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Post by mnn2300 on Jul 16, 2011 18:08:27 GMT -6
A preface:
I originally wrote this, my first story, while a member on another board, I never did like the ending so I am in the process of expanding it. I also am working on the story making it (hopefully) a bit better. should be able to get the entire story up fairly quickly since editing goes quicker than writing.
Powers Out - Chapter 1
“Powers out” Rod said as he headed towards the Server room.
The Uninterruptable Power Supplies were supposed to keep the servers running long enough for the IT department to get them shutdown if necessary, however the back-up generator should kick in within 20 seconds restoring power to the server room including the air conditioning needed to keep the servers from overheating. It also powered about every third light and also the elevators in the building.
The building was only 8 floors, but there were people of all ages working in the building and while walking down 8 floors would be nothing for him, it could give some of the older or out of shape workers a problem. The bank occupied the top 3 floors and was the operations center for a small chain of banks located throughout the mid south based in Dallas, the operations center was in one of the northern suburbs where the rent was cheaper.
Rod got to the server room and saw that the normally electronically locked door was unlocked which shouldn’t be, it was powered by a 9 volt battery and used a chip set to unlock the door similar to how a hotel door works, it should have given a warning for a week or two if the battery was failing. He pulled open the door and heard nothing where he should hear an electronic humming: the servers were silent -- all of them.
“What the **** is going on? all the Uninterruptbale Power Supplies couldn’t possibly fail at the same time.” He said out loud to no one in particular.
“That’s the first time in the 6 months I’ve been here that I’ve heard you swear “Jodi, one of his assistants said.
“Yeah, I try not to” Rod answered.
“Looks like a late night for everyone, I hope the backups are working” The bank had a back-up data Center located in one of the branches about 30 miles away with real time copying of all bank data, it should be able to take over all the banks data needs automatically without anyone even noticing there was a problem. He grabbed his cell phone off his belt and went to call the branch manager to let them know someone from his team was on the way “Oh great!” He said “my phones dead” His assistants Jodi and Tom reached for their and were looking at them,
“Mines dead too” Jodi said.
“Same here” Tom replied.
Rod picked up the landline on the desk and got no dial tone there either. “What the **** is going on” His 2nd swear word in the same amount of minutes.
“Oh my God!” they all heard a woman say from out in the data center, they ran out, there were windows all around the exterior of the building and from the 8th floor you could see much of the north Dallas area. DFW airport was about 20 miles away and while you couldn’t see the airport itself you could see planes on their approach to it or taking off from it. They got to the windows just in time to see a plane crash, there was a small explosion and then black smoke began pouring out of the wreckage, in fact looking around there were a number of spots with black smoke rising, DFW was a busy airport.
Rod was looking at the crash site when he heard someone say, “No cars are moving on the Highway” he looked down and she was right, Highway 75 was 1 block away and there was nothing moving on it – well that wasn’t quite true, there were people getting out of their vehicles right where traffic would normally be whizzing through at about 60 miles an hour, a number of hoods were open as the vehicles drivers were trying to figure out what was going on.
“EMP” Jodi said.
“What?” Rod asked.
“EMP - Electro Magnetic Pulse, fries all electronics, caused by a nuke exploding high in the atmosphere or by extreme solar flares” She replied.
“Yeah, that makes sense, nothing electronic is working” Rod replied.
The Bank had a Emergency Operations team that was to meet when things like power outages or bad storms interrupted business, basically just the department heads. Rod figured they needed to hear what Jodi said so he headed to the conference room where they always met. Rod was a member of the team and was to judge the time frame to get the computer system back up and running and report to the team. As he walked into the conference room all eye’s turned to him. The person in charge of the Operations Center James Foley said “Well?”
“We’re down” Rod answered “But if you’ve tried your cell phones or looked out at the highway you’ll have noticed we’re not the only ones – this is not a typical power outage”
Everyone started looking at their cell phones or out the windows.
“Jodi, tell them what you told me” Rod said.
“It appears like it could be EMP – Electro Magnetic Pulse, caused by 2 things, either a nuclear explosion very high in the atmosphere or an extreme solar flare. It basically fries anything with a computer chip in it: computers, cell phones, cars, TV’s, coffee machines, pacemakers, pretty much everything electronic. she explained.
“Are we under attack?” someone asked.
“There’s no way of telling, it could be a terrorist attack or it could be a really bad solar flare.” Jodi replied.
“How widespread is it?” The Ops Center manager James Foley asked.
“No way of knowing but it’s doubtful its local, more likely regional or even national if it’s the result of a high atmospheric nuclear explosion, if it’s a solar flare it could be worldwide. Rod explained.
Someone asked how long it would take to fix.
“Every computer chip affected will have to be replaced, including the chips that run the machines that make the chips, if it’s just regional we’re talking a number of months, if its nationwide or bigger we’re probably talking years” Jodi replied.
“We’re going to be without power for years?” someone said, the room started buzzing with talk.
“Let’s have some order” James Foley said loudly from where he was standing looking out the windows at the highway.
“Let’s look at the facts” He said, turning back to the room full of department heads.
“Nothing with electronics is functioning nor is it likely to function for some time, we have no way of getting a hold of the other offices. If this is widespread the Branch managers all know that in case of any interruption of business, that the money and all paper records get locked in the safes which can be operated without electronics, so there’s nothing we can do about anything but this office and the records – what about the hard drives, do they still have data on them?”
“Nope” Jodi answered.
“Probably or defiantly?” he asked.
“From everything I’ve read, it would have been erased, but most of this stuff is just theory” Rod replied.
“So we’re not 100% on that?” James asked.
“No, probably more like 99.999%” Rod replied.
“Ok, all the paper records in the building are already secure in the vault on 7th floor, no sense in worrying about everyone’s desktop computer. You’re able to key lock the server room so those should be safe in case any data survived on them. You can’t access these floors without a badge and when the power fails those doors, while operable from the inside, all lock from the outside. Rod, have your team get anything savable into the server room and get it secure. Department heads get your teams together in the break rooms on each floor and I’ll address everyone by floor and we’ll get everyone out of here and on their way home. When we’re done the Security team will make a final sweep of all floors and make sure everyone is safely down the stairs and outside. Got it?” James said.
“A lot of people have long walks home, we’ve got a lot of bottles of water and soda in the break room closets, I think we should hand those out, might not be a bad idea to open up the candy machines and give everyone something for the road too” Joe Walker, the head of Security said.
“That’s a good idea” James said “Make it happen.”
Everyone agreed and went to carry out the plan, James talked with each floors workers and told them where they were, he didn’t mention anything about it possibly taking months or years for things to get back to normal, but said that each person was valuable and would be welcomed back when this mess was all straightened out and asked them all to be careful, especially the older folks or those carrying a couple extra pounds. He had everyone list their name address and phone number on a sheet before they left and asked them to please get what they needed and head down stairs within 10 minutes so they could get the building secure. After a quick count, it was determined that everyone could have 6 bottles of water or soda and 2 things out of the candy machines.
Rod and his team were checking their desks, grabbing anything they needed. Jodi opened her bottom desk drawer and pulled out a pair of cotton socks and some tennis shoes.
“You’re prepared” Rod said.
“Yeah, you’d be too if you ever had to wear heels and pantyhose” she joked.
“Can’t say that I have” Rod replied.
Knowing that Rod and Jodi lived in the same apartment complex just a couple miles from the office Tom said “You two are lucky you only live a couple miles from here, I have an 18 mile walk ahead of me.”
“Well, at least it’s still morning” Rod said, automatically looking down at his non-functioning watch “I think” he chuckled. “Let’s get out of here”
As they headed down the 8 flights of stairs, they passed one of the departments older and larger workers “You going to be ok Mark?” Rod asked Mark who was in his 50’s and well over 300 lbs.
“Sure, I’ll just take it easy, I only have 6 miles to get home and it’s a beautiful day for a walk – at least it’s not July or August – that would be a killer, but late September is nice in Dallas” Mark replied. “You guys go on around me, I’m not going to kill myself on these stairs” he added breathing heavily already even though he had 4 more floors to go.
Living in the same apartment complex Rod and Judi walked together although Judi set a quick pace.
“In a hurry?” Rod asked.
“Yeah, actually I am” Jodi replied.
“Why is that” Rod asked.
“Because I want to get out of town and back to my parents farm outside Paris before reality sets in” she replied.
“I hope that’s Paris Texas and not Paris France” he joked.
“Yeah, its Paris Texas.”she answered.
“That’s 100 miles.” Rod said “You going to walk?”
“It’s about 10 miles this side of Paris and only 90 miles and I plan on riding my bike and I want to get out of town today” She said.
“What’s the big rush?” Rod inquired.
Judi stopped and looked at Rod and said “Do you have any idea what the Dallas Ft Worth area will be like in a few days?”
Rod looked at her blankly.
“Look, the world just took a giant leap back 100 years –well actually more than that, a hundred years ago people had skills and supplies they don’t have now, 100 years ago everyone had a garden, even city folk, how much food does your average city person have in their house?” she asked Rod.
“A week or 2 maybe, some more, some less” he replied.
“yeah and how much of that will go bad without the fridge or freezer?” she quizzed him.
“Probably most of it” he said.
“How much food and water do you think is in the grocery stores? She asked him.
“I think I’ve read a 3 or 4 day supply” he answered.
“That’s right, and how many people have cash, because the credit and debit cards aren’t working” she said.
“Hmmmm” he replied.
“How many people in the DFW area?” she asked.
“ About 3 million in cities of Dallas and Ft Worth and about 7 million in the whole Metroplex I think” he said.
“And what happens when they realize the food is gone, the water faucet won’t turn on and won’t for quite a while.
“Oh ****” Rod said.
“That’s the 3rd time I’ve heard you swear today, but you’re right, Oh **** is actually putting it mildly” she said. “ I think we have a day or two before that sinks in to most people and I want to be as far out of town as I can be before then.
“I suppose we can’t count on FEMA for help” he said.
Jodi laughed “FEMA – you saw how good they did with the hurricane a few years back and that was just one state and really it was mainly 1 city, frankly it wouldn’t surprise me if this affected most or all the nation. No Rod, the cavalry is not going to come riding over the hill to save us all”
“How do you know all this?” Rod asked.
“My family has given it some thought and prepared for bad times” she answered.
“What, are you survivalists?” Rod asked.
“Not in the sense that the main stream media has defined that word, we prefer the word ‘preppers’, we prepare for emergencies before they happen so we are ready to deal with them.” She replied.
“Hmm doesn’t sound like a bad idea, but it’s kind of late now” Rod said
They walked on for a while “Your family wouldn’t need an extra hand would they, I may not know anything about farming, but I learn fast and you know I’m a hard worker” Rod inquired.
