Grid Down: A Strike against America – An EMP Survival Story- Book One (12 page)

***

Rob rushed Mila and Josh into their cabin and told them to stay away from the windows. He then went to Kelly’s room and pushed the door open to find her on the bed, reading. She jumped up, startled.

              “We need you in the living room. Now,” Rob said.

              “What’s wrong?”

              Rob went to the window and drew the thick curtains. “Cover all the windows!” he shouted to Mila.

              Kelly stood frozen. Rob looked over at her. “Come on. Let’s go.”

              The urgency in his voice got her moving. He led her by the hand to where Mila and Josh were pulling the kitchen and living room curtains. Rob grabbed a nearby kerosene lamp and lit the wick with a lighter he kept in his pocket. The lamp provided a dim glow in the otherwise darkened cabin.

              “Everyone gather around,” Rob said. As they circled him, he looked into their panicked faces and spoke as calmly as he could.  “We’re going to be OK. We’re prepared for this.” He looked at Mila. “Grab your gun and take the kids to the crawl space.”

              “What about you?” she asked.

              Rob pulled the handheld radio from his pocket and called Elliot. “You see anything yet?”

             
“Yeah, I got a man in my sight right now.”

             
Mila put her arm around both kids and pulled them closer.

              “What’s happening, Mom?” Kelly asked.

              “People,” she said. “Outsiders. Your father has everything under control.”

              “How many more do you see?” Rob asked.

             
“At least five. Wait a minute.”
Elliot paused
. “They have their hands up. All of them.”

              It was a strange thing to hear, but Rob wasn’t taking any chances. He went to his room and grabbed his pistol and two magazines from the gun safe. Their emergency crawl space was located in the corner of the room under a hidden trapdoor, leading to an underground hole large enough to fit five people. As a last resort, it would serve its purposes.

              Mila entered the room with Josh and Kelly at her side. Rob turned back to the gun safe sitting on their dresser and took her revolver out, handing it to her.

              “Here.”

              She took the revolver with an uneasy look on her face. “I don’t want you going out there.”

              “Someone has to. We can’t leave this to Elliot.”

              “Are you crazy?” she said. “He has a high-powered hunting rifle. I’m sure he can take care of a few drifters on his own.”

              “I don’t think these are drifters,” Rob said.

              “They tried to kill us,” Josh said. “They shot an arrow right at me. Please, Dad. Don’t go out there.”

              Rob touched his shoulders and ran a hand through his bushy hair. “Don’t worry. These men aren’t going to hurt anyone.”

             
“They’re on the campgrounds now. Walking right past my cabin. Oh my God. Reba!”

              Rob put the radio to his face. “Just stay calm. Do they still have their hands up?”

              “Yeah. Like they’re surrendering or something. They’re looking up here now. I tell ya, Rob. If one of them tries to go in my cabin, I’m going to take him out.”

              A man’s voice suddenly bellowed from outside. “We’re here to talk. Nothing more, nothing less. You have nothing to fear from us.”

              Mila and Rob froze, trying to make out his words. Josh heard the man all too well. “He’s lying. Don’t listen to him, Dad.”

              “You hear that?”
Elliot asked. 

              “Yeah, what’re they doing now?” Rob asked into the radio.

             
“They stopped. They’re just standing there—five men in all. About … ten yards from your cabin.”

              The man outside continued. “Sir. You in the tower. Please tell your people that we’re only here to talk. We left our weapons behind us.”

              Rob spoke into the radio. “Ask him what they want to talk about.”
             
“Ten-four,”
Elliot said. They could hear him calling out from the tower. “What do you want to talk about?”

              “How we need to work things out. Peacefully, like civil human beings,” the man answered.

              “Tell him that he’s going to have to do better than that,” Rob said, walking to the living room window and peeking out.

He saw five men with their backs to him and their hands up. Their attention was on Elliot. He had every opportunity to take care of them then and there, but couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not with the children present.

              “Tell them…” Rob paused, radio in hand. “Tell them we want specifics.”

             
“Got it,”
Elliot said. “He says we want specifics!” he shouted.

              “Who says?” the man asked. Rob could feel his cover being blown by the second.

              “No one,” Elliot answered. “Now answer the questions.”

              Rob watched from the window as the man spun around slowly, scanning each cabin with his arms outstretched. “Sir, I wish to speak with whomever is in charge. As the leader of my own community, I think it’s only fair. Let’s be adults here. We don’t want any trouble. We’ve only come to work out our differences.”

              Rob moved away from the window and held the radio to his face, unsure what to say.

              “No,” Mila said. “Don’t even think about it.”

              “Yeah, Dad. They murdered Grady, then they tried to kill me and Antonio.” 

              Kelly joined in. “Don’t leave, Daddy. Please.”

              “I’m sorry,” he said to them. “Whatever this is about, I have to take charge. It’s the only way.” He walked to the middle of the living room and gave them one big hug. “Promise me you’ll go to the crawl space if anything happens.”

              Mila held him tightly and agreed. She knew there was no changing his mind.

              He stepped back and pulled his pistol out while talking into the radio. “Elliot. Tell them I’m coming out.”

              “We’re sending someone out!” Elliot shouted from the tower.

              Rob stopped at the front door and turned to see his family standing together watching him.

              “Be careful,” Mila said.

