Zero Hour: A Post-Apocalyptic EMP Survival Fiction Series (The Blackout Series Book 2) (6 page)

“What’s the bottom line?” gruffed the President, who was still simmering over the general’s challenge to her authority.

“Madame President, this second wave will create a severe health risk to the public in the form of increased radiation levels. A warning needs to be issued as soon as possible.”

The President slammed her hands on the table. “Great. I’ll address the nation. Tell everybody to turn their televisions on tonight at nine. How do I communicate with the country, Syd?”

“I understand your frustration, Madame President,” said Secretary Blumenthal. “We can provide them notice via the Emergency Broadcast Network. Naturally, it’s not fully operational, but it’s something. We can also have the National Guard drive through the streets, making an announcement and posting flyers.”

“Great options.” She sighed, slamming herself back into the chair. “I don’t have enough guardsmen to fight the battles necessary to gain control of our cities. Some of us don’t want to go around and collect the guns to prevent people from killing each other. Now, our only option is to send our depleted forces to issue a warning to others and expose themselves to the radiation in the process.”

“Madame President, the public will understand we’re doing the best we can to—” started Blumenthal until he was interrupted.

“Madame President, there is something else you need to know,” announced an aide who rushed into the room, carrying a stack of papers. “We’ve just received an urgent communication from NOAA. I’m sorry, but the situation is about to get a lot worse.”

Chapter 8

DAY ONE

7:00 p.m. PT, September 9

Point Loma

San Diego, California

Master Sergeant Eduardo Lopez and his fiancée, Lance Corporal Maria Herrera, sat quietly atop Point Loma, watching the festivities below them. Sounds of laughter surrounding the beachfront bonfires rose into the sky as Californians of all ages celebrated the apocalypse.

This evening was supposed to have been a night of celebration for the betrothed couple. Joined by their families and a hundred of their fellow Marines, the two would’ve been married at this moment in a beautiful ceremony planned at the Naval Base Point Loma. The Breakers Beach Deck overlooked a vast stretch of the Pacific Ocean with views extending as far south as the historic Hotel Del Coronado. The couple had envisioned exchanging their wedding vows on the deck amid the sounds of waves lapping on the shore. A magnificent sunset like the one they were admiring now would have capped off the perfect day.

Then the news came that the solar storm was coming. The couple had to make a decision.
Do we ignore the warnings, or send our families to safety?
Guests had come from as far away as Mexico City. It would have been impossible for them to return and reach their destination fifteen hundred miles away before the storm was expected to hit.

It was the presidential order for all active-duty personnel to go back to their base that provided the answer. The wedding was canceled, the attendees scrambled for their appointed destinations, and seven members of the couple’s families from Mexico crowded into their rented three-bedroom home in the nearby Sunset Cliffs area.

The couple needed to get away and reflect on what might have been and their future. When the power grid collapsed, Lopez and Herrera were torn between their duty to country and obligations to loved ones. Returning to Camp Pendleton meant their families, who spoke little English, would have to fend for themselves. They chose family, and themselves, over the Marines.

They tried not to second-guess their decision, but loyalty to a country that had provided the two dedicated Marines so much tore at their hearts. Their decision was clouded by emotion. Now, their view of San Diego to the east and Tijuana, Mexico, to their south was disappearing into early nightfall.

Their view across San Diego Bay was spectacular as the sun was setting. Looking to the west across the massive Pacific Ocean, the scene was picture perfect, something only God could’ve created. The question in their mind was similar to millions of others:
How could something so beautiful take away life as we knew it?

This was just one of many questions the couple would ask themselves as the mood on the beach suddenly changed. The joyous laughter turned to shouts of alarm. In the dimming daylight, the beach partyers could be seen scrambling for higher ground. They were fleeing something.

The collision of the ISS and the Tiandong-1 screamed through Earth’s atmosphere at nearly forty thousand miles per hour. When the large, dense hunk of molten metal struck the Pacific Ocean twelve hundred miles to their west, the impact was equivalent to two thousand kilotons of TNT, one hundred times more powerful than the atomic bomb detonated at Hiroshima.

When the asteroid-sized wreckage hit the water, the blast created a crater in the ocean. The displaced water piled up around this crater and formed a ring. As this ring moved out and away from the center of the impact point, the water began to oscillate up and down, forming ringlets that spread outward from the crater. The series of loops and crimps in the water created a tsunami wave train.

Initially, the ringlets produced by the impact were twenty feet high. Fifty miles later, the tsunami wave train doubled in height. Two hundred miles later, it doubled again as it spread in all directions across the Pacific.

Shouts of
help, run
, and
hurry
filled the air. That was when the couple saw the reason for the panic. The ocean was rising. At first, the beaches of the shoreline below slowly disappeared. Lopez and Herrera held hands as they looked up and down the pristine coast, which was gradually swallowed by the sea.

The Marines didn’t panic because they were over four hundred feet above the beach. But the ocean rose, and their concerns grew with the rising waters.

The tsunami wave train didn’t take the lives of Eddie and Maria that night. The waves lapped up just twenty feet from where they stood at the top of Point Loma. However, the rest of the four-hundred-foot-tall wall of water stretched inland across Mexico and into parts of Arizona. It consumed the entire Southern California region from San Diego to Los Angeles and washed away nearly twenty million people when the water finally receded back into the Pacific twenty hours later.

Chapter 9

DAY TWO

10:00 a.m., September 10

Ryman Residence

Belle Meade, Tennessee

The euphoria of Colton’s return began to disappear, and reality set in for Madison. Now that he was home, she would try to revert to her preferred role as wife and mom. By the second day, their routines were being established. Colton functioned very well on half a dozen hours of sleep. At sunrise, he’d find his way to bed, where he would wake Madison, who was typically an early riser. Alex tried to adopt the sleeping patterns of a typical teenager during their summer break from school. Working her into a routine might prove difficult.

