Gordon thought of the many times he had been tempted to buy a five-hundred-gallon holding tank of potable water, but never actually did. Before any guilt could set in, he forced those thoughts out of his mind. Times like this were not about looking backward with regret, but looking toward securing the present and winning the future. After filling all the containers he went back to his family.
As he sat on the floor next to them, Samantha grabbed his hand and asked again, trying to seem calm, “Gordon, what’s going on?”
As badly as Gordon wanted to be reassuring, to soothe his wife’s anxiety, he felt a responsibility to be honest. “There appears to have been some sort of attack that has disabled the power and all electrical devices. These sorts of attacks usually precede a nuclear attack.”
She squeezed his hand hard and they met each others’ eyes. “Is this it? Is this how it ends?”
“I don’t—” Gordon paused. “Sam, I seriously don’t know. All I know is what I remember reading and some training I went through years ago. I love you. And if this is it, then at least we’re here together.”
Hugging each other, they said nothing else, and listened to the surrounding silence.
An hour went by and nothing else had happened that they could tell. Gordon assumed the other shoe wasn’t dropping.
“I think it might be okay,” he said as they crawled out from underneath the desk and stretched.
“Now what?” Samantha asked.
“Mommy, I have to go potty,” Haley said, grabbing herself.
“Okay, honey, go ahead,” Samantha told Haley patting her on the head.
“Hey, guys, this time will be okay, but we will have to look at not using the toilets anymore,” Gordon said.
“Why?” Samantha asked looking bewildered by Gordon’s statement.
“Because if what I think has happened, the waste treatment systems will soon start to back up and not work properly. Plus, we should preserve as much water as possible.”
“So what do you suggest?” Samantha asked, now sounding irritated.
“Hey, Sam, I don’t like it any more than you do, but we might have to create a latrine outside.”
“What? You want us to start going to the bathroom outside?”
“Until we can figure out what’s going on, yes,” Gordon answered bluntly.
“Gordon, that’s ridiculous!” Samantha snapped back.
Gordon walked over to the sink and grabbed one of the many glasses of water and drank it. He set the empty glass down and said, “Samantha, enough; something bad has happened, you either adapt to the situation or you die.”
“Die?”
“Daddy, are we going to die?” Hunter asked, still standing next to the desk.
“No, honey. I didn’t mean to say that to Mommy,” Gordon replied softly, changing his tone completely. Gordon walked over to Hunter and knelt down. “Can you take your sister and go play in the play room while Mommy and Daddy talk, please?”
“Okay, Daddy, but can I have some juice first?”
Gordon thought of his children’s innocence. Hunter had no idea that he could be facing the end of the world; he wants juice. Gordon touched his son’s face. “Sure, son, go grab a couple of juice boxes in the pantry.”
Hunter grabbed two juices and headed toward the bathroom to wait for Haley to finish. When she opened the door, he grabbed her hand and walked her into the playroom.
“So, let’s talk,” Gordon said to Samantha.
They went over to the couch and sat down. Neither could relax; they sat rigidly on the edge of the cushions.
Gordon started in hastily, “Here is what I think is going on. Obviously, you’re more than aware of all the terrorist activity we’ve been having over the past months. Well, today we were attacked with a much larger weapon. When I was out running, I saw cars stall and stop working, street lights go out, and planes fall out of the sky. Here at home all the power is out, your phone doesn’t turn on. Nothing works. I think someone hit us with some sort of EMP weapon.”
“EMP?” Samantha stopped him.
“ ‘EMP’ stands for electromagnetic pulse,” he answered directly. “It essentially overloads anything electrical and fries it; that’s why your phone, the lights, and cars don’t work. I am guessing the entire local grid is down. I don’t know the extent of the damage because I haven’t gone out to see what’s going on, but I think I’m right.”
“So, when will the power come back on?”
“It all really depends if this is a local thing, regional, or national. Worse case is it’s national and power could be out for months, if not a year.”
Samantha interjected impulsively, “A year! How will we survive? What will happen?”
“Samantha, like I said, I don’t know. One thing I want to do is see if by chance our car made it or not. Then, since there’s daylight left, I want to try to go to the store and pick up anything we will need for the long haul.”
Gordon slid closer to Samantha and put his hand over hers. She was clearly upset and he needed to at least appear calm; he needed to be the rock. Comforting her, he said, “We will make it through this, I promise you.”
Musa Qala, Helmand Province, Afghanistan
“Van Zandt, get off your ass; we have a battalion formation, right now!” said Gunny Smith, kicking his cot.
“Roger that, Gunny,” Sebastian said, swinging his legs off the cot.
When he left the tent, he noticed a sense of excitement on the base. Seeing Master Sergeant Simpson about-face, Sebastian knew he needed to hurry. As soon as he made it to his unit he saw Barone approach Simpson.
“Battalion all present and accounted for!” Simpson said while saluting.
Barone saluted him back. “Thank you, master sergeant.” Simpson brought his salute back and marched off. Looking out over the men all standing at attention, Barone finished by yelling, “Battalion at ease!”
