Chapter 1

September 16th, 2:15pm – Meghan and Steve – Ingram, PA

 

Meghan Benedict's workday was interrupted when her power suddenly ground to a halt with a dull whine.

She walked out into her apartment building’s hall to see if the outage was widespread, the pitch blackness quickly giving its answer. She sighed, annoyed that her workday was interrupted—probably because of the residual rain that they were getting from the hurricane out east—and she retreated back to the home office of her apartment.

She grabbed her cell phone to inform her boss that she'd be back online once her power came back on.

Her phone beeped angrily. CALL NOT ALLOWED, the screen flashed as she pressed send.

Brow furrowed, she walked out onto her patio and tried the call again. She assumed that her cellular signal had been blocked by the thick, cinder block walls of her apartment; it certainly wouldn’t be the first time that her walls prevented service. Even on the patio, though, her calls would not go through.

If only I had an analog phone, she lamented. She had a phone at her desk, but it was VOIP; without access to the internet, it was nothing more than a paperweight. She notated the time on her cell phone so that she could record her downtime once she was able to log back in; there was no sense in having a pesky power outage ruin her production for the day.

After pouring another cup of coffee—she might as well drink the rest of the carafe while it was still hot—she strolled back into her living room and opened her patio door. Though it was raining outside, the breeze wafting into her living room was warm, and she inhaled the earthy aroma as she sipped her beverage.

Meghan glanced to her coffee table, noticing a stack of books that she'd been meaning to read for months. She smiled as she picked up the top book and read the back cover; while she’d been initially aggravated by the interruption of her workday, she now saw an advantage to having some downtime. Between all of the overtime she worked at her current job and all of the other odd jobs she took to pay the bills and keep food on the table, she rarely had any time to herself anymore. She settled down on the couch, propping herself up with pillows as she read by the light from the patio door.

* * *

She’d been reading for a while when she heard a car door slam outside. She glanced out of her window, the apartment complex’s parking lot visible from her couch. Her neighbor, Patty, had come outside to greet her husband as he got out of his vehicle. “The power's been out for an hour and a half now,” she informed him.

“The power went out at work, too,” Ed grumbled. “They sent us home early after waiting an hour for it to come back on. Without pay, of course.”

Patty frowned, hugging him gently. “That sucks, hun, but I'm glad you're home early!”

“It’s nice to be home when the sun’s still up, but it would’ve been nicer to have a full paycheck on payday,” he muttered.

Meghan’s brow furrowed again as she eavesdropped on their conversation. She knew that Ed worked about a half hour east from their apartment, so it seemed that the outage was widespread—thought she admitted that it was more likely just a coincidence that both places were without power. Without thinking, she picked up her cell and called her boyfriend, Steve; he worked at a restaurant a half hour south, so she wondered how likely it was that the power was out there, too.

Her phone beeped loudly. CALL NOT ALLOWED.

She cursed under her breath and tapped the icon of her social media app, figuring that she could use the messaging service to instant message him instead.

SERVICE NOT AVAILABLE.

My 4G is out, too? she said to herself. What the heck is going on? She sat back on her couch, her foot tapping nervously. I hope Steve gets home soon. Her imagination had a tendency to get the best of her at times, creating scenarios much worse than reality, so she took a few deep breaths to talk herself down. Everything’s fine, she told herself. Don’t be ridiculous; it’s just a blackout. The power will be on in no time.

Meghan decided to go outside to clear her head, slipping on a hoodie over her t-shirt and wrapping her sleek, brown hair into a sloppy bun on top of her head. She waved at Patty as she closed the patio door behind her.

“Power out over there, too?” Patty asked.

“Seems to be the whole building,” Meghan said.

Patty nodded. “Ed’s work is out, too. Weird, huh?”

Meghan nodded. “Is your cell working?”

She shook her head, retrieving it from her pocket. “It went out at pretty much the same time the power did.”

“So did mine,” Meghan said. They quickly compared carriers, just to rule that out, and discovered that they used different companies.

