by Miles Maresh
David also had heard from his two other brothers. One lived in Boston, and one in New York City. Both had left their houses and without working vehicles were making their way with their families towards the farm in upstate Pennsylvania. He did not know if they were walking and informed them that bicycles were likely safer that finding a working vehicle. he knew Evan’s family had made good progress on bikes and thought the rest of the family should consider that to hasten their journey His son Barry was driving across Utah and should be joining Jim at his plane in Durango, His sister reported that they made it out of Texas and were in Arkansas still driving their Blazer, although her husband had to shoot carjackers and avoid roadblocks to keep it .Evan’s family was still 150 miles away. At least they were on bicycles. With the new developments David was unsure if the farm would be safe from refugees without help from his relatives.
Clint Evans was driving from his home in Houston to his brother in law’s farm in Pennsylvania. He was invited because the EMP that had devastated the country would soon make survival very difficult on an individual basis. His wife’s brother, David Bell was known to the family as a prepper. He had a large farm in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains and had invited his family and a select group of friends. From what he had seen in Houston in the days immediately following the power going out, Clint definitely wanted to get to a safe area for his family’s sake. Looting and rampant violence in the streets had happened almost immediately even before people ran out of supplies. Clint and his wife Julie had 2 small children. Seven year old Emily and five year old Cody were not going to be able to walk across the country and Clint felt obliged to keep his 1972 Chevy Blazer under all conditions. The older model vehicle was not subject to the EMP due to its lack of computer chips.
Very few vehicles were running and as Clint and his family began their journey north they were attracting a lot of attention. Clint was ex-military and as a native Texan had been taught to shoot from the time he could walk. He had a handgun and a shotgun in the console of the Blazer and would not hesitate to use them. He also had several other weapons in the back of the SUV along with a large supply of ammunition. He did not want his children to see the violence and directed them to hide under a blanket whenever he saw a dangerous situation. Before he even got out of town, he had to slow down to get around some stalled cars and a heavily tattooed man appeared with a gun and said “Get out of the fucking …..” Clint shot the man in the head through the open window before he even finished his demand. His children had not even had time to duck under the blanket and Julie was appalled but Clint said “Under no circumstances are we losing the vehicle. It is a death sentence and I have to treat it as such.” The family took I-35 from Houston to Dallas. Most of the trip was uneventful. Clint kept his speed up when they encountered people walking. Because his Blazer was 4 wheel drive, he was able to cross over to the southbound lanes when he needed to avoid stalled cars or groups of walkers. He saw almost no other vehicles running. As they got closer to Dallas the stalled cars became too numerous and he headed to back roads that roughly paralleled the interstate. Once he was past the metro area, Clint headed back to the interstate. When they approached the Oklahoma state line. Clint observed the stalled vehicles had been pushed off to the side of the road and there appeared to be a roadblock ahead with vehicles blocking every lane and the shoulder. Because his Blazer was the only vehicle on the road he was noticed by the uniformed personnel running the roadblock. His binoculars confirmed that the men were wearing uniforms of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. Clint was sure if he went to the roadblock they would want his vehicle and he could not allow that to happen. He turned around and headed back the way he came. He knew he could go east through Arkansas and avoid the roadblock entirely. He was worried that they would follow him, but they did not, and he assumed they were not willing to chase people into Texas even if they had working vehicles to pursue with. That confirmed his decision and he headed through back roads to the Arkansas border which proved to be unguarded.
Frank Bell was David’s younger brother closest to him in age. The two were only separated by two years and were close growing up. After high school, David joined the military while Frank went to college. He was now a successful attorney in Boston. When the EMP hit he had no doubt that David had been right with his prepper ideas and he wished he had listened more and was better prepared. Frank was a widower and had a teenage son, Kevin 16, and daughter Cheryl, 14. Even though he had always respected David’s prepper ideas, Frank did not own a vehicle that still worked after the power went out. He was at his office in downtown Boston when the lights went out. He grabbed his cell phone which was dead and headed for the street. When he got outside and saw the stalled vehicles, He knew this was what David had been warning about. He tried his Mercedes, but it was as dead as all the other modern vehicles. With his high paid position as a partner in a law firm, Frank had always bought luxury foreign vehicles. He knew they would not be EMP resistant, but he felt the risk was minor, and he did not want to buy some old clunker. With no choice, he walked the ten miles home so he could call David on the sat phone he kept in his house He knew David was trying to get the family together at his farm in Pennsylvania but it was more than 600 miles away from his place in suburban Boston. Without a working vehicle their choices were limited to finding a working vehicle, walking, or riding bicycles. Frank had ridden motorcycles while in college, but he didn’t know where he could get three that were free from EMP effects. His family did have bicycles, but he and his children had not used them for years. When he dug them out of the garage, the tires were flat, but otherwise seemed to be in working condition. He walked a mile to the grocery store intending to stock up for the journey, but the store was inundated by anxious residents. They were only letting a few people in at a time, and it was a cash only business with the computers down. Frank spent what cash he had on granola bars and canned food. The craziest thing he saw was people stocking up on frozen foods and fresh meats. He thought people had no idea what was going on and was glad he had a brother who knew. In his phone call to David, Frank learned of the two nuclear strikes. He was urged to leave Boston as soon as possible. If North Korea had hit Washington, other cities on the eastern seaboard could also be at risk. David advised him to use his bicycles to flee the area. Even if he managed to acquire an EMP free vehicle, people were panicking and keeping a working car would be problematic.
