Cities on Fire Read online

  “Walt, you and my Dad are fools. Go home. You can’t see Jo; she’s asleep.

  Dawn walked up to the Nursing Station and saw Bill walking away from a man who was yelling at him. She waited until he was close and asked, “Bill, who is that and why is he mad at you?’

  “It’s my wife’s partner, and he is one of those assholes who always think it’s going to be doomsday any minute,” he replied while lowering his voice.

  “He’s probably sleeping with Jo. He’s like a puppy dog in the waiting room all worried about my wife. I know something is going on,” Bill moaned.

  Bill didn’t notice that Walt was spying on Dawn and him from behind the door to the waiting room. Bill stroked Dawn’s hand when the other Nurse turned her back, and he pointed down the hall towards the janitor’s closet. She left first then he followed behind her. Walt saw them duck into the closet and knew what was going on behind that door.

  Walt traveled over to Jo’s room, sat in the chair beside her bed, and watched her sleep. He had fallen in love with her the first week they worked together. She was beautiful, had a great sense of humor, and was very smart. She was also very brave and at times tried to prove herself too much. He had told her on several occasions that she was as good and any man on the force, but she always tried to prove that she was as good as a man.

  He held her hand as she slept and lost track of time. A short while later he felt a hand on his as it ripped her hand from his.

  “That’s my wife’s hand, and you need to remember you are her partner, not her boyfriend! Get the hell out of my wife’s room.”

  Dawn and the other nurse heard the commotion and ran to the room in time to hear the last part of the exchange between the two angry men.

  “Bill, Jo is my partner and yes I am worried about her. You should be more concerned about her than this blonde nurse you were playin’ with in the broom closet.”

  “I’ll…”

  “You won’t do a damn thing but zip up your pants and wipe the lipstick off your cheek before Jo wakes up and sees the evidence. You don’t deserve a woman like Jo.”

  Bill wiped at his cheek as he replied, “Get him out of here!”

  Two security guards ran up to the argument, and one said, “Walt, what’s going on?”

  “Nothing but an upset husband. His wife was shot today while he’s banging a nurse here.”

  “Walt, come on with us. We don’t need more of a scene than what has already happened.”

  Walt complied and left with the security guards. He apologized to them as he left but didn’t tell them what Bill was doing with Dawn.

  “Grandma I loaded our Bugout Bags, my pistol, rifle, shotgun, food, and water. Missy packed clothes for all of us and a first aid kit into the Explorer. I left Mom’s guns, Dad’s and her Bugout Bags that Papaw gave them. I left a note on the kitchen counter telling them where we went. Anything else you want me to do?”

  “No. Great job son. Jake, you and Missy, sit in the back, and I will drive while your brother navigates for us.”

  Jane started the Explorer, left the subdivision, and drove to Highway 60 East. She quickly got on Highway 264 heading southwest so she could get on Highway 65 South.

  “Grandma, look to your right. There are several big fires,” Missy said.

  Will replied, “The looting and rioting are now beginning, and the electricity is still on. Imagine how bad it will get when the power goes off.”

  “Will, don’t scare the kids. Let’s think good thoughts and travel south as fast as we can.”

  “Sorry, Grandma. Hey, there’s our ramp up ahead.”

  Jane got off Highway 264 and made the turn down to the loop that placed them on Highway 65 South. She looked back at Louisville and saw several large fires in the review mirror. She silently thanked God that she was out of there and taking the kids to safety. She couldn’t help but worry about her daughter and son in law, but she knew Jo would get his sorry ass on the road and down to Tennessee.

  “Grandma, Will asked, “Do you think we will ever be able to go golfing again? I liked going with you and Grandpa.”

  “Son, you, and I will definitely go golfing again even if we have to mow the whole 18 holes ourselves.

  Kids, I’m stopping at my home to pick up some clothes and personal items. It should be safe but keep your eyes out for any problems.”

