EMP (The Districts Book 1) (5 page)

“Don’t feel bad,” Mike said.

“Huh?”

“The kid. I saw your face. Don’t feel bad. This is a tough new world. This will be a good lesson for him, should he fight hard enough to survive what is coming.”

Nick knew it was true. Mike had been right about everything so far and now wasn’t the time to question his judgment. He still felt for the kid. Nick knew that someone would get the supplies, and it most likely wouldn’t be the young man. He tried to think like Mike and to convince himself that they needed the food no matter how it might affect others.

They were both silent the rest of the way—Mike watching the road behind and ahead of them and Nick thinking about how rapidly the world around him was changing.

A noise woke Sutherland, some sort of banging noise, and he rolled over to ask his wife to check on it. It wasn’t until he realized that she wasn’t in the bed with him that he remembered the previous day.

He had waited in the conference room for Rodgers to come back, to give him some sort of news from the outside world, but she had never returned. He found his way to the living quarters and found an empty room sometime after midnight.

The noise came again and Sutherland realized it was a knock on the door of his room. He got out of bed, wrapped the sheet around himself and answered it. He was greeted by the stern face of Rodgers.

“Sir, we need to go over a few things.”

Sutherland nodded and looked down at himself.

“Give me five. I’ll meet you in the conference room.”

She nodded and walked down the hall. He closed the door and put on his uniform. Sutherland wished he had something else to wear. He always thought it looked so gaudy and given the current circumstances, he hardly thought it was a situation that required his uniform.

Rodgers was sitting at the far end of the table in the conference room when Sutherland walked in. They were alone in the room and there was a folder in front of the chair at the opposite end of the table from Rodgers. Sutherland took the hint and sat down across from her.

“Sir, in front of you are the plans for Section M and District One.”

“What’s District One?”

Sutherland opened the folder and flipped through the pages, not really looking at what was inside, as he waited for Rodgers to speak.

“We are in District One. As I told you yesterday, across the country there are seven bunkers with Section M presences. They are numbered one through seven. If you turn to the last page in the folder, there is a map with the locations of each bunker and the district that it is in.”

Sutherland turned to the map and stared at it. He couldn’t believe what he was looking at. It was a map of the United States, but it had been chopped up into seven districts, that appeared to all be roughly the same size, and they had been labeled accordingly. There was something about it that gave him the chills. It was if the United States was gone and had been replaced by the seven districts.

The map made it hard to determine where the bunkers were, given the lack of cities or state lines. Sutherland’s best guess for the other districts placed the bunkers in: central Georgia, southern Illinois, central Texas, South Dakota, south-central Arizona, southern Oregon and the bunker he was in, in upstate New York.

What Sutherland found most disturbing about the map was the label on top that simply read
Districts 1-7
. There was no mention of the United States. If his career in the military had taught him anything about government, it was that everything was full of redundancy.

“Why are there no state lines on the map?”

Rodgers ignored the question.

“Sir, if you could please flip to the first page of the folder, you will see who is currently heading each district based on our current rosters, which were updated an hour ago.”

Sutherland flipped to the page and made a mental note to ask about the lack of state lines again—he still wanted to know. He pulled the paper from the folder and held it up as he read down the list.

District 1

Regent

John Sutherland

Vice Regent

Candice Rodgers

District 2

Regent

Robin Vickers

Vice Regent

Mitchell Hendricks

Sutherland stopped and looked at Rodgers. He put the paper back on top of the stack.

“Is this... I can’t quite grasp what is happening.”

“Sir, as per the directives of Section M, we are to establish a new government in the seven districts.”

“What about the United States of America? What about our existing government?”

“Until a time when the infrastructure can be rebuilt, the country has been divided into the seven districts to make governing easier and to protect the integrity of the nation.”

Sutherland looked back at the list. He didn’t like it. Not one bit. He had no aspirations to be in charge of a district that amounted to one-seventh of the United States. He did recognize the name Robin Vickers, he just couldn’t place it.

“Who is Robin Vickers? I’ve heard that name before.”

“She is the Regent of District Two and a former senator from Georgia. She proposed a bill last year to increase the defense budget.”

