by Hunt, James
Luis caught up to James and opened the other side of the barn door. “It makes for a more lasting impression, and you know how short my memory is.”
James walked to the back of the barn and heaved a stack of feed bags off the floor, which covered a hidden panel that James had installed a few years back. The property was marked with dozen of the secret caches.
Each cache was filled with different supplies. Some held food, others water, and a few were medicine and bartering items like whisky and cigarettes, soap and toothpaste, floss and deodorant. Items that people took for granted every day.
But the cache buried in the back of the barn was a different commodity, one that might grow to become the most important of anything that James had stored on the ranch. Weapons.
James lifted the first crate from the hole and set it on the ground with a heavy thud, and he used the crowbar that sat on top to pry the lid open.
Inside were an assortment of assault weapons. AR-15s, M-16s, and AK-47s, all of them fully automatic, with the capacity to fire dozens of rounds in seconds.
James picked the AR-15, the weapon most comfortable for him, and reached for the box of ammunition and started to load magazines as Luis approached.
“So how are we going to make it all the way to San Antonio? We taking the horses like the rest of the crew?”
James finished loading his weapon and then handed one to Luis as he put on a Kevlar vest and motioned for Luis to do the same. “It’d take too long on horseback.” James walked over to a large object covered by a tarp. “I need to get Mary and Jake out of there fast.” He flung the cover off, revealing the off-road, armored plated Humvee that his father had bought when he was a kid.
Luis shook his head, confused. “I thought you said nothing worked? No phones, no power, no cars?”
“Any vehicle made prior to 1974 didn’t have a microchip used for fuel injection.” Inside the back of the Humvee were two go-bags, and James loaded some of the other rifles in the back along with the radios and a few spare cans of fuel. “This baby came off the line back in 1964.” He slammed the rear hatch shut. “I started fixing it up a few years ago.” He knocked on the doors and windows. “Armor plating. Bulletproof glass up to fifty caliber rounds. Four-wheel drive. This thing can go anywhere.” James walked around to the driver side, Luis heading to the passenger side.
James pressed down the clutch, and the old Humvee cranked to life. He revved the engine a few times, letting it warm up.
After a minute, James placed both hands on the wheel, staring out the barn doors through the thick plated glass, lowering his voice. “I’m not coming back without my family.”
“Neither am I,” Luis said.
James nodded and released the clutch.
4
“Mom?” Jake tugged at Mary’s sleeve, and she finally peeled her eyes away from the chaos outside the hospital. “Should we go?”
Mary nodded, pulling Jake toward the parking garage, and found the entrance blocked from a wreck, the pair of drivers arguing over who was at fault.
Sunlight streamed in from the open sides of the parking garage, and Mary breathed a sigh of relief when she found her van unharmed.
“Keep an eye out for me.” Mary lifted the rear door and then fumbled her fingers over the false bottom of the van’s rear hatch. Inside was her bag filled with two days’ worth of rations, plus their first aid kit.
Mary slid the pack’s straps over her shoulders, removed what cash she had from her purse, and turned her back as she stuffed the money in her left boot. She then checked the .38 special revolver concealed in her right boot.
The weapon was fully loaded, but Mary didn’t want to pull it out until it was absolutely necessary. The idea was to blend into the crowd and move amongst the masses until they were safely out of the city. With everything situated, she stood and shut the trunk’s door.
Mary glanced around her and saw more people flooding into the parking garage, heading toward their vehicles, which she knew wouldn’t work. And even if it did, there would be too many other vehicles clogging the road to make a clear path. People were stuck, and a crowd unable to get where they needed to go was always dangerous. “We’re going to meet Dad at that spot. And if something happens to me—”
“I won’t leave you,” Jake said.
“You need to listen,” Mary said, her voice calm. “If I get hurt, or I can’t be moved, then you have to meet your father, okay? Promise me.”
Jake nodded. “I promise.”
Mary kissed Jake’s forehead. “Good boy.” She adjusted the pack on her back and led Jake out of the parking garage to a growing chorus of frustration and confusion.
But unlike the people she passed, Mary held the confidence of preparation and knowledge, and she would need every bit of it if she and Jake were to make it out of the city alive.
The children’s hospital was clustered in a building complex right next to the I-10 and the I-35, and both were gridlocked in all directions.
In the heart of San Antonio’s downtown, Mary and Jake were currently in the hotbed of what would soon turn into an explosive situation. And her first priority was to move them out of this densely populated area.
On their exit from the medical complex, Mary moved quickly beneath the overpass, knowing that they had to cover a lot of ground in a short period of time. While they moved, Mary kept a sharp eye out for anyone nearby. She wasn’t sure how quickly things would turn violent, but she saw people slowly realizing the severity of the situation.
“My phone isn’t working!”
“All of the cars are just stopped.”
“The power’s out, look, even the traffic lights aren’t working.”
“What the hell is going on?”
Buildings emptied as people walked out, everyone chatting amongst themselves, the groups growing larger and larger and leading towards one inevitable outcome. Panic.
The first crash of glass hushed the crowds. The second crash of glass triggered a scream, and the motionless crowd erupted in a one convulsing mob.
