Chapter 2

September 16th, 2:15pm – Chloe and Tori – Wintersville, OH

The unseasonably warm weather was a great excuse to get in some last-minute camping despite the light drizzle. Tori and Chloe had heard that the region might experience some rain due to the onslaught of storms on the coast, so they’d taken extra tarps in order to shield their pop-up camper from any major downpours. Their folding canopy protected the makeshift kitchenette area that they’d set up near the campsite’s picnic table, and clip-on umbrellas shielded their camping chairs.

“I chopped some more firewood and collected more kindling,” Chloe announced, setting the logs and sticks under the picnic table to keep them dry. “There was a pretty thick canopy of trees deeper in the forest than we usually go; I had some good luck there.”

Tori smiled, stoking the fire. “Thank you, dear,” she said. “Would you bring over the burgers? The coals are hot enough to start cooking.”

 “Sure!” Chloe’s stomach growled with the thought of lunch. Opening the cooler next to their picnic table, she noted that they were doing a good job of rationing their food to last the remaining two days of their trip. Chloe had recently learned how to hunt for small game using snares and her pellet gun, but she would always prefer steaks, burgers, and hot dogs to squirrels. Rabbit was pretty tasty, though. “Shall I grab some asparagus, too?”

“Yes, please.” Tori pulled the metal grate over their fire pit, the glowing red coals ready to cook their lunch.

 After their hearty meal, they lounged next to the fire with their fingers laced loosely together. They reveled in the dancing firelight and the sounds of the wilderness around them; not even a radio interrupted the breeze rustling the trees, the pattering of rain droplets falling onto the forest canopy, and frogs croaking in a faraway pond.

Tori glanced over at Chloe, smiling as she watched the firelight dance across her freckled, round face. Her wavy brown hair had been parted into two braids and wrapped with a handkerchief to keep her frizz in line. The baggy jeans and oversized hoodie only hinted at the curves hidden underneath. Her style and appearance often contrasted Tori’s—Tori was thin, with long blonde hair and form-fitting clothing—but she liked it that way as she felt they complimented each other nicely.

Tori sighed. “I’d better wash these dishes,” she said groggily, groaning as she got out of her chair. Retrieving a reusable shopping bag from the table, she filled it with their dirty mess kits along with a soap-filled scrubbing sponge. She slipped on her shoes and trekked over to the campground’s restrooms which provided working toilets and showers as well as a laundry room and sinks to wash dishes. Can’t be too far away from civilization, Tori always mused as she broke the illusion of roughing it in the wilderness for the luxury of running water.

Chloe struggled to remove her gaze from the fire as flames licked the bark off of the fresh logs. They both enjoyed escaping to the campground an hour and a half away from their home in the suburbs. They both had two jobs as they struggled to make ends meet, so they rarely had quality time together. Though they had lived together for nearly 20 years and married for over a decade, she felt like they were never completely alone between their phones constantly pinging with current news, social media updates, and text messages. These trips were an escape from the rest of the world, a way to reconnect with each other and nature. They had visited the campground enough times that the owners knew them by name and had given them access to their private campsite, a cleared out portion of the forest that was tucked away down a dirt path. In this space, they felt like they were the last people on earth.

Her sense of responsibility getting the best of her, she finally turned from the campfire and started her post-dinner chores. She used a spatula to pull the grate off of the fire pit, waiting for the red glow to fade before scrubbing the grate with a wire brush, then she went to their kitchen area to tidy up. She noticed their wind-up, solar-powered radio on the table, and she decided that music would help her be more productive.

She heard the familiar buzz of static as she turned it on, accustomed to its greeting; they almost always had to slowly adjust the tuner to find a radio station while in the valley. It usually took only a moment or so to find something, but she was having an exceptionally difficult time as she turned the knob left and right. She sat at the table, speaker to her ear as she slowly moved the dial between the stations and listened for any sort of music or voice.

Tori had just about finished cleaning their dishes in the laundry room’s tub when two other people walked into the room, baskets of dirty clothes resting on their hips.

“…And not even our cell phones are working,” one of the women was saying as she loaded her clothing into the washer.

“That’s so strange!” the other said.

