Neighborhood Watch: After the EMP

by EE Isherwood

  Luke came up behind me as I introduced everyone to Levar.

  After the formalities, I spoke to everyone.

  “Guys, let’s all go to my house. I told Levar I wanted to show him something there, then he’s thinking about going out to look for his wife.”

  “I’m definitely going,” Levar corrected.

  It would have been perfect if Levar stayed back at the cul-de-sac while Luke and I went after his kids. He could protect the ladies, including Daisy, until we came back. I tried not to be sexist about it, but Penny and Evelyn already said they didn’t have guns, so they would be no help with security. Carmen had her hand cannon, but that wouldn’t do her much good in a real fight. Not without some training, at least.

  “Levar, do you have any guns at home?” I asked as we all walked into my garage.

  The tall man strode over to my ZR1 and ran his fingers along the lines of the hood. When I asked the question, he looked up, stone-faced. “Why would I tell you if I did? How does that help me find my wife?”

  I had his same attitude before the EMP. Back then, I wouldn’t tell anyone what firearms I owned, for almost any reason. At best, I’d tell them the common gun-owner fable about losing any guns I might have had in a terrible canoe accident. Certainly, I wouldn’t have told a stranger who’d walked me into his garage with a bunch of other strangers.

  “I get it,” I replied. “You don’t know me, and I don’t know you. The rest of us already had a few hours to get familiar with each other. However, if you know anything about what knocked the power out, you’ll want to pay attention to our level of mutual trust. I’m going to walk inside and bring out some guns for my neighbors to protect themselves. If you own a gun, I recommend you get it right now. If not, I’ll trust you with one of mine, so you can help protect this street until we know things are safe.”

  “Sorry for acting like I’m not interested in you guys,” Levar said from the far side of my Vette. “I am, but my wife Kaira is my whole universe. Every second I ran for home I prayed she would be there waiting for me, but she wasn’t. My priority is getting back on the road, but this place needs to be here when she gets here. I’m impressed you’ve already come together and have a plan.”

  “We do,” I assured him.

  He gestured toward Luke. “I know you, bro.” He motioned toward Carmen. “And I’ve seen you tons of times out in your yard.” To Penny, he added, “And you’ve waved while driving by dozens of times.”

  Levar addressed them as a group. “And y’all are okay with this guy?”

  They all nodded at the same time, as if practiced.

  “Then, yeah, I’ve got a gun.” He lifted his shirt, revealing a flattened black strip attached behind his belt. “It’s a Glock 19 in my hidden holster. It sits inside my pants, below this latch. It’s kind of a bitch to get out, but I have to keep it hidden from my regional manager. It’s company policy not to have any weapons when we do installations, but if you’ve seen some of the places I’ve had to lay out security cameras, you’d carry all the time, too.”

  “And believe me, if you want to leave the subdivision for any reason, you’re going to want to be armed.” He dropped his shirt back down.

  “What’s it like out there?” Carmen asked.

  Levar sighed. “It ain’t a normal day, that’s for sure.”

  “Did you see the planes and helicopters crash?” I asked.

  “Naw, I didn’t see anything like that, but I heard a lot of jets this morning. I was doing a job in Costa Del Vista, south of town, when everything in the client’s home went out. Like, everything.” He looked at us for a moment. “Well, you know what I’m talking about.”

  “Oh, yeah,” I replied.

  “I went out to my truck and found it wouldn’t start. That’s when I knew some weird shit was going down. I sat in my front seat for a few minutes before residents of the neighborhood started filling the street. When there were enough of them, I blended in and tried to get an idea of what was going on. Some ex-military guy said he’d been talking to a man on his old school shortwave radio when the remote station went out. A few seconds later, he said his own radio burned out, and he called it a classic EMP event.”

  “And you knew what an EMP was?” I asked.

  “Yeah, we have to learn about electromagnetic interference for our installations. A low level of interference can affect picture quality while a lot of EM interference can destroy the signal itself. I just never thought I’d see one as big as the whole state.”

