EMP Catastrophe by Hamilton, Grace (books to read in your 20s female .txt) 📗

goodness sake. She was Kathleen Riley, math teacher and new hotel owner.

“What are we going to do now, Mom?” Allison asked in a small voice. “Should we try to knock on some doors and ask for help?”

Who knew what other shady types lurked in the shadows? No one had come outside to see what had happened just now or to see if they were okay. Both she and Allison were too vulnerable, and it didn’t look like they’d be finding help here in any shape or form. If they went further into the city, they’d probably find more of the same: neighbors turning on neighbors, people thinking they could take advantage of others. “I don’t think so, honey. We need help, but not from anyone around here.”

“Should we go further into the city to my friend’s house? Maybe their car works, or maybe they have a landline we could use to call Grandma and Patton.”

“I’m sure your friends would be helpful, but I want to get out of the city, not go further into it.” Kathleen said as she pushed her braid behind her shoulder.

“Then we’re just going to bike to Galena? We don’t have anything except for Uncle Max’s bag.” Allison looked scared and exasperated. “Mom, how are you not falling apart right now?”

Kathleen gnawed at her lip. Ideas rolled around in her mind, all of them leading back to one person: Rhonda. She pulled her bike up and mounted it. “I always taught my students to solve for X. My X right now is getting us home or at least somewhere safe where we can re-evaluate everything. Chicago is great, but a lot of bad stuff still happens, and we aren’t in…well, a good area. Falling apart just isn’t in the equation right now.”

Rhonda would know what to do. Rhonda would be able to help them.

“Right.” Allison straightened, tilted her chin up. “Can’t solve the old pygathoreaum theorem with tears.”

“Pythagorean.” Kathleen handed Allison her bike. “I know the fastest way anywhere is in a straight line, but we should make a pit stop.”

“Where?” Allison asked as she hopped on her bike.

“To see an old college friend of mine,” Kathleen said, flipping her brakes a couple of times, even as anxiety rushed through her. She might want to see Rhonda, but would Rhonda want to even see her again? “Her name is Rhonda.”

“And why would we go see this mystery person? You’ve never mentioned her before,” Allison said as she pushed off the curb.

Kathleen followed, hanging the nylon bag on her rubber handlebars to stall for time. Old hurts bubbled up in her chest, but she wasn’t a twenty-something young woman anymore. She was older and wiser. She could face what had happened between her and Rhonda, and acknowledge her part in driving a wedge between them. “We used to be roommates. She lives close to the city.” Or used to, anyway.

“Okaaay,” Allison said slowly, shooting Kathleen a furrowed-brow look. They picked up the pace, scooting around stalled cars and zipping past buildings.

Kathleen sighed. Okay, yes, she was being a little aloof and vague. “She’s a prepper.”

“So like she has an underground bunker and a mountain of canned food in case of Y2K?” Allison scoffed. “C’mon, Mom. Doomsday people like that are nuts.”

Kathleen squirmed on her bike seat. Allison sounded just like Matthew. He’d said something similar after she’d introduced Rhonda to him. “It’s not like she’s getting ready for the rapture or thinks the world is going to crash in flames. She’s simply prepared in case something happens. Like if something like this happens.”

The roads widened, and Allison and Kathleen maneuvered around a couple of stalled cars, seeing that ahead of her lay even more vehicles that had died. Some people had their hoods popped open, peering at the engines. Up ahead, others asked for help and were met with derisive looks. Some were even shooed away by their neighbors as if they were bad dogs annoying people in a park. Kathleen watched it all with deep suspicion, hoping to get away from these strangers as fast as possible. The incident with the young men and the truck had rattled her, and she saw everyone around her as a threat.

“I don’t think we need to hide underground just because the power has gone out,” Allison mumbled.

“Allison, I don’t mean to sound harsh, but we were just attacked in the middle of the day. Those men”—ugh and she hated calling them men, they hadn’t earned that title— “tried to steal from us in broad daylight. That’s not normal. Everything that’s happening isn’t normal.”

“People get robbed or shot or kidnapped all the time. This is Chicago. Some of my friends have been mugged before. What happened to us was wrong place, wrong time. You can’t think the worst of everyone because of one bad experience,” Allison countered, but her usual sulky tone didn’t come through. Kathleen relaxed, because this was an Allison she could debate and communicate with, a young woman who could stand her ground and have opinions, but at the same time listened to reason. Maybe she’d been doing an okay job at this whole parenting business.

“But we wouldn’t have been in that situation to begin with,” Kathleen said. “Look around you. Cars aren’t working everywhere. People aren’t banding together to create a safe place for others who are stranded. Polite society isn’t functioning. We need to act and think as if we are in danger because we actually are. We don’t know who will try to take our bikes next. I think it’s a good idea to find Rhonda, talk with her, see if she has any insight. She may be willing to help us and she’s just outside the city.”

“Sure she’ll help us. Right before she tries to convert us to some cult-religion or convince us we’re the last people alive and can only eat Spam for the rest of our days.”

“That’s your father talking.”

Allison went quiet. “Do you think Dad and Grandpa are okay?”

That was