months ago so they could meet her. They felt justified in giving her that nickname. They joked that the term, “Air head” would have been an educated version of her. It was shocking that he was letting a woman interfere with his hunting. He had never let his ex influence him about hunting. In fact it was a sore spot with her and caused a lot of friction in their marriage because no matter what she did or said he went hunting every year as usual. He was a very serious hunter. She also gave him a lot of crap about spending so much time with them.

They knew that the divorce he went through had really messed with his mind. His ex had not been a very nice person and she really showed her true colors during the divorce. Joe and Jane didn’t care for her and the feeling was mutual. They had nothing in common at all. All she ever talked about was fashion, or the sales at the up scale department stores, or where she ate out with her friends at trendy restaurants and gossip about everyone she knew. She also went to fashionable clubs with her friends when Preston was gone. In fact they couldn’t remember her ever saying a nice thing about anyone and mean it. She would say something not very nice about someone and then say, “But she’s really a sweet and thoughtful person, really. I just love her to death.”

During the divorce Preston had found out that she put him $30,000.00 in credit card debt. He had to get a job to pay them off. With paying her alimony now too, he didn’t have enough money from his retirement to pay for it all and live too. They did not ever think any good or kind thoughts about her. They resented the fact that Preston wasn’t there enjoying his retirement with them because of her. There really weren’t any jobs in out where they lived in his field of expertise. He was a highly experienced helicopter mechanic. There isn’t much about a helicopter that he didn’t know. That is why Preston wasn’t there and had to live in the city. They would miss him a lot this year. They always joked about being “The Three Musketeer Hunters.”

Every year during bow hunting season, Jane would take one week of her vacation time. Bow hunting in the fall was her peaceful and quiet time. It was her time to absorb the feelings and the smells of the woods. It was a time for her to be able to really relax and enjoy just being and not doing. By this time every year she really needed to get away from the intensity of her job and the pressures of everyday life. She and Joe had tree stands on a friend’s farm Jim and Marge Johnstone. Their farm was about five miles from their own place. The month before she would have her quiet time in the woods, she would count the days down with excited anticipation. This time was no different than all the other times she had used one week of her vacation time for bow hunting.

They had no idea the world as they knew it was about to come to an end. There were no signs, no predictions, no warnings, nothing. This day started out the same as any other day. The alarm woke them up so they would have plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast and not be hurried as they went out for the morning hunt. After a peaceful morning and watching a beautiful sunrise at mid morning it was time to climb down and met each other at the truck. Joe was always playing practical jokes on her. He would sneak out of the woods to get to the truck first. He would hide in the woods and start snorting like a deer or acting like bear was there. So that when she walked passed it would scare the heck out of her.

“This year,” she thought “I’m going to sneak back first and surprise him.”  She looked at the sun to judge the time and decided it was a bit earlier then she usually left to go to the truck. Now was the time to leave her stand and beat Joe. She climbed down and started to walk quietly through the woods. As she walked toward the truck she thought about how much she loved the woods and how beautiful they are. The trees changing color and the leaves falling and making a colorful path to walk on totally delighted her. But, the color change had not really started yet this year. She thought, “Maybe next year I’ll take off the third week of October instead. The color changes will be in full display by then.” She was really enjoying herself.

She came around a bend on the path and heard a slight noise. She stopped to look around and listen. As she looked forward right there on the trail was a nice eight point buck. He was standing on the trail looking towards where the truck was parked. She slowly grabbed an arrow in the quiver and drew it out as quietly as possible. She was telling herself, “Take your time. Slow down all movement.” She notched the arrow and looked up at where to buck had been. She was elated. The buck was still standing there. She smiled to herself and thought, “Ah, Joe must have snuck down earlier then I thought for his practical joke and pushed the deer right into me.” Her smiled got bigger. She thought, “The joke is on you this time Joe.” She drew her arm back. She picked the thirty-five yard pin. She relaxed, steadied the arrow and released it. The arrow shot down the path heading exactly where she had aimed. It was a perfect double lung shot. When it hit the buck it made a funny sound. Thunk. What the heck? She thought. Did the arrow go underneath the buck and hit a tree?” It had looked like a perfect shot. She popped another arrow from the quiver, aimed and shot at the buck again. This time she saw the arrow hit, but it had made another thunk when it had hit the buck. Then she heard Joe laughing like a little boy that had pulled off the best practical joke in the world. He was hopping around doing a victory dance and singing gleefully, “Got ya. I got ya again.” She jerked around to where Joe was and said, “Very funny. You’re a jerk.” She pointed her finger at him and continued, “You are buying me new arrows and broadheads for that stunt Mister.