Barone was a tall and sturdy-looking man. He had a rugged face, light eyes and thick, dark hair that he kept groomed with a flattop haircut. His stature coupled with his personality made him appear like a giant to some of the Marines. He looked out on the fifteen hundred Marines in front of him. While Marine life was difficult for many, it came easy to Barone. This occasion was different, though; to have to address the Marines about any situations back home was difficult. The whole reason these Marines traveled so far from home was to defend their loved ones, but now their homeland was threatened, their loved ones in harm’s way, and they were about as far away as they could be from them.
“Marines, I am not going to stand here and bullshit you. You know me well enough to know I am a plain-spoken Marine. I tell it like it is. I don’t sugarcoat it. I don’t glaze it over.” Barone began walking back and forth in front of the assembled Marines. “So I will tell you right now that our mission here has ended, effective immediately.”
The Marines of 2/4 all started looking to one another for clarification. They still had four more months on their deployment, so they all knew something significant must have happened.
Barone stopped his pacing to drop the real news. “Marines, initial reports suggest our country has suffered a massive attack. What we do know is coming from assets we have in the air over the country. The intelligence we have received so far indicates that some type of nuclear event has occurred. One struck Washington, D.C., and another device detonated in the atmosphere above the Midwest. It also appears that major communications are down with our allies in Europe and Asia.”
Sebastian was in shock. His mind immediately raced to Gordon, Samantha, and the kids. He couldn’t believe it, the bastards had done it; they had finally done it, they had gone nuclear.
Barone continued on, “Marines, it has not been confirmed. Let me say it again, this has not been confirmed, but with the nuclear attack on our Capitol, our commander in chief, the preside
nt, the vice president, and the entire Congress may be among the casualties. If this is indeed the case, our enemies have effectively cut the head off of our government. At this moment, we are operating under procedures put into place in anticipation of a situation like this. Marines, it appears that we are in the midst of World War Three. We do not yet know who actually orchestrated the attack, but I can tell you this, we will find out and when we do, they will have to face the United States Marine Corps!”
Some Marines started yelling “Ooh Rah!” in response to Barone’s address.
“Marines, we have to clear out of Afghanistan immediately. We have birds coming in tomorrow morning at zero-six-hundred. They will take us to ships positioned in the Arabian Sea. From there, we’ll sail to the East Coast of the United States and assist with the search and rescue efforts around Washington, D.C.”
He looked around at all the Marines in front of him and then continued.
“Marines, I know all of you are concerned for your family members back home. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t, too, but we have a mission; we are United States Marines and we must not fail. Our country needs us now more than ever! We must be vigilant. Tonight, pack your gear and be ready to depart this wasteland tomorrow!”
Barone walked back to his position centered on the battalion, stood at attention and yelled, “Battalion attention!”
Master Sergeant Simpson walked around Barone until he faced him, and then saluted.
Barone saluted back and said, “Top, give final instructions to the company first sergeants and get these Marines prepared to ship out at zero-six-hundred tomorrow.”
“Yes, sir,” Simpson replied.
Barone finished his salute and walked away.
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
“Nurse! Nurse!” Brad Conner yelled down the darkened hall of the hospital. The power was out everywhere, but most disturbingly the power was off to his son’s life support system.
The stress was visible on Conner’s face as he continued yelling for assistance, receiving no response. All he could see was hospital staff scrambling in the partial darkness, frantic and confused. Other voices echoed from rooms up and down the ICU wing.
“Bobby, it will be all right,” Julia Conner whispered to her son, who lay motionless in the hospital bed. Tears streamed down her face. “Brad, anything? Is anyone coming? What happened to the power?”
Conner turned and looked back at his wife. “It will be okay, the emergency generators will kick on any minute.” He started to fear the worst, but kept telling her that everything would be fine, even though he was concerned. The pain on Julia’s face was something he’d never seen. Her dark brown hair hung down covering her fine features. She was always put together, never one to be seen without her hair done or makeup on outside of the house. Julia always wore the best in clothing and had maintained an attractive figure throughout her life.
He allowed a few more moments to pass without any hospital staff checking in before storming down the hallway toward the nurse’s station. As he approached, it became apparent he would find no help there. What little staff remained was hopelessly trying to see if anything would come on. He overheard several nurses mumbling to themselves that the emergency generators should have come on by now.
“Excuse me,” Conner tried to interject, but no one paid him any attention. “Excuse me!” this time at full volume.
One nurse stopped her conversation with a doctor to shoot back plainly, “Sir, we are working on the issue and will have the power back on very soon.”
“That might be fine for you and me, but my son in room 303 has no life support and I need your assistance now!” He slammed his hand on the counter. “NOW!”
The nurse turned to him, visibly irritated by him and frustrated by the greater situation. She repeated, with attitude in her voice, “Sir, the power will be on soon. We will go check on your son very, very soon.”
“Listen, you don’t know who I am; I am the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. I am not asking you, I am telling you, to go down to room 303 and check on my son, now!”
Her eyes opened wide. She was visibly disturbed by his last statement. “Take me to your son’s room.”
