#ShortStory Series - The Day Dave Broke the Internet - 8

 

Dave didn't know he was lonely until his friends pointed it out. But when he gives in and tries an online dating site, something catastrophic happens - talk about a bad omen.

(Previous episodes)

The Day Dave Broke the Internet

by Tara Tyler

RECAP 7:

And though Dave didn't put much faith in fanciful wishes, he was starting to believe in fate with this crazy coincidence. He definitely had to meet her. He just hoped he made a good first impression on her.

Nathan tapped Dave's shoulder and whispered to him out of the corner of his mouth.

"What are you staring at?" Once he followed Dave's gaze, he grinned. "Oh ho. Nice."

8

Presley rapped up his speech with some instructions on how to proceed. According to him, Phase Two would develop over the next few days as the rest of society figured things out. Some would wait for power to be restored and hope things would go back to normal. Others would become desperate and selfish with illegal actions to soon follow. Presley welcomed them to hang out in his shelter, but if they decided to wait elsewhere, they needed to be watchful for criminal activity and keep in close contact. He would spread any news as he received it. He sounded like a good guy.

The crowd rumbled and grumbled as the meeting broke up. Some headed for the stairs, including Sharon and two other women. Dave started to follow, but Nathan caught his arm. Dave sighed and relented. Luckily, the girls stopped to talk with someone before going up.

"We should stay here, dude."

"Nathan. Seriously. Let's get to the server at work and see what's going on for ourselves."

"We know what's going on. Presley is Level 5. He's the most connected guy in the Midwest. He's the guy."

Dave shook his head. Nathan was really sucked into all of it. Dave on the other hand still believed in his country's ability to fix things, even if they took the long, convoluted, paperwork-congested way about it. Dave knew he could help speed up the process, once he got to the bottom of things.

And he wanted to run his idea past Sharon. Though he didn't even know her, he sensed he could talk to her. Her response could make or break his fantasy of her. His plan was perfect, taking care of two birds with one stone—meeting the girl of his dreams and jump-starting the country.

Dave looked over at Sharon and started to smile, but as soon as she glanced his way with a flip of her ponytail, he froze. Just the thought of walking over and talking to her made him sick to his stomach. He'd never felt such apprehension, even as he faced the possible end of polite society. It wasn't because she was a woman. He'd spoken to plenty of women at work or in other public places. It was just her. He was afraid of saying the wrong thing and wasn't sure how to proceed. He started to hyperventilate and sweat. It was ridiculous.

Nathan nudged him. "Hey, let me introduce you to Presley."

"Oh, uh, sure." The distraction brought his breathing back to normal. Maybe he should ask Nathan for help, not that he had any real experience in this unknown realm of dating and females and emotions. He married his high school sweetheart because she told him to.

Dave peeked over at Sharon and a wave of nausea washed over him again.

Nathan huffed at him. "Sharon has that effect on guys. She's very intimidating and she has a strict rule not to date members, unless she's forced to for procreation after an apocalypse."

That was uncalled for information. But Dave respected her policy, which was one thing in her favor. And he wasn't about to become a member, but that meant she was. So many conflicting decisions made his head hurt.

"Do you know her?"

"Not really, just by reputation."

So his postulations could be just rumor making him fret for nothing. As Nathan pulled him along, what he said before sank in. Dave didn't want to meet Presley, he wanted to talk to Sharon and get out of there. He stopped in his tracks.

"Hold on."

"You don't have to worry about Presley. He's cool."

Dave shook his head. "No. It's not that. I want to go so we can fix the problem. I'm not waiting for society to break down."

That statement swiveled a few nearby noggins. Dave shook off their questionable glances.

Nathan cleared his throat and the others went back to their conversations.

"Careful with that kind of talk, Dave. What are you thinking?"

Dave wasn't concerned with offending the members, except maybe the armed ones. He searched for Sharon near the stairs, but she was gone.

"I'm leaving. I doubt any of our international enemies have the capability to cause any extensive damage. You know the odds aren't good for a true apocalypse."

Dave gave Nathan the courtesy of whispering his opinions. He wanted to shout about how crazy they were, but he was outnumbered. And he needed to catch up to Sharon.

He started for the stairs. "I'm outta here."

In his peripheral, Dave saw Nathan watch him, then search the crowd, and finally he jogged to catch up.

"Fine, I'll help you."

Dave wondered if having Nathan behind him would help him overcome his unfounded trepidation. He had no idea what caused his body to behave so unreasonably around Sharon. And with such a negative physical reaction, he also couldn't understand why he was so drawn to her. His scientific curiosity drove him to continue his original directive. Surely he could use mind over matter. He swallowed his fear, determined to discover if all his bodily agonizing and concern was worth it.

But when he exited the basement, she was nowhere to be found.

#ShortStory Series - The Day Dave Broke the Internet - 7

Dave didn't know he was lonely until his friends pointed it out. But when he gives in and tries an online dating site, something catastrophic happens - talk about a bad omen.

