WWIV - In The Beginning Read online

  I finished my rounds quickly. Charles and Charlotte Johnson were a yes, as were the Holmes (Tyler and Lori and their four kids Taylor, Travis, Tia and Tracy) next door to them. Jim and Alexis across the street from my house agreed. They were the youngsters of the neighborhood and a long way from their parents in Virginia or North Carolina; I could never remember which state. Absent was anyone at Winston Hillsberg’s home. Not unusual; no one ever saw much of them. I left the flyer in their door in case they were already in hiding.

  Buddy and I returned home after a canvassing of the neighborhood. I knew I accomplished something that morning. I had set out to rally the people, my neighbors, and from what I could see on their faces, believed I had done a good job. I quickly dug in the refrigerator and grabbed two bottles of water. Finally my faithful black companion and I retired to the back porch. I flopped down in my favorite chair and stared at the hot hazy sky.

  Sharon was most likely on her way from Milwaukee by now. She would be wondering why she couldn’t reach me on my cell phone. Again, this would be my fault somehow. Maybe she had heard of the power outage in the Twin Cities before she departed and decided to stay put with her parents. Maybe Milwaukee was in the same shape as here. Knowing Sharon, she had run her minivan low on gas and would need to fill up somewhere just this side of Madison. Hopefully Madison wasn’t having these same issues. If that were the case, she’d be in trouble on the road by herself.

  While I hated fighting with my wife of ten years, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could take the blame for everything. Every little issue just had to be my fault in Sharon’s mind. If only I had a better job we’d have more money, and the kids could have a better life. If only we had more money, we could have better cars. If only I took care of the yard like Sharon’s dad always had, it wouldn’t look so bad. To Sharon it was a never-ending litany of Bill issues.

  Maybe, just maybe, she’d be stuck with her parents for a week or two and start to miss me. Given enough time under her mother’s thumb, Sharon just might appreciate me a little more. People always say absence makes the heart grow fonder. Maybe that would be the cure-all for our relationship. I was just happy she wasn’t there right then to experience it with me. Even though everyone was in the same boat, somehow Sharon would invent an idea that I hadn’t paid the power bill and now the whole town suffered. Her absence was okay with me for now.

  I wondered for a moment how the kids were holding up at Grandma’s house. Margaret, Sharon’s mom, had lots of rules. Rita and Dustin weren’t used to many rules at home. Sharon pretty much let them do whatever they wanted most of the time, and if I tried to discipline, oh, now that was trouble.

  “Just let the kids be kids, Bill. They’ll have plenty of time for all your rules when they get older.” Sharon had all her lines down pat. Blame it on me, Bill. It was an old story, and I knew it had to be dealt with soon. She needed to get on the same page with me. We needed to work as a team, not as separate individuals. Maybe this little power issue was just the thing we both needed.

  Back to the issue at hand – What had happened to the power grid? I assumed something had fried real bad over in St. Paul or Minneapolis. That made the most sense. But why no running cars? That was odd, really odd. And the cell phones. Mine hadn’t been plugged in last night. I had plenty of battery life left when I went to bed. What had caused it to drain so quickly overnight? There had to be a logical explanation for all of this, at least I hoped there was. But what if it were something more cynical? Like an EMP blast? What did that mean? How long would this last in that case? I couldn’t sit any longer. Against my better judgment, I knew I had to ask the one person I dreaded asking – Ted.

  Chapter 4

  I found Ted out in his garage digging through boxes as if it was any old Saturday or Sunday morning. Except it was Tuesday, normally a workday. Ted had already sweated through his brightly colored thin shirt and his face reddened from the heat and humidity. He smiled when he saw me coming.

  “Better take it easy old man,” I said. “Not a good day to have a heart attack.”

  Ted laughed at my friendly words. He was an okay guy when you got right down to it. “Just digging for an old percolator for the gas grill. I’m not going another morning without coffee.” Ted sat down on a stack of boxes and looked at his storage shelves. “If I could only remember what box I put that dang thing in.” I think he welcomed the break. “So what brings you over again Bill?”

