Chasing the dark the dar.., p.1
Chasing the Dark: The Darkness Settles In, page 1
CHASING THE
DARK
The Darkness Settles In
Book 2 of the Chasing the Dark Series
Written by:
A. P. Texan
Copyright A Prepared Texan 2021
Dedicated to:
First I want to dedicate this book to the Almighty God our creator without Him nothing is possible.
Secondly, my wife Sandra, who is my rock and my anchor. When I become discouraged she lifts me up, when I get a little manic she brings me back to center.
My Kids, everything I do is for them, trying to lead them and show them what it means to have a dream and strive for it.
Finally to the men and women that are our first responders. In today's world, you get way too much hate and not enough credit.
The readers, thank you for continuing to stand by me and constantly ask when the next title is coming or when the audiobook will be released.
For all of the above, I love you!
Cover design courtesy of Dauntless Cover Design www.Dauntlesscoverdesign.com
Prologue
Chase Williams is a normal, lower-middle-class American, struggling paycheck to paycheck to keep the bills paid. He is a father, husband, and son; however, his life was forever changed in the early morning hours of 11 September 2021.
On that clear fall morning, he watched an explosion of immense magnitude over the northern horizon, and everything changed. A cabal of nations unleashed the most devastating attack the world has ever seen. Three nuclear warheads were set on the cities of Los Angeles, California, Houston, Texas, and the Nation's Capital of Washington D.C. These massive explosions, however, were not the worst of the attack. Just minutes later, three high-altitude nuclear detonations released the worst EMP imaginable. The entirety of the United States of America is instantly pitched back in time to the 1800s. All electronics with delicate micro-circuitry are instantly fried, the nation’s power grid is overloaded by the immense electro-magnetic pulse causing power substations and transformers to be destroyed. Chase, a casual prepper, has a fairly good idea of what is going on and gathers his friends and family, and they bug out to a farm in the country.
Just as Chase and his group of survivors think everything is going to be okay and they will make it through this dark time, another wrench is thrown in the works. They soon realize the next wave of the attack on the nation is taking place and boots are on the ground. A series of fights take place with what is believed to be terrorists from the middle east and possibly soldiers from an Asian country they believe to be Chinese.
Now, not only are the survivors faced with an uncertain future trying to adapt life to a pre-electricity time, but now they are also faced with the dangers of an enemy force constantly attacking, burning the countryside, and kidnapping their friends.
Part 1
Normal is not a state of being, it is a state of mind.
Chapter 1
0200 Hours 11 September 2021
Just out of Navy boot camp, during his time in San Antonio for Navy Corpsman, “A” school at Fort Sam Houston, Seaman David Bradshaw and some classmates were spending an evening at the River Walk, when he saw her, she was sipping on a margarita and enjoying some tacos on the patio of a local Mexican food joint. She had long blonde hair, but what caught him off guard as he was walking by, was the intensity of her piercing grey eyes. Those eyes stopped him in his tracks, and he just stared, mesmerized in the beauty. Which of course caught her attention and creeped her out more than just a little. Carissa, being a native of San Antonio had seen her share of young soldiers, airmen, and sailors pass through and to be quite honest, was not at all impressed with any of them. Most were overly cocky, not real bright, and drank way too much, and this creeper staring at her was surely no different.
After David’s initial shock of seeing such magnificent eyes and his mouth began to work and form words, he introduced himself and apologized for staring and the two started talking. Just a couple of minutes into the conversation and both knew this was not just a chance encounter. David sent his buddies on telling them he would meet up with them in the barracks, or dorms as the Navy likes to call them, later. The two sat on the patio of the restaurant sipping margaritas and talking for a couple of hours until the sun began to set. When they left, they just walked along the San Antonio River Walk sharing stories about each other. Before long they were holding hands and drifting closer and closer together. As the night got late the two separated, him catching a cab back to base and her back to her local college.
For the next sixteen weeks, the two were near inseparable. When they were not in class, they were together. As much as this relationship had grown over four months, he was a sailor attending “A” school and she was a local girl attending college, they both knew it was doomed to fail. That was until he received his orders for his first port of duty after graduation.
When it was discovered that his first port of duty would be Corpus Christi Naval Air Station and he would be only a few hours from San Antonio, the pair were elated. They continued the love affair seeing each other whenever possible and after only a year the pair were engaged and six months later a wedding took place on the sands of Padre Island.
David Bradshaw had made it a point since his early days as a Navy Corpsman that when he is home his evenings, as much as humanly possible, would be spent with his family. In the early days of his marriage, this may be a quiet evening at home eating dinner and watching TV together, it may be a night out watching a movie and having dinner, or it could be going out to a local bar and having a few drinks. After his first daughter was born, this dynamic changed, it morphed into changing diapers, and giving bottles, which later became tea parties and sleepovers. After the first daughter, a second came just a few years later.
