the rest of the population. He could easily weather the grid going down, without much change in his lifestyle other than having to preserve his gasoline, and making do when that ran out, but with his training that was no big deal. He could and did regularly hike miles through these mountains, partly to keep in shape, but also because the solitude and the ancient majesty of the mountains appealed to him.
Today was the SHTF day—when the shit hits the fan. Preppers and theorists had warned about it for a long time, and today was the day. The culprit wasn’t a bad actor exploding a thermonuclear bomb in the atmosphere, it was the sun. The sun ruled everything on Earth, and they were about to be reminded of that in a big way.
Europe and most of Asia were already dark. News was scarce, because communications in those continents were down: power grids, satellites, land lines, all fried. The US military had hardened power sources and what little information was out there came from them, but they had their hands full with one crisis after another at bases and embassies around the world, and spreading the news wasn’t their job. Their job was holding the line, protecting the country and its citizens, and every service member right now was focused on that. Still, there were some calls, some news leaking through on his ham radio though the atmosphere was getting screwier by the minute, and some texts.
The news wasn’t good, and it wouldn’t be for a long damn time.
He didn’t have a television, didn’t want one, didn’t need one. He’d seen more than enough online. Many larger cities were already experiencing gridlock as the smart people tried to get out, and the stupid ones were trying to stock up on a couple of days of food thinking that would be enough. Some people were stuck because of their situations, maybe an ill family member they refused to leave behind, and he felt sorry for them because they were likely going to die. A big city wasn’t built with long-term survival in mind. Too many people lived without having more than a couple of days’ worth of food on hand. They couldn’t imagine weeks or months without power, couldn’t imagine not being able to stop for takeout, or at the market to pick up something to cook right then.
In some areas of the country the power was already out, or else spotty, because nuclear plants were already being shut down safely, powering down ahead of the CME. If the solar storm had come without warning, nuclear plants wouldn’t have had time to do a safe, emergency power down, so they were doing it now.
And of course there were people who didn’t believe anything would happen. Ben didn’t know how people could ignore what was right in front of them, how they could even casually look at the news, find out Europe and Asia were dark, and still think it wouldn’t happen to them. They went on about their lives as normally as they could, laughing at those who were making preparations. This wasn’t Y2K. They wouldn’t be laughing tomorrow.
He hoped Sela Gordon wasn’t in that group. He’d done what he could, given her a heads-up. He could have—probably should have—gone to a bigger store in town for the few supplies he’d decided to add to his stash. No one there would have thought twice about his purchases, the way Sela had. Everything would’ve been cheaper, too. No small store could compete with a chain, pricewise.
He could’ve charged everything to his credit card, knowing the store wouldn’t be able to collect for a long time, if ever, because all data before the coming grid crash could well be lost. Like everyone else, he wanted to conserve his cash. But when it came down to it, he didn’t want to stiff Sela. She’d need cash, too, more than he would, because he was far more self-sufficient.
His errant second thoughts didn’t last long. He simply hadn’t been able to pass by her store without experiencing a gut-deep feeling that he should tell her what was coming. She wasn’t his responsibility; no one was, but that didn’t mean he was comfortable leaving her hanging. His read on her was that she was one of the gentle souls, a quiet, warm light in a world that needed all the warmth it could get. Gentle didn’t mean weak, though, and he hoped she’d acted on his warning.
That single