In The End: a pre-apocalypse novel Read Online Free PDF

keep their sanity.

Six
     
    After several minutes of tuning through nothing but static,
Terry finally gave it a rest. “Well, we still don’t know anything.”
    “But if there are no radio stations
broadcasting, doesn’t that mean there had to be an EMP?” Angela asked Terry.
    “Not necessarily. The stations
probably don’t have any electricity either. And there could be too much
electro-magnetic interference in the air for the signals to get through. Or an
EMP may have hit Denver and the surrounding areas but not made it up this
high.”
    Jim lit another cigarette. “I
thought nukes had to be detonated high in the atmosphere to create an EMP.”
    “They can be, for greater effect,
but they don’t have to be.  Depends on how smart the attackers were and
what their intentions were. We have no idea who even hit us or why.”
    “I just thought of something.”
Angela and Terry both turned toward Jim. “We came up here with some friends who
left after the nuke went off. They were driving their SUV which definitely
wasn’t shielded. At least I don’t think it was – Josh bought it new from a
dealer in Nampa.”
    “You’re probably right,” Terry
said.
    “Either way, we have no power, so I
don’t see what difference it makes,” Angela replied.
    She got up and started gathering
the plates. Terry scooted his chair back, making more room for Angela. He
looked at her and said, “It actually makes a huge difference. If the power
station is just knocked out, then it can presumably be brought back online
fairly soon, depending on how bad the damage is. But if it was an EMP, it could
be years before we ever see electricity again – especially if this is happening
all over the country.”
    “And if most of the population is
dead, we’re gonna have a hard time finding electrical engineers who can get the
power back on,” Jim added.
    Angela froze, looking at Jim. “Do
you think…?”
    Terry reached over to Angela,
putting a hand on her arm. “Hey, don’t worry. We have no idea what’s happened
yet. Jim’s just considering a worst-case scenario.”
    “We could be the last people alive,
for all we know.” Jim took a long drag from his cigarette and attempted to blow
smoke-rings into the light hanging over the table.
    Terry looked at him and shook his
head. Angela set the stack of three plates down on the table and sat back down,
looking at the two men and fearing that what Jim said could be true but waiting
to see what Terry would say.
    “That’s highly unlikely. In fact,
I’d be willing to bet it’s impossible. We’re alive. And I was outside on a
ski-lift when the nuke hit, so I’m sure there are plenty of people alive.
Millions of people live in rural areas across the country.” Angela felt relief
at hearing Terry’s viewpoint and she looked at him, waiting for more
reassurance.
    Terry saw her need and continued.
“Let’s look at what we do know. Five of us up here are just fine. Denver is
probably toast, as well as NORAD and Peterson. It’s possible that NORAD was the
main target with Denver the secondary so they could knock out our air defenses
in preparation for a longer and larger conventional attack still to come. The
rest of the entire country might still be just fine.”
    “Except for
possibly being under a conventional attack, of course.”
    Terry looked at Jim and began to
re-assess his opinion of him. He seemed like a smart and likeable guy, but now
Terry was thinking he could be difficult to be around for extended periods of
time. He certainly wasn’t one for keeping morale up in a crisis.
    “Again, we don’t know the status of
the rest of the country, so there’s not much use in speculating. For now, we should
consider some basic possibilities and then make some plans on how we can deal
with the most likely scenarios.”
    “What do you mean?” asked Angela.
    “Well, take the power for instance.
If we’re going to be without power for a few months, we need to think