My Winter

By Nick Eager

It has been seven months since the disaster that destroyed the power grid. Winter is approaching, so surviving is a greater challenge. Health is threatened for Nick and his family. Unknown health problems are becoming more severe. Nick become desperate when life-threatening symptoms occur. Simultaneously, rumors are passed around about contact with civilization. Opportunities and their consequences make tough choices for Nick and his community.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nick Eager
• Release date: Nov 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005132965

Nick Eager

Nick Eager is a pseudonym for the author. Nick lives and works in Michigan. He has professional experience with planning for solar flares.

Book preview

Earth Reset – My Winter

By Nick Eager

Copyright 2022 Nick Eager

Smashwords Edition

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Table of Contents

Earth Reset –My Winter

About the Author

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Chapter 1

It was still dark when I woke up. I was comfortable in bed, but the air was cool.

The last two weeks had been calm. It was near the end of October. I was grateful for the peace after the harassment by the men from Eden.

I touched my battery-powered clock to view the time. Yes, I should get up. I’d been going to bed at sunset. I was always tired enough to fall asleep by then. However, if I slept too long, I would get headaches.

Currently, it was dark twelve hours a night. Therefore, I’d wake up early in the dark every morning. Then, I’d work four hours in the dark.

Our generators were still working fine with the old gasoline when we’d run them during the day. We used them to recharge LED lanterns and other devices we needed. Most other people stayed up later and woke at sunrise. I wouldn’t turn on our lantern until I was out of bed, so I didn’t disturb my wife, Ann.

It would be cold when I got out of bed. So far, heat had turned out to be less of an issue than everyone thought it would be.

I was sweaty under the many layers of blankets. In fall and winter, I like to be just a little sweaty while sleeping. If it got cold, I had more layers of flannel pajamas and sheets that I could add.

We were the first to have a greenhouse in our neighborhood of about twenty homes. All but Charles’ house on the next block had them now. When the sun came out, it kept us warm all day. However, yesterday was cloudy.

Fortunately, we’d recently figured out how to have central heating. The generators could run the fans on the furnaces. That meant that we only needed a source of heat. The construction crew had cut holes in each of the furnaces so we could put firewood into them. It was a perfect firebox since that was what it was designed for.

The furnaces wouldn’t work forever. Eventually, the generators would stop working. The middle of the basement was a poor place for a fireplace because without the fan, to feel warm we’d have to sit down there the whole day.

I couldn’t figure out why George’s furnace wouldn’t run. Maybe it was damaged in the disaster in March. The solar flare had caused electrical surges.

George was on the construction crew, so he was working on putting in a wood stove in his living room. His housemates weren’t happy with the delay. When the temperature inside dropped to 64 degrees, it seemed like the complaints went up, but below 60 degrees was serious business.

I felt the urge to use the toilet. In the cold, in the middle of the night, people used the chamber pot instead of going out to the outhouse. I could use it, but then I’d have to take it outside anyway. I expected that people waking after me would want it, so when I got up, I used it. I snuck past my father-in-law sleeping on the couch. Ron slept through everything because he was nearly deaf.

Then I carried my lantern to the furnace room. I put kindling and a log into the furnace and lit it. It was too early to start the noisy generators for heating, but this would warm the water for my hand washing and bathing. We left a bucket of water on top of the furnace.

The furnace would warm fast, but I had to wait for the bucket. While it warmed, I did my hand stretches. I’d broken my hand a couple months ago, now it was just stiff. I needed to rebuild the muscles, so I looked nearby for a heavy object to lift.

The water was warm after a while. We’d improvised a way to shower. I stood in a tote and splashed cups of hot water on my body. It wasn’t enough for a full washing, but I could clean my most vital parts. I hadn’t washed my hair in a month, and it looked better now than it ever had before. I was starting to grow a beard again. I hadn’t had one since April.

