When Time Stood Still

By Joe Bob Newman

When Time Stood Still is a book about a group of people who survive a solar storm. The world is devastated. They must fight marauders off to live in a world of no electricity and no phones. It is as if time has gone back hundreds of years. The difference between right and wrong is blurred. The group has a saying, "everything is free!" The group must take, sometimes by force, what they have to have to live. The story is about a married man, Larry, who has an affair with a much younger beautiful woman. He must choose between her and his family. Larry leads the group out of darkness into a brave new world, where nothing will ever be the same. He fights marauders and in the final scene is shot four times in the chest. Will he live or die, and who will stand by him?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Joe Bob Newman
• Release date: Oct 29, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301272938

Joe Bob Newman

I have been writing mystery and fiction books since 1982. I have never considered having any published until now. My career has been in writing technical documents for the defense industry. By profession I am a mechanical engineer, P.E. I have six grand children.. During the summer months, I spend a lot of time in the mountains of New Mexico. Watching wildlife and observing the ecology. i also enjoy riding my 4-wheeler. I built a cabin by myself, just above a stream filled with trout, perhaps i should say am building, I have been working on it for twenty years and it is still not finished, but it is livable, it has electricity, running water and a septic system. With that, I am happy to live there in the summer months and for a week or two in the winter, but I have found that I am not much of a "snow" person.I do hope you read and enjoy my books as much as I enjoyed writing them! Thanks for visiting my page.Joe Bob Newman

Book preview

When Time Stood Still

By Joe Bob Newman

Copyright 2012 Joe Bob Newman

Smashwords Edition

Cover Design by Laura Shinn

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is dedicated to Mr. Glen Terry. A fine man and wonderful friend. 1929 – 2012.

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter – I

Chapter – II

Chapter – III

Chapter – IV

Chapter – V

Chapter – VI

Chapter – VII

Chapter – VIII

Chapter – IX

Chapter – X

Chapter – XI

Chapter – XII

Chapter – XIII

Chapter - XIV

Chapter – XV

Chapter – XVI

Chapter – XVII

About the Author

Prologue

Someone should have seen it coming, but no one did. It was just too big, too massive. A huge darkened spot on the sun, which quickly became a solar flare, lashed out at all the planets in the solar system. The Earth’s continent of Africa was nearly directly pointed at the sun when it happened. Scientists saw it coming but it was so large they expected it to be a mild radiation storm. They didn’t even expect it to affect the space station.

The solar flare lashed out at the earth and within minutes had disabled most telecommunication satellites. The space station just happened to be in the path of the initial flare up and only two astronauts were able to get on their space suits and get inside the protective shielded room. The five other astronauts were dead within two hours. Terrible sunburn, bleeding out the nose mouth, ears, and their eyes, befell them. NASA began an immediate rescue effort with the space shuttle Atlantis, but it would never get off the ground. Circuitry in the shuttle had been fried.

The continent of Africa was decimated. More than 50% of the African inhabitants, humans, animals and reptiles died within two days. The other continents were more fortunate. Europe’s death toll, during the first wave, was about 20%. The death toll in North America was only 10%, and the toll in South America was 40%. Almost every creature on earth received some sort of sun burn or skin irritation. Those directly in the path also received cranial damage. Their brains were affected. They literarily went crazy, and fortunately died very quickly.

But another solar flare was building. Almost exactly 12 hours later another flare shot out of the sun. By the time it reached Earth, the South American continent was directly in line with the sun’s rays. North America and Canada were slightly more prepared. The toll in the American continents reached 30%, with another 30% dying within two to five days. People died so quickly that little could be done for any of them. South America was devastated just like the continent of Africa had been. Within another four weeks, another 10 percent of the earth’s population was starving to death.

Electricity generating plants went off line almost immediately as their controls were fried. Traffic lights quit working, it did not matter, most cars stopped within a matter of seconds. Everything electronic, just, stopped working. Everything electrical stopped working.

Hospitals were over run, they were operating on emergency generators and fuel soon became the problem. Most buildings that were prepared for emergencies were out of business in about twelve hours anyway. The entire world was totally unprepared for what was happening. Leaders had no one to lead.

Police forces crumbled, fire departments were quickly out of water, and city functions came to a screeching halt. Policemen, firemen, military personnel, pretty much every able worker just walked away from their jobs and went home. Most people recognized that something catastrophic had happened, but they had no idea what it was. Many thought it was the apocalypse. Churches were full of people, but that didn’t last long either. After the end of the world did not occur, the churches emptied.

Civilization was in trouble and very few people recognized it. Those that did could do nothing about it anyway. Communications were down everywhere except in a few places.