  She got off at the Clermont exit and headed East on Highway 245 until she saw the road to her house. She pulled up in front of the house and got out of the Explorer.

  “Kids stay in the car. I’ll be right back.”

  Will looked at his iPhone and saw that it was 5:45 am, and wondered how the night had flown by so fast.

  Walt got into his patrol car and pulled out of the driveway to go home to his apartment. He knew he should gather his stuff and head up to Kentucky. He thought about Jo and pulled off the highway south of the airport. He was deep in thought and fell asleep.

  ✼

  Chapter 2

  Day One - TSHTF

  “Bill, you son of a bitch. It’s 5:30 and we should be on the way to your Dad’s by now. The kids are probably halfway there.”

  “What? Who told them to go to Dad’s place?”

  “I did. Turn the news on. The entire world is at war. We need to get out of here and get our butts down to Tennessee.”

  Jo pulled the IV out of her arm and grabbed her clothes out of the closet.

  “Jo, you need to rest.”

  “Where are my gun and holster?”

  “Your Captain took your gun because of department regulations since it was involved in a shooting.”

  “Thank God Walt put my back up gun in my purse,” Jo said as she tucked the Keltek P11 9mm into her waistband in the middle of her back.

  “Come on. We need to roll.”

  “Jo, wait.”

  “Look, Bill, I’m going home to get some things and heading south to your Dad’s; you can stay here or come with me if you stay here don’t ever come back again.”

  She walked down the hall brushing the nurses off and headed to the elevator with Bill trying to catch up to her. He jumped into the elevator just before the door closed. The ride down was filled with silence, and as soon as the door opened, she bolted for the lobby doors.

  “Bill where are you parked?”

  “Over in the west parking lot. Follow me.”

  The sun was barely above the skyline in the east, and the traffic on all of the streets was building up when there was silence. Every car and truck had died, which resulted in numerous crashes. The Hospitals air conditioning motors wound down and stopped. There was complete silence then they heard people yelling and cursing at each other.

  A thunderous explosion rocked them from behind, and they turned to see half of the east wing of the hospital disappear into a fireball and smoke. Jo dove for cover under a car and yelled at Bill to join her. Bill stood there with his mouth gapped open and a dumb look on his face.

  “What the fuck was that,” screamed Jo as she scanned the area.

  There were other explosions all around them, but not close enough that they could see anything. Then there was a roar as something overhead roared past them. A 747 flew just a few feet over them and crashed a block away into an apartment complex, which became a ball of fire.

  Jo looked at the parking lot and saw scores of people with bloody head wounds, arms dangling at odd angles, and carrying injured children walking toward the hospital.

  Bill saw the injured and said, “I have to go help these people. I’ll be home later.”

  “Bill, we have three kids that need us. Come with me, or you will never see me again.”

  “But, but what happened. I can’t deal with this. Why did this happen?”

  Bill continued jabbering on and on about this wasn’t supposed to happen and the President said they were safe.

  Jo couldn’t take any more of his whining and slapped him as she yelled, “Bill, get a grip. We have three kids who need us to be adults
and help them make it through this disaster. Put your big girl panties on and get moving you wussie.”

  Jo started walking east in the direction of their house, and her husband followed her in a daze. His whole world was shattered and nothing made sense.

  The entire city was a maze of crashed and stalled vehicles. There were black columns of smoke rising in all directions, and people were milling around in their yards and in shopping mall parking lots.

  The city of Louisville had dozens of major fires caused by fallen aircraft and vehicle crashes. A dump truck crashed into a gasoline tanker on the bridge to New Albany, and the entire bridge was on fire. Their city was on fire, and most of the residents didn’t have a clue what had turned their lives upside down. Most would die over the next three months.

  The crashed airplanes, wrecked cars, and heart attacks resulted in thousands of injured and dying citizens scattered around the city. Several people asked Jo to stop and help them, and it took three times before she realized that she had her police uniform on.

