Have Hope: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller (The Pulse Book 1) Read online

  Have Hope

  A Post-Apocalypse Survival Thriller

  Hayden James

  Have Hope

  What would happen if the power grid failed? Would you be ready?

  Family is everything for the Conners. Rachel, a mother of four, usually works from her Indianapolis home. As a marketing aide, her boss brought her down for a big client meeting in Louisville, KY when the lights go out.

  Rachel’s eldest son, Liam, lives in Nashville. He left their Indianapolis home a year ago to pursue his passion for country music. He finally scored a gig and is waiting for his rehearsal time, when there is no electricity.

  William is a security guard for a medical supply company and the protector of his family. While Rachel is traveling for work, he is getting the twins, Madison and Addison to and from school and making sure his youngest goes to kindergarten.

  When our nation is attacked, will you survive?

  The Conner family is separated when the pulse strikes. No one knows if it is a HEMP (high-altitude electromagnetic pulse) that detonated over the southern part of the United States or a CME (coronal mass ejection) from the sun. Rumors spread that this disaster may be across the entire United States, but the information they are able to get is not reliable.

  The apocalypse brings out the best and the worst in all of us. It is survival of the fittest at its finest.

  When anarchy and chaos fill the streets, the Conners find themselves in survival mode. The world as they once knew it completely gone in a blink of an eye. Can the Conners reunite to survive the apocalypse together? Do Liam and his friend have what it takes to make it from Nashville up to the Smoky Mountains to Townsend, TN where his prepper grandpa, Dwight lives in time?

  The Pulse is only the beginning. Have Hope kicks off the post-apocalyptic thriller series by following ordinary people doing extraordinary things after the United States experiences a disaster, destroying their entire infrastructure.

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  Day One

  Chapter One

  Rachel Conner

  Apex Advertising Agency

  Louisville, KY

  11:08 am

  “Oh dear,” she muttered under her breath as she rolled her eyes to the voice of her boss as he explained the concept for the new ad campaign for SoftStewel, the new laxative to hit the market. She glanced at her wristwatch, noticing that time had elapsed little in this meeting that had been dragging on ever since it began promptly at eleven in the morning. Her plea for the torturous meeting to be over did not fall onto deaf ears. Mischa heard the utter and replied, “Rachel, shhhh!”

  Rachel realized her gaffe and replied under her breath, “Sorry.”

  People on either side of the boardroom table filled the entire room, eight people on each side. A projector sat at one end of the table, displaying a slide presentation on a white screen. This meeting was pivotal for both of the companies and they could cut the tension with a knife. Several attendees were from Apex Advertising, as they located the main headquarters in Louisville, KY. This client’s campaign became a multimillion-dollar account over the months leading up to this meeting as SoftStewel found themselves in crisis mode after experiencing bad PR. Several of the top executives at Apex sat in on this meeting.

  The rest of the meeting attendees were executives from SoftStewel, a stool softener company, and they were anxiously awaiting the new advertising campaign that would reignite sales in their dwindling company. This new campaign had become their only hope since the family-run business was fledgling now that the new CEO, Scott Stewel had an embarrassing arrest for public intoxication, indecent exposure, urinating in public. Millions viewed his mugshot as it aired on all the local and national news channels. This ad campaign needed to have the public forget about this company’s slight indiscretion and to have everyone focused back on the joys and wonders of soft stools.

  Rachel’s boss, Bradford Callihan had flown her down for the day to attend the important client meeting as she had prepared several of the images and ad copy for the new client. Rachel normally worked remotely, which allowed her to care for her four children, three of whom were still at home. However, this client was too important not to have Rachel present for the campaign reveal, in case the clients had questions. Bradford continued his presentation, “As you can see, this is an example of a magazine ad that will run in several of the gossip mags circulated across the nation. The headline reads, Why Poop Diamonds?” The executives at SoftStewel chuckled at the headline and Bradford paused for dramatic effect. Then he continued, “When you can still make your stools jewels with SoftStewel.” The room erupted in applause and laughter at the witty joke. Bradford waited for the room to die down and then added, “As you can see, there is a photo of a pair of forceps holding a large diamond as it is being set in a tennis bracelet. We will feature this ad around celebrity articles featuring Reality TV stars. Our research shows that this image and copy convert highly when placed next to these types of articles. Let’s open up the presentation to question.” Bradford glanced around the room looking for raised hands. An older gentleman wearing a gray suit and a red tie raised his hand. Bradford said, “Mr. Sanderson, please.”

  Mr. Sanderson asked, “Thank you, Brad. I absolutely loved the campaign. I loved the jest you made about constipation and pooping diamonds, really wonderful. How did you come up with this concept, I find it hilarious to be quite honest?”

  Bradford puffed out his chest slightly as pride filled his body from the praise of Mr. Sanderson. He replied, “Thank you, Mr. Sanderson. You know, constipation is not a glamorous topic, but everyone does experience it. My goal when creating this campaign was to portray to the audience that everyone gets constipated and it is not a shameful thing. And when you do have constipation, SoftStewel has a remedy for it and it’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

  Mr. Sanderson responded, “Well, I love it. I love all of it! The concept is fantastic. I would love to see your Facebook and internet marketing campaigns next.”

