Preppers of the Apocalypse - Part 2: Post Apocalyptic EMP Survival (4 page)

Chapter 5

A
popped car bonnet was always something of a mystery to Ash, but Chad didn’t
have the same problem. He stood above it with his sleeves rolled up to his
elbows, and looked at the wires and valves as if he was reading another
language, one that only he could understand.

“Any
ideas?” said Ash.

The
darkness of night had fallen on them completely now. Ash couldn’t see anything
further than fifty feet away, and it seemed like the blackness around them
smothered out all noise except the calls of birds and chirps of nocturnal
insects. It struck Ash that this was the real sound of the world. It wasn’t the
beeps of horns or hum of traffic. It was the calls of nature around them. When
all the people of the world were long gone, these sounds would remain.

Chad
rubbed his forehead with his palm, smearing engine oil across his skin. For the
first time, he looked frustrated.

“It’s
like a puzzle,” he said. “And I get OCD about it. Back in the barracks they
used to call me in for the tough fix jobs. You know, the real pain-in-the-ass
mechanical problems. I’d stay up all night trying to solve them, sometimes. I
wouldn’t sleep, wouldn’t eat. It made morning drills horrible. Try running ten
miles after getting two hours sleep.”

“That’s
not healthy,” said Ellie.

“Well
then, let’s get this thing running,” said Chad. His voice was tense.

They
ran through a check list of everything that could possibly be causing to car to
struggle starting. They checked the battery terminal connections, the spark
plugs, and the choke. Chad inspected the distributor cap for any moisture, but
there was nothing obvious.  Two hours later, he slammed the bonnet down and
walked away from the vehicle. By now his hands and face were covered in oil, as
though he were trying to camouflage himself into the night.

Ash
walked after him and put a hand on his shoulder. Chad spun around and knocked
his hand away.

“Take
it easy,” said Ash. “We can figure this out.”

“Figure
what out? Don’t you get it? The pick-up is screwed. And so are we. This whole
damn world is screwed and we’re trying to pretend everything is okay.”

He
took sharp breaths, and Ash could tell that he was gritting his teeth.

“I’m
just sick of it,” he carried on. “Sleeping in the pick-up. The MRE’s. This
stupid mountain. And what’s waiting for us at the end of it all, Ash? The city
is going to be ten times worse.”

Ash
put his hand on his shoulder. “Just come back to the truck. We’ll figure
something out.”

Back
at the truck, Ellie lit their last kerosene lamp. The other two had tumbled
over the side of the mountain hours earlier, and Ash was loathe to use the
remaining one, but if this wasn’t an emergency, then what was? The glow of the
lamp cast an orange flicker on their faces. Chad, with his forehead and cheeks
covered in oil and sweat, looked like something from Apocalypse Now.

“So
now we’ve got a problem,” said Ellie. “We’re so far into the pass that walking
back would take twice as long as getting here.”

“Triple
if we account your ankle into things,” said Ash.

“Okay,
everyone make fun of the hop-along. Listen, you jerk. What I’m saying is that
if the pick-up is screwed-”

“It
really is,” cut in Chad.

“-
then we’re gonna have to walk. But we gotta carry on the way we’ve been going.
We need to walk to the end of the pass.”

Suddenly
the night air felt a lot colder and looked a lot darker. The mountain seemed to
grow around Ash so large that for the first time in years, he was struck by the
size of nature and how small he was compared to it. The EMP had hit the
mainland and gouged a cut deep into the skin of society, but the natural world
would carry on unaffected. If anything, it would flourish, given time.

“Seriously
then, said Ash. “How long do you think you can walk each day? We need to figure
how long this is going to take us and then ration our supplies.”

Chad
slammed his fist down on the bonnet of the car.

“I’m
gonna sleep this one out. Wake me when you have a plan.”

He
walked around the truck, opened the back doors and bundled himself in. He
slammed the door after him and then lay down. Ellie fumbled in her pocket and
pulled out her tobacco pouch. It was starting to look saggy, and Ash wondered
what it was going to do to her nerves when it ran out completely.

“Why’d
you come out here?” he said. “I know it’s not because you’ve got a vested
interest in seeing me get home safely.”

“It’s
all part of the sheriff service.”

“Seriously.”

“Of
course it’s not, Ash. You’ve been a scum bag to me and the town, and a week
ago, and I couldn’t have cared less what happened to you.”

“Then
why come along?”

Ellie
finished rolling her cigarette. It was much thinner than the ones she usually
rolled, and when she lit it, half the paper burned all at once. She threw it to
the ground in frustration.

“It’s
because of Ben. My son. He’s got a condition. He needs regular blood
transfusions. I have a supply at home, but with the refrigerators broken, the
blood is ruined. So I need to find Ben’s father. They have the same type.”

“And
I take it you don’t?”

“I
wouldn’t be trying to find the asshole if we were. Ben’s father is a prick.”

Ash
grinned. “You’re travelling with a prick so that you can find a prick. From one
prick to another.”

