The End by G. Michael Hopf

at home all the power is out, your phone doesn’t turn on. Nothing works. I think someone hit us with some sort of EMP weapon.”
    â€œEMP?” Samantha stopped him.
    â€œ ‘EMP’ stands for electromagnetic pulse,” he answered directly. “It essentially overloads anything electrical and fries it; that’s why your phone, the lights, and cars don’t work. I am guessing the entire local grid is down. I don’t know the extent of the damage because I haven’t gone out to see what’s going on, but I think I’m right.”
    â€œSo, when will the power come back on?”
    â€œIt all really depends if this is a local thing, regional, or national. Worse case is it’s national and power could be out for months, if not a year.”
    Samantha interjected impulsively, “A year! How will we survive? What will happen?”
    â€œSamantha, like I said, I don’t know. One thing I want to do is see if by chance our car made it or not. Then, since there’s daylight left, I want to try to go to the store and pick up anything we will need for the long haul.”
    Gordon slid closer to Samantha and put his hand over hers. She was clearly upset and he needed to at least appear calm; he needed to be the rock. Comforting her, he said, “We will make it through this, I promise you.”
    Musa Qala, Helmand Province, Afghanistan
    â€œVan Zandt, get off your ass; we have a battalion formation, right now!” said Gunny Smith, kicking his cot.
    â€œRoger that, Gunny,” Sebastian said, swinging his legs off the cot.
    When he left the tent, he noticed a sense of excitement on the base. Seeing Master Sergeant Simpson about-face, Sebastian knew he needed to hurry. As soon as he made it to his unit he saw Barone approach Simpson.
    â€œBattalion all present and accounted for!” Simpson said while saluting.
    Barone saluted him back. “Thank you, master sergeant.” Simpson brought his salute back and marched off. Looking out over the men all standing at attention, Barone finished by yelling, “Battalion at ease!”
    Barone was a tall and sturdy-looking man. He had a rugged face, light eyes and thick, dark hair that he kept groomed with a flattop haircut. His stature coupled with his personality made him appear like a giant to some of the Marines. He looked out on the fifteen hundred Marines in front of him. While Marine life was difficult for many, it came easy to Barone. This occasion was different, though; to have to address the Marines about any situations back home was difficult. The whole reason these Marines traveled so far from home was to defend their loved ones, but now their homeland was threatened, their loved ones in harm’s way, and they were about as far away as they could be from them.
    â€œMarines, I am not going to stand here and bullshit you. You know me well enough to know I am a plain-spoken Marine. I tell it like it is. I don’t sugarcoat it. I don’t glaze it over.” Barone began walking back and forth in front of the assembled Marines. “So I will tell you right now that our mission here has ended, effective immediately.”
    The Marines of 2/4 all started looking to one another for clarification. They still had four more months on their deployment, so they all knew something significant must have happened.
    Barone stopped his pacing to drop the real news. “Marines, initial reports suggest our country has suffered a massive attack. What we do know is coming from assets we have in the air over the country. The intelligence we have received so far indicates that some type of nuclear event has occurred. One struck Washington, D.C., and another device detonated in the atmosphere above the Midwest. It also appears that major communications are down with our allies in Europe and Asia.”
    Sebastian was in shock. His mind immediately raced to Gordon, Samantha, and the kids. He couldn’t believe it,