Joe had set up a buck decoy and covered it with a real deer hide that he had tanned. It looked pretty real unless you were standing right next to it. She was mad. Joe kept smiling just like a little kid and chuckling. He pulled the stakes out that was holding the buck in place then walked with it in his arms up to the truck. She came stomping up and said, “You are a jerk. That’s so not funny.” Joe just kept laughing. They loaded up the bows and their other equipment. They got into the truck and Joe turned the key. No sound, nothing. She couldn't resist herself and said, “Left the headlights turned on didn't you jerk.” She smiled and started laughing so hard. “Ha, ha, the jokes on you,” she said. Joe turned and faced her. He said, “No, I didn’t leave the lights on. See they are turned off.” She looked over at the light switch and sure enough it was turned off. She said, “Well, any idea what is wrong with the truck?” He answered, “I’ll take a look. It’s probably just a bad connection on the battery or something like that.” He got out of the truck and popped the hood open.  He yelled for Jane to get in the drivers seat and try to start it. He tinkered with everything he could think of that could cause the truck not to start. He kept telling Jane, “Try it now.” Finally after several minutes he said, “This is just not working. I give up. I don’t know what is wrong with it. Everything looks fine. I can’t find any reason for it not to start.” He shut the hood.

He walked over to the driver’s side of the truck and motioned for Jane to roll down the window. He said, “Well, let's just head over to the Johnstone’s. Get what you need for right now out of the truck. We’ll get the rest of the gear after we tow the truck back home.” Jane gathered up what she thought she might need for a short while and got out of the truck. She was looking forward to seeing Marge. She didn’t have the chance to visit her neighbors very often. They talked on the phone a lot but, just never seemed to have the time to just go over to each others house to just visit. It would be great to just sit and drink coffee and talk for awhile.

Joe was hoping to borrow Jim’s beater farm truck to tow his truck home with. He also hoped that Jim was around and had not gone into town for a part or something so he could help Joe figure out why the truck wasn’t starting. Maybe Jim could come up with something he hadn’t thought of. It sure was weird that the truck wouldn’t start. That truck always started no matter what. He had always referred to the truck as, “Old Reliable.”

It was only a 1/2 mile walk to Jim’s and Marge’s farm house from where they were. They set out down the path. It was a great day for a walk. The air was crystal clear and crisp smelling; the sky was such a beautiful shade of blue with only a few wispy clouds here and there. The day was warming up and it just felt so good, so right to be outside enjoying it like this. All was right with the world Jane felt, “Well, except for the truck,” she thought with a smile. But if the truck hadn’t broken down they would not have had this opportunity to have and enjoyable walk. “Everything works out one way or another. It is a wonderful day just to be alive,” she thought.

The path ended as they came out of the woods. They saw the farm house a few hundred yards away. They walked up the driveway towards the house. Their dog was barking so it had alerted them that someone or something was outside. It could have been a wild critter. You just never know when you live out in the country. So, it was no surprise that Marge was at the door to greet them. As they approached the house Joe noticed Jim coming out of the barn wiping his hands on a rag. They greeted Marge and waved to Jim. They waited for Jim to get up to them before telling them why they had walked out of the woods and not drove up the driveway. Jim came up the steps onto the porch where they were all standing there waiting for him. Jim and Joe shook hands. Jim asked with a laugh, “Lost your truck?” They all laughed at that comment. Every year they had hunters and hikers and nature lovers knock on their doors asking for assistance in finding their lost vehicles. They all had some wild stories about crazy city slickers to share with each other whenever they did get together to talk.

Marge said, “Come on in and I’ll get you both a cup of coffee.” Joe said, “Marge, is it okay for Jane to go in and have coffee, I need to talk to Jim if he’s not real busy with something right now?” “Jim answered with, “I was just tinkering with the tractor. It wouldn’t start. Let’s go to the barn and we’ll talk.” Jane went into the house with Marge. Jim and Joe walked down the porch stairs together. As they were walking over to the barn Joe asked Jim, “What’s wrong with your tractor? You just got that one didn’t you?” Jim said, “Yes, it is brand new and it won’t start”. Joe turned and looked at Jim. Jim noticed the look Joe gave him. Jim said, “That’s one of the reasons why I asked you to come out to the barn with me so we could talk away from the women.” That definitely got Joe’s attention. Jim continued with, “Let’s wait until were in the barn and I’ll tell you about it.”

Jane walked into the kitchen with Marge. Marge said, “Have a seat and I’ll warm the coffee up on the wood stove.” She sighed and said, “The power is out again and Jim couldn’t get the generator to work this morning. He knows how cranky I can be when I can’t talk on the phone or contact my friends on the net. So, does he try to fix it, no. He just goes out to the barn and tinkers with the tractor. Men!!!” Jane sat down at the breakfast counter. Marge put the metal coffee pot on the wood stove. She went through the kitchen and opened the back door to grab a few pieces of chopped wood off the enclosed back porch to throw on the fire. When Joe and Jane first moved out into their farm they had been advised to get a good wood cook stove for the kitchen. Both Marge and Jane had a kitchen stove that could be used with electricity or wood to cook and bake with. The electricity did go out several times a year. They lived far off the beaten track and sometimes it took awhile to get the electricity back on. Once after a real bad storm they had been without power for three weeks. Having the wood part of the stove to cook on had been a real life saver for Jane. It did take some getting used to but over all it was a clever devise Jane felt.

