The Solitary Man’s Refuge (12 page)

“That’s good you got some stuff stored. It’s the
people who haven’t prepped at all that I am concerned
with as for timing when I should come back through this
way. I can’t quite get a handle on when I think is the best
time to do it though, too many variables. First week, it’s
pretty much business as usual for most people after a
power outage. Most folks got plenty of food but I don’t
know how long the water pressure will last with the water
company pumps most likely running on diesel emergency
power generator backup, if they are able. Then you got the
same thing going on with the sewage system and its
pumps running on emergency power.

If everyone is dang lucky, maybe you got some
kind of water and services for a bit over two weeks. Of
course, everyone is going to be filling every available
container they got in the house also during this time if they
got any survival sense at all. Hopefully they will also have
enough common sense to start boiling it without being told
before they drink it. It’s not like the water company can
broadcast a boil water sewage contamination warning
advisory now, although lots of dumb asses have been
known to get sick anyway even when after a hurricane
they should know from experience the water might be
contaminated.

The first week after a day or two of administration
should see different sorts of emergency responses from
the cops and hospitals. Both organizations should have
been notified in some way on hardened emergency
communication lines that this thing is a big deal and batten
down the hatches. Most likely the hospitals will be
somehow notified first by law enforcement before the CDC
gets its act together to do their own notification. The
hospitals will be running on emergency power generators,
if they can get them started, for a week or so before they
need more fuel. The hospital will switch to its catastrophic
disaster mode operations and will need increased security
to handle what’s headed their way as the parking lot and
waiting rooms fill up. No telling when curfew will be
officially imposed on all cities and citizens.” Bubba said
beginning to outline when he might decide to try to make it
to his bug in location or why he would just stay put
somewhere a while.

“Do you think that it’s too early to try one of those
cheap dollar store AM radios I wrapped in foil to protect
them? Donald said that the Emergency Broadcast system
was supposed to try to start transmitting once it was safe
to do so to make some sort of announcement. He also
said the last time they EMP tested one of those transmitter
facilities it failed the test and had to be redesigned. I sure
hope they fixed those places and they can get a signal
out.” Cat asked, thinking this was basically why they had
invested in a few of the cheap transistor things. She was
going to use one like a canary in a coal mine and save
their good radio until they knew it should be safe enough
to use it. If a solar cycle was continuing to go on as they
were apt to do at times for a week or so. She planned on
trying to use one of the throwaway radios as a test and
communication device.

“I think we should wait at least 24 hours to try it,
because I bet the solar storm is still impacting the
ionosphere. We might even find out for ourselves later on
when we do get to listen to a radio though, that this was a
localized outage caused by a certain way a solar storm
interacts with the power company generating electricity
around here and that the power plant that uses a different
power generation system just a city away is still operating
if they maybe undertook some precautions, maybe, like
turning off its transformers if NOAA warned it of an
inbound solar flare. It’s hard to say though; there is no
general rules for geomagnetic storms or government
responses to something like this.” Bubba advised.

“I say if it cooked your laptop and our cell phones it
was something of catastrophic size that hit us and the fuse
box of the world just got tripped.” Jack said resolutely.

“Yea man, I would say it’s assuredly not a localized
event that just happened. But now you got me thinking
about what if it was a geographic oriented one? That’s
possible too. We know often times its effects are stronger
at the poles like for instance the Northern lights are
commonplace in Alaska. Or how about if the US got
whacked with a geomagnetic storm and Asia didn’t?
Chances of that happening would be rare but entirely
possible.” Bubba replied and decided not to even fathom
that scenario at the moment.

“Ok, then. I will wait till later to open up a radio and
try it out... You think we should cap up the fuel tank before
we set off?” Cat asked, thinking about the extra 10 gallons
of gas they carried on the back of the trailer.

“No, we got plenty of gas to get to Donald’s.
Getting back here will be another whole story though.”
Bubba thought, mentally cursing the storm for shutting
down all the electric operated gas pumps in the Nation.

“You got a plan for dealing with a gas shortage?
Or I should say no gas at the pump anywhere scenario?”
asked Jack.

“Yea, I sure do as a matter of fact. I don’t know if I
can implement it or not, might just get unfeasible to
consider but I have what’s called a well bullet to get
emergency gas out of in- ground tanks at a station if I can
get the tanks covers open. Also there is always barter and
I got a few things to trade for gas if someone’s willing.”
Bubba replied.

“Going back to when you might expect us to
darken your door again, if at all or ever, let me think a
second. Second week is basically more of the same as the
first week but now many people are low or getting low on
food and water. The miscreants of the world are becoming
bored behaving themselves and most likely will start doing
some petty thievery or minor looting if it looks like just the
right chance to get away with it. I doubt they dare do
anything during the day because the cops will be out in
force and most criminal activity will be only in certain
neighborhoods and break-ins at night as opportunity
seekers take advantage of the situation. That is sure to
trigger curfews but I doubt martial law yet although it’s
entirely possible if a mayor or the governor gets jumpy.
The National Guard will be mobilized but no telling in what
capacity other than an emergency response supportive
element for now. Government continuity plans will start
and the NG soldiers will be securing governmental offices
under a plan for governmental continuity. That’s when it
gets tricky because you have state and local organizations
setting their own agendas and policies. Since this
happened in the middle of the month, some folks have
recently cashed their checks and bought groceries, others
are finding their food stamps worthless until they take over
the grocery stores and ration what’s left. The CDC may or
may not use the pre-positioned pallets of drugs,
medicines, various equipment and some foodstuffs they
have spread around the country to respond to pandemics
and other large-scale disasters. If they can keep the
emergency generators going by requisition of diesel fuel,
then the city still drinks and shits. If not, the big die off and
exodus begins. Everyone will be sourcing water in the city
or moving towards known natural water resources.

