Post Grid: An Arizona EMP Adventure (14 page)

Jose listed the parts he used and walked the residents through the process. “Do you have the parts?”

After some discussion, it was decided that almost all of the PVC pipe in the community was small-diameter.

“Jose and I are planning to go to Fountain Hills for pump parts tomorrow,” said Dennis. “We can look for PVC pipe and the other things you need, too.”

“The wells look like they can gravity feed some of the other houses,” said Jose. “We may be able to plumb the windmills' tanks to some house tanks with irrigation hose. Do we need to add that to the shopping list?” Several people in the crowd nodded. “Okay, it's on the list.”

“We don't know how long it'll be before we get back to normal,” said Bill. “Some of us should go out to the highway and salvage food from the semis before it goes bad. I'm planning on heading out first thing in the morning with my buckboard. Who's going with me?”

Several men and women volunteered.

“If I can't go to Fountain Hills, can I go with them?” Jess asked Jose.

“What do you think, Bill?” Jose asked. “Jess is a good worker, but is it safe for a teenager?”

“There's not many people on the road now, should be pretty empty tomorrow,” said Bill. “We will be a large group and well armed. I just don't see having any problems. We could use a strong, young guy like Jess.”

Jess flashed a smile. Lynn didn't want to be left out. “I'd like to help too,” she said.

“I'm not sure that's a good idea,” said Dennis.

“Bill said it would be safe. At least I can help instead of sitting around just waiting.”

“I'll look out for her,” Jess said.

“She'll be fine,” said Bill. “We old codgers could use the help.”

“I'll be okay, Daddy.”

“Alright.” Dennis looked Bill in the eyes as he said it.

“The boys up at Emma's think they may know what's happened,” Bill said, putting his hands on his hips. “I'll give them the floor.”

Dennis stood and spoke briefly about solar storms and EMPs. At one point, Jose stood and added his two cents.

“How long will the outage last?” asked Mrs. Branham.

“We don't know if it's a solar storm, which can last for days, or an EMP, which lasts only a second, but the damage done by both is permanent,” said Dennis. They can both cover huge areas, maybe the whole country. That means power grids and electronics will have to be replaced. I have no idea how extensive the destruction might be or how long repairs will take.”

“Is that the only possibility?” asked Mrs. Branham.

“Those scenarios fit the circumstances,” said Dennis. “I'm open to other possibilities.”

Lynn listened to the conversation, which continued for twenty minutes. It was too
crazy
to believe. She was grateful when the topic finally changed.

Emma talked about sanitation and health issues. “Come get Kelly or me if anyone needs anything,” Emma said.

It was also decided that the creek bed, upstream, should be regularly checked for dead animals or any other contamination, whether the creek was flowing or not. Emma recommended that any water from the creek be pasteurized before drinking, cooking, or bathing with it.

Lynn just wanted the meeting to end. She was exhausted and terrified and it wasn't just her, from what she could tell by looking around the room. Everyone's eyes darted from speaker to speaker. The mood was tense; many of the attendees were disbelieving or shocked.

It seemed to go on and on. The grownups talked like they had solutions to all of this. None of their yammering seemed to fix
anything.
She wanted her friends back. She missed going shopping for her favorite clothes and yes, even school.

After the meeting, Lynn had to wait while the others chatted with the people of Sunflower. She watched her dad seeking out anyone who might need emotional help or just a friendly ear.
He's in his councilor/rabbi mode
, she thought.
This could take a while
. She hated to admit it, but her dad really was the kindest man she ever knew.

Finally, Lynn and Emma mounted the horses. Emma made Traveler walk so that the others could keep up on foot, but Lynn galloped as fast as Buckskin could go.

“Stop, Lynn!” Dennis shouted to no avail.

Chapter 6

Dawn was breaking as the group of would-be foragers left Emma's homestead. Dennis rode Traveler, a beautiful grey dun quarter horse with a silvery, sleek coat. Jose and Rich rode Kelly's horses. Kelly drove her mom's other horse, Buckskin, who, true to his name, had a coat the lush color and feel of moccasins. He pulled a large donkey cart that wasn't much to look at with its flat bed of old wood planks mounted on an ancient pickup truck axle, complete with chunky tires. Kelly's mom kept the cart for use around the house and on the range with her twenty head of cattle. “It won't get stuck like a truck,” she used to joke.

Lynn and Jess sat in the middle of the cart for fear of being bounced off the sides. They were being dropped off at Sunflower to help with the freeway foraging. The others would continue to Fountain Hills. They had packed a minimum of overnight supplies, in hopes of filling the cart with scavenged booty.

Dennis was riding alongside. “Hey kids, it's almost time to get down. I just wanted to tell you to be safe out there.”

Kelly stopped the cart in front of the last house before they got to the main road. Dennis motioned for Lynn to come to the edge of the cart.

“Put your boot in my stirrup and I'll lower you to the ground.”

Lynn grabbed her father's forearm, then tentatively slid her boot into the stirrup Dennis's foot had just vacated. Traveler stepped to the side when Lynn’s weight pulled on the saddle. She stepped down, lowered by her father's firm grip.

