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

electronics are insulated from the metal. This can be done with paper (doubtful, but maybe if they were wrapped in aluminum foil around the paper), cardboard (probable), possibly even anti-static bags. I say possibly because, in the prepper community, there is still a lot of speculation as to whether or not this would actually work. The small faraday cages were lined with cardboard and each of the electronic devices was inside an anti-static bag. Bob works at an electronics store, remember? We had plenty of bags.
    Russ and Bob read everything they could find on them, but in the end it was always going to be a hope and a prayer. They built them out of metal ammo cans, for small electronics like e-readers and two-way radios, and metal cabinets for the electric hand tools and generators. The ammo cans were in the prep room and housed e-readers and small tablets with a lot of survival books loaded on them, as well as two -way and emergency, multi-band radios. Everything from urban gardening and backyard animals, to identifying edible plants in the wild and basic first aid, were loaded on the e-readers. They would definitely help us survive in the coming days, weeks, months – hell, it could be years.
    Russ pulled out the first can, the one with my e-readers and mini tablet. As he opened the can, I said a quick prayer. Aside from the survival books, I had over a thousand novels on one of them. With no TV, radio or internet, having a thousand books on a small handheld device would definitely help to pass the time, and save a lot of space. He handed me the e-reader on top. “You loaded it up, you get to do the honors.”
    I took it, closed my eyes, and flipped the cover open. The screen lit up! “OH MY GOD! IT WORKED, IT WORKED, OH MY GOD!!!” I was screaming, and dancing around the room, and everyone else was grinning and high fiving each other. The boys were particularly pleased, because there were at least some games on the tablet to occupy their time. First test: success!
    We put everything back in the can after we tested each item. We checked the other cans with radios, both emergency and two-way, a cheap pre-paid cell phone (who knows, maybe you could send a text), and a hand held ham radio. We verified they survived, then packaged them back up, just in case. Who knew if there might be a secondary pulse? We didn’t want to get sloppy right out of the gate.
    Since the small cans worked, Russ was antsy to check the cabinet in the garage. A working generator would increase the time our cold stored foods would be edible. The longer we could go without breaking into our long term food stores, the longer they would last. We all trekked out toward the garage.
    As we were going out the kitchen door into the garage, there was an incessant knock at the front door. Rusty started that way, but Russ stopped him. “Beginning right now, no one goes out of the house alone. No one even goes to the door alone. And everyone starts wearing their sidearm, even you boys.” Russ grabbed his from the kitchen counter, where he had laid it when he came in. He went to the door, with all of us around the corner, and looked out the peephole. He turned around with a grin, looked at Janet and said, “I think it’s for you.” Janet looked confused for a moment, then squealed and ran to the door. She jerked it open, squealed again, and jumped into Bob’s arms. Bob picked her up, carried her inside, and we joined in a round of hugs, handshakes, and back slaps. 
    “Oh Honey, you made it home! I was so worried!” Janet was laughing and crying at the same time.
    Bob grinned at her and said, “Sugar, you should have known nothing would keep me away from you and Benny.” Ben grimaced at the “little boy” name his dad still used from time to time but couldn’t hide the happiness and relief he felt that his dad was home.
    Russ stepped in, looked at Bob with a serious expression and laid his hand on Bob’s shoulder. “We checked the small faraday