Deep diving submarines were oblivious to what was going on. When they surfaced, there were no communications. Their Captains were just as confused as everyone else was. Most of the submarines started back to port, only to find the ports empty.

Persons living or working in metal houses, in metal buildings, or living in metal roofed houses received much less severe burns and injuries. Well-insulated homes and buildings also protected the occupants; any person out in the open received the full force of the blast. This is what happened to the President of the United States. She was sitting in the Rose Garden admiring flowers when the second blast struck. She received fatal brain damage, but did not die so quickly. It was several hours later that she met her death.

Theft, rioting and open looting began almost immediately. People were frightened, and realized that food, gasoline, and other supplies would be in extremely short supply, very quickly. People went into gang mentality, that is, they roved around in gangs looking for food, drinking water and anything they could steal. Guns came out and people began to shoot each other over nothing. Anarchy was rampant. Law and order broke down immediately. Jails and prisons were just opened up or else the prisoners broke out. The streets were flooded with hoodlums who had no place to go and were near crazed themselves. Houses were broken into and people killed indiscriminately. It became a common practice to kick in doors to get something to eat. This pretty much lasted till the food ran out. Grocery stores as well as other retailers were vandalized almost immediately, and this continued, again and again. Once people started starving, fear took over, and the violence intensified tenfold.

Approximately seven days later, the total devastation was complete, the earth had lost over half its population of humans and animals and nearly 20% were still critically burned and likely not to live. Citizens began to stream out of large cities into uninhabited areas for protection, for food, and to find other people who were as lucky as they were. The burned victims were mostly from radiation, but many were burned by fires, when they just walked into the fire. They were oblivious to the heat. Their nervous systems no longer transmitted signals to their brains correctly. Survival mode began, the only way to live, and people hoarded whatever they had, like it was gold.

Every continent on the face of the planet was affected. North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Australia, Asia, China, and Russia were all devastated. There would be no help coming from anywhere, for anyone. The UN was quickly abandoned. In fact, every organization was abandoned. There was no hope anywhere, that is, almost anywhere. As always, survivors do come out. This is a story of a few survivors and how they dealt with the aftermath. The Sharp family was partially lucky, but mostly in survivor instinct. They led a small group of people out of chaos into a frightening new world. These people would find out how bad, and how good, their fellow man could be, and they took it upon themselves to live as best as they could.

What fooled most people was that structures were virtually undamaged. Only people, animals, reptiles, fish, and electronic equipment that was operating was affected. The military might say this had been the perfect bomb. All the governments in the world were in disarray. All organizations fell apart. The President of the United States was dead and no one took over power. Actually, there was no power to take over. The US was a mess, a wreck, even worse it was permanently crippled. All nations in the world were going to have to start over; most did not have the ability to start over and just ceased to exist. New governments would have to be formed and for most this was impossible to accomplish.

Airplanes crashed, trains ran through barriers and ships careened into ports, docks and land masses. Automobiles just stopped in their tracks, many right on the roadway, drivers got out to find blood running down their faces. Within minutes and eventually hours, virtually all transportation had ceased to exist.

Some odd things did occur. Cars, trucks, vehicles that were turned off during the blast, would run afterwards. Most mechanical items worked well, while all electronic items were questionable. Survivors were able to build new equipment, but it took a long time for them to figure that out.

Just as soon as the storm had passed, some electronic items that had been off, worked well, but most had been affected by the storm. Simple repairs were not possible and most people had no idea how to repair items. They had been living in a society that when something broke, you just threw it away and bought a new one. This made survival for all but a few, impossible.

Survivors came out, looked around and as people do, most started to adapt. Those that were capable of rebuilding did those who weren’t either starved or died due to the elements. Some lived by stealing from those who had stock piled. Everyone went into survival mode or else, died.

Life was hard; it was as if the clock had turned back a thousand years in time. Modern appliances were everywhere, they just didn’t work anymore. Most people were lost without them. It was truly amazing how society broke down. It was hard to tell which was worse, not having electricity or not having cell phones. Most American cities were in chaos, but a few had backup systems that eventually came back on line, and some semblance of normalcy returned. As survivor’s found out, areas of normalcy were few and far between.

In Arlington Texas, Larry Sharp, his wife and some friends had just finished a pool party on Saturday afternoon. Everyone was inside eating, and fortunately for them the house had a steel roof, heavy-duty insulation, heavy-duty bricks, and had solar reflector material sprayed in the attic. The party had moved inside to party tables. Their timing could not have been more perfect.

Outside, the solar flare was wreaking its destruction.

