A/N: Well, it's finally done! I didn't have a lot of time to work on this over the past couple of weeks, but now, I've been able to finish it.
Disclaimer: I don't own crap, except for the plot.
The Sun
The sun was currently in yet another maximum of its eleven-year solar cycle. On the surface, prominences arced up into the corona as sunspots dotted the sun's fiery surface.
Suddenly, a massive surge of energy from magnetic activity emerged as a solar flare launched out a huge cloud of charged particles out into space towards Earth.
This also launched a mass of plasma and particles towards Earth in a huge coronal mass ejection. The mass of plasma and charged particles streaked towards Earth.
Heatherfield, CA
September 28, 2012
5:04 PM
Angelo, Robert and Caleb were watching the news at Robert's house with the girls. The news program was covering the detection of a massive solar storm that is headed towards Earth.
"Wow, this sounds like a big one!" Will said. "Yeah, no telling what's gonna happen to the power grids when it hits." Angelo replied.
"I wonder if we'll get to see the Northern Lights!" Hay Lin said with a hopeful look. "I don't know, I've never seen them this far south." Taranee replied. They continued to watch the news as the program covered other stories of interest.
5 days later...
The mass of plasma and charges particles approached Earth's atmosphere and was just minutes from impacting the magnetosphere.
Upon impact, the charged particles interacted with the Earth's magnetic field, causing the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights.
At the same time, the energy was tripping safety devices and burning out transformers at the power plants that supplied power to the cities in Southern California, including Heatherfield.
The resulting geomagnetic storm was intense enough to make the Northern Lights visible as far south as San Diego, California.
Heatherfield, CA
12:21 AM
Will and her friends were sleeping over at Robert's house when Hay Lin came up to her. "Hey, Will! Wake up! You gotta see this!" she said in excitement as she gently shook Will.
Will opened her eyes and got up. "What is it, Hay Lin?" Will asked.
"There's something you gotta see, come on!" Hay Lin said in excitement as she led Will, along with Taranee and Elyon behind her, towards the sliding glass door to the backyard, where Robert and the others had just stepped out and were already looking up at the night sky.
"Up there!" Hay Lin said as she pointed up at the sky. "Hay Lin, what's going- holy...crap!" Will said as she looked up and saw what the others were staring at.
Above them, the night sky was brightened by huge, glowing curtains of red and green light that seemed to dance about above them.
"Wow, it's beautiful!" Irma said as she held Robert's hand. "Isn't it pretty?" Hay Lin asked.
"Yeah...it is!" Will replied as she stared at the spectacular display occurring above them.
"I've always wanted to see this, I just didn't expect to see it here." Robert said.
"Yeah, this almost never happens this far south, I guess that CME was pretty strong." Irma replied.
"Yeah, let's enjoy this while we can." Robert replied as he wrapped his arm around Irma's shoulder.
Robert got out his digital camera, as did Angelo, Caleb, Nigel and Hay Lin, and began recording video footage of the aurora.
Little did they know that things would soon take a turn for the worst.
The next morning,8:00 AM
Irma woke up and noticed that the ceiling fan in their room was not turning. Huh? I could swear that I turned that on last night! Irma thought as Robert began to stir.
Robert sat up and yawned as he woke up. "Morning, gorgeous!" Robert said to Irma with a smile.
"Morning, hubby-boy!" Irma replied with a chuckle. "Hey, let's see what's on the news, maybe they have something about last night." Robert suggested as he reached for the remote.
He pressed the power button, but was surprised when nothing happened. "Odd, I just replaced the batteries in this thing!" Robert said as he set the remote down on the nightstand.
Robert then got up and went to press the power button on the TV.
Just like the remote, nothing happened. He then checked the outlet and saw that the TV was plugged in.
"It's plugged in, tripped circuit breaker, perhaps?" Robert said. "Possibly." Irma replied as she got up and followed Robert to the breaker panel.
Robert opened up the panel and saw that none of the breakers were tripped. "Well, none of the breakers are tripped, it must be...wait a minute!" Robert said.