“From what I’ve heard from the owners, the power went out around two. The payphone at the lodge isn’t working, and none of the trailers have electricity, either. The owners are running generators to keep the coolers running in the convenience store and the bathrooms working throughout the park, but that’s only going to last so long.”

Tori unconsciously patted her pocket, checking for her cell phone. A small twinge of panic rang through her body when it was missing, but she quickly remembered that she had left it in the camper. She rarely looked at her phone during their camping trips; being away from all of technology was the point, after all.

“I’m sure a blackout down in this valley isn’t entirely unheard of,” the one began, “since we are in the middle of nowhere.”

“Well, no, of course not,” the other agreed. “It’s just strange that cell phones and landlines aren’t working.”

Tori’s stomach churned slightly, but she shook it off. It was probably nothing to worry about; like the one woman had stated, they were in the middle of nowhere. She probably wouldn’t have even noticed the blackout until it was time to leave their temporary home in a few days. Still, something in her gut made her feel uneasy.

When Tori returned to their campsite, Chloe was sitting at the picnic table, a worried frown on her face as she held their radio up to her ear. “What’s wrong, Chlo?” Tori asked as she set down the bag and began putting away their mess kits.

“You’ve got to hear this,” Chloe stated gravely. “This is only one of two radio stations I’m able to find, and all it’s doing is repeating this message. There’s a different message on another station that’s from the Emergency Broadcast System, but this provides more information about what’s going on.”

Tori sat next to Chloe, listening intently.

“—several areas across the Eastern seaboard, from Florida to Maine. Most areas, in addition to being without power, are also without landline telephones or cell phone communications, as extremely high winds have knocked down power lines, telephone lines, and cell phone towers in several areas. As Superstorm Nicole heads inland, we are advising anyone who can hear this to seek shelter and make sure you are prepared for extended power outages. Please ensure that you are stocked with batteries, potable water, and non-perishable food items such as pasta, canned goods, and dried foods. If you are able to safely navigate to nearby family members, please ensure they are taken care of as well. We will keep this broadcast going for as long as possible and will update this message as we learn more information. This message will repeat.”

The pause in the broadcast seemed like an eternity to Tori. She wrapped her arms around her wife as she felt a shudder travel through her entire body.

“To all who can hear this, my name is Amy, and I am working with a number of members from The American Radio Relay League to get this message into the areas that are experiencing blackouts. It seems that the outage is not a local phenomenon. The superstorm predicted by The National Weather Service has hit mainland, and it appears to have affected so many places at once that power outages appear to be widespread across the entire east coast. We are not sure of the impact that this storm has had on the power grid, but we have received reports via CB radio that there are outages in several areas across the Eastern seaboard, from Florida to Maine…”

The knot in Tori’s gut tightened. “I’m pretty sure that the blackout is affecting us here as well. I heard two women talking in the laundry room, and they said that both the power and phones are out across the entire campsite. They can’t get a cell phone signal, either.”

“I’m never able to get a cell signal down here. That’s kind of why I like this place.” Chloe looked around the valley, considering their options. “What do we do now? We’re an hour and a half away from home.”

Tori thought for a moment. “We have our SUV. That will provide decent shelter for us, but I worry about strong gusts knocking us around if we’re driving in the crosswinds. Luckily we’re in a hilly area which should cut down the wind velocity. We have enough food to last us a few days, and we can hunt and forage our own food if we have to.”

“You want to stay here?” Chloe asked, her eyes wide.

“We live in the middle of suburbia, Chlo; it’s going to be swarming with panicked soccer moms rushing the stores for whatever they can grab while it’s still there. We’re away from the fray; I’m not sure if I want to drive back there just to grab a few things.”

Chloe sighed. “I agree that we shouldn’t head home, but I don’t know about staying here. Everyone’s going to go to the bug out location once they hear this message, if they haven’t already started making their way there. Maybe we should head there instead?”

Tori thought about it for a moment. “I agree. I don’t want to get stuck in this valley if a tree falls across the road during the storm. There’s plenty of supplies here to make do, but I’d rather get to the bug out location. Let’s gather as many supplies and containers of potable water as we can hold, cook off the last of our food, and head out. ” She sighed, canvassing their campsite as she made a mental checklist of everything they needed to prepare. “Guess we’re going to have a bit of an extended vacation, babe.”