by Ryan King
*******
They woke several hours later to the sound of sirens outside.
“Thank God!” said Bethany as she began to get up grabbing the burning candle.
“Don’t,” said Nathan catching her by the arm.
“There’s help out there! Let’s go!” urged Bethany.
“We can’t,” explained Nathan. “Those people are probably getting lethal doses of radiation as we speak, but they think it's okay to come out. We received a lot of gamma rays in the initial blasts, we can’t afford any more. We’ll be lucky if we get off with only some radiation sickness.” Nathan looked her in the eyes, “Everyone up there right now is dead or will be dead soon. Our only chance is to stay put.” Beth looked close to tears.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” said David casually.
“Number one or number two?” asked Nathan.
“Both,” answered David.
Nathan sighed. He looked around and saw some buckets in the corner near the floor drain. “Piss into the drain and then cover it up with that filing cabinet. Crap in the bucket and cover it with something to keep the odor down.”
“Can we throw some of that laundry powder over it to help with the smell?” asked Joshua pointing at the washing area.
Nathan nodded, “Good idea, let’s do that. Don‘t dally though, you’re getting more radiation out from under protection.”
“I’ll hurry,” said David as he climbed out from under the table and moved to the opposite corner while picking up a roll of paper towels. Daisy followed him faithfully.
Joshua reached over and picked up the radio out of the pile of clothes. “Should we see if there’s any information?”
Nathan nodded and took the radio out of his hands turning it on. He raced through the FM dials and heard nothing but static. Nathan flipped over to AM and did the same. They heard a faint voice and Nathan turned the dial back carefully.
“…off the roads and return to your homes. The hospitals are full and authorities urge people to stay where they are. All roads along the East Coast are completely impassable. Everyone needs to remain in their homes and not panic.” The tired voice paused before going on, “This is the Emergency Radio Broadcast Network operating out of Ripley, West Virginia. The West Virginia Governor has ordered the state borders closed effective immediately until the crisis is over. He urges people coming west to stay where they are.”
Nathan saw Bethany and Joshua staring at him with wide eyes in the flickering candle light. He turned the dial slowly until he got another faint and static-filled voice. “…reporting indicates multiple nuclear missile strikes at all the major American cities. There has been no official statement or response from the government and we don’t know at this point even if they survived the initial blasts. We can only hope that whoever did this to us is suffering also.”
Bethany took the radio gently out of Nathan’s hand and twisted the knob further, “…potassium iodide if you have it. This will prevent the thyroid gland from absorbing radiated iodine particles out of the atmosphere. If you don’t have potassium iodide tablets, consume as much iodine salt as you can stand per day for at least a month. It won’t do as well as the tablets, but should help fill up the thyroid gland.”
David came back and slid under the table with Daisy lying down beside him, “What’d I miss?”
No one answered him. They sat mesmerized and listened to the radio for what seemed like hours. A hazy story slowly came together like a patchwork quilt of official statements, news conjectures, and ham radio reports. Rumors and theories on various stations made it evident that something really horrific had happened, even if no one knew the whole story. Some stations indicated a nuclear exchange between Iran and Israel, others reported strikes from North Korea on Japan, still others hypothesized that the powder keg between Pakistan and India had finally been lit and consumed the rest of the world. Supposedly an official warning went out from the government before the bombs started dropping on America, but it was too late in most cases.
An order for all military forces to mobilize and report to their units was transmitted over the open airwaves. With the exception of naval forces at sea, this order proved useless. Nathan thought it was an indication of the futility of the act considering he was an active duty Army officer actually living on base and never knew a thing until the bombs started falling. Things must have happened so fast that it caught everyone by surprise.
Evidently, there was an Emergency Presidential Address to the Nation near the end which few saw or heard due to the early hours. A ham radio operator who watched the short address reported that the president looked haggard and even sad, ending with "God bless America," before standing up unceremoniously and walking off the austere and plain set. The screen then cut to a picture of a waving flag while the National Anthem played in the background. Incredibly, the station then returned to regular broadcasting before going off the air for good. Radio and television stations along the east coast began abruptly blacking out around 4 A.M. Nothing now came out of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore or any other major city.
Massive destruction and death reigned above ground. Nathan desperately hoped there were others cowering under the earth waiting as they were. He visualized thousands of people above ground coming out and helping each other, but in the process being poisoned by an invisible enemy all around them.