But all the cars weren’t working.
Jessica didn’t see it until it was too late.
She didn’t even register what type of vehicle it was. Just that it was speeding right at her. Head on.
She yanked on the handlebars and leaned in, desperately trying to get out of the way.
But it was too late.
The vehicle hit her and she went flying backwards. She flew through the air and time seemed to slow down.
Then she smashed into the pavement. Her shoulder hit first. It happened too fast to notice the pain.
Her head, in its helmet, slammed into the pavement.
4
Jim had held his breath as he’d turned the key in his old Subaru wagon. He knew enough about the effects of an EMP to know that it would have a devastating effect on most cars.
Of course, no one really knew what the real effects would be. Some thought that only older cars would work, and that the newer electronics of more modern vehicles would make the more susceptible to an EMP.
But Jim remembered reading something a few months back that said that actually wasn’t the case. The authors of the study theorized that because of the design of certain cars, the chassis and frame themselves could act as Faraday cages, insulting certain cars from the effects of an EMP.
“What are you doing?” Rob had said, in the passenger seat. “Just crank it already.”
Jim had finally pressed in the clutch and turned the key.
The Subaru had started.
He’d breathed a sigh of relief.
The Subaru wasn’t the shiniest or newest car on the block. Far from it, actually. It had its share of dents.
It wasn’t particularly trendy, either. Or fast.
But it worked. And it worked in the intense snow that Rochester got every winter. Jim often saw newer SUVs sliding around uselessly in the thick snow. Some of them actually only had front wheel drive, and if you drove behind them, you could spot the absence of a rear differential.
Jim put the Subaru in first, hit the gas, and released the clutch.
Soon, they were driving down Park Avenue, heading towards Pittsford, where Aly’s mother’s house was.
“You want to tell me what’s going on?” said Rob. He sounded upset.
Jim didn’t answer. He was deep in thought, thinking about getting to Aly.
And what they would do next.
Jim had a good sense of what was going to happen. Of course, he didn’t know the specifics. No one did.
Everyone had their theories.
But they were just that—theories.
The only way to really know was to live it.
And unfortunately, that was the situation they were all in now.
The EMP would have fried the power grid. And it wasn’t going to come back on. Not without some serious technical repairs.
The repairs alone would be a massive undertaking.
The question really was whether or not society would start to crumble and fall apart before all the systems could be prepared.
Jim had seen people panicking in the supermarket when a blizzard was coming in. And that was in Rochester, where blizzards were about as common as any other type of weather.
So he wasn’t holding out a lot of hope that people would stay calm and hold it together.
No, definitely not. After a while, when the power hadn’t come back on for a few days, they’d panic.
And all hell would break loose.
And the panic wouldn’t even be the worst of it.
Images of violence and horror flashed through his mind. He pushed the thoughts away. He needed to stay focused on what was practical.
And what was practical was to get the hell out of there. With his wife, and her mother, if possible. And Rob, too, he supposed.
Jim’s own parents had moved to Florida a few years back. They’d had enough of the winters.
“You’re driving pretty fast,” said Rob, who didn’t drive himself. He was one of those people who didn’t have the right personality for driving. And, plus, he had that long string of DUIs.
Jim said nothing.
“Why are all those cars stopped?”
There were cars up and down Park Avenue. And none of them were moving.
Jim maneuvered around them, downshifting when he had to, but he kept his speed up.
“Jim, slow down!”
“We’ve got to get there,” said Jim. “Everything’s going to fall apart.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Don’t you see the cop?”
“The cop?”
Jim glanced off to his right, where there was a cop standing on the side of the road. He was waving his hands in a motion that clearly only had one meaning: stop.
The cop wasn’t dressed like a traffic cop. And there was no patrol car near him.
Jim made the decision quickly.
He wasn’t going to stop.
He respected the police. But there was no time now for getting pulled over.
“What are you doing?” said Rob.
“What I need to,” said Jim.
He pressed down on the accelerator and the Subaru’s engine whined.
Up ahead, there was an enormous SUV sitting dead right in the middle of the lane.
Jim maneuvered around it.
Meanwhile, Rob was tugging frantically on his arm, babbling in a high-pitched voice. He was trying to get Jim to pull over. “I can’t get another arrest,” he was saying. “I’ve got too many under my belt.”
Jim shook Rob off his arm and he turned towards him.
If he had to punch his friend, he would.
“Look out!”
Jim had only had his eyes off the road for a few seconds. But when he turned back to look, a bicycle had appeared right into front of the Subaru.
Jim slammed on the brakes.
But it was too late.
He hit the bike and the rider went flying.
“Shit!” Rob screamed. “You killed him!”
Jim said nothing.
For a moment, he just stared out the window at the fallen bicyclist. Long hair streamed out from under the helmet. It was clearly a woman.
And she wasn’t moving.
Not at all.
Jim glanced in his rearview mirror.
The policeman, who he’d passed only moments ago, was running full speed down the road towards them.
Shit.
It was all going wrong.
Maybe he hadn’t had the best plan for a disaster event like this. Maybe he didn’t have a clear idea of where to go.
But at least he’d known he had to get out of the city fast. And he had some gear.
He was far ahead of most of the people here. If things got bad enough, they’d run out of food. Most of them would die.
It wasn’t supposed to be like that for him.
Sure, he could simply drive away. It didn’t seem like the cop had a working vehicle, and it wasn’t like he’d be able to catch Jim.
But Jim wasn’t that kind of guy.
He’d hit her. There weren’t any excuses. He had to deal with it now. It was his responsibility.
Sure, he’d convinced himself that if this moment ever came, he’d do whatever he could for himself and his wife.
Now that the moment had come, though, he realized that there was no way he could leave this woman lying on the ground, not moving.
If she was still alive, she needed medical attention.
There’d be doctors at the hospital, even if the power was off. They could do something.
Couldn’t the cop help her, though? It was a last ditch thought as he tried to justify the behavior that he already knew wasn’t acceptable.
No, the cop wouldn’t help. How would he get her to the hospital without a vehicle?
Likely the ambulances weren’t working either. Only a few cars here and there, and who knew which ones.
Jim cut the engine, pocketed the keys, and opened the door.
“What are you doing, the cop’s coming! I can’t get another one, man!” said Rob, frantically. His face was frozen in panic and he looked like a deer frozen in the headlights seated in the passenger seat.