Dark Days: Rough Roads. EXPANDED NOW. A country struck by EMP's, one mans journey to save family and friends, dark days and rough roads ahead of him. A country in chaos, a battle for survival.
The weather outside was just fine. The temperature was hovering around 70 degrees with the clouds blocking enough of the sun now and then to make it comfortable outside but not too hot or too chilly. With this kind of weather he did not expect any problems when the helicopter landed. After all, it was just routine or as routine as medflights can be.
Haliday was just out circling the campus in the patrol vehicle when dispatch had called and told him an inbound medflight was due to arrive in 10 minutes. Haliday shot over to the helipad where he unlocked the gate and took the cover off the 150 pound beast of an extinguisher they called purple k named after the aviation fuel fire suppression chemical inside. The extinguisher based on two wheels always stood guard just inside the helipads fence.
Not wanting to get wind whipped by the rotor blades he retreated into the vehicle and awaited the arrival of the bird. Hearing the tell tale thump thump thump of the main blades he watched closely as he had dozens of times before. Across the way a few cars had stopped on the nearby side street to watch. It was always cool to watch this sleek aircraft seemingly just land for no reason in the middle of a neighborhood which of course was not the case. Stroke victim, burn patient, car accident or what not, someone needed extreme care quickly.
He called in to dispatch and told them mark the time and that the bird was almost on the ground. They always marked arrival and departure times in case the FAA audited records even though he figured they never would. There wasn’t a response which wasn’t unusual due to the fact that dispatch was usually tied up with more important things mostly caused by the campus being in the middle of a small city outside of Detroit but just as notorious in the state as being a crack hood.
Haliday unscrewed the top of his bottle of pop and started to take a sip when he noticed the problem. As he tilted his head back to drink he looked straight at the Eurocopter wobbling violently as it spun towards the ground. Haliday ducked down using the engine compartment as a shield just as the helo struck the ground and exploded sending pieces in every direction. A small piece of the tail rotor shot through the windshield of the vehicle causing chunks of glass to fill the interior of the tahoe.
Haliday slowly lifted his head and saw a wall of flames and a pile of machinery. There was nobody coming out of that wreckage alive. He grabbed the radio mic again and called for dispatch to call the fire department. Again there was no response so he took it upon himself to use his cell phone. A quick push of the power button and nothing but a dark screen. He ran over to the beast and charged the system while holding the hose. He dumped every ounce of agent he could on the flames but it was useless. Looking towards the people who stopped to watch the landing he could see them trying the same exact thing with their cell phones and this is when he realized what happened. Life had changed drastically in a matter of seconds.
As he walked past the folks they asked him why he wasn’t helping and his response was very unsettling. He simply said, there was nothing he could do. Not for the people in the helicopter and not for them. They had no understanding of what he really meant and just looked at him with puzzlement. Haliday continued to walk back towards the hospital in a now very quiet neighborhood with a slight dull roar from the burning wreckage making the only sounds anyone could hear.
Haliday walked past the E.R. and saw staff running around back and forth almost like chickens with their heads cut off. Almost as if they would be able to do something about what was going on. It would have been comical if it wasn’t for the fact they really had no clue what would be transpiring in just a matter of hours. As he approached the dispatch office he ignored those asking him questions. The dispatch officer was standing at the door as a handful of people asked her questions. Questions she could not answer.
What happened, was it a power outage, would the generators come on, why didn’t they, how come the phones didn’t work and many more. She shrugged her shoulders and said she didn’t know. Haliday looked her in the eyes and said she needed to leave. She looked concerned but not frightened. It was at this time it was simply confirmed what she thought had happened. Thanks to Haliday she was ready. She grabbed her personal items and left the dispatch. Haliday grabbed his personal items and left as well, passing by the people who could not believe the campus public safety officers were leaving them at a time like this.
The bathroom was pure black so he hit the surefire flashlight on his belt to light it up a bit and was slightly startled when he heard a voice. Hey man, whats going on in here? I came in to drop a deuce and the power went out. Everything ok out there? Haliday told him not to worry, everything would come out ok. The guy missed the joke. Haliday commenced to quickly change from his uniform into regular old gray man camo. Jeans, shirt and ball cap. Stupidity in looking like any type of officer, soldier or agency robot would get you in deep trouble soon enough so it was decided long ago to just blend in. He knew elsewhere that the dispatcher either did the same or was doing the same.
