Free Dark Grid by David C. Waldron

areas are there around here?  I would think that those would probably be our best bets.  Not too far away, because we don’t want to use too much fuel to get there, but not too close either, and secluded enough that we wouldn’t be too obvious once we got there.”  Rachael was more thinking out loud than asking a direct question but Sheri answered as though it had been asked directly to her.
    “Well, off the top of my head, I can think of Port Royal State Park, north of here--probably a little too close.  Bledsoe Creek, northeast of here--also probably still too close.  Cedars of Lebanon, east-southeast--about the same distance as Bledsoe but closer to other towns.  Everything else I can think of is actually closer than that.”
    “How about Natchez Trace State Park?” Joel asked.  “We were there about a year ago.  It’s about eighty-five miles west of here on I-40.  Once you get into the middle of it you are really in the middle of it, and it’s not too close to any other population centers.
    “If we get lucky we could even use some of the facilities there.  If not, it’s large enough that even if all the cabins were booked, and everyone stayed there, we could still primitive camp and not encounter anyone else.”
    “Let me go get the road atlas and we can take a look,” Rachael said.
    When she got back she also had the map from the park that they had picked up during their visit and it looked pretty much as Joel had described.  It was ten to fifteen miles from any town in the center of the park, and even the permanent park facilities were several miles from where they could set up if they wanted to.
    “Looks good to me,” Sheri said.
    “Same here,” Chuck agreed.
    “Karen?” Eric asked.  When she nodded, he went on, “Ok, I think it’s unanimous then--but I’m assuming nobody’s going to be ready to leave today.”
    “Not realistically,” Joel said.  “We’re going to need the rest of the day to finish packing and a good night’s sleep wouldn’t hurt.”
    Sheri felt much the same way.  “I’ve also been running on adrenaline since I saw the auroras this morning.  I’m going to need some sleep before we head out and I assume that Chuck is going to need some too,” she gave him a sidelong look, “unless you were sleeping in the break room when the power went out.”
    “No!  I was not !”
    “So, tomorrow morning at the earliest then, as it’s getting late in the day if we want to make any contact with the Armory.  I suggest we get some lunch and start packing.” Eric continued.
    “On that note,” Rachael said, “let’s have some lunch with at least a semblance of normalcy to it.  We have a ton of lunch meat, thanks to a growing 16 year old, and only so much space in the coolers, so we might as well have sandwiches if that’s ok with everyone?”
    When nobody objected and everyone offered to help, it was actually more work and chaos than Rachael had thought it would be when offered.  It did, however, take everyone’s mind off the fact that they would be leaving their homes for the foreseeable future, which was the real reason she’d suggested it.

Chapter Nine
    Everyone was going to drive a truck or an SUV.  Sheri’s Explorer and Karen’s Pathfinder were both 2-wheel drive but each could carry a lot while keeping it under cover.  The Taylors had a Suburban; which, while a gas guzzler, could tow anything anyone would be driving--even fully loaded.  Chuck had an F-350, and Eric had a Silverado--both of which were turbo-diesel crew cabs.
    Between them they had seven tents, six lanterns, four 20lb propane tanks from backyard grills, almost two dozen disposable propane canisters, more than enough sleeping bags, coolers for three or four days of food--assuming the dry ice lasted that long--and a couple of weeks of canned goods.  Karen had wisely suggested that they pack the vehicles in the garages so as not to arouse any suspicion.  They weren’t necessarily