Nuclear Winter

by Td Barnes

  For the last couple of days, the locals had increasingly shown a dependency upon both to set the course of their new lives and way of living. He noted some of those that he knew to be Mormon whispering to one another and shaking their heads in disagreement over something while he talked. He assumed that it pertained to evacuation from Beatty and the dissenters being ranchers and Mormons hesitant to leave after living here their entire lives. “How many of you are Mormon?” he asked.

  Several held up their hands.

  “How many of you practice the Mormon doctrine of stockpiling?” Several showed a hesitancy to answer. “Belay that question. Henceforth, do not ever admit to having a stock of food. It is widely known that Mormons stockpile a year or more of food in the event of an emergency. This makes you Mormons a target of starving refugees and scavengers seeking food to survive. You, Mormon families, appear to be the leaders in helping the community organize to help one another, but you know there comes the point where you must say no about giving up your stockpile of emergency supplies.“

  Bradley turned to the mayor. “You need to persuade these people that banding together is the only way they have a chance of surviving. People starving in Las Vegas will eventually make it here, finding these people easy targets if standing alone.”

  Robinson stepped forward to support him. “I know these people. Many of them will stay behind and defend their property, regardless of what we say. Their relatives pioneered the gold and silver mines here at Beatty, and they, their sons, and daughters have ranched here for decades. They will stay to protect what they have sacrificed so much to acquire. Many of them are veterans of the Sagebrush Rebellion, where they fought the government for the rights they have held for generations. They do not trust the government. Set a deadline, tell us what we may bring with us, and do it. Those who change their minds may follow.”

  Bradley felt obligated to inform these people entirely on what to expect before they made their final decision on evacuating. He took a deep breath and thought, “Here goes.” He began by telling the people what to expect, that where hunger existed, law ceased to exist. Refugees struggling to survive will first resort to begging until hunger forces them to become violent looters. They will spread out like locusts to strip the land of everything edible to survive and prevent their children starving to death.”

  He did not say anything for a moment. He thoughtfully looked over the gathering of the town’s residents, noting the cultural diversity, the mixture of people from different cultures, ethnicities, sexual orientations. They came from an amalgam of old miner shacks, mobile home, and a few modern houses scattered along the Amargosa underground river bed.

  “How many of them stored food, fuel, and arms for themselves and their loved ones that they would refuse to give up?” The thoughts raced through his mind. How would these people of a pioneering culture handle neighbors knowing of their storing food when they came to their door when they run low anything to eat, first asking for and then demanding their food? How would they handle looting attacks that would take place repeatedly in every house, occupied or not, when the locust-like horde spread across the land looking for that last morsel of food?

  The remoteness of Beatty makes it less susceptible. But eventually, the looters would find every home. They would force these people before him to defend their homes, forcing them to kill and dispose of the bodies of the attackers repeatedly. They faced this in addition to dealing with the heartbreak of their own dead and wounded until a superior force eventually overwhelmed them.

  No matter how well these people prepared, the attackers would overrun their homes. They would face attacks from random groups, large and small, day and night, day after day, week after week for months.

  Worse yet, well-organized and well-armed groups would scout any remote homes, note their substantial resistance, and plan their demise over time since they knew the defender could not go anywhere. They would eventually use tear gas, explosives, armored vehicles, etc. They would take them whenever they wanted to do so.

  Bradley also knew that many of these people most likely hunted and probably possessed what they thought provided enough firepower in the home to defend their families from something like this. A high velocity .308 projectile would pass through any of the mobile homes and older buildings in this town. Eventually, a large enough group or gang would take over this community, every home.

  They would kill, rape, and plunder, taking what they found to their lair and then move on to other targets. Anyone of those listening to the colonel who did not evacuate would die quickly from exposure, violent mobs, physical attack, starvation, disease, or infection even if they managed to escape.

  Those surviving will experience dysentery on an epidemic scale due to fouled water, which he suspected to be occurring in Las Vegas while he spoke. The people of Beatty faced slim odds of survival.

  Bradley saw in these people the same determined stubbornness that he remembered about the ranch families where he grew up. Mayor Robinson was right — nothing that he said would change the minds of many of them. Nonetheless, he felt he must give it one more try.

  He said, “Your Mormon practice of preparedness and this town’s remoteness makes this town a target, the end of the road for many of the refugees escaping the cities. You may believe I am exaggerating about the vulnerability of your home and the viciousness of our society but take a minute here to step out of your house, walk to the street and study your home for a moment. Imagine you, your brother, and your friend from down the street trying to defend your house at night with two deer rifles and a 12-gauge shotgun — or maybe even an assault rifle — against 20 guys with semiautomatic assault rifles, night vision goggles and maybe tear gas or even an armored vehicle. The attackers will surround you. You will have no help from anywhere, and you will not have a snowball’s chance in Hell of winning. They will tell you that if you give up your supplies, they will leave you unharmed. Surrender and they will have you haul your goods outside your home and then tie you up and torture your wife or children in front of you until you tell them where your secret supply caches of food and gold are located even if you do not have any. The thing is they already know that many retreats have such caches. You will die from torture because they will not believe that you do not. They will kill the men, children, older women, and take any young women with them. Yes, in many cases you may expect it to be that horrific. It has always been this way throughout history. Genghis Khan comes to mind.”

