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

As Hatfield waited for the medication to take effect, an eternity seemed to pass. The bearded gangbanger stepped to the door and paused. Several seconds went by, sending panic through Hatfield as he wondered about what he was hearing—and what he was not hearing.

All at once, the gangbanger’s body landed loudly on the hardwood floor. Hatfield slowly opened his eyes to see him splayed in the doorway, rifle halfway down the hallway.

“The hell was that?” Rick called from the kitchen.

Hatfield slipped the medication bottle back into his pocket, then shoved himself to the rifle. A lucky break, although he’d need free hands before he could take advantage of it.

And a yell from the kitchen hinted that time was running short. “What’s wrong? You had a few too many hits from the homemade hooch?”

Hatfield turned, angled his roped hands to the gun’s turret, feeling for the sharpest thing he could find. Noticing a sharp edge along the turret, he lowered his hands and brought his wrists to a sawing motion, moving as quickly as he could without making a sound.

Another call from the kitchen. “You okay in there?”

More sawing, faster. Hard to do quietly.

“You okay?” Rick repeated, his voice now closer, footsteps on their way to the hallway.

No time to keep things quiet. He had to get those hands free and the rifle in his grip. He’d snapped the rope off just as the steps got there.

A shirtless, leather-vested gangbanger stood before him, gawking. He dove for the rifle, getting there seconds after Hatfield could yank it away from him. The guy landed a haymaker on his opponent’s chin, then reached again for the rifle.

Hatfield took a swing, pounding his chest with it just enough to knock him off balance. The gangbanger charged a third time, eyes narrow with rage.

But Hatfield turned the rifle around just in time and fired away, slipping his finger through the trigger guard before the weapon could be pulled from his hands. A shot rang out and ripped the gangbanger’s chest into a sea of crimson as a new set of footsteps charged forward.

Leaping to his feet, Hatfield held the gun before him. But he saw nothing and heard nothing. He reached down and untangled his ankles, rifle still poised.

Creeping out from the hallway and into the living room, he heard a faint noise behind a sofa, then took a few shots, hitting nothing.

He crept a few feet farther out, keeping his breath soft to avoid making too much noise. A body leaped up, firing twice. Hatfield fired three, maybe four times, then dropped to the floor as he heard his target also fall. He grimaced and grunted through clenched teeth, feeling a sting at his shoulder.

But ten feet ahead of him, the spot of his fallen target, he heard nothing at all. Creeping closer, he saw a body face-up, eyes wide and staring at nothing. After giving the compound a quick scan to make sure there was nobody else there, he returned to the hallway where he woke up all the other homesteaders—fourteen of them in total—their eyes wide with horror.

He knelt and started untying with the most horrified face he saw—Grace’s. “You doing okay?” he asked, slipping the gag from her mouth.

She pushed a small laugh from her shaky lips. “I’m trying.” But just as Hatfield pulled her to her feet, she turned to the doorway, eyes alert, shrieking, “Watch out!”

He turned, finding the bearded gangbanger there, heavy-lidded and leaning against the door, rifle at his hip. Out of options, Hatfield charged him, elbowed him in the face, bringing his drowsy body tumbling to the ground. “Hopefully he’s out for good this time.” When he saw Grace trembling, he gave her a hug. “Still trying?” he asked.

She nodded.

Hatfield untied the rest of the homesteaders, then addressed them. “Okay, guys, here’s the plan. We go to Jade’s bunker and pick up what we need so that we're ready for them when the rest of the gang gets here. Everybody got any questions?”

Gary asked. “Yeah, what happens next?”

“What happens next is we win; we defend this place doing whatever it takes.”

“But they’ve got us outnumbered!” another homesteader spat.

“Remember when we attacked those guys at the hospital? The numbers didn’t matter. What mattered was that we were running into a jungle we weren’t familiar with. But they’d been there, waiting for us. They knew exactly where they were and how to navigate the area. That’s the advantage we’ve got now, and it’ll be all we need. Now let’s get out of here and take care of business.”

Jess was as stunned as everybody else inside when the knock came to the bunker’s front door. The kids were engaged in a fun guessing game, transported for one glorious minute to a world that wasn’t on fire. But the knock brought reality roaring back, reminding everybody how much danger was out there and how important it was to keep it from leaking inside.

“That’s the knock!” Jade called, racing down the dark hallway. “Sounds pretty important.”

Jess stayed behind, arms roped around Tami and Justin’s shoulders. She saw Trevor and a few others speed into the bunker with urgency. “What’s going on?” she cried.

“We’ve got to get back in time to defend the homestead,” he said, stopping to hug his family. “No time to explain the situation exactly, but the main thing is to do what you have to do to stay safe. Okay?”

She nodded, doing her best to keep her eyes dry. This was the time to stay strong.

He added, “And that garden outside…”

Jade said, “Yes, we know it’s not safe out there, but the weather had been so nice, we just couldn’t resist.”

“No worries, but I’d recommend bringing whatever it is you’re growing out there in as soon as possible.”

Jess asked the little ones, “You got that, kids?”

“We’re with you all the way, Dad!” Tami said. After one more hug, he was gone.

Jess missed him already, knowing she’d see him again sometime, but unsure if that time would come in this life or the life to follow.

She turned back headed down the hallway. After reaching the small room in the back, she gazed at the escape hatch, wondering how much safer she’d feel if her husband had fixed that.

From behind, she heard Jade’s voice. “Okay, kids! Looks like things are getting crazy out there, so we better bring that stuff in from the garden before it’s too late!”

But Jess had a bad feeling about it. Something in her gut told her it was already too late.

HATFIELD LED the homesteaders back to the compound, crouched in the front and guiding the guys forward with hand gestures. Unsure if the gangbangers had gone back inside, he held them in place with a lifted hand, then slipped to the fence to check things out.

There was no guard in the front. Nor did he see movement inside. He backpedaled to the homesteaders and said, “Okay, looks like we don’t have company just yet, but let’s step inside alertly just in case we have any surprises. Weapons ready.”

They each jumped the fence and went in the back door, moving slowly, heads swiveling from left to right. He took a headcount and saw everybody. With the female homesteaders staying at the bunker, they now numbered twelve.

Hatfield took a deep breath and addressed them, “All right, we want to be ready for them when they show up, so no messing around. As soon as you’re locked and loaded, get outside and find a place to dig in. But here’s the thing, guys. When you find a place, you are not going to stay there. I repeat, you are not going to sit there and be a static target. This is our terrain. We live here. We know the place; they don’t. The last thing we want to do is relinquish an advantage like that. Pick off and move. That’s the strategy of the day, guys. It’s the only way we bunch of Davids are going to beat the Goliath. Everybody with me?”