“You’re also my boss” She said.
“ First, I’m not asking you to have sex with me and Second if what you say is true; I stopped being your boss when we walked out of the building, look, it’s ok if you don’t want me along, but you know I am a hard worker …..” Rod said letting his sentance trail off.
She didn’t say anything for a couple of minutes but as they neared the gate she asked him if he had a bike.
“Yeah, I have a nice 10 speed” he answered.
“Are you willing and able to go 30 miles before sunset tonight” Jodi asked.
“I’ll do what I have to and if I lag behind you can keep going” Rod replied,
“Look it’s going to take me 15 minutes to get ready. You got a back pack?” Judi asked.
“Yeah” Rod replied.
“Fill it with non-perishable food, a couple pair of jeans, a couple work shirts, socks, underwear and all the bottled water you can fit in, how about a sleeping bag?” she asked.
“That’s one thing I don’t have” Rod replied.
“Well, we’ll figure something out, in fact let’s go to your apartment first and get you ready, then I’ll pick up my BOB and get my bike out and we’ll hit the road.” Judi said.
“Pick up Bob? Rod inquired.
“Not Bob, B.O.B. as in Bug Out Bag, a back pack you can grab that’s ready to go, also called a 72 hour kit cause it has everything you need to survive for at least 72 hours.”
“Wow, I’ve learned more about you in the last hour than I have in the 6 months we’ve been working together” Rod said.
“You ain’t seen nothin yet” Jodi joked.
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Post by patience on Jul 17, 2011 7:30:22 GMT -6
I loved this story when I first read it. Can't wait to see how it turns out now.  |
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Post by mnn2300 on Jul 17, 2011 9:14:22 GMT -6
Powers Out – Chapter 2
Once in his apartment she told him to grab some clothes while she went through his cupboards for food to take. She had what she wanted to take on the counter and went into the bedroom where he was trying to shove stuff into a backpack. “Let me pack it” she said and started rolling up his clothes and got everything he wanted to take in his back pack with room left over “grab a sturdy blanket and all the rolls of Toilet paper you have and some rope or twine if you have it” she told him “I didn’t see a toothbrush, toothpaste or anything like that, grab those and put them in a plastic grocery sack, I’ll leave room for it, and if you have more underwear and socks get them.” She grabbed the blanket and folded it into quarters, then put the 3 rolls of toilet paper he had on one end and started rolling it, she then tied the rolled up blanket in 4 places with some rope and then attached it over the top of his backpack and tied it into place. “Ok, if you need to use the facilities, now’s the time, it appears we still have water pressure – that probably won’t last long.”
At her apartment, the first thing she did was to grab a can of vegetable soup, poured it into a pot, put a lid on it and took it out to her patio and starting the side burner with a match put it on her gas grill, she then went to the cupboard and got out a wide mouth thermos and ran some hot water into it, the pressure was up and the water was still hot, she put the cap on and left it on the counter, she then measured out some rice, leaving it in the measuring cup next to the thermos.
“What’s that?” Rod asked.
“Dinner” she answered.
She grabbed an already almost filled backpack out of the closet, she opened it and added some clothes and enough bottles of water to fill it, she did the same trick with a blanket that she did at Rods place except she rolled up a few cans of food and bottles of water also. She also pulled out a folder with some maps printed out with a couple different routes highlighted. “OK, we’re going to stay off the major highways so no one gets any bright ideas about our bikes, we’ll take Renner Road over to Highway 5 -- it goes through 3 or 4 name changes but basically its Plano Road where it meets Renner Road, anyway we take it north to 82 then 82 across almost to Paris, it’s about 15 miles further than taking the highway, but I believe it’ll be much safer. She disappeared for a few minutes and he heard the toilet flush, there was still water pressure at least and she came out 5 minutes later having changed clothes, carrying a leather saddle bag for her bike that she laid on the counter near her backpack.
“Let’s have a quick sandwich and something to drink, anything left in the fridge is going to be left here to spoil anyway.” Jodi said.
Rod made a couple sandwiches while Jodi grabbed the pot of soup off the gill, she opened the thermos and dumped out almost all the water, she then poured the soup in followed by the rice, swirled it around and closed the Thermos, she grabbed a couple of soup spoons, wrapped them in a couple paper towels and added them to an outside pocket of her backpack.
"Hmm, where’d you learn that trick?” Rod asked
“Like I said, my family prepares for emergency situations, it’s actually an old trick my grandparents used to use on long car trips; and 50 or 60 years ago, everything was a long car trip from Paris, Texas." she replied.
They got everything outside, Jodi attached the saddle bags onto her bike, they both put the water bottles in their holders on the bikes and headed out. Jodi set a quick but sustainable pace with Rod riding next to her when he could and when stalled cars were blocking part of the road would drop back behind her single file, while they were in the city they had to swerve around a number of stalled vehicles and many people looked longingly at their bikes, about 20 minutes into their ride when they were still in the suburb of Plano a man who appeared to be in his 30’s jumped out from behind a car partially blocking the road in front of Rod, Rod hit his brakes automatically so he wouldn’t hit the guy.
“I’ll take the bike” the guy said trying to pull Rod off of it, Rod, thrown off balance fell with the bike. Jodi stopped about 25 feet past them.
“I don’t think so!” Jodi yelled, the man turned around and there was Jodi, holding a hand gun on him.
“Take it easy Missy, I just need some transportation” the man said still trying to get Rod off the bike.
A shot rang out.
“That was a warning; the next one won’t be, if you need transportation, then start walking. See that stop sign down the road about a half mile? Don’t stop moving til you reach that!” Jodi yelled. The man moved off heading away from them toward the stop sign, Rod straightened up and walked his bike up to Jodi.
“You ok?” She asked still not taking her eyes off of the guy moving away
“Yeah, just a bit startled” he said, looking at both her and the gun
“Next time, try to swerve around them and keep going -- I told you things would start falling apart” she said putting the gun back in the leather saddlebag she had placed on her bike earlier.
“That you did” Rod said “That you did.”
They were making good time, once they got out of the suburbs there were fewer and fewer stalled vehicles, staying off the major highways was a good idea in that aspect. This part of Texas was mainly farm land although there were a few wooded areas. According to the odometer on Jodi’s bike they had come nearly 40 miles and the sun was getting lower in the sky. Seeing a wooded area just up ahead Jodi slowed down.
“Ready for dinner?” she asked Rod.
“Yeah and ready to stop pedaling for a while too” he answered.
They went about 100 feet into the wooded area out of sight of the road and leaned their bikes up against a tree. Jodi started searching around on the ground within a 20’ radius of the tree.
“What are you looking for?” Rod asked
“Snakes” she answered “They like sunning themselves this time of year”
“Wonderful” Rod said shaking his head “I feel like such a hick compared to you”
“If you were a hick, you’d know all this stuff, you’re more of a geek, but a nice one at least, and maybe even trainable” she joked.
“Gee, thanks” he replied.
Jodi, unrolled the blanket she had attached to her backpack and spread it on the ground, took the thermos she had made earlier in the day and poured the contents into 2 plastic cups and handed Rod one cup and a spoon, she also pulled out a bag of raw veggies and a couple of apples. Rod had already gotten a couple bottles of water out of his backpack and handed one to Jodi.
“This soup and rice stuff is really good, what do you call it?”
“Soup with rice” she said laughing
“I had to ask, didn’t I?” Rod said “So what’s the plan?”
“Well, I would suggest some stretching exercises to keep your legs from stiffening up too much and then some rest, tomorrow we’ll get moving as early as possible, should be home in time for supper. Jodi replied.
Every so often Rod was swatting at a bug, Jodi handed him a bottle of bug spray and told him to just put a couple of dots of it on his face, arms and legs. They went to sleep about an hour after eating, much earlier than they would have in the city, but after all the exercise they got that day they had no trouble falling asleep. It was just starting to get light when they awoke, they had a quick breakfast of granola bars and a couple of pears Jodi had brought, did some more stretching to loosen up their leg muscles and were back on the road about ½ hour after sunrise.
Their legs, not being used to the kind of workout they got yesterday were sore but they were still cranking out the miles. Late morning they took a short break and had some water and a snack and were talking.
“We’re making better time than I originally thought, we’re not far from home, should be there in around an hour if we keep up a decent pace.
“Great” Rod replied “Hopefully we can rest our legs for a day or two”
“I’m sure Daddy will let you rest for a half hour or so, before he has you mucking out the barns” she answered laughing.
“Son of a……” Rod exclaimed.
“Hey I was only kidding” Jodi said.
Rod was pointing behind her, off in the distance, back about where Dallas was they could see a mushroom cloud rising from the city.
“Break-times over, ride like your life depends on it, cause it does” Jodi said.
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Post by nancy1340 on Jul 17, 2011 22:03:54 GMT -6
Uhhhhh I think there is a problem here. I was going to ask where chapter 1 was and now I see it here but not until I hit "Reply".
Guess it will take a bit to iron the wrinkles out.
Anyway MNN2300 thanks for the story. Is this a new one or one that has been posted elsewhere? The title and content look familiar from several years ago.
Ahhhhh now I see that it has been posted before. I had always hoped you would continue it. A double thank you now!!
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Post by admin on Jul 18, 2011 10:15:51 GMT -6
Uhhhhh I think there is a problem here. I was going to ask where chapter 1 was and now I see it here but not until I hit "Reply". Guess it will take a bit to iron the wrinkles out. Anyone else have that issue? We don't want to start with bugs in the programming. |
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Post by Jerry D Young on Jul 18, 2011 12:07:31 GMT -6
No problem here. Chapter 1 was right there when I opened up the thread.
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Post by kaijafon on Jul 18, 2011 16:01:10 GMT -6
ok, I am ready for some moar!  I like this one! thanks!! |
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Post by nancy1340 on Jul 18, 2011 17:26:53 GMT -6
Well so far today I have had no problems with the site. There are bound to be a bug or two hiding somewhere. LOL I'm just so damn grateful for this site.  |
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Post by mnn2300 on Jul 19, 2011 11:35:52 GMT -6
Powers Out - Chapter 3 - Interlude: Tom's Story -- approx 24 hours earlier
Knowing that Rod and Jodi lived in the same apartment complex just a couple miles from the office Tom said "You two are lucky you only live a couple miles from here, I have an 18 mile walk ahead of me."
"Well, at least it's still morning" Rod said, automatically looking down at his non-functioning watch "I think" Rod chuckled. "Let's get out of here"
Tom walked to his car; a 2 year old BMW, he had bought it and the condo with the insurance money after his parents were killed in an auto accident 2 years ago. He also paid off his student loans and had a nice little stock portfolio going. With the insurance money he was able to do what almost no one his age was able to do, pay cash for his condo and car. He had a good job at the bank, no house or car payment and was in his mid 20's and single and was on top of the world - at least until today. Surely the government would have things back up and running in a few weeks.
