Grid Down

May was too early to start a garden, but the weather was getting warm enough for another idea that had been filling my mind. I wanted to go back to Rapid City to see what was going on. I didn't intend to take any risks. I was just curious about how many people were still alive and what they were doing. If I had a chance, I'd check some grocery stores to see if anything was left.

Christy also liked the idea.

"I'd like to see if I can get into my apartment and get some of my clothes and other things. If you think it's too dangerous, I won't push the idea, but it would be nice to have clothes that fit."

I had no idea what we might find in Rapid City, so I was against taking Christy with me. She argued that she could take care of herself as well as I could. When I asked her how she'd manage to do that since she hadn't that day at Fairlawn, she shrugged.

"I didn't have any way to fight back that day except to run. My grandpa taught me to shoot a rifle and a pistol, so give me one of yours. Besides, if you should get hurt, how will you take care of yourself? I'm a nurse, remember? I can do that."

I did make Christy prove to me that she knew how to handle a firearm, and she did just fine with my Sig and with my pump shotgun. I spent some time on my battery-charging rig charging up my truck battery, and when I got done, my truck started. A day later, we put my bug-out bag in my pickup and after making sure Mom locked up everything, Christy and I drove to Rapid City.

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We decided to go to Christy's apartment first since we could get her clothes and anything else she wanted pretty fast. After that, we'd go to a couple grocery stores that were on the outskirts of town. I didn't want to go anywhere near Ellsworth or the city proper. Everything I'd read said if there was a problem the major population centers were where that problem would be.

I wasn't really surprised that we didn't see any vehicles on the road or even people walking. What I'd read was that by now, five months after the power went out, most people would either be dead or had moved to someplace where there was food and shelter. My guess was the US government had set up Ellsworth as a refugee center and that's where most of the people would be.

They apparently weren't all there, though. When we started walking up to Christy's apartment, I heard a gunshot and the dirt off to my left splattered onto my pants and jacket. The voice that came from somewhere in the building sounded both scared and angry.

"Just turn around and go back to wherever the hell you came from. If you don't, I'll shoot you both dead before you take another step."

That's exactly what I'd have done if Christy hadn't yelled back, "Colonel Jefferson, it's Christy, Christy Boxer. Remember me? I lived in one-ten. I just want to get some things from my apartment and then we'll be gone."

Christy turned to me then.

"He's the man who owns the apartment building. He's a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel. He and his wife bought the building when he retired and lived in one of the first floor apartments. She died two years ago. I used to check on him from time to time to make sure he was doing all right."

The voice yelled back, "I remember you. Who's that with you?"

Christy smiled.

"This is Ted. He's a friend and he won't hurt you. Can you let us come in?"

It took about five minutes before the door to the building opened, and when it did, there was a rifle barrel poking out of the small gap.

"Put your hands up and come closer", the voice demanded, "I want to see you up close to make sure it's you. Don't either of you try anything."

Once he was satisfied, he opened the door. I wasn't prepared for the man I saw holding the AR-15 rifle. Neither was Christy.

"Colonel Jefferson, what happened to you? You look like you're ready to fall down."

He frowned.

"I'm OK. I've just been rationing what food I have left, that's all. Couldn't get anywhere to get any more, but from what I heard from the other tenants before they left, there was no food anyway. I went through all the apartments that were empty and found a little that they left. That's what I've been living on.

"I didn't take any of your stuff, Christy. You still got your key or do you need me to open the door for you?"

Christy said she'd brought her key and walked down the hall to her apartment. I stayed with Colonel Jefferson. Christy was right. He looked like he was at death's door.

I asked him if he knew what happened, and he shook his head.

"I tried going to the base, but they wouldn't let me in and all the guards knew was the electricity is out over most of the US. I haven't seen any bombers take off, so I guess nobody nuked us. I did hear from one of the cops before they all left that there was a suspicion about a cyber-attack, but he couldn't confirm it."

I couldn't believe there were no police left in Rapid City, but Colonel Jefferson said the Governor called them to come to Pierre and Sioux City.

"It was bad here for about a week. That's how long it took the mobs to take everything from the stores. I guess that was still going on in Sioux City and Pierre or they wouldn't have needed more cops. It probably got worse when they relocated most of the people from Rapid City to one of those places.

"A bunch of National Guard trucks and some busses came through town and said FEMA had set up refugee camps in both places and was sending them food and clothing. That's where almost everybody went, so I'll bet it's a goddamned mess. This place is all I got, so I didn't go.

"I don't know shit about what's happening there now. All I know is I managed to keep the looters out of the building and I'm still here. I still have to run off half a dozen or so every week, but it's not like before.

