by Nathan Jones
That was another bit of good news that had come about in the last couple days. Chauncey had pulled through the most dangerous point and was steadily recovering. Although he was still weak, and coping badly with the loss of his leg, he'd insisted on doing at least something useful so he was back at his post manning the radio.
Matt lifted the radio. “I'm here. What's going on?”
There was a long pause. “I think you should come in for this. The radios are going crazy with chatter from out of town.”
Lewis tensed. “Is it about the invasion?” he asked, thinking of Trev and his family up in Michigan.
Matt relayed the question, and Chauncey paused for another long time. “Yeah,” he finally said. “In a way I guess it is.”
Judging by the retired teacher's tone the news wasn't good at all. Lewis glanced at his friend. “Chauncey doesn't usually play coy. Maybe it's something alarming enough he doesn't want everyone else on the radio to hear.”
“Maybe.” Matt pushed the talk button. “We're on our way, Chauncey.”
“Good, because we've got a huge problem.”
Matt had been tense before, but now he looked like a coiled spring. “For the town?”
After another of those unnerving pauses Chauncey answered quietly. “Yeah, along with everyone else.”
* * * * *
Trev's hopes of finding some way to escape had been pretty thoroughly crushed since reuniting with his family five days ago.
First off his section was nowhere near the fence, and all the communal sections like the mess tents and latrines were placed closer to the middle of the camp where they were conveniently accessible to the largest number of people. He'd get a beanbag to the gut for even trying to get close enough to lay eyes on the fence.
Then there was the fact that in spite of how crowded together tents in camp were, the fences had 100 yards of cleared space between them and the nearest row all the way around that was a literal killing field; bold signs around that perimeter warned that anyone who crossed it would be shot.
In the end there wasn't much to do besides wait patiently and hope Lucas managed to find a solution from the outside. So far his uncle hadn't had a chance to visit the camp again, and while Trev was worried and knew his family was too they agreed it was better that Lucas wait until he had something to report, instead of spending the time and risk to contact them for no reason.
Until then Trev took as many opportunities as possible to visit his family at the agreed upon mess tent and latrine, and spent the rest of his time resting and talking to other prisoners. He did his best to steer clear of suspicious topics, although it was kind of hard to be sure what would be considered suspicious, and just talked about their experiences since the Gulf burned and what they knew about events on a larger scale.
Most of it was secondhand hearsay, much less useful than what his uncle had told him, or even what Trev had heard from Chauncey before leaving Aspen Hill. Still, even if the prison camp wasn't exactly a healthy community it was nice to be in contact with so many people that weren't trying to rob or kill him.
At the moment he was headed to the latrines for his midmorning visit with whichever members of his family were there. Usually that was all of them, although now that they'd had some time to be together and there was less to say sometimes someone decided not to come.
As he wove through the crowds he couldn't help but notice that everyone seemed more agitated than usual, although there didn't seem to be any reason for it. He asked a few people, but they all seemed as confused about it as he was and were just responding to the general mood.
It took some close scrutiny to realize that the prisoners were agitated because the guards were, and whether consciously or subconsciously that mood was being passed along. Trev tried to watch the guards without being too suspicious, but he couldn't see much reason for their agitation, either; aside from coming together more often to converse in little huddles they went about their duties as usual.
He was just wondering if he should try sneaking closer to listen in, and reminding himself that he spoke barely a handful of words in Russian and wouldn't even be able to understand anyone, when a deafening shriek blasted through the camp. It rose and fell like the wail of the loudest banshee in existence, almost painful to the eardrums and making clear thought difficult.
Trev instinctively ducked from the almost physical force of the sound, turning to look at the nearest pole where loudspeakers had been hung. He could practically see them vibrating from the sheer volume of the noise they produced.
Air raid sirens. But why? The Gold Bloc soldiers were the only ones with any fuel so they were the only ones with planes or helicopters. Unless the US Armed Forces had enough to mount some small offensive. Were his country's Armed Forces finally pushing back against the invasion from the north?
Probably not. More likely this was a general warning of some kind of camp disturbance. The fact that the guards were all rushing to bunch up in larger groups, and most were running for the entrance or towards the closest section of fence, seemed to confirm that. Was it some kind of riot?
Either way the noise and the activity of the guards freaked Trev out, and he bolted for the latrines to find his family and make sure they were safe through whatever was happening. That was more difficult than usual with people pouring from their tents to see what was going on, most with their hands clapped to their ears and hunched over slightly as if against a strong wind.
The sirens didn't stop, just kept going on and on, occasionally interrupted by short, panicked messages in Russian and then in Chinese.
Trev had barely made it halfway to the latrines when he started to hear screams from people around him. At first he thought it was a natural response to the sudden frightening events, or maybe the guards starting crowd control measures, until he saw people at the end of the row ahead pointing north through the gap in the tents there. Trev joined a few people rushing over to see what they were looking at.
