After The Solar Flare (Book 2): Adventures in the Apocalypse Read online

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  After the Solar Flare

  Adventures in the Apocalypse

  Post-Apocalyptic America Series

  A J Newman

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  As usual, this book is dedicated to my many friends who think that I am bat shit crazy for believing that the Apocalypse is due any day now.

  The Apocalypse is coming. Will it be the result of a solar flare, EMP blast, or a failed economy? Those are the questions. It is on the way.

  Thanks to my wife, Patsy, who keeps after me to write more books so I can pay for my prepping, guns, golf, and whiskey.

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  Copyright © A J Newman. All rights reserved.

  This book is a work of fiction. All events, names characters, and places are the product of the author’s imagination or are used as a fictitious event. That means that this is all one big yarn that was written purely from my imagination and not a bit of it is true. It might come true in the future.

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  Books by A J Newman

  After the Solar Flare - A Post-Apocalyptic series:

  Alone in the Apocalypse Adventures in the Apocalypse*

  *To be published late spring 2017

  After the EMP series:

  The Day America Died New Beginnings

  The Day America Died Old Enemies

  The Day America Died Frozen Apocalypse

  “The Adventures of John Harris” - a Post-Apocalyptic America series:

  Surviving Hell in the Homeland Tyranny in the Homeland

  Revenge in the Homeland...Apocalypse in the Homeland John Returns

  “A Samantha Jones Murder Mystery Thriller series:

  Where the Girls Are Buried Who Killed the Girls?

  Books by A J Newman and Cliff Deane

  Terror in the USA: Virus: – Strain of Islam

  These books are available at Amazon:

  http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00HT84V6U

  Books By A J Newman

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  Prologue

  “A CME is a large cloud of plasma and magnetic fields that eject from the Sun. The event releases super-heated particles traveling at immense speeds, and when those particles hit the Earth, they cause a geomagnetic storm, which is capable of wreaking havoc on electrical systems. A CME from the recent major solar flare would take several days to reach Earth.” – quote from INQUISTR

  This would put the USA back 150 years. Kerosene lamps, wood cook stoves, and doctors without x-ray, modern medical devices, or miracle medicines. People with pacemakers would drop like flies when the nukes exploded. Diabetics, heart patients, and people living day to day with the help of some miracle drug will die during the first year. Many of the people on drugs for psychiatric reasons will become violent when they run out of the drugs. Death, chaos, and lawlessness would prevail.

  My series “After the Solar Flare” attempts to tell a story about how everyday normal people fight to survive after their world has been turned upside down. My character Matt does all of the right things and still has bad things happen. Real life is like that. Add in the end of the world scenario, and it gets messy. Matt is a survivor and does what it takes to get through all this new world throws at him.

  I hope you have as much fun reading this series as I have writing them. Thanks to my readers for allowing me to share my imagination with you and remember to recommend this series to your friends.

  If you like this novel, please post a review on Amazon.

  “Even during an Apocalypse, you can be nice to people except those trying to kill you. Kill Zombies and the bad guys, but be nice to people.”

  AJ Newman

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  After the Solar Flare

  Adventures in the Apocalypse

  Post-Apocalyptic America Series

  A J Newman

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  Chapter 1

  “The Game So Far”

  Montanita, Ecuador

  I’m Matt Jones, and as I said in Book I this is my heroic story about how I survived the Solar Event known as “The Flare” and the end of the world, as we knew it. Let’s see; it’s about six months since I published Book I – Alone in the Apocalypse and I have now completed Book II – Adventures in the Apocalypse. I’ll bet I pissed a bunch of my readers off by stopping with me in a boat in the Caribbean with the loss of memory and the two most beautiful people in my whole world lost to me.

  Now that the internet and Facebook are back up, I was blasted with a load of crap for that. Which girl did I end up with and have my wonderful kids with, was the question most fans asked. Was it Mary, Patty or perhaps a Jewish or Latin beauty? Well, I have to travel back to New Washington and get this new book published, or you won’t ever know.

  As I said in Book I, I am not a professional author and don’t write for a living, so don’t get on your high horse about my grammar, punctuation, and spelling. If I do say so myself, they have improved a great deal since I began writing Book I with a number 2 pencil and paper. Hell, I even have a new computer with a typing program that catches most of that crap.

  Book I is selling very well in every country except the New USA, but I don’t plan to make a living by writing. I brought enough gold, silver, and jewels from Wyoming to cover my families expenses for the rest of my life. My part time job working for the Ramos Group pays the bills, so the valuables stay hidden in the bank. I write for the fun of it and have beachfront rental property to pay for my toys.

  We live on the beach just north of Montanita, Ecuador and love every minute of it. The combination Israeli and Ecuadorian style government and speaking Spanish took a bit getting used to but were well worth the effort. While I live close to the beach, I’m not a big beach fan. My wife and kids and two grandkids love the ocean, and we even bought a sailboat even though I promised never to get on one of the bastards again after being stranded on a dinky one for months many years back.