              “I will. Don’t worry,” he said. He opened the door a crack then pushed it open as sunlight beamed into the room. He took a step out and blinked at the brightness. The men were still there with their hands up. Rob walked down the steps and approached them from behind. He was careful to scan the area for others but didn’t see anyone.

              “What do you men want?” he called out.

              Surprised, the five men turned around, dressed in camouflage and wearing skullcaps. Two of them were especially built and rough-looking, while the others had long facial hair and tattoos showing on their necks. Rob held his pistol steady as the leader of the group stepped forward. He looked nothing like them. He was older and well-groomed—the only one wearing glasses. 

              “Hello.” The man waved, circling to the front of his group with his hands up. “My name is Arthur Jenkins. My group and I live in a town not far from here. I was hoping we could have a civil discussion.”

              Rob kept his distance and his aim steady, not allowing anyone to get close enough to disarm him or try to take him down. “Just tell me what this is about first.”

              Arthur gave a small laugh, smiled, and slowly lowered his hands. “Maybe if I knew your name first, I’d feel a little better.”

              “I’m not here to make you feel better. But it’s Rob Parker.”

              “OK, Rob. Now maybe if you lowered your gun we could ease the tension in the air.”

              Rob examined the group. Their faces were stern and serious, unlike Arthur’s. Things then became clear. The men were most likely part of the criminal element running Nyack.

              “Not a chance,” he said.

              Arthur waved to the tower. “Look. If my men were to try anything, I’m sure your sharpshooter up there wouldn’t hesitate. We’re unarmed and at your mercy. I just want to talk.”

              “Is that why you killed a man? Chased two young boys through the woods? Just to
talk
?”

              Arthur hung his head, seemingly ashamed. Rob noticed his neighbors looking out of their cabin windows. He kept his pistol steadily aimed.

              “That was an unfortunate accident,” Arthur said. “A misfire. Dwayne here thought he had seen a bear. The two boys … well, they spooked us too. We tried to catch them to explain ourselves, but things got out of hand. That’s why I told my men to lay down their weapons and come up here to work this whole mess out.” He paused and took a breath. “That’s why we’re here.”

              “I’m sure that’s not the only reason,” Rob said. “And for the record, I don’t believe you. I think you were hoping for an ambush and things didn’t go your way. Now your next best option is to make nice until we let our guard down. How many others have you brought with you?”

              The men stayed silent. Arthur nodded and scratched his chin. He shifted in place and then waved his hands wildly in the air, and made an I-give-up gesture. “OK, Rob. Let’s just cut the shit. You
owe
us. You stole from us and then killed one of
my
men while injuring another. Did we come here for blood? Possibly. But it doesn’t have to end like that. I have a solution that can work for both of us.”

              “A solution?” Rob asked. “What could you possibly offer us?”

              “A deal. Simple as that,” Arthur said.

              “About the only deal we’re looking to make involves you leaving this area and not coming back. As far as stealing from you, what we took belonged to the hospital, not your band of criminals. As far as your two men, they shot at us. They tried to kill us and deserved what they got.”

              Arthur waved Rob off. “It’s all in the past. You see, I’m only interested in the future. You remember how the settlers first established colonies around America? They’d set up trading posts with the Native Americans and other travelers, and hence free trade emerged. These are desperate times we live in now, and we need to help each other out. This is what I propose. We work together. Not as friends, but groups with mutual interests. You’ve obviously been up here a while. Your people are most likely skilled at hunting and have adapted to the terrain. So we’ll bring you items from town, canned soup, for instance, and trade you for some fresh meat. Catch my drift?”

              Rob looked around at the faces peering through the windows. He wasn’t prepared to speak for everyone. His main goal was to get the men out of there without further bloodshed.

              “I understand what you’re suggesting, but the decision is not up to me alone. It will have to be discussed with my group.”

              Arthur looked around and shrugged. “So where are they? Get them all out here, and let’s talk about this.”

              “No,” Rob said. “Not now, anyway. I would just like you men to leave now.”

              Arthur shook his head in disbelief. “You know, we made quite the journey to work this all out. It would be unreasonable to expect us to come back again for an answer. We don’t have a nice pickup truck like you.” Arthur paused and looked past the cabins. “I don’t see it, though. Do you have any other working vehicles? We could make one hell of a trade.”

              The vehicles had been moved to a nearby empty ravine and covered in camouflage tarp. Rob felt lucky that they had done it in time.

              “There’s nothing more for us to discuss,” Rob said. “We didn’t steal from you, and your men attacked us first. Now please leave.”

              Arthur smiled and lowered his hands. Rob hadn’t taken his pistol off him. “A deal without trust,” said Arthur, “is not a deal worth keeping. I think we should trust each other, Rob.”

              “Keep your hands up,” Rob said.

              “We have a truck too,” Arthur said. He held up his index finger. “One military cargo truck. Old as hell. Only a few of us even know about it. Why didn’t we drive it here? Simple. We don’t want the other residents to know that we have it. They’d turn on us in a frenzy.” He shook his head and laughed. “So now that you know our little secret, how about you tell us something about yourself. Where are you from, and how long have you been here?”

              “I’m from Nyack, and we’ve been up here for two months.” He’d give them that, but didn’t plan on revealing anything else.

Arthur looked at him, impressed. “Well, you wasted no time, did you? Very smart. As mayor of your former town, I extend my hand and welcome you and your people back whenever you wish. It’s going to be tough to live up here in a few weeks. Come back home.”