Well, hitting the unlock button on his key fob did nothing, so he stuck the key in the door and unlocked it manually, no light came on when he opened the door. He put the key in the ignition and turned it.
A click was the only sound the car made
"Oh well, it was worth a try" he said to nobody in particular. He kept an emergency supply of cash locked in his glove compartment, hidden inside the paperwork for the car - only $50, but he grabbed that and took off his tie and tossed it in the back seat. He had taken the bottled water and a couple of candy bars for the road that their boss had offered - Paydays: hopefully being mainly peanuts they wouldn't melt. Like many people of his generation he carried a backpack, usually with his laptop in it but no sense in lugging that home, he had Rod lock it in the server room when they were securing the building. Hopefully the hard drive wasn't erased and when this all blew over he'd still have all his files. He had the water and candy bars in the backpack, grabbed a couple other things from his car that he wanted.
His condo was almost into downtown Dallas, while it would be quicker to walk down Greenville Avenue, it would also take him through a couple of neighborhoods he didn't want to walk through, no, it would be better to head over to Highway 75 and walk down the highway, there would probably be thousands of other people doing the same thing - safety in numbers he thought to himself.
Tom took care of himself; he exercised daily, and walked most places he wanted to go to. Parking was such a hassle downtown or on the West End which is where he spent a lot of time. His condo was a block from the DART Light Rail station AND if he didn't want to stay in his neighborhood in less than 10 minutes he could be in the heart of Dallas's night life area. Yes, he was the Young Urban Professional that the term Yuppie referred to. Anyway he figured he could probably jog most of the way home and would only take him a few hours. He felt sorry for people like Mark, the old overweight coworker that they had passed on the stairway, probably take him til after dark to walk just 6 miles - oh well, you make your choices in life: donuts and ice cream or salad and the gym.
When Tom got to the highway he saw he was right, there were thousands of people walking it, both north and south, he set off at a jogging pace, but between the stalled cars and people walking he was not able to keep it up. Highway 75 was 3 lanes each way near the office, but as it got closer to Dallas it opened up into 4 and then 5 lanes each way. The people walking finally thinned out enough that he could return to jogging. Thinking of what he had to eat at home; some cereal, Ramón noodles, a couple cans of chili, and some peanut butter he figured he should probably stop at the Kroger (grocery store) near his home and pick up some canned goods to get him through, he didn't keep much food on hand because there were so many nearby restaurants and he usually ate out.
He made pretty good time but when he got to the Kroger it was locked up.
"Why would they do that, don't they know people have to eat?" he said out loud, turning around he headed home.
It was a party atmosphere at his condo, people were at the pool, and volley ball court, and some were grilling on the patio. The only thing missing was the music that a party like this would usually have.
Tom walked up the 4 floors to his condo and unlocked it "Man it's hot in here" he said to himself opening the balcony door and other windows, the only problem with his condo was it had no cross ventilation, usually the air conditioning kept it nice and cool. He walked to the fridge and got himself a nice cold..... make that a somewhat cool beer. Tom plopped down on his couch and realized that none of his fancy electronics was going to come on. He sat there for a while and then decided to join the party down at the pool. Changing into Shorts, a T-Shirt and some sandals he walked down to the party.
Someone had gotten a keg and some ice from the liquor store 1 block down earlier and it was flowing freely.
The party went on until well after dark and without any lights the night sky was amazing, Tom and many other city dwellers had never seen a night sky so bright with so many stars.
The next morning, well into the morning Tom woke up with a hangover, he slowly walked to the shower and turned it on full force - drip, drip, drip, the shower had no water pressure,
"**** where's the water" he said
He walked out to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge
"Wonderful" he said "warm water" swallowing 3 aspirins he drank the warm water down and then pulled his overstuffed chair out to the balcony where at least the air was moving and closed his eyes. He must have fallen asleep again because the next thing he know he was hearing a strange noise; it sounded like a jet engine or something. His brain was a bit foggy still but he knew jets shouldn't be working - opening his eyes he saw the source of the noise, it wasn't a jet, it was...
He saw the bright light an instant before the heat wave hit him, it happened so fast he felt nothing, didn't realize that his flesh was burning off and even his bones and teeth were melting, even as his body was melting the extreme heat was evaporating anything left. Tom was alive one instant and completely gone the next.
People further away would see a mushroom cloud rising above the city not knowing that all that was left of Tom was a few particles of dust in that cloud.
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Post by mnn2300 on Jul 21, 2011 15:48:52 GMT -6
Powers Out - Chapter 4
They were going as fast as they could, luckily they didn't have that far to go, After about 40 minutes Jodi turned off the paved road onto a hard packed dirt road which slowed their speed down quite a bit, but 10 minutes later they were pulling into the long dirt driveway of her parent's farm. Jodi saw her Dad and brother rounding up the cattle and getting them into the barn and she swerved towards the big barn doors.
"Bout time you showed up little girl, we were getting worried about you" her Dad said as he gave her a big bear hug.
"We got here as fast as we could, had a little motivation the last few miles" Jodi replied.
"Yeah, I bet you did, not sure how fast the wind is blowing, but I figure we'll have plenty of time, to get everything inside that needs to be inside" Her dad replied.
"Daddy, this is Rod, we work together, or did, I think we became unemployed about an hour ago."
"Yup, you're probably right, and I wouldn't be counting on any unemployment checks either" Her dad replied.
Jodi said "Rod, this is my Dad; Larry, and that tall drink o water over there is one of my baby brothers Kyle" she said pointing at a tall thin teen - probably 16 or 17 years old."
Rod shook hands with both.
"Jodi, why don't you go in and help your Mom and sister, Rod will you give us a hand in the barn please?"
"Certainly sir, just tell me what you want me to do" Rod replied. Walking into the barn Rod saw that it had one set of doors right at the edge of the hill that looked very heavy then 20 feet back another set just as thick that led into the barn itself which started about 20 feet inside the hill.
"See that stock tank over there?" Larry said pointing to it.
"Yes sir" Rod replied.
"There's a hose on the wall behind it, fill it up to about an inch from the top" Larry replied.
As Rod was filling the stock tank he looked around, the barn was built into a hill or at least was earth sheltered on 3 sides and the top, only the side with the big double doors was not covered and Rod noted that the doors were on the east side away from Dallas, there were a couple of what looked to be glass block windows letting light in on two of the sides but couldn't tell how thick they were, thick enough to make it through the earth that was sheltering the barn at least. Not only were there cows in the building, there were a couple of dogs, looked like they were probably labs with something else mixed in, there was also a caged in area with chickens in it and another area with some pigs, he also saw a cat lying regally on top of a bale of hay. Being a city boy with no farm experience he didn't recognize half of the items in the barn and wasn't a 100% sure of the usage of the rest. He was pretty sure the animals were probably called bulls and heifers and such but he had no idea what the pigs were called; boars maybe? or was that a wild pig, well he was not going to show his ignorance by saying too much. What was that saying? Oh yeah, "It's better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you're ignorant than to open your mouth and remove all doubt".
Suddenly he was struck by the fact that he could hear a water pump running and there were lights on. "You've got power here?" Rod asked.
"A little, I have a battery power set up with both wind and solar chargers, a lot of my system got fried in the EMP but I had some spare parts in a Faraday cage, not enough to fix my entire set up but enough to give us some power in the shelter. We have 3 wells on the property and I hooked up one of the spare pumps I had to the well serving the house and barn. You don't last long in Texas without water, even this time of year. We'll have water, a few lights and a bit more in the shelter." Larry replied.
"So, are you and my daughter an item?" Larry asked Rod.
"No, no just coworkers and friends, in fact I was her boss" Rod replied.
"Really?" Kyle, Jodi's brother interrupted "I thought bosses were old geezers like Dad."
"Watch it!" Larry said laughing.
"In the computer field we tend to be younger, especially at the company we work for, it's a young company which attracts a younger workforce. I started working for them right out of college 3 years ago, then about 6 months ago, my boss got promoted and I moved into his position. We then hired Jodi to take over my old position" Rod replied.
"OK, water tank is full, what's next?" Rod asked.
"We're about done here, we just need to close everything up, we've got the crops all pulled and being processed and moved into the shelter, that's what the rest of the family has been doing. I know your legs are probably killing you having ridden in from Dallas, but we have a bit more work to do and then we'll be able to lay around. Probably a whole lot more than we want to." Larry told Rod.
"No problem sir, I told Jodi I'd do whatever was needed" Rod replied "How long do you think we'll have to stay in a shelter?"
"Impossible to tell right now, there's just too many variables: how big was the blast, how close to the ground, how fast is the wind moving and what direction, is it over or will more bombs hit, what about Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Little Rock- just way too many variables. We've got a couple Geiger Counters and we'll be able to figure it out by comparing when we first start getting fallout and when and how high it peaks. Don't worry, we have a pretty extensive shelter and it's stocked really well and we planned for extras" Larry answered.
They joined the rest of the family, they had harvested the remaining produce, and hauled it into the house where Jodi's Mom and Grandparents were cleaning and processing what they could. They had 2 huge canners going on the over sized gas stove. This was the fall harvest season in this part of Texas and most of it would have been harvested anyway in the next few weeks. What wasn't ripe yet would probably ripen on shelves in the shelter. Rod went over to help Jodi while Jodi's Dad and brother went to another shed and took out several large tarps and started securing them over a large stack of wood and a couple of compost piles.
"This doesn't look like a normal farm to me" Rod asked Jodi.
"Yeah, you're right, Dad grows starter plants for garden centers to sell; both hybrid and heirloom for flowers and veggies, that's what all the green houses are for, spring time is something else around here, plus he also grows organic veggies for one of the major produce companies that supplies the grocery stores mainly in the Dallas area, that's what all the raised beds are, then we have the orchard, also organic, that was the last expansion of the farm about 5 years ago when we bought the farm across the road which was for sale.
Jodi asked her mom "What else do you need us to do?"
"Just finish carrying these boxes down to the shelter" Jodi's Mom replied "Jodi, show your friend where to take it and then get him settled in, we're just pulling the last batch now - we'll be down in another 10 minutes." She added.
"Come on, I'll show you the shelter" Jodi told Rod.
They grabbed the boxes and started carrying them down a flight of stairs. The house was built on the same hill the barn was built into. There was a metal door at the top of the stairway then a landing with a 90 degree turn and another metal doorway and then more stairs and another metal door at the end. Basements in Texas were extremely rare, but this one went down about double what a normal basement would go down, and then there was about a 10 or 12 foot long hallway, with what appeared to be closet doors on one side and another door that Jodi said led to an underground passage to the barn.
