Chapter 10
“Are you sure this is a good idea? I know Craig or Mike would take longer, but I don’t feel right leaving you here to fend for yourself,” Sarah said.
Meredith chuckled. “Trust me, if I thought any of the others could get there and back in under two hours, I’d consider it. Just find out what you can, try to get ahold of the commissioner, and get back here.”
“Right,” Sarah muttered.
She already had the commissioner’s phone number tucked into the breast pocket of her uniform.
Harden’s orders were clear. Sarah was to go directly to the police station and let the officers know the prison was without power.
From there, she would go to the bakery on Main Street and buy out their breakfast foods for the inmates and guards alike.
Without power, they had limited options for meals.
Meredith was an amazing captain, though, and hadn’t hesitated to spend the money needed to keep everyone placated.
They were a team, and Meredith wasn’t going to let anything happen to her prison in Sarah’s absence.
Still, it was hard to leave the compound, knowing they had no way to reach the outside world.
Any number of things could go wrong in the hour she was absent.
Sarah couldn’t let the never-ending list of what-ifs cloud her mind.
There was only one task she could focus on at that moment, and the others were just slowing her down.
She had to keep her head clear and her mind sharp.
There would be people in the area who were still without power.
While she’d normally give everyone around her the benefit of the doubt, it was a tense situation where caution had to be paramount above everything else.
“Just make sure you’re safe out there,” Meredith said. “There’s no telling what kind of reaction the people are going to have in a situation like this. Keep an eye out for danger on the road, too.”
“I’ll get there and back as quickly as I can. Don’t forget that I have training in martial arts.”
“I’d rather you not have to use your knowledge in hand-to-hand combat if you don’t have to. Just keep an eye out and don’t let anything happen to yourself.”
“Well, if push comes to shove, I always have my gun on me as well,” Sarah said.
Meredith laughed. “Just keep in mind that a single clip won’t stop an angry mob of people. We have no idea what’s going on out there, and I only want to make sure you get back here safely.”
“I’ll do the best I can. I just want to get some kind of information about what in the hell is going on out there and get back here to let you know.”
“Good. If you would like me to send a second person with you, I can do that. All you have to do is say the word.”
For a moment, Sarah thought about telling her that it would be nice to go with another person.
Meredith was right about one thing—they had no idea how people were reacting to the power being out.
In a perfect world, people would just be helping one another through the hard times, but having been in the “rehabilitation” business as long as she had, she knew the dark side of people better than she cared to admit.
“I think I’ll manage better on my own,” Sarah said. “It will be faster that way. Just hold the fort down, and I’ll be back before you start handing out the morning medications.”
“All right, just be safe.”
As Sarah made her way to the main doors that led to the enclosed courtyard connecting the four blocks, she glanced at Adam’s cell.
He was sitting on his bunk and smiled when he saw her.
Sarah knew Meredith was watching her go and couldn’t stop.
Instead, she gave him a small wave and continued down the corridor.
She unlocked the door and stepped out into the blinding sun.
Instantly, what little coolness the building had retained from the night was gone, and she felt the familiar beads of sweat that came with Florida life rolling down the small of her back.
Sarah paused and waved at the guard stationed at the outside tower.
He’d been at roll call with all the others and thus had been expecting Sarah to appear eventually.
Stretching out, she prepared herself for the pending jog before trotting to the second set of locked gates near the main road and staff parking lot.
Even in the secluded location, she felt like something was off.
It was far too quiet outside. The usual roar of the highway a few miles north didn’t fill the air.
Instead, only the sounds of nature greeted her as she locked the gates behind herself and looked down the two-lane road.
She had changed into her tennis shoes and workout clothing for the run.
The only thing Sarah kept with her was the weapon registered in her name and the button-up shirt she wore as a uniform at the compound.
Clipped to the pocket was her staff identification card, and in the zipped pocket on the right, it had the commissioner’s number and her wallet.
Normally, she would take a backpack or shoulder pouch while running, but she’d planned on using the staff gym instead of running after her shift ended.
Caught off guard, Sarah had to make do with what she had on hand.
After she managed to get her stride, the run went smoothly.
Despite the fact that she smoked, running seemed to counterbalance her nasty habit, and she didn’t get easily winded.
Sarah listened and watched for any signs of other travelers, but there were none.
As she moved closer to town, cars littered the road.
Some were alone in the middle of the street, and others were still smoldering from crashes that had occurred hours before.
The sinking sensation in her stomach only grew as the village came into view.
She had expected to see signs of power by the time she reached it, yet the only noises that greeted her were humans and nature.
She slowed when she reached the main road that housed the sheriff’s station.
The door was standing open, yet no gust of air conditioning or the buzz of electronics greeted her.
Instead, a lone officer sat at the reception desk, frantically scribbling notes on a pad of paper.
He jumped when he heard her walk in and clear her throat.
The man looked frazzled as if he hadn’t slept in days.
He took one look at the gun on her hip and the uniform in her hands and instantly sprang to his feet.
“What can I do for you, Officer?”
“I’m not police. I’m a corrections officer at the prison down the road. My name is Sarah Fowler, and I need to get in touch with the commissioner. The power is out at the prison, and none of our relief has shown up. We’re going to need some backup.”
The man stood silent for several moments like the words she had spoken went right through him.
Sarah watched him and waited for the man to say something, but he only looked at her dumbfounded.
She wasn’t sure how to take him, but there were a million questions she needed answers to, and he didn’t seem as if he was going to answer any of them.
“Look, we’ve been out of power since late last night. How far did the EMP hit?” Sarah asked.
A shocked look rushed over the man’s face. “You haven’t heard?”
“What in the hell are you talking about? We’ve had no communication since the power went down. I just assumed the solar storm knocked out a portion of the state’s power.”
“Well, you’re in for a surprise then. The storm was a lot bigger than they ever expected. In fact, it was massive.”
“How big are we talking? Is the whole state of Florida in the dark now?”
“I don’t think it’s just the state,” the man said.
“I’m starting to think the whole nation has been rocked by the storm.
If not the country, then most of the world.
I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone on the planet was in the dark about how bad it was.
Even things that run off batteries don’t work. ”
The world around her started to spin as she struggled to wrap her mind around what the man was telling her.
Instantly, her thoughts raced to her parents on their homestead in Maine.
They weren’t safe anymore. No one was. She wanted to run from the station and not stop until she reached her parents’ property but as quickly as the thought struck her, Sarah shut it back down.
If she stood any chance of making it back home, she had to be prepared, and that meant getting back to the prison first. The others had to know.