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  He smirked at me and mumbled something under his breath. Then, before I could say anything else a clap of thunder erupted so loud, I was certain I'd been hit.

  "Holy shit!" Alistair shouted.

  "Hey!"

  "I'm sorry, but did you hear that? I mean like Holy shit!"

  "Ahhh," Charlie yelled as he came running from his room.

  His skinny frame looked comical as he rounded the corner at full speed. His eyes were wide and his face pale with fear. Without slowing down, he dove at me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders like a monkey.

  "Calm down Charlie," I said and patted his back. "It's fine."

  As if to make me a liar another rattling boom shook the walls and seemed to echo long after it was over. Melinda shrieked and then found her way to the kitchen with everyone else, like it was some kind of safe room.

  "This storm is getting stupid," she complained.

  "Welcome to Florida. You want a chip?"

  "No, I want dinner. I actually wanted pork chops," she paused and smirked at me. "You know pork chops...those funny sounding things that I asked you to get this morning."

  I frowned and shrugged my shoulders. "Yeah, I was kind of trying to not die on my way home. But we have chicken...you get these little hooligans and I'll start cooking."

  Melinda raised an eyebrow. "I told you I had to wrap up a few things."

  "That was before you ran out of the office afraid of a little lightning. Besides, the internet is gonna go down any minute."

  "Fine, but hurry up. David, Charlie, let's go clean your room. Alistair, you definitely need to clean yours and clean your bathroom."

  "Yeah," I added. "Looks like a homeless man committed suicide in there."

  "You guys are ruining my life," he said with a sarcastic grin then flailed his arms and took off around the corner.

  "That's your child," Melinda chuckled.

  "So you've told me."

  I ran into my room and changed into some gym clothes then started doing my best impression of Masterchef. It had become a well-known fact around the house that I was serious about my cooking. I'd even bought a few books to grow my blossoming chef skills. Sooner or later I was gonna be Michelin quality, although I didn’t really know what that meant.

  I opened the refrigerator and grabbed a few chicken breasts. I greased a pan and turned the oven to bake at 375. As I prepared to shove the chicken inside, the digital pad went blank and every light in the house went out.

  "Fuck!" I grumbled. "Power's off."

  I went to the windows and twisted all of the blinds open. The darkening sky outside offered little illumination so I started searching for flashlights. In the back of my mind I thought of my survival bag and how I might actually get to use it. Power outage, flat tire, hell as far as I was concerned, a bee sting was reason enough to take out the go bag.

  Scouring the house, I cursed my need for clutter. Nothing had its own spot and I tended to toss things wherever I was standing at the moment I no longer needed them. I paid for that laziness in times like these.

  I finally found a dusty, red flashlight under the kitchen counter and clicked it on. The light flickered and then shut off. I banged my hand against the case several times, but that did nothing to solve my lighting issues.

  "Time for the bag," I grumbled to myself with a smile.

  Feeling my way through the darker parts of the house, I made it to the broom closet. Sitting on the floor was my orange hiking bag that was stuffed full of goodies. I opened it up and grabbed one of my LED flashlights and depressed the clicker. Nothing. I pressed it again and then let out an angry groan and raised my arm to chuck the thing across the house.

  "What are you doing?" Melinda asked. She was standing behind me holding a candle.

  "Um, I... you know, it’s an emergency, I need the bug out bag."

  She sighed and shook her head. "Go to McDonalds...the kids are starving."

  "Yes ma'am. Did you want me to grab you something?"

  "No, I'll figure it out later. Just bring them something back."

  Nodding, I tossed my bag back into the closet and closed the door. I slipped on my sandals then grabbed the keys and headed outside. The rain had slowed to a pathetic drizzle and the lightning had decided to torment some other part of the state. It was starting to look like our little storm had run out of steam. In the two minutes since I had opened the blinds the sky had done a one-eighty. Welcome to Florida.

