Canada Under Attack: Where Shadows Walk

Part 3

After getting back to the house and finding it still in one piece, even though people in our neighborhood were even more agitated than they were when we first left, my Dad asked Cam how it went and if he had gotten the generator working.

I remember seeing Dad's tight-lipped look of disappointment when my brother shook his head 'no'. Then he was laying a comforting hand on the back of my chagrined brother's neck and giving him a wry smile and a light shake.

"It's okay, Cam," he said. "You and me will work on it some more in a few minutes. Hopefully we'll get it working before nightfall. C'mon. Let's see what the radio says." The four of us then stood around with the ham radio and listened to the world reacting to the earthquake and tsunami attack.

"No!" my mom gasped when one of the very few surviving government operators quietly listed the number of cities that they were aware of getting destroyed by the one-two combo hit from the earthquakes and tsunamis. "Not Vancouver! Oh Gary! Beth, the kids, ..." Then she was sobbing into my father's shoulder as he tried to reassure her that her sister and her family were okay despite the city getting wiped out.

"I'm sure they got out in time, Sara," he murmured as he held her close.

I awkwardly tried to comfort my mom too by rubbing her shoulder as she cried, my heart lurching unsteadily in my chest as I thought about my aunt Beth, Uncle Kevin and my cousins possibly being dead. Despite that I couldn't help but keep half an ear on the radio.

"Flooding in Ottawa from the surge up the St. Lawrence," Cam noted in a low voice from where he stood on the other side of the radio from me, shaking his head. "But the city is mostly untouched." He looked over at me. "At least the federal government is intact."

"Like they can do anything," I morosely said. "Without planes or transports, how are they going to get help to us?" 'Like to our aunt and uncle in Vancouver?' I silently continued, feeling the darkness closing in.

"The Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry Regiment has a base at CFB Edmonton," my dad said over my mom's shoulder in an effort to comfort her and reassure us at the same time. "The PPCLI has lots of experience in relief operations. I'm sure they're in contact with both Ottawa and the provincial government. Being military, they would've been prepared for an EMP attack and will have both planes and transports protected. They'll be rolling out relief any time now."

"Maybe, Dad. But they'll be going to cities that were hard hit, not Lethbridge. Thankfully that includes Victoria and Vancouver to the west, where they might find Auntie Beth and Uncle Kevin. Montreal, St. John's and Halifax to the east," Cam was quick to point out, earning himself a hard look from Dad. "What, Dad? I'm just saying, ..."

"Well, stop. We don't need your negativity. Not right now. Kelsos stay steady. Stop reminding us the world falling into darkness." He then looked at me. "Liam, go grab your mom some water."

"Uh, how, Dad? There's nothing coming out of the tap."

"The spare room downstairs; I have some bottled water in there."

I frowned in confusion.

"The one you keep locked all the time?"

"Yeah. It isn't locked right now. Go and get a bottle of water."

Shrugging, I turned away from the kitchen and dutifully headed downstairs. The spare room that my dad was talking about was down a narrow hallway near the back of the house. It was somewhat isolated after my dad finished putting up walls and stuff when he completed the family room in the basement a few years ago.