That was where he knew her from. There had been public discontent when she proposed the bill to the Senate. The American public had called for her resignation when she proposed additional defense funding for classified projects. The economy was already in a bad spot at that point, with nearly thirty-percent of the public out of work. Sutherland had tried to inquire as to the nature of the projects, but was told that his security clearance wasn’t high enough. Sutherland sighed and looked back down at the list of regents for each district.

“Let me guess… the classified projects had something to do with Section M.”

He looked across the table. The woman was impossible to read, he decided. Sutherland shifted his gaze back to the papers.
I might as well get used to her, it seems like we are stuck together, for now
.

With the new supplies, the cabin was starting to feel cramped. They had a better stock of supplies and once they had unloaded it and Mike inventoried their latest haul, he had informed Nick that the run into town should stretch their supplies for another month.

Four months. And then what?
From everything Mike had told him so far, they were in it for the long haul, but he had no idea what the plan was after they ran out of food.

Mike came in the cabin, after taking a leak, and pulled out a metal box from under the bed. He pulled a yellow, handheld device from the box and pushed it back under the bed.

“What’s that?”

“Geiger counter.”

Mike flipped the black switch and walked outside. Nick followed and stopped a few feet behind Mike when he reached the trees.

“I just wanted to check.”

“Check what?”

Mike held up the Geiger counter. “I suspected that the attack was a high altitude detonation designed to create an EMP. If it had been a low detonation, there would have been detectable levels of radiation. Then we really would have been in trouble.”

Nick shuddered at the thought. He thought it was bad enough that they had lost the ability to use all electronic devices for the foreseeable future. The idea that there could have been radiation thrown in the mix was a little worrisome.

“How come it still works?”

“Did you see the box it was in?”

Nick nodded. He wondered if it were possible for a box to have shielded the Geiger counter from the EMP.

“That’s a Faraday box.” Mike turned around, walked past Nick and back inside the cabin. Nick followed him and sat down on the loveseat as Mike put the Geiger counter back in the Faraday box and sat on the bed. “It’s a special box designed to withstand an EMP and protect the integrity of whatever electronics are inside.”

“Oh. So it’s possible then that other people have working technology?”

“Yes. There are people out there that would have had their vital electronics stored in a Faraday box. The problem is that people that are
that
prepared are already set and they will want little contact with the rest of the population until things settle.”

“What do you mean?”

“How do I say this? The reality of the situation is that majority of the population will die within the next six months. Once that is over, the people that were prepared can start to rebuild, if they so choose.”

“Why aren’t they helping now? They could help people get back on their feet.”

Mike shook his head and pulled an energy bar out of his pocket. He took a bite and chewed before answering Nick.

“Think about it. Their supplies are limited and without infrastructure and the support of many people, helping is futile and will just result in more death.”

Nick couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Mike had taken him in.
Why couldn’t others do that?
He clenched his fists and stood up. He walked out of the cabin and stood outside as rage started to fill his body.
Would people with the capability to help really just let their friends, their neighbors, and their fellow Americans die?
Nick heard the sound of footsteps and turned to face Mike.

“Nick, I wish it wasn’t the case, but it is. People, a lot of people, are going to die in the coming months and there is nothing you or I can do about it. Nature must take its course.”

“Nature! Fuck that. Nature has nothing to do with it. This was an attack on our country and the people have to come together and support each other, and the government needs to do whatever it can to help.”

“There is no government. There is no United States. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you can move on and start your new life.”

Mike walked back into the cabin. Nick kicked the dirt and walked down to the river. He didn’t want to be around Mike. He didn’t want to believe it. He wanted to believe that the government would take care of the people and fix everything. Nick sat on a rock by the river and watched as the water flowed by. He took a deep breath as he lost himself in the fast moving stream and for just a brief moment he was able to forget everything that had happened.

