As John and Diane reached Tobler Lane, they saw West High School and the throngs of school kids out on the football field. Many of them were sitting in small groups. A few had wandered off to congregate away from the masses only to be chased down by the teachers, eager to maintain control.
John turned the wheel, avoiding a stalled car and bringing Betsy up onto school property. They were about to make one hell of an entrance, but following school policy wasn’t at the top of John’s list. He needed to get his kids and bring them to safety.
He drove right up to the football goal post and stopped. The S&W was still tucked into his waistband, but now he pulled his shirt down to block it from view. There was little to no chance he’d need it here. It just didn’t make sense to head into a potentially dangerous situation without it. Diane came with him, locking the truck behind them.
The school principal Pamela Walters was already coming their way, holding a megaphone and waving at Betsy with her free hand. “I’m sorry, Mr. Mack, but you’re gonna need to move your truck.”
“I will, as soon as I get my son and daughter,” John explained.
Mrs. Walters glanced at the crowd of kids behind her and made an expression that said, ‘Good luck finding them in all this.’ Children were already starting to come forward.
“I believe that something terrible has happened,” he told Mrs. Walters. “There’s a good chance this wasn’t some freak accident.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, dropping her chin slightly to get a better look at him over her spectacles.
“Everything electronic has stopped working. Cars, cell phones, computers. There may very well be a natural explanation, but no matter what the effects are going to devastate the country. A stampede like you’ve never seen before is descending from the off-ramp of Interstate 40. People who are confused and looking for a quick way home.”
“How do you know this?”
“There’s no other reasonable explanation. These kids are better off at home with their parents.”
“We’ve already had a few come by on foot to get kids, but keeping track of them all is becoming difficult.”
“Well, let me take Emma and Gregory off your hands. Having to worry about two less will surely help.”
Mrs. Walters nodded. “I won’t pretend to know where they are. The kids are supposed to be organized by class during an evacuation, but clearly that directive wasn’t followed.”
Diane approached a group of girls who were about Emma’s age and asked them if they knew where she was. John did the same thing to a group of boys, asking about Gregory.
John made his way through the throngs of students, who pointed to the stands, which were full of kids. Mrs. Walters followed them.
Once they arrived, Mrs. Walters raised her megaphone and called out for Gregory and Emma. She called out a second time before a boy stood up and began making his way down. It was Gregory, but there wasn’t any sign of Emma.
“Can you try again?” Diane asked.
“She’s over there,” a girl with long dark hair said, pointing.
They all turned in the direction she had indicated. Over by the opposite goal line, two figures sat cross-legged on the grass. They were kissing.
John’s heart skipped a beat.
“Gregory, run and get your sister at once,” Diane said.
He did as he was told. Emma looked over and rose to her feet. So too did the young man she was with. All three of them headed over.
“Hand me that for a second, please,” John said, pointing to Mrs. Walter’s megaphone. She handed it over. “Young lady, I suggest you double-time it.”
Reluctantly, Emma broke into a jog, along with the boy she’d been kissing minutes before. Soon, they arrived, Emma looking mortified. John hadn’t intended to humiliate her in front of the entire school. The young man Emma had been kissing was thin and pink-cheeked with dark hair and fine features. John recognized him as a boy from their neighborhood.
“Does your friend have a name?” John asked.
Diane nudged him.
“I think we have a right to know,” he told her in response.
“Brandon, Mr. Mack,” the boy said, smiling weakly. “I live on the corner of Willow Creek and Pine Grove. You know my parents.”
John nodded. “I met them at last year’s block party.” He could see the pulse in Brandon’s neck and knew it wasn’t from the jog. The kid was expecting to get a tongue-lashing. But right now, John had neither the time nor the inclination.
Chapter 8
A few minutes after they left West High, John pulled into the parking lot at the Publix grocery store.
“I thought we were heading home?” Diane asked him.
John turned on the radio and flipped the knob. They didn’t hear a thing. It looked like not everything in the Blazer had survived the EMP.
“There’s no telling how long this may last. I think we should get some extra supplies just in case.”
“But we have that bunker thing in the basement with lots of food,” Emma said. “And the cabin in the mountains.”
“You’re right,” John told her. “The pod at the house has enough supplies for a month and the cabin for a year, but what if this lasts for longer than that? Besides, if you haven’t noticed already, the folks around here are stunned and confused. They’ll only really start to get dangerous when the food in their houses runs out.”
“You still haven’t told us what’s going on,” Gregory said. “Are we at war or something?”
John and Diane exchanged a glance. “I don’t know. I’ll explain more when we’re back at home safe and sound.”
Just as he said that, a large group of people streamed into the grocery store. Others were leaving, pushing carts out into the parking lot. Many kept on going, probably intent on pushing those carts all the way home.
“You three stay here and keep the doors locked,” John told them. “If anything bad happens, head straight home. I’ll meet you there.”
He hopped out of the truck and headed for the Publix. As a matter of habit, John always kept two hundred dollars in cash in his wallet, so he’d have enough to cover what he was about to buy. Water was high on his list, as well as canned goods. They needed things that would last, especially now that the fridges weren’t working. In fact, when they got home, the first thing they would need to do was empty the meat from the freezer and begin bottling it in sealed jars.
In the past, John had always dreaded heading to places like Walmart on the weekends because of the hordes of annoying shoppers. Entering the Publix, he felt that same feeling as masses of shapes hurried about the dark store. There were only three carts left and John had to rush to grab one.
Moving from aisle to aisle was slow. It hadn’t been more than a few hours since the electricity had stopped and already most of the shelves were picked clean. He knew why too. A regular power outage wasn’t unheard of and rarely sent anyone rushing to clear out the store shelves, but when you added the stalled cars and lack of communication, the first signs of panic had already begun to settle in.