One Second After

John turned and headed out the door and then realized that Tom had followed him out.

“What the hell is it now?” John asked.

Tom hesitated.

“Look, John. Sorry. I haven’t slept since yesterday. Sorry about back in there,” and he extended his hand. John took it.

“Tom, I don’t envy you your job one bit.”

“Look, John. I know I might not be the brightest lightbulb in the pack.

You’re the smart guy. I like my job, though, and try to do what’s right. But I never thought I’d be dealing with something like this.”

“Yeah, I know. Hard day. Damn, I hope I’m wrong about everything I just said back in there. My first thought was it was some sort of weird solar storm. Maybe I’m dead wrong and ten minutes from now the lights will come back on.”

“Think they will?” Tom asked hopefully.

John reluctantly shook his head, went over to his car, unlocked it, and got in. He almost felt guilty as he turned the switch and the car roared to life. Everyone gathered in the parking lot looked at him as he drove off.

* * *

The run up to the college had been a quick one. He felt, though, that he had to go, just check on what was happening.

A lot of heads turned as he drove into the campus and pulled in front of Gather Hall.

“Hey, Doc, cool wheels!” someone shouted, and John nodded and smiled.

The conversation with President Hunt only took a couple of minutes. He had basically figured out the same thing and was already organizing the place. The kids were feasting on steak and ice cream this morning; they were emptying out the freezers as quick as possible and stuffing the food into bellies. Anything preserved or canned could wait.

The kids on this small campus were a good crew and ready to help out. A group had been organized to push cars clear of the road; others were hauling buckets of water all the way from the lake up to makeshift tanks near buildings in case of fire. The water in the campus pool would serve as drinking water, and four Porta Potties, hauled with much groaning and complaining, had been commandeered from the construction site for the new gym and a couple of new houses going up in the Cove and placed in front of the dorms.

The head of campus security, Washington Parker, who until now was viewed by most of the kids as a “rent-a-cop” to be teased about falling asleep in the student union at three in the morning, now had a job. He was old ex-military, an actual marine sergeant from long ago, in his early sixties and the good-natured guy who usually had nothing more to do than bust a kid for being publicly drunk or shine a spotlight into a parked car to break up a hot and heavy session. Parker had already met with the heftier members of the ball team and their coach to discuss keeping the campus safe and setting up a twenty-four-hour watch.

Parker had taken his job seriously for years, in spite of the fact that if ever there was a “safe” campus in the mountains of western North Carolina, it was Montreat College up in the Cove. A year or two would go by without even a minor crime, let alone the far more serious issues of rape, assault, or heavy drugs. But he had religiously attended every conference on campus security offered by the government, especially the ones that dealt with the potentials of a terrorist takeover of a campus. He had once talked with John about that issue, pointing out that the fact that they were, in general, so darn safe up in these mountains meant they were exactly the type of campus that just indeed might be hit.

As John pulled away from Gaither Hall and turned to head back into town, he spotted Washington standing by the gateway that led into the campus. John slowed and came to a stop. Washington looked over at him and then actually saluted.

“Morning, Colonel.”

It was an old joke between the two, colonel and sergeant, but today it felt more than a little strange.

“Inspecting the troops?” Washington asked.

“Just figured I’d drive up and see how things were here.”

“It’s EMP, isn’t it?”

“How’d you know?”

“Your car for one, sir,” Washington drawled, his deep South Carolina African-American accent rich and full, mingled in with that clipped tone of a former marine drill sergeant.

“Pre solid-state electronics. I bet Miss Jen’s Mustang will run as well.”

Her home was within walking distance of the campus. The realization caught him… everything was measured in walking distance now.

“You dropping a hint, Sergeant?”

“Yes, sir. I am. It’d be good to have at least one vehicle up here so I can move around quickly if needed. Besides, once people start figuring things out, it’ll get stolen.”

“She’ll kill me if I ever tell her, so it’s between us, Washington.” John fished into his pocket and pulled out his key ring and snapped one off.

“That’s to her house. Security code number is…”

He laughed softly and shook his head.

“The key to the Mustang, well, I never had security clearance for it.” Washington laughed. “I can jump it.”