Madison finished cleaning the pool while she tended to the eggs and bacon. After taking an inventory of their refrigerated items, Madison set up a menu that would last through day four. The meals would be a hodgepodge of frozen dinners and leftovers, but her family would maintain some semblance of nutrition and energy. As their meals turned to the more mundane—beans, rice, and oatmeal—Madison would incorporate the vitamins and nutritional supplements into their daily meal plan.

They made the decision to keep the generator under wraps to avoid drawing attention. Colton wasn’t sure how to mask the sound. Running the machine inside the house or even the garage, which was attached to the house through the bonus room, could prove deadly. Noxious carbon monoxide fumes would quickly overtake the stale air inside. Ultimately, the pool house was deemed their only option.

Madison used their newly acquired Camp Chef modular cooking system that operated on the propane tanks she’d purchased. It burned clean and didn’t make any noise. At sixty thousand BTUs, it was very fuel efficient as well. She estimated the available propane she purchased would cook ten days of meals. Propane was high on her wish list, which she’d started after last night’s foray into the O’Malleys’ backyard and the construction site.

Colton and Alex had run back and forth, finding useful items, sneaking them home, and with each trip, asking Madison to make a note of this or that. With the world at a standstill, a simple item like a garden tool or a box of nails became highly sought after items if you didn’t have them already. Madison took on the role of inventory specialist, cataloging the items they had and also high-value items to target. From a safety perspective, she agreed with Colton they had a limited window of opportunity to make these runs. With each passing day, the night would become more dangerous.

“Any luck?” Madison asked Alex as she entered the living room. Alex was assigned the duty of monitoring the radio.

“Yes, actually, there is something,” she replied as she took the plate of eggs and bacon. “Wow, thanks, Mom.”

“You’re welcome, dear. Enjoy these while you can. It may be a while before we see eggs again.”

Alex set the radio on the coffee table and turned up the volume to the emergency broadcast she found on a ham radio frequency. The broadcast was a continuous loop recording, but the information provided grabbed Madison’s attention. She joined her daughter and listened.

Following a long beep, the broadcast began its two-minute loop. “
We interrupt our programming. Important instructions will follow. Again, this is a National Alert issued by the Department of Homeland Security. The President of the United States has declared a national state of emergency. The text of this declaration can be found posted at local federal buildings and military facilities.

“Effective immediately, until ended by a presidential decree, the President has declared the following to be in effect. A curfew has been established until further notice. All citizens are required to remain in their homes during the evening hours. During daytime hours, citizens are encouraged to shelter in place.

“Local law enforcement and the National Guard, in conjunction with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, will be establishing shelters for those displaced from their homes or who are in need of special assistance. Food and water distribution centers will be announced in the coming days. You are encouraged to utilize these services as a last resort only.

“In furtherance of these directives, the President has instructed the National Guard and local law enforcement to break up any unlawful assemblies and confiscate weapons, magazines, and ammunition, such actions determined to be in the best interests of the nation and the safety, health, and general welfare of its citizens.

“Willful violations of the provisions of the President’s declaration shall be punishable by imprisonment and asset forfeiture. All American citizens will now fall under the jurisdiction of military tribunals established by this declaration.

The electronic beeping indicated the end of the broadcast and the beginning of the next loop. Alex turned the radio off and set her plate on the table. Madison stared at the radio for a moment. She was glad to hear something, although it was not what she expected. Rather than telling them it was going to be okay and that
our government is there for you
, Madison felt like she was being told to remain under house arrest and instantly felt depressed.

“Whadya think, Mom?” asked Alex, breaking Madison out of her trance.

“I don’t know what to think, Alex,” replied Madison. “I guess, I mean, I kinda hoped to hear something was being done about the power. Instead, I feel like a prisoner in my home.”

Colton rounded the stairs and joined them. “I heard the announcement upstairs. One thing is certain, the government will attempt a response, but they will be overwhelmed and will experience mass defections of their personnel. As society deteriorates, police and National Guardsmen will opt to protect their families rather than fight the looters and thugs in the streets.”

“Who’ll enforce the law, Daddy?” asked Alex.

“I’m afraid, at least for a while, our nation will have to experience life without the rule of law,” replied Colton. He sat in the chair by the fireplace and laced up his tennis shoes. “We’ll have to protect ourselves. The laws will still exist, but the process of enforcement and administration will disappear. Our previously publicized and stable laws will no longer act as a deterrent to those using the collapse of the power grid as an opportunity to do bad things.”

“What’s a military tribunal?” asked Alex.

“The executive branch and the military are probably the only functioning parts of our government right now,” replied Colton. “If the police or National Guard arrest somebody, they will be brought before a military court to face justice. What that entails is anybody’s guess. Before the collapse, the rule of law governed our nation, as opposed to being governed by arbitrary decisions of government officials. Now, I’m afraid the government will make up the rules as they go.”

Madison pointed to the shotgun propped next to Colton by the fireplace. “We only have one gun. Are we giving it up?”

“Not a chance.” Colton laughed, picking up the weapon and weighing it in his hands. “Nor will the owners of the other three hundred million weapons in the United States.”

“Didn’t they do it in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina?” asked Madison.

“Yes, and it turned out to be a disaster,” replied Colton. “They beat up an old lady. They shot another man’s dogs. It was a public relations nightmare because the police focused on easy targets—law-abiding citizens. The gun confiscations did nothing to deter the criminals who roamed the French Quarter.”

“Should we hide the shotgun?” asked Madison.

“Nope. I’ll take my chances with the gun-confiscation directive. I won’t take my chances with protecting you guys against the evildoers of the world.”