  With the key fob in my hand, I pressed the unlock button, but nothing happened. I knew I should've changed those damn batteries a month ago. They had been working on and off for the last few weeks and it figured now would be the time they completely die.

  Like a cave man, I walked over to the door and put my key into the lock. It took me a few times to get it to fit, but eventually I was able to gain entry without the use of technology.

  Opening the door, I hopped inside of my Suburban and shook off the rain droplets that had collected on my head. I laughed as the water in the road had already begun to recede and the sky seemed to be brightening a bit.

  With a twist of the key into the ignition, I waited for the satisfying engine grumble, that I had come to expect like I was one of Pavlov's dogs. When nothing happened, I tried again and again then banged my fists on the steering wheel in desperation. The day was starting to mount a serious war of bullshit and I was on the losing end.

  "Can't get it to start huh?" Jake, my neighbor, shouted from his lawn.

  He was an older guy from New York. He normally came down in the winter and hosted poker games on the weekend. I was pretty sure he was retired, but I never really saw much of him during the day.

  Grunting, I stepped outside and stretched my legs. "What the hell is going on?" I asked.

  "Can't get mine to start either. Crazy storm we got going on here," Jake replied and scratched his head.

  I looked up at the sky and laughed a bit. "Yeah, it's crazy. Crazy like not there."

  "Hey what's going on Randall?" a voice called from behind me.

  I turned and found Mike and Greg, my other neighbors heading over. Mike was a general contractor and Greg was an insurance agent. They were a little bit older than me, but Mike and I had kids around the same age and Greg was his friend.

  "My trucks broken I guess. Dead battery or something," I replied."

  "Nah," Mike said with certainty. "Not a car on the block is working. Greg says it's some kind of EMP."

  "What!? Greg, you went straight to end of the world huh? That's supposed to be my thing."

  "Come on Randall, what else would explain a bunch of cars not working? You think everyone got the same faulty battery?"

  "No clue...but this day is just one big L."

  "Hell yeah," Mike laughed. "Earthquakes in Brooksville, tornadoes in New York. It sounds like a damn movie."

  Jake looked like he wanted to add something, but before he could, the sky opened up and unleashed enough water to drown a fish. A series of flashes made the hair on my arms stand on end and the accompanying upheaval nearly made me piss myself.

  Without another word, we all took off sprinting for our respective homes. I shuffled up the steps and bolted inside in a hurry. I was accustomed to the erratic weather, but lightning was one thing all Floridians respected.

  "I thought you were getting food," Alistair said as I nearly ran him over.

  "Yeah...I was. But it looks like we'll be eating something here. Time to make sandwiches."

  I headed into the kitchen and grabbed a loaf of bread. Ignoring Alistair's protests, I started prepping my little workstation like I was a Subway employee.

  "You're back already?" Melinda asked as she came out of the bedroom. "The phones aren't working

  "What phones?"

  "None of the phones. The house phone, my cell phone...none of the phones."

  "What the hell is going on? It's the damn Russians, they fuck up everything,” I laughed.

  "Where's the food? You said you'd go and get
food."

  "Well it looks like the cars aren't working either."

  Melinda frowned and shook her head from side to side. "Randall that's not funny."

  "I'm not laughing. Nobody's car is working. I talked to Mike and Greg outside. They said the whole block is the same."

  "Okay now I'm getting scared," Melinda said seriously.

  I reached into my pocket and pulled out my cell phone. The screen was black and no matter what buttons I pressed, I couldn't get anything to work. I immediately thought of Alistair and how his world must be crumbling to dust.

  "You try charging the phone?"

  Melinda didn't respond. She was staring off into nothing with a blank look on her face. She was nervous and a little voice inside of me said she had every right to be.

  "Melinda," I called again. "Did you try charging it?"

  "Charging what?"

  "The phone."

  "It was on the charger. It doesn't work Randall...nothing freaking works."

