but we did not have the time. I am…proud to have served with you my brother.” He tried to speak further, but blood started running from his mouth and nose. Dayyan knew he would die. He reached over and rubbed Hamden’s forehead. His eyes closed, and he took in one last breath and was gone.
“Go with God, my brother,” Dayyan said.
Dayyan stood and directed two men from another truck to move him out of the parking lot and cover him with a tarp. They did not have time to deal with a burial.
The Pasadena gun store was a treasure chest of arms. With the newly confiscated flatbed and the armored police truck, they took hundreds of new assault rifles, pistols and thousands of rounds of ammunition. They did not face any more resistance as they loaded the loot and headed back to Glendale. And as in Burbank, Dayyan set fire to the store and its remaining weapons and ammunition.
Chapter 8
0830, Day 1, Garrett Household, Agua Dulce, California
Madison and Logan had been up most of the night. Using the battery powered two-way radio system Logan continued trying to contact Melinda and James but had no luck. He asked a couple of times about taking the Mustang and going for them, but Madison was still against that idea. She was convinced the roads would be hell and very dangerous.
Logan looked through a binder Lee had had created containing a multitude of instructions to follow for emergency situation. Husband and Father Lee had been nothing less than anal on making lists of things to do and ways to prepare.
Logan found a section containing instructions for the power inverter. “The solar panels are connected and will provide AC power to the house whenever there is sunlight. There is a DC power system to run the 8000-watt inverter. The inverter is disconnected, removed, sealed, and inside the EMP proof metal cabinet in the storage shed. I keep it protected to prevent damage from an EMP or massive power surge. The solar panel inverter and battery charger are hooked up at all times. There are extras of both of those items in the large metal cases in the shed.”
Instructions explained how to handle a complete power failure:
1 Power down the main breaker.
2 Turn off all the main house circuit breakers.
3 Plug the inverter into the large battery connection and the large AC connector. They are different, so you will not be able to mix them up.
4 Turn on breakers for the large kitchen refrigerator and extra garage refrigerator.
5 Turn on the breaker for the smaller house water pump. The pump and refrigerators run off the batteries.
6 Unplug all the electrical appliances in the house unless they are specifically needed. If needed, only use them during the day or turn off the refrigerator
7 Only use the LED lighting systems.
Additional Instructions explained other things to do:
During the daytime, the power inverter should be shut off to allow the batteries to recharge.
If the water tank is getting low:Turn off the refrigerators.Turn on the well pump and let it replenish the water tank as needed.Once filled, turn it back off and turn the refrigerators and house pump back on.
The solar panels should be able to keep up on a daily basis and keep the batteries charged. If not, there are extra twelve-volt solar panels that can be set up in the yard to charge single batteries. Extra batteries could be scrounged up. Once charged, any two of like size can be connected in series to provide another 24-volt bank. The inverter runs on 24VDC.
There were detailed instructions on testing the solar inverter and battery charger. This testing would need to be completed during daytime. Logan would do that later when the sun was out in full. For now, the refrigerators and house water pump were working.
There were other instructions for all kinds of things. An index in the front of the binder had the following chapters:
1 Security
2 Water Conservation
3 Septic Considerations
4 Food Items: Storage Locations and Use
5 Electronics
6 Vehicles
7 First Aid and Medical
8 Contact Information for Families and Friends
9 HAM Radio Information
10 Garden Preparation
11 Survival Manual Listing (Manuals in Survival Storage Shed)
12 Miscellaneous Items in the Survival Shed
Logan and Madison perused the binder to see what other information was contained. Madison commented, “I sure hope your dad is home before we need to figure out this stuff.”
“I am sure he will be rolling in anytime, Mom,” Logan said. “Meantime, we might as well get working on stuff. Dad will be unhappy when he gets home, and all we’ve been doing is sitting around eating Bonbons.”
Madison laughed. “But it is his fault we have Bonbons because the freezers are still working. Or we could tell him we decided to eat all the ice cream in case the freezer convertor gizmachi or whatever it is called quits working.”
Chapter 9
0845, Day 1, Highway 160, West of Las Vegas, Nevada
Jake and Lee rode along at a comfortable pace, keeping in touch on the radios. They both wished like hell the bikes had storage racks for the backpacks or at least some of their gear. But they agreed they could not be choosy about the free bikes. Lee joked to Jake that he guessed the two shit bags that had stolen the bikes did not look for ones with accessories. They discussed that not having spare tires or patch kits was worrisome. Lee told Jake the story of how a pro motorcycle rider had once finished the Baja 1000 with a blanket (borrowed from a local Mexican family) wrapped around his front wheel. Jake laughed and said they should keep their eyes out for a blanket.
They had seen a few people walking. People acted leery and were keeping their distance from one another. This was resulting in little interaction between strangers. They lost count of the numbers of abandoned cars they passed on the roads. Occasionally, they would see a running car, but only older cars, trucks, utility diesels, and a couple of older school buses. The trucks and the buses were crammed full of people. Jake and Lee suspected the packed vehicles had been picking up stranded motorists along the highways. Lee commented to Jake, “It’s good to see some good people are helping out others.”
Lee and Jake decided to keep the bikes and stick to their plan. Abandoning the bikes for a ride to somewhere did not make sense.
Lee kept an eye on the Garmin, checking the programmed route. After about an hour on the highway, they came to the dirt road, and Lee radioed Jake to turn to the left. They turned onto the hard packed and level road. The road quickly worsened into soft dirt and up and down hills. The riders used caution, carefully steering around strewn broken glass all along the road. Clearly, the users of this road just tossed out glass bottles as they drove along.
Both