  Okay, so you know my early story how I sold my house and business, purchased a ranch in Pinedale, Wyoming met two wonderful women who became my best friends and survived the end of the world with me. About 80 percent of the world’s people died during the first 90 days after the Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) passed close to the Earth. We named the event The Flare.

  You should know the USA and several other major countries knew long in advance that the rogue planets were going to hit the Sun and cause the CME and resulting devastation. They also knew that the Sun’s loss of mass would cause the Earth to plunge into a major Ice Age and make most of the Earth too damn cold to live in for humans. Only an area about a thousand miles wide around the equator would have a climate conducive to human existence. The major powers quickly invaded those areas and took the land to be their own before The Flare.

  After briefly trying to survive in Wyoming the girls, Patty and Mary, and my two Springer Spaniels and I headed south. That’s most of Book I, and you should know all about that. If you haven’t read book one, take your cheap ass to your local bookstore and buy one. Old Matt can always use the money.

  I added this Character list to jog your memory on who the key players are from Book I and introduced some new ones.

  Main Character List

  Matt Jones – Me! Divorced, high school chemistry teacher became a prepper, sold everything, and moved to Wyoming just in time for the shit to hit the fan. Survived and wrote these great books.

  Patty Gale – One of the two women who stole my heart. She lived in Wyoming, became close to me, and we fell in love drifting on a boat in the Caribbean.

  Mary Williamson – I bought my new home from Mary. She becomes ve
ry close to me, and we traveled to Mobile together before being separated.

  Brett Starnes – ex-military, owned the boat that Mary and the Nuns took the kids to South America. He saved my ass several times.

  Meg Starnes – Brett’s wife and an ex-cop.

  Manuel Gonzales Ortega - Cuban peasant who befriends Matt and helps him survive while trying to head south.

  Captain Joseph Ivanovich – Russian freighter Captain who teams up with Matt and Manuel.

  Oscar Ramos – A good-hearted pirate I met in Colombia who became a good friend.

  Bobby, Billy, and Jane – The three kids we found in the junkyard.

  Now on with the story about me, your hero, and how I survived the Apocalypse known as The Flare, and then built a life for my family and me down here in beautiful Ecuador.

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  Chapter 2

  Matt Jones

  10 miles northeast of Havana, Cuba

  The storm surged for several days throwing me off my southeasterly course after I struck my sail. The waves tossed me about, and I struck my head on the mast as I wrestled the sail down. The ocean current pushed my small boat north until I cleared the line between Cancun and the western tip of Cuba and then took me due east. I was in and out of consciousness and didn’t give a care what was going on outside in the real world. My memory continued to come back, and I was trying to put the bits and pieces together.

  I remembered several names, Mary, Matt, and Sister Angela; however, I didn’t have a clue who they were. I raised my sail and headed towards land hoping to find a city and people. I couldn’t remember my name, but I knew that I had to be on the north side of Cuba. I found a map in the gear in the boat and was desperately aware that I would have to find a safe place on land until I figured out who the hell I was and what scared me so much.

  I was trying to remember what I’d learned about Cuba, and it dawned on me that Cuba was warm. I had long pants, sweatshirt, and a heavy jacket on and was still cold. The temperature must be about 35 degrees in the morning and no more than 45 at noon. I remembered that Cuba’s winters were very mild with early afternoon temperatures in the high 60s. What the fuck is going on? I thought, maybe I’m much further north.

  I went back through the gear in the boat and found winter parkas and full snowsuits. I also found guns, ammo, MREs, and other food along with two duffel bags full of, gold platinum, silver, and jewels. Holy shit, could I be a bank robber? That just didn’t sit right as I tried to figure out why I was adrift in the ocean in a very well stocked boat with a pirate’s treasure and a large swollen knot on my head.

  WTF was all I could think as I sailed closer to the shore to get a fix on my location. I finally arrived close enough to see land clearly and headed cautiously towards the green jewel ahead.

  Suddenly I saw a boat between the shoreline and me. I brought my sail down quickly to keep from being seen and drifted towards the boat. I found my binoculars and found that the boat was a small outboard motor fishing boat. There appeared to be a man and a kid on board who were fishing. The man and young girl waved when they saw me waving at them.

  I said in my best Spanish, “Ola Senior!”

  “Buenos Dias.”

  “Where am I? Es Cuba?”

  "Sí, esto es Cuba".

  “Is it safe here?...err…Es secguro?”

  “Sir, I speak some English.”

  “Great, I was running out of words.”

  “It’s not, err, secguro in any of the larger ciudad…city. Havana is malo…err bad.”

  “Mi Matt.” Damn, is that my name.

  “Mi nombre es Manuel Gonzales Ortega.”

  “Where can I find food and aqua? I can pay.”