“Bye, baby girl,” Dennis said. “We should be back tomorrow.” Dennis reached down and roughed up Lynn's hair like she was a five-year-old.

“Love you, Dad.” Lynn turned away. She hid the tears that welled up in her eyes, refusing to look at her father as she whispered, “You be careful too.”

Jose rode up to Jess, who was adjusting his CAP-unauthorized combat knife that he could now display proudly on his pack strap. “Watch out for Lynn,” Jose said.

“Okay, Dad.”

“Love you, Mijo.”

Lynn and Jess stood quietly as the adults rode away.

****

The cavalcade made good time descending the Beeline highway toward the small city of Fountain Hills. Only abandoned vehicles remained. The group noted which trucks might be worth a future visit from the Sunflower scavenging party. Food and water trucks particularly interested them, even if they had been broken into, because people on foot couldn't carry much. The unmarked trucks were more of a crap shoot. They didn't spend time investigating.

As they rode on, the group animatedly discussed what they hoped to find in town and what items should take priority to be brought back. Space was very limited and decisions would have to be made on the spot.

Rich noticed a car ahead and motioned to the others to slow up as he went to investigate. He quickly doubled back, giving a hand signal for the others to stop.

“We've got two folks sitting in a car up here. How do you want to proceed?” Rich asked no one in particular.

“Why don't you and Dennis walk up there?” Kelly said. “One on each side of the road. Sneaking up will be easier on foot and two dudes like you don't want to get into a firefight from the back of a horse. I don't know who would be more unpredictable, the 'dudes' or the horses.” She grinned.

“Watch it, girlie,” Jose said. “If you want us to go do the dirty work, you have to be nice to us.” Dennis smiled too.

Rich took the right side of the road and Dennis took the left. They tried to stay hidden among brushy trees. As they got closer, Rich motioned to Dennis that he was going to approach the car and needed cover. No one moved in the vehicle; it was as if they were asleep. Rich stayed low and took cover behind a boulder.

“Hey you, in the car, do you need help?” Rich called. There was no reply. He ran crouching to the back right quarter panel. “At least one of em's dead,” Rich called. “I can smell 'em.”

He held his breath and moved forward until he could see both corpses. It was an elderly couple. Then he took off in a dead run to the roadside, trying to escape the odor before he had to take another breath. It did not save him. He retched and retched, as if his body wasn't just trying to empty his stomach of its contents, but was also trying to force the very smell from his mouth and nose.

Dennis walked up to the passenger's side holding his breath. He checked the back seat in case there was anyone else. He recited a blessing.

“Poor bastards,” Rich said. “Wonder what happened to them?”

“Probably didn't even leave their car,” Dennis said. “They look pretty old. Probably knew they couldn't walk all the way to town. I saw a cane in the back seat.”

“You would have thought that one of them would have tried it,” Rich said.

“Maybe they just chose to stay together, to die together,” Dennis said.

Rich shook his head. “Let's get out of here.”

Rich and Dennis went back to their horses. The mood had shifted to a more somber one. Rich and Dennis started out in front, together. They headed down the road, intending to skirt the stench as best they could. The horses grew skittish as they approached the car. Their ears moved forward and their nostrils flared at the smell of death. Traveler balked at moving forward, snorted and jerked from side to side. It took all Rich had to make him pass. Jose was very stern with Pokey and avoided problems. Kelly worried that Buckskin would balk with the cart, but he seemed less affected than the others. She made it around without incident.

“I think we should put Traveler in the lead the rest of the way,” Rich said. “Let’s keep moving.”

****

“We need to avoid the Verde River Bridge,” Kelly said. “There might be a lot of people from the highway and from town at the bridge, trying to get water. We'll turn north onto the dirt track paralleling the Verde River on the Fort McDowell Indian Reservation.”

A large Target store sat just north of the highway on Shea Road. As tempting as the discount store was, it was certain to have been looted by now. The group crossed the low-flowing Verde below the sand quarry, pausing to water the horses. They went through the deserted We Ko Pa Golf Course and dismounted at the base of a ridge. Rich was left to hold the horses. Kelly, Jose and Dennis ascended the ridge that overlooked a manmade lake to their west; Fountain Lake. A large, white monolith sat in the middle of its green water.

“Hard to believe that that big fountain once shot water over 500 feet in the air. It was quite some engineering. Doesn't seem to matter much now,” said Jose.

Kelly lay prone, peering through the scope of her mother's .308 rifle.

“What do you see?” asked Jose.

“Townspeople standing at the lakeshore filling buckets, bottles and five-gallon plastic containers with lake water. A bunch have rifles slung across their backs,” Kelly replied.

“What are those columns of smoke?” asked Jose.

I can't tell if they're cooking fires or the remains of larger fires.”

The others took turns looking through the scope.

“Everyone must be desperate for water. The lake water is stagnant and nasty from all those ducks. There are a lot of backyard swimming pools here. I wonder if the homeowners are safe, or if people are fighting over that water too?” Dennis said.