  Time to see just what the engineer knew. “Tell me, and be honest, how bad is this? Let’s say we got hit by some kind of sophisticated EMP. How widespread would it be? How long would the damage last?”

  Ted nodded his head slightly and looked seriously at me. I knew he’d been thinking the same thing. “Well, an EMP would fry every circuit within a given range. A lot depends on the size of the blast and at what level it was detonated.” He used his hands to simulate size and height of each blast. “A small blast at low levels could knock out the entire Twin Cities. Or LA or Chicago. A larger blast at mid-range could wipe out everything in the Midwest.” He smiled at me coyly. “But a large blast at high levels could hit the entire U.S. as well as parts of Mexico or Canada.” This was serious.

  “What do you suppose?” I tried to stay positive, but it was getting harder every passing second. “Best guess.”

  Ted shrugged. “I sleep pretty light. A low level blast over the Cities would have sounded like thunder. I didn’t hear anything last night.” True. Buddy would have gotten scared and woke me up. “So I’m guessing mid to high range. Probably all the middle part of the country, if not the entire U.S.” Ted frowned.

  “Ramifications?”

  “A lot of what we have right now. Can’t even begin to guess when they could get the power back on. If it was an EMP, your car is never going to work again. Not at least until you change the computer. To do that, you’ll have to get a clean computer. Something that wasn’t in storage before the blast.” He looked sideways at me. “How they going to make you a new one if the factories are all powerless? How they going to pump gas without electricity?”

  This was getting graver by the moment. “They can pump some by hand, right?” I was searching for a silver lining anywhere one could be found. “If I can find a car without a computer, I could run it still with gas. There’s still plenty of fuel around.”

  Ted shook his head. “There’s only a finite amount of gas out there, Bill. It won’t last long. And how are they going to resupply it without running trucks? With no power at the refineries? Hell, even ocean vessels nowadays depend on electronics. Where’s the crude oil going to come from?” He saw my blank expression. “A lot of unanswered questions right now, Bill. A whole bunch.”

  It was my turn to shake my head. “Who did this? Who’d want to do this to us?”

  Ted gave me a strange grin. “Who wouldn’t want to do this should be your question. Almost everyone wants to see us fail. Even the EU, as far as I’m concerned. As for suspects of who could do this? China, North Korea, Russia, Iran. The list is long, my friend.”

  My brain froze. I couldn’t focus on a single thought. “How long? How long does something like this last, Ted?” This was probably the most important question.

  My neighbor frowned and looked down. “If the blast covered the entire North American continent, it’s bad. Real bad. Like ten, maybe twenty years bad. Our infrastructure will start to collapse within weeks. No food delivery, medical supplies, gasoline, water – that’s huge. No cops, no firemen, limited Army and National Guard.” Ted painted a bleak picture with a broad brush. “Within two weeks, trouble could get pretty deep. Even in suburbia here.” He looked seriously at me. “I’m dead in three to six months.”

  I grimaced. “You could do something for your insulin, right?” I felt like it was my duty to help Ted grasp for straws.

  He laughed slightly. “Yeah, go break into the drug store and steal as much as I can, I suppose. I could jimmy-rig some kind of cooler for the time being. Maybe stretch my life expectancy to a year, maybe two. Eventually, it will be all gone. I won’t last long then.”

  I squeezed his shoulder. “Let’s just hope this all passes before we have to resort to desperate measures, Ted. I bet it will.” I realized just how lame my optimism sounded to a man with a potential death sentence.

  “We’ll see, we’ll see.”

  I had to leave before depression sunk in, for both of us. I went home to find Buddy.

  That night’s group meal was more somber than I had hoped. Spirits were sinking fast in my close-knit group. Alexis was in tears most of the time. Sergio and Veronica hardly ate and didn’t speak to anyone but themselves. At least Scott and Betty could be counted on for entertainment.