He looked at me then and his brow wrinkled up.

"How is it you and Christy are still around when everybody else is gone?"

I wasn't about to tell him about my bunker. As it was, I didn't have to. Christy came out of her apartment then with two suitcases.

"Ted, I got my clothes and shoes, but I think we should take anything else we might need to the bunker too. Can you help me get it packed up?"

She crooked her finger after she said that, and when I walked over to where she stood, she stood on her tiptoes and said in a quiet voice, "Can we take Colonel Jefferson with us? He was always nice to me and he doesn't look good at all. He's suffering from starvation, and he's going to die if he stays here by himself."

With what little help the Colonel could give us, we packed up anything any of us thought might be useful from both Christy's apartment and the Colonel's. He'd done a very thorough job of searching the other apartments, and he'd done so with the benefit of his military survival training. He had a box of kitchen knives, another of rope and twine, and a third with pots and pans. He'd also taken all the clothing that was left because as he said, "Clothes don't last forever and I'd rather wear a dress than walk around naked."

When we walked out the door carrying the first load of stuff, I saw three really grungy guys trying to get into my truck. Colonel Jefferson said, "Goddamnit, it's the same bunch from yesterday. Wait a minute and I'll scare 'em off."

He put down the box he was carrying, unslung the AR-15 from his shoulder, and fired one round in the air. The three guys looked up and then started toward us. One of them yelled, "You dumb-ass fucking old man. I got a gun now and I'm gonna send you to hell."

The guy was pulling a pistol from his belt when another round from the Colonel's AR-15 hit him in the chest. The guy went down hard and didn't move. The other two took one look and then turned and ran off. The Colonel sighed as he slung the rifle back over his shoulder.

"Most just run off when I shoot in the air, but they're getting more desperate I suppose. Third one I've had to shoot in the last month. At least the coyotes will eat good for a couple days. About the only thing those bastards are good for -- coyote food."

We got everything loaded, including five thousand rounds for the Colonel's AR-15, his 1911 pistol, and five thousand rounds for it. The 1911 was a retirement present from the unit he commanded when he retired. The Colonel said he believed in being prepared for anything, so he'd stocked up on ammo.

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We were heading out of town when Christy looked down at my dashboard.

"Do we have enough gas to get back?"

I cursed myself twice at that question, once for not looking at my gas gauge, and once for not stocking up on gasoline when I'd read that was an important thing to do. I had enough to get back to the bunker, but this would be our last trip anywhere.

"Yes, we can make it home, but that'll be it unless we can find some gas somewhere."

The Colonel laughed.

"Good luck with that because there's none left. When the National Guard came through, they pumped every filling station dry and into the tank trucks they brought with them. Got all the diesel too. Said they were taking it with them because all gas and diesel is being confiscated for the military, and unless you got an army back at this bunker of yours, you couldn't get within a mile of Ellsworth or any other base. They're locked down tighter'n a gnat's ass."

Christy looked at my gas gauge again, then said, "What will we do if we need to go somewhere?"

I shrugged.

"I don't know...walk I guess."

Christy sighed.

"Yes, I suppose so...wait, maybe not, not if they haven't looted a place I know about. I've been thinking about it anyway. It's on our way. Let's stop and see. Maybe we'll get lucky."

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The place was called "Rapid City Tack and Feed", and though the door was standing open, it didn't look like it had been looted. I pulled up to the door and started to get out, but Colonel Jefferson stopped me.

"Let's go together. There might be somebody inside."

We walked into the business slowly with our guns drawn and looking in all directions, but found nobody there. What was there looked mostly undisturbed, but it was easy to see why. All that was in the front of the store was stuff for horses -- saddles, bridles, halters, and grooming supplies.

When we checked the back where the feed had been stored, we saw a different story. Someone had cut open some of the bags at some point, to try eating it I suppose. It would have been possible to eat the oats and corn if you had a way to grind them, but it would have been tough if you didn't.

I didn't have a way to grind them either, but I still told Colonel Jefferson we should take all the unopened sacks we could fit in my truck. We went back to my truck then and told Christy what we'd seen.

She was happy.

"There are fifteen horses in the field around our bunker and I know how to saddle and ride a horse. If we take enough saddles and bridles for all of us, we'll have a way to go places."

When we started back to the bunker, my truck bed was overflowing and Christy and Colonel Jefferson barely had room to sit in the front. Besides what we'd taken from the apartment building, we had six bags of oats, five of corn, six saddles and saddle blankets along with bridles and halters, six lassos, and some brushes Christy said we'd need.