“Yeah, the next big source of water is the river behind us and that is a pretty long haul,” Jose said. “I bet the river near town will be contaminated soon. There are going to be a bunch of sick people, if there aren't already. Let's get going; we're burning daylight.”

Moving a little more cautiously, the foragers rode north and entered the city limits on Grande Boulevard from the reservation side. The riders trotted through a mile of houses and condominiums. Front doors and garages of several of the condominiums stood wide open. “I guess the owners of these condos are retired—snowbirds who haven't come back for the winter yet,” Kelly said. “I'm guessing those houses have been looted.”

Occupants of other houses stared at them from behind half-open blinds and drapes. From time to time, a person scurried from one house to another.

Kelly said, “I feel like a character in some science fiction movie just before the aliens attack.”

The little troop turned south onto Saguaro Boulevard, toward Fountain Lake and the main business area. The businesses were looted too. Broken glass lined mostly-empty streets. A few folks were hauling water in a kid's little red wagon, while others used their bikes. Those they passed wore looks of fear and scurried quickly away from the approaching group.

Their first stop was the hardware store on Palisades Boulevard. The glass from the front doors lay shattered on the floor. Jose stayed outside, away from the building, with the horses. Rich also stayed outside to cover the large store window with his AR-15. Kelly, armed with her rifle, and Dennis, with Jared's AR-15, went into the store with weapons at the ready. They carefully cleared the building, making sure no one was inside. The battered cash registers lay open. All of the snack and candy shelves stood bare. The soda machine was empty and the ice cream freezer was full of melted, stinking ice cream. Most of the kitchen and camping supplies in front were gone, but further to the back, plumbing and hardware items were still there.

Kelly signaled to Rich and Jose that they could come in and start “shopping.” Dennis positioned himself at the front doors to guard the horses and warn the others of interlopers.

Rich and Jose went straight to the plumbing area and then the hardware section to pick out parts for the well and water heater. Kelly thought that nails and screws would be needed, and picked up several boxes. She also pulled an assortment of hardware, rolls of wire, duct tape and leather gloves. The lamp oil was all gone, but scattered on the floor were a few wicks. She got black spray paint, a couple of small oven thermometers, and strip insulation for the solar hot water project. She emptied the store of seeds, along with rolls of plastic sheeting for the garden, thinking long-term.

“Look at this!” she said, “peanut oil for deep fat-frying turkeys. It's worth its weight in gold.”

Jose picked out a selection of tools. Everyone went along the shelves and pulled items that they thought would be needed.

The group searched the store for about thirty minutes. As Kelly emerged from the store, she saw Dennis crouched behind an abandoned car. Sweat beaded on his forehead. His eyes darted up and down the street as though he was sure someone was going to jump out from around the corner of the building.

“I thought you were never coming out of there,” he said. “My imagination ran wild. All I could think of were those scenes from the Middle East where the masked men throw Molotov cocktails.”

Finally, loose supplies were bundled into tarps procured in the store. The bundles, rolls of irrigation hose, and PVC pipes were strapped to the cart.

“Well, that's it for the hardware store,” Jose said. “Good haul.”

Next, they focused on finding the cache of weapons that Jared and the other deputies had stashed in the old town offices the night of the blackout. They quickly discovered it would have been impossible to find without the detailed instructions Jared had given Kelly that morning. The buildings stood empty, not used for years. Inside a back office closet, the scavengers found the tarp covering a green garden wagon. Under the tarp were four Remington 870 shotguns, three AR-15 patrol rifles, an M14 battle rifle and cases of ammunition.

Jose hefted one of the ammunition cases. “Thank goodness the Sheriff's office had this cart. These boxes weigh a ton. I feel sorry for the horses.”

The cavalcade proceeded north on Fountain Hills Boulevard to the northern edge of town, to Dusty's Tack and Feed. After they cleared the large store, Kelly took the horses around back and tore open a bale of hay to let them feast while the party gathered supplies. Looking around the store, Kelly remembered wandering down the aisles of feed stores when she was young, hanging onto her daddy's hand. She had loved looking at all of the odd things on the shelves.

“Wow, this place is almost untouched,” Jose said. “I wish we had a semi or two.”

“Maybe we could stash some things outside of town,” Rich said. “It would be safer than coming back here later.”

“Let's start making piles of things to take, sorted by priority,” Dennis suggested.

The group stacked bags full of oats, chicken feed and diatomaceous earth near the front door. They also gathered all sorts of equine medical supplies including antibiotics, vaccines, skin remedies, and syringes. The feed store even had a few non-digital thermometers. Boots, socks, gloves, clothes, coats, and chaps got thrown on the pile too.

“Hey, look at these,” Kelly said as she threw three pairs of Ditsy-Dots rain boots on the pile. The boots had polka dots and horses on them.

“Lynn, Mom, and I will have dry feet in high style.”

“Let's get all of these seeds and this hand pump too,” Dennis said. “What about this woodburning stove?”

“It's too heavy,” Kelly said.

“I know,” Dennis said, “but if we had room, I'd take it.”

“If we had room we would take the whole stinking store,” Kelly shot back. “Grab all the horse tack you can. It looks like we will be horse-powered for a while.”