by A. P. Texan
Chapter 2-The Wicked Witch and the Kids
Determination: When faced with what seems to be overwhelming odds you dig in your heals and push on because faith and grit will see you to the finish line.
2000 11 September 2021
Keller Texas
Sandy and I wake to the sound of laughing and voices coming from the living room of the house. We can see a soft, flickering light emanating from under the bedroom door but this is not enough for us to see by so I grab up my Bell and Howell Tac-Light from beside the bed and set it to lantern mode where I aim it at the wall. I love this light it was cheap and gives out amazing amounts of light and this lantern setting lights up the room with more light than we could need.
We begin to get dressed for our trip. I put on my same clothes from earlier, except I put a long sleeve dark colored Plaid button down over my t-shirt. And also grab a lightweight jacket. The temperature this time of year is still pretty warm however, riding on the side by side at 30mph it could be pretty chilly. I also grab my black leather Kevlar lined patrol and search gloves and put them in a cargo pocket.
“You ready for this sweetie”, I ask as I give her a big hug, “it’s going to be a long night”
“Of course, I’m ready Mi Amor, I get to spend a fun adventure filled evening with the love of my life. Going to go get your kids really has me thinking about my boys and grandbabies though. I really hope they are okay.”
“I know babe, but we told them to be prepared. We also gave them detailed instructions on how to get to the farm. We just have to trust Rollie to get everyone together and meet us there” I say in reassurance.
We head to the living room to see what all the fun is about where we see Rusty, Bob, and Natalie sitting around a table playing a game of Catan, while Mom is rocking little Alexandra in her recliner. The light comes from an old antique oil lamp that belonged to my Grandmother. The light is weak and is giving off a good amount of smoke. But what can you expect from 50-Year-old lamp oil?
“I totally forgot we had those lamps. Looks like we need to add lamp oil to our list of things to salvage. I’m surprised those even still light.” I say surprising, everyone who didn’t see us walk in.
“Yeah, I was a little surprised myself” Mom says. “But I figured we had them might as well try and what do you know we got light.”
I pull out the two Beofang radios and give one to Sandy the channels are already preprogrammed, and I show her how to switch between channel A and B. A will be our primary and B the backup in case someone else starts talking on A. To these radios I attach throat mikes with earpieces and a PTT Button that will clip onto your outer wear. I clip mine to my chest rig Sandy clips hers to her shirt. I pull the magazine missing 1 round out of my pocket and fill it with the ammo can on the table.
Sandy and I go through the process of hugging people and shaking hands before we leave. What has historically been a routine hour trip will now most likely be 4-5 hours.
“I’m guessing this shouldn’t take more than four or five hours but give us seven before you start to worry. If it is more than ten before you hear from us, head for the Farm.” I say. I give them a map showing where it is and how to get there. With that we climb on our UTVs and head to go get the kids.
The night is beautiful, and the weather is perfect. Without all the background noise of the modern electrical world everything is deathly quiet, the only sound coming from the purr of our little side by side motors. This is a great time for reflection. I know a lot of people are going to be dead in the following months and that is tragic but if I'm being completely honest, I am embracing this new life. I think this is something I have been quietly hoping would happen for years. A chance to live life to its fullest on your own terms. People don’t think about it but in the modern world everyone is beholden to someone else and we are all dependent on the almighty dollar. Now all of that is gone. The only thing one can depend on now is themselves and their loved ones. This is an environment where the strong survive and the meek get pushed to the side. It is an environment where men like me can truly excel, where we can become who we were really meant to be.
We are several miles into the trip, traveling down Precinct Line Road towards Hwy Loop 820, and I realize we might have made a big mistake. We didn’t check the fuel levels of the UTVs before we left, and we also didn’t bring extra fuel with us. I didn’t think about this because the trip is only about 35 miles round trip, but the Kubota only has around a quarter of a tank left.
