William Stone - How We Survive - EMP Survival in a Powerless World

From behind, the guard said, “A lot depends on how much storage space you have. How much do you have?”

Jade shrugged. “I haven’t measured it. I can’t say for sure.”

A pained looked spread across his face. “I can’t really answer your question if I don’t know exactly what the problem is. You have any pictures of it so I can take a look?”

“I don’t have any pictures. But our bunker’s just a few blocks down the street, by the Takahoma. Next to the red house that had its roof blown off in the riots.

He turned to Hatfield. “Can you take over for me while I go take a look at it?”

“Go right ahead. Just make sure you’re safe out there. It’s getting close to nightfall.”

“No worries,” he said, jumping the fence, rifle strapped to his back.

Hatfield watched the four of them trail off into the distance. It was a sweet image, but in the back of his mind, he wondered if there was a danger to it that none of them could see. The four of them alone, only one of them armed, drifting into a world that had fallen in chaos.

He scanned the landscape, seeing no red flags. But the danger was out there, just waiting. Moments like this made him think of his father and made him wish he were more grateful for his upbringing. His father understood how dangerous and unstable a place the world really was, and he understood exactly how to prepare for it. He’d prepared his son—his only child—to be armed against it. But his son had let him down.

As he watched the setting sun fade behind the wreckage and debris of the city, he hoped for a chance to redeem himself. But for the time being, he was still groping for answers.

The gangbanger stayed crouched in the weeds, waiting. Niko was there to take a shot at the guard if one was available, but he didn’t have one. He was close enough to hear the conversation between this guard and the one who took off for the woman’s compound, but taking a shot would be risky. Too many people would come after him before he could have made it back to the barn.

But what he had now was more valuable than a shot at a guard. He had knowledge that Nathan needed and might possibly reward him for. That woman had missiles within her bunker. That would be something the leader needed to know.

Before racing back to the barn, Niko waited for the guard to move away from his spot. It took a while, but eventually, he did, giving him just the time to scurry back to the others, barely able to keep himself from giggling like a high school prom queen.

THE NOISE of revelry and shouted joy could probably be heard for miles beyond the barn. Being well-fed put the gangbangers in good spirits. Nathan watched them dance and fire pistols into the air triumphantly, but he didn’t share their sense of triumph.

The exchange of food was, at best, a truce, not a victory. If they wanted to have full access to everything those homesteaders had, they’d need another plan. The fact that they didn’t want to endure the day-to-day pain-in-the-ass struggle involved with running the compound didn’t mean they had to settle for a half-ass win. Free food would only get them so far. They needed to take that place, but they needed to do it in a way that worked for them, a way that didn’t demand that they had to know what they were doing in that place.

Zan was in the middle of an arm-wrestling match when Nathan called him over, causing the grin to disappear from his face right away. Panicked by the urgency in his boss’s face, he leaped up from his seat despite being seconds away from a win.

“You wanted something, boss?”

“Yes, a few things. Number one, tell those idiots to stop firing shots into the air. We’re going to need every bullet if we want to stay ready at all times.

Zan started to race away, but Nathan grabbed his shoulder, tugged him back. “But first, we need to get an inside look of what that place looks like.”

“You mean the compound?”

“Yeah, we need to know if we can realistically run it and how.”

“You want me to torture those homesteaders for info?”

He shook his head. “Come on, dude. You know I do all the torturing myself. I can’t let you guys keep all the fun for yourselves. Give me that whip, and let’s go.”

With a subtle wave, he gestured for the three homesteaders to be yanked to the center barn. “Okay, you three! It’s time for you to tell us what you know about the inside of that place.”

Their faces stretched into terrifying masks. “We’ve told you everything we know!” The woman sobbed, “Please don’t hurt us anymore!”

He stooped to meet the woman’s face. “I will hurt you as much or as little as I feel like! It's that clear! And right now, I feel like hurting you a lot. Besides, you don’t have much to complain about anyway. You’ve been spared the worst of it because we don’t want you all scarred up. Not for what we’ve got in mind for you!”

A gangbanger in the middle of the crowd growled, “To be honest, long as it’s been since we’ve been with a woman, I’m thinking scarred or unscarred don’t really matter much in the grand scheme of things.”

Nathan intimidatingly lifted an eyebrow. “The man’s got a point. With that in mind, let’s see how you look with a few scars on you.”

“Hold on a second!” shouted a voice from the side. It was the gangbanger sent on a mission.

“What is the problem?” Nathan yelled, his voice heavy with annoyance.

“We’re wasting our time with these three. I found out about this new place we should be thinking about.”

“What place?”

“I don’t know the address exactly, but it’s a bunker down by the river.”

“And?”

“Well, the place is stocked with missiles and missile launchers!”

“Missiles? And missile launchers?” Nathan hissed. “Can somebody even have that kind of stuff in their home?”

“I don’t know, but look, maybe she meant to say grenade launchers or something else, and she said missiles. That’s not the point. Whatever it is she’s got in there is worth getting ahold of.”

“Why? We have all we need right now to get control of that compound. Our problem is it would be a pain in the ass to have to run everything.”

“No, no, you’re not listening to me! You’re still talking about taking over the compound, but we could be thinking a lot bigger than that. We could take over the whole city! I mean, if we’ve got actual military weaponry—”

“Look, we don’t have time for bullshit—”

Zan—ever the diplomat—found a gentle way to interrupt his boss. “Actually, Nathan, he may have a point. If we can get our hands on a bunker with that kind of weaponry—even if she’s exaggerating what it is exactly—we could seriously take everything over. We could totally be in charge of the whole city, what’s left of it, at least.”

Nathan stayed silent for a second, giving his head a slow shake. “I’m beginning to like the idea the more I think of it. If we get control of that bunker, this city is ours; this city is ours! Every square inch. We get our hands on some weaponry like that, and we take this place and be powerful enough to run everything. Unlimited access to food. Total control of the people. That will be our goal. But first, we have to take it. So let’s go!”

They rounded the guys up and sent them creeping forward in the weeds, heads down, guns up. Once there, it didn’t take long to find the bunker. It was a slightly sunken concrete structure covered mostly with grass.

From this distance, it looked damn near impenetrable. “Any chance that we can get into that place?” Nathan asked Zan.

“Doesn’t look like it,” his second-in-command replied.