Bodies slammed against Mary, and she tightened her grip on Jake’s hand. The bodies pressed tighter and tighter against them as she shouldered her way through the crowd. She looked behind her, the crowd so thick that she saw Jake’s arm, but not his face.
With all her strength, Mary pulled Jake closer, searching for any path out of the stampede before she and her son were trampled.
A break in the crowd opened ahead, and Mary sprinted toward it before it closed, and she and Jake escaped into an alley.
Jake paused to catch his breath, but Mary forced him to keep moving.
“We can’t stop,” Mary said, her legs slowly turning to jelly from the exertion. “We have to keep moving.”
The plan for their original escape route was to keep to the side streets and off the main drag. With the alley empty, Mary kept to their path, knowing that so long as they continued their journey west, she would be able to find her way out of the back alley maze.
Mary led them through the alleys for as long as she could, but eventually the paths led them back to the streets. Back to the chaos.
The road was congested with broken-down cars, most of them abandoned, but a few motorists had their hoods up, still peeking into the engines to determine what was wrong.
However, the crowds had thinned. Mary remained close to the buildings and sidewalks where she could quickly duck for cover. After a few blocks without incident, Mary thought that they would make it, that they would be home free.
But those thoughts ended with the series of explosions nearby.
5
The Humvee bounced over the rough terrain, James avoiding the paved roads of the highway, cruising at a steady twenty-five miles per hour.
“How long is the drive?” Luis asked.
“We’re about three hours away,” James answered.
The sun shone down on the highway, reflecting off the cars that were at a standstill.
“You
think the whole country is like this?” Luis asked.
“I don’t know,” James answered.
The Humvee hit a divot, bouncing the vehicle up and rocking the pair of men inside, the shocks absorbing most of the blow.
Luis sat quietly for a while, digesting James’s words, and then he frowned. “Who would do something like this?”
“Our country has enemies, Luis,” James said.
“Yeah, but this is some high-tech stuff, right?” Luis asked, growing excited. “I mean for some group of terrorists to have organized something like this, I just… I didn’t think they’d be capable of something like this.”
“Never underestimate an enemy,” James said. “Anyone can be a threat, no matter their background.” He checked his heading and then pointed ahead. “We’re almost there.”
Luis leaned forward. “Is that Ruckins? I thought you said we were meeting your family outside of San Antonio.”
“We will,” James answered. “But we need to stop for fuel first. The cans I have in the back are only for an emergency. It’s not enough for a full round trip.”
Luis cocked an eyebrow up. “But if nothing is working, how are we supposed to get gas from the pumps? I mean, don’t they run on computers and—”
“It’ll be fine.” James glanced at his partner. “I planned for this.”
James slowed on his approach toward the town, which brought them closer to the highway where they caught the eyes of everyone that was stranded.
“I don’t like the look of this,” Luis said.
The rumble of the Humvee’s engine emptied people from the shops and buildings along Ruckins’ dusty main street. The congestion from the disabled vehicles forced the Humvee to a crawl, allowing the gathering crowds to move close.
Luis eyed the dozens of faces peering into their window. “Now I know how those tigers at the zoo feel.”
James rolled the Humvee into the gas station without incident and then shut off the engine as he stepped out, staring back at the wake of bodies that had followed him to the fuel pumps. He studied the faces. They were scared.
Finally, one of the men stepped forward from the group, but James didn’t recognize him. He was dressed in business attire, but he wore gloves, which James thought was odd. He gestured to the Humvee. “How come it’s working?”
The group behind him leaned forward, as if James’s answer was some kind of gospel.
“EMP,” James said, seeing if the letters registered with anyone, but found no such understanding. “Electromagnetic pulse. It renders all microchip processors obsolete, and because nearly everything is run by computers, it’s why you’ve seen everything shut down.”
A quiet murmur spread through the crowd, everyone leaning into each other, all of them conversing about what it meant, all of them but the man who asked the question.
Instead, he walked up to James, the pair of men eye to eye, and he moved so close that James could smell the stench of the man’s aftershave.
“Where are you going?” the gloved man asked.
“Away from here,” James answered, unwilling to share anything with this stranger.
The man cracked a smile, exposing very white teeth, his gaze so intense that it looked like he was trying to burn a hole into James’s forehead.
“James!” Larry Darvish hobbled out of the gas station, accompanied by his son.
Distracted by Larry, James missed the gloved man as he dissolved back into the crowd, their greeting leaving a sour aftertaste.
“Everything’s set up out back.” Larry was pushing sixty, but years of smoking had aged him as a man in his nineties. He could barely stand on his own two feet, and he was forced to wheel an oxygen tank around with him. Each time he coughed, it sounded like his lungs were disintegrating, and he leaned against his son to keep from collapsing.
Mavis Darvish was a few years younger than James, but the pair had crossed paths in high school on the football team. While his father looked two steps from the grave, Mavis was built like a bear. He was six foot six inches and pushing three hundred pounds. He nearly broke James’s hand when he shook it. “Good to see you, James.”
“You too, Mavis.”