“You’re
not so bad, I guess,” said Ellie. “But one day you’re going to have to find a
way to pay for what you did, Ash. It’s not something people tend to forget, and
I know that I never will. I might forgive, but I’ll always remember.”

Abash
thought of Tony Shore, and the kindness that the man had shown him. Tony had
told Ash that one day all the bad things he had done were going to spill out of
him, and that he was going to need someone there to pick up the pieces when
they did. He had shrugged it off at the time, but he was starting to think that
Tony was right.

“I
know what I did, Ellie. Trust me, I know. And once I’ve found Georgia and made
sure she’s safe, I’ll find a way to pay everyone back. I don’t know how, but
I’ll find a way.”

Ellie
finished rolling a cigarette, and this time it lit perfectly. As she took a
deep drag on it the end flared orange. Ellie screwed up the empty tobacco pouch
and shoved it in her pocket.

“Guess
it’s time for me to quit,” she said, and looked at the ground sadly.

“I
used to smoke. It’s not so bad, quitting. You won’t miss it much. Except for
after a meal. And after a beer. And when you get stressed. And….hell, what am I
saying? I still miss it,” said Ash.

Ellie
laughed. She smoked her cigarette down to the end, dropped it to the ground and
then crushed it under her good foot. She turned to Ash and smiled at him, and
he felt like it was the first genuine one that she had ever given him.

“You
did a shitty thing,” she said, “But maybe you’re not such a bad guy.”

Chapter 6

By
the time they came off the pass and left the Lantern mountain range, they were
like prisoners escaping from a penitentiary. Ash walked in front of the others
and led the way. At first he’d enjoyed the break from driving, but after
feeling his blood sugar drop and his head start to become light enough to float
up into the air, he soon got pretty tired of walking. His stomach was cramped
through hunger, and the night before he had dreamt for hours of burgers of all
shapes and sizes, and when he woke up he had drooled down his chin.

Chad
and Ellie hadn’t fared much better. After being in the army, Chad was the most
physically fit of the three, and he had a more positive temperament to go with
it. Even so, he had dark coffee-stain rings around his eyes, and his jokes were
becoming less frequent and more forced. Ellie had started to feel the effects
of her tobacco supply running out. Sometimes Ash would glance at her while they
walked and he’d swear he could see steam coming out from her nose, and he
thought that any minute she was going to breathe out a ball of fire and engulf
the three of them.

As
soon as they took the step that meant they had left the mountain range, Chad
pumped a fist in the air and gave a weak cheer. Ash leant against a signpost
that welcomed them to Green Gross County. There was a chilly wind in the air
that hadn’t been present in the range, and it felt strange to be faced with
open land after being hemmed in by cliff edges for so long.

They
were on the crest of a hill. Ash knew that they needed to walk five miles south
and they would come to Greenock city. From there, he knew that his body would
run on adrenaline and it wouldn’t take him long to get home.

“Ash,”
said Chad from behind him.

“What’s
up?”

“My
aunt and uncle live a couple of miles away. Think we can call in on them?”

Ash
wanted to tell him no, that they were so close to his own house that he didn’t
want to spare even a second. But he knew he had no right to do that. Chad only
wanted to do the same thing as him; he wanted to go and see his family and make
sure that they were okay. Ash was beginning to realise that people needed to
look out for each other. It was a shame that it had taken a disaster for him to
realise this truth, but there it was.

***

When
they reached Chad’s uncle’s house, Ash started to get excited about the idea of
resting on their couch for an hour or two and getting something good to eat.
Their house was a two-storey log cabin that was cut off from everything else.
The nearest neighbour, Chad informed them, was a senile old farmer a mile and a
half away, whose sheep always escaped his fences and ended up chewing grass
outside Chad’s uncle’s house.

“I
could really go for some lamb right now,” said Ellie. “Hey, don’t suppose your
uncle smokes?”

Chad
shook his head. “He drinks, but doesn’t smoke. He used to be a track runner
when he was younger.”

“Glad
to be back?” said Ash.

Chad
smiled. “You know what? Now that we’re here, I missed the pair of them more
than I realised.”

The
curtains on every window were drawn, and they couldn’t see any lights on
inside. The front door opened without resistance, and when they stepped into
the house they were greeted by darkness and the smell of damp. The building was
silent except for the pounding of their boots as they walked from room to room.
They didn’t find anyone, but there were signs that people had been living
there, from the discarded food cans on the kitchen counters and muddy
footprints on the wooden flooring in the living room.

“This
wasn’t my uncle or aunt,” said Chad, looking at the muddy footprints.

“Times
like this, people don’t worry about cleaning up,” said Ellie.

Chad
shook his head. “It’s not that. They were both small people, and I used to make
fun of the size of their feet. I used to tell them they had hobbit feet.”

He
crouched to the floor and inspected the footprints closely. Then he turned and
looked at Ash.

“This
is a size twelve. What the hell happened here, Ash? Where are my uncle and
aunt?”

