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economy, and it did a hell of a job. It had to be very precisely planned and timed, but it took out all computers, so that’s why we lost television and radio.”
    “Do they know who did it?”
    He shook his head. “It could have been any number of people who wanted to turn back the clock, but the prevailing belief is that it originated in the Middle East. That’s where we spent the next months fighting, anyway. That it happened on Election Day was not a coincidence.”
    “Who is the president?” Eden asked. “Is there a government?”
    He blew out a breath. “They say Belden defeated Stephens, but there was no way to tell with the computers down, so Stephens remained in office, which caused a whole other kind of uprising. Something that might have been manageable before suddenly became fuel for the fire, and the riots were bad. A lot of units were called home to enforce martial law, and a lot of the guys left the service to go take care of their own families in the resulting chaos.”
    Someone said something about “AWOL,” and he nodded.  
    “There are probably more AWOL soldiers than soldiers in the service right now. My unit was left in Afghanistan, but the more we heard about what was going on at home, the more we didn’t give a shit about who caused it. We just wanted to go home and take care of our families.”
    “That’s just what the terrorists want! To leave us vulnerable!” John Reynolds exclaimed.
    “We are vulnerable,” Aaron said softly. “Terrorists didn’t kill my wife. Her neighbors did. By the time I reached her, it was too late. Her body was still in our little house, and had been for months.”
    Murmurs ran through the crowd.  
    “Are there no cars?” someone asked.
    “No gas,” he replied. “There are some cars, sure, but you can’t exactly stockpile gas like you do canned goods. And a lot of the pumps are nothing but computers. Not many old-fashioned ones. So the gas is underground if you can figure out how to get it out. I’m sure some have. I was able to ride part of the way, and then I found a horse. Had to make my way around the mountains to get to Texas. And I knew, as I passed through towns that had been abandoned, towns that had been burned to the ground, that I wouldn’t see her alive, because I hadn’t been there to protect her.” He took a moment, stating at the ground in front of him. “You know how long it took us to lose our humanity? Just a few months. Just a few months of being without what most people in the world are without their whole lives. People killing each other for food, for clothing, for pleasure, because there’s very little law enforcement. People stealing from stores, from each other. People—” He stopped, shaking his head. “People doing unspeakable things to each other.”
    “Did you think about going to the army?” someone asked.
    “I did. I joined a local militia for a bit, but they were as corrupt as everyone else. I wanted more than anything to come home.” He sent a warm look at where his parents were sitting, arms around each other, tears in their eyes. “Was scared to death about what I’d find. Thank God for Edward McKay and his paranoia, right?”
    “Now what will you do?” Damien asked.
    “Sleep for a few days,” Aaron said with a chuckle. “Hard to sleep when you’re looking over your shoulder all the time. Then I’ll see what I can do to help you keep this place safe.”  
    Damien didn’t like that, Eden could tell. He had no intention of giving up his job as a leader in this place.

     
     
     
    Chapter Three
     
     
    Eden didn’t see much of Aaron the next few days. She figured he was probably sleeping, like he said. And spending time with his parents, who’d come in for additional supplies with another mouth to feed, looking younger than they had in months.  
    But a few days later, Aaron and Huck sauntered down to the park, where Eden and Damien were working on hand-to-hand combat. Eden grew a little