Wilson Harp - EMP

“I realize now it was just a threat, although at the time I was convinced he would kill me. But since I was heading off to college, don’t you think you would have lost interest in me anyway?”

“I don’t think so. I never did lose interest. I waited for you to call me every day. For years.”

“You could have called me, you know?” This was not a conversation I wanted to have, but I knew she wouldn’t let it drop.

“I couldn’t call you, you would have thought I was interested.”

“You were interested.”

“True, but it was your job as the man to call.”

“Sounds a bit sexist.”

“I’m old fashioned.”

“And alone.”

She tensed up and I knew I had scored a hit. I wasn’t proud of it, but I wanted to end this conversation and I thought if I made it unpleasant for her, she would drop it.

“Yes,” she said. “I’m alone. And that’s because I didn’t fight for what I wanted.”

Anne turned Bonnie onto a small blacktop road from the main highway.

“How far are we from the place?” I asked.

Anne was seething with a barely contained fury.

“About two miles,” she said. Her voice was strained and I thought I may have gone a bit too far.

The shaded black road led deeper into the old forest. The cool, moist trail up the hill was the perfect place to spend a sweltering summer day, but it was warm and cozy compared to the frigid aura that seemed to radiate from Anne. If the chill was anymore real, I would have had frostbite on my hands.

The blacktop ended and a gravel road led us the rest of the way to Ted’s compound. Several children ran out to see us. I assumed they were Sophia’s because they were black and I didn’t think there was another black family living out in the wilderness north of Kenton.

“Get down,” Anne said as she pulled Bonnie to a stop. “You can walk back.”

“Anne, I’m sorry.”

I slid off the saddle and reached up to help Anne down.

I didn’t see her foot as she swung off the saddle and it caught me square on the side of the head.

I tumbled to the ground. Her heavy boots were right in front of me when I opened my eyes.

“Are you dead?” she asked.

“No,” I said. Her boots seemed to split into two pair as I tried to pull myself up.

“Maybe next time.” She turned and led Bonnie away from me.

I closed my eyes and laid back down. My shoulder seemed to ache, probably from when I hit the ground, but nothing like the headache I was experiencing.

“You must have pissed her off something fierce,” a voice said above me.

I opened my eyes and squinted through the pain. A wrinkled face set behind a heavy beard and mane of pure white hair was smiling at me.

“Ready to get up?” the old man asked. He held his hand out to me. I grabbed it and felt him pull me up.

“You must be David,” he said as he steadied me.

“I am, and you are?” I asked.

“Tom Pearson,” he said. “Glad to meet you.”

“Thanks,” I said. “This where Ted lives?”

“This is his Shangri-La. Come on, I’ll introduce you to everyone.”

I followed Tom up the rough drive way past a tall wooden fence. It wasn’t one of those professional looking fences, this looked like it had been pieced together over a period of several years. Some of the tall slats of wood looked fairly new, stained and weather-treated, but others looked decades old.

“Besides Ted and Kenny, there are Sophia and her kids, Ben and Karen, and Holly and me. Not many people, but we do what we can.”

I was half-listening to Tom and half trying to work out the soreness in my neck when my guide into the compound stopped and swept his arms around as if to show me something grand.

And it was grand. I was looking down into a small valley that was sheltered on each side by high oak and cottonwood trees. Terraced gardens ran down the valley toward a large pond. The pond was fed by two small streams that pooled every fifty feet or so. Small bridges and walkways led to various small buildings and structures.

The sounds of animals brought life to the amazing painting of farm life in front of me. Geese and ducks swam in the pond, chickens picked at the hard ground in front of the buildings where several goats were keeping the grass shorn short. Two big golden retrievers were following Anne and the kids from the barn where the lowing of cows lent a richness to the entire spectacle.

“This is amazing,” I muttered.

“It is,” Anne said as she stepped up beside me. “Sorry about the boot to the head. It really was an accident. I didn’t see you turn back to help me.”

“Why did you leave me lying there?”

“Because Tom was already coming out and I was pissed at you.”

“Fair enough,” I said. I turned slowly and looked around at everything that was hidden in this little plot of wilderness.

“What is that?” I said as I pointed up.

“That’s a cell tower,” Tom said. “It’s the reason Ted wanted you to come up here today.”

The cell tower stood a good two hundred and fifty feet high. It topped out the trees by a good hundred feet, and yet with the heavy spring foliage, I didn’t even notice it as we had come out to Ted’s place.

“How far away is it?” I asked.

“About a quarter of a mile from the gate over there,” Tom said as he pointed between two buildings. “Me and Ben cleared the path to it and have run the wires needed.”

“What wires?” I asked as I turned back to the old man.

“To hook the radio up to. Once you get it fixed, we will be able to hook it up and let the cell tower broadcast it for us.”

“Wait, I’m not even sure I can fix the radio,” I said. “I just don’t know… I don’t know.”

“Don’t worry about it, David. Ted just wanted you to see what we got ready for you. Come here.”

Tom led me to a small shed next to what looked like an old fashioned windmill. It turned without creaking, but looked like it should have been in a sepia tinged photo from the dustbowl era. He turned back to where I stood unmoved and motioned to me in a way that made me feel like a skittish dog being called after his new owner.

I went to the small shed and he opened the door for me. Inside was a small, sturdy table with a power cord that looked like it would plug into the radio I was working on. I had noticed there was no power cord in the package Ted had given me, but I thought it was just an oversight on his part. Apparently it was not.

“You have a steady source of power?” I asked.

I pointed to the cord when Tom raised an eyebrow at my question.

“Of course,” he answered. “Hasn’t Ted told you anything about this place?”

“He said him and Kenny and Kenny’s sister lived up here and survived on what they grew and could make.”

“I suppose that’s true. But what we can grow and make is, well, it’s pretty nice. We have wind power to supply us with electricity and pump our water. Our solar panels blew out in the EMP, but we were able to get the generators going again. As long as our propane and gasoline supplies hold out, we should be good.”

“How much do you have?”

Tom tugged at his ear and squinted up into the sun. “Well… we haven’t really told anyone that yet. Ted was pretty particular about that information not being available.”

I understood. It would make them a target if word ever got out. If they had enough supplies to last eighteen months, some would think, then surely they can take me and my family in. But then those supplies drop to twelve months. And then another family, and it’s down to nine months. Pretty soon, they have nothing left and everyone who showed up is mad because they thought they would be okay.