Marge sat down on a stool at the breakfast bar next to Jane and said, “That’s enough about us.” Then asked, “So, you gonna tell me why this morning you two were out walking this way?” Jane smiled and started to tell her about this morning and what Joe did this year to her with his practical joke.

Joe and Jim reached the barn and walked over to the tractor. Joe looked around and noticed the two cars had their hoods open as did both of Jim’s trucks, his newer one and the old beater. The riding lawn mower had its compartment open too. Joe turned and looked at Jim and said, “What the heck is going on?” Jim said, “The power went out so I thought I would go get the new big tractor and haul some hay bales to the other barn for winter. It wouldn’t start. I looked it over but I couldn’t figure out why. I thought well, I’ll just go get the smaller tractor and use it. It will take more time but it needs doing. I’ll mess with the big tractor and fix it later. I walked over to the other barn and my other tractor wouldn’t start either. I looked at the engine and I can’t find a reason why it won’t. So I walked back over here. I tried my newer truck and it wouldn’t start. I thought this is mighty strange. So I decided to try my old beater truck. It started right up. I was going to just go ahead and use it to move the hay bales but curiosity got the better of me about the cars. I started wondering if they would start or not. It was about this time I realized that my watch wasn’t working. There was no display lighted up, no numbers or anything on the face of it. Then I shut off the truck and went over to the cars and tried them. They won’t start either. I tried the lawn mower and it won’t start either.”

Joe’s stomach was feeling heavier and more upset as Jim went on. Joe and Jane never wore their watches when they hunted. They were always losing them because they would take them off and put them in their day packs or pockets. They did this because Joe once lost a chance to take a big buck. His watch snagged on his coat sleeve as he was drawing his arm back for a shot at the buck. Their watches were still on their nightstands beside the bed at home. Joe just stared at Jim for a minute with a strange look on his face. Jim asked him, “You okay? Do you know what is going on? Why did you stop by this morning?”

Joe sat down heavily on the side of the tractor and thought, “Oh God, it’s happened. They went and done it. They really did it. Don’t panic. Stay calm.” He looked up at Jim and said, “We were out hunting this morning. When we got back to the truck it wouldn’t start. We walked over here to ask you for a tow. I also couldn’t figure out why the truck wouldn’t start and was going to ask you to help me figure out why.” Jim was thoughtful for a minute. Joe decided to wait and see what conclusion Jim came to. Jim looked over at Joe and said, “This is bad isn’t it? It’s real bad, huh?” Joe just nodded his head yes. Jim asked, “Do you know what this is or what happened?” Joe stared at Jim for a few seconds and thought about how to explain it and how much he should say to him. Joe finally said, “I only know of one thing that could do this. A high altitude nuclear blast, an EMP. It will fry all electrical circuits.” Joe waited to say anything more to give Jim time to digest this information. Jim looked hard at Joe and said, “That’s what I figured too. I was hoping I was wrong. I thought at first that I had watched too many movies on the SyFy channel on TV and was jumping to way out there wrong conclusions.” Joe was quick to reassure Jim that this was a way out there conclusion. But it was real. Things would never be the same again.

Jim and Joe remained quiet for a few minutes. Both of them were lost in their own thoughts. Jim finally asked Joe, “What do you think we should do?” Joe had decided that it would be best to go get his truck and then to get Jane and get home. Preston would be showing up and they had better be there when he did. Now that the time had really come he wanted to take everything with other people real slow. Let them get a bit over their shock of the situation first before he came up with any suggestions for them. He wasn’t at all sure if he wanted to come up with any suggestions for them. He wasn’t sure at the moment how involved people would want him or Jane, or Preston to be in their affairs. Time will tell. It would give him, Jane and Preston time to come up with a plan of action. In all the scenarios they had talked about and all the plans they had sort of made being a leader in this community hadn’t really been one of them.

Joe looked at Jim and waited until he was sure he had his complete attention before answering him. Then he said, “I’m not real sure just yet. But I do know two things right now. The first is we had better go in and tell the women what has happened. The second is I still need you to tow my truck to my house. I would sure appreciate it if you could do that. After that we can take things real slow and decide on what needs to be done one thing at a time, okay?” Jim answered him with a relieved look on his face, “That sounds like a plan to me. Of course I’ll tow your truck to your place. We’re friends and neighbors aren’t we?”

Joe had a million thoughts running through his mind as they walked back to the house. He hoped they would stay friends. But this situation could go south in any number of different ways. Some of the decisions that would have to be faced in the future might cause a chasm as wide as the Grand Canyon between them. “Don’t borrow trouble,” Joe thought as he remembered his granny used to tell him that when he was a kid and worried or anxious over something. He told himself, “Let’s just get the truck home first. We will face whatever happens, when it happens. We have to get through this day before we can worry about tomorrow. “Oh ya,” he felt a shiver down his back, “What would tomorrow bring he wondered?”

