They came together in front of the green house on Whitetail Lane. Kyle grabbed Jennifer with both arms and swept her off her feet, spinning her around and around. His throat ached too much to speak, so he just held her, held her with all the strength and love he possessed. He closed his eyes and shut out the world and just experienced the touch and feel of his wife pressed against him.
They stopped spinning, and everything he’d gone through during the past three months flashed briefly through his mind: the airplane crash, Ed, Louise, his friends in Lubbock, losing his cart, Rose. All of it was there, and then it was gone. He was home. He was with his family. Nothing else mattered. The joy of that moment was worth every ounce of energy he had spent to get there.
“Daddy!” came a little boy’s scream. Now that his mother had confirmed what he’d already known, Spencer was charging across the yard. He slammed into his daddy’s legs, and wrapped his little arms around them.
Kyle let go of Jennifer and enveloped Spencer in his arms. He picked his son up off the ground and squeezed him tight. Spencer wrapped his arms around his dad’s neck and hugged him as tightly as he could, his face grimacing, his eyes closing to tiny slivers. Jennifer put her arms around the two of them, and they silently embraced for what seemed like hours, without saying a word.
The front door swung open, and a young girl squealed. Kyle turned to see Emma drop to her knees in excitement on the front steps of the house. He set Spencer down and ran to his daughter. Scooping her up off the steps, he kissed her cheek and carried her over to where Jennifer and Spencer stood watching.
Kyle swallowed hard. “I missed you guys,” he said, finally choking the words out between sobs. “I sure had to walk a long way to get here… but you’re worth every step.”
“We missed you too, Daddy. We missed you too,” said Emma, her grin spreading from ear to ear, nearly splitting her face in two.
Jennifer wrapped her arms around her husband, son, and daughter, rested her head on Kyle’s shoulder, and closed her eyes. “I knew you’d come home, Kyle,” she whispered. “I just knew it.”
Kyle looked down at Jennifer, the love of his life, and gently took her chin in his hand, tilted her face up, and kissed her. Their lips pressed tightly together as their tears blended, the joy of their reunion coursing through them.
Jennifer broke the kiss and looked into her husband’s eyes. “Welcome home, Kyle. You have no idea how much we missed you.”
Kyle smiled, every care in the world forgotten. “It’s so good to be here.” He looked at Jennifer, his eyes glistening. “There’s one more person I need to see. I understand he’s made his father proud.”
Jennifer nodded and wiped the tears from her cheeks as she took Kyle by the hand and led him towards the house.
The following April, bins of seeds from Australia and South America, along with instructions for planting and harvesting, were delivered by armed military vehicles to every community in the country.
By July, ten months after the EMP attack, partial power was restored to 10% of the residents within 100 miles of Washington, D.C. By November, 20% of East Coast residents reported between four and six hours of power availability a day.
In December, 20% of power was restored in Montana’s three largest cities.
The following April, nineteen months after the EMP attack, mail delivery was reinstituted. It consisted of one day a week service and was limited to 4x6 postcards. Kyle sent out several postcards the first day of service. They read, simply:
I made it.
They were safe.
God bless you.
Kyle Tait, friend for life.
Thank You
On behalf of everyone who has helped create this story, I would like to thank you for investing your money and taking the time to read this book. Taking a chance on an unknown author is a risk that is not always rewarded. Hopefully you feel your time has been well spent.
Speaking on behalf of independent authors, I would ask you to help increase our chances of finding success. Trying to break through as an author takes a lot of hard work, time, faith, and the support and encouragement of dozens of people, and even then, most authors find very limited success. In those instances when you read a story that you feel has been well written, is entertaining, and is worth the price of the book, please tell your friends about it, mention it on facebook, or find other ways to spread the word about it. Independent authors have very limited advertising funds, and most of us sell only a handful of books, so each new sale is exciting and motivating.
I would also ask you to consider adding a review on Amazon. The ratings help, the feedback is appreciated, and I can assure you that each review is read multiple times by the author, likely within hours of it being posted.
As far as the subject of EMP's goes, I sincerely believe the threat is real, and it is a subject that most people know little about and are terribly unprepared for. The fact that a rogue state or terrorist organization has the potential to bring our continent to its knees with a single nuclear bomb should keep our leaders up at night. However, seeing as our government is doing next to nothing to protect us, I strongly encourage the reader to take the initiative and do as much preparing as possible to protect themselves and their family.
Some of the resources I would direct you to are: www.empactamerica.org — (the site with the best information on EMPs and the threat they pose), www.survivalblog.com — (an amazing site with hundreds of articles on preparedness), www.mypatriotsupply.com — (a great resource for heirloom seeds and other preparedness items), the survival podcast — (a daily podcast discussing various threats and what can be done to protect yourself).
In addition, there are dozens of books, websites, podcasts, and other resources a person can avail themselves to in order to improve their ability to survive an emergency, whatever form it might take.
Thanks again.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ray Gorham lives in the small, farming community of Shepherd, Montana with his wife and five children. He runs his log home business by day and writes in the evenings, on weekends, and whenever the weather keeps him inside.
Copyright
Copyright 2011 by Ray Gorham
All rights reserved
Comments on this work can be sent to raygorham1@gmail.com.
All characters in this work are fictional, and any resemblance to actual persons is completely coincidental.