"What is it?" Irma asked. "That CME, the auroras we saw last night...it must have created a huge geomagnetic storm that blew out the transformers that supplied power to Heatherfield!" Robert said as he realized what the likely cause could be.
"Yeah, but that means...that the whole city's blacked out!" Irma replied.
Just then, they saw the others coming towards them.
"Hey guys, did you all lose power, too?" Irma asked. "Yeah, we all did!" Cornelia replied. "Wow, this is weird!" Hay Lin said.
"Any ideas as to what caused it?" Will asked.
"I'm getting the feeling that the auroras we saw last night were part of a massive geomagnetic storm that took out the power grid!" Robert replied.
"How big is it?" Cornelia asked. "Who knows? It could be the whole state for all we know!" Caleb replied.
Just then, Irma's cell phone began to ring. "Hello?" Irma said as she answered the call.
"Irma? It's Elyon, I was in San Diego when I heard about what happened in Heatherfield. I'm on my way to pick you guys up, but with the traffic lights out, I won't be able to actually go into town. Your best bet is to head to Heather Beach at the southern edge of town." Elyon replied.
"OK, it'll be a long walk, but we'll try to get there as fast as we can." Irma replied.
"OK, see you guys in a few hours." Elyon replied as she hung up.
"Who was that?" Taranee asked. "It was Elyon, she's coming up from San Diego to get us, but she has to meet us at Heather Beach since that's the closest she can get before she gets to the blacked-out areas." Irma replied.
"OK, but it's about two miles from here." Angelo said. "Yeah, but it's our best bet." Robert replied.
"Our quickest route would be to cut through downtown, but with the blackout, things could get ugly." Caleb added.
"Well, good thing I have this." Robert replied as he showed them his Glock G17 9mm semiautomatic pistol that he carried in a concealed holster.
"OK, I feel better about this now that I know that at least one of us is armed." Cornelia said. "He's not the only one." Angelo said as he showed them his Hi-Point C9 9mm pistol. "OK, we should be fine, let's go!" Caleb said as the group started moving.
A half-hour later, as they approached the downtown area, they started hearing sounds of shouting and glass breaking in the distance.
They looked and saw trails of smoke rising from the downtown area as fires began breaking out. "What's going on out there?" Irma asked.
"Sounds like riots are starting to break out. We'll have to avoid that area." Caleb replied.
They heard sirens as riot police and fire trucks approached the scene of the chaos. They ended up reaching an alleyway, and the girls started getting nervous.
"I got a bad feeling about this." Robert said. The guys became extra alert, since this area was known for gang activity.
Just then, they started hearing gunfire in the distance. "Sounds like the local gangs are taking advantage of the blackout." Cornelia said.
"Yeah, we'll have to be extra careful." Caleb replied.
Suddenly, four men in their twenties jumped out from behind a nearby wall in front of the group. "Not so fast, everyone!" the group's leader said.
"Y'all gotta pay if you wanna get past!" another member said. Robert and Angelo prepared to draw their weapons.
Just then, one of the members recognized Angelo, who also recognized them. "Hold up, is that you, G-Lo?" the leader asked.
"Well, if it isn't the Fielders Gang." Angelo replied as he recognized the gang. "Hey, man! Remember when we used to tag up the city?" the leader asked.
"Yeah, I remember." Angelo replied, wishing he could forget his time in the gang. "You were with them?" Will asked. "For a little while." Angelo replied.
"Hey guys, don't worry about earlier, anyone that knows G-Lo is cool with us, go on ahead." the leader said as the gang stepped out of the group's path.
Robert relaxed his combat stance as the group moved on. "What did you do in that gang?" Cornelia asked.
"I just... I used to do graffiti in some parts of town. I wish I could forget it." Angelo replied.
Just then, three men jumped out from behind the group, one of them grabbing Irma! Robert and the others heard Irma's screams and turned around.
The man that grabbed Irma got out a switch-blade knife and held it to her throat as Robert drew his gun and took aim!
The girls recognized the men as Uriah and his goons. "Uriah, let her go!" Cornelia demanded. "Yeah, I can't do that, you all have to give us all your money first!" Uriah replied as he held the knife to Irma's throat.
