Wilson Harp - EMP

“Still a lot of guessing in there,” Luke said.

“See a car?” Buck asked.

“Well, no.”

“How did they get here?”

“I guess they walked,” Luke said.

“With no food or water? No packs? They dragged Bill and those tires all the way from Thayer? That’s thirty miles. Bill and his family left six days ago. Figure an hour to get to Thayer, the rest of the day to be caught and raped. That leaves five days and four nights for them to get him back here with no food or water. That’s a lot to ask while dragging that thing.”

“Okay, then how did they get here?” I asked.

“Cars. They pulled up last night after sun down around the bend in the Highway. There the morons get out, rig up their little fire display, pop Bill inside, and pull it down the road right before dawn. They are told they will be picked up after they get done.”

“Then we should go wait for them to come back and ambush them,” I said. “Maybe we can get the cars and go and rescue the girls.”

“They ain’t coming back. Like I said, these fellows were troublemakers sent to die. If we had given in, they would have gone back to their pickup point and waited. After a day or two they would have walked back down the highway to their town. Maybe they would have been shot on sight, maybe they would have been kept around, but whoever is in charge would have known we could be pushed around.”

“So what happens now?” asked Luke.

“In a few days, they will likely send someone to take a peek at our little barricade here. If it is well manned, they will leave us be, I would guess. There are other places where they can get what they want without getting all shot up. Who knows, they might come to us looking for legitimate trade eventually.”

“Buck!”

All three of us turned to see who had called to him. It was Ike Stokes. He had been the postmaster from over in Wilcox, but lived in Kenton. Now he was one of the town council. He was stalking up the bridge in a fury.

“I understand you’re responsible for this carnage,” Ike said. “Well?”

“I shot first, that’s true. I fired another eight times as well. Emptied my magazine.”

“Did they fire back?”

Buck shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. “Nope. Didn’t really want to give them a fair fight. Just wanted to kill them.”

Ike glanced over at the red stained road. “I think the council needs to hear what happened. We won’t stand for anyone taking matters like this into their own hands.”

“Didn’t have time to bring it up in a meeting, Ike. Something had to be done and I did it.”

“Well, let’s go. You can tell it to the council and we will figure out what should happen.”

Buck pulled the pistol from his belt and held it out to Ike.

“What’s this for?”

“I figure you wanted me unarmed, didn’t you?”

Ike smiled a little. He took the firearm, turned and walked off the bridge.

“I guess you better get going,” Luke said.

“I guess I should,” replied Buck.

He hopped over the barricade and followed the councilman down the road. His boys came over to him and he gave them his rifle, another handgun and three knives before they trotted out into a field.

“What do you think is going to happen?” I asked Luke.

“Not sure. He seems pretty certain he saved us from a dangerous group, but I’m not sure if his story will hold up with the council. At the same time, he is the best of the hunters and having venison on the menu has made everyone happier.”

“So they could just let the death of a bunch of strangers slide because he can keep our bellies full.”

“I’ve seen worse injustice in my life,” Luke muttered. “Well, let’s go back to my place David. I have something that you might can use.”

“What?”

“A pile of old electronics.”

“I’ll take a look, but don’t get your hopes up.”

Luke dropped a big arm across my shoulders. “David, what you are doing is just as important as what happened here today. If you can get that radio working, then you expand our world from beyond what we can see.”

The box I carried was loaded with junk. Most of it had sat up in attics or in boxes at the back of closets. Luke had been in charge of going to each house in the three southern sections of town to make sure there was no one with problems they may not want to share with others. He had a good way of pulling information out of strangers after just a few minutes.

There was the family who had a child with a thyroid condition. They didn’t know what to do because the follow up visit to determine a course of treatment was scheduled for the week after the EMP hit. Luke was able to get Bill Hanson to talk with them and look at the boy. He was able to find a medicine that would work that wasn’t prioritized. Luke was also able to get several of the older single men and women to move into houses together. He said it was for them to keep an eye on each other, but I knew it was to keep loneliness from becoming a real problem.

While he went on those visits, he also asked people about what books they had. It was surprising the number and types of books some families had in their houses. Most were entertainment or biographical, but a few were books turned up some very useful information. A few handbooks from the Boy Scouts and other organizations like that had first aid, water gathering and other basic survival skills. Enough people had remembered what they had learned that the books weren’t essential, but they were being passed around and studied by those who felt they could use the extra know-how.

Luke had also asked people if they had any older electronics lying about. Anything from before the 70’s in particular. Most people didn’t, but a few had some old televisions, clocks, calculators, and most importantly, radios that were gathering dust.

The box had to weigh at least sixty pounds, but I carried it with ease. One of the few silver linings from this situation was everyone seemed to be getting into good shape. Those that had survived.

Luke had showed me his collection of pieces and I had spent a good two hours on the floor of his living room as I sorted out what I thought might be useful to me. I was able to cut and strip out yards of wiring of different thickness, find all sorts of components that looked like they might still function, and see different configurations of systems that might give me an insight on how to fix the radio.

I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but I was excited to get home and start taking all of my new-found treasures out of the box.

I entered through the front door and noticed Mom was not in her customary spot on the couch. Dad’s head peeked around the corner of the hallway. He looked upset and I was sure it was the killings that morning that had put him in a foul mood.

He sighed and relaxed when he saw me.

“Davey,” he said as he stepped into the living room. He held a pistol in his right hand.

“Dad, what’s wrong?” I asked.

He motioned toward the kitchen with a jerk of his head and slipped the pistol into a holster that hung on his belt.

I shifted the box and turned slightly. The kitchen door leaned against the counter by the sink. The frame where the door normally hung was splintered where the hinge once was. I put the box on the ground and dashed over to the doorway. The door had been knocked clear off its hinges, but I saw it had been knocked down from the inside, not kicked in from the garage like I had expected to find.

“What happened?” I turned to find Dad had slipped up right behind me.

“Someone broke in and when your mother confronted them, they burst out the kitchen door and took off running.”