“Sandy can you hear me?” I say pushing the PTT Button on my chest.
“Yeah Babe, What’s up?” I hear her voice come through my earpiece.
“We didn’t get Fuel before we left, and the Kubota has less than a quarter, How’s the level on yours?”
“Looks like I’m almost full. Must have been a lot of trips back and forth to Bob’s house. “She says
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking, but regardless we need to find a couple gallons for the Kubota.”
Just up ahead is the Tarrant County Precinct Garage and Maintenance lot. They should have some fuel around. I pull the Kubota up to the South Wall. I need to be careful here as I’m surrounded by neighborhoods and people. I’m hoping since it is Dark and getting late nobody will be around but still have to be vigilant.
2130 11 September 2021
Tarrant County Texas
Marcus Atwood and Damian White are a pair of wanna be Gangster thugs. They grew up in Middle Class homes in the Suburbs. But due to Rap music and cultural expectations they have chosen to be troublemakers most of their life. Both 19 still living at home with their parents they have been in and out of trouble with the police since they were 15. Nothing serious, a couple of shoplifting charges, one minor assault for a fist fight, and some minor drug possession charges.
“Man, this is going to be dope, in this black out we can do whatever we want. No racist pigs to stop us this time”, Marcus says to Damian.
The two of them are walking North West up the old Cotton Belt Railway track towards Precinct line. Their goal is to get to the dentist office not far down from the railroad crossing.
“Yeah man when we get to the Docs, we gonna huff some of that gas and be flyin’ fo-sho.”
As they get close to the intersection of the tracks and the road, they hear a couple engines coming down the road toward them. Hiding in the bushes they look north up the large 4 lane road and, in the moonlight, see a couple of off-road type vehicles pull off towards a lot of some kind surrounded by an eight-foot brick wall.
“Fuck this walking shit we need to go jack the muther-fuckers driving those wheels. We each get one, we can get high then go tear some shit up and have some real fun.” Damian says quietly to Marcus.
“Yeah man let’s go fuck’em up and take their rides. Probably a couple old ass white rednecks. They deserve a beat down anyways.”
They start moving around the west wall of the compound and as they get to the southwest corner, they can hear 2 voices. One distinct male voice and one distinct female voice.
“I’m going to hop the wall and look around. Hopefully I can find a couple gallons and be back in just a few minutes stay here and keep an eye on the rigs. Holler if you need me.” The male voice says.
“Okay Babe, be careful Mi Amor”, the female voice has a slight Mexican accent.
Marcus and Damian look at each other giving a fist bump. Not only are they going to get some sweet wheels, but they get to beat down an old white guy and get some Mexican Ass. She might not want what the two were going to offer but she was gonna take it either way.
The white guy climbs up on top of one of the 2 vehicles and then jumps up to the wall. Turning he lowers himself down the other side. The Mexican woman is standing next to the rig she was driving looking out towards the street.
“Okay the cracker is gone let’s go grab her then we can wait for him to get back we can jump him as soon as he comes over the wall before he suspects anything”, Marcus says.
They slowly creep up on the unsuspecting woman, Marcus the bigger of the 2, grabs her from behind covering her mouth with his hand and lifting her off the ground with his other arm.
“Whoa momma don’t fight, you gonna love what Marcus is gonna give you, and when I’m done Damian there going to give you some dessert.” Marcus tells her as she is squirming, kicking, and scratching in his grasp. Then just as quickly she just goes limp in his arms. As he pulls her back towards the corner of the wall.
Being a typical thug, he starts talking way more than he should about what he is going to do to her and how much she is gonna like it. Unfortunately for him he will not be able to learn from his mistake.
0900 11 September 2021
Stillwater Oklahoma
Stephanie Williams is Chases 20-year-old daughter. At 5 feet tall 100 pounds soaking wet and long brown hair she is a fireball with an attitude. She takes no crap from anyone and hands out punishment with an unstoppable wit and scary sarcasm.