Looking at the heavy metal doors Rod said "You guys are ready for just about anything."
"Pretty much" Jodi replied "Daddy said that while most people were happy when the Soviet Union fell apart, that he saw it as the world becoming a scarier place, the Soviets were at least keeping things on the other side of the world under control and didn't put up with extremists, now any terrorist group can get their hands on weapons of mass destruction ......and probably did." She frowned as she said the last part.
Opening the door into the shelter itself, they walked into what could be any suburban home's living room, at the far end was an open kitchen and dining area and on each side was a hallway leading into the back.
"Let's show you the bath and bedrooms and get you settled in, your backpack is already in the bunk room, I brought it down earlier." Jodi said.
Walking down the right side the first door, leading towards the middle behind the kitchen was a small bedroom with a large bed, a couple of nightstands and a wall with what appeared to be half closet half drawers.
"Grandpa and Grandma's room" Jodi said leading Rod further along "The bunk room" she announced leading Rod into a room with 2 sets of bunk beds, and a closet at one end of the room. "You and Kyle will be in here" she said "Bathroom is at the end of the hall" she said leading Rod back to the bath, "nothing fancy just a toilet, shower, and sink".
"Opposite sides the same except the big room on that side is for Mom and Dad, and the bunk room is for Beth and I" Jodi explained.
"I haven't met Beth yet, she's your sister? Rod asked.
"Yeah, sorry, it's been crazy; I'll introduce you around once everyone is down here. Beth graduated from high school this year and not ready for college so she's been working the farm." Jodi answered. She pointed out two other doors, one on each side by the kitchen. "Storerooms: food, tp, soap, etc." she said.
Everyone else came in just then, Larry called for a meeting and everyone sat down in the living room. "Everything so far has gone off as planned, our practice drills that you all hated so much worked. Since we have a guest, I'll make introductions: this is Rod who worked with Jodi, they both rode their bikes out from Dallas right after the EMP happened. Rod, these are my parents Rose and Allen, my wife Toni, my other daughter Beth and you've already met Kyle. We've got one other son; James but he's in the Navy on an aircraft carrier out in the Pacific. We'll just have to pray he is safe. OK a review for everyone and a first time for Rod. Rod did Judy show you the door to the tunnel leading to the barn? He asked.
"Yes" Rod replied.
Larry continued "There's also a door in that tunnel leading to a room that's basically a big Faraday cage, it holds the batteries and inverter that runs everything in the shelter. Now, since the EMP fried much of our system there is not unlimited power, we will have lights and a fridge and a little extra, the little extra can be used to do certain things with; run the washer or the dryer - NOT both at the same time, OR it can be used to run the TV and DVD player, but not when the washer or dryer is running. The stove and water heater and dryer are all gas and we've got enough of that to last quite a while, of course the dryer also uses electricity. Being underground the temperature will stay even and a bit on the cool side, not a bad thing for Texas. We have sweaters and we have plenty of blankets if necessary, but the temp in here seems pretty nice to me right now. Mainly for Rod now as everyone else knows, there are bookshelves all over the place, you're welcome to read any book, but I don't take kindly to people who dog ear pages, so use something for a bookmark. We also have plenty of; board games, playing cards, and puzzles in the cabinet over there" he said pointing. "Now as for fallout and when we can get out of here. As of right now" Larry said looking at the gauges he had hooked up to sensors located outside "we are getting only normal background radiation, nothing from the blast in Dallas yet. We don't know if that was the only blast, there are a number of possible targets around so we could get multiple doses of radiation from different blasts. Somehow I can't believe Dallas was the only target, big as Dallas is, it's just not that important of a city in the scheme of things, if its terrorists, then I would assume; Washington DC, New York, Los Angeles, cities like that would be the major targets, probably major shipping ports too including Houston, but we don't even know who it was that attacked us or what their objective is. Since we don't know what cities have been hit, it's possible that we will have a couple of peaks in radiation so we will need to monitor and log the radiation counts every hour over the next couple weeks. That clock over there is a 7 day clock, Toni or myself will wind it as it's both expensive and old - but the reason I mention it is because it chimes on the hour; we'll use it as a timer to log the radiation readings I am going to suggest that you younger folks take the night shift 6pm to 6am" Larry continued looking at His kids and Rod "and us old geezers will do the day shift from 6am to 6pm. That doesn't mean you all need to stay up all night but take turns."
"I'll be happy to do it" Rod said.
"You all can take turns" Larry replied " I'm probably not going to rest until something happens, but when I do rest you can take over for me, I'll show you how to read the gauges and log the readings. OK, does anyone need anything from the house? I bet some of James old clothing would fit Rod; Jodi, why don't you take him up and grab a few items, be ready to run back though, listen for the air horn, if we start getting any radiation I'll blow it."
"Jodi, grab my spare reading glasses and my Bible out of my night stand" Grandma Rose said.
"We've got Bibles down here Mom" Larry said.
"Yes, but I want my King James version, all you have are those fancy modern ones" Rose said
"Jesus didn't speak the Kings English Mom" Larry said.
"Bah, you read what you want to and I'll read what I want to, I like what I like" she replied.
"Anything else Grandma?" Jodi interrupted having heard this disagreement before.
"No, that's it" She replied.
Jodi showed Rod where the clothes were and went to get Grandma's Bible and spare glasses. When she got back, Rod had grabbed a couple shirts and a couple pair of pants and was sitting on the edge of the bed facing the closet, "You need any underwear or socks or anything? She asked him.
"No, I brought everything I owned as far as those went" Rod replied.
"You ok?" she asked him.
"No, life as we knew it just ended, its seems like you all are taking it so easily" Rod said.
"Not really, but as a family we did prepare for things like this and we all had jobs to do to get ready which has kept us too busy for it to really sink in yet, I plan on having a good cry when I have that time to - after we close up the shelter." She replied.
"I'm sorry, I really am grateful for you and your family letting me in, but then I think of all our friends and co-workers back in Dallas probably dead or soon will be from radiation poisoning, the power off all over probably, and as far as my family - who knows what happened where they are" Rod said.
"Where is your family?" Jodi asked.
"Minnesota" he replied.
"That's right, you said you were from there" Jodi answered "well there's no way of telling now, maybe when things get settled and running again you can find out."
"Yeah, about the time I'm old and gray" Rod replied.
"Naw, it may take a few years but humanity is pretty resourceful, we'll bounce back" Jodi replied.
"We're in good shape here" Jodi said "Every summer Dad would make us practice, we'd actually spend a week in the shelter every summer since I was a little girl, every time we did Mom and Dad would find something else we forgot to stock or to bring, so we pretty much have it down now."
"But what about all the people that didn't prepare? Those people we passed on the way out here, our coworker's, heck even the guy that tried to steal my bike?"
"Well, and this is right out of one of my Dads speeches, everyone has personal choice and personal responsibility, they can go out and have a few beers or they can save the money for a rainy day, they could have a big new house, car or boat or they could have a place to shelter and a year's supply of food, everyone makes choices and those choices they made in the past are coming due now, their big new McMansion and shiny new SUV isn't going to protect them from an atomic bomb, whereas the money my Dad saved by driving a 15 year old used car and not always having the latest and greatest of anything he invested in the farm and the shelter which will save our life. Daddy always quotes the Bible in 'you reap what you sow'".
"You think a lot of your Dad, don't you? Rod asked.
"Yeah I do, he's a good honest man with a lot of common sense - something kind of rare these days" She answered.
The sound of the air horn interrupted them.
"Let's Go!" Jodi shouted, running out of the room and down the stairs two at a time with Rod right behind her. Jodi's Dad was standing at the doorway into the shelter and closed it behind them.
"The radiation reading outside just went up drastically - shelter is locked down, now we wait" Larry said.
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Post by mnn2300 on Jul 23, 2011 9:44:04 GMT -6
Powers Out Chapter 5 -- Interlude: Marks Story
Approx 24 hours earlier
Mark was down to 5th floor when 3 members of the I.T. team caught up to him
"You going to be ok Mark?" Rod asked Mark who was in his 50's and well over 300 lbs.
"Sure, I'll just take it easy, I only have 6 miles to get home and it's a beautiful day for a walk - at least it's not July or August - that would be a killer, but late September is nice in Dallas" Mark replied. "You guys go on around me, I'm not going to kill myself on these stairs" he added, breathing heavily already even though he had 4 more floors to go.
Finally down the stairs and out of the building Mark walked over to his pickup even though he was pretty sure it would not start, both his truck and his wife Natalie's car had a 72 hour kit in it in back pack form, not much; a change of clothes, a couple bottles of water, some power bars (not that he'd starve anytime soon) but it also had what he really wanted and that was his sneakers - dress shoes were ok for work but if he was going to be walking he wanted comfortable shoes.
Mark started walking home, as he had told Rod he only had about 6 miles, his wife had double that from her work, he said a short prayer for both of them to make it safe and sound and started walking.
When had he gotten so old and fat? Mark wondered to himself. It seems like only yesterday he was in his twenties and thin -- well ok, he had never really been thin but he was much much thinner back then, of course years of working too many hours and not taking care of himself added up. He couldn't remember the last time he walked 6 miles, they had a treadmill at home that was used more as a clothes hanger than as a treadmill but from the few times he got on it he know he was no longer able to keep up even a 2 mph pace for long. Well, this may not be a bad thing for us he thought, going to take hard work to survive this, if the MZB's -- Mutant Zombie Bikers prevalent in PAW (Post Apocalyptic World) fiction don't get us first he thought, his mind moving to the darker side of reality. Mark enjoyed reading the survivalist/prepper websites and loved much of the fiction he read there. His older brother had started him on survivalist fiction when he was 12 or 13 by loaning him a copy of Farnham's Freehold by Robert Heinlein, after that he devoured anything remotely having to do with the end of the world, or at least the end of civilization as we know it. Alas Babylon, On the Beach, A Canticle for Leibowitz, Lucifer's Hammer, Earth Abides, The Stand, and more recently One Second After, and movies like When Worlds Collide, The Day After, The Omega Man, later remade as I Am Legend with Will Smith, even TV shows like Jericho, all fueled his imagination and also websites had a lot of PAW fiction - with stories and writers too numerous to mention: some good, some fair and some excellent.
Mark was a somewhat prepper, he had a few months of some basic items on hand, but it wouldn't give a lot of variety, he and his wife were gardeners but living in the suburbs it wasn't that big of a garden, especially with the pool they had put in 2 years ago. The summer was over and they had already harvested all the produce they had grown, they had planted a very small fall crop, lettuce, radishes, and carrots. Just a couple items to have a fresh salad, assuming they came in. Mark wondered if he could take some plastic and make some kind of cover and plant some more, he still had plenty of seeds leftover from spring.
