G Hopf - The End

“Stop hitting my fucking truck dude! Back off!” Jimmy yelled back.

“Listen, back off!” Gordon yelled again.

“I need your help, my wife is having a baby and she’s bleeding badly; I need someone to take her to the hospital.”

“What should we do?” Jimmy asked Gordon.

“Start the truck and leave. We can’t help him or his wife,” Gordon said firmly.

“Please help me!” the man screamed, he was starting to get crazed and looked desperate.

“Maybe we should help him,” Jimmy said to Gordon.

Gordon pulled out his Sig and pointed it at the man, who immediately backed away.

“I need help, please don’t shoot me!” the man said, backing away slowly.

“Now start the truck and get the fuck out of here,” Gordon yelled in a commanding voice to Jimmy.

Jimmy didn’t hesitate; he started the truck, put it into gear and started to pull away. He looked at the man again and saw him just standing there, arms slumped forward, defeated.

“Let’s move, Jimmy. It’s getting dark and we need to get back,” Gordon said.

“Okay,” Jimmy responded. His heart was still racing from the incident with the man. He gripped the steering wheel tight as he maneuvered the truck through the people and cars in the lot.

“What’s going to happen to us?” Jimmy asked Gordon as soon as they cleared the parking lot.

“I don’t know, Jimbo. I don’t know. What I do know is that I plan on making sure my family survives.”

“How long will the power be out? I just can’t believe that our government or the military are down. I’m sure they’ll help soon, don’t you think?”

“Again, I don’t know if this is an isolated situation, but it sounds like it may not be. If this is a large-scale EMP attack then more than likely the entire power grid in the U.S. is down. Just dealing with getting the power back up by itself is a huge issue. Now add insult to injury and have everything electrical from cars to phones to generators, everything is down and how do you repair or replace those systems on the power grid? Jimmy, I fear we may be in for a long haul; we may not see the lights come on at all for a very, very long time. When they do, there’s a good chance the world we knew before will have been lost,” He turned away from Jimmy and stared out the window of the car. Everything looked the same, the mountains were still here, the roads, buildings and houses but nothing worked.

“Do you have any type of plan?” Jimmy asked.

“Yes and no. Was I really prepared for something like this, no; do I have everything we need, no. Do I plan on getting it, yes,” Gordon said, turning back to his friend.

“What do we need?”

“Food, water, medicine, fuel and ammo are our basic needs. Precious metals, gems, and cash for a short time will help us secure more of those needs. We have a very short window before all the food is gone,” Gordon said.

“What about our neighbors?”

“I haven’t figured that out yet, but we should all get together sometime tomorrow and attempt to have a community meeting. The truth is this: Not all of us are going to survive this. It will take three days, tops, and San Diego will be out of food. The water will start to dry up, too. In about a week, we could start to see wandering bands of people looking for food in our neighborhood. We’ll have to secure our community, lock it down.”

“Should we leave?” Jimmy asked with concern in his voice.

“My gut says yes, but at the moment we have only one vehicle between us. We need to find more vehicles. Until we can put everything together, we should focus on food and water so our families don’t starve.”

“Okay, just take the lead, Gordon and tell me what needs to be done; you seem more ready for this than me.”

“I wish I were more ready, but we have no choice but to go forage every day,” Gordon said. “How are we looking for gas?”

“I have half a tank, it can last us tomorrow depending on how far we go, but we’ll need to get some more soon,” Jimmy said.

“I agree. Once we off load all the food and divide it up, let’s make a plan.”

“Sounds good,” Jimmy replied. He was feeling better knowing that he had Gordon as a friend. Gordon was taking charge, and Jimmy didn’t mind. This survival stuff was not up his alley. He didn’t know what lay ahead for all of them but he felt better knowing that they had an advantage.

“How long will they be gone?” Simone asked Samantha. Simone and Jimmy had known each other since high school. The love they felt for each other ran deep. She had short dark hair and was short. She had been raised in the Northeast and had the typical northeastern accent that accompanied her sweet but hyper personality. Simone was more on edge than usual because the blackout had stopped her from taking her and Jimmy’s son Mason to his doctor’s appointment. They had recently been informed that he had asthma.

“I don’t know, but I’m sure they’ll be fine,” Samantha answered as she poured some lukewarm milk for Haley. Samantha was nervous, too, but didn’t want to show it. Simone, however, was visibly freaked out.

“When will the government come and get this all straightened out? I’m sure this is only temporary,” Simone said aloud just to reassure herself. She was pacing in the ever-darkening kitchen.

“I’m sure you’re right. Soon all of this will be over and we’ll be back to normal,” Samantha answered, even though she knew better. Everything that Gordon had told her made it sound as if the power might be out for months.

“Mommy, can I have my milk?” Haley asked, walking into the kitchen.

“Here, sweetie,” Samantha replied gently to Haley, handing her the cup she had just filled.

Haley grabbed the milk and ran down the hall to the play room.

Samantha watched as Haley ran on and was deeply saddened by what was happening. She was scared most for her children and what they might have to experience. She then thought of Simone and her son, Mason.

“How has Mason been?” Samantha asked.

“He’s okay. We’ve explained to him what he has and he kind of understands. We have been drilling into his head to make sure he has his inhaler wherever he goes.”

“I’m so sorry for you all.”

“I just feel better knowing what it is; the unknown is what scared me the most. At least now we can tackle it and move down a road of treatment.”

“How has work been for Jimmy?” Samantha asked, almost ashamed by how mundane the question was.

“Business has been up and we are hoping to secure a new contract with a large client soon. Jimmy has been working on it all month. He’s put a lot of time into it and has been working so many late nights to make sure it happens.”

“That’s great,” Samantha replied back. She could not stop thinking about Gordon. The small talk wasn’t helping her forget what was happening. She trusted Gordon above anyone else and knew he was a capable man. She was just feeling very insecure now and wanted him home.

Her thoughts were broken by the flash of headlights cutting across the room. She and Simone looked at one another excitedly. They both jumped up and walked to the front door.

Simone opened the door just as Gordon was walking up the path.

“Hi, Gordon. Everything okay?” Simone asked.

“Yes, we’re all good. The trip went well. I need to go and open the garage door,” Gordon walked briskly by Simone and Samantha. Even back at the house, he was certainly a man on a mission. He wanted to get the truck in the garage as soon as possible to get it unloaded.

Gordon made his way into the garage, found the cord that disengaged the automatic garage door, and pulled it, releasing the lock. He lifted the door manually.