Now all these years later, Tiffany is a rebellious fifteen-year-old and her little sister Victoria just recently turned twelve. Both resemble their mother more than David with their blonde hair and slate grey eyes compared to his dark brown hair and hazel eyes.
Tonight, however, is different, Clarissa and the girls had flown back to Texas and were planning to spend a couple of weeks at the family farm just northwest of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. This allowed David to spend some much-needed alone time in his office going over some important reports.
0200 Hours 11 September 2021
The Oval Office, White House, Washington D.C.
President David Bradshaw is sitting on one of the couches, feet propped up on the coffee table, TX Blended Whiskey in his hand, looking over the previous day's intelligence reports. His mind is wandering to the whirlwind of activity that has taken place in his life over the last several years. Just six short years ago he was a Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy, Assistant Team Leader of SEAL Team Six, the most prestigious and well-known Special Operations Group in the world. He was in the last week of his third deployment in Afghanistan when the Humvee he was riding in was hit by a roadside IED. The explosion hit the left side of the big truck, picked it up, and flipped it a few times. When it came to a stop on its passenger side, it was a twisted mess of fiberglass, aluminum, and steel. Chief Bradshaw, who was riding in the rear passenger seat, was seriously wounded but managed to stay conscious. He managed to extract himself from the truck through the back hatch which had popped open. He was seriously injured but due to the adrenaline dump caused by the explosion, he barely noticed the pain racking his body. He knew he had a head wound of some kind due to his vision in his left eye being red and blurry which could only be caused by massive amounts of blood flowing into it, and he also knew that something was seriously wrong with his left arm, as he couldn’t feel anything below the elbow. Being that his main job before the SEALS was a Corpsman, he immediately began to render buddy aid to his fellow SEALs. He was told later that his heroic actions saved at least three lives that day. When the evac chopper picked them up the Airforce PJ stuck a needle in his thigh, and the next thing he knew he was waking up in a hospital in Germany. He was told that the explosion had sent shrapnel into the truck and a piece had lodged just behind his left eye. The damage this caused partially severed the optic nerve, as well as the retinal blood vessels that supplied the eye with much-needed blood. The result of this was the eye was irreparable and had to be removed. His left arm was crushed from the elbow down and was also irreparable and had to be removed.
Two years and numerous surgeries later, he was medically discharged from the Navy and started his life as a civilian. He attempted business but found it tedious and boresome. He tried private contracting work, but with his injuries, he was relegated to more office work which just pissed him off. His transition to civilian life wasn’t going well, and it was taking a toll on his family. He would become angry and lash out at his wife or kids and he felt his life starting to spin out of control. All of this changed however when a member of the Texas Republican Committee called him one day out of the blue, after a short conversation over the phone they decided they should talk in person. They met for coffee in Fort Worth near Sundance Square, and after a long conversation and a handshake, Chief David Bradshaw would be the next candidate to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate.
The previous sitting Senator had decided to resign and return to his life as a civilian attorney and the remaining two years of his term would be filled by special election. That November, David Bradshaw became Senator Bradshaw and in 2016 he was re-elected for another six-year term. However, in 20 19 he decided to step it up a notch and in January 2021 he became the 46th President of the United States. Now, here he sits in the Oval Office, his feet propped up on a coffee table, thinking about the state of the world and how the United States fits into that.
In front of him is a report on the three most dangerous countries on the planet Iran, North Korea, and China. Their dignitaries have been traveling back and forth between countries fairly regularly now and they have been very quiet on the world stage for the last six weeks or so. This worries the forty-year-old warrior. He knows from experience anytime an enemy gets quiet it is because they are conspiring and planning something.
“Mr. President!” the voice coming from Scott Bass, the Agent in Charge of his Secret Service Detail, reaches his ears as the door to the office opens. “We have to get you out of Washington, Sir. Marine One is spinning up now and we have both your personal and presidential go-bags on board.”
“Jim, what is going on?” The President says to his Secretary of Homeland Security, as he too enters the room.
“Sir, we have a credible threat to the Nation and DC is one of the known targets,” Secretary James Wallace responds.
At hearing this, David stands from his place on the couch, downs his last sip of the whiskey and, starts towards the door following the two out. When he reaches the hallway, a contingent of Secret Service fall in behind them as they head for the helicopter waiting on the south lawn.
“Okay Jim, what kind of threat are we talking about?” The President asks as they make their way through the historical home of the POTUS.
“Unknown at this time, Sir. We have pieced together the chatter and have determined it is taking place on September 11th as a Jihadist celebration of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and it will be a mass casualty event.”
“Where are we going, and where is my family?”
“Your family is already on the ground at DFW and headed to the ranch. We are headed to Camp David; from there we can plan to get you to Andrews and get you in the air until the threat is over. But for now, we just need to get you outside the city and safe. When we get more intel, we will implement the rest of the plan," The head of the Secret Service tells him.