After I was done washing, I got dressed. Then I went to eat breakfast. We’d started eating more old, scavenged food. There was less fresh food now in late fall. It was convenient in the morning to add water to powdered milk and then pour it on cereal. We’d found a lot of unused powdered milk. No one had eaten it after the disaster because they didn’t have water to mix with it. On the side, I had a fresh apple.

We found cereal rarely on our scavenging trips, but it was our plan to use it now to help us through winter. The brand that I ate this morning was sugary. It was like a jolt to the system after eating plain natural foods for months.

Work was less intense now. That was partly because fewer natural foods were available late in autumn to harvest or forage. We were still collecting fallen walnuts. They didn’t all drop at once, so we returned regularly to keep the squirrels from getting them.

Some apple trees still had fruit on them. We had lots of apples already, but it was hard to pass them up. Luke had found some hawthorn trees and was experimenting with how to use the berries. It wasn’t healthy to eat too many of those because of the low level of tannins, so they’d have to be incorporated with other foods.

We’d shot many geese, and their meat had been smoked. That would last for a while. Additionally, a few people worked as hunters and brought home other game.

The garden was still producing squash and zucchini. There were several on my kitchen counter, but we’d eaten so much of it that we were letting this sit a while before we got back to it. We’d appreciate it more later. It could frost any night so either we had to cover the remaining ones or harvest them green.

The kale looked like it would stay fresh on the stalk all winter, so that could be a good source of greens for a while. The cabbage was still in good condition except for where the bugs had eaten it. We could harvest phragmite roots until the ground froze, but we had a lot of starch stored already.

I took my vitamins. Everyone had more than enough to meet their needs. It reminded me of a common joke we’d shared recently. We have enough of that for Armageddon. It is supposed to be funny because realistically how much worse could the situation get? We heard that saying many times as the scavenging crew returned. It was hard to pass up vitamins and other items when scavenging. I’d said the joke as a hint that they could focus their searching on other things.

I shook my medicine bottle. It was getting very low. Only three pills remained. Before the disaster, I’d gotten a substantial supply via mail order. The shipping costs were lower for bulk orders, so I had ordered a supply that would last for months at a time.

I told everyone my medicine was vitamin B. That was technically correct, but it was formulated into methyl folate which was an anti-anxiety and anti-depressant medicine. I took a low dose that was available over the counter.

It was time to get more. I had a plan, but I had delayed it. I needed a vacation after our battle with Eden, so I’d been lazy recently. Finally, I was feeling my stress level come down and I could take on challenges again.

Pharmacies had prescription strength methyl folate behind the counter for psychiatric patients. We’d been to the pharmacy many times for little things. I’d brought many medicines to my cool basement, but I hadn’t thought to bring methyl folate. I hoped it was still in good condition after spending the summer in the heat.

I heard Ann getting up. She used the chamber pot and then came out.

Good morning, I whispered to her so as not to disturb Ron.

Good morning, she said.

The water is hot, and I’m going to the pharmacy this morning.

It’s so early. It’s still dark. She looked concerned.

I only need a couple things, I said. I’ll be fine by myself. I’ll take the SUV. We might as well keep using the truck and SUV while they were still working.

I got the keys and went outside. The moon shined a sliver of light. I could see the outlines of trees. I’ve always loved autumn. It wasn’t too hot or cold, and there were still leaves on the trees.

I got into and started the SUV. The check engine light came on. We’d always been concerned about putting old fuel in the vehicles. Eventually, they would stop working. For now, I’d trust Mark to keep as many things going as possible.

I pulled out and drove down the street. I turned towards the pharmacy and went through the gate. We put that up when we were having troubles with Eden, but now there was little to worry about. The closest remaining people were a group of 20 that was two miles south in Jonesville, and a few other random individuals. We were friendly with them all.

I carried my lantern to the pharmacy door and set it down. We always pushed the doors closed when we left to keep the animals and weather out. I opened the doors and went towards the back.