She is currently living with Jeremiah her Highschool sweetheart. He is a good guy that tries his best to take good care of her. She is working as an employee at Jack in the Box as well as an assistant manager for a CUTCO Cutlery Distributer. Jeremiah is attending Oklahoma State University as a Veterinary Medicine Major.
At this hour her day is no different than any other. She wakes up in her usual way, hair a mess in her oversized t-shirt and pajama pants, Grumpy and in a foul mood. Jeremiah lays next to her still snoring away in dreamland.
“Oh my God I need Coffee.” she mutters under her breath trying not to wake him. “I hate getting up this early why on earth did they feel they needed to schedule me for the lunch rush. ERRRRRGH He knows I am not a morning person.”
She slips out from under the covers and goes to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee from her Keurig, A housewarming gift from her dad. One of the enduring traits she has is she still calls Chase Daddy, something he hopes will never change. She gets her Harry Potter coffee cup out of the cabinet, puts a fresh K cup in the machine and hits the brew button. Nothing happens. “What now why won't this damn thing work. I just want a cup of Coffee” She almost screams. She is looking at the machine trying to trace the power cord to make sure its plugged in.
“What's the matter with you this morning?” She hears Jeremiah say as he emerges from the bedroom Stretching and yawning as he walks into the kitchen.
“The Keurig isn't working, and I need coffee. I have to be at work in two hours and I need coffee to get woke up before I start getting ready. ERRRRGH! Turn on the light so I can see to make sure this damn thing is plugged in.”
He is flipping the switch on and off, but the lights don’t seem to be working either. “Looks like the power is out. I know we paid the bill I just dropped it off last week on my way to class.”
She turns and gives him the stare that would make the strongest of men turn cold. “CHECK THE BREAKERS!”
Jeremiah slinks back a little and backpedals towards the bedroom. “I am going to grab my phone and use the light on it to do that, I was just about to do that, calm down”
Probably not his best choice of words. “I am calm, I just hate mornings, I hate working lunch shift and I NEED COFFEE.”
He returns a minute later with both of their phones in his hands. “The phones aren’t working either. They won’t even power up.”
“NO, NO, NO! This can't be happening.” She gets frantic and seems to have forgotten about her coffee at this point. She grabs Jeremiah’s car keys and heads for the door.
“Where are you going, if it is for coffee get me a large dark roast.
She doesn’t say a thing just rushes out the door and heads to the car. It is a 94 model Honda Civic. Cheap and economic with incredible fuel economy it is the perfect car for a young couple starting out and in college. But right now, it won't start. The engine is turning over but it just will not start.
Getting out of the car Stephanie begins to breakdown, the tough exterior she puts on is now crumbling. The tears begin to flow freely from her eyes and her little body is shaking from the sobs. Jeremiah is at a loss; his little fire ball is breaking down and he has never seen this before, now he doesn’t really know how to handle it.
“Um, Steph, are you okay? What's the matter? I’m not sure what’s going on, but it can’t be that bad. Just a bad set of circumstances. The car is having problems the same day there seems to be a blackout. Nothing to worry about. We can get the car fixed and the power will come back on and we can charge the phones. It will be fine in a few hours.”
“You don’t understand” she manages to choke out between sobs as she goes in the apartment and flops down on the couch. “It’s not coming back. Nothing is coming back. We are all going to die, and nothing is going to be the same. Our lives are over, even if we manage to live, our lives will never be the same everything is now changed.”
“UM, your right I don’t understand. What are you talking about? Is this some of that crazy stuff your dad talks about. I hate to say this, but you know he is a little crazy right.”
“HE IS NOT CRAZY!!! CAN’T YOU SEE HE HAS BEEN RIGHT THIS WHOLE TIME. PEOPLE HAVE ALWAYS SAID HE IS CRAZY AND NOW HE IS RIGHT.” She is screaming at him now. On the full defensive because no one and I mean no one talks bad about her daddy. She will go to war with anyone who bad mouths her daddy.