She came out from around the counter at the nurse’s station and ran beside Conner, down the hall to room 303.
When they entered the room, Julia was sobbing uncontrollably, her head placed against Bobby’s limp hand. The nurse immediately approached their son and checked his pulse. She reached over him and grabbed a stethoscope and put it on. She continued checking his vitals, listening intently but hearing nothing. The nurse dropped the stethoscope and ripped open Bobby’s hospital gown to administer CPR. Julia, with tears streaming down her face and gripped by fear, sat frozen, watching the nurse desperately try to revive her son. Conner came to her side and put his hands on her shoulders.
The nurse administered CPR for what seemed like forever, pausing every few minutes to check his vitals. Eventually, she ran to the loud and chaotic hallway and yelled, “Dr. Rivera, Dr. Rivera!”
“He’s down here in 311!”
“I need him in 303, stat!”
No reply.
The nurse turned back to Bobby. She again checked his vitals and continued the CPR. Another few minutes passed and, after checking Bobby’s vitals one last time, she turned to Conner and his wife and whispered, “I am so very sorry.”
“No, no! You keep trying, don’t you stop!” Julia screamed hysterically. “That’s my only boy there, don’t you stop!”
“Ma’am, I have tried; I could give him more CPR but he’s gone, there’s nothing more I can do,” the nurse replied, her voice subdued and defeated.
“Goddamn you! Get someone else in here who will try,” Julia yelled at the nurse. She turned to her husband, “Brad, goddamn it, do something!”
“Julia, I think he’s gone.” Conner said, sadly, to his grieving and hysterical wife. He then lowered his head in sorrow.
“No, no!” she said, hitting her husband in the chest twice. She pushed past him, walking toward the nurse who began to back away, apprehensive about what was coming toward her.
“Get out of my way!” Julia said to the nurse. She then bent over and placed her ear against her son’s chest. She started to try to perform CPR herself; it was obvious she did not know what she was doing.
Both the nurse and Conner watched Julia, stunned. Conner stood there for a brief time before motioning for the nurse to leave. He walked over to his wife, who was still unsuccessfully attempting CPR, and placed both arms around her. She tried to shrug him off at first, but eventually gave in and collapsed onto her dead son. The hospital’s chaos faded as they sank into their own despair.
Musa Qala, Helmand Province, Afghanistan
“Holy shit, I cannot believe this is happening,” Sebastian said to Lance Corporal Tomlinson while stuffing his sea bag.
“I know; I’m shocked too; I just hope my folks and girlfriend are cool. My parents live up in northeast PA and you know my girl is out in O’side.”
Grabbing more gear and forcing it into his bag, Sebastian said, “Whoever did this needs to die, all of them need to die. I just hope I get them in my scope; I’ll fucking kill them.”
“Yep, I hope we get a chance. I want to put one in their nasty grape too,” Tomlinson said.
“I just wish we weren’t going to the East Coast. I wish we were going back home. I know my brother will take care of everything but I want to be there to help him. God knows what kind of crazy shit is going on,” Sebastian said.
“What do you mean, bro?” Tomlinson asked, sitting down on his cot next to his half-filled sea bag. He pulled a tin of Copenhagen out and began tapping it. Tomlinson was tall and very thin. He had reddish hair and fair skin. His face was covered in old scars from acne. He didn’t take much pride in his appearance. He was the opposite of
Sebastian, who made sure he was always squared away and put together.
“Look at what happened to New Orleans after Katrina or what kind of crazy shit happens during blackouts. People go fucking crazy when the lights go out and stay out. There’s no law and order. It’s a recipe for disaster and mob rule.”
“Really bro, you think people will start going crazy back home?”
“Yes, I do. Most people are idiots, so if there is no power, there is no water, no food, no medical supplies, the list goes on. This is not good. Everything will go south, trust me, and here we are in fucking Afghanistan, heading to the East Coast. We need to be going back home to help our friends and family.”
“You’re right, bro. My girlfriend can barely even program the DVR to watch her stupid House Hookers of Orange County show. Not to mention she never keeps food in the house,” Tomlinson said with a chuckle.
“Tomlinson, what has happened is bad, very bad. An EMP destroys everything electrical. Millions and millions of people will die and the only way to help our families, friends, and stupid girlfriends is to be there, not all the way on the other coast.” Sebastian was getting himself worked up. He tossed the items he had in his hands onto the cot.
“Well, not much we can do, Van Zandt, we have our orders and it’s back east,” Tomlinson stated, shaking his head side to side.
“I know, and I fucking hate it.” Sebastian sat down on his cot, clearly angry and frustrated.
San Diego, California
“The car is dead. The battery still works but the car won’t turn over,” Gordon told Samantha as he walked in from the garage.
“So what are we going to do for transportation?” Samantha asked.
“Here’s my plan. Right now it’s been about two hours since the attack. Most people don’t know what’s going on, I’m going to take advantage of the ignorance and go to the store and get as much stuff as I can before people start to freak out and clear it out,” Gordon said as he walked toward his office.
The End Page 5