Staying Alive: A Post-Apocalyptic EMP Survival Thriller (The EMP Book 2) by Ryan Westfield

Author:Ryan Westfield [Westfield, Ryan]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub
Published: 2017-10-24T04:00:00+00:00

21

John

The four of them were sitting in a dark, unfurnished basement. The only illumination came from the sunlight that crept through the cracks of the small, boarded up windows.

Bill’s two companions had introduced themselves, but John had already forgotten their names.

They’d given John a full water bottle, which he’d drained in almost a single gulp. And they’d handed him a loaf of stale sliced bread. It was cheap supermarket bread, the kind of stuff that John would have turned his nose up at just a little more than two week ago. But he ate it greedily, devouring the whole loaf in record time.

“So I don’t get it,” said John. “The whole Main Line area has been taken over by some militia?”

“Shhh, remember to whisper.”

“Sorry,” whispered John.

“If they find us, we’re screwed,” whispered Bill. “Trust me, they’re brutal. You wouldn’t believe the things they’ve done… the things I’ve seen….”

Bill had probably saved John’s life, taking him down to this basement. It was evidently a place they’d hidden out in before, since Bill had known exactly which window was unlocked. Maybe he’d left it that way himself.

Bill hadn’t mentioned his family at all, and John didn’t want to ask. He had a feeling that something horrible had happened to them, and he didn’t want to cause Bill any pain by asking about it. At least that was what he was telling himself. Really, he thought of himself nothing more than a coward for not even asking.

“To answer your question,” said one of the men, speaking in low tones. “The military and police had control of the area. From what you’re saying, it sounds like they only lasted a short while in Philly.”

“Yeah,” said John, who didn’t want to say anything more about the horrors in the city. Those screams he’d heard would be featured in his nightmares and waking thoughts for the rest of his life, which for all he knew wasn’t going to be much longer.

“They lasted about a week out here,” continued the man. In the darkness, John couldn’t tell if he was the one wearing civilian clothes or the police uniform. “But without communication, everything fell apart quickly.”

“Too quickly,” interjected Bill.

The other one grunted in acknowledgment.

“That’s the thing I don’t understand about any of this,” said John. “It was like… first there were riots. I mean, there’ve been riots before, ugly ones. And there’s almost always looting when the power is out for a couple days… But things got crazy too quickly… Too quickly…”

“We’ve talked it to death already,” said Bill. “Basically, it doesn’t make any sense unless you consider that it’s just what we are.”

“What do you mean?” said John. He was feeling better now, with the bread in his stomach, refilling his glycogen stores slowly, and his thirst quenched.

“We were all brought up believing that we’re all civilized humans,” said Bill. “We were brought up believing that all those crazy, horrible things in history were from a long, long time ago, and that we’ve progressed past that.

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