EMP Catastrophe , Hamilton, Grace [crime books to read txt] 📗

the wires become so oversaturated that they explode and stop working. Which leaves your car electronics fried. Your power stops working. Your banks, your phones, everything. Ka-put.”

“Like a busted transformer,” Matthew said under his breath, thinking of seeing one shoot sparks on his street when he and Kathleen first moved in together, how the lights in their apartment had flickered and gone out until the electric company showed up to fix it.

“So what about the manmade ones?” Jade asked.

“To me, that’s the scarier proposition,” David admitted. “The use of a manmade EMP would, most likely, be an act of war. A nuclear bomb would be shot at us, but instead of it landing in one place and exploding—like creating a crater or trying to take out a city—it could be detonated above the country and have the same impact as a solar flare. Same big area of impact. The particles would affect the Earth’s magnetic field over that particular country and wipe out technology as we know it.”

“How do you know so much about this stuff, Dad?” Matthew interjected. He’d never heard of an EMP, much less its uses as a weapon. How did David, who called Tumblr the Tumbles, know this much about EMPs? His father—the guy who deliberately forgot his heart medication because he wanted to be tough—how did he know about nuclear weapons?

“I was in the Army, Matt,” David said as if miffed. “This was a real concern back in my day. It posed a threat to national security. Those e-bombs could take out advancing technology and shift us back to the 18th century.” He looked around. “It might have already.”

“No way.” Matthew shook his head. “If that was a possibility—a real possibility—we would’ve been warned. The government would’ve issued an announcement that we were under attack from a foreign nation. Hell, NASA would’ve been putting out data and papers about an oncoming solar flare. There’s no way we wouldn’t have seen this coming.”

Jade looked up at Matthew, distress written across her features. She pulled her legs up against her chest, as if to make herself as small as possible. Her lower lip trembled.

“Not likely,” David said. “Telling the country an attack like that was imminent would incite a mass panic. People would be looting and causing chaos instead of wandering around, figuring the power would come back on. If people were told to prepare for something like that, it would cause everyone to become overwhelmed, and you’d most likely have more people hurt or harmed as a result. You’ve seen the people we’ve run across. Many haven’t been that compassionate.”

“You sound like this is doomsday,” Matthew said.

“I’m saying doomsday is a possibility. One that makes sense with our current situation. The United States never implemented infrastructure back-ups in case of an EMP attack. Not only would our technology be shifted back to the Victorian era, we would be at an even greater disadvantage in our attempts to remember how to survive and thrive in those conditions. We aren’t prepared for it. Dealing with the ignorant fallout of our nation would be far easier than warning everyone that it was coming.” David spread his hands. “When I was in the Army, I never heard if our country had developed an e-bomb, but it was rumored that other countries did. We talked about what we would do, but it was low priority. Who’s to say that’s not what’s happening right now?”

“But which one is it?” Jade asked softly, a bright sheen of tears coating her green eyes. “Are we under attack? Or is it a natural disaster?”

“At this point, it’s hard to tell.” David shrugged.

Matthew’s mouth went dry. He never thought of it that way—that this event could be just as catastrophic as a hurricane or a terrorist attack. The miles between him and his wife and children suddenly seemed daunting. He began to spiral, thinking of how they would get back home, how would they pay their bills if the banks were out, how would they find food if shipments couldn’t get into the States and truck the food across the nation, how would they survive in general? More importantly, how long would it last? If they didn’t have backup systems in place and everything that relied on electricity was wiped out…it could be a very long time.

He knew little about the past. What he recalled from history about the 18th century was an industrial revolution where child-workers got their hands caught in unreliable factory accidents. That air and water pollution were real concerns. Sweat beaded on his brow. No. He couldn’t fall into a black hole of what-ifs. America’s weakness of relying on technology and modernity might be its undoing, but Matthew needed to stay focused on the here and now. Otherwise he’d fall into a deep depression. He’d go insane wondering about the fate of his family.

“It’s okay,” David said, drawing his arm around Jade and pulling her into a one-armed hug. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. Sometimes I can be too realistic and that leaves little room for empathy.”

Jade uttered a soft sob and gripped David’s arm for reassurance. Matthew took in a deep breath, studying Jade’s petite frame, wondering how the young woman would survive on her own. He knew she could—but what if Cheese and Chris had found her? What if she ran into a group of people who meant her harm? She looked so fragile and lost. A thought began to form in the back of his mind, and he decided to take the risk, see what she thought of it.

“Where are you heading, Jade?” Matthew asked softly, wondering if giving her provisions to help her on her way would even be enough. He had to hope there were still good people out there who would go out of their way to offer aid to those in need. If it was Allison out there alone, he hoped someone would do the same for her.

Jade pulled back from David