  “Err…Follow… mi to mi casa and I will mostrare…err…show you.”

  “Bueno y gracias."

  I followed them far enough back that I could hide my bags full of valuables up under the back seat and my extra weapons under the front seat. I kept a pistol and the Keltek Sub 2000 out to use for protection. I thought Mary would be so proud of me for thinking ahead and hiding survival gear. I saw her face and missed her so much. I knew that I had to find her and get back to her.

  Then the memories of Mary came flooding back to me. I’d bought my house from her that her husband had made into a fortress. Wait, I felt love for her. Was she married? I had traveled from Wyoming to Mobile with her and shared so much of our lives. What happened to her? Who is she to me?

  I was sailing behind the motor boat, but my mind was on Mary. I remembered buying the house, fighting to keep it from some very bad guys and the entire trip to Mobile. I remembered Mary kissing me several times, and having strong feelings for her, but didn’t remember sleeping with her. I could see her as plain as day in my mind; however, I couldn’t remember how or why we parted.

  Manuel headed into a small river. I dropped the sail, fired up the little five HP outboard, and followed him up river dodging overhanging limbs that were trying to break my mast.

  We landed about 500 yards upstream where the river opened up into a larger bay. I saw a few small sailboats, and I suddenly remembered Brett and Meg. Memories came back to me, but were random and not making sense.

  I saw a village across the bay and pointed.

  Manuel replied, “Playa Penta. Gone, all gone,” then he pointed into the woods and said Caralem. Mi casa.”

  I tied up my boat and followed Manuel and the girl up a path into the dense woods to a small house that was part of a very small village.

  I kept remembering more about Mary, Brett, and Meg but had to concentrate on the people who were trying to help me.

  “Matt this es Maria mi…. wife. La Nino es Patty.”

  I had to hold my head as memories flooded my mind. I fell to my knees saying, “Patty...Patty…Patty.”

  The family looked at me as if I had just committed murder in front of them.

  I hit my head as I said, “Headache…hurt… err…doler el Cabasa. Mi Patty.”

  I know my Spanish and behavior was weird, to say the least, but I think I got the message through to them.

  Maria asked, “Patty…wife?

  “Si…err… no. I don’t know. I can’t remember… no recordar”

  “Patty, err, muertos… err…dead?

  I said, “I don’t know,” and shrugged my shoulders.

  Maria gave me a hug as tears flowed down my cheeks.

  Manuel said, “Your memory will…ugh…venir… come.

  Maria prepared lunch while Manuel showed me around the small village, which had seen better days. There were about two dozen houses clustered along the small river that flowed into the ocean. I saw several women dipping buckets into the river and taking the buckets to their houses.

  I pointed at the buckets and said, “Que es eso?”

  “Drink Aqua?”

  “Boil…err…cook aqua?”

  Manuel walked over to a bucket and drank water straight from the river.

  I was appalled that they were drinking untreated water and said, “That will make you ill. Malo aqua, err, infirmo.”

  “Make sick.”

  “Yes…si!”

  Manuel shrugged his shoulders and said, “What we do?”

  “Mi show…uh…monstrar tu…after we eat.”

  Manuel replied, “Si.”

  I didn’t know if Manuel understood or just gave up and said si.

  I walked back to the house and saw that Maria had lunch ready for them. They were served rice, beans, and baked fish. They talked in their new found Spanish with a dash of English and mostly understood what the other was saying with the help of pointing and a game of charades.

  I walked Maria and Manuel through boiling their water to keep from getting sick, and they caught on and frankly were embarrassed because they knew better. I asked Manuel to take me through the village and pointed out some items he needed. They gathered three plastic five-gallon buckets, a pail full of small round pebbles, a bag of charcoal, and finally a bucket of sand from t
he beach. I got a pillowcase and bottle of bleach from Maria and placed it on the table next to the other items.

  I poured charcoal briquettes into the bottom of one of the five-gallon bucket until it was about five inches deep.I placed the bucket on the edge of the table and added about three inches of pebbles. Then I placed the pillowcase over the bucket, pushed the center down, and asked Manuel to fill it with river water.

  I placed another five-gallon bucket on a stool just below the bottom of the bucket on the table and placed several clean t-shirts wadded up in the bottom. Then I filled it half way to the top with the beach sand and then I placed the third bucket, which Maria had washed with soap and boiling water, below the second bucket and dropped 12 drops of bleach into the bucket.

  I asked Manual to drill a hole about one-quarter of an inch wide in the middle bucket close to the bottom just over the bucket below. I then had Manuel repeat drilling the same size hole in the top bucket.

  The now only slightly murky water flowed out of the top bucket into the second bucket and in a few minutes, clean clear water trickled down into the catch bucket.

  Manuel and Maria instantly knew what was going on, shook my hand, and hugged me. Manuel asked several of his neighbors to look at the device, and they were happy. Manuel told me that they wanted instructions on how to build their own.