Quickly stripping the gear off his duty belt and taking what he needed he then left the bathroom with his pack, dark maroon in color, again to blend, then started toward an exit door located near the administrative hallway. A voice called out and he walked down the darkened hall to talk to the supervisor who had been helping set up the hospitals incident command center in a small conference room. The supervisor asked him where he was going. Haliday looked around in the room to see the admin staff with various managers and staff from other departments milling around.
Haliday looked at the supervisor and said, you have no idea what just happened and whats going to happen around here. With a puzzled look he said what do you mean, it’s a power outage, we get them now and again. Haliday chuckled and said not like this. One of the managers heard the chuckle and took it upon herself to ask what was so funny. She said this is no laughing matter, there will be a lot of inconvenienced people who will be upset. None of these people still had a clue. Haliday coughed loudly, very exaggerated and asked for everyones attention. Most everyone stopped and looked at him.
What you people fail to understand here is the fact this is no regular power outage. This was an EMP from who knows where. Immediately the maintenance director interrupted and said it was irresponsible to even mention that, it was simply a power outage. Haliday looked him in the eye and told him he could only hope. He briefly explained what an EMP was and then commenced to explain how he knew this is what it was. The explanations were simple enough but you would have thought he was trying to explain rocket science.
First off he explained the lack of power and the fact none of the emergency lights came on. Next was the generators which were sitting quietly. After that he explained the lack of land lines and the lack of cell phones not even having power more or less a signal. Even the basic of all items were dead. As soon as he explained the helo crash which they hadn’t even heard about yet their jaws dropped. More people started coming in and gathering in the hallway to either listen or add to the confusion. They started complaining about the fact that this didn’t work, that didn’t work, the staff needs this, the staff needs that, the maintenance crew isn’t fixing anything and more. They had no idea.
The CEO asked the maintenance director when they could get power back and everyone awaited the answer. He stood silent then repeated the question which was an answer nobody wanted to hear. He simply said that he honestly believed it was now indeed an EMP and there would be no power anytime in the near future. He said there was simply nothing that could be done and then he turned and walked away. People were dumbfounded and did not know what to do so they just sat there. One lady spoke up and said that things could not be that bad.
Haliday moved towards the front of the room and everyone focused on him. He looked around, saw the infectious control officer and asked her how long the rooms and patient equipment could last without being cleaned. She responded by saying that in some of the isolation rooms within a day it would have adverse effects. Within two days about a fourth of the hospital would have undesirable consequences and by the end of the week it would be a pure hell hole filled with far too many infectious diseases to start naming. This did not even include waste handling, lack of water for toilets and sinks and linen exchanges would not happen.
He looked over at the housekeeping director and asked him how long before the trash cans were full, the outside dumpsters overflowing and the rodent control to lapse. Two days. That’s all he said. Haliday said you could add that to the infectious disease issues and realize things would be getting far worse much faster than anyone could expect. The food services department piped in and said the spoiling of fresh food would go two weeks, the freezer a few days and the fridge maybe 2. Haliday informed him the food would be gone in a matter of 2-3 days tops anyways with this many people looking to eat and more surely to show up thinking a hospital is a safe haven.
Haliday looked around once more and told them these were basic issues that people took for granted. Look around he said, look how dependent we are on technology. IV pumps no longer working, pain med pumps not giving people morphine and the like, no blood pressure monitors, no pulse ox oxygen meters, no telemetry, no nothing. Haliday said what you know have is a lot of people who need to leave before a lot of people start a slow painful death. It wouldn’t be a good place to be and he started heading for the door and said I surely won’t be here more than the time it takes me to get my personal stuff out of my truck and leave myself. He paused only briefly to look around at the folks who still didn’t get it although a couple had excused themselves for one reason or another, most likely on their way out the door as well.
In the meantime during this little meeting all hell was breaking loose around the facility. The surgical center and outpatient procedures center were trying desperately to wrap things up and stabilize patients. Unfortunately for one there was no hope, As soon as the equipment stopped there was no suction for clearing the surgical sites, there was no blood pressure monitors to alert anyone of low blood pressure and old fashioned cuffs where a thing of the past due to mercury content. Most of the OR equipment was electronically controlled so it failed. It was a fast crash and thankfully the patient had not awoke from the anesthetic.
Up on one of the long term care floors they had 6 people on ventilators. The nurses and patient care associates were all trying to manually vent these patients but were tiring very quickly. Screams for more staff to come help fell on deaf ears. There was simply too many patients to care for in a situation like this. Too many patients needing care and too little staff in the facility. Someone needed to triage now and make a determination of who would live and who they would have to let go. The grand idea of saving everyone was just that, a grand idea. If they knew what the next few days would be like they would walk away now.
