Final Dawn: Season 1 (The Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Series) Read Online Free Page B
Author: Mike Kraus
front dash. "Not good," he muttered to himself, jamming the key into the ignition. He turned it over several times, but no sound came from the engine. He started pressing buttons on the dash, flipping switches and trying every device in the car. The radio, lights, sunroof, windows, and power locks were all completely nonfunctional. Even the horn was silent as Marcus slammed his fist into the steering wheel, gnashing his teeth in frustration. "Dammit!" he screamed, as he threw open the door and stepped out.
Running his fingers through his hair, Marcus began to pace and pulled his cellphone out of his pocket. While he was in the valley, it wasn’t working, but it was worth trying again, just in case. After the screen didn't respond to being touched, Marcus tapped the power button on the top of the phone, then pulled the battery out and replaced it again. Nothing worked, and the phone remained as silent as the car. Was it really this bad, he wondered, or is it just the phones? But what about the car. Surely whatever killed the car couldn't have killed the phone, too.
Marcus continued pacing, rubbing his head, trying to think of an answer. As he passed by the rear window for the third time, it hit him, dredged up from an introductory physics lecture at Yale when he was still in that phase of not knowing what he wanted to major in. An EMP! That must be it! If those clouds were really from nuclear bombs, then they could have caused an EMP that knocked out the computers in the car and in the phone, too. While Marcus couldn’t remember the specifics of an electromagnetic pulse, the effects of one were the topic of enough television shows and movies that he was familiar with the fictionalized version. From what he remembered, detonating a nuclear bomb in the atmosphere instead of on the ground would cause a huge surge called an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP. This pulse would disable or fry any electrical devices in its range depending on the power of the bomb that was used. If the real thing was half as devastating as ones portrayed in movies, it would certainly explain what was going on with the electronics. He darted from car to car in the parking area, looking through the windows to confirm his theory. Without exception, there wasn't a single light, clock or other electronic device with any perceivable power.
While this realization didn't help him get any closer to fixing the problems with his broken phone or his SUV, it did give him some strange measure of relief to know why they weren't working. Marcus stopped pacing and looked at the horizon. While the mushroom clouds had long since vanished, a misshapen collection of dust and soot hovered in the air in the direction of the original blasts, east toward Virginia and north toward DC. It was just under 200 miles from the outskirts of the national forest to Richmond and without a working vehicle it could take four or more days of hard walking to get there, assuming there weren’t any problems along the way. While it was impossible to know for sure if all vehicles were affected by what he assumed to be an EMP, Marcus reasoned that there could still be some type of car or truck working somewhere, as long as it was beyond the EMP blast radius. For now, though, he decided that it was better to get moving and look for working vehicles along the way instead of wasting his time searching for one right now.
Marcus sighed, shouldered his backpack and glanced down at his compass dangling from his hip. There was a long road ahead, and he might as well get started now. With a final look back at his SUV, he began walking down the gravel road and out of the park.
1:08 AM, March 29, 2038
Nancy Sims
Nancy was not the fittest of women. While she wasn't obese, she was never able to force herself to commit to a steady workout regimen and her years of working a desk job had pushed her once agile frame over the edge and into solid "overweight" territory. This, combined
Running his fingers through his hair, Marcus began to pace and pulled his cellphone out of his pocket. While he was in the valley, it wasn’t working, but it was worth trying again, just in case. After the screen didn't respond to being touched, Marcus tapped the power button on the top of the phone, then pulled the battery out and replaced it again. Nothing worked, and the phone remained as silent as the car. Was it really this bad, he wondered, or is it just the phones? But what about the car. Surely whatever killed the car couldn't have killed the phone, too.
Marcus continued pacing, rubbing his head, trying to think of an answer. As he passed by the rear window for the third time, it hit him, dredged up from an introductory physics lecture at Yale when he was still in that phase of not knowing what he wanted to major in. An EMP! That must be it! If those clouds were really from nuclear bombs, then they could have caused an EMP that knocked out the computers in the car and in the phone, too. While Marcus couldn’t remember the specifics of an electromagnetic pulse, the effects of one were the topic of enough television shows and movies that he was familiar with the fictionalized version. From what he remembered, detonating a nuclear bomb in the atmosphere instead of on the ground would cause a huge surge called an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP. This pulse would disable or fry any electrical devices in its range depending on the power of the bomb that was used. If the real thing was half as devastating as ones portrayed in movies, it would certainly explain what was going on with the electronics. He darted from car to car in the parking area, looking through the windows to confirm his theory. Without exception, there wasn't a single light, clock or other electronic device with any perceivable power.
While this realization didn't help him get any closer to fixing the problems with his broken phone or his SUV, it did give him some strange measure of relief to know why they weren't working. Marcus stopped pacing and looked at the horizon. While the mushroom clouds had long since vanished, a misshapen collection of dust and soot hovered in the air in the direction of the original blasts, east toward Virginia and north toward DC. It was just under 200 miles from the outskirts of the national forest to Richmond and without a working vehicle it could take four or more days of hard walking to get there, assuming there weren’t any problems along the way. While it was impossible to know for sure if all vehicles were affected by what he assumed to be an EMP, Marcus reasoned that there could still be some type of car or truck working somewhere, as long as it was beyond the EMP blast radius. For now, though, he decided that it was better to get moving and look for working vehicles along the way instead of wasting his time searching for one right now.
Marcus sighed, shouldered his backpack and glanced down at his compass dangling from his hip. There was a long road ahead, and he might as well get started now. With a final look back at his SUV, he began walking down the gravel road and out of the park.
1:08 AM, March 29, 2038
Nancy Sims
Nancy was not the fittest of women. While she wasn't obese, she was never able to force herself to commit to a steady workout regimen and her years of working a desk job had pushed her once agile frame over the edge and into solid "overweight" territory. This, combined
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