Frank knew he did not have enough food on hand to feed his children while they rode bicycles for what he knew would be at least 600 miles. His teenage children had complained and did not think leaving Boston was a necessity. They were in denial and thought it was simply a matter of waiting for the government to fix everything. It wasn’t until he told them about the annihilation of Washington D.C. that they realized the government may not be able to help them. Frank had called Evan who had seen the mushroom cloud over Washington personally He was happy Evan had made it out of the capital and that they were also on bicycles making their way to the farm. He felt his teenage children should be able to keep up a good pace but he worried about Evan’s son who was only ten years old. When Evan told him that he had bought food from a nearby town, Frank wondered if he could do the same. On David’s advice, Frank had obtained all his gold and silver coins before he left Boston. Like the rest of his brothers, Frank had grown up in rural Pennsylvania and knew how to hunt and fish, but he still needed more food to get out of town and make it all the way to the farm. He called David on the sat phone and David told him to make in to Worcester, Massachusetts. Once there, David had a prepper friend who in exchange for a krugerand would supply Frank with enough food to continue his journey. David’s friend was already sequestered in a shelter, but he agreed to help out the families of preppers, especially if they could pay him, and David had called him to arrange for a meeting. Frank was gratified for the help, but wondered why people that did not know him would be willing to help, even for the gold. David explained that preppers were a tightly knit
community, and would help each other’s families out until the government came back with assistance. Worcester was only 50 miles away, but it was still in suburban Boston, and Frank was concerned that he would not be able to find the prepper. He had agreed to meet the man behind a church but the route was confusing and it took them most of the day to find the right church. The prepper stepped from the shadows and he handed them a backpack full of MREs and a go bag of supplies he thought they could use. He asked if they had a water filtering device, and Frank confirmed he did. David had made a point of supplying those to his family as Christmas gifts in years past. Some laughed at the gift, but Frank thoughtfully put it away. While people could last a few days without food, 3 days without water was the limit and Frank knew if there was even a chance of trouble they need a way to obtain clean water without believing it would always be available. Frank paid the man his krugerand and he faded back into the shadows.
Justin Bell was the youngest of five children in the Bell family. He was 22 years old and lived in New York City, with his wife Mariah. He had dropped out of college to try to make it as an actor, and had a string of off-Broadway roles to his credit. Justin was the black sheep of his family. He had experimented with drugs and alcohol in high school, and then had decided not to go to college, although his parents would have paid for it. Thankfully he had cleaned up and gotten sober since his marriage, and his acting career was starting to experience some success. Mariah was a stockbroker and brought home most of the income for the couple. Based mostly on her earnings, they had a nice apartment in Manhattan and enjoyed the New York City lifestyle. Justin had told her of David’s crazy prepper ideas in the past. They had a good laugh about some of his conspiracy theories, but Mariah was actually intrigued and did some research on her own. Although she didn’t tell her husband she had actually put some prepper materials in a storage locker close to their apartment. When she met the family she had peppered David with questions about prepping and he was impressed by her insights.
When the power went out, Justin grumbled, He had a big audition that day, and he hoped the subways were still working. As they lived in New York City the couple did not own a car and Mariah suggested he take a cab if the subways were down. She decided to call an Uber for herself but noticed her cell phone was dark. It perplexed her because it had not been dead when she plugged it in last night. Even if power had went off overnight, it should not have been totally dead. She told Justin to check his and it was dark as well. She looked out the windows of her high rise apartment and noticed that all cabs and other vehicles had stopped moving. Harried drivers had put their hoods up and were frantically trying to fix their cabs, while passengers were becoming irate. With what she knew from her research, the only thing that would fry cell phones and most cars was an EMP. She had the sat phone David had sent them as he had for the rest of the family. When they had received that as a Christmas gift Justin had laughed about it and said they should sell it. She had not agreed and had stored it in her locker.