"Drop the knife, DROP THE KNIFE AND LET HER GO, NOW!" Robert shouted as he put pressure on the trigger to deactivate the built-in safety.
Angelo had his gun out and had it trained on one of Uriah's goons. Tears started to fall down Irma's cheeks as the situation escalated.
"Make me!" Uriah replied defiantly; Big mistake!
Robert carefully aimed at Uriah's head and fully squeezed the trigger!
BLAM! The bullet entered Uriah's skull and lodged itself into his brain, killing him.
As he fell, his hand dropped the knife and Irma stood there, stunned.
At the same time, Uriah's goons rushed in, but Taranee took one down with a swift right hook to the throat while Caleb took down the other with a quick uppercut under the chin.
Robert then made sure his gun was on safe and holstered it as Angelo did the same.
Irma regained her senses and realized how close she was to dying. She rushed into Robert's arms, crying on his shoulder.
"Hey, it's OK. He's gone, no one's gonna hurt you anymore. Shhhhhh." Robert said as he comforted her.
"Oh, my God, I...I was so scared! I thought I was gonna die!" Irma replied through her tears. Robert gently rubbed Irma's upper back with his hand as he continued comforting her.
"It's OK, you're always safe with us." Robert said.
"Let's keep moving, the beach isn't too far off and Elyon's gonna be there soon." Caleb said.
Irma dried her tears as she held Robert's hand. The group continued moving, leaving the chaos behind them.
They exited the alleyway and ended up on a major roadway. "OK, we just need to follow this road and it'll take us to the beach." Caleb said.
The others nodded as they continued walking. They could still see the smoke from the riots downtown in the distance.
They saw a nearby pair of soda machines and decided to take a break. "Anybody need a drink?" Robert asked.
The girls nodded and Robert bought a soda for each of them and a root beer for himself. The other guys bought sodas as well and they all sat down on a nearby picnic table as they drank their sodas.
"Man, this has been a hell of a morning." Caleb said.
"Yeah, who knew that something from the sun could cause all this?" Angelo replied.
"Yeah, that's what happens when a large city experiences a mass blackout." Robert replied. After they finished their sodas, they got up and continued moving.
9:15 AM
100 yards from Heather Beach
The group could see the ocean in the distance as they approached the beach. They stopped at the parking lot, which they found empty.
"Has Elyon been here yet?" Cornelia asked. "Hang on, I'll check." Irma replied as she got out her cell phone and speed-dialed Elyon's number.
"Hello?" Elyon said as she answered the call at a rest stop.
"Elyon, It's Irma, we're at the beach now, where are you?" Irma asked.
"I'm at a rest stop just ten miles out, I'll be there in a few." Elyon replied. "OK, thanks, bye!" Irma replied as she hung up.
"So, I'm curious, what do you think was your best graffiti work?" Will asked. "Look behind you." Angelo replied as he pointed to a wall behind her.
Will turned around and saw a heart spray-painted on the wall in red. "WV+AV" was painted inside the heart.
"Angelo...did you do that one...for me?" Will asked. "Yes, I did." Angelo replied with a smile.
"Oh, Angelo!" Will said as she smiled. Will could barely contain herself as she ran into Angelo's arms and kissed him.
Ten minutes later, Elyon pulled up in her white Dodge Caravan. "Guys, I heard about what's happening downtown, you all OK?" Elyon asked.
"Yeah, we're fine!" Irma replied. The group all got in and they drove off to San Diego.
Epilogue
Most of south-central California was blacked-out as a result of the Great Geomagnetic Storm of 2012.
Heatherfield, Los Angeles and San Francisco were among the cities affected, and even part of Las Vegas was blacked out as well.
It took 11 hours for power to be restored, thanks to other power plants activating extra generators and diverting the extra power to the affected areas.
At least 15 people were confirmed dead and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage occurred as a result of the riots that broke out downtown as a result of the blackout.
Fortunately, Robert's group was prepared and was able to survive the chaos.