  “Great!” Bradford exclaimed. “Let’s get to the Facebook designs and banner ads now.”

  As the presentation went on, Rachel sunk further and further into her chair. The concept that she worked on for weeks, the images and the advertising copy she worded perfectly were all being credited to Bradford Callihan. He was her boss and oversaw her work, however, this entire concept she came up with herself. Rachel came up with the research and determined the target market.

  When Rachel presented her concept to Bradford, he didn’t seem to like it. The team that Bradford led couldn’t come up with a better concept. They wanted to target the elderly rather than millennials, but when his team couldn’t come up with a better campaign, Bradford decided to go with Rachel’s concept and to present that campaign.

  Bradford continued his dissertation on the banner ads, “Now, you can see here the headline, Why Poop Diamonds is superimposed over the image of the diamond tennis bracelet with the jeweler’s forceps placing the center stone. Then below that, the text states When your stools can be jewels and a Buy Now button placed at the bottom middle of the banner. The next slide shows the Facebook ad version of that concept.” Bradford went to change the slide of the presentation when the room goes dark. “Or not,” Bradford jested as he became embarrassed at the snafu in the presentation. He went to check his computer, but realized that it was off as well, “Huh? That’s funny. This laptop should be running on the battery right now. It had at lea
st a full charge before I left the hotel this morning.”

  Mr. Jenkins, Apex’s Acquisition Vice President stood up from his seat, “Now’s a good time to break for lunch. This will allow Bradford to get his presentation back up and running.” Bradford turned red from the jab from his boss. “I’m kidding Brad. I’m sure we tripped a breaker somewhere in the building. During our lunch break, I’ll have it reset. I think we are running the coffee maker and the copy machine again. Everyone, be back in an hour.”

  The room nodded their heads in agreement before heading for the door. Rachel turned to Mischa and asked, “Where are you headed for lunch?”

  “I was thinking of going to Big Dog Sandwich Shop. I think Ed is going as well, it’s his favorite.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Rachel replied.

  Mischa turned to Ed and said, “Ed, Rachel is going to join us over at Big Dog. Should we get it to go and come back here? We could eat in the lunchroom or at my cubicle.”

  Ed answered, “Sounds good Misch. We’ll see if the lunchroom is free when we get back. If not, your cubicle is fine. I guess we’ll be eating in the dark if they are not able to reset the breaker.”

  “I’m sure it will be back on, we trip breakers all the time in this building. I believe the wiring is ancient,” Mischa explained. The three of them headed out of the board room located on the first floor and toward the main lobby.

  As they entered the main lobby, Rachel directed their attention to the elevators, “Are the elevators usually out when you guys trip a breaker in your office?”

  Mischa answered suspiciously, “Not usually. That’s strange. I suppose the whole building has a power outage. I’m sure it’s no biggie. They’ll probably have the power back on in a few minutes. Big Dog’s is right across the street, so we don’t have far to go.” Mischa added as they went through the building’s front glass doors, “I usually jaywalk right in front of the building. It’s usually not too bad.”

  The three walked up to the curb to cross the street, “Wow! Not a car in sight,” Ed shouted. The three crossed the empty street.

  “Yeah, that’s a little unusual for this time of day. Guess we got lucky,” Mischa said. “Big Dog is right in this shopping center. Hopefully, there’s not a big line.” The three made their way across the parking lot and into Big Dog Sandwiches.

  As they opened the door and saw a small line of three people waiting to place their order, they patiently waited in line. Mischa added as they stood in the dark sandwich shop, “I guess the whole block lost their power. We might not have the remainder of the presentation after all.”

  Rachel snickered and exclaimed, “Don’t threaten me with a good time!”

  “Oh!” Rachel pried, “you don’t like how the presentation is going? I thought it was going very well. Apex really needs this client and they seem to really like the campaign concept.”

  “Yes, I’m glad SoftStewel likes the campaign,” Rachel replied.

  Ed caught on to the undertone of Rachel’s sentiment and said, “But, you’re not liking how Brad is taking credit for everything?”

  “Could you tell?” Rachel asked.

  “Even if Brad thought of the entire concept himself, he would need a team to find the images, do the text overlays. He did not once mention the team while he ate up the compliments from SoftStewel,” explained Ed.

  “Thanks for saying that,” Rachel acknowledged. “He even did less than that. The entire concept, design, research, and implementation ideas were all mine. As much as I hate my job, I really allowed my creativity to flow with this one. I worked through several nights after I helped my daughters with their homework to come up with the target market and the concept. I know I am just an advertising aide, but I really want to get a promotion and to start having my own accounts. But I’m coming to the realization that it will not be working with Brad.”

  “We’ve all been there,” Mischa acknowledge. “But, if that was your entire idea, you really have talent. I might know someone in the Indianapolis area who is hiring for a project manager at one of Apex’s competitors. When we get back, I’ll make a call and see if they’re still hiring.”

