Chapter 4
The moment the other construction workers were piled into the back of the truck, John drove away from the worksite and toward the highway, where it was clear that the catastrophe the EMP had created was already affecting everyone.
There were no working cars on the road, creating obstacles for John to maneuver around. He saw everybody stepping out of their vehicles, lifting the front of the hoods, checking their engines. But nobody knew the extent of the damage because if they did, John suspected they wouldn’t be so calm.
“My God,” Jake said, surveying the damage as he rode shotgun. “I haven’t seen anything like this before. It’s like a parking lot out here.”
“The congestion is only going to get worse the closer we move to the city’s center,” John said, maneuvering around a disabled semi-truck. “Our vehicle is going to move faster than anybody else, but it’s also going to put a target on our back.”
John had already seen the way people were looking at him as he drove past. It was a mixture of confusion and envy, along with a hint of desperation.
The moment people were so desperate that it overpowered their moral sense of duty, that was when society reached the tipping point. And John feared what people would do if they lost their humanity.
Most of the construction workers who hitched a ride in the truck bed lived on the outskirts of the city, in the suburbs. As they dropped people off at their homes, John noticed the crowds on the front lawns.
Residents were treating the power outage like a holiday. They were grilling out, trying to use up the food before it spoiled in the fridge. Others drank beer, laughing and joking around. But none of them had any idea of how dangerous the world was about to become.
None of them could fathom the power not coming back on.
None of them realized that all the grocery stores within the area had lost power and all the food would spoil and rot.
Help wasn’t coming, and even if they could get their cars working, it was unlikely they would be able to maneuver through the thousands of stalled vehicles on the highway.
John studied the smiling faces and couldn’t help but imagine how many of these neighbors would turn on each other within the coming days.
The last guy they dropped off was Tony, a young man with a newborn.
“Thanks for the ride, John,” Tony said.
“No problem,” John replied.
Tony lingered by John’s truck. It was clear there was something else on his mind. “Is it as bad as I think it’s going to be?” Tony asked.
John was careful about how he replied; he didn’t want to sugarcoat the situation.
“It’s going to be difficult,” John said.
“But if you can convince everybody to start conserving their food and water, then things will be better for you in the long run. If things get really bad, get your family out of any populated areas. Pack everyone a bag of supplies with enough food and water to sustain you for at least three days and a weapon to protect you and your family. Be ready to leave at a moment’s notice.
Because you never know when people are going to turn on you. ”
Tony nodded, the color draining from his cheeks. He understood what John was telling him. Though both men prayed it wouldn’t come to that.
Once everybody was dropped off in the suburbs, John returned to the interstate and began their final push into the city.
“I think you scared Tony,” Jake said. “Scared me, too.”
“People need to understand that this isn’t a game,” John said.
“And by the time they realize what is truly happening after there is no more fresh water to drink, all the food in the fridge has spoiled, and their children and loved ones are hungry, they will become angry. And they will direct that anger toward anybody who might have resources to spare.”
“Is that why you and Maggie bought the property in the middle of nowhere?” Jake asked.
“It’s one of the reasons,” John answered. “We also just enjoy the outdoors and the privacy that kind of life provides. It’s peaceful in nature. And there is a sense of pride in doing things for yourself.”
Jake nodded. “I suppose I should have gotten some of that land out there, too.”
“You will always have a place in our house,” John said. “You are our family.”
Jake repressed a smile and then playfully punched John in the arm. “Don’t get all soft on me now, Big John.” But the expression didn’t last. “I wonder if Sarah is okay.”
Sarah was Jake’s younger sister. She lived in Cleveland. Her husband had died a few years ago, leaving her with three kids to raise on her own. Jake had been helping her out financially, sending money whenever he could. Without him, Sarah wouldn’t have been able to take care of those kids.
“I’m sure she’s all right,” John said, trying to soothe Jake’s worries. “She’s out of the city. And we don’t know if Cleveland was affected by the EMP or not.”
“Yeah,” John said, staring at his blank phone. “Wish I could call her.”
John continued to drive, weaving between the stalled cars. As the skyline drew closer, the road became more crowded, just as he had predicted. The normal noise of the city was replaced by an eerie silence.
“I never thought I’d see the day when Cincinnati was quiet,” Jake said. “This is unbelievable.”
But while Jake was concerned about the silence of the city, John was growing more concerned about the number of people along the side of the road. The increase in the number of abandoned vehicles also brought an increase in people standing outside their cars.
The sun was starting to get hotter as it rose higher in the sky. And with the increased heat, it was undoubtedly going to cause more pressure on those who were stuck on the highway. John saw bystanders eying his truck with envy. More than one person tried flagging him down, but John kept driving.
“You don’t want to stop and take a look around?” Jake asked.
John had only helped out earlier because he knew those men he worked with. John didn’t know these strangers, and judging by their desperation, he didn’t believe it was a wise decision to stop. Even though it was hard to drive past so many who needed help.