They reached the porch and started up the stairs. Jim opened the door and turned to Joe and said, “We should do this as gently as we can. I don’t know how Marge is going to react to this. It’s not like this has ever happened before. With us living way out here Marge practically lives on the phone talking to everyone and she is constantly on the internet with her circle of friends on those recipe and quilting websites. It helps her not to feel so isolated, so alone. We’ve been without the phone and internet before when the power went down and she almost drove me nuts with asking every couple of hours, “When are they gonna get out here and fix the electricity? That’s why I got that big generator a few years ago after that big storm we had. I thought that if I was gonna buy a generator I might as well get something that will run some of the farm things too. But, this”, he hesitated for a moment then swallowed loudly then went on, “I just don’t know how she will take this. I also wanted to warn you that she is already mad at me. I couldn’t get the generator to start after the power went out and she is very upset with me about it.”

Jim and Joe shared an intense look. Joe had forgotten all about Jim having a generator. Joe asked Jim, “Your generator runs on diesel, right?” “No, it’s a 10KW propane model. I decided on that one because we have the big propane tank and we keep it pretty full so I would always be able to use it for Marge. “Oh,” said Jim disappointed. “Why does it matter what it runs on?” asked Jim. Joe said, “Because if it was a diesel generator some of them will still work. Some models have a pull start on them. Even if the circuits were fried it would still run. Even if it didn’t have a pull start we could possibly rig something up to get it started.” Jim said laugh, “It figures I would buy the wrong one for an EMP going off. But, how in God’s name was I supposed to know that this was going to happen?” Joe thought for a few moments and decided he wouldn’t say anything to him about being prepared or doing research. Now that this had happened, it was not a time to say I told you so, in so many words. So he said instead, “Most people wouldn’t think about this happening either. I’m sure you’re not the only one who bought a generator like this. We should get on inside and tell the women.” The more they talked the more intensely Joe wanted to get home. “Things were sure going to get interesting, that’s an under statement for sure,” Joe thought. Jim opened the front door and they stepped inside.

Jane had been sitting there talking to Marge. After the first half hour she kept thinking every so often, “Joe is sure taking along time. I hope he is not out there in the barn tearing the tractor apart with Jim. They would be out there for hours.” She wanted to go home make lunch, take a relaxing bath and have a nap. When she heard the front door open she was relieved. “Finally,” she thought. Not that she was feeling unkind towards Marge; she was just getting sleepy sitting in the warm kitchen waiting on Joe.

Jim and Joe walked into the kitchen. Marge got up to get them coffee. The two men sat down on the opposite side of the breakfast bar. They had a serious worried look on their faces. Jane thought, “I wonder what happened? The way their luck was going this morning maybe they couldn’t get Jim’s old truck to start either. But, that wouldn’t be so unusual. Jim was always tinkering with it for one thing or another. No, it has to be something else, something more serious for them to look like that.” Marge set the men’s coffee cups down in front of them. Both men said, “Thank you,” to Marge. She looked at Joe and asked, “Are you all right? You don’t look so good.” She completely ignored Jim. Obviously, she was still mad at him about the generator.

Joe waited a few seconds to see if Jim would say anything. Joe turned and looked at Jim. Jim just sat there looking at the breakfast counter and didn’t say or do anything. He didn’t even look like he was breathing. Joe thought, “All right, then I guess I will have to start this conversation.” He looked up at Marge and said, “I’ve had better mornings, that’s for sure. I’ll be fine. Thanks for asking.” He turned to Jane and said, “We think something terrible has happened. Something we all were hoping would never be a reality. The only vehicle that will start is Jim’s old farm truck. It will start because it has points and a condenser and does not have any electrical computer brains that run the systems in the truck.”

Marge sat down on her stool at the breakfast counter and looked at Jim and Joe questioningly. Jane blinked her eyes a few times thinking and then said, “What did you say?” Joe answered, “The only thing that will start is Jim's old truck. Nothing newer will start or even turn over for that matter. All the other vehicles are dead, even the riding lawn mower.” Jane’s face lost all color. She felt like she might pass out, right now at this very moment. Jane took a deep breath to help steady her nerves and said in a shaky, unsteady voice, “Oh my God. Does this mean?” She was gesturing with her hand in the air. Joe said one word, “Yes.” Jane just looked at Joe with a scared and shocked look on her face. Marge said, “What are you talking about?” She turned and looked at Jim and said, “What have you done to all our vehicles, now? Have you lost your mind? What do you mean none of them will start?” Jim looked desperately at Joe as if to say, “What am I suppose to say now?”