“Okay, okay” He puts his hands out to her in surrender. “I’m sorry. But if he isn’t crazy what do you think has happened and what do we need to do now. What can we do to insure we don’t die, and we live a long happy life together?”
“I don’t know. I’m so scared, I don’t know what to do, I never paid enough attention to him when he talked about this kind of thing. All I know is some kind of pulse thing went off and has killed everything electronic. The world will never be the same. Now we are trapped in freaking Stillwater with no way to get to our families. I don’t know what to do”
“Okay calm down and think. I’m going to figure out how to get you some coffee and then we can think about this together okay. I’ll be back in a little bit.”
Luckily Wal-Mart is within walking distance and Jeremiah had some cash on him so within the hour he was heading back home with a can of Sterno, a Sterno camping stove, two stainless steel single wall coffee mugs, and a container of Folgers instant coffee. Not the best but at least it is something. It also used up the last of his cash. Wal-Mart was a mad house. Apparently, everyone in the town of Stillwater was making a run on the store with whatever cash they had on them. Buying up all the water and dry goods they could get their hands on.
“I got your coffee” he announced as he was walking through the door. Stephanie had pulled herself together. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail. And she was going through all the cabinets in the house. “What are you doing now?”
“Thank You for the coffee. Can you please make me a cup as quickly as possible? I am inventorying our food and filling up every container I can find with water. The food situation isn’t good. We have maybe three days’ worth. Water so far, I would say between bowls, glasses, and empty bottles we have about 6 gallons. But we can continue getting more water as long as we still have pressure. I remember dad saying as long as the water tower has water in it, we would keep water pressure. And I think he said the water towers store enough water for three or four days. Also, the hot water tank should still be full and ours is probably 25 gallons. We need to figure out how to get to Texas. Being with dad is our best chance of survival, but that is a long trip. It is six hours by car so we are talking days if we have to walk, and there is no way we can walk that far. We don’t have the food, water, or know how.”
“Let me set this up and get us both some coffee then I think we need to walk over to campus and go to the library. If there is anywhere to find out what we need to do that would be the place.”
“I Have a better idea. Instead of the library let’s go to that little bookstore on main street. The library will have more resources, but we won
’t have the computers to look anything up. At the little bookstore it will be easier to find what we are looking for. I did what you said and calmed down and started thinking really hard about what daddy said and I think I remember. He said it would be a High-Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse, or HEMP. It is basically a Nuclear Missile detonated high in the atmosphere. Like two or three hundred miles high. The resulting pulse kills everything electronic. So, when we get to the bookstore or library whichever, we need to look up anything we can find on EMPs or HEMPs as well as survival techniques. I know we can both camp, but I don’t know how to survive long term in the wilderness.”
“I’ve been hunting a couple times. I killed something once. But I don’t know anything about cleaning it or preparing it. And I hate camping if it doesn’t involve a camper or a cabin. Laying on the hard ground and fighting bugs is not my idea of a good time.” Jeremiah replied.
“OMG, you are such a girl. I have been camping and wearing camo with my daddy longer than I can remember. But guess what, you aren’t going to have a choice now. You're going to have to suck it up buttercup.” She smiles at him with her evil little grin. This is her way of telling him she loves him no matter what and she is just being her mean playful self.
“Alright smart ass let’s split up, you go to the bookstore and I’ll head to the library. We will find everything we can on survival, post apocalypse survival, and EMPs. Deal?” Jeremiah counters
“Deal! But first we drink coffee and relax. Something tells me the next few days are going to be rough.”
Over the next hour they enjoy a couple more cups of coffee and then plan their day. Stephanie will head downtown to her favorite bookstore, while Jeremiah heads to campus to try to find as much as possible in the University Library. When it starts getting dark out, they will head back to the apartment and plan further from there.