John’s family was his priority. Getting to them was paramount. He wasn’t going to sacrifice his family’s safety for a group of strangers.
Not if he had a choice.
John continued navigating through the dense traffic along the highway, worried he wouldn’t be able to go much farther.
He was barely doing thirty miles per hour, following a serpentine path.
The only other option would be for him to ride along the shoulder of the highway, but that was where most people were standing around.
“Well,” Jake said. “It looks like we have a situation up ahead.”
John saw the group of people who had created a massive blockade along the highway. Most people had their backs turned, staring at something on the road. The sight of so many people in the area worried John.
“What do you want to do?” Jake asked.
John considered his options. None of them were good. If he tried to move through the large group of people, they could be easily overrun by the large crowd. Not to mention the possibility that some of them could be armed. John had his sidearm with him, but he wasn’t in the mood to shed blood.
“We remain calm and try to go around,” John answered.
But the closer they neared the blockade, the more attention they drew. Each pair of eyes looked at John and his truck with desperation.
A few of the people from the group broke off and started running over to John, waving their hands in the air. Unable to push through the crowd without killing people, John was forced to stop.
The woman who came to John’s driver’s side door was red-faced and sweaty. She was accompanied by five others, a mix of men and women, all of them exhausted from baking in the sun.
“Thank God you’re here,” the woman said. “We have a woman going into labor, and we need to get her to a hospital.”
John glanced over at the group of people and couldn’t see the woman they were speaking of. “How far along is she?”
“Nobody really knows,” the woman answered. “But she’s in severe pain, and it seems like the contractions are closer together and more frequent.”
John remembered the birth of his two children. He was with his wife when she gave birth, and he remembered how daunting the task was.
“I’m heading to the hospital myself,” John said. “If you can help get her over here and clear a path, I can take her.”
The woman smiled. “Thank you so much for doing this. Nobody was sure what to do, and nobody could get a signal on their phone.” She then frowned and examined the inside of the cabin. “How is it that your truck is working, but every other car on the road won’t start?”
John didn’t want to get into the details of how his truck didn’t use a computer chip-controlled fuel injection system, so he simply shrugged. “Just lucky, I guess,” John said.
Eventually, the crowd parted, and a group of men helped the pregnant woman over to the truck. Jake got out and allowed the woman to ride shotgun while he rode in the truck bed.
“Thank you so much,” the woman said, her bangs glued to her forehead with sweat, and then she winced from another contraction.
“Has your water broken?” John asked.
The woman shook her head. “But the contractions have definitely intensified.” Just as she finished speaking, another contraction came, and she grabbed John’s hand and squeezed tight.
She had an iron grip, but John didn’t let go.
The woman needed a pillar of support, and if he could be that for this woman, then so be it.
“We’re going to get you to the hospital,” John said, doing his best to sound reassuring.
“Thank you,” the woman replied, focusing on her breathing.
John looked over at the crowd and gestured for them to move. A few of them stepped aside, but others refused.
“Some of us need to get to our families,” one man said. He was dressed in a business suit, his tie slack, and the top button of his shirt was undone. He was soaked through his dress shirt with sweat.
“Yeah,” another woman said eagerly. “I need to go to my parents. They’re retired, and I need to get them their medication.”
And then the floodgates opened, and everybody was screaming at John, begging for him to take them with him. Without warning, people piled into the back of the truck. Jake pushed a few back, but there was only so much he could do against so many people.
The situation was getting out of control, and John knew if they stayed in this position for much longer, they would be overrun.
John laid on the horn, and the people in front of the truck jumped back out of surprise. But the space created a narrow enough opening for John to escape, and he pressed on the gas.
Everybody pounded on the side of the truck, screaming at John, and then, as he was driving away, somebody opened fire. The gunshots peppered the tailgate and blew out the left rear tire.
It was all John could do to keep control of the truck, but between the number of stalled vehicles on the road and the angry mob chasing him, combined with his busted tire, he lost control.
John crashed into a sports car, and the airbags exploded. Ears ringing and his vision a blur, John was dragged out of the truck and thrown to the pavement. But he managed to keep his wits about him and looked up in time to see they were pulling the pregnant woman from the passenger seat.
John instinctively reached for his pistol and fired a single shot into the air. The gunshot was far more effective than the car horn and sent people running.
When the crowds cleared, John returned to the truck, which was now totaled. He pulled the pregnant woman from the passenger seat, keeping everybody back with the threat of his pistol.
“Jake!” John shouted, unable to locate his friend. “Jake, we need to go!”
Eventually, John noticed Jake struggling to step down from the truck bed. It wasn’t until John saw the blood on Jake’s hands that he realized something was wrong.
“John,” Jake said, his voice weak, “I don’t think I’m going to make it.”
A bullet had struck Jake’s gut. Between Jake’s wound and the pregnant woman, John wasn’t sure how he was going to get to the hospital, but he refused to leave anybody behind.