Outage (Powerless Nation #1) (22 page)

Dee fumbled at her gun harness for the pistol and brought it up to point at Hank. He coughed out a laugh.

“Oh so now you want to shoot me?” He took a step toward her and the gun wavered in Dee's grasp. “I don't think you have the guts.”
 

Dee closed her eyes and pulled the trigger.
 

Or, at least she tried to. It didn't move. She hadn't removed the safety.

Dee's hands shook as she looked at the weapon and tried to remember how to use it. Her mind was blank. Desperately she wished she'd accepted Grandpa's offer to teach her how to shoot.

“That's what I thought,” came Hank's voice as he raised his weapon to point it at her. “You're not going to shoot me.”

The barn door creaked loudly as it swung open. Grandpa stood outlined in the doorway, shotgun at his shoulder. “She won't, but I will.”

The blast from the gun caught Hank squarely in the chest and he dropped heavily to the ground. With the echo of the gunshot still ringing in her ears, Dee turned to see Mason scoop Sammy up in one arm before embracing her tightly with the other. It was over.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

T
HE
NEXT
DAY
M
ASON
hitched up the trailer with the prisoners and he and Dee drove them back to town. Grandpa didn't want them on the farm so he made the call to lock them up at the police station with some supplies until their futures could be decided. When Mason and Dee walked into the jail they were shocked to see a warehouse worth of food stores and medical supplies stockpiled in the cells.

The prisoners were relegated to the K-9 kennels while they decided what to do with the food. Grandpa suggested they track down Max, the old fire chief. He called him a good man and said they could trust him to do the right thing. It seemed Grandpa's judgment of character was sound, because Max stepped into the role and brought on more honest men to sort the food and package it for immediate distribution.

Grandpa also insisted they drive him out to see Mr. Mortimer, the mail carrier. He said he intended to decide for himself whether Morty had been in on Hank's plan to infect the townspeople. After an hour-long conversation behind closed doors Grandpa declared Morty was all right and started him on a round of antibiotics to clear his system of the typhoid.

A couple of days later Dee brought in some food Angela had prepared for the prisoners. It was the first meal they'd had after several days of surviving on MRE's and they all dug in hungrily. Partway through the meal Morty walked in and said, “I'm glad to see you guys like my cooking.” The look on Mitchell's face was priceless.

A week before Christmas, Dee sat in the office of the police station and marveled at how much had changed. The office was bustling with activity and Dee watched while Grandpa and the fire chief made plans for spring planting. Mason had been traveling around the countryside helping farmers repair old equipment to get it in working condition for spring, and the Searles had already traded some of their chickens for a baby piglet that would be born the following month.

Due to the weather and poor traveling conditions, the town didn't get a lot of visitors, but occasionally someone passing through brought letters or stories of the world beyond their borders. Reports from Seattle were especially grim and Max talked about forming their own militia to defend the town.

Dee had insisted Mason show her how to use her pistol properly. She also prayed daily with Hyrum and his family that one day soon they'd get news from her parents and their oldest son. She knew their chances were slim, but she wouldn't give up hope.

The map of the town on the wall above Dee was studded with colored pins showing which houses had survivors. Grandpa always became very quiet when he looked at the many pinless parts of the map. When the census reports first started coming in he'd often been the one placing the pins as names of the dead and the living were read off.
 

The elderly were hit especially hard by the disaster. No one with a pacemaker had survived as long as he had. Diabetics, many cancer patients, and basically anyone heavily dependent on drugs to keep them alive were gone now. Grandpa later told her that he was glad her grandmother wasn't alive to see the sad fates of so many of their close friends.
 

The poor side of town was also devastated. Sickness and disease swept easily through the closely situated homes and apartments, and with winter in full force most were finding it difficult to stay warm in the poorly insulated buildings. The fire chief estimated that at least sixty percent of the population was gone, and they'd lose more over the winter.

Dee knew a lot of people had died, but it gave her hope to see so many pins on the map. Many people were still fighting to stay alive. She placed a finger on the pinless square representing Courtney's house and swore to herself she'd do all she could to help people survive.

That afternoon Dee and Mason were scheduled to make some food deliveries but when it was time to go there was no sign of him. “I'm sure he's just late getting back from the Morris farm,” Grandpa reassured her. “Why don't you head out that way and make sure he hasn't had any car trouble. And no deliveries by yourself.” So far people had been grateful to receive the food, but Grandpa and Max were always careful to make sure the delivery drivers could be trusted and none of them traveled alone.
 

Max added, “Come on back if you don't see him and we'll send out a party.”