Chapter I

I was being the best host that I knew how. I was not a party person, so this was difficult for me. Making sure everyone had plenty to eat and drink was a top priority. We had invited five couples to our house to a pool party. We had gone inside to eat hot dogs and hamburgers. I was checking to see if everyone had what they needed.

Anyone need anything? I practically hollered. With so many people in the kitchen I had to be rather loud to be heard by everyone.

Nope Larry, everyone seems to be happy here, one of the guests responded. I looked up to see who had spoken, but could not tell. Everyone seemed busy at the moment.

Good, act like this is your house and just make yourself at home, I added. I was trying hard not to drop any meat on the floor.

I had to stare at the floor and ceiling, as every woman had left on her bathing suit. I found my wife Lana and kept my eyes to her body. She was medium height, blonde hair, and green eyes and was wearing, a slightly damp one piece white swim suit. Her hair was hanging limply at her shoulders. Lana and I were in our early and mid fifties, respectively. I am six feet tall, a little overweight, but otherwise in pretty fair condition.

I was wearing my boxer style swim suit. I was proud to say that I was a cancer survivor. I had been cancer free for four years now. Other than that, I was in quite good health except for being just a little bit over weight. But I was going to lose all the excess weight in the months to come.

There were 12 people in the house at the time of the devastation. We were one of the lucky groups. Groups such as ours counted for less than about 1 per cent of the total population. Our house was about as close to a perfect shelter without actually building one, as you could get. We all got sunburns, but the burns were so light that they were hardly noticeable. Our first clue that something had happened was when the stereo just stopped. Everything else had stopped, but we had not noticed. Suddenly, it was not quite so noisy.

Lana, did you turn the stereo off? I asked a little too testily.

Nope, and while you check it out, turn the A/C down, it’s getting hot in here, Lana responded calmly. She had prepared well for this party, and did not want anything to go wrong! Unlike me, she was very good at these things.

Probably the luckiest person in the house was a man named Glen Phillips. He was tall, slender, and was nearly bald headed, with brown eyes. Glen was muscular but had cancer, and the solar flare had sealed up all his opened cancer nodes. Glen’s wife Debbie was a homemaker, but she had a knack for organization. This would become a very important trait in the weeks and months and years to come. Debbie was small framed with light brown hair and brown eyes. Glen had his own secrets that would keep the group safe and he would protect us on many an occasion. He had a sense of being at the right place at the right time. Glen was a spiritual man, who was wise beyond his years. In short, you could depend on Glen to be there, when you needed him. Of the group, he was probably the most capable of surviving. Glen had been the leader of a search and rescue unit in the New Mexico Mountains. He was probably as close to being a mountain man as there was. I had known Glen and Debbie for almost twenty years, and had come to respect them greatly. Glen was as good a man as you would ever want to meet.

One of my good friends John Morton and his wife Diane were also at the party. John was one of the smartest engineers that I had ever met. We had both attended UTA and both had degrees in mechanical engineering. John and I had worked together in Grand Prairie TX, and both had lots of experience in engineering. John would not admit it, but he was probably the most important person to this group. The things he uncovered, and things he built, would save the group many times. He was an inventing type genius. John was a relatively short man, but made up for it in his big accomplishments. John was also retired, as I was, and liked to wear jump suits, such as farmers wear. John had a knack for raising animals, and this would come in very handy in the months to come.

Another good friend was Ron Dunbar and his wife Paula. Ron had a background in medicine and was also a handy fix-it man. There could never be enough handy fix-it men from this point in time on. Paula was one of the real troopers who would work in the cafeteria. She often was the first person there and the last one to leave. In reality, she was a very important person. Ron’s background in medicine would wind up saving many people in the days to come. His back ground as a fix it man would make my life much easier. Ron was a tall slender man, who enjoyed fishing. He would be our chief fish catcher in the weeks to come. Ron could catch fish, when no one else was even getting bites.

The next couple at the party was a couple that we went to church with, Don and Cathy Roberts. Don was a retired Government agent and one of the finest men that I had ever met. He was tall and very slender, and had a receding hair line. His wife Cathy would also be a tireless worker in the cafeteria. We would never have enough cafeteria workers. They had brought a set of friends with them, Bob and Shirley Landon. Shirley was one of the sexiest women that I had ever seen. She was about 40 years old, wore a bikini like a 20-year-old, and her husband was proud to show her off. She was tall, slender, and had shoulder length blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes. Shirley hated her name and preferred to be called Shirl, which I was not aware of just yet. Bob was a new car dealer and was one of the few people who appeared not to have any skills that would help in our survival. I would not have invited this couple to our party as they definitely ran in a more affluent circle, but Don brought them, so they were welcome. Shirl’s looks intimidated me. She was just too damn pretty. Life wasn’t fair. Some people get all the breaks. Bob was your usual car salesman, Tall, slicked back hair and handsome good looks. Bob was about fifteen years older than Shirley. They were a beautiful couple together. My initial impression of Bob was that he was useless. I had never held car salesmen in very high regard. Bob just seemed to sit around and do nothing. I had been told that Shirley came from a wealthy family, so I wondered why she had married Bill. He seemed to treat her as a trophy wife.