Some of the staff already started leaving. A few years back they had a massive power outage in the state and even with the emergency generators running and limited power they left in droves to go home and take care of themselves. Roughly 30 percent had left then and almost the same refused to come into work. Housekeeping staff, food service, maintenance mechanics, supports staff who were underpaid as it was did not care about working to keep the place running then, so it was easy to assume it would be worse when they realized this was a permanent situation with no resolve in site.
Haliday walked out to his car, passed by a few others doing the same. The only difference is he was going out to get his pack and gear and they were sitting there trying to start their cars. He heard an engine start and looked in the direction of the noise where he saw an old Ford F100. As it slowly crawled through the parking lot passing a few cars dead in the aisles the driver stopped just as Haliday put his pack on and loaded his rifle readying himself for his walk home. The driver was an older guy in his late 60’s and he looked at Haliday and asked him where he was heading. Haliday said East. Shockingly the driver told him he was heading that wayand offered him a ride.
Haliday was not too sure about the proposal but eyeing the passenger seat he saw a smaller bag and an empty pistol case for a pistol which he noted was strapped on the old guys thigh. Good company to be in. Haliday started to refuse and the old guy said hey, I’m looking for a little security until I get out of this crack hood and you seem to be the only one who knows whats going on so I’m taking a chance. I saw a gal in uniform get in her car, change, then pull a bike out of the trunk with a pack and she took off before I could call to her. I’m thinking by your squared away looks you two were friends. Haliday smiled and nodded then told the old guy he could stay with him about 20 miles due east and that was it. The old guy said that was fine with him. Different setting altogether that direction.
The two pulled out onto the road, dodging cars here and there and drove a bit silent as they passed by people standing in the road and on the sidewalks. There were actually a couple other cars running, older, but it was evident they were just old, not selected or prepped like this old ford was. They talked a bit about just a little of this and that, no real subject and neither brought up the EMP or future. After about 30 minutes Haliday said he was ready to bail and the old guy stopped the truck in a clear area of the road so no one was nearby.
Haliday shook his hand, told him thank you and wished him the best of luck. The old guy said you’re quite welcome and I pray you keep safe. Haliday said, well sir, right now we all need to pray. People started heading their way and Haliday told him he better get going and waved goodbye as he started off to the shoulder towards an access road. He heard the drum of the old fords engine dwindle away. He laughed aloud, even spoke aloud, yep, we all need to pray.
The weather outside was just fine. The temperature was hovering around 70 degrees with the clouds blocking enough of the sun now and then to make it comfortable outside but not too hot or too chilly. With this kind of weather he did not expect any problems when the helicopter landed. After all, it was just routine or as routine as medflights can be.
Haliday was just out circling the campus in the patrol vehicle when dispatch had called and told him an inbound medflight was due to arrive in 10 minutes. Haliday shot over to the helipad where he unlocked the gate and took the cover off the 150 pound beast of an extinguisher they called purple k named after the aviation fuel fire suppression chemical inside. The extinguisher based on two wheels always stood guard just inside the helipads fence.
Not wanting to get wind whipped by the rotor blades he retreated into the vehicle and awaited the arrival of the bird. Hearing the tell tale thump thump thump of the main blades he watched closely as he had dozens of times before. Across the way a few cars had stopped on the nearby side street to watch. It was always cool to watch this sleek aircraft seemingly just land for no reason in the middle of a neighborhood which of course was not the case. Stroke victim, burn patient, car accident or what not, someone needed extreme care quickly.
He called in to dispatch and told them mark the time and that the bird was almost on the ground. They always marked arrival and departure times in case the FAA audited records even though he figured they never would. There wasn’t a response which wasn’t unusual due to the fact that dispatch was usually tied up with more important things mostly caused by the campus being in the middle of a small city outside of Detroit but just as notorious in the state as being a crack hood.
Haliday unscrewed the top of his bottle of pop and started to take a sip when he noticed the problem. As he tilted his head back to drink he looked straight at the Eurocopter wobbling violently as it spun towards the ground. Haliday ducked down using the engine compartment as a shield just as the helo struck the ground and exploded sending pieces in every direction. A small piece of the tail rotor shot through the windshield of the vehicle causing chunks of glass to fill the interior of the tahoe.
Haliday slowly lifted his head and saw a wall of flames and a pile of machinery. There was nobody coming out of that wreckage alive. He grabbed the radio mic again and called for dispatch to call the fire department. Again there was no response so he took it upon himself to use his cell phone. A quick push of the power button and nothing but a dark screen. He ran over to the beast and charged the system while holding the hose. He dumped every ounce of agent he could on the flames but it was useless. Looking towards the people who stopped to watch the landing he could see them trying the same exact thing with their cell phones and this is when he realized what happened. Life had changed drastically in a matter of seconds.
