Wilson Harp - EMP

I nodded and Tom darted off toward the small shed where he had prepared the space for the radio to sit.

He had the door open and motioned me inside as I kept the fast walking pace I had established since I stepped out of my front door. I entered the room and set the gym bag on the table. I unzipped the bag and carefully removed the packed radio. It looked like it was all intact. I attached the battery and turned the power on. Lights glowed and dials moved.

Tom and Kenny stared at it for a solid minute as I moved everything off the table and motioned to Tom.

“Go ahead, set it up to the antennae,” I said.

Tom nodded and attached the coaxial cable to the radio. The choppy signal wavered and then stabilized. I adjusted the frequency dial and we heard a voice.

“Roger Charlie 4. We had you set. Over.”

“We’ll be heading up to next point in a few. Contact when we get there. Charlie 4 out.”

I picked up the hand mic and prayed it would work. I was amazed just to hear voices coming in over the radio, to not be able to talk back to them would be such a disappointment.

“Hello,” I said. “Can anyone hear me?”

For a few seconds, the three of us waited as we only heard the inert static of a solid signal.

“Who is this?” a voice crackled back.

“My name is David and I am from Kenton. We just got our radio working.”

A few more seconds went by before we got another response.

“David from Kenton, it’s good to hear from you. And congratulations on repairing your radio. That couldn’t have been easy. What is your general situation?”

“Don’t give away too much information,” Kenny said. “We don’t know who he is or where he is.”

I nodded. That made sense and I knew I needed to be brief and terse.

“We are doing fine,” I said. “Who are you and where are you located.”

“I am Sergeant Webb and I am sitting in a bunker in Missouri. Where is Kenton located?”

“He’s trying to get you to give up our position. He isn’t giving his up,” Kenny said.

“Be careful, David, but we can’t give in to paranoia,” Tom said.

“We are pretty close, I think. How is the situation where you are?” I asked.

“We have control of the general area. Have you had trouble with outside people?”

“A few,” I said. “We were able to make sure we weren’t bothered by them.”

“I pulled a map up, David. Looks like you are about 90 miles from us. We are in Cape Girardeau.”

“Who is we, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“U.S. Army Reserve unit from town. We had some equipment survive the burst, and we acted quickly to establish control and mobilize the population. How did Kenton go about setting themselves up?

“We were able to organize quickly. Got wells and latrines set up, started planting crops in the first few days.”

“Hold on, David from Kenton. I’ll just be a minute.”

“What do you think that is about?” I asked Tom and Kenny.

“Not sure,” said Tom. “But we should be taking notes.”

“Do you think they can pinpoint where we are broadcasting from?” Kenny asked.

“I’m not sure,” Tom said. “But they already know where Kenton is.”

“David? Are you there?” Sergeant Webb said over the radio.

“I’m here, Sergeant.”

“Okay, is there anything you need up there? We don’t have much food but we can come and try to help you with water purification.”

I looked at Kenny and Tom. I was hoping they would have an idea of what to ask for, but they looked back at me with the same look I thought I had.

“Medicine,” I said finally. “There are quite a few folks running low on medicine.”

“Yeah, that’s something we are all dealing with. Can’t help you there. Listen, how this normally works is, we send a team out to assess the situation of people calling for help. But you sound like you have everything under control. Is that what I am understanding?”

“It’s pretty well under control. It’s been tough, but I think the town will be okay.”

“I know it may be a lot to ask, but how many folks do you have up there.”

Kenny smacked me on the shoulder and emphatically shook his head “No.”

“Prudence would be to let that question lie for the time being, Sergeant.”

“Understood. We would like to maintain contact with you, David. Are you in charge of the radio?”

“Uh, no. Actually, I fixed it and we are just trying it now. Tom is with me and he will be the one who mans the radio for us.”

I handed the mic to Tom. It was a thrill to speak to someone else from a far location, but Tom was who would be running our communications station.

“Thank you, David,” he said as I stood from the chair. He sat down and turned the mic back on.

“This is Tom,” he said. “I have some questions about what is going on if you don’t mind.”

Kenny tapped me on the shoulder and motioned for me to follow him as he walked out of the small shed.

I left the shed and closed the door behind me.

“Wow, man. I just can’t believe it,” he said. “David, you have reconnected us with the outside world. And whether it is better or worse out there, we will at least know.”

“We will.” I said. I realized my hands were shaking and I still wanted to run. It was sinking in that I had done it. I had fixed the radio. The frontier around Kenton was no longer limited to the range of Buck and his hunters. It was miles and miles away, days by foot. If the army really did have control of Cape Girardeau, then we had access to the Mississippi river and Illinois. If we had access to Illinois, then I could make my way to Chicago.

“You okay?” Kenny asked.

“Yeah, just all catching up to me.”

“Well let’s go tell Sophia and the others. They’ll want to know. You can hang out here until Ted gets back this evening. He’ll know who to tell, and when, in town.”

“Sounds good to me,” I said. “I feel a little shaky now, anyway. What time is it?”

Kenny looked up at the sky. “Looks like it’s right at noon. Let’s go kill a couple of hours.”

We walked down the path to Sophia’s house. The gardens showed abundant crops. Cucumbers, melons, squash, tomato plants, small hot pepper bushes and neat rows of cabbages, were all proof Ted and his people would be well-fed come winter time.

“They will be harvesting the wheat in the next few days,” I told Kenny. “Looks like we might get some flour within a few weeks.”

“I bet you are missing bread, aren’t you?”

“You aren’t?” I asked.

He smiled and shook his head. “Nah, Sophia had laid in about two hundred pounds of flour before the event. She had it sealed up in big tubs. That was her ‘end of the world’ supplies. Ted doesn’t want word to get out about how much we have up here, but we won’t be hurting for flour for a couple of years. Hopefully by that time things will be better and flour won’t be a concern.”

My mouth watered at the thought of a piece of bread. “Do you think… I mean if it isn’t too much to ask?”

Kenny smiled at me. “You fixed the radio. I’m going to fix you whatever you want for lunch.”

We entered Sophia’s house and were met by their two large golden retrievers. I reached down to pet them and marveled at how well fed and fit they seemed.

Sophia came out of the kitchen with her daughter Kaylee in tow.

“David, what a nice surprise. I didn’t think we were going to be having visitors today.” She glanced at Kenny as if it was his fault she wasn’t prepared to entertain guests.

“We have a radio, Sophie,” Kenny said.

“We do? David, did you get it?” She squealed bringing her other two kids running into the room.