  Bill and she stopped and helped free several people from car wrecks and placed a tourniquet on one man’s leg when Jo took off the police shirt and tied it around her waist. She knew her first job was to get home and find her kids, and then they had to go to Bob’s home in Tennessee.

  She only had her pants and a sports bra on, which allowed her to be invisible to most of the injured people. She knew she would never get to her kids if she kept stopping. She had to keep after her husband to force him to keep walking past people she was sworn to protect. This hurt her deep inside, but she kept picturing one of her kids needing help. They moved on as fast as she could push Bill who was in a daze.

  They had covered about twenty blocks when Jo recognized Al’s restaurant up ahead and Patriot Arms across the street. She stopped and put her shirt back on and tucked it neatly into her pants.

  “Bill, we’re going gun shopping.”

  An explosion nearby woke Walt up as it caused the patrol car to rock and shake. Debris hit the roof of the car and shattered the back window. Walt opened the door, staggered out and onto his feet to see a plane falling out of the sky and crash into the airport terminal. Walt keyed the mic on his walkie-talkie and found the radio was dead. He reached into the patrol car, grabbed the mic and it was dead also.

  He jumped into the driver’s seat to head over to the crash, and the key turned, but the car didn’t crank. While he was doing this, several other airplanes crashed. He got out of the car and saw that hundreds of vehicles had crashed or stalled in the streets.

  He checked his phone for the time, and the screen was black. He tried turning the device on to no avail.

  “Holy shit; there’s been a nuke or EMP blast. Everything is dead,” he yelled to himself.

  Walt started walking to his apartment, which was a mile away and only a block from Al’s restaurant. People tried to stop him for help or to ask him what had happened. Walt was in shock and didn’t reply; he just walked on past them with a blank look on his face.

  Jane only took 15 minutes to gather her things, but she took the time to shut off the gas and electricity to the house before walking out to the Explorer. It was now daylight, and she saw the trails for jets in the air. Louisville Airport was busy this time of the morning with Fed-X, UPS, and passenger flights vying to get airborne.

  She was surprised when the Explorer’s lights went dark. The entire city’s lights went out a second afterward. Her home was only a few blocks from the highway, and she noticed the roar of the traffic had ceased.

  Suddenly there was an explosion east of the airport then another south of her home.

  “Grandma, nothing works. My phone and game went dead,” Missy yelled.

  “My iPhone is dead.”

  Will turned the key to start his Explorer and nothing happened.

  “Grandma, my truck is also dead. There has either been a nuclear EMP, that’s an Electro Magnetic Pulse or a major Solar Flare. Those are the only two things that destroy all electronics.”

  “What do we do now?”

  “Grandma, we can do one of three things. We can find an old car without electronics that should run. We can ride bikes, or we can walk.”

  “Oh dear, I don’t know where to find such a car, but I have three bicycles in the garage. Will, please take Missy to fetch the bikes. There is a hand pump hanging on the wall above the workbench if you need it to air up the tires. Let Jake sleep a while more.”

  They found the bikes and all three needed some air, so Missy and Will took turns pumping until the tires were filled. Will also took tools from his Grampa’s tool chest that he thought could be needed for bike repair. He then searched through mounds of car and bicycle parts to find a tube patch kit and a spare inner tube for the bikes. They were all the old-style cruiser bikes, and all had 26-inch tires.

  “Now we need to see what we need to leave behind. I don’t think we can pack everything on the bicycles.”

  Will took his gramps old bike, wired a plastic tote to the front fender and handlebars, and filled it with food, water and his change of clothes. He strapped his Bugout bag on his back. He would tote Jake on the book rack on top of the back fender.

  “Son I have this old map that your Gramps and I used to use to find our way down to your great Uncle Tom’s in Lebanon, Tennessee. It looks like we can take back roads to Glasgow and then keep on back roads all the way to Bob’s farm. I think it’s best to avoid the large cities.”

