EMP 1500 MILES FROM HOME (2 page)

I had cash, a pretty good wad of cash, thanks to Cap. Every time I went on a business trip, Cap would hand me a roll of cash. I gave it back to him when I got home and repaid any I used on the trip as I could. I didn't think it was necessary to carry that much cash with me on business trips, but Cap insisted. He called it my get home money. This time he sent $3,000 with me in twenties and hundreds.

I thought flashing a couple of hundreds in front of the grocery store manager might get me into the store, even if it were closed. Nowadays most stores closed when the power went out and didn't open until it was on again.

I tapped on the glass front door at the store. A middle-aged guy came to the door and mouthed, "we're closed," through the glass. I held up three 100-dollar bills. He opened the door. It worked at the hardware store too. I soon had most of what I needed so I headed back to the motel.

I retrieved my bundle, and slipped around to the rear of the motel. I found a more secluded room that appeared to be empty, so I broke in. I spent the afternoon and that night in the room, packing and repacking my stuff, and studying the travel atlas I bought at the grocery store. Then I sacked out. Tomorrow I would be on my way home to see Lucy and Ben, as well as Cap and Mary, Cap's wife and Lucy's mom.

Yeti

My nickname is Yeti. Folks call me that because I am so big and tall. I just turned fifteen last week and I stand six-feet six or seven. I weigh over 400 pounds. I knew what happened when I saw the first flash in the sky and the second flash just confirmed it.

My mental abilities are good. My physical abilities are not, mostly because of my weight and all of the time I spent on my laptop at the orphanage in Belen. I was already done with high school. I took some advanced placement tests and had my high school diploma at age 11. I wanted to go to college, but I didn't have the money saved up yet. I was accumulating funds in an online account fairly quickly though. I thought I would have enough money to start college and pay my way through my bachelors, masters, and Ph.D. degrees in about six months—but that would not happen now.

I guesstimated my money disappeared when the first EMP exploded to the east.

There was no panic yet around the orphanage. No one else had any idea of what had happened. They were just waiting around for the electricity and cell phone towers to come back on. I knew, with no electricity to pump wells, water would soon be a major problem here in New Mexico. I had no friends at the orphanage. It was time for me to leave.

Wayne

I headed north on I-25, walking on the shoulder. The next exit was Lemitar, about five miles from Socorro. I was fairly heavily loaded. In addition to my bulky bedroll and overnight bag, I had three full gallon jugs of water slung on paracord and pieces of seat belt on my back, but the miles passed quickly.

I passed empty cars about every two to five hundred feet, as well as the occasional 18-wheeler. I saw no one. I assumed the people walked to town the day before.

I was glad to be on the way home. I was relaxed and thinking about my wife and son. I figured it would take a few days before people got out of hand. I was wrong. I should have been paying more attention.

"Hey Mister," the voice shouted, "stop right there."

"Yeah," a second voice said, "let me see what you have." The two men pointed pistols at me.

If I had a gun and was paying attention, I could have shot both of them, but I didn't have a gun. The guy at the hardware store refused to sell me one since I was from out of state. I should have taken what I needed. Cap always said I was far too soft. For the first time I understood what he meant by that.

The two men divested me of my belongings, and made me empty my pockets. They took it all—everything, well except for my watch, which was hidden under my shirtsleeve.

"Should we kill him?"

"Yeah, let's kill him."

That was when I stooped, grabbed a water jug, and ran like hell. Their shots missed, but not by much. They kept shooting and ran after me. "These guys must be seriously fucked up," I thought to myself. In only a day and a half, civilization was gone.

Both the guys chasing me were medium height or less. They lacked my long legs. They also lacked the fear of death their guns instilled in me. I outran them. It took me another fifteen minutes of full on sprinting to lose them, but I did it. I ran at a slower pace after that, but I ran.

Thanks to Cap, I was still alive. Eight years ago, when I married Cap's daughter, I was overweight and out of shape, in spite of my job in construction. Cap took me in hand, gently at first, and then with an increasing firmness until I was in good physical condition. Now, four extremely early mornings a week when I was home, and a full day on the weekends, Cap put me through his personal version of boot camp hell. I was used to it now, but he still managed to push me almost to my breaking point at least once a week. He didn't spare himself either. After eight years, he could still outrun me, although I was by far the stronger.

Thanks to Cap, I knew I could keep going longer than the two guys who took my stuff.

By evening I was a good ten miles farther north. I could see I-25 in the distance every now and then, but I was hidden in the creosote bushes far from the interstate.

I settled in for the night, hoping no rattlesnakes liked the spot I picked. I took stock of my possessions; one half-full gallon water jug, one watch, my shoes, and the clothes on my back, minus my suit coat, which had been in my pack roll. Everything else was gone. The bug out kit I put together between the grocery store and the hardware store was gone—even the Swiss Army Knife was gone. I didn't even have a single match.

When Cap and I were together, he constantly told me stories. Most were stories of survival in the wilderness. After a while I stopped listening because I never thought of myself as a survivalist. Now I wished I had paid more attention. I lay there trying to recall all of the survival stories Cap told, one by one, until I fell asleep.

Julie

I awoke before dawn. The electricity is still off. The feeling is strong within me that something is very wrong this time. I decided to throw some stuff together and drive to the ranch. My dad wanted me to come home to the ranch when I lost my job, but I like working and wanted another job, so I found a less expensive place and kept looking for work.

It was still dark when I tossed my suitcase into the back seat and tried to start the car. It wouldn't start. There was complete silence when I turned the key. Just my luck, the car is broken. I will have to wait until daylight to see if I can fix it. I am hoping it is just a loose wire.

