Solar Storm: Homeward Bound

by Vincent Keith

  “I expect the hospitals will get looted just like everything else. The grocery stores are likely empty by now, as are the drug stores. No, a city is the last place you want to be unless you’re prepared.”

  “The country isn’t safe either,” she said.

  “No, it isn’t, but imagine having to avoid roving mobs. When Katrina hit, there was a lot of looting, people were grabbing televisions and running down the streets with them. They needed clean water, and food, but they were grabbing big screen televisions. Mobs do not behave rationally. When enough people realize that they can’t go to the store and buy food, they’re going to panic. For a short period, cash will be the only thing anyone will take. Once reality settles in, no one will accept money anymore either. They might trade for something they need, but they will not take cash.”

  “My God, Jack. How could we have let his happen? We get disaster training at the hospital, but they never talk about running out of food. For us it was always earthquakes. We worried about building safety and road failures making it difficult to transport patients. No one ever talked about cars and ambulances just not being available at all.”

  “Stupidity or laziness, or both. I don’t think it was malice, I don’t believe anyone planned to have this happen, we were just shortsighted. If this thing is local we’ll see things get better before too long, if it is widespread, then as a nation I think we’re pretty much done. I figured we were heading for a collapse anyway. If it weren’t this, it would have been something else.”

  “Why would you think society was going to collapse? I thought the economy was recovering. I mean, we were getting troops out of the Middle East. Sure we had problems at home, but collapse? Really?”

  “I’m not an economist but my friend Henry was, at least until he retired. From what he’s told me, the recovery is a bunch of hype. He walked me through all the numbers, and it made my head spin. But, after a while, even I could see what they were reporting didn’t fit reality.

  “Like unemployment for example. I knew people who’d lost full-time jobs and had only found part-time work. So even if you lost a full-time gig, and could only get part-time, minimum wage work, you were still employed. Now I suppose that’s technically true, but from an economic point of view, it’s just lying with numbers. How can you call it a recovery when someone goes from a full-time job at sixty thousand a year, to thirty hours a week at minimum wage? Sure lots of folks found jobs that got them back to almost where they were but a lot more didn’t.

  “The more you dig, the worse it looks. Henry was positive the stock market was more than a hundred percent overvalued, and he was just waiting for something to trigger the next big stock crash.”

  Rachael’s brows had drawn together, shoulders hunched.

  Jack shook his head, frowning. “Sorry. I could go on like that for hours, and it’s not going to help anything. Sometimes I get a little gloomy. Not often, I’m usually too busy, and frankly having too much fun. Last couple of days… not so much.”

  Jack picked up a few more sticks to add to the fire. He emptied the cooling pot of water into the big blue water jug, then refilled the pot and put it back on the camp grill and stoked up the fire some more. With that done he moved back to the log and sat down again.

  “Enough of the doom and gloom. It’s not getting us any closer to being out of trouble. I think we’re about one long day from Adin, but I’d rather split it up. My friend Curly lives about two or three hours north of there. Then Lakeview is about ninety miles north of that, so figure maybe seven days. We’ll go through Canby, and then I’m thinking I’ll cut through the Modoc National Forest to avoid running into people.

  “So, you might find a place in Adin or Canby. I’m not going to go into Lakeview — way too many people, and too much potential trouble. If Denny and Judy are going to stay put, you could probably stay with them, but I’m not sure they’re waiting.”

  Jack sipped at his hot chocolate, which had cooled but was still warm enough.

  “I’m hoping to buy more supplies and maybe some horses before people figure out what’s what.”

  “So what does that mean for Lexi and me?”

  “I don’t know. Let’s fill up the buckets one last time, then we can talk more.”

  It took almost a half hour to get the next pot of water boiling. Which gave Jack some time to think about what he needed to say.

  “So, I think you have two options. You can come with me, but I’m looking at a long walk, almost seven hundred miles. Or, we may find some place that can take you in along the way. Either way, we need to get you and Lexi geared up for hiking, and we’re talking about a couple months of walking.”