(Previous episodes)

The Day Dave Broke the Internet

by Tara Tyler

RECAP 6:

"How many members are there?"

"Not this many, but everyone and their brother hops onto the bandwagon when something finally happens. Like you."

"Gee, thanks," Dave said as they hiked up the long drive to the house.

"Hey, no offense. I'm happy you're here. I need you. Ya think I want to start over with these weirdos?"

They laughed and stopped at the door. Nathan made a goofy face at the peephole, then flipped it off. A buzz sounded.

Dave smiled. "Nice secret code."

"After you."

7

Inside, candles lit the foyer which had stairs leading up into darkness. To the left, an elderly woman was asleep in a recliner. Nathan put a finger to his lips and waved for Dave to follow him. He led them past her toward the back of the house. Before entering the kitchen, Nathan opened a door, and they went downstairs. Voices got louder as they descended.

The gathering was like a giant basement party out of a teenage movie. But as he took a closer look, it was more like a Mad Max party. The people standing around talking wore leather jackets, Kevlar vests, and fatigues. Some had gas masks around their necks and a few even carried weapons strapped to their backs--big guns and machetes. Real weapons!

"What kind of club is this?" Dave asked.

"The end of the world scares people. The weapons aren't allowed at regular meetings."

"Oh, but they're okay now?"

"You may not mind hanging out with a weapon-toting nerd once the looting starts."

"Looting?"

"You really should come once in a while. There's a process to the-world-as-you-know-it falling apart."

"I thought we were going to try to fix the problem, not plan for the end."

"We can try, but the window for fixing a problem of this magnitude is closing."

"What magnitude?"

"Presley says it's across the whole US. He thinks someone set off an organized EMP drop. Must've taken years to plan. But if they did it right, we're SOL."

"With all the nerd brain power in this room, we could be working on a solution, don't you think?"

"We've actually presented a few procedures and plans to prevent or prepare for something like this. But you know the government. They react to things instead of planning ahead. They don't listen unless there's an immediate, proven threat. If this is what we think it is, all the nerds in the world couldn't put Humpty back together again." He held up his hand and pointed. "Hold on. Presley's about to talk. He'll get us organized."

A muscular, dark-skinned man with a beard and glasses, wearing a protective, pocketed vest stood up on a metal footlocker. He gave the group a short blast from an air horn and they quieted down.

"Well people, we appear to be in Phase One. We believe EMPs were strategically detonated at critical locations in North America. Possibly world wide."

The crowd murmured and whispered. Dave found this extreme, worst case scenario announcement a little far-fetched. He wanted to get out of there and work on a solution to getting things back up and running, not wait until people freaked out and declared martial law.

While the head nerd/apocalyptic leader rambled on about the situation as he and his counterparts across the US saw things, Dave looked around to gauge the expressions of the other members, judging how much they believed what was being fed to them.

Then he saw her. The face that launched the end of the world. The last vision from the internet that drew him to activate his profile to set himself up for rejection by hundreds. Maybe his entry was the last straw that broke the internet.

Sharon Baker. Could it be?

Her hair was up in a ponytail. She had on black jeans, a black and gray camouflage t-shirt, and a black kerchief tied around her head. The image he had of her changed drastically, but he was still drawn to her, and now she intrigued him.

What was she doing there? Was she a regular member? Well, he was there, and he was normal-ish. Maybe she was too.

Seeing her live, Dave got a better impression of her personality--her beautiful smile, her easy ability to interact with others, her strong stature. While he observed her, he liked everything he saw. She wasn't intently focused on the dramatic leader and laughed when one of her friends whispered in her ear. She seemed sane and confident. Her costumed presence at the meeting was the only thing that concerned him. He wondered how vested Sharon was in the group and their illogical delusions of the end of rational society. For all Dave knew, the crazy leaders planned the whole blackout as some kind of extreme drill. For the moment, Dave's primary objective was to talk to this intriguing woman and find out more about her.

He hoped he had the courage to take the first step and talk to her. Then, he could determine if they were even compatible. If she was logical and with no obnoxious habits, maybe he could convince her to work with him on a plan to get everyone back up and connected again. That was a lot of wishful thinking. And though Dave didn't put much faith in fanciful wishes, he was starting to believe in fate with this crazy coincidence. He definitely had to meet her. He just hoped he made a good first impression on her.

Nathan tapped Dave's shoulder and whispered to him out of the corner of his mouth.

"What are you staring at?" Once he followed Dave's gaze, he grinned. "Oh ho. Nice."

#ShortStory Series - The Day Dave Broke the Internet - 6

Dave didn't know he was lonely until his friends pointed it out. But when he gives in and tries an online dating site, something catastrophic happens - talk about a bad omen.

