“Recorded at 0600. Japan has gone completely dark. They reported a strange fog in the sky seconds before contact was lost.”

Overton grabbed the cold mug from Finley’s pale hands, hardly bothering to acknowledge him. He took a long swig, almost gagging on the bitter liquid. “This shit is nasty!” he yelled. “There has to be more coffee around here somewhere. Find it,” he ordered, bringing the bud back to his ear.

“Recorded at 0800. Contact with the Eastern Hemisphere has ceased. Europe, Asia—it’s all gone dark.”

Overton almost dropped his mug. Whatever was happening was a worldwide phenomenon, and it was either heading west or had already hit the United States. This was nothing like the solar storms of 2055—this was something much worse.

He strained his ears again, desperate to know what was happening. For a second he pulled his eyes from the screens and glanced down at his bare arms, the scars a constant reminder of the sacrifices he had made for his country. As the data filled his head, he became more and more enraged. He had been a Marine for over thirty years. He had survived the Texas uprising of 2045, and had served in Puerto Rico when the Spanish decided they wanted it back. Overton wasn’t the type of soldier to sit back and watch his country get destroyed.

The man had heard enough. “Listen up,” he said, spinning his chair toward his two men. “We got lucky; whatever this thing is, it’s affecting the entire world. I know you don’t happen to care much for General More, but sending us to recover data from this bunker was the best thing that the man could have done for us. Those orders may have very well saved our lives.”

Overton stood and walked over to another monitor, studying the video feed of Colorado Springs from a camera hidden somewhere above ground. The city appeared to be mostly dark; there was no sign of life, no sign of fires or sirens. Just hundreds of blue specks from what he presumed were emergency lights. “This is not a solar event. It’s something else.”

“Like what, sir?” Finley asked, fidgeting with his rifle.

The sergeant flicked his cigarette onto the concrete floor, suffocating it slowly with the tip of his steel-toed boot. “Frankly, I’m not sure.”

“Maybe the Chinese crawled out of their hole and set off an EMP of their own,” Finley said.

“Negative. To have an effect like this, an EMP would have to be too sophisticated, and too big. The technology that did this doesn’t exist,” Overton replied. “And if it did, the Chinese would be the last to get their hands on it.”

“Not to mention the analog system is still working,” Bouma said, tapping the computer and gesturing with his chin toward the radio. “Traditional EMPs would knock out all communications, and basically lock down the grid. Whatever happened outside was designed to shut down modern communications and modern life.”

“What do you think happened to the rest of our squad?” Finley asked.