  “You think it’s only here in Florida?” I asked.

  He looked at me funny. “You don’t?”

  I wanted him to be right. A smaller EMP would be much more survivable, and we wouldn’t be stalked by the prospect of societal collapse. “I honestly have no idea, but I’ve been planning for the worst.”

  “The guns,” he replied in a dry voice.

  “Yeah. Guns. Food. Water. Those have been my priority today. I guess I’d add lights as the day wears on.”

  “How did you get home from that street?” Carmen cut in, and she seemed interested in Levar’s story. “Please tell us why it’s so bad.”

  Levar smiled at Carmen, but held up a finger, asking her to wait. He then looked at me. “I took a swig back at my house, but I could use another glass of water. Do you mind?”

  “Nope. Why don’t we all go into my kitchen? I’ll show you what I’ve got for weapons’ selection while you take a drink.”

  We all went inside. After filling a glass of water, thankful the tap still worked, I set it on the granite countertop.

  “I’ll be right back,” I announced.

  I went into my supply closet and opened the first and second lockers. I grabbed a pair of pistols and two boxes of nine-millimeter ammo from the first one, then I pulled out a tactical shotgun from the second. I stood there for half a minute, trying to decide if I wanted to secure the lockers or leave them open. If I left them open, my weapons would be available to those who needed them in an emergency. If I closed them, I would prevent any thieves from gaining access.

  In the end, I decided to secure them. My house backed up to the woods, so there was a chance someone could wander in and get sticky fingers. That kind of loss might endanger everyone on the street, and it would have been completely my fault. The smart play was to lock down the rest of our weaponry.

  I returned to the kitchen and placed the gear on the table.

  Levar continued his story.

  “So, once the guy told me it was an EMP, I knew I wasn’t going to be driving home. At that point, I was tempted to run to downtown Fort Myers to get Kaira at her office, but it would have been a long trip. If she’d already started for home, I’d easily miss her and my run would have been twice as long.”

  “You didn’t by chance have a plan in place in case you two were separated, like during a hurricane?” My books had brought up this point about contingency locations a lot, usually for common emergencies such as tornadoes or severe floods. Always have a meeting place for loved ones in case you lose communications. I never followed the sage advice, however, because I had no nearby family members to worry about.

  “Nope.” He chuckled for a moment. “Never crossed my mind.”

  “Don’t sweat it,” I assured him. “This took everyone by surprise, and I’d bet almost no one had this event on their Apocalypse Bingo cards.”

  He looked at me with curiosity.

  “It means we’re all working without a plan,” I added.

  “Amen to that,” he replied.

  “So, it was a straight run here?” I asked.

  “Oh, hell, nah,” Levar laughed. “I was working in a pretty nice community, but it sits a few streets over from a couple of bad streets. Those people were already motivated to keep their places locked down tight, but once those folks heard the warning sirens, they shelled up like turtles against everyone who didn’t belong there.” Levar looked at each of us in turn. “Have you ever been the lone black man running throu
gh suburbia?”

  Our faces must have shown confusion.

  “I’m serious. I saw a lot of shotguns and glares as I got the hell out of the residential area, but it didn’t get better on the main streets since I had to go through that shitty part of town I mentioned. No one was friendly there, no matter what color you were. The liquor store already had a line of people taking stuff right out the front doors, like they woke up planning to loot the place.”

  “What about the schools?” Luke interjected. “Did you see what was going on in them?”

  “Yeah, I did pass the highschool and middle school,” Levar replied. “Don’t your kids go to South Pointe High? I’ve seen them get off the bus a few times.”

  Luke nodded grimly.

  “I didn’t see any kids wandering around, but there were maybe fifty adults trying to get in the front doors, though I guess they were locked. I wish I could tell you more, but I heard some gunshots going off nearby so I wasn’t about to stop.”

  “Gunshots?” Luke gasped.

