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

screamed through Earth’s atmosphere at nearly forty thousand miles per hour. When the large, dense hunk of molten metal struck the Pacific Ocean twelve hundred miles to their west, the impact was equivalent to two thousand kilotons of TNT, one hundred times more powerful than the atomic bomb detonated at Hiroshima.
    When the asteroid-sized wreckage hit the water, the blast created a crater in the ocean. The displaced water piled up around this crater and formed a ring. As this ring moved out and away from the center of the impact point, the water began to oscillate up and down, forming ringlets that spread outward from the crater. The series of loops and crimps in the water created a tsunami wave train.
    Initially, the ringlets produced by the impact were twenty feet high. Fifty miles later, the tsunami wave train doubled in height. Two hundred miles later, it doubled again as it spread in all directions across the Pacific.
    Shouts of help, run , and hurry filled the air. That was when the couple saw the reason for the panic. The ocean was rising. At first, the beaches of the shoreline below slowly disappeared. Lopez and Herrera held hands as they looked up and down the pristine coast, which was gradually swallowed by the sea.
    The Marines didn’t panic because they were over four hundred feet above the beach. But the ocean rose, and their concerns grew with the rising waters.
    The tsunami wave train didn’t take the lives of Eddie and Maria that night. The waves lapped up just twenty feet from where they stood at the top of Point Loma. However, the rest of the four-hundred-foot-tall wall of water stretched inland across Mexico and into parts of Arizona. It consumed the entire Southern California region from San Diego to Los Angeles and washed away nearly twenty million people when the water finally receded back into the Pacific twenty hours later.
     

Chapter 9
    DAY TWO
    10:00 a.m., September 10
    Ryman Residence
    Belle Meade, Tennessee
     
    The euphoria of Colton’s return began to disappear, and reality set in for Madison. Now that he was home, she would try to revert to her preferred role as wife and mom. By the second day, their routines were being established. Colton functioned very well on half a dozen hours of sleep. At sunrise, he’d find his way to bed, where he would wake Madison, who was typically an early riser. Alex tried to adopt the sleeping patterns of a typical teenager during their summer break from school. Working her into a routine might prove difficult.
    Madison finished cleaning the pool while she tended to the eggs and bacon. After taking an inventory of their refrigerated items, Madison set up a menu that would last through day four. The meals would be a hodgepodge of frozen dinners and leftovers, but her family would maintain some semblance of nutrition and energy. As their meals turned to the more mundane—beans, rice, and oatmeal—Madison would incorporate the vitamins and nutritional supplements into their daily meal plan.
    They made the decision to keep the generator under wraps to avoid drawing attention. Colton wasn’t sure how to mask the sound. Running the machine inside the house or even the garage, which was attached to the house through the bonus room, could prove deadly. Noxious carbon monoxide fumes would quickly overtake the stale air inside. Ultimately, the pool house was deemed their only option.
    Madison used their newly acquired Camp Chef modular cooking system that operated on the propane tanks she’d purchased. It burned clean and didn’t make any noise. At sixty thousand BTUs, it was very fuel efficient as well. She estimated the available propane she purchased would cook ten days of meals. Propane was high on her wish list, which she’d started after last night’s foray into the O’Malleys’ backyard and the construction site.
    Colton and Alex had run back and forth, finding useful items, sneaking them home, and with each trip, asking Madison to make a note of this