  The weather outside picked up and I could now hear the wind whipping down the street and shuddering the windows. The front door creaked softly as the intense gusts pushed it back and forth in its pocket. It sounded like boulders were being thrown around in the middle of the road.

  "Dad, are we gonna die?" David suddenly asked.

  "What? No, we're not gonna die. Everything is gonna be fine. Look I'm gonna make sandwiches then we're gonna eat and go to bed. Tomorrow I'm sure they'll have all of this sorted out and then we can go and get some real food."

  One more thundering clap right outside of the door punctuated my last word. Sighing, I looked around and stared outside at the sideways rain. It was just a storm, I told myself. It was always just a storm.

  CHAPTER 3

  PASSING THE TIME

  I awoke the next morning to a bright sunny sky. It was a little past nine and the only evidence that we'd had any inclement weather were a few upturned palm trees. Like I said, it was just a storm.

  Crossing my fingers, I walked to the wall and flipped on the light switch. No luck. I was expecting that, but hope dies hard.

  "Power still off?" Melinda asked as she sat up and shrugged off the blankets.

  "Yep...thank God it's not hot anymore."

  "It'll start getting hot pretty soon. Have you checked your phone?"

  "No... I think I heard Greg and Mike outside though. I'm gonna head out and see if they know anything."

  After brushing my teeth and grabbing a t-shirt, I headed outside. Mike, Greg, and a few of the other neighborhood guys, whose names I didn't know, were circled on the sidewalk, talking with big hand motions.

  "What's up guys?" I said as I approached.

  "Hey what's up Randall? This is Bobby and Trent, they stay around the corner."

  "Nice to meet you," I said and shook both of their hands.

  "So Trent is like an amateur meteorologist. Tell him what you told us," Mike said with a smile.

  "Definitely an EMP. Not a doubt in my mind."

  "What? That's like nuclear attack and shit," I retorted. "Why does everyone want to blame a damn EMP?"

  "Nuclear attack is what everyone knows about. That's just what's popular. Lightning storms can cause EMPs too. And the storm we just had was definitely big enough for that."

  "Okay, so what now? I mean my phones off, my car doesn't work, there's no power in the house. I’m over here regretting that I never built a bunker."

  "It's a problem, I definitely don't have all of the answers. I'm sure Emergency responders are working on it though. And the power company should already be out replacing transformers. It's probably best to just stay at your house until they get some of the grid back up and running."

  I looked at Trent skeptically then turned to Mike for reassurance. I didn't know the guy and he was spouting off things like he worked for the government. It's always like that, people pop their heads out, swearing they're experts.

  "Trent used to work for FEMA, he's seen a lot of shit," Mike added as if he could read my mind.

  "Yeah, this ain't that bad," Trent went on, letting his bravado get the best of him. "Katrina, now that was some shit. Dead bodies floating down the road, black guys with TVs in one hand and shotguns in the other," he paused and gave me a tentative look.

  I guess as the resident black guy it was up to me to judge the level of racism anytime someone brought up color. I really didn't care, Trent seemed like one of those guys that watched too much Discovery channel and thought he was Bear Grylls.

  "So how do we fix our cars?" Mike asked, breaking the awkward silence.

  "Well, all small electronics are gonna need repair. No way of getting around that, insurance should cover most if not all damages though."

  "Your advice is to stay home and wait for someone to come knocking? What about food? What about water?" I asked.

  "I'm sure someone will be out today. Wouldn't shock me if you were watching your favorite porno in the living room by lunch time."

  "Who the hell watches porno in the afternoon?" his friend, Bobby, laughed.

  "Well, you know what I mean."

  "Told you it was an EMP," Greg bragged. "I just knew it was."

  I bit my tongue, trying to hide my annoyance. Greg was such a tool. Him and Mike were like the hype men for Trent and as far as I could tell Trent was just making shit up.

  "It's this uppity lifestyle," Bobby suddenly said.

  "What?"