A couple that had come; fortunately, from Weatherford Texas were Jeff and Cindy Wilson. Jeff was also a mechanical engineer from UTA, and they had been our good friends for a long time. Jeff was to be our true lifesaver. Jeff was a tall man with black hair and a beard. He was aware of a castle like structure near Weatherford which was vacant, which we could all move into, to fortify, and to protect livestock, and grow vegetables. It appeared that we were going to be around for a long, long time without any help. We had no idea yet that we would be moving there but time would tell. They spent several nights with us, and as it turned out, I was very happy that they did. Cindy was tall, attractive, and a retired model, who was not accustomed to working outside the home. However, she became a real worker in the cafeteria.

We all had adult children who had children of their own. Most of us were retired. We were all looking for the good life in retirement. We all wanted to make sure that nothing would screw up our retirement.

Hey the electricity is off, the lights aren’t working and the clocks have stopped, I added, I will go out and check the circuit breakers. I walked into the garage and found all the circuit breakers on. Something else must be the problem.

Let’s go outside and see if the neighbors have lost electricity too. I responded to the guests.

At the time we did not know the extent of the carnage that was happening, but in a matter of hours we all knew something cataclysmic had happened. From this moment on, our lives would never be the same again. All though we tried hard to reclaim it, the past was gone; there were entirely new futures for all of us. Taking what we needed to live became a way of life. Right and wrong would often be a blur.

Not at the party but safely in her house were our daughter and her kids, taking a nap. She also had a metal roof. Our youngest son Ken and his family were visiting friends in a mobile home and were also safe. They all received mild sun burns but my family was safe, which was all that mattered to me; at least I thought they were. I had no idea where my oldest son and his wife were, but I knew that Manse would take care of his wife. Manse is a policeman in Spring Town, and very good at taking care of himself and his wife. I wasn’t worried, yet!

We were not aware that a solar flare had occurred of such magnitude. Our first indication was when the Stereo, TV, telephone, and all the clocks stopped working at the same time. We went outside and looked around, could see nothing different and then noticed people down the street screaming with blood running down their noses and faces. This was a horrifying sight for us all, something that was totally unexpected. It was a scene that was to be repeated over and over again. We went in and turned on the television, and then realized that nothing was working. We tried portable radios, they came on but did not pickup any signals, what so ever. We were truly at a loss as to what had happened. We all tried our cell phones but got no reception.

Realizing that something had happened, we assumed the worst, and that the country was in a nuclear war and nuclear bombs had detonated in the general area. Why we were not affected, did not occur to us. We all made plans to go home, and hunker down. Surprisingly all our cars started, and everyone at the party left except for Jeff and Cindy Wilson. We listened all evening and night to people screaming. We were horrified. There was nothing that we could do, and that is what we did, nothing. We tried to contact our neighbors but no one answered the doors.

We had to stay out in the back yard as the air conditioner was off, and the house got hot as blazes. We slept outside that night. Ironically we were not bothered with any bugs. That fact eluded us. We connected a portable generator that I had, to the refrigerator, and it stayed cold. The generator also powered a fan and light that we set up in the back yard. It was truly amazing how dark that it was, you could see nothing at all at night. I had several gallons of extra gas in cans that kept the generator running for quite a while. We just used the generator sporadically that is about half the time, to keep the refrigerator cold. The fan would blow on us to keep us cooled down. We were miserable.

Jeff and I went to the grocery store but found the windows and door busted out and people were just hauling food out. So, we followed suit, and carried out all the food that we could carry, we made several trips. At home our only way to cook was the gas operated barbecue grill. We used it until the gas tank ran out. We again went to the grocery store and broke into the gas tank container and took four bottles of LPG gas. I wanted to pay someone, but no one was interested in money. We took some more food while we were at it. We fit right in with the people there. Everyone was carrying some sort of fire arm. No one bothered us and we were courteous to everyone else. I suspected courtesy was not going to last much longer. We carried out a lot of meat and took it home and froze it.

Jeff and I siphoned