All these thoughts were going through Marks head as he walked home, plus he was worried about his wife, while she was a couple years younger than him and not quite as big, she was still a big girl, and almost 50 years old herself, he wondered how long it would take her to get home.
Mark finally made it home, unfortunately none of the clocks were working so he had no idea how long it took him, but by the sun it appeared to be about the time he normally made it home. Jim, his next door neighbor was at the grill in his backyard and he invited Mark over to share a meal, "foods going to go bad without refrigeration" he said "so we might as well eat it before that happens."
"Sure, let me put a note on the door for Natalie" Mark replied.
"She's not home yet?" Jim asked.
"No she works about 12 or 13 miles from here, hopefully she won't be too much longer.
After dinner the three of them sat around outside talking: Jim and his wife Marta and Mark.
That grill smells wonderful." Natalie said, coming through the gate into their neighbor’s backyard.
Mark jumped up and hugged her "I was worried about you" he said.
"Just thought I'd take a leisurely stroll" she said "But I really am hungry"
"Plenty of leftovers" Marta Jims wife said, "Foods over there, fix yourself a plate and come join us.
"I'm sure the power company will have the lights back on in a few days, no matter how big the disruption was." Jim said "I mean, look at the hurricane that went through the Gulf coast a few years back, most area's had power within a week or two, the worst was about a month or so."
"I don't know Jim, this is a whole lot worse, nothing with electronics is working, the computer chips are fried, this isn't just a few power lines being down." Mark replied "It could be a long time before things get back to normal, if they ever do."
"The government won't let it last that long, they'll bring in what they need, equipment and probably even the national guard to help the power companies, after all that's what the government is for - to take care of us, right?" Jim said.
Mark just shook his head, how could the most powerful nation on earth have started turning out so many people with an attitude like this. He thought he knew what it was, the 2 party political system, each promising the moon to get elected and then once in power forgetting all the promises they had made and running up more of a tab for the next generation, well, if this power outage is nationwide maybe it'll weed out the stupid people, Mark thought to himself.
"We should probably go to the grocery store in the morning and stock up a bit" Marta said to her husband Jim.
"Wouldn't be a bad idea, the tank on the gas grill is almost out too" Jim replied "We should get there early before they sell out of them.
Mark didn't say anything; he hoped his 2 spare tanks for his grill that he kept in the shed would last him. He was skeptical that the grocery store would be open anytime soon and Jim and Marta, while decent neighbors in normal times, were not prepared in the least, nor did they really understand the enormity of the situation. If he shared with them, then what he had wouldn't last long, and what about the rest of the neighbors, would they turn into the zombie hordes he had read about? He felt he and Natalie would have to make some hard choices over the next few weeks.
The sun was going down and Mark and Natalie went home.
"Boy I could use a shower" Natalie said.
"Think again, I tried the water earlier, no pressure" Mark said.
"Well, we always have the pool" Natalie replied.
"Not a bad idea, but just remember the pool filter doesn't work without electricity, and we'll be using that water for drinking, cooking, washing dishes, flushing toilets" Mark said.
"OK, I get it, but tonight I am hot and sweaty and am going in the pool." she replied.
"Hey, it's ok, I'll even join you. I just needed to give you a dose of reality after all of Jim's optimism. Contrary to what Jim believes, the government is not going to be coming to our rescue anytime soon, it's most likely trying to save itself if it still survives."
***
"I can't believe the store wasn't open" Marta said to Jim "after we walked all the way up there."
"When this all clears up I am going to complain to their main office. How do they think people are supposed to eat?" Jim replied. "Do they think people stock food? That's what stores are for! Oh yes, they will most definitely hear from me."
***
"What's on the agenda today?" Natalie asked Matt.
"Well I thought I would try to make something of a green house to go over a row or two of plants, we have that wood in the garage and some clear plastic so I thought I'd build a frame and cover all but the bottom in plastic, sort of a mini greenhouse, it could work." Matt said.
"Sounds good, I want to get a few things done then I'll help you." Natalie replied. "Do you know how to get the garage door to open with no power?"
"Yeah, that's what that rope is for; you just pull on it to disengage the gears from the motor and then yank the door open. I’ll get it for you." Matt told her.
Mark was in the garage when it happened, Natalie was dipping out a couple of 5 gallon buckets of water from the pool to put into the bathroom so they could flush the toilets. He saw a bright flash on the garage wall, his wife screamed. He knew instantly what was happening, he kept his head down, his eyes on the ground so he wouldn't be blinded by the miniature sun that had appeared over Dallas, it would fade in a few seconds, replaced by a dark mushroom cloud. He wasn't sure how long they had before the intense wind would arrive but figured only a few seconds or maybe a minute. He couldn't spot his wife at first but then saw her in the pool, probably saved her from intense burns, speaking of which, the temperature was going up sharply, he dived into the pool himself, grabbed his wife and swam to the side closest to the blast, hoping the side of the pool would shelter them until the initial effects of the blast were over and they could get to the house. The intense wind hit right then, and all sort of debris went flying over them, the water of the pool was even being pushed away from the blast towards the other end of the pool and Mark and Natalie were floating with it.
"My eyes hurt!" his wife screamed.
"Dunk your head below the water to rinse them out" Mark said.
"Was that an atomic bomb?" His wife yelled over the roaring sound of the wind.
"Yeah, as soon as we can we need to get into the house" Mark told her.
"What will we do? We don't have any shelter." Natalie asked.
"The hallway back to the bedrooms would be best, it's all in the interior of the house and we can close it off, it also has the guest bathroom which is also an interior room.
“If I only had some time I could board up the windows, make a makeshift shelter, but if I do that now it's going to put me out in the radiation, but is the hallway in the house good enough to protect us? I should have taken being prepared more seriously.” Mark thought to himself.
What seemed like forever but what was probably only a minute or two the intense wind had died down and the brightness was gone. "We have to get in the house now." Mark said.
"I can't see very well, everything is blurry" Natalie answered.
"I'll help you" Mark said, wondering if they would survive the radiation.
Mark looked up as he helped his wife into the house, he saw that his fence was mostly down, it appeared that the room over the garage at Jims house had collapsed taking Jim's garage and much of the rest of the roof with it, some trees were down, fires smoldering, debris was everywhere, he could hear people screaming, crying, asking for help. He couldn't do everything, if he stayed out helping people he'd die of radiation poisoning himself, the only rational thing to do would be to take shelter the best he could. If that was the logical thing to do, why'd it make him feel so bad?
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Post by nancy1340 on Jul 23, 2011 13:28:37 GMT -6
I am so glad your working on this story again. Thank you.
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Post by hickory7 on Jul 24, 2011 20:16:34 GMT -6
This is my first time reading this story...very good! Thank You for posting it.
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Post by redbear on Jul 28, 2011 7:13:51 GMT -6
What a great story, thank you!
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Post by mnn2300 on Jul 28, 2011 10:43:05 GMT -6
Powers Out Chapter 6 Interlude: Tom Rice's Story
It was a day like any other for Tom Rice. September was almost over, cooler weather had finally come to Texas, and temperatures were staying below 100F and had been for a couple weeks now, he loved this time of year in Texas, the hot dry days were over and while temps were still in the 80's and 90's which might seem too hot for some people, they were just right for him.
Tom had just transferred into the Paris Texas area, he finally got his own store with the regional grocery store he had worked for the last 5 years. He had worked himself up from a department manager to an assistant manager within the chain and he finally earned the general manager spot at the store in Paris, TX a year ago. True, it was a rural area and not the busiest store in the chain, but it was his and if he did well here, in a couple years he might be able to move up to a higher volume store.
He rented a house about 10 miles outside town surrounded by farms. The house was an old 4 bedroom farm house, too big for a single man really, but the rent was really cheap and he didn't use the upstairs 3 bedrooms for anything except for storing some moving boxes. The house had been updated by the owners and the first floor had everything he needed.
Tom was in the meat cooler talking with the head of the meat department Matt, about a shipment they had just received when the lights went out.
"OK, who's playing with the lights!" Matt yelled figuring someone had flipped off the light switch outside the cooler. Being completely enclosed it was as dark as a cave in there, but they made their way over to the door and opened it.
"Powers Out!" one of the workers said.
"Check the breakers while I go up front" Tom said to Matt.
It was mid morning and they had 2 registers open and 2 others assigned to managers to run if it got busy. Both registers had customers at them but luckily there was no one behind them in line yet, one was waiting for her change having just paid cash and the cash register drawer wouldn't open.
The battery should be enough to finish the transaction but the register was totally dead. All the registers should be beeping for attention since they all should be on battery, but none of them were. Tom used his key to open the cash drawer and make change for the customer. He then walked over to the other register where the customer was holding up her debit card with about half the groceries already checked out and the other half still on the belt. "I'm so sorry ma'am, but neither the register nor the credit card machine are working - hopefully the power will be back on in a minute or two" he told the customer as pleasantly as he could.
Just then Matt walked up and said, "The breakers are all OK, it's up to the power company now."
"Great" Tom said trying to remember if he had the phone number in his office.
His office was in the interior but had a one way mirror looking out on the cashier stands so he had some light still from the front windows, he went through the ancient Rolodex and found the number for the power company. He grabbed the phone on his desk and got no dial tone. He grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket and nothing there either. Writing down the number he went back out to the cashier stand and asked his cashiers if he could borrow one of their cell phones.
"Mine's back in my purse in the break room" one said.
The other cashier pulled hers out, but then said, "Looks like the battery is dead."
Just then the customer that had just checked out walked back in and said "My car won't start, can anyone give me a jump?"
Matt, still in front said "I have jumper cables, which one is yours? As he walked out with the customer he felt uneasy, knowing something was different but not knowing what. The customer pointed out her car and he went to get his to give her a jump, but when he went to start his car, nothing happened. It was then that he realized what he was missing, there was no traffic noise, nothing was moving on the road out front of the store. He hurried back into the store, telling the customer that his car wouldn't start either as he did.
"Nothings running, no power, no traffic lights, no cars, nothing" Matt told Tom.
"What do you mean no cars? How's that possible?" Tom asked.
"That customer's car wouldn't start, mine wouldn't start, and there's no traffic moving on the road out front and it's quiet" Matt said.
"It's always quiet here" Tom replied.
"No, I mean there is no noise, nothing is running." Matt replied.
Tom walked out the front doors and saw what Matt meant. He walked over to his car and his key fob wouldn't open the door so he opened it manually, his car wouldn't start either.