(Previous episodes)

The Day Dave Broke the Internet

by Tara Tyler

RECAP 5: 

When he entered, the vast, pitch black made him pause. It was an eerie dungeon, especially with the echo of his footsteps. He wasn't afraid of the dark, but bad things happened during blackouts. He clicked his key remote and nothing happened. So his car or the key fob was dead too. Then he remembered the electronic gate probably wouldn't work either. He'd have to walk. Good thing it was only a few blocks.

6

As he started to leave, more people came out of the stairwell.

"I did try the remote. It's dead. The car might be dead too."

"Well, try it anyway. This isn't right. We need to get the kids out of here."

Surely it was just a transformer or some other simple explanation. Some people panicked as if the world was ending when their electronics stopped working. Dave shook his head and walked down the sidewalk.

Living on the north side of town, he felt relatively safe, but anything could happen on the extra dark streets. Headlights flashed from around a corner. Dave wondered how their car worked when others didn't. When they turned down his street, he froze until he noticed it was a police car. He chided himself for overreacting as they pulled up beside him. Maybe they took surge protecting precautions on their vehicles.

"There's a curfew in place, sir. You need to go to your home."

"Okay. I'm on my way there now." Dave wasn't about to go sit and wait in the dark for the city to fix the problem, when he and Nathan could probably figure it out in half the time. Or at least get something local up and running.

The officers nodded and they rolled on. Dave wasn't sure if it was good or bad that the cops were patrolling. There was always a curfew for blackouts, but with police enforcing it, something was definitely wrong. Criminals usually took advantage of power outages to steal things, but only if it seemed like it would be for an extended amount of time. He picked up the pace.

What could have caused everything to go down all at once? Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) flashed in his head, but that was ridiculousness from the movies and one of Nathan's favorite scenarios.

When he got to the office building, he tried his keycard. Of course it didn't work. They'd need a metal key to get in. Now what?

Headlights rushed toward him from down the street. He didn't want the police to drag him home so he hid around the side of the building.

The car slowed down as it reached the entrance, and Dave peeked out at it.

It was Nathan's beater, not the police. Stepping into the open from his hiding spot, Dave waved.

Nathan rolled his passenger window down. "Oh good. I circled twice already. The cops are sending everyone home. Get in."

"I know. How did you get your car to work?"

"It's an older model, not as many electronics to fry, and it was in my garage."

Dave frowned. His car was in a garage, he just couldn't get into it because the locks were electronic and apparently fried.

"Where are we going?"

"To an emergency meeting. You really should check the important messages I send you more often. It might get you off your couch. I invite you every month."

"To what? Your apocalypse club?"

Nathan nodded. "Well, look around. Something big is going on."

"You don't think it's just an accident? Or a storm?"

"Not a regular storm with the internet and phone services down. We think it's like this across the whole country. We're flying blind, man."

"Okay." Dave was doubtful. How would he know?

Nathan drove them out of town and down a few windy, country roads. He pulled into a dirt drive toward a large lake house. There were cars parked all over the front yard under the trees.

"We're gonna have to walk."

"How many members are there?"

"Not this many, but everyone and their brother hops onto the bandwagon when something finally happens. Like you."

"Gee, thanks," Dave said as they hiked up the long drive to the house.

"Hey, no offense. I'm happy you're here. I need you. Ya think I want to start over with these weirdos?"

They laughed and stopped at the door. Nathan made a goofy face at the peephole, then flipped it off. A buzz sounded.

Dave smiled. "Nice secret code."

"After you."

Business and Politics Don't Mix

Time for our monthly IWSG meeting!

Here's my advice: Keep politics out of it and we'll all be happier!

When anyone brings up politics, half the nation is with them, and the other half is against them. It's just not good for business. I don't want to know who a company supports because I want to base my purchases on what I like, not how they vote. We should all VOTE, give our support, and get on with our lives, accepting the outcome either way. I have lots of friends on both sides and I like them for who they are.

I also keep politics out of my writing. Even when writing about politicians, I don't say which party they're in and give them qualities from both sides. I don't want debates about politics to taint my adventures. Just have fun reading the story!

Next topic: MASKS!

To re-open, we need to wear them. I have mixed feelings, but as a teacher, I want to get back to school and help the kids in person (I think the majority can agree that online was not good for most kids and teachers and parents!) That said, I made a Lazy Housewife video for DIY cheap and easy masks.

If you're looking for a fun apocalyptic action/adventure with some romance, I'm publishing a weekly Short Story Series: THE DAY DAVE BROKE THE INTERNET. With school starting, I'll be posting new episodes weekly through Thanksgiving.

Dave didn't know he was lonely until his friends pointed it out. But when he gives in and tries an online dating site, something catastrophic happens - talk about a bad omen.

(Previous episodes)

And lastly, I invite you to enter my Summer Book Bday Giveaway!

As a teacher, I publish most of my books in the summer and I want to share my celebration with you!

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Have a wonderful August

Hope this cursed year isn't taking too much of a toll on you!

Stay safe & healthy!