“Hey!” Larry shouted to the crowd still lingering. “If you ain’t buying, then you’re loitering.”
“Oh, come on, Larry,” Jon Carven said. “We just want to know what’s going on.”
“He told you what was going on,” Larry said. “Standing around gaping like a bunch of dead fish isn’t going to change that! Now, go on!” He stomped his foot, and the crowd slowly dispersed.
Ruckins didn’t have a mayor, but Larry Darvish was the closest thing, and when he spoke, people listened.
“People,” Larry said, covering his mouth as he coughed. “Soon as they see something they don’t have, they want it. That’s one thing that’s never going to change, no matter if the power comes back on or stays off.” He looked to James. “I had Mavis set up those hand pumps like you suggested.” He inhaled some oxygen. “I’d hope we’d never have to use them.”
“So it finally happened,” Mavis said when they stepped inside the garage. “It’s the end of the world.”
“The world has ended before,” Larry said, raising his oxygen mask to his face again, but paused and stared at James. “Our arrangement is still secure?”
James nodded. “You kept your end of the bargain, and I’ll keep mine.”
“Good.” Larry exhaled relief, and then coughed into his palm a few more times. “Go on and help them, Mavis.”
“Okay, Pop.”
James and Luis followed Mavis around back to the hand pump. James had paid for the installation in exchange for free fuel, and he knew that it would come in handy should an EMP event occur. James had prepared a manual backup for everything that he might need should the power shut off. It was important to remember the old ways.
The three men all took turns working the pump until they had enough fuel to carry James the full round trip.
With the Humvee topped off, James hung back to speak with Mavis alone.
“How’s he holding up?” James knew that Larry was on his last leg. He had finally quit smoking, but it was a case of too little too late. And judging by how the man looked one step away from death, he wasn’t sure how much more time the old man had left.
Mavis had always been a stoic man, never revealing much of what was happening behind his pair of almond-colored eyes. Mary had always described him as a gentle giant. It suited him.
“It’s not good,” Mavis said, hands planted on his hips as he shook his head. “We got those extra tanks like you suggested, so it’ll last him a good while, but…”
James placed a hand on the man’s boulder-like shoulder. “Just make sure he gets plenty of rest. And tell him to keep taking his meds if you can convince him. I know how he gets though.”
Mavis laughed. “Saying that Pops is strong-willed would be an understatement.”
“Listen, I need to stop and have a chat with Nolan,” James said. “When we’re done, I can have him come take a look at your dad if you want.”
“Thanks, James, I’d appreciate that,” Mavis said.
Luis finished loading the gas cans, and James instructed him to wait by the Humvee, telling him what he’d told Mavis about checking in with Nolan.
James walked down Main Street, ignoring the stares as he passed the storefronts. Nearly everyone here knew who James was, at least by name and his ranch, but aside from Larry and Mavis, he’d separated himself and his family from the rest of the town.
He wasn’t sure why he’d done it. Maybe deep down, he always knew that a day like this would come and it would just be easier if he didn’t have to be connected with so many people.
A bell chimed when James stepped through Nolan’s front office door, and despite the chaos outside and the uncertainty that had gripped the community, James wasn’t surprised to find Doris Huggins at the reception desk where she had sat for the past forty years looki
ng after Nolan’s day-to-day business needs.
“James.” Doris brightened with a smile and adjusted her glasses as she pushed herself out of her chair and stepped around the desk to give him a hug. “Good to see you, boy.”
“Good to see you too, Doris.”
She laughed and then slapped James’s stomach. She was a short woman, barely five feet with her shoes on, but even at seventy, she could get around just fine and her mind was sharper than folks half her age.
“Doc!” Doris shouted. “James is here! C’mon out of that darkness, you old hermit.” She cackled and then squeezed James once more before returning to her chair, her gaudy necklaces jingling together as she moved. “He’s been back there since the lights went out.” Doris lifted the old ledger that she used to keep track of appointments. “That’s why I never used that hunk of plastic.” She gestured to the laptop that Nolan had given her a few years back as he tried to push her into the digital age. “I don’t know why people even bother with those.”
James only smiled. “You still have me down for my check-up next spring?”
Doris flipped right to the page on the first try. “Thursday morning at eight a.m. Bright and early.” She smiled back.
“James.” Doctor Nolan Springer emerged from the darkened hallway, holding an old gas lamp, which he set on Doris’s desk. “What brings you in today? Not feeling under the weather, I hope?”
“I’m fine,” James answered. “I just wanted to see how you guys were holding up, and to see if you could go and have a quick look at Larry.”
Doris groaned, rolling her eyes. “Getting that man to visit the doctor is like trying to get a little boy to eat his vegetables.”
And while Doris didn’t sound worried, Nolan frowned. “Is he all right?”
“I don’t know,” James answered. “But Mavis is worried, and I’m going more off of how he feels than how Larry feels.”
Nolan nodded. “That’s probably smart. Well, I can go and take a look at him, see what I can find, but he really needs to go and see a specialist.” He paused, glancing up at the non-working light bulbs above him. “Though I’m not sure how much they’d be able to help him now.”
