EMP 1500 MILES FROM HOME Read Free Page A

electricity is still off. The feeling is strong within me that something is very wrong this time. I decided to throw some stuff together and drive to the ranch. My dad wanted me to come home to the ranch when I lost my job, but I like working and wanted another job, so I found a less expensive place and kept looking for work.
    It was still dark when I tossed my suitcase into the back seat and tried to start the car. It wouldn't start. There was complete silence when I turned the key. Just my luck, the car is broken. I will have to wait until daylight to see if I can fix it. I am hoping it is just a loose wire.
     
    Wayne
    The next morning I woke at first light. I was shivering and hungry enough to eat a rattlesnake, but none were in the vicinity. I looked.
    I waited as the sunlight grew stronger and the sky changed from black to a tentative blue, and finally a deep rich blue. I wished I still had the atlas from my pack. Cap always told me that before I go anywhere, I should memorize the map so I knew alternate routes in case I needed them. Yesterday afternoon I did just that. I studied the road atlas for several hours. Now I realized that I would not be able to travel on the highway as I first thought. I would have to stay under cover as much as possible. I still wished for the atlas though. I didn't fully trust my memory.
    Over the past few years Cap tried to teach me how to travel off-road undetected. I hoped I paid enough attention. I wished Lucy was with me. Cap trained her from childhood and she did everything well. She was a better shot than I was, but then, so was Cap. Cap taught me how to handle a huge number of firearms though, so I was no amateur when it came to guns. Now, if I only had one...
    I walked north keeping I-25 in sight to my right (east). There were more houses east of the interstate, closer to the Rio Grande, so it is safer to stay away from the river. I still have almost half a gallon of water in my jug. I need to find more water soon.
    The high desert heat is deceptive because it evaporates the sweat directly from your skin and you never feel like you are losing water by sweating. But you are, and dehydration can kill surprisingly quickly. Water is crucial out here.
    A few miles farther north, a small, isolated subdivision popped up in front of me. According to the map I studied, it is the western part of a community called Polvadera. The main part of Polvadera is east of I-25 and too populated for me to go there.
    I did not want to pass through any cities, or even medium-sized towns, on the way home, so It seemed to me I should follow Highway 60 East and avoid Albuquerque. The turnoff to Highway 60 East was fifteen miles north of Polvadera.
    I knew I wouldn't make it to Highway 60 today, or maybe even the next day, so I decided to scout the subdivision and see if I could find some water, food, and/or other supplies.
    I studied the subdivision from my well-hidden position in the mesquite, or greasewood—I didn't know which. The subdivision was laid out on approximately one-acre lots, and not all of the lots had houses or house trailers on them. I crept closer to a lot on the edge of the subdivision that contained a house trailer and a few outbuildings. There was a single silver car parked in front of the trailer. A few other cars were pushed off into the brush. They looked to be junkers, but not old-enough to be EMP proof.
    After watching for a couple of hours, I saw no movement in the trailer, or on the place. I crept up to the obviously home-built porch and quietly tried the trailer door. It was open. That surprised me. That meant there might be someone home. I turned to exit the porch when the door opened behind me and I felt something on my neck.
    "Stop right there, fella."
    I stopped, slowly turned my head, and saw it was a woman behind me; a woman holding a shotgun, the barrel of which was touching my neck. I slowly raised my hands above my head. "Yes Ma'am," I said.
    "You must be new at this?"