Zero Hour: A Post-Apocalyptic EMP Survival Fiction Series (The Blackout Series Book 2) by Bobby Akart Read Free Book Online

provide them notice via the Emergency Broadcast Network. Naturally, it’s not fully operational, but it’s something. We can also have the National Guard drive through the streets, making an announcement and posting flyers.”
    “Great options.” She sighed, slamming herself back into the chair. “I don’t have enough guardsmen to fight the battles necessary to gain control of our cities. Some of us don’t want to go around and collect the guns to prevent people from killing each other. Now, our only option is to send our depleted forces to issue a warning to others and expose themselves to the radiation in the process.”
    “Madame President, the public will understand we’re doing the best we can to—” started Blumenthal until he was interrupted.
    “Madame President, there is something else you need to know,” announced an aide who rushed into the room, carrying a stack of papers. “We’ve just received an urgent communication from NOAA. I’m sorry, but the situation is about to get a lot worse.”
     

Chapter 8
    DAY ONE
    7:00 p.m. PT, September 9
    Point Loma
    San Diego, California
     
    Master Sergeant Eduardo Lopez and his fiancée, Lance Corporal Maria Herrera, sat quietly atop Point Loma, watching the festivities below them. Sounds of laughter surrounding the beachfront bonfires rose into the sky as Californians of all ages celebrated the apocalypse.
    This evening was supposed to have been a night of celebration for the betrothed couple. Joined by their families and a hundred of their fellow Marines, the two would’ve been married at this moment in a beautiful ceremony planned at the Naval Base Point Loma. The Breakers Beach Deck overlooked a vast stretch of the Pacific Ocean with views extending as far south as the historic Hotel Del Coronado. The couple had envisioned exchanging their wedding vows on the deck amid the sounds of waves lapping on the shore. A magnificent sunset like the one they were admiring now would have capped off the perfect day.
    Then the news came that the solar storm was coming. The couple had to make a decision. Do we ignore the warnings, or send our families to safety? Guests had come from as far away as Mexico City. It would have been impossible for them to return and reach their destination fifteen hundred miles away before the storm was expected to hit.
    It was the presidential order for all active-duty personnel to go back to their base that provided the answer. The wedding was canceled, the attendees scrambled for their appointed destinations, and seven members of the couple’s families from Mexico crowded into their rented three-bedroom home in the nearby Sunset Cliffs area.
    The couple needed to get away and reflect on what might have been and their future. When the power grid collapsed, Lopez and Herrera were torn between their duty to country and obligations to loved ones. Returning to Camp Pendleton meant their families, who spoke little English, would have to fend for themselves. They chose family, and themselves, over the Marines.
    They tried not to second-guess their decision, but loyalty to a country that had provided the two dedicated Marines so much tore at their hearts. Their decision was clouded by emotion. Now, their view of San Diego to the east and Tijuana, Mexico, to their south was disappearing into early nightfall.
    Their view across San Diego Bay was spectacular as the sun was setting. Looking to the west across the massive Pacific Ocean, the scene was picture perfect, something only God could’ve created. The question in their mind was similar to millions of others: How could something so beautiful take away life as we knew it?
    This was just one of many questions the couple would ask themselves as the mood on the beach suddenly changed. The joyous laughter turned to shouts of alarm. In the dimming daylight, the beach partyers could be seen scrambling for higher ground. They were fleeing something.
    The collision of the ISS and the Tiandong-1