EMP 1500 MILES FROM HOME (10 page)

While we were sitting under the tarp, I noticed sparks flying from the metal eyelets on Julie's boots. "Quick, Julie, take your boots off. We need to get all metal objects off of us. Soon there was a pile of pistols, knives, belts, etc. on the edge of the ground tarp. I didn't know where else to put them and I hoped it was far enough away. Yeti said the sparks meant that the static charge was building for lightning strikes.

By now the thunder was continuous. I counted lightning flashes every ten seconds, or so. Julie huddled against me and Yeti scooted closer to us as well. Julie put her arm around him and pulled him into our huddle. For the next 30 minutes, we stayed like that, hiding from the storm. I slid over and checked on the horses once. They were scared and kept trying to run, but the hobbles and tethers kept them in place. I hoped they wouldn't injure themselves, and I hoped lightning wouldn't strike them, or us.

I remembered my conversation with the motel clerk when I arrived in Socorro. I told her about the lightning storm I saw over the same mountains we were now in. She said that lightning was bad in the area and told me about a professor at the local college who was killed when a lightning bolt struck him out of a blue sky as he walked home. I remember feeling sad for the professor and his family. At least the professor had someone to morn for him. If we didn't make it through this storm, the chances were that no one would ever know where or how we died.

The storm intensified and inch-sized hail came down with the rain. The lightning flashes and the thunder were both continuous now. We had to put our fingers in our ears to keep from going deaf. The only thing we could do was to endure. The hail grew in size and I covered Julie with my upper body. I could feel the impact of the hail on my back through the tarp. Several larger hailstones even punched their way through the tarp. Just before the storm abated, I felt something large strike next to me. I looked and it was a hailstone the size of a softball.

Thirty minutes later we were packing our gear on the horses. Julie and Yeti spent a long time calming the horses down. Neither horse seemed to be badly injured although one of them was bleeding from a cut on his neck. I thought we had been lucky. If there had been more of the softball-sized hail, we would probably all be dead.

We started climbing again. No one spoke. I think we were all stunned by the intensity of the storm.

We rested often, but not long at a time. Cap taught me that was the best way to make time, so that was just what we did. By evening, we were in sight of the mountaintop. I jogged up the arroyo while Julie made camp. Yeti had already collapsed and was sound asleep.

I came to the end of the arroyo in only two hundred yards. Then I climbed the slope to the top of the ridge. I stayed low and scanned the other side of the mountain. About three hundred yards down the slope I could see the start of another arroyo. That would most likely lead us onto the alluvial plain below. From there we could make it to the highway. Hopefully we would be able to reach the highway far enough away from the guys with the machine guns to not be seen.

There was still another 20 minutes of light, but it was fading fast. I stayed where I was, trusting that starlight would allow me to make it the few hundred yards back to camp. I had a small flashlight but I didn't want to give away our position, so I was determined not to use it.

I wanted to see if there were any lights showing on the plain below. Even if a rancher only lit a kerosene lantern, from my vantage point, I should be able to see it over a distance of several miles.

After a while I counted three faint lights. All three seemed to be on the lower reaches of the mountain or on the valley floor itself. I hoped that meant we would not encounter anyone on our trip down the mountain. The lights also showed me where we might be able to trade for food and water, with care of course.

I made my way back to camp. I gave the signal as I approached and Julie responded with the correct signal. All was well.

"What did you see?" Julie asked. I described what I had seen. She nodded.

At over six thousand feet, it grew cold quickly after dark. It felt like the high thirties to me. Julie left our gear packed so we could get off to a quick start in the morning, so the blankets were unavailable. Yeti was on the ground between two pack rolls, wearing his jacket. Julie used her jacket to cover his legs. He was dead to the world; completely worn out. The horses were hobbled a short distance away.

Julie sat against a large, flat-sided boulder that was still warm from the heat of the day. I sat down beside her and covered us both with my jacket. After we were a bit warmer, we opened a can of beans and shared it cold. It is surprising how good cold beans can taste when you are really hungry. Julie had another can of beans set out for Yeti when he awoke.

We huddled together under the jacket once the empty can was buried. Julie soon fell asleep. I could feel her warmth against me. It brought back memories of Lucy, but at the same time I knew that Julie was not Lucy. It was getting a bit confusing, but I was too tired to think about it. I managed to stay awake through first watch. When I woke Julie, she nuzzled against my neck in that time between sleep and full wakefulness. It felt good, too darn good. I said nothing.

Once Julie was awake, I fell asleep against the boulder. It was daylight when I woke. I noticed I was covered with three jackets. Julie and Yeti were stirring. We would be ready to go in only a few minutes.

After a breakfast of cold beans and colder water, we started up the arroyo. Before the sun was well up we were at the top of the mountain. Yeti struggled with the last part of the climb, but he managed it by hanging on to a horse's tail. Winded, he stood just below the mountaintop and managed to say between gasps for breath "On the way down, it will be you guys trying to keep up with me. I will have gravity on my side."

Yeti

My legs and back hurt so much I almost screamed with every step, but I made it. Reaching the top of that mountain seemed like the most difficult accomplishment in my life, and maybe it was. I knew I pushed myself harder than I ever had, many times harder. I made it without dying. And I thought I would die, especially during the last two hundred yards.

When I reached the top, I wanted to apologize to the horse whose tail I held onto. The horse seemed fine, but I wasn't sure he wasn't faking it. How would you like 400 pounds pulling on your tail while you tried to climb a mountain?