"See I told you - something weird is going on." Matt said.
"Let's get the rest of the customers out of the store and the doors locked, and then we need to figure out what to do." Tom said.
They went through the store explaining that due to a widespread power outage they were going to have to ask the customers to put off their shopping, they could leave the carts right where they were and the store personnel would restock the shelves.
Ten minutes later they had the store cleared of all customers and had all of the employee's up front.
"Look I am not sure what is going on, the powers out, cell phones won't turn on, cars won't start, nothings working. I don't know what exactly is going on but we need to get the store closed down, just like we do every night, stuff needs to be put away, cold cases covered, carts brought in, money counted. After that we'll see what happens."
Turning to his head cashier Ruth, Tom asked "Do you know where the electrical company office is, it's down about 3 blocks?"
"Yes" she answered.
"Would you mind running over there and see if they know when the power will be back on then come back and let us know?" Tom asked.
"Sure I can do that" she said heading for the door.
Tom let her out and said, "OK, everyone else back to work."
Thirty minutes or so later, Ruth, the head cashier came back.
She told Rod "They don't know anything."
"What do you mean they don't know anything?" Tom asked.
"They can't reach their home office, they can't reach the power plant, this office is basically just a customer service center -starting service, billing questions, stuff like that. They're as clueless as we are." Ruth said, then added "Why aren't the cars running? Nothing is moving - cars, trucks, I didn't even see any planes."
"I have no idea" Tom replied.
"Well people, I don't know what to tell you, if this goes on, we should open back up with limited service, cash only, only let a few people in at a time, mark the prices on stuff and add it up manually, maybe cook up some meats out front on the grill like we do on weekends during the summer, I don't know. If the powers back on tomorrow, then come in at your regular times, if it's not on then let's give it until noon tomorrow and have you all come back in and we'll get a plan going to operate with no power, sound good?" Tom said to his crew.
"It's good for those that live close by, but if I have to walk 12 miles home, I'm probably not going to walk 12 miles back tomorrow." one of the stockers said.
"I understand, I'll have to leave it up to each of you whether it's worth it, but remember if this is something long term, people are still going to need food and we're here to serve them." Tom replied. "If there's nothing else you can all go and hopefully we'll see you tomorrow"
As Tom was letting his workers out Matt said "You going to make the long walk home and back?"
"No, it's too far, I'm going to use that old couch in the office, besides with the alarms not working I'll feel better if someones here and as you know I do have a concealed carry permit. I don't bring the gun in with me because I have been told if I do I can be fired, but the gun is out in my trunk and I'll be carrying it in about 5 minutes, in the store and out." Tom said.
"I'll remember that when I come back" Matt said.
"Better knock first rather than just unlock the door and come in" Tom replied.
"You're welcome at my place, it's only a couple miles away." Matt said.
"I appreciate it, but I rather guard the store." Tom said.
"OK" Matt replied "See you tomorrow.
Tom grabbed his hand gun and ammo out of his trunk and then went back in the store and locked up. He set about to get everything he needed into the office, it was nice being in a grocery store, but he knew he needed to keep records of everything he took, the company took a harsh line about that, you'd better have a receipt for everything you use or consume or you were in big trouble. He grabbed a couple of flashlights and some batteries, a couple of paperbacks off the book display unit. They occasionally used a gas grill out front and sold ribs or sausages already cooked, usually on weekends during the summer, the grill was back in the storage area, there were still some Styrofoam coolers left over from summer also. He looked at the beers but decided he'd better not, instead he grabbed some sodas and put them on ice in one the coolers. He then went outside and unlocked the cage with the gas for grills in it and grabbed a bottle and brought it inside, locking the cage when he was done. He knew grilling inside was trouble but with the sheer volume of air in the store and the height of the storeroom ceilings he figured he'd be OK if he didn't go wild. He'd cook something quick; he wouldn't have the grill on for more than a few minutes.
He did leave for a while to see if he could find out what was going on, he went down to the electric company's office but by the time he got there the doors were locked. He walked down to the police station but they didn't know anything either, so he walked back to the store and locked himself inside. He tried to stay out of sight of the doors, earlier he had placed a sign on the front doors stating they were closed, a few times he heard someone rattle the doors, but no one tried to break in.
He worked out a plan to be able to open on a limited basis, it would work if he had enough of his employees show up tomorrow and hopefully he might even get the police to help with some security, he'd walk back to the station in the morning a find out.
He fixed himself something to eat and then got involved in the paperback he was reading and eventually fell asleep on the old couch that was probably put in the office 15 or 20 years ago by some now forgotten manager.
When he woke up the sun was already up, luckily he had filled the 3 compartment sinks in both the meat department and the produce department as there was no water pressure in the men's room.
He got ready and walked down to the police station, explaining what he wanted to do. They told him it was a great idea, but they wouldn't be able to spare anyone to work security for him. They were reduced to walking beats in town and even had a couple officers on horseback - talk about a big leap back 100 years. Tom thanked them and headed back to the store. He was about a block away when he saw it on the horizon.
No, it couldn't be, he thought to himself, he continued walking back to the store but kept looking at it, other people on the street were starting to look at the same thing and a few pointing, No, there was no mistaking it, on the horizon, somewhere in the vicinity of Dallas was a mushroom cloud.
"What do I do now?" Tom thought to himself as he entered the store locking the door behind him.
"I need a shelter, do they have fallout shelters anywhere anymore?" He thought. "How long until the fallout gets here? Think - think! What protects you from fallout......some kind of shelter; Brick, concrete, metal, lead. The walk-in cooler, it's inside a brick building, it's totally enclosed in metal and insulation, That's it!" Tom set out to move things he was likely to need into the walk-in and the already warming food that would spoil out of the walk-in cooler.
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Post by nancy1340 on Jul 28, 2011 21:43:38 GMT -6
Very good. Thank you.
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Post by rootdiggr on Jul 29, 2011 6:30:02 GMT -6
Interesting story. I am looking forward to more.
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Post by suvalley on Jul 29, 2011 11:09:02 GMT -6
Very good, my compliments |
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Post by hickory7 on Jul 29, 2011 15:17:22 GMT -6
Thank you for another Chapter. I am really captivated by this story.
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Post by mnn2300 on Aug 2, 2011 8:50:09 GMT -6
Powers Out Chapter 7
"The radiation reading outside just went up drastically - shelter is locked down, now we wait" Larry said.
"Any idea how long?" Beth asked.
"We won't know that until it peaks, then I'll be able to figure it out as long as we don't get another dose of radiation from other places after that - we'll need to keep an eye on the gauges like I said earlier. Even when it's safe to be outside for a while we'll still probably sleep here till the radiation gets down to near normal. Even low doses can cause cancer over time, so the younger you are the longer you'll have to develop cancer so the longer you'll stay in here." He said with groans coming from Beth and Kyle.
"You'll thank me in 20 or 30 years" he said.
"What's the barn radiation counter say?" Allen, Larry's dad asked.
"Same as it did before, I told you it would be about as safe as the shelter is, the animals will make it and we won't even have to put on radiation suits to be in there - at least not yet. Radiation is not getting through the walls or roof, only worry I had was about the doors and those have lead on both sides of both sets of double doors" Larry said.
"Those danged heavy doors you put on might just be worth it after all." Allen said.
"OK, we really haven't had a good meal or relaxed since the power went off yesterday, how about Pizza and a movie" Toni, Jodi's Mom said "But the movie's got to be light and cheerful and funny" she added.
"Jodi, Come help me in the kitchen, we'll make a big salad to have while the pizza's are in the oven" Toni said.
"Anything I can help with?" Rod asked.
"Not now" Toni answered.
"Let me show you the radiation counters and the log we'll keep" Larry said, Grandma was knitting, Grandpa had a book, Beth and Kyle were arguing over the selection of movies.
"Don't worry son, we'll make it" Larry added sensing Rods mood.
"Yes sir" Rod replied "and thanks for taking me in."
"Hey, once we're out of the shelter, it'll be nice to have another strong set of hands around." Larry said "There's going to be a lot of work to do to get a crop in next spring."
Larry explained the radiation monitors to Rod, there were 4 of them giving readings: 2 outside on the east and west sides of the house, one inside the barn, and one inside the shelter. The log was a simple spreadsheet type notebook with 4 columns to enter the readings next to another column with times listed by the hour, 1 day to a page. Laminated to the clipboard it was on, was a chart with a grid that when you plugged in the peak readings and times you could get a good idea of how long you had to stay in the shelter. Larry said he got the grid off of a survivalist website along with a lot of other information that was probably going to come in handy. "Good thing I printed it all out" Larry added pointing to a number of 3 ring binders on a bookshelf near the monitors "I think the internet is down for quite a while."
Rod looked at the notebooks; they were each titled by the topic that was covered inside: Atomic Weapons, Chemical Weapons, Biological Weapons, First Aid, Gardening, Animal Husbandry, Cooking, Guns, Misc Weapons, along with a number of others. Also on the shelves were 50 or 60 books that Rod would classify as survivalist type books, everything from gardening to guns, shelters to guerrilla warfare. He figured that under the circumstances he better start reading them so he could be of some real help when they got out. There were also book cases with regular books; fiction, an old encyclopedia, 2 shelves filled with The Classics Collections that came out every few years: Tom Sawyer, The Call of the Wild, Swiss Family Robinson, Moby Dick, and other classics, and also a number of other books, Rod figured there was somewhere around 300 - 400 or more books on the various shelves throughout the shelter. On the walls were framed copies of historical documents: The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Gettysburg Address, the 1783 Treaty of Paris, even a modern English version of the Magna Carta from the 13th century, quite a collection.
The radiation peaked and according to the chart they could start going outside for short periods of time in 3 weeks, although they would no doubt be spending at least nights in the shelter for a few months. Life in the shelter became routine; mornings and evenings they would go through the tunnel to the barn and take care of the animals, Rod was starting to learn about the animals and how to take care of them. He also read Larry's survival books every chance he had. Fun was usually board games or card games; due to electrical limitations they did not watch DVD's on the TV very much. Meals were remarkable diverse, after a few days Rod found out why, the 2 doors that Jodi said were storerooms ran the entire length of the shelter and were full of canned items, mainly home canned, and since this happened at the end of summer they were full. There were also a large quantity of #10 cans full of anything from rice and pasta to flour and even hard candy. There was even a section of shelves that were pre-mixed baking mixes for; cakes, brownies, cookies, etc. all in regular canning jars. Each evening meal they had some kind of treat for dessert. The other storeroom had bulk items, including spare clothes, paper products (Rod counted 25 boxes of toilet paper - 96 rolls per box - much later he would be glad of that) along with cases of: Kleenex, what the commercials used to call feminine hygiene products, soap, and also gardening supplies: potting soil, peat pots, grow lights, and seeds of all kinds. The back of the 2nd storeroom ended in a large safe door, Jodi casually said "Gun Safe" when she saw Rod looking at it.
