The Pulse: EMP Post Apocalyptic Fiction by Skylar Finn

Author:Skylar Finn [Finn, Skylar]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-04-14T22:00:00+00:00

The next day, after the day’s chores, we kept watch from the porch. I said ‘kept watch,’ but that implied a more vigilant state than our actual reality. Peterman was in the kitchen, prepping dinner. Grace was on her rooftop watch “shift,” drawing under an umbrella to protect her from the sun. Ethan and I were seated on the porch, gazing off into the distance. Occasionally we spoke, but more often than not, drifted off into our own respective reveries.

I didn’t know what Ethan’s thoughts were, but I was thinking that if this was to be the condition of our lives from now on, maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing. We were reasonably content. We were safe. We had food, water, and medicine. We stayed busy during the day and kept ourselves occupied. At night, we had a place to sleep. We fulfilled most of the needs of Maslow’s hierarchy, and it was an obvious given that we were doing much better than many others out there in the wake of the EMP.

A loud shrill blast from the roof shattered the still afternoon silence. It was the second air horn. The alarm we’d given Grace, assuming that she’d never have to use it because she only kept watch during the day.

Ethan turned to me, shock written across his face.

“It’s broad daylight,” he said, astonished.

I saw then how clever Dexter was. He might appear to be a slack-jawed criminal thug, but like many intelligent people who, for whatever reason, feel that society has rejected them, he’d channeled all his intelligence into criminal endeavors. He knew we’d endure countless sleepless nights from the time he made his “proposal” to the time that he returned; that we’d stay up all night keeping watch for them. He’d waited till we were exhausted and off-guard to stage his attack. I would have almost admired his cleverness had I not utterly and completely loathed him for what he did to the Davidsons and for terrorizing my family.

Peterman scrambled to his feet, glancing around wildly. “Are they here? Where are they?” he exclaimed.

“I’ll get Grace,” I said.

“Go,” he said.

I ran around the side of the house and climbed the ladder in a way that was probably neither safe nor advisable, skipping rungs and hoisting myself onto the roof in a matter of seconds. Grace stood in front of the chair, looking grim but determined. She handed me the binoculars.

Of in the distance, about a mile down the road, I could just make out a cloud of dust. They were on horseback, galloping full-speed toward the ranch. I couldn’t make out how many there were, but it was enough that it seemed like Dexter had returned with his whole gang in tow.

“Let’s get into the house.” I ushered Grace to the edge of the roof and climbed down the ladder ahead of her to make sure she got down safely. Ethan held the back door open for us and watched as we edged along the pit, avoiding the steep drop to the stakes below.

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