  “Yep. Not at the school, but close by.”

  Luke seemed a little relieved, but he immediately looked my way.

  “Yeah, bud, we’re going soon,” I said to reassure him before I picked up the first pistol.

  “I’m ready,” he replied, and I turned to Carmen.

  “Carmen, this is my nine-millimeter Ruger LCR I named Rocko. As you can see, Rocko is about a quarter of the size of the giant Smith and Wesson you showed us. If you’ll take this, I think you’ll find it much easier to operate. It fits nicely in your hands and it’s much easier to point, pull, and fire.”

  “Aren’t you afraid I’ll shoot myself?” Her green eyes filled with worry.

  “Are you planning to?”

  “No,” she replied, taken aback, “of course not.”

  “It’s just a tool,” I explained, “like a screwdriver. The trigger won’t pull itself, even if you drop it, but as with any gun, only point it at things you want dead, okay?”

  The beautiful Cuban woman held Rocko in her hands. She made a big deal of pointing the gun at the floor, with her finger well off the trigger, like she’d at least had a basic lesson in handling firearms.

  “It’s definitely lighter,” she admitted.

  “And I have another wheelie gun for you,” I said, turning to Penny and opening the revolver so she could see the bullets in the moon clips. “This one is a Ruger SP101. It’s also nine-millimeter, since I like to chamber as many guns as possible with the same round. The bullets need to be kept in those little moon clips. You guys will each have your own box of ammo, but you can share if necessary.”

  “Does it have a cute name?” she asked.

  “I didn’t give this one a name since it’s more of a backup,” I chuckled and held it out for her.

  “Can I name it?” she asked.

  “Go crazy,” I said with a smile. “Oh, it’s going to be hard to carry this around if you don’t have big pockets, but when I get back I should be able to dig a couple old holsters out from my boxes.”

  “When you get back?” she said as she took the weapon. “Where are you going?”

  “I’m going with Luke to get his kids.” I picked up the shotgun, opened the box of ammo, and fed shells into the tube. I racked the first one and loaded an extra, giving me a plus-one in the chamber. “They’re at the school Levar just mentioned…”

  “I see…” she replied.

  I pointed to the unnamed gun she was holding. “It’s the same as I told Carmen. Aim the gun, pull the trigger, and a bullet goes out. It’s that simple.”

  “I’ll need to practice,” she stated.

  “Of course, we’ll do that as soon as we can.” I’d love to spend the afternoon shooting targets in the woods, but it wasn’t possible to do it until more pressing issues were settled. “For now, get used to carrying it around.”

  “I will,” she said confidently.

  “Levar needs to go back out to find his wife, so now that you all are armed, the three of us will hop on bikes, travel down to South Point, and get Luke’s kids to safety.”

  I turned toward Levar. “While we’re doing that we’ll help you find your wife, but we all gotta stick together, right?”

  “You’d really do that for me?” Levar seemed surprised.

  “I’d do the same for a friend,” I deadpanned, using a play on words one of my drivers always liked.

  The guy seemed to process the new information for a few seconds before realizing I’d called him a friend, too. “I don’t know what to say. If you ever need a free security camera installed, you’ve got one coming.”

  He was joking in return, since nothing electronic would function without power.

  We all laughed for a few moments, but then it was down to business.

  I spent my time putting together the guns I wanted to take, along with some less lethal tools just in case we needed options. Luke spent a few minutes prepping the bikes. He worked with Penny to install her trailer on his road bike, so we had the ability to carry supplies. Levar ran home and came back with two pistols holstered outside his belt, like an old west sheriff.

  “I bought his and hers pistols,” Levar mused. “I’m giving this one to Kaira as soon as I find her. We’re not going to take crap from anyone.”

  “I’m with you,” I replied, holding up my combat shotgun.

  Luke approached, carrying a relic of a shotgun along with a faded box of ammo under his arm. “Is this going to be enough for me?”

  Me and Levar shared a bemused glance.