  “Is that even possible? We can’t carry enough food can we?”

  “No, as things stand now…no, not unless we get transportation that moves a lot faster than I’ve managed so far. We’ll do some hunting and fishing on the way. I’ve got supplies that I can barter for food. On one hand, I’d probably move faster if I drop you off in Adin or Canby and walk away. Then again, traveling alone is dangerous. Those two assholes won’t be the last of it. Until you mentioned you were a nurse, I honestly didn’t think we’d have many options and you’d probably have to come with me.”

  “What if we want to stay? In one of the towns near here, I mean.”

  “That’s up to you and them. They may want a nurse, but they may not be able to feed either of you. We can sort that out when we get there. Adin only has about two hundred and fifty people, a little town with a general store. I’m hoping we can pick up supplies there. Still, you might find a spot with them.”

  “How’s my being a Nurse Practitioner going to help without a hospital or clinic?”

  “Folks always need medical care, doctors will be few and far between, and a lot of places will use veterinarians because it’s all they have. We can't drive twenty miles to see a doctor anymore. That’s a two-day trip now.”

  “Okay, but if they have doctors why would they need me?”

  “With folks doing everything by hand there will be more accidents. People doing for themselves a lot of things they’ve never done before. They’ve got no heat without cutting wood. How many folks have ever cut their own wood? There will be a lot of manual labor, hunting, and skinning. Things only a tiny fraction of the population has ever done. I’m not sure if I’m happy or worried by the number of hunters we have in the US. On the upside, that’s a lot of people with useful skills that will be able to help feed others. On the downside, that’s a lot of competition for scarce resources, like deer or elk. Anyway, we can probably barter your services, and mine. I’ve also got a fair amount of .22 ammo, which will be worth its weight in gold.”

  “I have some medical equipment in my luggage, but not a lot in the way of drugs, bandages, or sutures. Where will that come from?”

  “We’ll play it by ear. Everything in life is a tradeoff, to get something, you give up something. In our case, to get home, we’ll be giving up time, and time is precious. Time means food, and gathering food burns calories, which means more food. It also means we’ll be traveling slower, and we’re likely to be having to move through a fair amount of snow country before we get there.”

  “Oh, there’s just no way! Neither of us has clothes for that.”

  “We’ll find them, it’s not like there are a lot of other choices.”

  Rachael pulled the blanket tighter.

  “Let’s talk about what you do have, and what’s worth taking. I know you wanted to discuss this back at the car, but… I needed to get away from there.” He shuddered at the memory of the men he’d killed. He felt the gorge rising and forced it down.

  “Oh. That’s why you were in such a hurry.” She paused to collect her thoughts before continuing, “We’ve got rain jackets, Gore-Tex with zip-in fleece liners, and warm hats, but they’re not waterproof. The hiking boots are good, but they’re not broken in. We bought them because ours were getting old and everyone was talking about how outdoorsy folks
in Seattle are. Which I don’t get, by the way, I mean, doesn’t it rain all the time there?”

  “No not really, sort of drizzles, you can always spot the imports. It starts drizzling, and they run for cover, the locals don’t even notice. Anyway, you’ll want to switch to the boots for a little while each day and start getting used to them. I’m not sure how long those running shoes will last, but don’t try to walk too far in new boots at first. They may be okay, but we don’t want to risk blisters. What do you have for pants?”

  “Jeans. I guess I don’t need to drag the dress clothes along.”

  “Bring sturdy clothes like jeans and as many socks, as you have. Warm ones hopefully?”

  “We each have a couple pair.”

  The discussion continued until Jack had all the containers full. He had a good idea of what supplies they’d need, just no idea if they’d find them.

  “Does Lexi sleep light?”

  “No, she’s a teenager, she sleeps like a log.”

  “Okay, let me show you how to stoke the stove, get it going pretty good then just let it go out while you get to sleep. I’ll take the small tent.”

  “Jack, are you sure? I mean, here we are messing up your plans, eating your food, and now we’re taking your nice warm tent.”

