Free Sweetness in the Dark by W.B. Martin

Meredith asked, her teenage mind trying to grasp what the new world looked like.
    “Hopefully we’ll have basic services. With water, we can drink and irrigate crops. With crops we can eat. With sewers we won’t all catch diseases and get sick. Eventually new electronic stuff will get built and slowly we’ll get some of our old life back,” Ed said. “People need to realize that’s all going to take time.”
    “Yeah, and in the meantime, all those people who never did a lick of work in their life aren’t getting those government checks anymore. As if there is anything left to buy. They’re the reason we’re heading back to the old homestead. The big cities have some sorting out to do before they’re safe,” the driver said.
    “I’m afraid you’re right. We have developed a whole class of people who take and take from those who work. With the gravy train stopped, they’ll be out looking to take and take, only now with a gun,” Ed said.
    “Well, good luck to you. You’ll need it if Boise is your destination,” the driver said. He fired up the old Ford and with a series of explosions, headed north.
    “We forgot to tell him about Riggins. He left so fast,” Matt said. “Maybe the guards in New Meadows will tip him off.”
    “Hope so. Hate to have them drive into trouble,” Ed said.
    “So, General, what do you make of lights in Boise?” Paul asked.
    “Well, from the work I put in with the EMP Planning Team over the last four years, it makes sense. I just hope they control the mobs before they destroy what’s left. We need to get a move-on people.”
    They packed their bags, ate a quick breakfast of dry cereal and headed south. As they went, Paul would pull out some yellow plastic tape and tie off a long stretch on each five mile marker. He would then write something on it with a felt marker he carried in his pocket.
    “All right, Doc. I’ve been watching you do that since Riggins. You’d asked me to stop the car and now you’re still doing it,” Ed said. “My curiosity has maxed out. What the hell are you doing?”
    “It’s a signal I worked out long ago with my brother. If we ever got in this situation, we would mark our progress home with yellow tape. Always carry a roll when I travel,” Paul answered.
    “And you expect your brother to come along and find you?”
    “We both have been expecting this sort of thing for quite some time. Actually, I figured on a financial collapse of the Federal government first, being an economics sort of guy,” Paul said.
    “And your brother?” Ed asked.
    “An astrophysicists. He’d been betting on what has happened, although he wished for a financial collapse. More people would survive,” Paul added.
    “You two must be all yucks at parties. I can see the crowd gathering around to discuss the benefits of financial doom versus electric Armageddon now,” Ed laughed.
    “You sound like my ex-wife. She used to say the same thing.”
    “Daddy, there’s smoke on the horizon. A lot of smoke,” Meredith said. The concern in her voice was palpable.
    The two men stopped walking and stared at the horizon. Large columns of smoke climbed over the ridge into the sky. They were still a couple of days march from Emmett, but the warning signs from the Treasure Valley were announcing themselves.
     
    * * *
     
    Two days later they were still not yet into the Payette River Valley. The smoke continued, but each day it would vary. There was no mistaking that things were burning around Boise. Paul continued his five-mile marker exercise to Ed’s amusement.
    As they slowly climbed the last hill that should take them into Emmett, the group struggled with thirst. They had been away from any stream for the day and their water had run out. With the hot weather of summer beating down on them, Paul called for a break under one of the few trees near the road. Everyone flopped down exhausted.
    Their food was almost gone and the adults had been passing on their share to feed the