Free 36 Hours: A Post-Apocalyptic EMP Survival Fiction Series by Bobby Akart Page A

would you mind showing them the image of the at-risk transformer capacity, designated by state?”
    “Okay.” Lemmon provided the proper image to the aide.

     
    “Go ahead, Dr. Stanford, the image is onscreen,” said Lemmon.
    “What you are viewing is a map showing the at-risk transformer capacity for a negative seventeen hundred nanotesla geomagnetic field disturbance based upon the data for the Carrington Event. Regions with high percentages of at-risk capacities, such as in the northeast, could experience long-duration outages extending for several years. Lower percentages, as indicated in the regions like the southwest, would experience shorter outages, assuming the interconnected power grid doesn’t completely overwhelm those transformers via a cascading collapse.”
    Lemmon turned to the people who would advise the President on what action to take. He needed to sum it up for them.
    “It’s hard to overstate just how much this solar event will shock our lives. Of course, the power will go out as depicted in the map, as would the Internet and most of the nation’s critical infrastructure. In places with electronically controlled water supplies, toilets and sewage treatment systems would stop working, creating a disastrous public health problem. Perishable food and medication would be lost. Banks and financial markets would not function. Gas pumps would go offline. The list is long.”
    Blumenthal walked back to the head of the room and whispered to the Chief of Staff and the President’s political advisor. He was about to exit the room when Dr. Stanford spoke again.
    “Excuse me a moment, but I need to be clear about something.”
    Blumenthal stopped and walked a few steps toward the screen.
    “Go ahead, Doctor,” he said.
    “The image I’ve provided was merely a hypothetical model for the Carrington Event based upon negative seventeen hundred nanoteslas. That is not the theoretical model for the AR3222 solar event headed towards Earth.”
    “How does it differ?” asked Lemmon.
    “Our predictions for this event are in the range of six thousand to eight thousand negative nanoteslas.”
    “What does that mean in terms of the effect on the power grid?”
    “Blackout. Total blackout.”
     

Chapter 15
    15 Hours
    8:25 a.m., September 8
    Davidson Academy
    Nashville, Tennessee
     
    “I hope you won’t be late, Alex,” said Madison as she exited Interstate 24 onto Old Hickory Boulevard. “I can’t believe the traffic today. There weren’t any accidents, just cars and trucks in every direction.”
    Alex was oblivious to her mom as she scrolled through the news sites online, seeking the latest update on the potential for auroras, a solar flare, or anything space weather related. CNN provided one news story which regurgitated the UK Daily Mail report. She scrolled through Twitter, searching the hashtag #AR3222 and #solarflare . Most of the tweets involved pictures of the northern lights in Europe. Dr. Stanford’s Twitter account promised a video update at one o’clock. She’d try to watch the YouTube upload before her Spanish I class.
    Despite being chastised several times by her Mom, Alex continually bounced through the various satellite news stations, to no avail. The Fox & Friends crew brought a live report about the northern lights from its affiliate in Presque Isle, Maine, near the Canadian border. After some playful banter with the reporter about the Carrington Event, Steve Doocy issued a stern warning to all of you telegraph operators out there to be mindful of the phone lines getting burned up today .
    Alex didn’t find their jokes or lack of professionalism amusing. Nor did Alex laugh as her mom pulled into the drop off lane and she saw several senior guys were walking toward school, fashioning tinfoil hats. Nobody was taking this seriously.
    Or were they?
    “Mom, doesn’t the parking lot look empty to you?” she asked.
    Madison glanced around and then replied, “It does. Maybe some kids