“Do you think the cell towers got affected by this blackout?” Patty asked.

Meghan shrugged. “It’s possible, I guess.”

Another neighbor, Lynne, poked her head out of her patio door. “Do you guys have power?”

“No,” they responded in unison.

She sighed. “Me neither,” she said. “I guess the whole building's out.”

“It looks like it might be a bit more widespread than that,” Patty stated. “At least a half hour driving distance east.”

“Do you have a landline, Lynne?” Meghan inquired. “With a phone that isn't electric?”

She shook her head. “I have one, but it's not working, either,” she replied.

Meghan inhaled sharply. When she was a child, her landline had always worked during blackouts. Her gut started churning with worry despite her best attempts to stay calm.

Lynne sensed her tension. “I'm sure that it's nothing, dear,” she said. “A few transformers probably went out or something. I'm sure they'll have the power back on before we know it.”

“I’m sure they will,” Patty agreed. “In the meantime, we're making burgers and hot dogs tonight, so you guys are welcome to have dinner with us!”

Meghan nodded, trying to push her worry to the back of her mind. “I'm sure you're right. I'll bring over some potatoes and veggies to cook on the grill.”

“I have a few cans of baked beans that I can chip in,” Lynne added. “I’ll be right down.”

“I’ll start getting my food ready,” Meghan said as she headed back indoors.

Meghan sliced up several red potatoes and scooped them into a makeshift aluminum foil bowl. After adding vegetables, spices, and butter, she gently bent the bowl in half and creased its edges shut. She’d already begun salivating as she heard the patio door slide open.

“Hey, honey!” Steve greeted from the doorway. “Is the power out here, too?”

“Yep. It's been out since 2:15 this afternoon.” She kissed him on the cheek, the foil pouch in hand. “Patty and Ed are having a cookout in honor of the blackout, so I'm taking these over to contribute to the meal.”

“Sounds delicious,” Steve said. “I’ll grab that six pack from the fridge and bring that over.”

“So the power went out at your work, too?”

Steve nodded. “Sounds like it went out around the same time as here. The cell phones did, too, which felt odd to me. Your phone isn’t working, either?”

Meghan shook her head in response. “They didn't send you home early?”

“No; my restaurant has a generator, so we switched to that.”

“I see.” She paused for a moment. “Is this something you think we have to be worried about?”

“What, the power being out?” He considered it for a moment. “I doubt it. It’s probably a minor, widespread outage because of all the rain we’ve been getting. Maybe a few transformers got damaged.” He glanced out to his truck. “Let me try something. Head over to Patty’s and deliver those potatoes. I’ll be right over.”

As he walked out to his vehicle, Meghan returned to Patty’s apartment. Ed was working on getting the grill going, the smell of charcoal and lighter fluid filling the air as fire shot from the grate. Meghan used her phone’s music player app to play the extensive collection of music stored on her SD card, selecting a playlist of old classics. Meghan, Patty, and Lynne sat around Patty’s patio table as Ed tended to the grill, cracking open a few beers and singing along to the music.

Right as Patty and Ed were suggesting that they drag out their portable fire pit to the center of the parking lot and continue the festivities after dinner, Steve waved for Meghan to come to his truck.

She couldn’t help but notice the worried look on his face as she got closer. “Is something wrong?” she asked.

“I got on my CB radio,” Steve explained. “I wanted to see if anyone in range knows what's going on with the power.”

“And?”

“And, from what I heard, this isn't just a local event. Truckers hours from here have reported that the power is out and cell phones aren’t working—no texts, no internet, and no calls. The few pay phones that still exist aren't working, either. Nothing’s going through. There’s word that a few people have been dusting off their old ham radios and getting their generators hooked up to broadcasting equipment to help spread the word.”

She stared at him blankly, unable to fully process what she was hearing. “So what does this mean?”

He sighed, glancing to their neighbors. “It might be time to bug out,” he responded in a whisper.