As he walked past the folks they asked him why he wasn’t helping and his response was very unsettling. He simply said, there was nothing he could do. Not for the people in the helicopter and not for them. They had no understanding of what he really meant and just looked at him with puzzlement. Haliday continued to walk back towards the hospital in a now very quiet neighborhood with a slight dull roar from the burning wreckage making the only sounds anyone could hear.
Haliday walked past the E.R. and saw staff running around back and forth almost like chickens with their heads cut off. Almost as if they would be able to do something about what was going on. It would have been comical if it wasn’t for the fact they really had no clue what would be transpiring in just a matter of hours. As he approached the dispatch office he ignored those asking him questions. The dispatch officer was standing at the door as a handful of people asked her questions. Questions she could not answer.
What happened, was it a power outage, would the generators come on, why didn’t they, how come the phones didn’t work and many more. She shrugged her shoulders and said she didn’t know. Haliday looked her in the eyes and said she needed to leave. She looked concerned but not frightened. It was at this time it was simply confirmed what she thought had happened. Thanks to Haliday she was ready. She grabbed her personal items and left the dispatch. Haliday grabbed his personal items and left as well, passing by the people who could not believe the campus public safety officers were leaving them at a time like this.
The bathroom was pure black so he hit the surefire flashlight on his belt to light it up a bit and was slightly startled when he heard a voice. Hey man, whats going on in here? I came in to drop a deuce and the power went out. Everything ok out there? Haliday told him not to worry, everything would come out ok. The guy missed the joke. Haliday commenced to quickly change from his uniform into regular old gray man camo. Jeans, shirt and ball cap. Stupidity in looking like any type of officer, soldier or agency robot would get you in deep trouble soon enough so it was decided long ago to just blend in. He knew elsewhere that the dispatcher either did the same or was doing the same.
Quickly stripping the gear off his duty belt and taking what he needed he then left the bathroom with his pack, dark maroon in color, again to blend, then started toward an exit door located near the administrative hallway. A voice called out and he walked down the darkened hall to talk to the supervisor who had been helping set up the hospitals incident command center in a small conference room. The supervisor asked him where he was going. Haliday looked around in the room to see the admin staff with various managers and staff from other departments milling around.
Haliday looked at the supervisor and said, you have no idea what just happened and whats going to happen around here. With a puzzled look he said what do you mean, it’s a power outage, we get them now and again. Haliday chuckled and said not like this. One of the managers heard the chuckle and took it upon herself to ask what was so funny. She said this is no laughing matter, there will be a lot of inconvenienced people who will be upset. None of these people still had a clue. Haliday coughed loudly, very exaggerated and asked for everyones attention. Most everyone stopped and looked at him.
What you people fail to understand here is the fact this is no regular power outage. This was an EMP from who knows where. Immediately the maintenance director interrupted and said it was irresponsible to even mention that, it was simply a power outage. Haliday looked him in the eye and told him he could only hope. He briefly explained what an EMP was and then commenced to explain how he knew this is what it was. The explanations were simple enough but you would have thought he was trying to explain rocket science.
First off he explained the lack of power and the fact none of the emergency lights came on. Next was the generators which were sitting quietly. After that he explained the lack of land lines and the lack of cell phones not even having power more or less a signal. Even the basic of all items were dead. As soon as he explained the helo crash which they hadn’t even heard about yet their jaws dropped. More people started coming in and gathering in the hallway to either listen or add to the confusion. They started complaining about the fact that this didn’t work, that didn’t work, the staff needs this, the staff needs that, the maintenance crew isn’t fixing anything and more. They had no idea.
The CEO asked the maintenance director when they could get power back and everyone awaited the answer. He stood silent then repeated the question which was an answer nobody wanted to hear. He simply said that he honestly believed it was now indeed an EMP and there would be no power anytime in the near future. He said there was simply nothing that could be done and then he turned and walked away. People were dumbfounded and did not know what to do so they just sat there. One lady spoke up and said that things could not be that bad.
Haliday moved towards the front of the room and everyone focused on him. He looked around, saw the infectious control officer and asked her how long the rooms and patient equipment could last without being cleaned. She responded by saying that in some of the isolation rooms within a day it would have adverse effects. Within two days about a fourth of the hospital would have undesirable consequences and by the end of the week it would be a pure hell hole filled with far too many infectious diseases to start naming. This did not even include waste handling, lack of water for toilets and sinks and linen exchanges would not happen.