When we got back to my bunker, Colonel Jefferson took one look and frowned.

"The bunker was a good idea, but you don't have any perimeter defense. Let me think about that for a while. We can probably come up with something."

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Well, as it turned out, he did, but it took him a while because he didn't have a lot of time to think about it. That was because Mom took an instant liking to him. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised because as I learned more about Colonel Jefferson, I realized he was a lot like my dad. He was confident in what he could do, knew what he couldn't do, and wasn't bashful about saying what he thought.

For the first two weeks, Colonel Jefferson couldn't do much to help out because he was so weak. Mom kept pushing him to eat, and she sat at the table beside him to make sure he did. She also made him sleep on some blankets we'd brought from the apartment building on the floor in her bedroom so she could make sure he was all right. I didn't realize the other thing that was happening between them until one night, Mom said she was cold in bed without Christy being there, and wished she had somebody to sleep with. She was looking at Colonel Jefferson when she said that.

He didn't say anything. He just grinned.

I must have frowned, because Mom chuckled.

"Ted, I'm sixty-two, but I'm not dead. You and Christy have each other. I just want the same thing and so does Colonel Jefferson."

Well, that night, Mom and Colonel Jefferson slept together, although, from what Christy and I heard, they didn't just sleep. It's funny. You never think about your parents having sex, and Mom had never said anything to lead me to believe she missed sex. Apparently she did though. She seems a lot happier now. I know Colonel Jefferson is because he told me.

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Christy is happier too. She's about three months pregnant now and she and Mom talk a lot about how they're going to handle the birth. One of my survival books has some pretty good instructions, but Mom says she's already had a child and Christy is a nurse so they won't have any problems. I hope they're right.

Christy has appointed herself as our horse person, and has caught all the horses and has saddled and ridden them. She's teaching us now so if we have to go somewhere, we can ride instead of walk.

I'm not sure where we'd need to go on the horses, though Christy says we need to find a stallion and bring him back so he can breed the six mares in the herd. She knows of a couple ranches that had at least one stallion, but I don't think they're close enough we could get there and back without spending a night in the open, and I don't want to do that.

The Colonel says that's nothing to worry about if he went with us. Maybe after Christy has the baby, we'll think about it. I guess we're fortunate to have the opportunity even if we don't utilize it

I'm feeling pretty good about things too. Colonel Jefferson has proved to be a really great addition to our little group. He's knowledgeable about a lot of things relative to security and defense as well as just a great person to talk to. He's sort of taken the place of my dad. When I don't know what to do, I can talk with him and together we'll decide what's best.

He's also gotten back most of his strength. Between the two of us, we spaded up a big garden in June, and he and Mom planted it. Along with the seeds I bought, we planted some of the beans, peas, and lentils from our food storage. A lot of them didn't sprout, but enough did that we'll at least have some for fresh seed next spring. I'm not quite as worried about our food now, even though we have another mouth to feed.

It just struck me as funny that I just wrote "our food" instead of "my food". A year ago when I was planning all this, everything was mine. Now, I guess Mom, Christy, the Colonel, and I have become what used to be called a family. Without realizing it, I've started to think "our" and "we" instead of "me" and "mine".

Well, that's about it for now, though I'll keep adding to this as time goes on. I have no idea how long that will be. I'd think some of our allies, like the UK and Japan would have sent relief missions to the US by now, but I don't know if they're in any better shape or if there's anything resembling a US government to ask for or coordinate any relief operation. Even if there is an ongoing attempt, it will probably be a while before it works its way to South Dakota.

I haven't seen anything happening over Ellsworth since the day all the B1B's and six cargo planes took off and flew west. Colonel Jefferson said Ellsworth has probably been abandoned in favor of consolidating the Air Force along the coasts. He said that was one of the contingency plans in case the US was attacked by an enemy. On the coast, their response time to an attack would be shorter, and given the sophistication of today's missiles, being inland isn't that much safer.

He said the Army and Marines were probably doing the same thing. That was because since the US didn't have an operational power grid and therefore limited ability to respond, it would be pretty dumb to nuke us. Doing so would just destroy a lot of infrastructure any enemy would want to keep intact, like shipping ports, airfields, and highways. Any attack would probably be a ground attack against the major cities on either coast, and once the enemy had gotten a foothold, they'd send more troops and equipment and work their way across the country just like the Allies did at Normandy.

The old saying is that in any crisis, it's survival of the fittest. The four of us are probably not the fittest, but by working together, we'll keep on living because that's the most important thing we can do. There has to be somebody left when all this is over.