Dee had barely reached the outskirts of town when she saw a lone figure walking on the side of the road.

She pulled the truck up next to Mason, “Do you know the way to the nearest train station?”

“I see you still haven't learned your lesson about picking up strange guys on deserted highways,” he grinned, climbing in.

Dee shook her head, “You'd think I'd learn. The last time I did I wrecked the truck.”

Mason reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. “I made you something.” He held it out to her.

She took it, protesting, “But Christmas isn’t until next week. I don’t have your present yet.”

“I can wait, and besides, if you don’t open it now Sammy is going to blurt out what it is and spoil the surprise. Go on, open it.”

She lifted the lid and smiled. Nestled on a piece of tissue paper was a bracelet made of blue and white paracord.

He took it out and showed it to her. “The clasp has a built in whistle. It’s smaller than my old one too. I hope it fits okay.”

Dee raised her wrist and he snapped it on. It was perfect. A glint of silver caught her eye, and she turned the bracelet around for a better look. Near the clasp was a tiny charm that said
Believe
.

“Do you like it?” he asked, watching her hopefully.

She looked at him, with his long lashes and wavy hair that begged for a haircut. The expression in his dark eyes was warm.

“I love it,” she said.

“My thoughts exactly.” He slid across the seat toward her. His leg brushed hers and she felt a tingle rush through her body. She looked up and saw that he was leaning down to kiss her. She thought briefly of the gum in her pocket and then raised her lips to his.
 

Next time
, she promised herself, knowing there would be many more.

Thank you for reading
Outage
! I hope you enjoyed it and will consider recommending it on Amazon and to your friends.

If you’d like to know the instant I have a new book out, sign up for my announcements at the link below. Don’t worry, I’ll only email you when I have a new release.

http://www.ellisabarr.com/newbooks

Book 2 of the
Powerless Nation
Series

Coming Fall 2014

Afterward: Preparedness and EMP’s

I’ve had a surprising number of people come to me after reading
Outage
asking what they need to do to prepare for the worst. Many of them have never heard of an EMP before, and they say my story scared the heck out of them. It wasn’t my intention to frighten anyone, but I will encourage anyone feeling this way: “Don’t get scared, get ready.”

There’s far more to preparedness than I could tell you in a conversation or a single book. Also, what one person wants or needs in a disaster isn’t going to be the same for another, but I can tell you a few things you can do to get started.
 

The most important thing you can do is to store clean water for you and your family – 5 gallons per person is the minimum place to start.
 

Next, talk to your loved ones about an emergency plan. It doesn’t have to be complicated, just make sure you’re on the same page about where you’ll meet or go or stay in an emergency.

Finally, you can buy or assemble what’s known as a “72-hour kit” for every person in your family. It contains three days of food, simple first-aid supplies and a few other survival items that may come in handy in a disaster.
 

Just having a few days’ worth of food and water easily available to your family can make all the difference in the event of a major emergency in your area, including hurricanes, ice storms, earthquakes, tornados, etc. Although it’s good to be aware of what an EMP is, you are far more likely to experience a natural disaster, so plan with that in mind.

A lot of what we think we know about EMP’s is based on speculative science-fiction novels. Even
Outage
is just my own interpretation of what could happen. If you’re interested in learning a little bit more of the science behind EMP’s and what could happen to our society if we ever experienced one, I suggest Arthur T. Bradley’s excellent book,
Disaster Preparedness for EMP Attacks and Solar Storms
. It’s not a survival handbook, but I think it’s the most informative and understandable book about EMP’s and solar flares that’s out there.

Until a first-world country experiences a massive and unexpected EMP, we probably won’t know exactly how far-reaching and disastrous its effects could be. I, for one, will be happy if we never find out. In the mean-time, I’m doing a few basic things to prepare for the worst.
 

I hope you are too.

~Ellisa

About the Author

Ellisa grew up in a small town in Idaho, even smaller than the fictitious town of Lookout Falls. In the summer, almost entirely cut off from friends and other entertainment, she became a voracious reader. When she misbehaved as a tween, her parents despaired of finding a suitable punishment, because the only thing she wanted to do was read. Finally they resorted to grounding her from books. Her friends thought she had the best parents ever. Ellisa agrees.

She lives with her husband, two children, a dog and a cat in southern California, where she thinks she should do more to be ready for earthquakes. She teaches music and homeschools her children in the winter, and in the summer she hides out from the heat with a stack of books.

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www.ellisabarr.com

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Copyright © Ellisa Barr, 2014

All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce, or otherwise make available this publication in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the author. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.