Preppers of the Apocalypse - Part 1: Post Apocalyptic EMP Survival (4 page)

WARNING:
Plant in meltdown. Do not approach.

He
started to notice that there were at least five other versions of the same sign
spread across the perimeter. He realised what this meant, and he suddenly felt
cold. He lowered the binoculars from his eyes and turned to Tony.

“Oh
shit,” was the only thing he could say.

“We’ve
gotta leave,” said Tony.” All of us. Everyone in town. “

“I’ve
wanted to leave all along.”

“You
sure you don’t want to come with us to the ranch?”

“Why
are you being so kind to me?”

“Everyone
deserves a second chance,” said Tony. “One day you’re going to open yourself up
and everything you’ve done will come crashing down on you. When it does, you’re
gonna need someone there to pick up the pieces. “

Ash
thought about saying something, but instead he stayed silent and slunk back
into his seat.

“Sure
you’re not coming?” said Tony.

“Can’t.
Need to get home.”

Tony
nodded. “Okay. When we get back to town, I’m leaving for the ranch. “

Tony
turned the car around and they drove back the way they came, toward Pasture
Down. Tony drove faster this time and the speedometer crept toward ninety. It
felt like he was trying to outrun the radiation that the meltdown would soon
spread. The pick-up rattled, but the vehicle seemed to handle to increase in
speed.

As
they drove across the rocky plain they heard a bang, and suddenly the pickup
lurched violently to the left. Tony struggled with the steering wheel, and Ash
grabbed his seat belt and checked it was tight enough.

“Shit,”
said tony. “Puncture.”

As
he put his foot on the breaks and the speed needle dropped, there was another
bang.

“That
the other tire?” said Ash.

He
didn’t believe that anyone could be unlucky enough to have two punctures in the
space of seconds, yet it seemed like that was exactly what had happened.
Pasture Down was still five miles away. As Ash thought about how much he didn’t
want to walk back to town, something hit the passenger door of the pickup. It
sounded like a rock had been thrown at it, but then the sound rang against
other parts of the vehicle. Ducking down in his seat, Ash realised that they
were being shot at.

Chapter 5

Ash
found himself gripping the underside of his seat. His heart pounded, but he
held his breath to try and bring it under control. Tony steered the pick-up to
a stop, unclipped his seat belt and then opened the glove compartment in front
of Ash. He pulled out a Glock 19 and put it in the pocket of his coat. His face
was calm and his breathing was steady.  He acted as though he faced this kind
of dangerous situation every day of his life, but Ash guessed that was the
effect of being a prepper. It meant that mentally he had rehearsed the shit
hitting the fan enough times that he wasn’t scared when it actually happened.

A
green jeep emerged from the horizon behind them and rolled over the rocky
plains. It looked miles away, but Ash knew that it was much closer than that.
He opened the door of the pickup and put unsteady feet onto the floor. A bullet
sped near his head and made a dinging sound as it lodged into the roof of the
vehicle.

“What
the hell are they firing?” he said.

“Looks
like automatics. Listen, when they stop I want you to give yourself up and then
play along.”

“What?”

A
bullet hit the pickup, and Tony dropped to the ground. At first Ash thought
that he had been hit, but Tony turned his head, opened his right eye and
winked. He didn’t know what Tony’s plan was, but he didn’t really have much of
a choice other than to follow it.

As
the jeep got closer, Ash put his hand in the air to show that he wasn’t
carrying a weapon. It got within five metres of Ash and Tony and then stopped.
The door opened and two men in army fatigues stepped out. Another man stayed
behind the wheel of the vehicle and watched them.

The
men walked toward Ash and they kept their M16’s pointed at his head. One of the
soldiers towered over the other, giving the both of them a little-and-large
look. Both of them had crew cuts, but the shorter guy had a dark beard that
spread across his cheeks and chin, before being sharply shaven away just under
his jawline. The taller one trained his weapon on Ash, but he seemed to hold it
awkwardly.

 Ash’s
heart raced. He had never been a fighting man at the best of times. Dad had
once made him take a martial arts class, but Ash had gotten his arm broken by a
guy three years older than him and after that his mom had banned him from
going.

You
gotta learn to fight your corner,
his dad used to say.
 Or
even better, never get in the corner in the first place.

The
two men stopped in front of him. The taller one stared with an emotionless
face. The other frowned.

“We’re
from Fort Knowles,” he said. “And things have gone to shit.”

“To
shit,” repeated the taller one.

The
smaller guy looked at his partner and shook his head. Then he looked at Ash.

“Things
have gone to hell, and everyone’s leaving the base. Pretty soon Pasture Down is
gonna get stripped bare, since it’s the only place for miles around in this
godforsaken part of the county. Man, I wish I’d never enlisted.”

“No
you don’t,” said the tall one. “What else you got going for you?”

The
smaller one ignored him.

“Now,”
he said, and shifted the M16 in his hands. “What have you guys got for me?”

The
two soldiers approached the pickup, taking cautious steps. The smaller one kept
his gun pointed at Ash, while the other walked to the driver’s side of the
vehicle. When he saw Tony’s body on the ground, he stopped.

“Think
we popped this one,” he said.

The
taller soldier got down to his knees. The man was so big that when he was
crouched, Ash could still see his head over the bonnet. As the soldier put his
gun on the floor and looked at Tony, Ash heard a bang. The soldier’s head
exploded in a mess of blood that spread across the already-red bonnet of the
pickup.

