Seo kissed her and hurried out the door. He wanted to get there before others wised up to what might be going on. Plus it was starting to get later in the day. Reaching the small store he was relieved to see that it was still open. An older man was sitting out front with his dog and a big stick. As Seo walked up the man eyed him.

"Cash only young man!"

"I understand sir." Seo bowed politely and walked inside. He was the only one there. Grabbing a hand basket he walked the isles. He was able to get: (3) 5lb bags of rice which he sat at the counter, dried noodles, canned meats, (2) bags each of various dried beans, miso powder and various packaged meals. He grabbed what he thought would be good. On the way to the counter he picked up (2) 2 liter water bottles. All of this was going to be heavy and he was glad he didn't have far to carry it. The older lady smiled at him as he approached the counter.

"You are a smart young man! Get out quick with the outage and stock up! We are closing once you leave. Very smart indeed! Here, get an extra thing of water, you may need it!"

"Oh thank you so much!" More weight but he would have to deal with it. He purchased a large tote bag that was at the counter to carry the water. The total came to $77 exactly. He paid with cash, glad Ishmael have given him more. As he left, the man asked for help closing up the front of the store, which Seo was happy to do. There was no way the man could have closed the heavy steel door by himself without the electric motor to assist him. On the top level of the store front, there was a large side balcony. The older lady thanked Seo for his help. She tossed him a bag of candied ginger. Seo waved and made his way back to the house.

Ishmael went upstairs and searched the closet. She found a heavy duffel bag that she dragged down stairs and began unloading everything. Inside she found a camp stove and a fuel canister. The rest were uniforms, various pouches, clothing and a few Korean MRE's. Actually quite a few MRE's. With that done, she took the stove outside to the back patio. Hopefully it still worked and she could cook them up something to eat. Back inside Ishmael checked the cabinets and found 2 tins of chicken and two containers of instant rice. She remembered that there were a couple of eggs left in the fridge. Opening it, the inside wasn't that cool, it had been unplugged for some reason. A huge possible blessing as that meant once power was restored, they could have a working fridge.

She sat everything out that they had and went to the garden. The garden was still going strong and there was plenty left to harvest. It was a shame that most of it would go to waste with no one there. She could fix a quick stir fry with the rice. A carrot, handful of beans and a couple of the bok choy, made for a nice little meal. Thinking about the grilling area, she walked over to it and saw a few coals still hanging on with plenty of kindling and wood left. It would be better if she could start a fire. Fingers crossed, she quickly gathered some dry brush and some of the kindling. Carefully gathering the coals, she put the brush on top with some twigs and gently fanned it with a large leaf. Soon she had flames then a small fire.

Fire going, she hurried inside to get some cookware and the food after washing the produce. The water was still running. Carrying everything out on a tray, she heard the gate rattle. 

"Joon?"

"It's me babe."

Ishmael sat the tray down and quickly went to help, locking it back once he was inside.

"Good! You got a fire going in the grill area!"

"Yeah, there's not much, but food will be ready soon. Did you unplug the fridge?"

"No? Dae must have done that."

Ishmael checked her watch. Glad it was an old wind up and not one of those fancy fruit watches. She had about 10 minutes before Mr. T was to contact her. Seo had taken everything inside and saw the contents of the duffle bag. Ishmael had gotten the duffel and not the rucksack so he went upstairs and looked in the rest of the closet and grabbed it. He sat it next to the duffel and went back outside.

She already had food going. Chicken and veggies were cooking as Seo had a seat at the table.

"I spent almost all of the money."

"Good, were you able to get much?"

"Oh yeah, glad I went when I did. They closed the store when I left, even put the metal door down and everything."

"Wow! I'm glad you left when you did too."

"You still have that money I gave you yesterday."

"Of course. I didn't want to give you big bills, small places don't really like big bills and you have to carry whatever you bought."

"True. After we eat, you should see if your dad has messaged you."

"Not yet, we still have about 10 minutes left. I need to see how Sean and Haru are doing though."

"I'll message them." Seo turned on his phone. He had messages already.   "Whoa..."

"What?"

"Sean and my dad have messaged me already." Seo called Sean first. It took him a bit to answer but when he did, he was sort of whispering.

"Sean? Why are you whispering?"

"People are going bonkers, they are literally snatching working phones from people. The power's only been off for a few hours!"

"Geeze! I was calling to tell you guys to get to a store if you could?"

"Yeah, we already did. We found a couple of stores down a side alley. There was some bootleg luggage place and we each got a large suitcase. Bastard tried to rip us off but Haru set him straight.  We got rice, instant meals, canned meats and veggies. Haru got water and snacks. We put everything in the suitcases so we could get it home. How are you guys doing?"  

"All right. I managed to stock up at a small market near the house. Smart thinking with the suitcases. We're leaving in the morning to get back to Tokyo."