She now said “What if your brother is right? Nothing here looks normal.” Justin said. “That’s ridiculous. The power will come back on soon.” She pointed out the window “What about all the vehicles that stopped in the street? A power outage would not cause that.” He looked out the window and said “Where is that phone my crazy brother sent? We might as well call him and our cell phones don’t work. I wonder if the satellite phone will still work.” Mariah told Justin that the sat phones was in her storage locker. The two walked down the 34 flights of stairs to the street. They liked living in a high rise, but it was definitely not something they would be comfortable living in without power. The water had already shut down and many residents were making their way outside looking for answers and relief. Justin was upset that Mariah had kept the storage locker a secret from him, but he wasn’t going to complain now that they needed the supplies she had set aside. They stepped in the closet sized locker and Mariah handed Justin a go bag that she had prepared for each of them. The sat phone was in a faraday cage, she thought it would work without one since it was turned off, but she had several other devices in the cage which would not have been protected. Justin took the phone and pressed the button to call David. All the family members were already programmed into each phone, so there was no need to remember numbers. There was no one else to call either. Only people with sat phones of their own could be contacted, but most people did not understand that and would want to use the phone if they saw it. The couple chose to make their calls inside the locker, out of sight of the crowds of people filling the streets. They were not willing to hike up the 34 flights of stairs yet either.
David answered the phone on the first ring. Justin knew he could tell it was him, and was embarrassed about the way he had acted when his brother had provided the device. It didn’t bother David, He was used to people discounting his ideas. He was not going to be spiteful to his younger brother and his wife now that they needed his help. David confirmed that it was an EMP which would be long lasting. He relayed the news of the nuclear attack on Washington D.C, but hastily added that Evan had made it out. Justin did not believe him about the nuclear attack and said “That’s just crazy prepper talk.” David responded. “I would not make up stories about millions or people dying. Los Angeles was hit too and my son barely made it out of California in time. Call Evan if you need to. He saw the mushroom could over Washington with his own eyes.” Mariah broke in “Is New York City a possible target?” David said “I really don’t know. I think North Korea used their entire arsenal, but we also may be going to war against China. Whether New York City is a target or not, conditions there will turn ugly fast. You need to get out of town before everyone else tries to.” New York City was 380 miles from the farm, but David wanted the couple to try to intercept Frank and his family in Massachusetts. It would be too dangerous a journey for either of them, and if they combined forces, they would be less likely to be attacked and David might even be able to organize a rescue. Even though Justin and Mariah had supplies, they would not be able to make that last all the way to the farm if they had to walk the whole way. The same was true for Frank who had bicycles but had a longer journey and also had to provide for his two teenage children. David knew he would soon have many adults at the farm along with an airplane and some vehicles, all EMP proof. As society degraded further and the nuclear attacks became more common knowledge, he felt compelled to try to get the family inside the compound. He thought his bothers from the East would be OK, but Clint and Julie had a more harrowing trip ahead of them and David hoped to take one of his brothers with him to assist Clint if the family ran into any trouble getting the working vehicle across the country. David also realized that once Jim got his plane in the air, he could stop and assist if needed. Jim and Clint were friends and with both men being veterans he knew Jim would have his back.
Chapter 10
Barry reached Interstate 70 in central Utah. The highway headed east in the direction they needed to go. Unfortunately, there were no backroads that paralleled the interstate. For most of the trip they had stayed off the main roads to avoid running into larger groups of people The badlands of Eastern Utah dominated the landscape on both sides of the road and there were no other back roads to follow. Barry just hoped they would not encounter problems with the one road available. Once they crossed the Colorado state line they would be close to Durango where Jim and Kaitlyn were ready to go. Barry had hopes that they could be safely at the farm in a day or two. As he drove across Utah at a fairly high speed Barry had Megan scan the road ahead with binoculars. She noticed a large group of motorcycles in the westbound lanes. She warned Barry that it looked like a biker gang headed to a rally. Barry eased to the shoulder of his side of the road and raced to put his hood up like many of the stalled vehicles had done. If they could get off the road without being noticed, he hoped the bikers would assume it was just another abandoned, inoperable vehicle on the road. The two grabbed their go-bags and hid in the underbrush away f
rom the highway. They hoped no biker had seen the vehicle moving and the group would drive on by. There was no such luck. The biker gang had motorcycles traveling on both sides of the interstate and some on the eastbound lanes Barry had been traveling on had seen them stop the Jeep. As the bikers slowed down and surrounded the Jeep, Megan and Barry moved deeper into the brush. There were 30-40 men and a few women on motorcycles mostly armed, and he knew he could not fight to keep his Jeep any longer. He had left the keys in the vehicle, so hopefully the gang would be happy to get his Jeep and supplies and would not search for them. They kept moving away from the road and came to a small rise there they laid down and watched the men from behind a rock The bikers were excited that the Jeep ran and were grabbing supplies. Barry was sick to watch then fight over the few remaining MREs he had left in the back. A few of the bikers pointed into the underbrush where they had seen Barry and Megan retreat, but they had changed positions since then and put a lot of distance between them. The bikers stood and scanned the area. Barry and Megan stayed behind the large rock and eventually the bikers decided there was nothing to gain by searching for them. They got on their bikes and two that had been doubled up drove the Jeep as they continued to head west. Barry had the Sat phone in his go bag and he called Jim in Durango. They were prepared to walk the rest of the way, but Jim said he knew of some airstrips close to the interstate where he could land the plane to pick them up. They agreed on a strip 5 miles away from where they were hiding and Jim told them to be in place in 2 hours. He did not want to be on the ground long with the bikers still in the area.
