Caroline dressed for work to the blare of the morning news on TV. “The commute into town is moving smoothly under a clear blue sunny sky….” Then click the power went out.
Drat! I haven’t blow-dried my hair yet. Oh well, I’ll just have to make do.
Caroline entered her attached garage and manually opened the garage door before starting up her car. But when she turned the key in the ignition, nothing happened. The car was dead.
“This is not my day,” Caroline said out loud, pulling out her cell phone to call for a ride. To her shock, her cell phone was dead too. “Something strange is going on here.”
Locking up her house, Caroline headed out on foot to the nearest bus stop. All was eerily quiet. There was no air traffic, no traffic noise. When she reached the corner of Oak and Pine, she saw why.
Stalled vehicles dotted the road. Confused drivers and passengers were exiting their cars and trucks looking for answers. There would be no city bus today Caroline realized. There was no other option left but to walk.
The hospital where Caroline worked as a lab technician was five miles away. If this is a serious emergency her help may be desperately needed at the hospital. She didn’t want to just go home and hide. Maybe someone at the hospital can explain what is happening.
The scene did not improve as she headed deeper into the city. The stalled cars crowding the roads were more densely packed, the drivers and passengers more irritable and irate as fear and confusion blocked out calm reason. Caroline was sure she heard gunfire in the near distance.
She came upon a school bus load of children and a frantic school bus driver overwhelmed with the responsibility for 30 plus increasingly fretful young children.
“Please, Lady, what has happened?”
“I don’t know,” Caroline answered calmly but truthfully. “Are any of the children injured?”
“No, but I fear the children may be in danger.”
At that moment a rowdy group of young men threw bricks from a nearby construction site into a store front window. No alarm went off. No police responded. The liquor store had not yet opened for the day. The gang members grabbed all they could carry and smashed a few jugs on the floor for good measure.
“I wish I could help you, but I have to get to the hospital. Wait one minute.”
Caroline remembered having just passed a stalled car with a couple of middle-aged women who had also approached her for information. She quickly returned to the vehicle and spoke to the women.
“I’m sorry, I still don’t have any information, but there is a busload of frightened children who could use a bit of comforting.”
“Come on, Amy,” one of the ladies said before Caroline could appeal further to their nurturing instincts. “We aren’t doing any good here.”
Caroline escorted the ladies back to the school bus and introduced them to the driver. As soon as they boarded the bus, Caroline rushed off, crossing the street to avoid the popular liquor store.
Finally Caroline arrived at the hospital and rushed in. Martha was manning the desk. The waiting room was eerily empty.
“You made it!” Martha exclaimed in shock. “Not many have.” Martha lived only a block away from the hospital.
“Martha, what’s happened?”
“Five patients have died since everything shut down: two in intensive care, one cardiac arrest, one respiratory failure, and one preemie in her incubator. According to Dr. Robertson, the death total is going to rise rapidly if nothing is done fast.
“As for what is going on? I haven’t a clue, but it seems we have just returned to the Middle Ages.”
“Go ahead, Lieutenant,” the commander nodded.
“The US has been totally disabled!” The lieutenant announced with a crisp salute.
“Good. All will be pleased. Give the order to kill them—all of them.”
“What about their military?” the assistant commander asked.
“Won’t we have to fight them? Surely they have protections in place against an electromagnetic pulse attack.”
“Not at all. After they removed their president four years ago, the new leaders that took over power has opened the country’s borders, eliminated their border agents, de-armed their citizens, and pulled back financial support for the military. Because of these new leader policies, we have been able to advance our timeline by decades.
“We have infiltrated every branch of their military and sabotaged what e-bomb protections they did have. Our people stand ready. We have fighter cells in place in all their states positioned to fulfill our mission. Today their country will cease to exist.
“Death to our enemies!”
“Death to our enemies!” the lieutenant and assistant commander chanted and saluted before leaving the room to give the order.
