Getting Out: A Post-Apocalyptic EMP Survival Thriller (The EMP Book 1) Page 15

  “I don’t get it.”

  “When they no longer have enough food,” said Georgia. “They’re going to commit suicide. They have the pills already and everything.”

  “Oh,” said James. He remained quiet for some time.

  “James,” said Georgia. “I want you to know that that’s not an option for anyone in our family. That’s simply not going to happen. We’re going to make it. We’re not like everyone else. We’re going to make it, James.”

  “I know,” said James. “I know.”

  But the gravity of the situation, the perils ahead, suddenly struck him harder than they ever had before.

  James kept driving the shiny new SUV into the darkening rain-drenched night. The thunder was all around them. James could barely see fifteen feet in front of them, but he kept driving. He had to. He had to save them.

  22

  Chad

  Chad couldn’t believe it. He woke up, drenched in sweat. But he was freezing cold.

  His head ached like nothing he’d ever felt before.

  He couldn’t remember what had happened for a full minute, and he stayed silent, in the hopes that people around him would talk.

  He then realized he didn’t know where he was, or who he was with.

  Was he with Marty and Danny again, on some kind of crazy mission, some midnight mischief?

  He was in a car, in the backseat. He knew that much. They were driving through a horrible storm, somewhere way out in the woods.

  Chad tried to stay silent, but it was too much for him.

  “Danny, where the hell are you taking us, man? And what happened to my head?”

  “Danny? Who the hell are you talking about?”

  It all came gushing back to Chad. The memories.

  The end of civilization. Oh yeah.

  Damn it.

  And then he remembered the worst part: he didn’t have his pills.

  Max had stolen them from him, and then knocked him out.

  Chad knew that he was going through withdrawal, which was strange, since one of the last things he remembered was being high off his ass. So that meant he must have been knocked out for a long, long time. No wonder his head ached so much.

  “You gave my pills away, didn’t you?” he said to Max.

  “Yeah, Chad,” said Max. “I did.”

  “It was for a good cause, Chad,” said Mandy, speaking kindly. “There was a dying man. He was in so much pain… And you’re going to have to go through withdrawal anyway.”

  On some level, Chad knew that he just wanted to be a dick because of withdrawal. He knew that it was screwing with his emotions. With everything. He knew that he wasn’t himself, but then again, he didn’t really know who he actually was. He didn’t know where he himself was.

  Chad took a deep breath to try to calm himself.

  But the rage was already pouring through him. It was too late.

  “Shut the hell up, you sexy little bitch,” said Chad. “What the hell do you know about what I’ve been through?”

  “Hey!” yelled Max. “Don’t talk to her like that, Chad. She doesn’t deserve that. I’m the one who gave the pills away.”

  “You asshole,” said Chad. “Stop the car. I’m getting out. I don’t need your shit.”

  “Where you going to go, buddy?” said Max. “You’re going to wander around the woods until you starve to death, or until someone finds you and decides you’re starting to look juicy to their grumbling stomach. You want to die, or be killed and eaten? Tortured? What do you want to happen, Chad?”

  “I don’t give a damn,” said Chad.

  He tried to open the door, but it didn’t open.

  “Why won’t this piece of shit open?”

  “I’ve got the child safety lock on,” said Max.

  “You sanctimonious piece of shit,” shouted Chad. “Let me go die in peace.”

  “Screw you, Chad,” said Max.

  “Screw you, too.”

  Chad lunged forward, not caring what happened to himself. He just wanted to express his rage. He wanted to hurt Max. He didn’t care that Max had saved him.

  It happened too fast for Chad to understand what was happening.

  Mandy swung something at him, something hard and made of metal. It collided with his skull, and he fell instantly unconscious yet again.

  23

  Norma

  The world was ending.

  Norma had moved out here with her two best friends after college. It was supposed to be just for a summer, but it was a summer that had never ended. They were all very close, and shared everything together, gossip about the men they were dating, their wine, their clothes.

  They’d all gotten jobs and stayed through the first season. Now it was over twenty years later, and the world was ending.

  Norma hadn’t thought that it would end this way.

  Her parents had died. Her brothers and sisters had moved far away a long time ago.

  Norma had enjoyed the area, going for hikes and walks, learning to fish. She’d taught middle school there, and her two roommates had worked as clerks at a grocery store. None of them needed much money—they split the rent, and didn’t exactly spend a lot. They’d all shared the one compact car.

  It was an unusual lifestyle, but it had worked for the three of them. They’d all gone to school in New York City. That was back when the city was a real hell hole, and they all wanted to get out, get back to nature, that sort of thing.

  That was the time when all the hippies were dropping out of society. They were moving to California, down south, out west, abroad, Canada, wherever they thought they could start over. Norma had never been a hippie, but something about the movement had been appealing.

  Things hadn’t seemed right when the power went off. The phones didn’t work. People from the nearby town were driving by, acting all crazy. People were freaking out.