  “Yeah I’m sure. I’ve camped out under the stars often enough, I’ll be okay. Go get some sleep.”

  SURVIVAL SCHOOL

  Jack roused himself early and started the campfire. As he placed the tinder and lit the fire, he could feel muscles stretching. Muscles that had knotted from lying on the cold ground. He missed his sleeping pad. The ground had been hard, even with the pile of pine needles, hard and cold. He’d have to put pads and sleeping bags on the list. He hovered around the fire trying to chase off the last of the bone-deep chill from lying on the ground. As he warmed, his muscles loosened up, and some of the aches in his back faded. He moved a burning branch from the campfire to the grill. A few additional pieces of wood and he had that fire burning as well.

  Jack filled the pot and set it on the grill to boil. While that was going, he got to work organizing the dogcart to make room for the girls’ stuff. By the time they finished paring down to the essentials, there wouldn’t be much, mostly clothes. He emptied the boxes of jerky and stuffed several into his pack, and the rest in the messenger bag. He’d have Lexi carry it, while her mom took the .308 rifle. Jack strapped the camp axe to his pack and moved more of the ammo from the cart to his pack. He transferred the 9mm ammo to the messenger bag and checked the weight. I wonder how much Lexi is used to carrying around at school? In all, he’d managed to lighten the dogcart by nearly forty pounds that were now spread out between himself and the two girls.

  He looked at the pile and wished he’d hung on to the camera backpack or the little rucksack, but they were back at his abandoned truck. His pack was now eighty pounds. Jack considered ways to put shoulder straps on Rachael’s suitcase, but he lacked the tools and parts to make that practical. Dragging it would slow them down too much. It would have to go into the cart.

  Hoover came out of the big tent and emptied his food bowl before wandering down to the stream for water.

  “I guess the girls will be up soon. Not much I can do with this until we sort through their stuff.” Jack poured beans into his grinder and cranked the handle. He’d tried a cheap battery powered one, but it was useless. The wood mill was inconsistent as was the stainless-steel one. The new Lido-3 was a huge improvement but three times the weight and four times the price. Still, it was a sacrifice for a worthy cause.

  Once the grounds were ready, he dumped half into the French press. He had at least ten minutes before the water would be available so he pulled out the guns and the cleaning kit. Jack laid out a cloth on the park bench, and a little tray to hold parts. He was nearly done with the Marlin when he remembered the water. He’d boiled off a half inch, but there was still plenty for coffee. Jack filled the French press and set the plunger in place. It would need to steep for about four minutes.

  He was tightening up the last screws on the rifle when Rachael came out of the tent.

  “If you’ll push the plunger down on the French press, we can have coffee. Are you willing to risk picking something for breakfast?”

  “I can take a look.” Rachael pushed down the plunger and filled the two cups Jack had set out. She handed him a cup before she took a seat next to the fire.

  “Oh my God, that’s fantastic. Is it the coffee or just that I haven’t had coffee in days?”

  “A bit of both? The blend is excellent, and I only grind enough for a pot at a time. The typical burnt drip from old grounds that passes for coffee in an average office doesn’t compare.”

  “Jack? Thanks for letting us use the tent. That was much warmer than the car. Did you add wood to the stove in the middle of the night?”

  “Yeah, twice. Normally I just let it go out, but not everyone likes to sleep cold.”

  Rachael took a few more sips before digging through the freeze-dried pouches. She measured near boiling water into them and set them aside. She added water to the pot, picked up her coffee and wandered over to where Jack was sitting.

  “Wow, that’s a lot of guns,” she said as she set his mug on the table next to him.

  “Yeah, and I wish I had four times that many.”

  “Do you really think we’re going to have that much trouble?”

  “I hope not, but if I had more I could use them for trade, they’d be worth a fortune. Another thing I missed in my planning.”

  “Planning?”

  “You remember I mentioned I’m one of those kooks who planned for disaster?”