  “That would be fantastic!” exclaimed Rachel. “Thank you!”

  The trio made their way to the counter after the line had been helped. Mischa asked the cashier, “You guys have the power outage too?”

  “Yeah, it went out about ten minutes ago,” responded the cashier. “We can’t do any of our hot sandwiches, but we can make any of our cold sandwiches since the cold-cut counter is still cold, but in two minutes, I’m going to throw it away. I don’t want any foodborne illnesses. You guys will probably be my last customers until the power comes back on,” the cashier explained pointing to the cold-cut counter. “Oh! And I can only take cash and exact change,” the cashier added pointing to the blank cash register.

  “Ok, I’ll have a turkey sandwich with everything,” Mischa said.

  “Make that two,” Rachel added.

  “Make that three,” Ed said. “How much for the three?”

  “Three turkeys, that’ll be eighteen dollars,” the cashier answered.

  “I got it,” Ed said as he placed three fives and two single dollar bills on the counter.

  The cashier made the three turkey sandwiches and placed them on the counter. Each of the three took their sandwich. Mischa asked, “Would you guys rather eat here. We’d be in the dark no matter where we went.”

  “Yeah, let’s just eat at one of these tables. I’m sure once we are back either they’ll send us home or the power will be back on,” Ed added. “What time is it?”

  Rachel looked at her watch and said, “That’s weird, I have eleven-fifteen on my watch, but I know it’s later than that. My battery must have died.”

  Mischa pulled out her cell phone to look at the time, “Strange. My phone is dead. Maybe the cord didn’t work when I charged it last night. But, I could have sworn I left the house with a full charge this morning.”

  Ed pulled out his phone and said, “Mine is dead too. I don’t think this is a coincidence.”

  Disturbed, but intended on finishing their sandwiches and getting back to the meeting, each of the three took a seat at the table closest to the door and the window at the front of the sandwich shop. Other than the cashier they were the only customers in the restaurant. Rachel, who sat facing the window next to Ed, noticed that cars were not moving in the parking lot, “I did not notice this before, but I see it now, all the cars seemed to be stopped in the parking lot.” Rachel pointed at one which was in a lane and not in a spot and said, “Look! That car hasn’t moved the entire time we’ve been here. When we first walked into Big Dog, I just thought they were waiting to pick someone up.”

  Mischa, who had her back toward the window turned her head to look at the car that Rachel was referencing, “Huh! That’s strange. I did not think much of it either. But there’s another one stopped in the lane a little further down.”

  Ed added, “I am starting to get a weird feeling.” Mischa chuckled to herself. “What’s so funny?” Ed asked.

  “Oh, nothing,” Mischa responded.

  “Go on,” Ed suggested.

  “Nothing really. I mean, my ex-husband is one of those apocalyptic-prepper nuts. He always talked about a CME catastrophe that could affect our power grid. Paul used to tell me that our Sun is our worst enemy. He always would reference the solar storm of 1859. Where the storm wrought havoc on the telegraph systems. My ex said that if something like that hit during our modern age, we would have a widespread and long blackout.”

  “CME?” Rachel asked.

  “Oh right. Forgot, you’re not used to the prepper talk. CME, short for a coronal mass ejection,” Mischa answered.

  “Sounds sexual,” Ed injected.

  Mischa chuckled and replied, “No, it’s when the Sun shoots a flare, the high-energy plasma particles send electromagnetic radiation into space and it interferes with our power grid. I’m sure Paul is loving this! He’
s probably in his bunker laughing about doomsday.”

  “Doomsday?” Rachel asked. “Sounds like my father-in-law,” Rachel added.

  “Father-in-law?” Ed asked.

  “You have a prepper in the family too?” Mischa clarified.

  “Well, yes,” Rachel answered. “My husband and his father aren’t that close. Will, my husband, always thought Dwight, his dad, was crazy. I think he might have a bunker too, at least that’s the rumor. But, Dwight always thought it’d be terrorism. He went off the deep-end ever since Will’s mother passed away.” Rachel paused for a moment to recollect her father-in-law, “I don’t think he has that much prepared though. I think it’s more of a hobby, nothing really serious. Will and Dwight aren’t that close. I never understood why. Anyway, enough about Dwight,” Rachel added.

  “If you asked Paul, bunkers are the way to go! If we had a CME event, potentially it could damage our power grid for up to two years. Could you be without power for two years?” Mischa asked.

  “Two years? I can barely do two hours,” Rachel answered.

  “I mean, it’s unlikely. There is a probability that we’d see a solar flare this decade, but it’s still improbable. It’s more likely that the power is out on this block and we all didn’t charge our cell phones that well overnight,” Mischa said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

  “Since we are all done, let’s get back to the meeting,” Ed suggested as he crumbled up the empty sandwich wrapper.

  The cashier walked over to the three who were just cleaning up and explained “We are closed for the day. We can’t be open after dark per our lease agreement.”

  “But it’s not dark,” Mischa injected. “There are at least four hours before it gets dark.”

  The cashier held the door open for them to exit, “Sorry, ma’am. The owner made the call.”