Chapter 8
Veronica woke to the sound of her ears ringing.
The world was swirling around her in a haze.
As she struggled to climb off the ground where the force of the explosion had tossed her carelessly, she desperately searched for the young man who had been inside the vehicle.
Despite being able to feel the severity of her own wounds, including a particularly nasty gash on her right thigh, Veronica worked to get to her feet and find the boy.
A group of people had already started to gather roughly fifty yards from where she was climbing to her feet.
She knew right away it wasn’t a good sign.
Stumbling in the direction of the growing crowd, Veronica felt a trickle of blood moving down the side of her face.
At that time, one of the bystanders turned and saw her approaching.
Immediately, the woman ran in her direction, explaining to her she needed to sit down while they waited for help to arrive.
Veronica didn’t have the heart to tell her she didn’t think help was coming anytime soon.
It was as if they had been transported to a Hollywood blockbuster.
Everywhere around her, the world had plunged into darkness, save for the glowing embers remaining from the fiery crash.
Though she couldn’t see it, she could hear the screams and distant wails coming from all over.
Veronica made her way slowly over to the gathering crowd, looking down in time to see the boy taking his last breaths.
A piece of shrapnel had punctured his chest, the fear in his eyes breaking her heart as she kneeled near him and softly whispered assurances that everything was going to be okay.
There was nothing more they could do for him.
She doubted emergency services could help even if they arrived. His injuries were too extreme.
“Oh, my goodness. You weren’t riding in that vehicle, were you?” a stranger asked.
“No, I wasn’t. I was in a diner down the road there, and when I heard the sound of the crash, I looked out to see what was going on. That’s what I saw in the car accident.”
“It’s unlike anything I have ever seen before. We have our fair share of power outages around here after a storm, but this seems to be different. It’s like everything went dark at the same time, and not even my phone is working anymore.”
Veronica shrugged. “I don’t know what’s going on around here, but it would probably be for the best if you got back home and stayed there. We’re going to need to clear the road for when help arrives.”
A man in the crowd started to laugh. “I don’t know what kind of dream world you’re living in, but there ain’t no help coming. I’ve been watching all this build up on the news, and I am not surprised to see it is actually here. The whole damn country was warned about this.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s been all over the news we were about to start World War III.
Just like everything else that’s wrong with this country, no one knows how to listen.
It’s too late now. We’re all just doomed, and only death is going to follow this.
It’s going to be the survival of the strongest. I hope you’re prepared. ”
Veronica glared at the man but said nothing.
He was obviously working to incite panic.
She had no idea what was going on, but she wasn’t going to be one of the masses following the road of fear.
Remembering that Gregory had an old ham radio at the garage, Veronica backed away from the group and spun around, jogging down the street in the direction of the garage.
Everywhere she looked seemed to hold the same chaos she had witnessed outside the diner.
She didn’t stop when she heard people yelling around her, nor did she slow down when the gunfire started.
People were going to lose their minds quickly, no matter how small the event.
Her mind raced back to the image of what she had seen earlier in the sky.
If whatever had fallen from the sky, reminiscent of shooting stars, was the cause, it wasn’t going to be an easy or fast fix.
Veronica had seen enough horror movies in her life to know how quickly people would panic and descend into chaos without the rule of their government stepping in.
Reaching the side door of the garage, she quickly jiggled the handle but found it locked.
Gregory had a fairly decent security system in place, but knowing the power was completely out, she wouldn’t be setting off any alarms. Veronica quickly pulled a bobby pin from her hair, thankful she had it with her.
It wasn’t something she normally kept on her person, but after a fight with a torch at work the week before, she had a tuft of singed hair that required the pin to keep it in place.
Seconds after she slipped the metal into the lock, it popped open under her skilled hand.
Veronica didn’t waste any time heading directly to her project bike.
The only thing going through her mind at that point was finding a way to get back to her family in Colorado.
She had no idea if the man on the street was speaking the truth, but if he was, she needed to get to them as soon as possible.
She stood next to her bike, going over everything in her mind she knew about electronics and the possibility of EMPs.
If that was what had just happened, then she knew there was still a chance.
With the age of the motorcycle she was working on, she was glad none of the electronics had been installed or hooked up to anything with power and voltage running through it.
Since there weren’t any computers to run the electronics on board her motorcycle, Veronica was well aware she would simply have to install and check the continuity to make sure that everything was operable.
Since the ignition coils, condenser, points, and carburetor had not been installed, there was a high probability that the motorcycle would run just fine after installing all the electronics.
Veronica knew the old bike was designed and built by the Russians with EMPs in the back of their mind.
As long as there wasn’t power running through the electrical components, which there hadn’t been, she would be able to get running in no time.
The copper used in each of the components was designed to deal with hundreds of amps and voltage spikes.
Even with the strong power of an EMP, they would be left completely intact.
With that knowledge in mind and trying to keep her hopes up that all the studies had been correct, Veronica went to work on finishing the installation of the electronic components. She had a family she needed to check on in one way or another. She was going to make her way to Colorado.
Just as she was putting the final components onto the motorcycle, she heard the sound of a shotgun being loaded in the dim lighting of the building.
It was only the moonlight that provided her enough vision to complete her project.
Jumping to her feet, she spun around with a crowbar in hand, ready to defend the garage and her motorcycle to the death.
The instant she saw the figure emerge, though, her heart started to steady once again.
Gregory as well saw the familiar face and lowered his weapon, letting out an audible sigh of relief.
Gregory posed no threat to her, and she knew she was safe with him.
“What the hell is going on out there?” Gregory asked. “You scared the ever-loving daylights out of me! I was about ready to blow your head off, woman. How did you get in here?”
“There’s something crazy going on outside, and I’m not really sure what it is. I think there has been some sort of EMP strike,” Veronica said. “I need to get this bike up and running and get the hell out of here.”
“I know all about it. I was watching the news when everything went black, and I have to agree with you. There were talks of the possibility of something like this happening. Just before everything went down, the government sent out a warning to the people, but it was moments before the strike.”
“I wasn’t sure, but I had my suspicions. The way that everything lost power at the same time was more than a coincidence, and an EMP seemed the only likely suspect.”
Gregory nodded. “That’s exactly what they warned about moments before it happened.
It was definitely an EMP, which means there’s not a damn thing that’s going to work on that bike, and our country is under attack.
I’m sure that thing burned out everything electric throughout the entire area.
I applaud your giving it a try; it’s going to be all for nothing. ”