  “Come tomorrow morning,” Scott started as we finished eating. “If there ain’t no power, no improvement, me, Betty and the boys are on our bikes and out of here.” Scott and Betty had matching motorcycles. Big ones, old ones. Each bike had a trailer to pull behind. I had seen them take trips on these noisemakers many times in the past few years. “I ain’t gonna wait around for the slime to wander in from St. Paul. That’s for damn sure.” His little pep talk got everyone’s attention.

  “Can you leave us some of your weapons at least?” Drew seemed to have some sort of plan to make a stand and fight for what was his if it came to that.

  Scott shrugged. “I’ll leave the keys to my gun safe in the kitchen in a bowl above the stove. There’ll be a couple guns we don’t take and ammo for them as well. It’s the least I can do for my neighbors.” Scott considered himself a regular George Bailey for the rest of us. You can have my leftovers, suckers.

  “Let’s try and be positive here, folks. I don’t think the call to arms needs to go out quite yet.” A few nodded at my words.

  Scott laughed out loud. “Sure thing Billy boy. Sure thing. What are you gonna do when trouble comes a knocking, and you have to fight it off with a butter knife?” He shoved his chest out at the group. “My daddy always said an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Maybe you’d all best heed that wise advice.”

  I shook my head at him.

  Charlotte Johnson hoped for an affirmation of her government from us. “I’m sure between the police, the army and the guard we’ll all be protected. Right?”

  Scott smiled at her. “They’ll be kinda busy between the banks, the post office, the hospitals and such to run out here and help you fight off the boogeyman, Charlotte.” Scott frowned. “No one’s coming to your rescue folks. There ain’t no cavalry. You’re on your own now. So you’d best prepare for the worst and pray it never comes.”

  All of my assembled neighbors gave each other worried looks. Their stares eventually fell on me.

  “We have no reason to panic people,” I said. “As far as we know, everything will be back to normal within a day or two.” Both Scott and Betty scoffed at that comment. Forcefully I continued, “Let’s let this play out for a day or two, and maybe someone will come around with information soon. I’ll even walk over to City Hall tomorrow and see what they know.” I looked around confidently before I spoke again, choosing my words carefully. “FDR once said, ‘The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.’ I think those old words ring true tonight.”

  Scott laughed and looked me straight in the eye. “Fear and the bastards that want us all dead, I suppose. I think I’d add them to that list, Bill. Someone did this to us.” He looked around the group. “Some evil country did this to us. And it’s not a warning. It ain’t no joke people. If they’ve done what I think they did, they just knocked the old US of A back one hundred years or more. Your computers don’t work, your lights don’t work. Soon you’re gonna run out of food. Worse than that, you’re gonna run out of fresh water. Can’t use your toilets. Raw sewage will carry disease, death. If you get overrun by a bad element from the city, no one’s coming to save you.” He shook his head and looked disgustedly at all of us. “Standing still at times like these means you’re dead. I know you all think I’m a nut. The way I’ve always carried on and warned you about something like this happening. But here it is now. Still think I’m nuts?” He looked back to me for an answer.

  “Scott, no one thinks you’re nuts. I just think we need some answers before we can go off half-cocked. We could be running away from nothing. We just don’t know what the problem is yet.” He glared at me like I was the crazy one. “You have to do what you think is best for your family. I won’t argue with you there. And you know what? When all this passes in a few days, and you all come back home, we’ll be here waiting for you. And we are not going to ridicule you for what you felt you needed to do.” I tried to smile to help soften him up. It wasn’t working.

  “Two weeks people.” Scott got back up on his pedestal. “If this ain’t fixed in two weeks you need to consider getting away from the city. Even if you have to ride your bikes or walk. Get the hell out of here.” He stared at me. “Bill here will even back me up on that I bet, won’t you Bill?” I nodded slightly. He was probably right. I just hoped it wouldn’t come to that choice. “Don’t let the government fool you all. They’ll treat you like sheep. If they give you the run around at all, I mean even in the slightest, figure it’s worse than I even think this is. If they can’t, or worse won’t explain what happened, well, either they don’t know shit, or they ain’t telling you what you need to know to protect yourself. Both cases are bad. So don’t be fooled.”

  Our little group outing ended as people crept back to the safety of their homes.