  A couple military vehicles had driven by, types that she’d never seen before. The soldiers warned her that the United States was under attack. They said the roads were all closed to the city, and to the nearby areas.

  It didn’t seem like the US was under attack. But something was definitely wrong. Very wrong.

  There was no way to get food.

  Norma’s encounter with Georgia had solidified this in her mind. She knew there was no way she and her friends would live.

  But Norma couldn’t bring them along with her, for where she was about to go.

  Norma had struggled with depression for years. Sure, she’d had fun. But the depression always came back, that black hole that seemed to swallow her up.

  The woods were nice, despite the rain.

  The storm seemed beautiful, in a way. It was nature at work, in full force. Nature would swallow up the planet. Life would go on. Maybe not so much human life. But there would be survivors, and eventually things would get back to where they were. Maybe the survivors would warn their descendants about what had happened, and some mistakes could be avoided.

  But Norma didn’t have a lot of confidence that things would improve. She knew that humans had set things up horribly, practically destroyed the planet in doing so. Maybe they deserved what was coming to them. Norma didn’t know.

  The black hole of depression was there. But it was easing up.

  They’d asked if Norma was OK, if she was sure she wanted to go walking alone during the storm.

  She’d told them she was fine, that she’d always loved the rain.

  They’d been worried, but they were tired, and didn’t want to argue with her. They understood that sometimes she needed to be alone, even if it seemed crazy, even if there was a storm outside.

  The wind was crashing into her. The lightning was flashing in the sky.

  If only the lightning would hit her, and just take her out…

  But she couldn’t rely on that.

  The pain pills were in her pocket, a whole bottle of them. She’d gotten them when she’d sprained her ankle years ago, but she’d always be
en scared of medication, and had never taken a single one of the pills.

  Norma knew that taking the whole bottle would kill her. There was no doubt about that. She would simply slip away, fade away. It wasn’t like anyone would find her, here, deep in the forest.

  There was no chance of being rescued, and that was the way she wanted it.

  She took the bottle out and rattled them. As she opened it up, the pills started to get wet. But that wouldn’t hurt them.

  She swallowed them one by one, taking sips from the plastic water bottle she carried everywhere.

  After the tenth one, she was already feeling strange. Sleepy. Hard to describe… Her thoughts were a little fuzzy. Disjointed. A little odd…

  Norma powered through, taking the pills one by one, diligently. She was taking her medicine. The pills would make everything go away. They would make everything better…

  Norma didn’t believe in heaven. But she knew that she just didn’t want to exist anymore.

  She thought of her family, of her friends. She thought of the opportunities she’d never taken. But she’d had a good life. In a way.

  She thought of her depression, that depression that had haunted her even when things were going well, that dark yawning chasm that screamed her name in the night, that kept her awake and kept her heart pounding.

  That chasm would disappear completely. She would never feel that pain again.

  Norma was soaked to the bone. She sat down in the mud, no longer caring. The pill bottle dropped out of her limp hand.

  She was still conscious, but it was fading.

  She no longer was aware of the storm, of the intensity of the natural world around her.

  She was no longer aware that she was in the mud. If she had been, she wouldn’t have cared.

  Norma was high for the first time in her life, as high as she ever would be. Her body felt light and free. Her mind felt suddenly unencumbered by all the things she’d worried about.

  Norma tried to move her hand, but nothing happened. She was losing control of her body.

  Slowly, her breathing changed. It slowed to a snail’s pace. Her breaths were miniscule, barely noticeable.

  Her mind was somewhere else, floating away, up through the sunshine that wasn’t there, up through a cloudless sky that had never existed.

  Norma didn’t want to have to fight. She didn’t want to struggle. She didn’t want to survive.

  She got what she wanted.

  24

  Max

  “Are you sure we’re going the right way?” said Mandy.

  “No,” said Max. “But I don’t know what else to do. There aren’t any other roads here.”

  “Maybe we should turn around,” said Mandy, peering down at the maps. Her flashlight had already died, so she was using Max’s, ignoring his pleas for her to conserve the battery as much as possible. “I don’t know. I just don’t have any idea where we are.”

  “It’s hard to tell in this storm,” said Max.

  The high beams of the Jeep were barely cutting through the night. The Jeep was wracked by the wind, shifting from side to side constantly. The rain pounded onto the roof and the windows, making so much noise they had to almost shout to be heard by each other.

  “How do you think he’s doing?” said Mandy, looking back at Chad, who was passed out in the backseat.

  “He’s fine,” said Max gruffly.

  “I hit him pretty hard,” said Mandy. “I hope I didn’t hurt him too badly.”

  “He deserved it,” said Max.

  “Are you sure we shouldn’t turn around?”

  Max didn’t answer. He kept driving. He was hungry and tired and his wrist was killing him.

  Tensions were rising between Max and Mandy. Max had insisted that they keep driving all night, and then they could rest in the morning.

  Mandy, on the other hand, had wanted to hole up in the Jeep and wait out the storm.