Joe picked up his coffee cup and took a few sips and gave everyone a few moments to absorb what he had said. He felt in some part of his mind like this was a dream, a real nasty dream. The worst nightmare he could imagine. Then he said, “I think what happened was someone set off a high altitude nuclear bomb, an EMP. It has fried everything electrical. Nothing that requires electricity will work. Not the lights, not generators, not cars or trucks, nothing will work unless it is old like the old farm truck. The farm truck has different parts than the newer ones do.”

Marge said, “You’ve got to be kidding me? Is this a joke?” She turned to Jim and started yelling at him. “You’re doing this because I was upset with you because of the generator, right? You made this stuff up so you would be off the hook and I couldn’t blame you for the generator not working, right? This is not funny, Jim. You have a sick sense of humor. I won’t listen to this crap from you. You will not treat me this way. Do you hear me? I mean it too.” She stood up and said to Joe and Jane, “You’ll have to excuse me. I don’t know what is wrong with Jim but this is in very bad taste. Please excuse my bad manners.” She started to walk out of the kitchen and then suddenly stopped in her tracks and stood there for a few moments. She turned around and looked at them with an incredible look on her face. She turned to Joe and said, “I can’t believe you would be part of something like this. Why would you want to do this to me?” She turned and looked at Jane and said, “I suppose you were in on this too? Did Jim call you from the barn earlier before the power went out and you all concocted this insane joke on me? How dare you?” She looked at all of them and yelled, “How dare you all do this to me?” She started crying and ran out of the kitchen.

Jane, Joe and Jim looked at each other with bewildered, shocked expressions on their faces. Jim got up and said, “I’ll go talk to her and try to calm her down. At least I’ll try. But, I don’t know. She doesn’t deal with not being to talk on the phone and get on the internet very well. But, don’t worry I’ll get you two home with your truck.” Jane said, “Do you want me to go talk to her and reassure her that this is not a joke?” Jim looked at Jane thoughtfully and said, “No, I better be the one that goes to her.” Jane said, “Are you sure you don’t want some help with her? She is pretty upset.” Jim said, “No, she is my wife and I’ll take care of her.” He turned and walked out of the kitchen with a very worried look on his face. After a minute they heard a door open and close.

Joe looked at Jane. He got up from his stool and walked around the breakfast bar and sat down next to Jane and pulled her into his arms. Jane had watched him come over and sit beside her. She was glad he had come over next to her. After a few minutes she drew back out of his arms. Joe just looked at her. She stared back at him. She finally said, “I need to get to the hospital. They will need me there to help with everything. Oh dear God Joe, there is no electricity. The back up generators won’t work now either. What about the patients on life support? Who could have done this crazy thing? Why would someone do this? Is this a terrorist’s attack? I have to go. I have to get there now, Joe. They will need me now more than at any other time.” She stood up and turned to face him. She said, “I really have to go. But how will I get there? Do you think Jim would take me on to the hospital after he drops you off at home?” Joe stood up too and looked hard at her and then said, “Calm down. Take a deep breath. Think about this situation for a minute. It may not be safe for you to go there. We shouldn’t separate ourselves from each other right now. That would not be a smart thing to do at all. We don’t know what it will be like in the city or at the hospital. Everyone who lives close to the hospital will have all ready gone there to help. What can you do that isn’t all ready being done? If you go into the city how will you get back home? Think about this. The roads will be clogged with vehicles. How will Jim even be able to get through to get you to the hospital? Let’s just get home first. Then we can talk about it. Then we will make some decisions about what to do. Our first priority is to get home safe. We will figure out what next to do after that. Agreed?” Jane looked deep into his eyes. She trusted Joe as no other. She sighed then nodded her head and said, “Agreed.” They sat back down and Joe reached for her hand to hold. They waited for Jim to come back from calming Marge. They didn’t really have a choice. What else could they do right now?

They were both deep in thought when they heard a door open and close. They turned and looked at each other. Then both of them looked over at the doorway to the kitchen watching for Jim to appear. Jim walked into the kitchen. Joe and Jane stood up. She asked, “Is Marge all right?” Jim answered her, “She will be okay. She’s just a little upset right now. I gave her one of her pills to calm her down. Her nerves bother her once in awhile and Dr. Anderson gave her a prescription for some nerve pills awhile back. She just needs to rest for right now.” He looked over at Joe and asked, “You folks ready to get your truck and go home?” They both answered with a, “Yes.” They gathered their things up and they all put their coats on and walked to the front door. Joe reached for the door handle first and lead them all outside.