Everyone had their own chores to do and much of their free time was spent reading or playing games. Most evenings they would play cards, Rods grandfather had taught him how to play cribbage years ago and Rod found that Rose and Allen, Jodi's grandparents were avid cribbage players and also that Beth, Jodi's 19 year old sister was a pretty good player also. They would usually play for an hour or two after supper each night and Rod learned more about all three. Allen's father originally started the farm over a century ago; Allen dabbled in organic farming but his son Larry perfected it, Allan also saw the opportunity to sell seedlings to garden centers, a business that grew many times over the years and eventually became the major income source for the farm. By the time Allen's son Larry took over the day to day operation the farm was making good money and Rose and Allen, while still involved and helping, were able to enjoy their later years, but like Allan said: "there is no retirement for old farmers, at some point they just get planted too", which would always make him chuckle.
Beth had graduated from High school and had not decided on college yet, she actually really liked the farm and since Jodi and James showed little interest and Kyle was still in High School, Beth was actually the logical one to take over the farm. Her parents were trying to talk her into getting an ag degree, but she said that she was sick of school and that she wanted to take a year off and work the farm - looked like the degree was on permanent hold now.
A week after the radiation peaked, it started rising again. They had the 7 day clock that chimed on the hour and they used that chime as a reminder to record the readings. One morning when Toni and Beth were fixing breakfast, the chime sounded and Beth went to record the reading.
"Mom, come here a minute" Beth said "look at this."
Toni looked at the gauges and then at the notebook and went to get her husband.
The gauges were back to about halfway to the peak reading from a week ago.
"What do you think it is?" Beth asked her Dad.
"I don't know, could be residual radiation from other blasts, or could be something was hit again. Without some information from the outside, it's hard to tell, but that just added more time in the shelter."
"How long" his wife asked.
"Won't know til it peaks again but we're going to have to err on the safe side since we just don't have any information as to what happened." Larry replied.
"Still nothing on the shortwave? His wife asked.
"No, mainly static, I thought I heard something last night but it faded out and I never found it again."
Rod continued reading Larry's library and helping with the animals in the barn, the radiation continued dropping but still not low enough to go outside, after the 2nd week they started some plants under grow lights in the storeroom, hoping to be able to use one of the green houses soon. They were into week 5 in the shelter when they got their first outside news. Larry made contact with someone from Colorado, the person wouldn't narrow his location down any further than that, but they found out that the EMP blast was localized in the south central part of the nation, covering mainly Texas, and parts of Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas. From the news they got before TSHTF it appeared it went off over Texas but it was meant to hit the heart of the nation at a higher altitude than it went off, thus crippling most of the nation. Unfortunately the President was on Air Force One having just left Houston heading back to Washington DC after a campaign rally when the EMP hit, there were no survivors on the plane. The Vice President was sworn in within minutes of the Air Force finding the wreckage, having scrambled planes from outside the EMP affected area. The first blasts took place the following day and took out many of the larger cities within 500 miles or so from the coasts and apparently were launched from ships by terrorists. New York, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami, Houston, Dallas, Seattle were all hit. Los Angles and a big portion of Southern California was missing as apparently multiple nukes set off the San Andreas fault and the 'Big One" that had been talked about for decades finally happened. San Francisco in the northern part of the state, while still there, felt the effects of the big earthquake and looked a lot like what the photos of the 1906 earthquake showed. Israel launched against its neighbors within minutes of the U.S. being hit. The Vice President (now President) was in Washington at the time presumably in a deep shelter, the U.S. retaliated within hours against a number of countries in the Middle East and also against North Korea. Within a week much of the rest of the world was busy settling old scores. The person from Colorado said Denver had been taken out in round 2 and it was anyone's guess who was in charge - whether the new President was still alive was unknown, Congress had been in session so the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Temp of the Senate (3rd and 4th in line of succession) may or may not be alive either. The last Larry remembered, the Secretary of State was doing a tour of the Far East and should have been in Japan -- or was it Hong Kong, about the time the first nukes hit, so maybe she was in charge now. Larry and the Colorado contact signed off after setting up a time and day for contact once a week. They no sooner signed off when someone from Illinois spoke up and said Chicago had been hit also. The person from Illinois said the state government was advising all residents to stay in their shelter for at least 8 weeks, however not many people had 8 weeks of food. He himself went out in NBC (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) Suit 2 days ago for a short time to check on his neighbors, he found them dead in their ransacked basement all with bullet holes , in checking it appeared all their food and water had been stolen, he heard shooting going on in the distance and headed back for cover quickly.
No one was giving out too much personal information on the shortwave, having a survivalist mind set and not knowing if the person you were talking to would be a friend or someone who try to take away what you needed to survive.
There was a subdued atmosphere in the shelter following that news.
A week later the radiation was down to the point where it would be safe to go outside for short amounts of time. He had 4 NBC Suits for adults and it was decided that Rod and Larry would go out first. Larry handed Rod a rifle and asked "Do you know how to use that?"
"To a certain extent" Rod replied.
"I really doubt you'll need to use it but just in case......." Larry said and gave Rod a very quick lesson in handling a rifle and added that he would let him practice in the next couple days. "Today is just a recon mission; go outside and look around and see what needs doing, we're not going to stay out more than an hour and probably not that long." They suited up, unlocking the stairway door then closing it behind them, walked up the steps to the landing and went through that door closing it as they climbed the last set of stairs to the house and unlocked the door. Even through the suits while in the house they could hear the rain coming down, opening the door and walking out on the porch, even though it was 9 AM it was very dark, rain was coming down in what the old timers would call a gully washer. "Well, that's actually a good thing" Larry said "It'll wash the radioactive dust off of everything" Looking that the thermometer on the porch he tapped it a few times "November 3rd and 86 degrees at 9 in the morning - that's too warm for this part of Texas this time of year."
"If that guy in Colorado was right about southern California dropping into the ocean it probably would have really screwed up the weather patterns and could have thrown a bunch of ocean water into the atmosphere at the same time" Rod theorized.
"You may be right, we could be in for some strange weather" Larry said "I was worried about nuclear winter but I guess we'll have to wait and see."
Larry had brought a Geiger Counter up with him and he walked through the house - "Not too bad in here, we could spend much of the day in the house with no suits on if we watched our other exposure" he said "I'd want the whole placed washed down and cleaned up first though just to be safe, I was afraid we were going to have to hose everything off outside but this heavy rain should take care of a lot of that."
Over the course of the next 3 days, they took turns cleaning the entire house, wiping down every surface, washing everything that could be washed. Toni commented that this was the cleanest her home had been since before they had kids. While they were cleaning the house, the rain continued coming down heavily outside and the radiation count dropped drastically every day. Luckily the house and barn were above normal ground level as there was water standing in all the fields and in the driveway.
Until the rain stopped there was no way of telling if the soil was contaminated with radiation or not. Rod had read in Larry's materials that it was recommended that farmers scrape the top 18 inches of soil and bury it after a nuclear war, but would this heavy rain change that? How would it affect Larry's many raised beds? All questions for another day.
"Time to check on the neighbors" Larry said on the third day, which was November 6th, it was still raining and Larry insisted that they all be suited up. Larry, Kyle, Rod and Jodi all went, all carrying guns. They had gotten out the old tractor, changed the starter and distributor cap and points and it started right up, Larry said he was glad he kept the old thing around rather than getting rid of it when he bought a newer tractor a few years back. They hooked up a flatbed trailer to it and started up their driveway to the road, Kyle driving the tractor and everyone else on the trailer with their guns at the ready just in case. Kyle stopped at the end of the first neighbor's house.
The next neighbor up the road, the Petersons, owned the house but rented it out to a single man who worked in town. Larry and his family almost never saw him, he seemed to be a loner, but if they did ever see him in the front yard when they went by, he would smile and wave, but Larry couldn't remember ever actually talking to him.
"I don't even know this guy's name" Larry said.
"His name is Tom" Jodi said "He works at the grocery in town."
"Hello the house!" Larry yelled a couple times.
"Be lucky if anyone can hear you over the rain" Jodi said.
"Rod, you and I will go up to the house" Larry said.
They walked up the steps to the front door and knocked "Anyone home? Larry yelled.
They pounded on the door some more and tried it, but it was locked "We'll put this one down as a no answer and try the next one."
The next house was the Peterson farm the Peterson family had owned the farm for 2 generations, having passed it along to old man Peterson's oldest son who was now about Larry's age, they went through the same procedure at the end of the driveway and the front door, but Larry knew that the Petersons had a storm cellar under the barn accessed by double doors set into the ground. Larry went over to those and hollered "Anyone there!" and then knocked on the doors, he waited a minute and motioned for Rod to open the doors while he covered them. As Rod lifted the door, Larry hollered again, but there was no answer. Larry walked down the stairs with his flashlight on, luckily Larry and Rod were wearing their NBC Suits as it appeared everyone in the root cellar had been dead for a couple weeks and sick from radiation poisoning before that. The storm cellar had never been meant as a fallout shelter and apparently they got a high dose of radiation right from the start. "We'll have to come back later and bury them" Larry said.
Those were the only neighbors on the dirt road, they reached the pavement and went to the next house down the line, as soon as they pulled in sight of the house Larry had Kyle stop, there were bodies in the front yard, two that they could see - no, a third was on the porch and it did not appear that they had died from radiation poisoning. An old jeep was sitting in the driveway.
"Kyle, get that tractor turned around so its facing home, then pull it down the road 100 feet or so, Jodi, stay with him but keep a good eye out, Rod we're going up to the house, somebody could still be alive there" Larry said.
Larry stayed outside the gate and yelled "Hello the house!" as loud as he could a couple times.
They saw a curtain in the window near the door move.
"Hello the house" Larry yelled again.
One of the windows opened an inch "What do you want?" a female voice called out.
"Is that you Louise? We're just checking up on you" Larry yelled after recognizing the voice as the wife for the farmer living there.
"Is that you Larry? Who's that with you? Louise yelled, stalling for time, trying to think of how to warn Larry without alerting the 2 thugs pointing guns at her and her children.
"It's a friend of Jodi's, can we come in?"
"We're doing ok Larry, don't worry about us, did your 2 kids make it ok? Louise asked thinking quickly of a way to warn Larry, hopefully he would understand, and if he didn't hopefully he wouldn't say anything to expose her deception to the 2 men in the house.