  Bradley removed his western hat in an unconscious gesture of his feeling of desperation for these people. He felt that he could not lay it out any better and anything more a waste of time and effort. He concluded, “I know some of you will want to stay behind. If you do, I pray you will keep hidden. Always maintain a high level of surveillance and defense. In other words, become a “Prepper,” but do so wisely, very well hidden and very, very secretly.”

  He said no more. He knew they had only a matter of hours before the arrival of hungry and desperate refugees from Las Vegas. Putting his hat back on, he located Deputy Holly standing to the side of the crowd and motioned for him.

  “Holly, gather up the sheriff deputies from the test site and have them assemble where Highway 95 passes through the gap south of town. Stop any vehicles arriving from Las Vegas. There is no way you or we can accommodate or control them once you let them into town.”

  When the deputies armed with their own hunting rifles loaded into an old truck and headed to the location three miles south of town, flashes of past military engagements returned to mind where he had sent his men into harm's way. No commander could ever contemplate and prepare for dispatching armed men against hungry and desperate refugees. He shut the thought out by turning his attention back to the evacuation. He located Robinson and asked her to join him where most of the town population remained gathered in the park waiting for what came next.

  “Mayor, the military has established a protected facility to house and protect those of you who
are specialists in vital fields. I will not identify the location.” He paused to place significance to the message. “This knowledge could become a liability to those staying behind. We cannot take everyone, so I need you to help me with the horrible job of selecting those we evacuate. I realize that this sounds harsh, but we can accept only the healthy. We simply will not have the means to care for someone suffering a permanent mental or physical condition that requires special medical attention. That includes children.”

  “I can’t do that,” she said passionately.

  “You have no choice. You know these people, the misfits, deadbeats, village idiots, and troublemakers who might debilitate the welfare of the others. Cull out anyone that you would not trust to leave alone with your teenage daughter. Bring with us cooks, carpenters, butchers, and about any other skill needed to sustain a standard of living until it is safe to resume our former occupations. Have Nurse Martin assist you in screening out diabetics and anyone with a chronic medical condition that requires special care or medications. We are fighting for our survival and cannot be handicapped with anyone who will not or cannot pull their weight. Have those selected bring with them only essential clothing, medicines — things they would take on a short vacation.” He paused and released a sigh before somberly continuing. “Jeannette, the fertile childbearing age ends at about 35 years old. Technically, that should be the oldest of anyone we evacuate under the circumstances. However, I must weigh what we need to survive so that the survivors may reproduce.” He thought for a moment. “Let’s try to keep the age under 35, but allow exceptions up to the age of 45 for those we deem vital to our survival. “

  While he issued these instructions to Robinson, a convoy of Nevada National Guard trucks roared into town and parked in a row in the town park. The sergeant in charge deployed armed guards around the perimeter of the trucks while two M1043 Armament Carriers with armored housing for turret gunners watched for danger. One of them followed two military fuel transport trucks making the rounds of the service stations where the drivers pumped the fuel from the underground fuel tanks into the transport trucks. "Get with it, Mayor; those trucks are leaving in four hours.”

  Bradley would never have dreamed of shirking responsibility for the selection process. Looking at the town's people awaiting guidance he said, “Mayor Robinson and Nurse Martin know you and will screen you for evacuation per my instructions. Regrettably, we have only limited facilities, so form a line, and get your names on the list now. We will evacuate only those younger than 35 years of age. We will waive to age 45 those of you with skills vital to the survival of the others evacuated. Form back here in three hours, and we will convoy to a safe refuge. Those with livestock, please join me here to organize a cattle drive.” Bradley did not feel that the 500 head of livestock arriving from the Amargosa Valley would provide enough meat, so he intended to form a drive to bring any Beatty cattle and sheep to the mountain for also processing into food

  Some of the people stood stunned in their tracks after his announcement. Others eligible for evacuation hurriedly left to prepare. “What about our pets?” Someone shouted.

  Bradley mulled the question in his mind for a moment. How could he allow domestic pets while screening out anyone over a certain age or children with health issues? “You may bring dogs and cats weighing less than twenty pounds. The larger animals should be able to fend for themselves until you return. Consider this a short vacation and bring with you any small pets that you would take on a vacation. I suggest you bring meaningful keepsakes and family photos in case someone breaks into your home. Those with horses, plan to bring them. That may well become our means of transportation for a while before this is over.” The question of what to do about the pets presented Bradley a double-edged sword. With it came the liability of feeding and caring for them, however, bringing them would boost morale and provide a bit of assurance of a better future. He would deal with it then if they became a problem.