They walked into the barn and got into Jim’s old truck. It was a 1972 ½ ton Ford pickup. Jim started it up and it was a happy sound. It was a sound they were not going to hear much in the future. Jim drove out of the barn and down the driveway towards the old road on his property where Joe had parked his truck this morning. After a few minutes they spotted Joe’s truck on the old road. Jim pulled ahead of it, stopped and didn’t even think about turning the motor off. He just didn’t want to chance the truck not starting again. He felt a bit superstitious about it. It was the only vehicle that would work. Joe jumped out the passenger side door and Jim got out on the driver’s side. Jane got out last. Joe had all ready grabbed the tow chain out of the back by the time Jim and Jane got to the back of the truck. Jane walked on and got into Joe’s truck. They hooked the chain up and Joe climbed into the cab of his truck to steer it as Jim towed them. They drove back down the old road to Jim’s place, then up the driveway to the road that would take them to Joe’s and Jane’s farm. It was not easy for Joe to steer his truck. No power steering. “Wow, you don’t realize how great power steering is until you don’t have it anymore,” Joe thought to himself with a chuckle. Jane said to Joe, “Good thing you’re in good shape or your arms would be stiff and sore tomorrow.” They shared a look and a smile. The world as they knew it might have ended but life goes on. Life is what you make of it.

They were traveling at about twenty mph. About two miles down the country road Jim slowed down and stopped. Joe thought to himself, “And you thought the steering was bad.” Using power brakes without power was not an easy thing to do. He just barely managed to get his truck stopped without bumping into Jim’s old truck. Now that Joe had the truck stopped he was able to look around and see why Jim had stopped.

There was old Fred standing by his mail box. Jim got out of his truck walked over to him. Before he could say a word old Fred said, “She is suppose to be here with the mail at 10:30. Here it is 11:15.” He was looking at his watch. He went on saying, “She is forty-five minutes late. I tell you when I ran the mail I was never this late. Not ever. I made sure of it because people are always waiting anxiously for their mail. It’s important to be on time. People appreciate it when you do your job right and are on time. What is wrong with this younger generation? Can’t they get anything right?” Jim smiled at Fred and said, “Hey Fred, is your car running Okay?” Fred stared at Jim for a few moments like he lost his mind. Then Fred said, “Of course, my car is running fine you damn fool. How do ya think I got it up here? You think I pushed it?” Jim smiled thinking what a sight that would be. Seeing old Fred who was eighty-one years old pushing his car up hill using his cane. Jim laughed. Then he asked Fred, “Have you tried to start your car since you’ve been waiting here?” Fred said, “What for?” Jim sighed deeply and said, Fred, could you please try to start your car?” Fred looked at Jim strangely and said, “Why do you want me to?” Jim said, “To see if it will start, of course.” Fred then said, “Why wouldn’t my car start?” Jim was getting a little exasperated by this time and said, “Fred, would you please go try and start your car. I will explain after you try it, okay?” Fred looked at Jim like he was dealing with a mentally defective person and said, “Okay, I’ll try to start my car.” He slowly walked over to his car and opened the door. He got in and sat down. He put the key in the ignition and turned. Nothing. No sound, no clicking, nothing. 

Fred looked over at Jim and said, “What in the heck did you do to my car?” Jim turned around and looked at Joe and Jane in sitting in their truck waiting, then turned back around and looked at Fred. Jim didn’t say anything for a few moments and Fred spoke up again and said, “Jim, what did you do to my car? You know I can’t afford another one. You had better fix it right now or I’ll get the Sheriff on you.” Jim had his hopes crashed. He had hoped they had been wrong and what happened to their vehicles was just some bizarre, unexplainable thing. But this, this confirmed what they thought had happened. Jim started to feel sick to his stomach. He reached out his arm and braced himself on Fred’s car. His knees were feeling a little shaky.

Joe saw Jim reach out to grab Fred’s car. He turned to Jane and said, “Stay in the truck. I will see what has happened. No matter what, just stay in the truck.” Jane said, “But this is just old Fred. He might need something after he is told about the EMP. He might have a heart attack or something.” Joe said, “I’ll call out to you if he needs your help all right?” Jane looked at him and said, “Nothing will ever be the same again will it?” Joe reached out and caressed her face for a moment and then said, No, it won’t.” He got out of the truck and walked over to Jim. Fred was asking Jim if he was all right. Jim looked real pale and was just staring at the fender he was standing by. Joe said, “Jim?” Joe said louder firmer voice, “Jim.” He reached out and shook Jim’s shoulder. Jim looked at him and said, “What?” Joe said, “Fred has been talking to you and you didn’t hear a word he said.” Jim looked at Fred and said, “I’m sorry Fred. I didn’t mean to ignore you. You just don’t understand yet about what‘s happened.” Fred said, “I know what happened. You did something to my car and now it won’t start. I’m going to call the Sheriff on you.” Jim and Joe exchanged a look. Jim said, “Go ahead Joe, maybe you will have better luck getting his attention and explaining what has happened then I have been able to do.” Joe turned to Fred and said, “Fred my truck won’t start either. All of Jim’s vehicles except this one won’t start. The power is out too. Jim can’t get his generator to work. His watch is dead too. All electrical and computer things have stopped working. We think and EMP has been set off. If it was and EMP that went off then we are all in big trouble.” Fred asked, “Did you say a TNT went off? Is that like a bomb? Are the Russians invading?” Joe said, “I said an EMP went off.” Fred, said, “That‘s what I said, A TNT went off.” Joe looked at Jim and then looked back at Fred and said, “I said an EMP went off. An EMP is an Electronic Magnetic Pulse bomb. That is a high altitude nuclear bomb was set off. It fried all electrical circuitry. Nothing electronic will work. That’s why Jim’s old truck will work when your car won’t start.” Fred said, “OH, one of those. So, we don’t have any electricity and our vehicles won’t start.” Joe said, “Yes, one of those. And no we don’t have any electricity.” Fred asked, “Are the Russians invading us, do you think?” Joe said, “I don’t know if they are or not.” Fred said, “When I was real young we lived with no electricity, you know. I guess I’ll just have to live without it again.” Joe said, “That’s right, that’s the attitude to have.” Jim said, “Fred you live quite a ways back. Do you want me to give you a lift home before I tow these two home?” Fred said, “Thank you, Jim. I would appreciate a ride back to my place. It would take me a long time to walk home these days. I’m not as young as I used to be you know.”

