When the Power Is Gone: A Powerless World - Book 1 Read Free Page A

fireplaces, lanterns – they were set up perfectly for what we would need if the world went to hell.
    The farm was 30 miles away. We could get there in 45 minutes to an hour, barring any traffic problems. This was our bug out location. In the event we could not stay in our homes, this was where we would go. After no more than 30 days, this was where we were going.

Chapter 2
     
    As we were going over what needed to be done, and trying to prioritize everything, there was an incessant knocking at the front door. I looked out the security peephole and saw my best friend Janet from next door. I opened the door, and she burst in, tears flowing.
    “Anne, my God, this is it, isn’t it? Nothing electric is working. It’s all dead. What do we do now?” Janet was an emotional sort, but right now, I was feeling almost as overwhelmed as she looked. She was followed by Ben, who was still carrying his school backpack.
    “The bus didn’t show, and I guess now it won’t,” he said, more to Rusty than anyone. Both of our sons had been involved in our planning for this sort of situation. They understood as well as we did what was happening, although right now they were a little too happy about not going to school. They’d get over that. I had a feeling in the upcoming months, they would wish for a boring day at school over the daily grind of just living without any modern conveniences.
    “Where’s Bob?” I asked Janet, hoping the answer wasn’t what I was afraid it was going to be. Bob was a computer tech at a big electronics store in town. If he was at work already, he was 15 miles away, with a car that no longer ran. Their bug out vehicle was in their garage.
    “He left about five minutes before everything went off. He is probably about five miles away, if traffic wasn’t bad.” Janet was pacing the kitchen like a caged animal.
    Russ chimed in. “Right before it went off, the radio was on a local station, doing a traffic update. Said it was backed up from Pine Haven all the way to the interstate from an accident. No way he was even on the interstate yet. He should be walking up in the next hour, no longer. He has his GHB (get home bag) in his car, and his pistol on his side. Don’t worry, he’ll be here. We have work to do while we wait.”
     
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    A GHB is a bag you keep in your car that has supplies to get you home from wherever you are if something like this happens. Usually, it has food and water for about 72 hours, along with a first aid kit, mylar blanket, emergency flares, whistle, flashlight (preferably wind up) – the list is completely adaptable to the person and the situation. I for one have an extra pair of underwear and socks in mine. A gal has to have priorities, and dry socks and drawers are some of mine. Oh, and feminine products. It would suck REALLY bad to get caught away from home for a few days and your monthly visitor shows up. Bob probably wouldn’t even have to dip into his for anything other than water.
    Russ knew getting Janet focused on what lay ahead was the best thing right now. Just the words spoken seemed to calm her down, and you could see the resolve in her eyes. “You’re right, Russ. The more we have done before he gets home, the less he’ll have to do when he gets back.” She even graced us with a small smile with the words.
    “First thing we do is check to see if the faraday cages actually worked,” Russ said. “Those electronics will make our immediate future easier, and our long term survival better.” Russ was right again. We had invested some money and energy in electronics, in the hopes we could protect them from this very thing. I was anxious, but excited to find out if the electronic devices we had tried to protect from an EMP were still functional. We all headed to the prep room.
    A faraday cage is a metal enclosure, built to surround electronic devices, and protect them from an EMP. The premise is that the enclosure will absorb the pulse, as long as the