When a city’s water infrastructure quits is when
Death puts his hourglass on the table and the sand starts
running out for the inhabitants lives it represents.
Dehydration, disease and death are the only logical
outcome for many poor souls during this turbulent time.
People can camp on a riverbank to get water but they will
soon foul the area with filth and then what kind of food will
they be eating anyway if they hang out there?

The areas around a National Guard water
purification unit will have its hangers on, that might be
when you first hear about relocation or refugee camps
being implemented to take the overload. People will be
standing in line to get into them camps, as you well know.
It will take FEMA at least 3-4 weeks to mobilize any kind of
response to even feed the Guard troops let alone any
citizens and that is, if, the big if, if they got enough trucks
and fuel to even attempt such a measure on a National
scale, which they don’t even pretend to.

Government offices will have plenty of supplies
and Congress just might be in a bunker somewhere but
average Joe Citizen is going to be on his own for a while
with an empty supper table. You know the President will
most likely try to take this opportunity to evoke all those
nasty presidential emergency powers to strip everyone of
their constitutional rights and declare martial law about
then.

When he does this, the civil disturbances and riots
ought to be about to go full swing and the cities will start
burning, I imagine.” LowBuck concluded looking very
stern.

“Sounds like the morgues will be full in the
upcoming weeks already, let alone when this disaster gets
its feet under it and it starts running full steam affecting
everything.” Cat said speculatively.

“Hey man, I got to get my butt going. Maybe I can
make it to a store that still has its doors open on the way
out of town before everyone thinks of the same thing and
try to buy some last minute items for the power outage.
No, most likely I will keep on driving on down the highway.
I got plenty of Preps and supplies so I am heading non
stop to Donald’s as of cranking up this motor home.”
Bubba said and after a final farewell, put his motor home
on the road like a ship leaving an unsafe harbor and
headed for open seas to ride out a bad storm.

Janice was frantic and stressed to the max. It had
been one hell of a day at the Dialysis clinic when the
power went out earlier. Not only did they have the patients
to deal with before, after and during this period of medical
emergency, she was also late getting out of the clinic
because they manually had to backwash pump machines
and sterilize them for when the power came back on for
reuse. To make matters worse for everyone, the phone
lines had been out all day and the ambulances that
transported the patients couldn’t be called to pick them up
when they were ready. Luckily, a few of the drivers had the
aforethought to come back at what was a normal interval
of treatment and get them all transported eventually.

Janice wondered if a power pole or something had
been hit by a car or tree, feel like that has happened
before and they were just taking 99 forever’s to fix it. Right
now she was tired, dirty and plain didn’t care, she was just
ready to be home. It was 7:30 in the evening and would be
getting dark in a half hour. She was reasonably sure she
was without power at her house also because one of the
ambulance drivers had told her that the lights were out all
over the city. She then decided she would swing by her
sister’s house on the way home and ask her if she wanted
to come over for a beer on the front porch so that they
could visit and entertain each other.

She slowly pulled down to her sister’s street
address after carefully navigating and avoiding a few close
calls with other cars crossing intersections with no traffic
lights and was disappointed to find that her sister was not
at home.

“
Darn it! Darn it! Well maybe that Lady English
professor next door to my house would want to share a
bottle of wine or a beer with me this evening. She so
needed to put her feet up and relax and unwind after such
a long hard day that started at 7:30 this morning. Two of
the patients had coded and damn near died because they
couldn’t get a call through to an ambulance to take them to
a hospital after stabilizing the patients as best they could.
She didn’t even know if she was supposed to go in to work
tomorrow because she couldn’t see the revised work
schedule on the computer. Hell, if a real emergency ever
happened she didn’t even know what she was supposed
to do. Donald had approached her clinic and offered to
review an existing one or create a new emergency plan for
the corporation who owned the facility she worked in as
part of a project for a Doctoral class in Emergency
Business Continuity, but the administrator had turned him
down cold by saying he couldn’t because it was a patient
privacy and business secrecy policy thing not to allow him
access to the facility. Idiots! Donald was a state certified
emergency manager already with 2 Master Degrees and
(7) graduate certificates in everything emergency
management or Hospital Emergency continuity and human
services. I think they were just scared how many flaws
Donald would have pointed out in their system or
management and the clinic’s administrator didn’t want to
look bad.” Janice mused as she pulled into her driveway.

Two of the neighbor’s cats as well as her own pet
kitty came running to greet her and also were begging to
be fed.

“
Hey, kit kats, I will get to you in a minute.” Janice
said, blocking the cats from entering the house and her
having to deal with the three lovable, but squishable
critters in the darkened house trying to swarm around her
feet or getting in the way just yet. What’s this? Her sister
had left her a note saying she had gone to their Mama’s
house to stay the night.

Janice set her bag down and resisted the strong
temptation to hit the light switch because she had already
noticed all the houses were dark on her street. Navigating
her way with a keychain light to her big flashlight and then
retrieving and setting out her emergency LED lanterns
took a few moments before she could even think of
unloading her nurse’s uniform pockets of stethoscope,
safety glasses, pens, lights, bandages, etc.