  "I mean the world could end and what the hell would we know behind our gates. It's just us and the damn bay. A bunch of stuck up house wives..."

  "And house husbands," I cut in and shot a glance at Trent.

  "Yeah...yeah, just assholes that wanted to live near the ocean. Now we sit back here and have no clue what's going on."

  He was right and brought up something I hadn't even considered. The neighborhood backed up against the Tampa Bay. And to the front were imposing wrought, iron gates that were electronically controlled and required an access badge to open. The road that led up to them was narrow and barricaded on both sides by the lagoon.

  It was a mile to the front of the neighborhood and the Welcome Center, which was tucked behind a type of tropical oasis. It would be another mile until you made it to the nearest business, a grocery store and brand new business park with a couple of boutique shops.

  We were secluded enough that information would take a while to reach us. It was as close to being away from the world as you could come, while still being in the middle of everything.

  "I'm gonna head back in, see what I can find for breakfast. Mike, let me know if you hear anything else," I said as I grew tired of the speculation game.

  "Yeah, of course," Mike replied.

  I said my goodbyes and headed back inside to a pack of hungry kids and a nervous wife. They were all sitting at the kitchen table, pondering their choices of cereal. This was where it started, this was where social order of life slowly deconstructed and we let our animal instincts take over. All at the kitchen table.

  "Well?" Melinda asked.

  "Some guy says it's an EMP from the lightning storm. What the hell does he know though? Either way, nothing is working right now, so we just sit it out til the power guys get out here."

  "And what about the truck?"

  "Still broken. Did you try your car?" I asked.

  "No, you said no one's car was working. Why would I need to try mine?"

  I felt a little bit of optimism rise in my chest and I snatched her keys from the wall. Without another word, I ran into the garage and jumped inside of her Toyota.

  Placing my foot on the brake, I pressed the start button and was greeted with the same lifeless silence as my truck outside. "Damn it!" I snapped.

  "Did you actually think it was gonna work?" Alistair laughed from the door.

  "Shut up," I replied and closed the car. "It was worth a shot."

  "My phone isn't working," he groaned as I passed him and went back inside.

  "You survived longer t
han I thought you would. Nobody's phone is working. Go read a book."

  Alistair grunted then went to his room and closed the door. The life of a sixteen-year-old was such a rough existence. If he didn't start a full-on mutiny in the next hour, I'd be shocked.

  "Your car's not working either," I told Melinda.

  "Well duh. So, what are you going to do?"

  "What can I do? Cars are broken, phones are broken. Someone needs to fix it all."

  "And what, you think the fix-it fairy is on her way out here?"

  I laughed. "Something like that. Once the power company gets the phones working we can call someone out about the car and go from there. Don't be such a sarcastic ass."

  "Uh huh," she replied and clicked her teeth. "Pork chops."

  I smirked. The rest of the day we passed the time playing board games or hide and seek throughout the house. David and Charlie were having the time of their lives and even Alistair seemed to find some kind of joy in it.

  It was funny how simple life could be. You take away the phones and televisions…all of the distractions and suddenly things became much less complicated.

  Before I knew it, the sun had fallen and we'd wasted the day away pretending to be kids again. Thanks to mother nature, every appointment or possible errand was not even a thought and we burned the day away the way God probably intended.

  CHAPTER 4

  OUT AND ABOUT

  As Monday morning neared the mood around the neighborhood had drastically changed. It was winter break for the kids, but that didn't mean we got off that easy.

  No one had come out. No one's power had been restored. And as far as I knew, no one had heard from anyone outside of our neighborhood or attempted to venture out.

  This was starting to turn into a bad movie, where the world ended, but no one told the residents of Island Bay. I felt like we'd waited long enough and the help that Trent said was coming was nothing more than a pipe dream.

  "You still think emergency responders are on the way?" I asked Mike as we were sitting around on my porch watching the sun come up.

  "Mike likes to try and be an optimist," his wife, Jennifer replied.