The Long Dark by B.J. Farmer (important books to read .TXT) 📗

“William’s right. We can’t go without supplies,” Titouan said.

Tish glared at Titouan before grabbing two of the blankets Miley had given us. She angrily flopped down on her behind, flashing me a little of the hate she gave to Titouan, and slung the blanket around herself before turning away from us. After a moment or two, she said angrily, “Wake me up when it’s my watch.”

***

We awoke late the next morning. I had next to last guard duty, so I hadn’t been asleep very long when it was time to wake up. My body didn’t like me at all. Every joint, muscle, and ligament screamed bloody murder. Hell, my wrists even hurt. The Grays wouldn’t have to kill me if my body gave out first.

Coffee, I thought. I needed coffee. I remember, as a kid, how some MREs had instant coffee. Avery and I always thought we were so grown up when we tried to drink it. We wouldn’t drink it, of course, because we thought it was nasty. I would’ve given just about anything to have had some that morning.

Avery was sitting by the stove, thumbing Kelley’s phone. Curious about something, I asked him, “If there was an EMP attack, how could Miley and the Order have working electronics?”

Not taking his eyes off the phone, Avery said, “They would have to be protected.”

I waited for a few moments before I said something about his detail-lacking attempt at explaining something I imagined was stupidly complicated. “And?”

“I was keeping my answer short. Is that not what you normally want from me?”

Sam smacked me on the back. “Damn, son… he finally figured it out.”

“This time, I’d appreciate it if you would elaborate just a tad bit more, please.”

He thought for a second before saying, “Civilian electronics will almost certainly need to be protected during such an attack. One specific way of protecting those types of devices would be to use a Faraday Cage, which, simply put, blocks the electromagnetic field associated with an EMP-type attack. If these are military-grade electronics, then they would not need the Faraday Cage. They would already be hardened against such an attack by design. I know most of our military’s electronics are designed to withstand such an attack. A good assumption would be that these would be, as well.”

Titouan sat on the floor next to Avery, still wiping the sleep from his eyes. “What I don’t understand is how they have a working network? If you’re right about the EMP, wouldn’t that have destroyed the network or whatever?”

“Satellites are extraterrestrial and would not be affected, I do not believe, by an EMP.”

“So, North Korea has its own satellites?” I asked.

“Doubtful.”

Like pretty much everything else, this wasn’t making sense. “Did they take over ours, then?”

He gave me the I’m a dumb shit look again. “No.”

I didn’t miss the overly verbose Avery, but I didn’t like this version either. “Come on, dude.”

“Russia has launched several satellites over the last two or three years. If what you said is true with the mobile radar, maybe they are using Russian satellites for their network. Seems plausible to me.”

“Shit,” I uttered.

“What?” Sam asked.

“I’m pretty sure the people shooting at us back at the radar base was Russian.”

A collective “huh” could be heard. Even Tish stirred. “I heard footsteps, and I called yours and Tish’s names. That’s when I heard them speak.”

“’At ain’t good at all. Adds a whole nother layer of shit on ‘is ‘ere shit sandwich we gnawin on.”

Avery shook his head. “That would explain things. Dang.”

“Like what?” Titouan asked.

“It would answer specifically how they have a working network.”

We could ruminate for hours on the latest happenings, and that would benefit no one. We needed to formulate a plan to get us the hell out of Barrow. We would deal with the next step when we got to it. Worrying about all the things we had no control over would only sink our already cratered morale.

“Let’s concentrate on what’s at hand,” I said, interrupting Avery and Titouan’s conversation.

“This is exactly at hand,” Titouan said.

“We have much more pressing issues.”

Sam flashed me a look but didn’t hold eye contact. For Titouan’s part, he gave Sam a sideways glance but didn’t belabor the point.

“I just think we need to come up with a plan and get the hell out of here. That’s all I’m saying.”

“People just talkin. Ain’t sure why ‘at’s a problem.”

“it’s not, Sam. I just thought everyone would be ready to go.”

Tish sighed. “Now, you’re ready to go.”

Sam shot her a brief look. I didn’t bother a reply. Instead, I got up and grabbed a few MREs out of one of the bags, laid them on the floor, and took one for myself. I was done talking for a while.

We ate and were in the Ripsaw by around eleven a.m. Because there was no more wood for the stove, and we really didn’t want to bust more up, we formulated a plan in the Ripsaw. We’d time things so we would hit Barrow around twilight. That way, we wouldn’t need lanterns. It was safer that way. That and our batteries were almost dead.

We would make three stops. A gun shop on D Street, Miley’s because he would have easy access to diesel, and because it was just up the street from the gun shop, and on our way out of town, we would hit the AC Value Center. The library was a minute or two walk from the store. If all went well, we could be in and out of Barrow in less than forty-five minutes.

Chapter 3

The weather sucked, but it was far better than the blizzard we had endured the day prior. Titouan and I crept across the snow-swept street. The gun store lay just ahead, nestled in between two dilapidated houses. “Whoa,” I said, putting out my arm to stop Titouan from advancing. “The door,” I whispered. Blown snow had accumulated half-way up the wide-open door.

“Shit.”

“Yeah, shit.”

“What do you think?”

I motioned for