He looked over at the housekeeping director and asked him how long before the trash cans were full, the outside dumpsters overflowing and the rodent control to lapse. Two days. That’s all he said. Haliday said you could add that to the infectious disease issues and realize things would be getting far worse much faster than anyone could expect. The food services department piped in and said the spoiling of fresh food would go two weeks, the freezer a few days and the fridge maybe 2. Haliday informed him the food would be gone in a matter of 2-3 days tops anyways with this many people looking to eat and more surely to show up thinking a hospital is a safe haven.
Haliday looked around once more and told them these were basic issues that people took for granted. Look around he said, look how dependent we are on technology. IV pumps no longer working, pain med pumps not giving people morphine and the like, no blood pressure monitors, no pulse ox oxygen meters, no telemetry, no nothing. Haliday said what you know have is a lot of people who need to leave before a lot of people start a slow painful death. It wouldn’t be a good place to be and he started heading for the door and said I surely won’t be here more than the time it takes me to get my personal stuff out of my truck and leave myself. He paused only briefly to look around at the folks who still didn’t get it although a couple had excused themselves for one reason or another, most likely on their way out the door as well.
In the meantime during this little meeting all hell was breaking loose around the facility. The surgical center and outpatient procedures center were trying desperately to wrap things up and stabilize patients. Unfortunately for one there was no hope, As soon as the equipment stopped there was no suction for clearing the surgical sites, there was no blood pressure monitors to alert anyone of low blood pressure and old fashioned cuffs where a thing of the past due to mercury content. Most of the OR equipment was electronically controlled so it failed. It was a fast crash and thankfully the patient had not awoke from the anesthetic.
Up on one of the long term care floors they had 6 people on ventilators. The nurses and patient care associates were all trying to manually vent these patients but were tiring very quickly. Screams for more staff to come help fell on deaf ears. There was simply too many patients to care for in a situation like this. Too many patients needing care and too little staff in the facility. Someone needed to triage now and make a determination of who would live and who they would have to let go. The grand idea of saving everyone was just that, a grand idea. If they knew what the next few days would be like they would walk away now.
Some of the staff already started leaving. A few years back they had a massive power outage in the state and even with the emergency generators running and limited power they left in droves to go home and take care of themselves. Roughly 30 percent had left then and almost the same refused to come into work. Housekeeping staff, food service, maintenance mechanics, supports staff who were underpaid as it was did not care about working to keep the place running then, so it was easy to assume it would be worse when they realized this was a permanent situation with no resolve in site.
Haliday walked out to his car, passed by a few others doing the same. The only difference is he was going out to get his pack and gear and they were sitting there trying to start their cars. He heard an engine start and looked in the direction of the noise where he saw an old Ford F100. As it slowly crawled through the parking lot passing a few cars dead in the aisles the driver stopped just as Haliday put his pack on and loaded his rifle readying himself for his walk home. The driver was an older guy in his late 60’s and he looked at Haliday and asked him where he was heading. Haliday said East. Shockingly the driver told him he was heading that wayand offered him a ride.
Haliday was not too sure about the proposal but eyeing the passenger seat he saw a smaller bag and an empty pistol case for a pistol which he noted was strapped on the old guys thigh. Good company to be in. Haliday started to refuse and the old guy said hey, I’m looking for a little security until I get out of this crack hood and you seem to be the only one who knows whats going on so I’m taking a chance. I saw a gal in uniform get in her car, change, then pull a bike out of the trunk with a pack and she took off before I could call to her. I’m thinking by your squared away looks you two were friends. Haliday smiled and nodded then told the old guy he could stay with him about 20 miles due east and that was it. The old guy said that was fine with him. Different setting altogether that direction.
The two pulled out onto the road, dodging cars here and there and drove a bit silent as they passed by people standing in the road and on the sidewalks. There were actually a couple other cars running, older, but it was evident they were just old, not selected or prepped like this old ford was. They talked a bit about just a little of this and that, no real subject and neither brought up the EMP or future. After about 30 minutes Haliday said he was ready to bail and the old guy stopped the truck in a clear area of the road so no one was nearby.
Haliday shook his hand, told him thank you and wished him the best of luck. The old guy said you’re quite welcome and I pray you keep safe. Haliday said, well sir, right now we all need to pray. People started heading their way and Haliday told him he better get going and waved goodbye as he started off to the shoulder towards an access road. He heard the drum of the old fords engine dwindle away. He laughed aloud, even spoke aloud, yep, we all need to pray.