Nick finally went back to the cabin as the light started to fade. Mike had lit a candle and there was a plate of semi-warm chili sitting on the loveseat. Mike was already in bed, facing the wall, with the covers pulled up to his neck. Nick ate in silence and tried to get comfortable on the tiny loveseat. Sleep did eventually take him, but it was a long time in coming.

~~~

Nick looked around and saw the faces of his friends, his family and his co-workers. His parents were there, begging for his help. They looked frail as they pleaded with him to spare some of the food he had. Nick ran toward them and everything went black.

He sat up and looked around. It took him a moment, but he realized where he was. Nick wiped the sweat from his forehead and got up. It had been a rough night of sleep filled with dream after dream of what might come next. He didn’t want to sleep again anytime soon.

Nick stood up and went outside. The cool air felt good as it swept across his face. He took a deep breath and listened to the sounds of the forest. The wood on the porch flexed under the weight of Mike and Nick turned around.

“We need to talk,” Mike said. He turned around and disappeared back into the cabin.

Nick went inside and sat down while Mike got a fire going in the stove.

“Look. The sooner you accept the fact that the world is full of bad people, you’ll be able to move forward. I’m willing to share my food with you and teach you everything I know, Nick, but you’ve gotta get your shit together. You can’t have any doubt in your mind about what I say. If I tell you to do something, you do it.”

Mike closed the door to the stove. He filled the coffee pot, from a jug of water they had finished the first day and had been refilling in the stream, and set it on the stove. Mike took the bag of instant coffee off the supply shelf and poured the brown crystals into the two metal cups.

“Alright… I can do that.”

“Don’t say that unless you are absolutely sure. The next time you question a decision I make, that has to do with our safety or survival… you are no longer welcome here. I will give you enough supplies to last you a week, but you’ll need to move on.”

Nick nodded. He knew it wasn’t a decision he could make lightly. Following blindly didn’t exactly appeal to him, but he didn’t see much of an alternative. He was well aware of his own inadequacies in terms of survival and he knew he wouldn’t make it long without the help of Mike.

“I’m sorry about last night.”

Mike waved him off, poured the boiling water into the cups and handed one to Nick. They sipped their coffee in silence as the first rays of morning light crept over the hills and found its way through the trees.

“I get it, Nick. I wish I could help everyone. I already broke my first rule by bringing you here.”

Nick set his empty cup on the floor. Mike made himself a second cup and sat down on the bed and looked Nick in the eyes.

“You have to always watch out for yourself first. There are plenty of people who need your help, but you can’t help them. Survival is the most important thing. Staying alone and not sharing your supplies, or telling anyone where you are living, is the best way to ensure you can live through
this
and whatever is on the horizon. That is rule number one.”

“Why did you help me then?”

“Honestly?”

Mike finished his coffee and put the cup back on the shelf. Nick nodded. He was still curious as to why Mike had helped him, especially given rule number one.

“I don’t know. I felt sorry for you, I guess. When I looked in your eyes I saw… a look of innocence and fear. There was something else though, something deeper in you that I could sense. There is a strength that you are unaware of. If you can reach inward and project that strength, you will be able to survive anything.”

Nick wasn’t sure what to say. Mike seemed sure in his assessment of Nick, so he decided it best to not argue given the conversation they just had.

“What are you afraid of, Nick?”

Nick thought about it before answering. No one had seriously asked him that before. He never really thought he was afraid of any one thing in particular, so he tried to think of what Mike wanted him to say.

“I guess... I guess I’m afraid of dying.”

Mike was silent. After a long minute, Nick cleared his throat. He wasn’t sure what Mike wanted to hear, but he thought that had been it.

“No. Tell me what you are
really
afraid of.”

What am I afraid of?
Nick wasn’t even sure of what the right answer was.
Am I afraid of not seeing my parents again?
He knew the chance of never seeing them again made him sad, but it didn’t scare him. When he thought about the future and what his life might be like, Nick started to feel sick to his stomach.

“I’m afraid of not knowing what will happen next.”

“There is nothing you can do to change what has happened. All you can do is move forward and purge that fear from your body. You won’t survive if you are afraid.”

“So I have to not be afraid of the unknown?”

“Just let it all go, Nick.”

Nick wasn’t sure how to do that. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on not worrying about what had already happened and what was to come.
Let it go. Just live. Don’t worry about what you can’t change.
Nick opened his eyes.

Mike looked Nick in the eyes. It made Nick squirm and he looked at the floor. There was something… he didn’t know what it was, but there was something frightening about looking into Mike’s eyes.

“A man afraid of nothing is a dangerous man,” Mike said.

Mike stood up and walked out of the cabin. Nick thought about what Mike said.
Is that why I felt uncomfortable when I looked at him? Is he really not afraid?