  Bradley thought for a moment about the tunnel at the mountain. He knew that kangaroo rats, pack rats, and mice roamed in sufficient numbers in the desert. Rodents would be a problem in the tunnel. He also recalled how in his post EMP lectures he always emphasized the need for fundamental security techniques. He located Robinson and went to her.

  “We will need a couple of unneutered male and female guard dogs for breeding stock. The same applies to cats that we will use for rodent control. On second thought, also bring any guinea roosters and hens. They are noisy but make damn good alarms to warn of intruders. The settlers of the Old West used them to warn of coyotes, mountain lion, and even Indians.”

  After Robinson had moved on, Bradley called aside Don Pierce, the rancher that Robinson favored, to set up a meeting with the ranchers concerning bringing cattle. “Don,” he said. “I believe you know this is more serious than most realize. Where we are going is desert terrain, so I think we should bring along a herd of horses and any tack gear you can muster. We will use horses for guard patrols, so we need to include a young stallion to breed the mares to ensure having breed stock. On second thought, also arrange for a jack and a dozen Jennies to be included for breed stock. "

  “I intended to bring some with the cattle drive. I do not want my horses left behind for the refugees to slaughter for food. Eating my horses will not provide enough food to save anyone.”

  ****

  T plus four days.

  Bradley hated his inherited job. Beneath his stone-cold posture of command, his heart repeatedly broke during the evacuation of Beatty. It took a bit longer than four hours to get the townspeople at Beatty organized and on the road, during which he witnessed families crying while they split up, leaving the sickly and elderly behind. He recognized his responsibility to his people to remain firm on the issue of eligibility. Nonetheless, he could not dismiss the fact that with each rejection he imposed a death sentence. Some of those rejected resorted to wailing and begging while others made sacrifices where parents insisted their children evacuate while they stayed behind so others could take their place. He could not bear a weeping mother tugging on his arm while begging him to protect her children while she stayed behind. He finally removed himself from the equation so those assembling the people could excuse themselves with not having any say and blame him for the selection of those left behind.

  Everyone felt it an escape when the convoy headed south on Highway 95 under the protection of the Nevada National Guard, forcing their way through an angry crowd of desperate refugees at the gap outside of Beatty where the roadblock stopped them from entering the town. Witnessing the anger and desperation of the refugees somehow transformed the grief to relief for their rescue. However, the sense of pain and sorrow slowly returned to many of them by the time the convoy reached Lathrop Wells with some of the women sobbing and scared children bawling.

  The sense of their rescue returned, and any trepidation quickly vanished when they witnessed from a distance the horror that awaited those left behind in Beatty. Refugees from southern Nevada had taken over the small community, overrunning the deli, service station, brothel, and the few residential dwellings. Raiders streamed in and out of the structures along Highway 95 that split the town only to lose their booty to other thieves waiting in ambush along the frontage roads of the highway. Men, women, and children alike acted like scavengers in frenzied efforts to take what they could. Gunshots rang out every few minutes and bodies lay scattered everywhere. Fortunately, the convoy exited Highway 95 north at the edge of the town and escaped this savagery. The caravan being comprised of military trucks eluded any indication of it being an evacuation.

  The convoy roared through a deserted check station formerly manned by Wackenhut guards on the Lathrop Wells Road and entered the Nevada Research and Development Area of the Nevada Test Site and Yucca Mountain at Jackass Flats. In a time span of less than an hour the realization of what they escaped erased much of the grief felt for those they left behind and embedded in them a hardened will to survive.


  ****

  The activity at Yucca Mountain inside Jackass Flats during the next four days resembled mobilization for a major war. Of all the government emergency retreats in the United States, none provided the remoteness and security of the abandoned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. The site lay inside the atomic testing grounds that now served as the National Nevada Security Site, home to numerous top-secret government projects inside Area 25 at Jackass Flats. These included a nuclear reactor and engine projects by the AEC, NASA's Space Nuclear Propulsion, and the infamous high-tech flight-test laboratories of nearby Area 51.

  A National Guard bivouac area lay near the outside of the north entrance to the Yucca Mountain complex where military police greeted the convoy from Beatty when it arrived with Tom and Stacey aboard the first Humvee.

  Bradley ordered his driver to pull to the side and stop while the convoy of men, women, children and their pets continued towards the portal of his earlier visit. He stepped out of the Humvee and scanned over the terrain where guard members were digging trenches amidst a beehive of National Guard units and active duty personnel from Creech Air Force Base and Nellis Air Force Base delivering truckloads of supplies to the staging area established outside the portal. Two Air Force tank trucks slowly passed the Humvee, spraying water on traffic routes to control dust, exposing the activity occurring here and at the distant second portal. He scanned over the lay of the barren land, seeing through the cleft of the nearer mountain the Sierra Nevada range 130 miles to the west, forming the Sierras' shadow that emptied the clouds blowing from the Pacific Ocean, allowing the Yucca Mountain only seven inches of rain per year.