Julie

I was as proud of Yeti as I would have been my own son when he reached the mountaintop. I could tell Wayne was pleased with him as well. Wayne and I stood side by side and looked down the other side of the mountain. Yeti looked too, but from his seat on a rock. I visited several of the ranches in the valley below with my dad when I was younger, but I couldn't remember any of the rancher's names.

After seeing the convoy and hearing the gunfire, I was worried about my dad at the ranch. Even though my dad had guns and a few ranch hands, I didn't think he would be able to defend the ranch against that convoy, and that scared me. Up to now I had not been worried about my dad. The ranch never had electricity. The grid being down wouldn't impact life at the ranch the least bit, except for not being able to get supplies in town. However, I knew that my dad had huge stores of food on the ranch. He often talked about how bad things were getting and he wanted to be ready in case anything ever happened. Well it happened and I worried that my dad, for all of his wisdom, had not done enough to improve security at the ranch.

I looked up at Wayne where he stood on my left. Without thinking I put my arm around him. He didn't seem to notice, but I felt the heat of his skin through both of our shirts. My head just barely came to the top of his shoulder, but I was careful not to lean against it because this was his bad shoulder. We stood like that until Yeti had his breath back and stood up.

"Let's get going, folks. I want to see what is down there," Yeti said.

Wayne

We made good time down the mountain. By evening we were within an eighth of a mile of the valley floor. We camped in a protected spot. As darkness came I climbed to the top of the ridge beside us and looked out over the valley floor. Soon, Julie joined me. We lay flat and watched for an hour before we saw the first light flicker on. Soon, two more lights appeared.

"No operational security there," I whispered.

"Those are ranches," Julie said. "This far from town they probably don't even have electricity. Those folks only go to town once a month to get groceries and their mail. I doubt they even know what happened yet. The lights we see are probably kerosene lanterns."

"No electricity, no computers?"

"No, most of the ranchers around here are older. Most of their children have gone off to the university and now have jobs in Albuquerque, or Dallas, or somewhere like that. A lot of these ranchers are in their seventies to nineties. They know no other way of life, and they don't want any other way of life. Some of the kids send them money every now and then since ranching grows less and less profitable each year, especially since the crash of 2008."

"As you sent money to your dad?"

"Yeah," Julie smiled, "at least when I had a job." She paused. "Anyway, these ranchers are often crusty, but they are mostly good people. When that generation has passed and all the land is owned by the big corporations, a way of life will be gone."

"Maybe not," I said, "of late things have changed."

Julie looked puzzled for a second. "Oh, I see what you mean."

After a while we made our way back to camp. We each had a small flashlight, but we were afraid to use them because we didn't want to be seen. We were both getting pretty good at navigating by starlight.

Yeti smiled as we came back into the camp. He had a Dakota fire pit dug, just as I had taught him, and just as Cap had taught me. "I was hoping we might have a hot meal tonight."

I nodded and Yeti lit the fire. Soon we were eating hot beans and washing them down with cold water. I was beginning to forget there was any other kind of meal.

We only unpacked the little we needed, and one blanket. Right after supper Yeti rolled up in the blanket and was soon asleep. He would take third watch. I had first watch, and Julie had second watch. Julie and I talked for a while and then she lay down and I covered her with my jacket.

The night passed with no problems. This was a good spot and the horses had more grass than usual. We were on our way just after first light. We made straight for where we had seen the nearest light. By mid-morning we could see the ranch house and outbuildings in a clump of trees. By noon we were walking up the driveway. There were no electric lines leading to the house. Julie led the horses behind me, and Yeti brought up the rear.

"Hello the house," I shouted as we walked up the drive. I heard a door slam and a man appeared on the porch.

"What brings you folks here?" he asked. He was an older man, maybe Cap's age, thin and fit, with a grin that still managed to convey his wariness.

"I'll bet you don't get many visitors?" I smiled.

"No, it's been at least ten years since a stranger showed up here."

"I have a lot to tell you then."

"Has something happened?"

"You might say that."

He pointed to the Mosin slung over my shoulder. "You going to shoot me with that thing, boy?"

"No Sir. That is not my intent."

"Are you folks hunting?"

"No Sir. We are not hunting. We are walking home."

"Where is home?"

"For me it is Indiana."

"Now that's a long walk."

"For Julie here, it is her father's ranch out from Mountainair."

"Who is your father, Girl?"

"George Hoffman."

"I know him. You folks come on in the house and sit down. Myra will get you something to drink." We followed the rancher into the house and sat down at the kitchen table. His wife was bustling around the kitchen getting us something to drink and setting food on the table. They seemed like nice folks. We made introductions all around.

"Alright Son, why are you walking to Indiana?" I explained about the EMP. It took me a while because he had never heard anything about EMPs.

"You mean to tell me the lights are out all across the country?"

"Yes Sir."

"And most of the cars won't run anymore?"

"Yes Sir," I paused. "Have you tried your car lately?"

"Well, no. Haven't had a need for the truck for over three weeks now."

"What year is it?"

"It is a 2000 model."

"Try it. I doubt it will start though." The rancher excused himself. He was back in about ten minutes.

"It was just like you said, Son. Nothing happened when I turned the key."

"I am sorry about that."

"No problem. We have a few horses. I use them to check on the cattle. I grew up using them and the old wagon to get around. I can do it again."

"I am glad Julie knows horses. I don't know anything about them."

"If things are as bad as you say, you will get a chance to learn more about horses than you ever wanted to know."