Larry got a confused look on his face then swore under his breath, "Yeah Louise the 2 kids made it fine - Looks like you had some trouble, is your husband ok?"
"Yes he's resting now, we had some trouble earlier but it's all died down now" she answered.
"If you guys are all ok, I told Joanne we'd be back by dusk, like I said we were just making sure y'all were ok."
"We're fine Larry, thanks for checking" Louise answered.
Rod started to say something but Larry hushed him and said quietly "Just walk back to the tractor."
The two of them walked out of the yard and down the road.
"What was that all about?" Rod asked.
"Well, I think she was trying to tell me there were 2 bad guys inside the house when she asked about my 2 kids - she knows darn good and well we have 4 kids, then when I asked about her husband she said he was resting and that the trouble had died down -- I'm thinking her husband may be dead. Then I told her that we'd be back at dusk by telling her I had told 'Joanne', implying my wife but it's really her daughter's name, that I'd be back by dusk, now we've got about an hour and a half to plan a rescue. Let's get back to the house quick.
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Post by hickory7 on Aug 2, 2011 17:43:14 GMT -6
Oh no! *refresh* *refresh* Where is the rest?!
Thank you for more.
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Post by rootdiggr on Aug 2, 2011 20:10:03 GMT -6
Yay! Another chapter. Thanks.
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Post by mnn2300 on Aug 11, 2011 8:56:27 GMT -6
Sorry, been busy the last couple weeks
Powers Out Chapter 8
Back at the shelter Larry filled in his wife and parents about what was happening.
Rod volunteered, but Larry axed that by reminding him that by his own admission he didn't really know guns. It was decided that 4 of them would go back: Larry, Toni, Allen and Jodi as they were the best shots. They would drive the tractor to the field behind the house, and then go through the field which came to within 30 feet of the back door.
"You did real good missy" Joe told Louise "Real good, course if you hadn't it would have been very bad for you and your kids."
"Don't hurt my children." Louise pleaded.
"Your kids will be just fine as long as you do exactly what we tell you to." Bobby said, grinning.
"Let me tell you how this is going to work missy" Joe said holding his handgun close to her face, "And if you co-operate you and your brats will come out of this alive. You're going to fix us some dinner, then we're going to take what we want - whatever we want " He said ginning, bringing the barrel of the gun down to her chest, rubbing the barrel on her breast, then slowly up to her chin lifting her head so she was looking into his eyes, "if you don't piss me off, then we'll be on our way, and you and the kids will be alive and mainly unharmed, however if you piss me off at any time then your little ones die, painfully, just before you do - understand?"
Louise mumbled something.
"I said do you understand?" Joe yelled in her face.
"Yes, I understand" Louise answered.
"Good, now go make us all some dinner, I ain't ate since this morning, and remember we got your kids here so don't try anything stupid cause they'll be the first that'll get hurt" Joe said.
Joe stood in the doorway watching her for a few minutes as she looked in the cupboard deciding what to fix. If she had understood Larry correctly they would be back at dusk to rescue them, so she wanted them feeling full and sleepy so probably pasta would be best, luckily she had an older gas stove so cooking was not a problem.
Joe spotted the knife set on the counter and grabbed it saying "We don't need anything cut."
"I need to get some water from the well out back" she told Joe.
"Go ahead, just remember we have hostages - little hostages" He replied.
"I know" she replied taking the bucket and opening the back door.
Joe moved to the screen door watching her use the old fashioned hand pump her husband had insisted they have as a back up a number of years back, he backed away when she came in a shut the door - she didn't lock it, hoping he wouldn't notice, he didn't, he was more interested in how the rain plastered her blouse to her body. Louise frowned when she realized what was keeping his attention and thought 'keep looking jerk and you won't realize I am setting you up to die you s.o.b.'
He never did notice the door was still unlocked, eventually he got bored watching her and went snooping around the house figuring the threat of hurting the kids was enough. He found the liquor cabinet and came back with a bottle of whiskey, he opened it and took a deep swallow then handed the bottle to Bobby his partner.
Seeing that Joe was no longer watching her she grabbed a knife out of a drawer and stuck it in her boot, pulling her pants leg over it, it would be awkward to get to, but she felt better with it there. She had been running on sheer adrenalin and will power, trying to keep her children safe since this started this morning, she couldn't break down yet, not until the kids were safe, tears started flowing anyway while she was cooking.
Louise's husband lay on the floor in the front hall dead; the attackers at least had the decency to throw a blanket over him so the kids couldn't see him. The second one; Bobby kept a gun pointed at the 2 kids with a grin on his face; a boy 3 years old and a girl 5 years old.
Louise and her husband and kids had a storm shelter that her husband had built under the house when they were building the house, he had made it with heavy shielding figuring that as long as he was making it he might as well do it right, just in case. They had been coming out for short periods of time for the last week, still sleeping in the shelter but working on the farm during the day. It was only bad luck that both parents and children were out of the shelter when all this started. Earlier that day they heard the jeep pulling up and then the knock on the door, her husband Bill told her to stay with the kids, he was shot as he was opening the doorway and managed to get 3 of the 5 attackers before he went down himself, they left him laying in the hall.
Joe had been shot in the arm and had made Louise clean and bandage it, while the other one, Bobby held a gun to her 3 year old sons head.
The shadows were thickening, the sun, somewhere behind the clouds was getting lower in the sky.
"Dinners ready" Louise said putting the spaghetti and garlic bread on the table in the dining room, Louise grabbed Jerry Jr and put him in his chair which was in the corner next to where she sat, her daughter next to her, Joe and Bobby had the bottle of whiskey and poured themselves a big glass of it to go with dinner, both men sat their guns next to their silverware on the table within easy and quick reach.
Louise busied herself with feeding the children but watched the men drinking, thinking to herself, 'yeah, keep it up so you'll be both full and tipsy'. As Louise was feeding her son she was able to get the knife hilt outside her pants leg without Joe or Bobby noticing.
The sun was almost down, Larry, his father, wife and daughter were at the edge of the field about 30 feet from the back door. They could see in the dining room window, Louise had her curtains open and there was a lantern in the middle of the table, Larry saw he was correct in his assessment in that there were 2 thugs sitting at the table and Louise and her kids. They decided to try the back door, if that was open they would quietly enter the kitchen and then sneak slowly to the dining room door where Larry and his father would take out the bad guys, and Larry emphasized that take out meant to shoot to kill. They were not wearing their NBC suits this time.
Staying in the shadows Larry snuck up to the back door and tried the handle, it opened, he motioned for his dad and the rest to come up, when they were all at the door Larry and his father entered the kitchen, rifles ready, they crossed the kitchen to the entry to the dining room and the floor creaked, Joe hearing that reached for his gun, Louise took the knife from her boot and thrusting with all her strength nailed Joe's hand to the wooden table, The blood started pouring out and Joe started screaming, Larry and Alan came around the corner, Bobby had his gun up to shoot when Alan's bullet hit him square in the face, Bobby's shot went into the ceiling. Louise got her kids down on the floor. Joe continued screaming out obscenities; Larry said "Shut up" and knocked him out with the butt of the rifle
It was all over except for the cleanup. Larry's wife and daughter got Louise and the kids out of there and back to the tractor. After making sure Bobby was dead, Larry pulled the knife out of Joe's hand and dragged him out front with Alan covering them just in case. Larry tossed him into the mud near the other bodies and put 2 shots into his head. Jodi came running to the front door, saw what happened and stood there watching. Going through the thugs' pockets, Larry found the keys to the jeep, he tossed them to Jodi and told her to get her Mom and Louise and the kids back to their house then to come back and pick Alan and him up. Alan walked over to where Louise's husband was covered in the hallway and pulled the blanket off his body;
"Damn, he went down fighting didn't he" Larry said to his Dad looking at 5 or 6 bullet holes in the body lying in a pool of blood. "Not sure how he took out 3 before going down."
"When a man's protecting his family, he can ignore a lot of pain" Alan replied.
A few minutes later the Jeep pulled up with Rod driving and Jodi riding shotgun "Moms taking care of Louise and the kids" she said.
"We'll come back tomorrow and take care of the bodies and clean up this mess, its best done during the daylight" Larry said putting out the lantern from the dining room that they had used to check Louise's husband Jerry's body.
Louise had been in survival mode all day running on adrenaline trying to protect her kids after her husband was killed. Toni helped get the kids cleaned up and put to bed in hers and Larry's bed in the shelter, figuring that Louise would sleep there with them and that she and Larry would sleep elsewhere and then suggested Louise take a shower as she had a lot of dried blood on her and go to bed too, giving her some pajama's to put on, by the time Louise came out of the shower she was ready to collapse.
In the meantime Larry, Alan, Jodi and Rod walked in. Toni looked at Larry and told him to get a change of clothes out of the storeroom and get out of those bloody clothes, Larry looked down and saw that he was a mess from carrying Joe outside.
The following morning; Larry, Toni, Jodi and Rod went over and cleaned up Louise's house. Louise wanted to come but Larry nixed that, he said they would get rid of the thugs and get Jerry ready for burial then she could come down. They put the bucket on the tractor and Larry dug a hole across the road for the 5 thugs and dumped them in, covering the hole. Louise had told Larry where Jerry should be buried and he dug the grave while the others cleaned up the mess and got Jerry ready, a bit after noon they had all the blood cleaned up and Jerry ready for burial. Louise had said he preferred jeans and a flannel shirt to suits and that's what he would want to be buried in, so they got a clean pair of jeans and a flannel shirt out and dressed him in it. Toni had brought over a bedspread and they wrapped him in it, luckily no bullets had hit his head so if Louise wanted to see him or let the kids see him before they buried him they could.
Larry wasn't a preacher but he had been to enough funerals to get the idea, he didn't preach a sermon, just said a few things he remembered about his neighbor and, more for the kid's sake than from his own convections, said that Jerry Sr. would be watching over them from heaven now.
It was decided that Louise would move in with them until they could see what was happening in the area, new sleeping arraignments had to be made. Alan and Rose and Larry and Toni would be moving back into the house, the radiation level was just slightly above what it normally would be and they figured it might hold a cancer risk 30 or 40 years down the road at worst. They made all the younger ones sleep in the shelter but they could come out during the daytime unprotected. Over the next couple weeks they went over the entire farm with a Geiger counter and made sure it was safe for the animals and checked all the fences. A few posts had washed out due to the rain, they fixed those and were actually getting some days when the rain let off for a few hours, certainly the rain was the reason the radiation was so low.
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Post by rootdiggr on Aug 11, 2011 21:03:40 GMT -6
Yay!!! A new chapter. Thank you!!
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Post by hickory7 on Aug 11, 2011 21:19:58 GMT -6
Thank You for more story.
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