Jim and Joe walked back to the trucks. Jim unhooked the chain from the back of his truck. He turned to Joe and said, “I’ll be right back as soon as I get old Fred home.” Joe said, “We’ll be right here waiting for you.” The two men smiled at each other. Jim walked to where old Fred was and helped him get up into the truck. They drove away down the road. Jane got out of the truck and walked over to where Joe was standing. She asked, “How did he take it?” Joe said, “A lot better than any of us have. He said when he was younger he lived without electricity and can do it again. Not that he’s really going to have a choice in the matter.” Jane said, “Good attitude to have.” Joe smiled and said, “I said the exact same thing.” Joe grabbed her hand and said, “Let’s wait in the truck.” They walked towards the passenger side door and Joe opened it for her. Jane said, “Thank you, kind sir.” Joe smiled and bowed to her. He said, “Your welcome, my lady.” Jane giggled and got into the truck. Joe walked around to the driver’s door and got into the truck. Jane started to say something but stopped and changed her mind. Joe was looking all around with an alert look on his face. Now wasn’t the time to talk about things. Joe would just be distracted and this was not the time to have a serious conversation. Jane waited in silence. Joe would let her know if he saw something. Joe would talk when he had something to say.

After a few minutes of silence Joe said, “I wish we were home. We are sitting here in the truck right out in the open. I don’t have anything to defend us with except a bow. We need to get home.” Jane said, “Joe, relax. What in the world would you have to defend us against right now? Most people probably haven’t figured out what has happened. They probably won’t for some time yet. There are no communications going on right now so how could anyone even know what has happened? What I’d like to know is how big the area that the EMP knocked out is? Did we just get included in a strike against the East Coast or what?” Joe just looked at her and didn’t say anything at all. Jane said, Well, don’t you have an opinion on this?” Joe said, “We’ll talk when we get home.” Jane started to get a sinking feeling in her stomach. This must be much worse than I thought. For Joe to say something like that was a good indication that he knew a lot of things that she didn’t. What had she missed when Joe was sharing information with her and Preston about all the things that could go wrong? That was what she was wondering and worried about. During all of the things Joe and Preston came up with about the end of the world stuff, this hadn't been one of them as far as she knew. But obviously it was something. She was really getting scared now. It must be something really big and really bad. It must have something to do with how far of an area was affected from the EMP.

Joe saw Jim returning. He looked over at Jane as saw that she was deep in thought. He could just imagine what her intelligent mind was coming up with. I bet she figures it out before too long. He said, “Jim’s back.” Jane looked out the windshield and saw Jim getting close to them. Joe got out of the truck and waited for Jim to get into position to reattach the tow chain. Jim got out of his truck and walked over to where Joe was. Joe said, “Everything go all right?” Jim said, “Ya, I got him home and he was going on about needing some things from town. I told him I would be back tomorrow and see what I could do for him then. Right now I needed to get you two home.” Joe said, “Thanks. I am kind of anxious to get there.” Jim said, “It’s not even noon yet and it has all ready been one hell of a long day, huh?” Joe said, “That’s an under statement for sure.” The two men reattached the chain and then got into their trucks. They were finally on the way home at last.

When they rounded the last bend in the road and saw their place Joe was relieved. At last they made it home. He sighed in relief. Everything he needed was there. Knowing that everything was undisturbed and safe was what he had really worried about. Without everything there it would be a lot harder to survive the things that were coming. This is what he had been preparing for. Well, not this exactly but he knew something was going to happen eventually. It had to because we had all been living on top of a house of cards that was constantly getting more and more unstable. It was just a matter of time before things started to falling down around everyone.