Was it ironic? I was a proponent of self-sufficiency. I had shed no tears when the old world had gone away. However, I was here to get a medicine from that time.

I might not be alive if I hadn’t had access to modern medicine. I’d suffered from many ailments in the last few years. I might not have made it without help.

I’d done more to solve my own problems than any doctor had. That was partly why I was acting like the doctor now for our community. However, having access to pills and cardiovascular equipment had kept me going.

The pills were on the shelf in the back. I checked the dosage and saw that it was fifteen times what I had been taking. That might be the right amount now. If the heat had reduced its effectiveness greatly, its remaining strength might be the same as my usual low dose.

The bottle was large and mostly full. It would last me a long time if it was still effective. After I found if it still worked, I’d count how many it contained and make a long-term plan.

I shopped for a couple other items that we had on our scavenging list, and then I went outside. In the east, the sky showed a little light. There was about an hour difference between when the first light came and what people would call daylight.

I arrived home and brought in my supplies. Ann was running water through the filter.

Can we turn on the heat yet? Ann asked.

Yes, everyone should be getting up soon, I said. I turned on the generator and put another log in the furnace.

I thought about options for light. After the generators gave out or we ran out of gas, we couldn’t run lights or charge lanterns. We scavenged lots of batteries, so flashlights would run for a while. They wouldn’t provide much light, but it was better than nothing.

In winter, the peak amount of darkness would be about fourteen hours long. I’d be sitting in the dark six hours a day without an option for light.

We also had candles, but we didn’t use them. In winter, with closed windows, candles polluted the air. Maybe that was acceptable in the summer with windows open, but it wasn’t as dark then, so we didn’t need them as much.

I thought back to my idea of solar panels. None of the houses nearby had them, but we’d seen them in a couple places. I was an electrical engineer before the disaster, so unless they were completely ruined from the disaster, I could make them work. That could replace the generators. However, I didn’t feel that was urgent yet because we hadn’t had a single generator go bad.

Dorian could have helped me with the solar panels. He had studied engineering before the disaster. Two weeks ago, he moved in with us. Unfortunately, during that time he seemed very frustrated, and then eventually he left.

I was acting like the counselor for the community, so I’d asked Dorian about his family and why he’d lived alone before. He wasn’t willing to tell me. I don’t think that I was the main reason that he moved. I hadn’t pestered him to talk. However, there were six of us in the small home, so it was hard to have privacy. I think other things were the main problem for him. Dorian was the only African American in our group, but there were a few other ethnic groups represented. I think Dorian felt hostility. I’d seen Charles look at him in an odd way. I hadn’t been past Dorian’s apartment in the last week to see if that was where he had moved to. He’d had contact with other groups, so he could have gone there.

Lily, my daughter, woke and went down to the shower. The light was increasing more. Soon the workday would get started.

I decided to go out with Mel. Her crew harvested natural foods. Locust trees had dropped their pods. The type of locust we had here had beans that were the source of carob. It could be eaten like a bean, but eating only a little at a time for flavor was better.

Our house was still the center of activity. I greeted Luke and some others on the cooking crew when they arrived. Ann usually worked with them. The other meals of the day would be cooked foods.

I noticed that many people were more perfumed now. It was harder to stay clean, so another scent was used to mask the smell of body odor.

I looked at my watch. Lily was still in the shower thirty minutes later. I thought that when we had less water, she would spend less time in the shower. However, that hadn’t happened.

Lily, I said down the stairs. Are you done? People are here. They would soon be getting supplies from the basement.

How am I supposed to get to my room? she asked.

Did you bring your clothes?

No, just my robe.

Then you can wear that, I said.

I need more. Can you get my clothes?

Are you ready?

Almost, she said.

I’ll get them, Ann said.

Just then, Samantha showed up. She often helped me organize the work crews for the one hundred residents, so we talked about her ideas. We decided that the construction crew needed some help planning for the future.

Mel was there too,