One Second After [49]
"That's when either we try to pull together and keep order or it will go over to complete anarchy."
"That old Twilight Zone episode," Kate said. "The one where a bunch of polite middle-class types are having a friendly social, the radio announces nuclear war, and by the end of the half hour they were killing each other trying to get into the shelter one had in his basement."
Funny how we think in terms of film and television now, John thought. The Twilight Zone. Last evening he'd been dwelling on the episode where the aliens started flicking lights on and off in different people's houses and soon everyone was in a panic, ready to kill one another, the aliens sitting back and laughing.
What would Rod Serling say about this now? "Presented for your consideration, America disintegrating when the plug is pulled ..."
"To hell with The Twilight Zone for the moment," Tom said, "Refugees. We're starting to get swarmed with outsiders. That has me worried the most now. At least we know our neighbors who we can count on, but all these outsiders, who knows what they might do? And if too many come in, we'll all be starving in a matter of days."
"There's a million or more in Charlotte," Charlie said. "Even more in the Triad. If one in a hundred decides to make the trek, that means twenty, thirty thousand mouths to feed."
He fell silent and no one spoke for a very long minute.
"We'll have to have a plan," Kate said.
"Sure, a plan, what plan?" Charlie sighed. "We had a plan for everything else, but never for this one. Never once for this one.
"And that's why I got caught so off balance," Charlie said sadly, shaking his head. "I was waiting for someone to call, to do something. I'm sorry."
"Charlie, anyone would have been overwhelmed," John said, not altogether truthfully, but still he could see Charlie's thinking. Like the military preparing for combat: disasters were something they drilled for. No one had ever drilled for something at this level, had a master plan up and ready to go, and therefore the precious first few days, when so much could have been done, were lost.
"Maybe someone in Asheville is getting a handle on it," Tom said. "We all saw that Black Hawk go over. He was beelining straight for Asheville. Maybe they got some kind of link up there."
John was silent. Asheville. Exit 64 to Exit 53, eleven miles. A day hardly went by without Elizabeth trying to figure out some excuse to go to the mall. A week didn't go by when he didn't drop into the Barnes & Noble to browse the military history shelves and then have a coffee, or take the kids downtown to their favorite pizza joint, the Magic Mushroom, where all the weirdos and hippies, as Jennifer called them went, much to the kids' delight as they enjoyed a meal and "people-watched" the street scene.
Eleven miles, across unknown territory, it seemed like a journey filled with peril. My God, in just four days have we already become so agoraphobic, so drawn in on ourselves?
"I think we should go into Asheville tomorrow and see what the hell is going on there," John finally ventured.
"Agreed," Charlie replied.
John looked around and realized he had put his foot into it. "OK, I'll drive."
CHAPTER FIVE
DAY 5
"This is impossible," Charlie announced, and John grunted in agreement.
Just past Exit 55, heading west, the interstate was completely blocked with scores of abandoned cars. During rush hour, it was this stretch of road where backups usually gridlocked, and when the EMP did hit, all the traffic had simply stopped, blocking the road across both lanes and the shoulder, where so many had drifted over as their engines stalled.
He went into reverse, weaving around the roadblock of cars back to the exit, swung around, and got off the road, then went down to Route 70, which paralleled the interstate on the north side.
"I wanted to go this way anyhow," Washington said, sitting in the backseat of the Edsel. "Maybe the veterans hospital has some sort of connection.
Flanking Washington were two of the boys from the college ball team, Phil Vail