At 0230 11 September 2022 local time, the President of the United States as well as his Secretary of Homeland Security, and the head of his Secret Service detail climb aboard the big helicopter and it lifts off into the night for the last time.
At 0300 Marine One is just outside of Camp David when the first of the nuclear explosions go off. The helicopter is only fifty miles from the epicenter of the explosion and the resulting electromagnetic pulse immediately fries all the electronic components keeping the chopper in the air. The experienced pilots start the emergency procedures to auto rotate to the ground. Until suddenly a wall of air hits the big chopper and sends it tumbling through the air until it crashes hard into a large grove of white pine where it settles on its side... a smoking wreck.
0600 11 September 2021
Camp David Maryland
President Dave Bradshaw awakens still strapped into his seat in the back of Marine One. He is on his back and from what he can tell has been this way for at least an hour maybe more. He can tell this because he has lost feeling in both of his feet except that pinprick sensation you get when a limb falls asleep.
The early morning sun is streaming in through the damaged fuselage and shining brightly into his eyes telling him the chopper settled on its port side leaving him facing upwards towards the sky.
“Jim, can you hear me?! Scotty, wake up! Can anyone hear me?” Bradshaw hollers.
Using his good hand, he reaches down and unbuckles the harness that acts as a seat belt in the chopper, then attempts to extricate himself from the seat only to cry out in pain and fall to the bulkhead next to his seat, from the pain radiating from his lower extremities as the blood rushes back into them.
Scott Bass, the head of his Secret Service detail and a former Army Green Beret, starts to stir in the back of the helicopter.
“Mr. President, are you okay?” He manages to get out through a hoarse, very sore throat.
“I’m fine Scotty, my legs fell asleep from being up in the air too long. As soon as the blood flow normalizes, I’ll be fine. Check on everyone else. I’m going to open up the arms locker then try to get us out of here,” the former SEAL orders his man.
“Yes sir,” the agent replies and tosses the President a set of keys for the locker containing a mixture of small arms in the rear compartment of the Marine helicopter.
He waits a few minutes longer for the blood flow in his legs to finally settle down, then again stands and makes his way through the ravaged interior to the rear compartment and opens the gray steel cabinet on the wall. Inside he finds an assortment of M4 Carbines and Sig Sauer P320 sidearms known by the Navy as the M18. He grabs all the weapons cradles them in his arms and makes his way to where the big chopper’s rear door is located. After a few minutes of working at it, he gets the rear door opened up and starts to move the weapons outside and he extricates himself from the chopper.
He is now standing on the starboard side of the Sikorsky VH-92A. The helicopter had only been in service for the last six months and was one hell of an airframe. Now he needs to figure out a way to get himself, his people, and the cache of weapons off the thing. After contemplating for just a second, he gathers the small arms up and walks towards the front of the aircraft. Just as he is approaching the area that contains the door just behind the cockpit the door swings open, and he almost loses his balance dodging out of the way. Below him he sees Scotty lifting an injured and quite obviously unconscious Jim up and out of the aircraft.
“Jim’s hurt, sir. Both pilots and the crew chief are gone,” Agent Bass reports from inside.
“Scotty, grab the first aid supplies and anything else you can find. I’m going to look Jim over and see what we are dealing with,” the former SEAL and Navy Corpsman says to his companion.
In minutes, the President of the United States has his DHS Secretary laid out on the side of a wrecked Marine helicopter and is evaluating him as if he was back in Afghanistan.
“Here is everything I could find sir. What are you thinking?” Agent Bass asks as he approaches from the same door the President climbed through.
“Looks like he took a pretty good shot to the head. The bleeding stopped a while ago and I think he will probably come around in a little bit. I’ll dress the wound on his head, and we will just let him lie here for now. Grab a cushion or something from inside that we can use to put under his head. Once he comes to, we will need to start walking towards Camp David Proper,” the President explains.
“Sir, have you tried your cell or Sat phone?” Agent Bass asks.
“No, with the crash and Jim being injured I didn’t even think about it. Why?”
“I got nothing phones won’t power up, handheld radio is dead. Hell, even my watch is dead.”
“I think that was a nuke that went off so the electromagnetic pulse would have most likely killed all the electronics,” the President responds.
“True, good point, and yeah I'm thinking the same thing about a nuke, I’ll explain after Jim comes to?”
“I’m glad I made that call to Aaron and the boys at the cages. At least one military unit I can trust is on alert and should be on their way here.” When David Bradshaw speaks of Aaron and the boys, he is referring to his former SEAL team. After he was medically discharged, Aaron took over as Assistant Team Leader, and in the years since has taken over the role as Team Leader of SEAL Team Six 1st Platoon. The President of the United States called the team directly at their base of operations affectionately known as “The Cages” and told them he had been rushed out of Washington due to a credible threat. Their instructions were to load up and head to Camp David at all available speed and he would meet them there. If this country was going to be attacked again, he wanted the tip of the spear at his disposal and the easiest way to do that was to dispatch them directly from his living room.