  Max was feeling a constant urge, a constant pressure to push forward. He was done with being extremely cautious. They had run into too many problems already. In his mind, the sooner they got to the farm house, the better. There, they could relax, they could eat. They could rest up and plan for what was coming next.

  Max didn’t know how long it would be before more people arrived from the city, provided they were able to get out at all. But he didn’t want to wait around to find out. He didn’t want to be traveling the open road when they came. He wanted to be safely at the farm house.

  He already had plans for some rudimentary defenses that he was going to set up. A ditch surrounding the property, for instance, would slow down intruders. And once he ran out of gas for the Jeep, he might be able to use the car battery to create an electric fence. He didn’t know if there would be enough power or how long it would last for, though.

  Unless the farm house had been raided, there was food there, and guns. But as far as Max knew, no one had been to the property in a few years. Who knew what had happened to it in that time. He didn’t have any idea what kind of condition it would be in, whether it would be boarded up. Would the water work after an EMP? Max simply didn’t know.

  Max had wanted to save time, to push on through the storm. But even he had to admit that they were probably headed the wrong way. They might be headed farther away from the farmhouse now. He had no idea. But he was stuck somewhere in his own stubbornness, and his foot kept pressing the accelerator pedal.

  “Look!” said Mandy. “Lights!”

  Max peered through the windshield. He could barely make out some lights ahead.

  “Headlights, you think?” said Max.

  “I don’t know,” muttered Mandy.

  He couldn’t see the road, and he didn’t know whether the lights were coming from the road or off the road.

  He was so tired his brain didn’t seem to be working correctly. Lights… he was thinking. That’s kind of strange. Isn’t all the power out? He knew he was missing something, but he wasn’t sure what it was.

  “They must be headlights,” said Mandy. “Should you pull over? We don’t want to run into them.”

  Max grunted a negative.

  He didn’t want to get off the road now. The sides of the road had become flooded mud ditches, from which the Jeep might never return if it entered there.

  The lights got closer.

  “They’re definitely headlights,” said Mandy.

  “I think you’re right,” said Max. “They’re still really far off…”

  “Wait,” said Mandy. “What happened? They’re gone.”

  Sure enough, the headlights were completely gone now.

  “Did they turn them off?” said Max.

  “Shit,” said Mandy. “We’ll never see them if they have their headlights off…”

  Max slowed down as he drove forward, doing his best to keep his eyes glued to where the phantom car might appear.

  Turning their headlights off was a bad sign in Max’s mind. The car had been far off, but it must have seen their own lights. If they were good people, Max couldn’t imagine them turning off their headlights, However, if they were bad guys, maybe they’d turn their headlights off in an attempt to ambush Max and Mandy.

  Max drove on. Ten minutes passed.

  There was no sign of the oncoming car.

  “That was really weird,” said Mandy, in a hushed and worried voice. “What do you think happened to them?”

  “No idea,” said Max. “We just need to keep going. It’s better to get out of here, especially if there’s another car in the area. We don’t know anything about them or what they want.”

  “That’s your solution to everything,” said Mandy. “You just want to keep going and going, even if we don’t know where we’re headed.”

  Suddenly, the Jeep was filled with bright, powerful light.

  It was the headlights again, but they were coming at them from the side.

  It was too late. Max realized at the last second what had happened. Without realizing it, they
had driven right through a crossroads.

  The other car, with its high beams still on, was coming at them from the side.

  The other car T-boned them.

  There was the horrible sound of the collision. The sound of metal crunching. The sound of screams.

  The other vehicle hit the Jeep’s engine, pushing it sideways in a horrible jerking motion.

  Max was thrown forward. The seatbelt caught him and jerked him back. His head whiplashed backwards, hurting instantly.

  The airbag deployed, but only partially, filling up like some old stock stuffed with quarters

  The airbag didn’t even touch Max.

  He didn’t lose consciousness. He looked over at Mandy. There wasn’t an airbag on her side. But the seatbelt had saved her. She hadn’t lost consciousness, but she looked dazed.

  A thousand thoughts ran through Max’s head at once. The Jeep. The damn Jeep. It was no doubt ruined. Without it, things were going to be a lot tougher.

  But Max knew that the Jeep was a more long-term worry. The immediate, short term worry was who’d crashed into them and why.

  Max cut his seatbelt with a pocket knife. He tried the release button of Mandy’s seatbelt, but it was jammed, so he sliced through that too.

  People were shouting in the other car that had collided with them. Max could barely make out the sounds over the heavy rain and the frequent thunder.

  Lightning flashed in the sky nearby, illuminating the entire car. But Max wasn’t able to see into the other car, except that it was an enormous SUV.

  Max didn’t have time to evaluate the damage. He moved quickly. He took out his gun, holding it even though his wrist hurt like crazy. He was pretty sure he could hold it well enough to shoot. He’d never practiced using his left hand, and he cursed himself now for that.

  He tried his door, but it wouldn’t open.

  “Out,” he whispered to Mandy. “I’ve got to get out.”

  “You’re going out there?” said Mandy. “Stay in the Jeep, Max.”