  “Oh, yeah, sorry.” Rachael yawned. Well, you were right, so I guess that makes the rest of us kooks for not planning.” She yawned again.

  “Misinformed, too trusting, or too busy. Anyway, I figure we’ll set you up with this M&P 9mm, and Lexi with the little M&P Shield 9mm,” he said pointing to the two weapons.

  “Lexi! No, no way.”

  “Really? After what happened yesterday by your car you’re willing to leave her unable to defend herself if something happens to you, or me?”

  “But a gun?”

  “She said she’d been shooting with her dad, and it’s not like she’s never seen one before.”

  “I’ve never liked guns. They hurt people.”

  “Sure, but let me ask you, in your time in the ER, of all the patients you saw, what percentage were gun shots?”

  “Well, not a lot I suppose, most of the gang shootings if they survived long enough to reach an ER, didn’t come to ours.”

  “So more injuries from knives?”

  “A lot more, but that’s not the point!”

  “No? Any tool can hurt you when misused. Ever get someone in that cut themselves with a power saw?”

  “A few times, it chewed them up. Knives, at least close up nicely. The guys that ran a saw across their leg, well those were big scars.”

  “Right. Because they were careless. You ever have a kid come in with a stab wound because they were running with a knife or scissors?”

  Rachael sighed, “Okay, I get your point. But still.”

  “Hey,” said Jack, “if I’m wrong she’ll never need the gun. As long as it stays in the holster, she’ll be safer than if you let her use a knife in the kitchen. If I’m right, nothing we can do is going to keep her safe, so the only choice is to teach her to defend herself.”

  The argument held their attention so well, neither of them heard Lexi approach.

  “He’s right mom.”

  Rachael jumped. “Lexi! It’s not polite to eavesdrop.”

  “Less polite than treating me like I can’t make my own decisions?”

  “Lexi, you’re fifteen, you know how this works, you get to make your own decisions, and I get to veto anything I don’t like. That’s the way it goes until you’re eighteen.”

  “And what if they’d shot you instead of the window? What then mom?”r />
  “Oh, Lexi, please don’t. I can’t…” Rachael grabbed her and pulled her close, holding her tight, tears glistening in her eyes. “I don’t want to think about it.”

  “I don’t either mom, but it almost happened, so we need to. Either you let me carry the gun, or I’ll be carrying a knife.”

  “Stick, Lexi, a stick,” said Jack.

  All he got in response was a muffled, “humph?”

  Rachael loosened her hold.

  “Why a stick?” asked Lexi.

  “Do you know anything about knife fighting? No? Neither do I. But everything I’ve read says, if you’re going to fight with a knife, you’re going to get cut, and badly. Besides, a stick has more range. Although, if they have a gun, you’re probably out of luck. I can teach you to shoot well enough in one afternoon, I can’t teach you knife or stick fighting at all. I don’t have a clue.”

  “Really? How?” asked Lexi.

  “Most people have never handled a gun. Of the ones who have, most never get any training. They buy a gun and stick it in a drawer. Maybe the guy at the shop showed them how to load it, or loaded it for them. Some will go to the range and play with it, but they don’t really know what they’re doing. They see people use them on TV all the time. How hard could it be?”

  “So you can teach me to shoot like they do in the movies?”

  “Hopefully not, we’ll be doing it the right way. We’ll practice for a bit every morning, and every evening until it becomes second nature.”

  “Jack, have you done this before?”

  “Taught people to shoot? Sure, a couple hundred.”

  “Oh. Um, won’t shooting attract a lot of attention?”

  “No, once I show you how to shoot, we’ll do dry fire practice. That’s going the through the motions without the ammo. If I had the ammo to spare, I’d do live fire twice a week until we get where we’re going. But I don’t. Fifty the first day, then fifteen rounds a week for a couple of weeks but not much more than that.”

  “Jack, I don’t…this just seems wrong.”

  “The rules have changed Rachael, fighting reality isn’t going to change that. You need to adapt. Come on, let’s have breakfast, and we can discuss it while we eat, I’m hungry.”