  I had no idea when the first shotgun was made, but the specimen in front of me was probably among the very first models. The dust and grime actually formed their own layer, as if age had been painted over the wooden stock and the twin metal barrels with hammers. It looked like a gun that was either worth a fortune due to its age, or absolutely nothing on account of its horrible condition. In either case, it wasn’t something we could depend on for defense.

  “Holy shit,” I said with admiration. “That might be the oldest freaking shotgun I’ve ever seen. Did that thing come over on the Mayflower?”

  “Is it that old?” he replied, looking over the ancient weapon.

  “This is a really fine, uh, shotgun you got from your wife’s dad, but it won’t work for our purposes. Would you mind if I ran home and got a different one? I want us both to have dependable ammo and interchangeable weapons. Make sense?” I wouldn’t trust the old box of ammo under his arm to even fire, much less hit a target.

  “Guns can go bad?” Luke asked.

  “Maybe we can clean it up and use it, but right now it’s in no condition to protect you or your family.”

  “Say no more,” he said in an agreeable tone.

  He turned to take it back inside. I used the opportunity to bolt for home, grab a second pump shotgun from my case, and then run back. I had three shotguns in my collection, but the third one was an old double-barrel I’d found at an auction. I’d always thought of it as far too old to use, but after seeing Luke’s heirloom, mine seemed fresh and clean. If needed, my double shotty would be a good choice for our collective defense.

  We met back at the trailer, and I handed him the replacement.

  “This is my Remington 870 Tactical. It has six rounds in the tube and one ready to go. Just press the safety here by the trigger and pull, alright? Pump the handguard like this to load the next shell.”

  He took the weapon as if we were in a religious ceremony.

  “He did you right, Luke,” Levar said, witnessing the hand-off.

  “It uses the same ammo as my Benelli, so we can share these boxes of shells.” I dumped in a second box of twenty-five rounds, to match the one already in the trailer.

  “Will that be enough?” he asked.

  “Yeah, the plan is to only use them in worst-case scenarios.” I motioned for him to set his shotgun in the trailer. “We can’t ride and shoot guns, so we want to avoid situations where we might need them, you k
now? Our job is to travel light, move fast, grab the kids, then get home.”

  “That’s what I like to hear,” he replied.

  I’d brought a small survival backpack from my house which contained a little first-aid kit, a multi-tool, a camp shovel, some paracord, and other small pieces of gear. I’d also brought a couple of claw hammers which I now transferred to the trailer.

  “And those are for?” Luke asked.

  “More insurance,” I answered.

  “Great idea.” He held up a “wait-for-me” finger before running off. “Be right back.”

  Evelyn cut across Levar’s lawn, returning from whatever the older woman had been doing in her home. She seemed lost, which was the way she’d looked most of the day.

  “You okay, Evelyn?” I asked in a kind voice.

  “Are you going out again?” she squeaked.

  “Yes, we’re going to get Luke’s kids from school. Why?”

  “I can’t take the waiting.” She stood with her arms across her chest. “If you see Benjamin, please tell him to come home. I’m worried sick about him.”

  Luke came out of his garage carrying an aluminum bat. “Insurance!” he crowed, before he tossed it in the trailer with the hammers and guns.

  I looked back to Evelyn, who was evidently appalled at Luke’s actions.

  “If we see your husband,” I said in a calm voice, “I promise we’ll talk to him, but it’s a huge world out there, so can you give us any idea where to look?”

  “He took his little boat, but once he leaves the canal behind our house, I have no idea where he goes.”

  My paper map showed all the streets and canals up and down the coast in our region of Florida. My best guess was there might be hundreds of miles of waterways zigzagging all over the nearby subdivisions. The chances of finding one guy in all that was practically zilch. However, all I could do was try to help her.

  “If we see him, we’ll get him moving toward home, okay?”

  For the first time since I’d met her, Evelyn’s face softened.

  “Thank you, Frank.”