  Alexis cornered me as I moved my grill into the garage. “Bill, be honest, is this really bad?” She was on the verge of hysterics.

  I lightly touched her shoulder for reassurance. “I’ll see what they have to say over at City Hall in the morning, Alexis. Until then try not to worry too much.”

  But even I was starting to worry.

  Chapter 5

  The next morning was as hot and humid as the previous, perhaps even more. The weather wasn’t helping with anxiety levels. People had to sleep with their windows open. With no air conditioning, the stagnant hot air gathered inside their homes quickly. Even the open windows offered little relief during the night. Any breeze we had during the day died with the sun each evening. There wasn’t much sleep for me.

  The neighborhood was quiet. The only activity I could see was Scott, Betty, Chad and Brent preparing for their journey. When Scott kick started the older machines, the noise cut through the otherwise quiet vicinity like a bomb blast. I knew the roaring engines would bring more people outside. I just hoped they weren’t so anxious after a decent night’s sleep. The minute I saw Alexis stick her head out her front door, I knew that was wishful thinking.

  “Are they really leaving?” Alexis shouted at me in disbelief. I could only nod her direction. Her door closed quickly as she retreated back into her sanctuary to find Jim. Not a good start to the day.

  I stood in the driveway collecting my scattered, strewn thoughts. First, I needed to get to the city offices and see what they knew. Secondly, I needed to figure out food storage. I knew for a fact some of the stuff in my refrigerator was already bad. Some could be saved, but a lot had to go. Maybe while I was out I could grab some ice. Oh, and water too. Lord only knew how long my water would last.

  I grabbed all the cash I had in the house, $82.50. Not much, but it had to be enough. I hoped the convenience store across from City Hall was still open, in some manner at least. I’d get what I could there, and if needed I could always try the grocery store a mile or so down Main Street. I could only imagine how picked over the store would be by this point. I could always grab extra canned fruits and vegetables to help ride the storm out. Canned pink salmon, as well. I read somewhere once it could last for ten-plus years in its can.

  More people were out this morning as I made my way cross-country to Main Street and City Hall. People looked just like my neighbors, dazed and confused. Calm and order still seemed to rule the day, so that made me happy. I honestly thought at that moment we could ride out this plague, no matter how long it took. As long as we all stuck together and helped one another we’d be fine. Looking back that was a crucial mistake. It delayed my leaving by days, many days.

  When I got close to City Hall, I couldn’t believe the swarm of humanity. There were people everywhere. Calm was not ruling the day outside this building. People were angry, people were crying, people were in a complete state of disbelief.

  “It’s a bunch of bullshit, that’s what it is,” I heard one angry middle-aged man yell as he walked away from the brown brick building. “They don’t have any answers, none!” He shouted his discontent as he left. I elbowed my way, nicely, through the crowd to look at the single sign hanging on the front door. My heart sank.

  We are experiencing power outages on the eastern side of the Twin Cities at this time. We recommend everyone stay home and remain calm. We hope to have some power restored soon.

  That was it? Are they joking? How about defining soon? I pulled on the doors; locked. I peered in the window, but it was pitch black inside so I couldn’t see anything. I closed my eyes and thought hard. The role of government is to help its citizens in times of need and help maintain order. So far they were failing the first part of that ideal. And order was quickly falling apart outside these hallowed halls. They needed to do something.

  I turned and headed for the convenience store. Maybe someone would have answers there. As I walked across the street, Scott’s words rang loudly in my head. If they can’t or won’t explain what happened, they’re not telling you what you need to know. More plainly stated, if they’re not helping you, they aren’t going to help you. Run for your life people!

  I’m not sure what I expected to find at City Hall. I’d hoped for more information, something solid I could pass along to my neighbors. The city’s vagueness left me worried. Maybe if I could find a cop they’d have news, something more substantial than the obvious malarkey I’d just discovered. I looked in a full circle, but I found no police present. None. I scanned over next door at the police station. No cars were there either. I shook my head. What did I expect to see? If they had been on patrol when the power went out, their cars had died in place. This made me feel a little better.