“Hey, everybody, listen up. Power’s down for the entire block. By the looks of it, we’re probably going to be closed for the rest of the day, so everybody goes home,” Glenn said.
“Is this gonna be paid leave?” Don asked.
“Are you working?”
“No.”
“Then no.”
The workers started heading for their cars. Mike walked among them watching everyone shake and tap their mobile devices. Don cursed, shoving the phone into his pocket.
“Goddamn thing never stays charged.”
Mike pulled out his own phone. The screen was completely black. He held the power button down, but the phone wouldn’t turn on. He knew it had a full charge this morning when he left for work.
One of Mike’s co-workers smacked into his shoulder, rushing past him. He looked up from his phone and saw some men in the front of the group rushing toward the parking lot. Soon the rest of the group started running and Mike was caught up in the current of people herding forward. Mike pushed his way to the front of the pack next to Don.
All of the cars along the highway were completely still. Wrecks dotted the road for miles. People were outside their vehicles checking the engines. Some were walking toward the city while others sat on the side of the road expecting someone to come and get them.
“What the hell?” Don asked.
Mike thought of the back-up generators that hadn’t turned on, the machines in the yard that had shut off, and the dead cell phones. All of it added up to one thing.
EMP burst.
The Streets
Mike was the first to break for his truck. A few other people followed him, but most people stood in the yard staring at the stalled cars along the highway. Gravel kicked up behind him. He stuck his hands in his pocket, fumbling for his keys in mid stride. The truck door flew open and he reached for the glove box yanking out the small bag inside. The hospital where he dropped his dad off was a few miles away. If he kept up a steady pace he could be there in thirty minutes.
The factories and warehouses on the edge of the city slowly morphed into office buildings and small businesses the closer he moved to the hospital. The silence of everything was eerie. No engines running. No horns blaring. No power lines buzzing. There was only the silent murmur of crowds piling into the streets looking confused in the motionless city.
People held their cell phones in the air, looking around, asking questions to one another. Growing crowds surrounded the police officers stationed on corners. Mike could hear the bombardment of questions and pleas:
“What’s going on?”
“When is the power coming back on?”
“Why isn’t my phone working?”
“My car got hit back on 4th street and the guy took off!”
“Help me.”
Mike’s pace slowed. He squeezed in and out of the growing crowds piling into the streets. He could feel the restlessness growing in the people around him. He thought of what this mob would start doing once they realized what he already knew.
Yesterday Mike watched two men get into a shoving match over a fender bender. On Monday when he was standing in line for coffee the woman at the front had an outburst because the barista said they were out of the white chocolate creamer she liked.
Now, there were wrecks on every corner. There wasn’t internet, or transportation, or a way to keep people’s food from spoiling. There weren’t any ATMs that were working, no way to call for help or to check to see if someone’s friend or family member was okay. There wasn’t even any power to turn on the barista’s coffee machines. The whole city was shut down.
After twenty minutes of running, Mike clutched his ribs. A knife-like pain was digging into his side, running from his hip to his shoulder. The ring of sweat from the summer heat formed around the collar of his shirt. The crowds had grown so thick now there wasn’t enough space for him to run. He slowed to a brisk walk. He stared down at his feet, feeling the throbbing ache of running in boots.
Mike stepped up on the platform of a street lamp to get a better view of what was in front of him. A large crowd had gathered in front of the precinct a block away. A line of police stationed outside was attempting to control the hordes of people rushing to get inside.
Just beyond the precinct he could see the front of Allegheny General. Behind the crowd in front of the police station, on the other side of the street, a space opened up where Mike could get by. He jumped down from the lamppost and made his way toward the opening.
Mike pushed his way through crowds of people on the other side of the street, his fingers gripping the small bag in his hand. Elbows jabbed his side, shoes stepped over his boots, and shoulders collided with him. The summer heat combined with the sweaty bodies around him made the air thick and hard to breathe. The crowd was hot, uncomfortable, and irritable.
An officer’s voice boomed through a bullhorn outside the station. He kept his hands up in the air addressing the crowd. Officers in riot gear appeared from the side of the station wielding shields and batons. The crowd hadn’t noticed them yet.
“I need everyone to please remain calm. We are working with state and federal officials to figure out what’s going on and when the power’s coming back on. I need everyone to make an orderly line and I assure you one of our officers will be available to address each of your concerns individually. Anyone that does not comply and becomes disruptive will be arrested.”
People on the outside of the crowd in front of the station started pushing their way to the front. One man grabbed a woman’s shoulders and threw her backwards. An officer in riot gear subdued him before he made it into the crowd. A teenaged girl had a backpack on and the woman behind her pulled the backpack down smacking the girl into the pavement. The riot officers grabbed the woman’s arm and cuffed her as well. All around the outskirts of the crowd shoves and punches started to breakout.
One by one the mob outside the station was being curtailed, but others were showing up gathering behind the riot police and trying to get in the station.
The shouts from the bullhorn faded behind Mike. He glanced back and could see the swarm of bodies overwhelming the officers. He still had his eyes on a man being thrown to the ground and handcuffed when the gunshot rang out in the alley behind him.
A solid ringing went through Mike’s ears. The shot was close. Mike dropped to his knee and the crowd around him ducked and scattered like cockroaches being discovered when a kitchen light turns on. He rose from his knee and was smacked in the face by a stray elbow from the crowd around him. More bodies ran into him, tossing him around like a pinball machine. He could see a man in the alleyway, clutching his stomach, sliding down the wall of the building behind him.
Mike pushed through the crowd, the ground seeming uneven beneath him from the blow to his head. The ringing in his ears subsided and was replaced by screams and cries for help.
“Guy f-fucking shot me. I d-didn’t even have any c-cash on me,” the young man said.
“What’s your name?” Mike asked.
Mike opened the bag he brought with him. He rummaged through it pulling out white bandages.
“G-Garry,” he said.
Garry’s entire body was shaking. Mike lifted Garry’s hands off the wound he was covering and shoved bandages in its place to staunch the bleeding.
“Garry, I need you to keep pressure on this okay?” Mike said.
Blood soaked Garry’s shirt and the red stain was growing larger. Mike kept both his hands over the wound, helping to keep pressure on it. Color faded from Garry’s face.
“Am I gonna die?” Garry asked.
Mike felt the spasms of Garry’s body against his hands, the struggle to stay alive. The eyes staring back at him were scared, tired, and losing their fight. Garry’s green eyes seemed brighter against the pale flesh of his cheeks. Mike’s son’s eyes were green.