"Okay. Tell her that dad messaged me about what's going on. He'll get a hold of her again... at 5 o'clock our time.  I don't know if my batter will last that long."

"Yeah, I talked to him earlier. Okay well, keep in touch when you can. Ishmael was able to find some food to cook, glad you greedy hogs didn't eat everything!"

"Whatever. Hey we need to go, people are starting to notice us. I'll message when we get home. We have to take the back alleyways. Stores are closing and people are getting a little too desperate for my taste."

"Good idea. We'll talk soon, bye."

Phone call ended, Ishmael had finished cooking.

"Looks good babe."

"Thanks.  I'll get some stuff out the garden and cook in the morning before we leave."

"No, we can eat on the trail, I want to get started as early as we can."

"Okay."

They ate outside as it was still pleasant. Joon had gotten them some iced teas to enjoy.

"Thank you for going to the store hon."

"No problem babe. After we eat, I want to go through my stuff and see if we can take any of it.  I need to get things packed also."

"Sounds good."

"We should probably sleep downstairs tonight. It will get too hot upstairs, we can leave the patio door open to get some fresh air."

"Mn."

They put Joon's phone back in the static bag and finished their meal. It was getting later in the evening and they wanted to get things ready to leave in the morning. Joon brought both bikes in and set them up on the back deck area. They would load everything tonight. Looking around the house. Ishmael found some heavy duty canvas tote bags. She loaded those up with all the food he was able to get. He put the heavier items onto the sides of the bike that he would take. Ishmael was to take the rest of the packaged food and two of the waters. They secured the loads with some cordage he found in the garage. In the front basket, Ishmael had a container of water, his mess kit, along with the camp stove and fuel. Joon put in a pouch so you couldn't see what it was. On the front of his bike went the bike repair kit and the other container of water.

He emptied out the ruck sack and packed some of the thsirts and pants from the duffle, he found two hats also. Ishmael had seen his mom's big floppy garden hat so she went to get it since it would be better than the ball cap. She would use that to keep the sun off of her. Joon also had a fixed blade knife and a pocket knife. He gave the pocket knife to Ishmael. While she finished arranging the totes, he went to get what clothes he had from upstairs.

"Mel, will you help me close the storm shutters?"

"Sure!"

The lower level of the house had metal storm shutters for the windows. It didn't take long and soon they were all closed and secured. Going back inside, Ishmael checked her phone. There were two minutes before the time Mr. T was supposed to contact them. With everything done, they had a seat on the couch as Ishmael turned on her phone. It still worked but she turned the garmin on just in case. 5 o'clock on the dot, Mr. T was calling.

"Hey Poppo."

"Hey kiddos. Okay, shit has hit the fan. I was able to get a hold of some buddies at various military bases and such. The power is out everywhere. US, Canada, Europe, Asia. It seems some scientists in Brazil and Switzerland were running a type of dual experiment. Whatever they were doing triggered a massive low atmospheric EMP pulse. Those further from the two epicenters have a better chance of some electrical devices working. Satellites were unaffected, so that is a huge plus. I called Sean first but he must have his phone off still. I messaged him about the teddy bears. Cell service is going to crash soon. I really don't know how the cell towers are still working but they are.  One of my buddies said they must be on protected generators, but they will start to fail soon.  Satellites and hamm radios may be the only way we can communicate. So, were you two able to get any more supplies?"

"Yes sir. I couldn't get that much as I walked to the store but I got 15lbs of rice, dried goods, noodles and 6 liters of water before the store closed up."

"Good. Are you set to head out in the morning?"

"Yes, the bikes are already loaded up. I went through my army packs and got everything out that we could use."

"Army?"

"Yes sir, I'm Korean."

"Ohhh! Okay, mandatory service I understand. Kiddo, leave your garmin on and send me a text when you leave."

"I will."

"Is the house secure enough for the night Joon?"

"Yes sir, we just closed the storm shutters to the lower windows and all the outside gates are locked."

"Good deal. Pup stay in touch with the guys and his folks if you can."

"Yes sir."

"Okay you two, rest as much as you can tonight and be careful in the morning. Love you."

"Love you too Poppo."

Now things were making sense. This really was SHTF and the grid was down. For how long, they couldn't say, but it was down. Now their main focus was to get back to Ishmael's house where they would have the needed supplies. Ishmael sent Sean a quick text message on his garmin, calling would be pointless since he had his phone off.

Ishmael: Talked 2 Poppo. SHTF. pwr out evrywhr. Sty saf. Pckge @ house from dad

Seo set up two of the futons for them to sleep on. Before calling it a night, they both went to see if there was hot water left and there was. Enough for both to take a quick shower. It would probably be their last ones for sometime.

MRE =  Meal Ready to Eat - These are packaged meals in a sealed pouch.  They last up to 5 years, are compact and easy to carry and primarily used by the military.

EMP =  Electric Magnetic Pulse - This is capable of wiping out everything electronic.

SHTF = Shit Hits The Fan