Enduring the Crisis by K.D. Kinney Read Free Book Online Page B

being a little naïve right now is helpful for me. I can see this has been far more difficult for you. We’re a community though. In larger numbers, we will be better off. More likely to survive the worst.”
    “When most everyone’s food is gone? You think community will matter? The Donner party turned on each other in the end.”
    Mason was left stumped and stood in silence for a long time. “We don’t even know what kind of time frame we are looking at. You’re already thinking this will be permanent. Perhaps at the most, this will last a few days.”
    “That’s my hope. The things that I know, it’s telling me it will be longer, much longer.”
    “Well, come to the meeting. Perhaps someone will learn something important by then.”
    Tammy nodded. “All right. I’ll come.” After she closed the door, she went back to work. It was easier to keep busy to stop all her crazy thoughts.

11

Ben
    The next morning Ben made sure he had everything packed. All his gear was sitting near the door and he was too restless to sit around and wait. It was too early to call Dave so he walked the village, doing one last check on all the new roads and he meandered down the ones he hadn’t had time to fix. Eventually he found himself near the dock. A few boats were headed out to fish. All he knew about his boat is that it would be coming from Goodnews Bay. Nate’s village was north of Goodnews Bay so it could possibly be later in the day before the boat would arrive.
    When it was finally a decent hour for making phone calls, he called Dave.
    “So what do you know?” Ben was mesmerized by the movement of the ocean as it lapped against the dock and the few remaining boats. He was not good on the sea so he was enjoying the time he could spend on solid ground and observed the motion from a distance.
    “Here is what the local news is sharing. They know for sure it was a Korean nuclear attack on the grid. The East Coast is mostly down but not completely. Washington D.C. was not so lucky but it sounds as if the government was prepared so there has been some communication. No telling the numbers of deaths at all. They didn’t mention much on that. Probably because they don’t know how badly the entire nation was hit with limited communication. But they did say it took out cars, planes, anything that is run by a computer or has delicate electronics. Jim was watching the BBC news online and they showed a satellite view of North America last night. The daytime view looks like it is on fire from all the smoke and the before and after night view is terrifying. You can’t even tell where North America is because it’s so dark.”
    “I bet.” Ben got a shiver up his spine. “Wow, I knew this day would come. Of all the times I decided to work thousands of miles away from home.”
    “Yeah, it is unbelievable. The hardest part here is they still won’t let any civilian planes fly. There were kids hundreds of miles away at volleyball games in other villages. When people get sick out there, they need to be flown to the hospital so even though we aren’t in a blackout like the lower forty-eight, the people here are cut off just the same. Eventually they may use military transport but not until they know it’s safe.”
    “Is transporting us to Anchorage going to be taking resources needed for other people’s survival?” He wasn’t willing to risk someone’s health over his own selfish desires to get home.
    “Ben, we aren’t leaving you guys out there. Don’t worry about that.”
    “All right.”
    “We’ve been talking. Once you get here, we aren’t sure the best way for you to get home yet. Not to alarm you because sketchy information is still trickling in. Our defense system here in the state successfully intercepted the missiles headed for us. But that also means there might be something out there lurking in the water. Something launched those missiles and had to be close in order to do it. I wish they’d say more on the