The
smaller soldier instinctively turned around just in time to see Tony get to his
feet with his handgun gripped in his palm. Without giving him time to react, Ash
stepped forward and punched the smaller soldier in the head. He connected with
the man’s temple, and although he knocked him off balance, Ash got the
impression he’d hurt his own knuckles more than the guy he had hit.

The
soldier ignored Tony for a second and grabbed hold of Ash. They struggled with
each other over the bonnet of the car, and Ash felt his strength start to wane.
As the solder overpowered him, Tony pointed his gun and pulled the trigger. The
soldier flopped to the ground and lay there motionless.

Metres
in front of them, the army jeep’s engine rumbled to life. The vehicle lurched
forward and headed straight at Ash and Tony, picking up speed so quickly that
they barely had time to react. Tony raised his gun and shot a hole in the
windscreen, missing the driver by inches.

The
jeep was seconds away when Ash dived out of the way. Tony wasn’t as quick, and
the bumper collided into the pickup at thirty miles per hour, trapping Tony’s
leg in the impact. He screamed and dropped his gun.

Ash
picked up the M16 from beside the smaller soldier. As the jeep reversed away
from the pick-up, he stepped toward it and pointed the rifle at the driver. The
driver stopped the engine. He moved his hands away from the steering wheel and
held them in the air.

“Don’t
kill me,” he said.

“You
were going to kill us.”

“I
just want to get the hell out of here. I have orders.”

His
hair had been buzzed in the regular army cut once, but it looked like it had
been a while since his hair last saw a razor. He had somehow managed to grow
his hair long enough so that it was fuzzy, and it was a wonder that he’d
escaped the anger of his commanding officer. As he sat in the driver’s seat of
the jeep with his hands in the air, he looked genuinely scared.

On
the horizon, Ash saw more army vehicles speeding over the rocks. There were a
dozen of them, and if all of them had three soldiers inside, that meant at
least thirty-six recruits were headed toward them. It would only take one of
them to spot their fellow soldiers dead on the floor for Ash and Tony to
suddenly have the guns of an entire battalion pointed at them.

“What
the hell are we going to do?” he said.

Tony
was stood over the body of the taller soldier. He stared down at him with heavy
eyes, and his hands shook.

“Tony?”
said Ash.

Tony
turned round, looked at Ash and then ran his hands through his thick hair. His
shoulders were sagged as if some heavy weight had been added to them, and his
face was drained of colour. He leaned his injured leg against the pick-up and
looked like he was struggling to stay on his feet. Ash felt like he should go
put his arm across his shoulders.

The
driver of the jeep opened the door next to him, got out and rested his arms
over the doorframe. His forearms were covered in the dark blue ink of a tattoo,
but Ash couldn’t see what it was. Behind him and across the plains, the other
jeeps got closer.

“Take
their jackets off,” said the driver, nodding at the dead soldiers. “Put them on
and then get in the jeep.”

Ash
looked at Tony, who nodded.

“Can
you walk?” he said.

Tony
pushed away from the bonnet.

“I
can hop, but I won’t be winning any marathons any time soon.”

They
stripped the soldiers of their jackets and put them on. Ash took his from the smaller
soldier and the fatigues were tight around his arms and left his wrists
uncovered. Tony’s jacket seemed to fit him well. Ash let Tony drape an arm
around him, and then he supported him over to the vehicle. Once they were
inside, the driver turned around and grinned.

“Guess
we better go. Welcome to the United States army,” he said, sarcastically.  “I’m
Chad by the way. In the barracks they used to call me the beast.”

“Why?”
said Ash.

“You
don’t wanna know. Buckle up.”

As
they joined formation with the other army vehicles and then drove toward
Pasture Down, Chad excitedly told them what he knew of the current situation.

“Fort
Knowles lost juice at the same time as everywhere else, but we had hand-crank
radios that let us stay in contact with other barracks. My unit were going to
drive east to Fort Allion, but General Powell died when his pacemaker blew.
Things turned to shit after that, and people decided they wanted to go see
their families. “

“Know
how that feels,” said Ash.

“A
guy called Beele took charge,” said Chad. “He’s a real asshole. Said we should
raid the towns around us and take everything they’ve got.”

“How
far does this whole thing go?”

“We
haven’t had much contact from anyone.”

“So
what’s your plan?” said Ash.

“I
got family south of here. An uncle and an aunt. Think they were glad to get rid
of me when I enlisted, but maybe they’ll be happy to see me with the way things
are now.”

“I
need to go the same direction,” said Ash.

The
vehicle hit a rock and then jolted, and Tony broke their conversation by
shouting out in pain.

“Sorry
pal,” said Chad.

“We
need to get him to his family,” said Ash. “They were going to his ranch in
Greenock. You know the way?”

“Nope.”

“I
need to go get there no matter what,” grunted Tony. He turned and looked at
Ash.  “And you’re going to make sure I do.”

“I
can’t,” said Ash. “Georgia needs me.”

“Screw
that. You owe me, you bastard. You owe me this.”

Ash
knew that Tony was right. After everything he had done wrong, and after all the
things Tony had done to help him, he couldn’t leave without doing the same. As
they came within minutes of Pasture Down, he knew that he had to get Tony back
to his family before he could go and help Georgia.