  “Grandma, I agree. Papaw has taught me a lot about survival, and I also read Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction, and the large cities will be the first big problems as the looting and riots begin. We must get as far as possible during the first two to three days before the food runs out. After that people will kill us for our bikes or a scrap of food.”

  Will kept his Ruger MKII .22 strapped to his side under his shirt and his 12 Gauge shotgun on top of the tote. Jane took the Winchester .30 .30 and placed it on top of the handlebar basket that contained more food and water. Her bike had wire baskets on both sides of the rear tire, and those were filled with a plastic tarp and survival gear. Missy’s bike was her Mom’s old bike, and it didn’t have any baskets, so she only had her Bugout bag strapped on her back and a bag of clothes tied to the handlebars.

  “Son, don’t forget the bicycle pump.”

  “Got it wired to the frame.”

  Jane waved bye to her house, Jake climbed on the back of Will’s bike, and they rode off on their trip to Tennessee.

  Jo walked up to the front door, which had a closed sign behind the glass and rapped her knuckles on the door several times. After the fourth time, a young man came to the door and yelled, “We’re closed.”

  Jo showed the man her badge and asked him to open the door. He opened it enough to talk and said, “Officer, we’re closed. There’s going to be looting and rioting sometime today, and we’re moving most of our inventory to a safer location.”

  “I need to talk to the owner.”

  “My Dad is in the back. He had a rough day yesterday and doesn’t feel like talking.”

  Jo stuck her index finger into one of the bullet holes in her shirt and said, “Me too. I was one of the officers who stopped the robbery. I just wanted to check on your Dad.”

  “Dad, come up front.”

  The older man walked to the front, saw Jo, and said, “You’re the lady cop who killed that asshole and saved my life. Is this the other cop?”

  “No, that’s my husband.”

  “Officer Karr I owe you my life. What are you doing out here walking? You know the whole city’s electrical grid, cars, and phones are dead, don’t you?”

  “Yes, I was just leaving the hospital when the shit hit the fan and found our car was dead. Our home is in East Louisville, so we started walking.”

  “How bad were you hurt?”

  “I’m okay. The bulletproof vest stopped the bullets. I’m very sore but will be fine. My partner got a flesh wound but is okay and was released yes
terday.”

  “Thank God you both are okay.”

  “Sir I need a big favor. I don’t think the power is coming back on for a while and the criminals will be killing, raping and looting soon. We’re heading to a safe place south of here, and I need to buy or borrow a pistol from you. The department took my service Glock to complete the shooting investigation.”

  “Come on in. I owe you my life, and you are right; the world won’t return to normal for years. You need more than a pistol. We will equip you and give you a ride out of the city.”

  “Dad, we don’t know her.”

  “Son she saved my life, and I’m going to make sure she has a fighting chance to get to her safe place. Now, Ben go get two backpacks and fill them up with our standard survival gear, MREs, and two canteens. Make sure you have two Life Straws in each bag. Now my friend what guns do you want.”

  “Sir….”

  “Call me Shorty. All my friends do.”

  “Shorty, I only have a couple of hundred dollars on me….”

  “Look, your money is no good here. What do you need? Just ask, and it’s yours. How about two Glock 17s, a Keltek Sub 2000 and a Bushmaster AR15 to start with? That gives you three weapons that use the same 9mm ammo and magazines and a rifle that can reach out and touch the bad guys. I’ll add four loaded mags per gun, 250 rounds of 9mm, and 250 .223s. That’s a bit of weight, but you may be fighting for your lives. Ben, add two tactical vests to carry the magazines and Glocks.”

  “Shorty I can’t thank you enough.”

  “Woman you saved my life. I would do anything for you.”

  “Jo, I won’t need any guns,” Bill said.

  “Shut up; they are not for you. You’ll pack my spares. I’m sorry Shorty, but my husband is one of those liberals who doesn't like guns.”