Joe and Jane got out of the truck. Jim got out of his truck too. The men unattached the chain and Joe put it into the back of Jim’s truck. Jane said, “Thank you for the ride home. I hope Marge is feeling better soon. Please keep in touch with us and let me know if there is anything I can do to help.” Jim said, “You are welcome. Marge will be all right. It was just a shock to her, you know. I’ll keep in touch, don’t you worry about that.” Joe said, “Thanks Jim. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you. I owe you one neighbor.” Joe and Jim shook hands. Joe walked with Jim back to his truck. Jim opened the truck door and sat down. Joe said, “You should go home and button everything up tight. It could get real nasty, real soon around here.” Jim said, “No way, I’m going into town and see what has happened and if they have any news there. I’ll let you know what I find out.” Joe watched as Jim drove away. When he was out of sight he went into the house.

Jane was sitting at the kitchen table and said, “I got coffee going. I’ll make lunch in a few minutes. I know this is a terrible thing that has happened but we still have to eat.” She smiled at Joe. He said, “Hold that thought I’ll be right back.” Jane could hear him in the bedroom moving things around. “I bet he comes back armed to the teeth and brings me my 9mm”, she thought with a smile. She loved to tease him about being G. I. Joe.  They had locked up tight last night before bed so she knew it wouldn’t take much to secure the house now. She knew that would be the next thing he would do. She checked the doors and windows in the kitchen just to be sure they were all secure for him. She heard him go upstairs. She smiled to herself and thought, “Yup, right on target.” She gathered some things to make lunch. While she was busy doing that she heard him come done the stairs. When she had lunch ready she set places at the table. She could hear him walking around the house. She called out that lunch was ready. He came into the kitchen and yes, he was armed to the teeth. He handed her, her 9mm and an extra clip for it. She took the 9mm and said, “Thanks.” He looked like he wanted to have the serious talk that she knew was coming. She said before he had a chance to open his mouth and say anything, “We will eat first before we have the talk that is coming. We are not in grave danger at the moment. This may be the last time we ever have to just enjoy a meal together for a very long time. I am hungry and want to enjoy just a few peaceful minutes before hand, Okay?” He looked like he wanted to protest but didn’t. He was hungry too. They sat at the table and ate their lunch. When they were finished eating he stood up and said, “I’m going to check on something I’ll be right back.” She said, “Okay, I’ll be right here.” She cleaned up the kitchen and the table and had coffee waiting when he got back.

He started pacing from one side of the kitchen to the other. He had kept all his emotions and feelings under control until now. He hadn’t wanted to scare everyone to death with the true reality of the situation they were in. He walked over to the phone and took it off the hook and looked at it. She looked at him strangely and said, “Its dead remember, duh.” He slammed the phone down. He yelled with a shrill to his voice, “I have to talk to Preston. I have to tell him The Shit Has Hit The Fan. That it has really happened. I need him here. Now.” He started pacing back and forth again. He stopped and turned to her and said in a very tight voice, “This is a Red Alert. This is no joke. I am not over reacting or anything like that. So get that out of your mind right now. You just don’t understand yet. But, I’m going to explain it to you. All it takes is one EMP to take out the whole United States. Just one. Some other country did this. It doesn’t even matter which one. But what it does mean is that we would have retaliated back with an EMP of our own. So we now have two countries without power. Do you think that it will end right there? No it won’t. Everyone will get in on it. Any country that has EMPs will be taking this opportunity to retaliate against any country they have a grievance against. And the next thing you know the whole damn world will be in darkness. Before this day is over there probably won’t be a civilized nation left with power. Only things that have the proper shielding will still work and let me tell you, that will be such a small amount that it isn’t even worth mentioning at all. The whole world will be in darkness by the end of this night.”

He paused for a few moments and then went on, “It means there is no stock market anymore. No credit cards, no bank cards, money means nothing now. What can people do with money when there are no banks? There will be no way to buy food or anything. Hell, the food can’t even be delivered to the cities now. No delivery trucks will be working. So what good is the money they have in their pockets if people were still exchanging things for money, if nothing can get to them to buy? Look at the big picture here. This is like dominos. Everything is falling down. There is no way to even fly in care packages and food to the cities if it could be done. Airplanes don’t work anymore. Well, maybe Air Force One does. But that isn’t going to help us any. Can you imagine the riots? The chaos this is going to cause? I bet there was fighting everywhere on the freeways and highways after all the vehicles stopped working. People always have to find someone to blame. Look at all the cities that were all ready undergoing riots and fires and just plain down right chaos. All hell is breaking loose right now. But it is nothing compared to what is coming. What do you think is going to happen when the people understand that this can’t be fixed? That things aren’t going to get better. That there is no government left right now to help them. What are they going to do? And even if there was they would have no way to help them. The shit has really hit the fan. No ifs, and or buts about it. This is it. There is no going back now that someone pushed the first red button.” He took a deep breath and said, “That is why I need Preston to get here now. In a few days it might be too late for him to make it out of the city. Remember how quickly those other cities ran out of food? The stores were emptied out in one day. One day. And that was with the power working. Well, imagine what it will be like with no power, no vehicles working and no food too.”

Jane got paler and paler the more that Joe talked. She felt her stomach rolling. She was going to be sick. She had tears running down her face. She whispered, “Oh my God, this is hell on earth.”

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