Wayne

The next morning I woke at first light. I was shivering and hungry enough to eat a rattlesnake, but none were in the vicinity. I looked.

I waited as the sunlight grew stronger and the sky changed from black to a tentative blue, and finally a deep rich blue. I wished I still had the atlas from my pack. Cap always told me that before I go anywhere, I should memorize the map so I knew alternate routes in case I needed them. Yesterday afternoon I did just that. I studied the road atlas for several hours. Now I realized that I would not be able to travel on the highway as I first thought. I would have to stay under cover as much as possible. I still wished for the atlas though. I didn't fully trust my memory.

Over the past few years Cap tried to teach me how to travel off-road undetected. I hoped I paid enough attention. I wished Lucy was with me. Cap trained her from childhood and she did everything well. She was a better shot than I was, but then, so was Cap. Cap taught me how to handle a huge number of firearms though, so I was no amateur when it came to guns. Now, if I only had one...

I walked north keeping I-25 in sight to my right (east). There were more houses east of the interstate, closer to the Rio Grande, so it is safer to stay away from the river. I still have almost half a gallon of water in my jug. I need to find more water soon.

The high desert heat is deceptive because it evaporates the sweat directly from your skin and you never feel like you are losing water by sweating. But you are, and dehydration can kill surprisingly quickly. Water is crucial out here.

A few miles farther north, a small, isolated subdivision popped up in front of me. According to the map I studied, it is the western part of a community called Polvadera. The main part of Polvadera is east of I-25 and too populated for me to go there.

I did not want to pass through any cities, or even medium-sized towns, on the way home, so It seemed to me I should follow Highway 60 East and avoid Albuquerque. The turnoff to Highway 60 East was fifteen miles north of Polvadera.

I knew I wouldn't make it to Highway 60 today, or maybe even the next day, so I decided to scout the subdivision and see if I could find some water, food, and/or other supplies.

I studied the subdivision from my well-hidden position in the mesquite, or greasewood—I didn't know which. The subdivision was laid out on approximately one-acre lots, and not all of the lots had houses or house trailers on them. I crept closer to a lot on the edge of the subdivision that contained a house trailer and a few outbuildings. There was a single silver car parked in front of the trailer. A few other cars were pushed off into the brush. They looked to be junkers, but not old-enough to be EMP proof.

After watching for a couple of hours, I saw no movement in the trailer, or on the place. I crept up to the obviously home-built porch and quietly tried the trailer door. It was open. That surprised me. That meant there might be someone home. I turned to exit the porch when the door opened behind me and I felt something on my neck.

"Stop right there, fella."

I stopped, slowly turned my head, and saw it was a woman behind me; a woman holding a shotgun, the barrel of which was touching my neck. I slowly raised my hands above my head. "Yes Ma'am," I said.

"You must be new at this?" She laughed, "I don't think you are a very good thief."

"No Ma'am," I said, "I only stole something once before in my life."

"Do you know what has happened? Why did the electricity go out?" She asked.

"Yes Ma'am, I think I do."

"Well come inside then and tell me what you think you know."

I nodded my head and entered the house trailer. I ducked to get through the door, but then this was an older house trailer and many of them only had six-foot tall doors. The shotgun never wavered.

I sat down in an overstuffed chair when told to do so. After sleeping on the ground the night before, it felt good. I almost, but not quite, forgot about the shotgun.

"What do you think happened?" I looked at the woman with the shotgun. She was very attractive, cute really, and had a sturdy look about her, a no-nonsense look.

"I think the electricity went out because of an EMP strike."

"What is an EMP?" She asked. It took me about five minutes to explain that an EMP resulted from a nuclear explosion miles above ground, and that it generated currents that destroyed the transformers on the grid and delicate electronics that were not shielded. I told her about the red sky. I also told her what the after effects of an EMP were supposed to be.

"I saw that too, but I didn't know what it was," she paused a bit. "You mean to tell me that some SOB shut down our electricity here in America?"

"Yes Ma'am."

“What about radioactivity?”

“From what I read, radioactivity is not supposed to be a problem.”

"How long will it take for the electric grid to be repaired?"

"I have been told no sooner than a couple of years, and it could be longer.

"Well that sucks cow shit!" Her words surprised me and I guess I let it show on my face. She looked me in the eye and said, "You are kinda prissy for a thief, aren't you?"

"Well, thieving was not my first career choice."

"Can I have a swig of the water you have there? I'm out." I passed her the jug. She took a drink. The shotgun remained pointed in my direction the whole time. Then she passed the jug back to me and set the shotgun against the wall in the corner.

"Now don't get any ideas big fella. I have a pistol in my apron pocket and I know how to use it."

"I believe you do Ma'am," I replied.

"Now, if I understand what you said, it may be several years or more before the electricity comes back on."

"Yes Ma'am."

"This trailer is uninhabitable without electricity, and not defensible without civilization and its rules and regulations," she said.

"Yes Ma'am. I agree."

"And you think as much as 90% of the population could die from this power outage?"

"That's what I read, but I hope not."

"I think that might be accurate. In this area, it might be more like a 95% die-off."

"Ma'am, you are pretty sharp..."

"For someone who lives in a house trailer on a junky lot?"

"Well, yes Ma'am."

"And you know too much and are too inexperienced to be a thief."

"I agree with that," I said.

"Tell me about yourself," she said with just a hint of a smile, "but keep it short, I don't have all day."