Chad
stood up straight and walked passed Ash and Ellie and out of the room. They
heard his boots thud on the stairs as he ran up them. A few minutes later, they
heard him shout down.

“What
the hell?” he said. “Get up here, guys.”

They
ran up and joined him, and they found him stood in what was obviously a child’s
bedroom. The walls were painted blue with red spots, and model aircraft were
suspended from the ceiling by wires. There were science books written for
children lining a bookcase on one side of the wall.

“Looks
like we found little Chad’s room,” said Ellie, and grinned.

Chad’s
face was serious, and his eyes showed an anger that Ash had never seen in them
before.

“This
was my room,” said Chad. “But none of the stuff is mine. Same in the master
bedroom. It’s completely different.”

“So
they changed things around some when you enlisted. That’s no big deal,” said
Ash.

“No.
you don’t get it,” said Chad. “All of this stuff, it belongs to someone else.
Guys, I think my uncle and aunt moved house without telling me.”

With
that he sat down on the child’s bed and sunk into it. He put his head in his
hands. When he pulled them away he wasn’t crying, but his face still looked
puffy. Ash walked across the room and sat beside him.

“Come
on, buddy,” he said.

“I
just wanted somewhere that I belonged,” said Chad. “That’s all I ever wanted.
And when my brother said he didn’t want to write letters to me, I just felt so
alone. The army made me feel like I had someone, at least for a while. But they
weren’t family. Not really. They were good dudes, but they had families of
their own.”

Ellie
hovered on the doorframe. From the look on her face, Ash could tell she felt
uncomfortable. He had seen a different side to her over the course of the trip
and he knew that she could be a warm person, but it seemed like emotions were
difficult for her to handle.

“I’m
gonna go downstairs and see what supplies they have. I’ll see if they have
anything we can cook on the stove,” she said.

“Great,”
said Ash.

He
turned to Chad. He felt sorry for the young recruit, and he knew how he felt,
in a way.

“When
my parents split up,” said Ash, “I was only thirteen. I thought that they were
gonna fight over who could look after me, that they’d both want me to live with
them so much that they’d go to court over it. In the end it didn’t work that
way. They both stood in front of a judge and tried to argue that the other
person should take care of me. Their court battle was to get rid of me.”

“Why
didn’t they want you?” said Chad.

“My
mom had a career at a fashion magazine and she was trying to become editor. By
then, my dad had gone into full-scale prepper mode, and he didn’t have the time
to look after a kid. I’ll never forget how betrayed I felt when I heard him
tell their judge that he thought I should go live with mom.”

“It
must have sucked, being shoved around like that.”

“Sorry,
Chad. I know you got problems of your own right now. Just thought it might help
you to know that you’re not the only one.”

Chad
got to his feet. He stood below one of the airplane models. It was a B-1B
Lancer, and when Chad poked it, it twirled around on its metal coil. It looked
like some kid had spent painstaking hours putting it together. That was
something that Ash always admired; the determination to see a project through
to the end.

“Your
dad sounds like he’d be a pretty useful guy to know right now,” said Chad.

Ash
nodded. “If you think Tony Shore is a prepper, he’s got nothing on my dad. He’s
the ultimate survivalist. Last time I visited his house, he’d dug out a shelter
below his living room and filled it with enough equipment to survive any
disaster you could ever think of. He’s so well prepared that I’m guessing my
dad would be more useful to some folks right now than even the government would
be.”

“So
why don’t we go find him?” said Chad.

Ash
looked out of the bedroom window. From here he couldn’t see the city, but he
knew that it wasn’t far away. Georgia was there, at home. He hoped she was
safe. Then, five miles away in the middle of the Split Spring Woods, was his
father’s house. Despite their relatively short distance away from each other,
Ash hadn’t been to see him in over fifteen years.

After
the court case and custody had been given to Ash’s mom, Ash had tried to stay
friendly with his dad. But after the second visit, he knew it was going to be
impossible. He couldn’t look at him without thinking to himself “
you didn’t
want me. You could have looked after me, but you were happy for mom to take
over.”

Ash
left home five years later and got a job as a travelling salesman, and he met
Georgia when he knocked on her door to sell a cutlery set. He was so stunned by
her that he completely forgot his pitch. Georgia had always been there for him,
and she had filled the gap left by the family who didn’t want him. Now, all
these years later, she was in trouble. If it was a choice between finding
Georgia and finding his dad, then the woman would win every single time.

“What
do you say, Ash? Are we gonna go find your dad?”

“No
way,” said Ash. “The only person I care about finding is my wife. The old man
can go to hell.”

There
was a sound from outside the house. Ash stood at the bedroom window and saw a
car pull into the driveway, the tires scraping over the rough stone.

“That
your uncle and aunt?” said Ash.

“Nope,”
said Chad. “I don’t know who the hell this is. Could be the new owners.”

Ash
watched three figures get out of the car, and he got a shock of fear in his
chest.

“Whoever
it is, they’ve got guns.”