds of a gurgling stream just beyond this property. It was early fall, and the birch trees intermingled with the pines had changed color, creating a gorgeous, fiery landscape.

  He put his coffee on the small table next to his chair and picked up the notebook he’d been using to write down his thoughts. He was thinking about writing a book one day, and wanted to remember every detail. It had been three months since they’d launched the missiles and effectively decimated the NWO with the blow to their headquarters and their plans. Now, the country was enmeshed in a slow rebuilding process.

  Power was being brought back to the major cities, with hospitals the first to be restored, but it would be a long time before the rural areas would be fully powered. Manufacturing factories were focused on producing the transformers and various electrical equipment needed to restore the power grid. Austin imagined it would be a year or more before they would have television, computers, or a fraction of the technology they’d been used to relying on before the EMP.

  His thoughts went to Ennis as he considered the months ahead. They always went to Ennis. He and his big brother had never been all that close in life, but the couple months they’d had together as adults had been some of the best of his life. His loss was a hurt that was going to take a long time to heal. He still had a hard time visiting the little memorial he’d built in the backyard as a tribute to Ennis, Nash, Sarah, and all the others who’d lost their lives in the fight to save the world.

  He heard the sound of a horse’s hooves coming up the drive along with an irritating squeaky wheel. He was going to have to fix that, he thought to himself. He got to his feet and stepped off the porch, smiling when he saw Amanda sitting atop Raven, the cart being pulled behind her.

  “You’re back earlier than I expected.”

  “It was an easy trip,” she said, smiling as she dismounted.

  He walked to her and put his arms around her before giving her a quick kiss on the lips. “I’m glad you’re home.”

  “I’m glad to be home. And I look forward to the day a trip to the market isn’t a full day’s journey,” she said with a laugh.

  “Soon, baby, soon,” Austin assured her, running his hand over her hair.

  “I scored some good stuff. There’s a full grocery store set to open soon. The government is shipping in supplies from their various warehouse stashes all across the country. It will be rationed, but hopefully will be a nice bonus to what we can harvest from the forest. We’ll be okay,” she told him.

  “I think, after what we went through, we’ll definitely be okay. This winter will be a cakewalk compared to the three months on the road,” he said.

  “I got you something,” she whispered to him.

  “Oh, really?”

  She was beaming as she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the cart. There, she unfastened the tarp and flipped it up. His mouth fell open. “No way!”

  “Yep. It’s an old-school typewriter. I bet you thought you’d never have to use one of these giant bricks,” she said with a laugh.

  He reached out and ran his hand over the round black keys. He had fond memories of his mother sitting at their kitchen table and writing letters on a typewriter very similar to the one Amanda had picked up for him. “This is awesome. Thank you,” he said, giving her another kiss.

  “You’re welcome. It’s really Mrs. Gray you should be thanking. Everyone thinks of you as a hero. We were chatting at the market. She asked about you. I told her you wanted to write a book one day. She offered the typewriter she had stashed in her back room,” Amanda said with a smile, “complete with ribbon and everything she said you’d need to get using it.”

  “That’s awesome. I’m no hero, though,” he added quietly. “I wish everyone would realize that. The ones who died are the heroes. I was selfish. I wanted to live in a safe world again. I did this for myself and us,” he said, his voice gruff with emotion, just as it always got when someone called him a hero or tried to thank him for his role in the takedown of the NWO. It was why he rarely left the cabin. He wasn’t ready to be showered with praise for doing something that was right. He wasn’t ready to talk about his brother or Nash or any of the others, either.

  “Where’s Savannah?” she asked, looking around.

  “Malachi came up for a visit,” he said, adding feigned disgust to this tone.

  Amanda playfully swatted his arm. “Stop. That boy would walk to the ends of the earth for her. I don’t think you could have found a better young man for her. They do love each other, you know—I hope you accept that.”

  He wrinkled his nose. “I don’t know if I’m ready to accept it… but I will let them explore the whole relationship thing,” he added quickly, before Amanda could protest. “She’s fifteen, but I know after everything she’s been through, she’s more like a twenty-five-year-old. I won’t interfere, but I will be keeping an eye on things. I want her to have as much of a childhood as she can.”

  Amanda grinned. “You’re doing good. You’re coaching her and Malachi. I think it was incredibly sweet that he asked you if he could give her a promise ring.”

  Once again, Austin grimaced. “Like I told him, they can be promised to one another, but I don’t want to hear about any marriage plans. I don’t care how mature they think they are; they both need time to recover from all they’ve been through. It’s only natural they’re drawn to each other, but things might change with time. I’m only asking them both to take some time to make sure they know what they want.”

  “Drawn to each other like you and I?” she asked, looking up at him.

  He grinned, giving her another quick kiss. “I think it’s a little different from you and I. We’re older, wiser, and far more world-wise. Malachi has been sheltered his entire life. Savannah, well, she’s my little girl.”

  “Yes, she is, but she’s not going to be that for long.”

  Austin had grudgingly accepted that. “No, she won’t, but for now, she needs time to recover from everything she’s gone through.”

  “I got something special for Andy. Where is he?” she asked, changing the subject.

  “He was playing with his cars in the living room.”

  Amanda grabbed Austin’s hand and walked with him into the three-bedroom cabin, leaving Raven tethered out front for a few moments; she’d get back to her soon and get her back to Charlie. Andy was sitting on the floor, his collection of Hot Wheels spread out over the wood floor. He looked up when he saw Amanda, his face lighting up. Amanda dropped to her knees and presented him with two more Hot Wheels. They were used, but everything they had was used. Surviving and flourishing now meant a lot of scavenging and trading among other survivo
rs.

  Trading wasn’t just the current form of currency, either. It had become a way for survivors to begin to trust one another again. The military had been sending out small contingents of troops to spread the message about the NWO and their manipulations. They were working hard to restore trust among the survivors, explaining the propaganda and asking for acceptance. It wasn’t an easy task, but things were slowly changing for the better.

  Austin, unable to stop being the overprotective father, walked into the kitchen, looking out the window into the backyard, to where Savannah and Malachi had been hanging out. They were both seated on the bench he had fashioned from downed trees. Ennis’s headstone was about five feet away, with another for Sarah close by. His eyes rested on the headstone, imagining his brother keeping an eye on Savannah from wherever he was.

  Savannah looked up and saw him. She smiled and waved. Her eyes were bright and her face was filling out a little more, the signs of the hunger and weariness after their travels almost erased. He walked to the back door and called outside. “Amanda’s back. Can you help unload the groceries?” he asked.

  “I’ll help,” Malachi said, jumping up from the bench.

  “I think she got a few things for your mom and the others,” Austin informed him as Malachi came inside.

  “We really appreciate that. She told me to invite you to the service on Sunday. We’d all really love for you to come—and the rest of the family, of course.”

  “I’ll talk with Amanda. I’m sure she’d like to see you all. How is everyone?” he asked.

  “Gretchen has been helping some of the townspeople with medicinal herbs and stuff. She’s like the town doctor for now. My mom helps her a lot, and Harlen is always with her. I think they like each other. Drew’s leg still bothers him, but he’s been a real help around the house. Ezra’s met a woman, too, and I think it’s serious,” he said.