The moment he caught sight of it he stopped dead.
A cloud rose from the ground on the distant horizon to the north, lit a livid red and orange. Although it was still low and far away the shape was distinctive, and Trev didn't think there was a single person on the face of the planet who wouldn't recognize it. A mushroom cloud.
Had they done it? Had the maniacs in charge actually made good on their threat and started a global thermonuclear war?
He knew he should be feeling emotions, panic and shock and terror and everything else, but at the moment they were being sucked down into a maelstrom of horrified fascination, leaving him almost perfectly dispassionate as he absorbed the sight. To see a mushroom cloud with his own eyes felt surreal in a way he couldn't describe.
Some advice Lewis had given him a long time ago finally surfaced through his shock, and Trev stretched out a trembling arm to put his thumb over the cloud. As soon as he did his numb clarity threatened to shatter into gibbering terror, when he saw that the livid orange ball glowed all the way around his thumbnail.
Bigger than his thumb. That meant he was in the fallout zone.
He needed to get his family out of here now, by any means possible, before they all suffered a lethal dose of radiation. From the looks of things they were at the edge of the fallout zone, at least, which meant if they could manage to escape the camp and flee directly south they might be safe.
Just as he turned to run a heavy hand caught him by the shoulder. Trev jumped and screamed in surprise, but to his vast relief when he whirled towards his assailant he saw it was just his uncle getting his attention.
“Come on!” Lucas shouted over the continuing noise of the air raid sirens. Barely waiting for a response he turned and sprinted towards orange section.
Trev didn't even stop to wonder how his uncle had found him in all this confusion. Following in a daze, he nearly tripped as he repeatedly looked over his shoulder at the distant cloud. “We have to get out of here, we're in the fallout zone!”
“I know!” his uncle shouted back. The older man was already out of breath, as if he'd run all the way here without stopping. “Assuming they even let us.”
They'd only gone a few hundred feet when Trev heard shouting from down a cross lane and his uncle abruptly pulled them both out of the way. A moment later a dozen or so guards in riot gear ran past, bludgeoning down anyone who got in their way but ignoring everyone else as they screamed at each other in pure panic.
“What were they saying?” Trev asked loudly into his uncle's ear as the soldiers disappeared down the lane.
Lucas looked back at him grimly as he continued on towards orange section. “My Russian is only average, but it's more of the same. Things happened quickly and the news of it is still catching up to most people.”
“What news?' Trev demanded, once again catching up. “What's going on?”
His uncle shook his head, speaking when he could catch a breath to shout over the air raid sirens. “All out nuclear war. They're trying to squelch discussion about it so only the top officials know what's really going on, but something like this is impossible to keep hidden. From what Eva and I were able to learn before I came for your family it sounds like some sort of negotiations broke down. The US has launched its nuclear arsenal. All of them, at every target in the Gold Bloc worth pointing one at.”
Trev sucked in a horrified breath. Every target in Russia, China, and half a dozen other countries. That would mean loss of human life in the billions, an order of magnitude greater than the US's losses since the Gulf refineries attack. He could hardly comprehend death and destruction on that scale.
His mind actually shied away from thinking about it, and instead he glanced at the mushroom cloud rising higher in the distance. That same death was coming their way if they didn't find a way out of this camp. “So the Gold Bloc nuked us back?”
“They did,” his uncle agreed. “But those nukes won't have reached our soil yet, just like ours haven't reached them.” He pointed at the cloud. “That was us, hitting one of the Gold Bloc's major invasion camps.”
“Someone told you that?” Trev demanded incredulously. If he couldn't believe the US leaders would launch a full nuclear strike, the idea of them nuking Canada, especially a spot right on the border, was even harder to swallow.
“No, that was me guessing. But it makes the most sense.” His uncle tugged his arm and they sped up.
Thankfully his family had kept their heads during the panic and stayed in their tent, rather than going searching for Trev or going out to gawk. They'd also thought to change out of their coveralls into the clothes they'd come in, something Trev wished he'd had time to do. When he followed his uncle into the tent his mom immediately rushed over to hug him tight and make sure he was okay.
Lucas allowed them a few seconds to process what was happening, then he got serious. “We need to leave, now.”
Trev's dad hesitated. “I know there's a lot of confusion out there, but we're still in an internment camp. Will the guards let us?”
“Most of the guards are abandoning their posts,” Trev supplied. “We're in the fallout zone.”
His mom and dad's faces went pale, and he didn't blame them. They'd grown up during the Cold War era when fears of impending nuclear war had run rampant, so they knew exactly what that meant. Probably better than Trev himself did.
“Right,” his mom said briskly, leaving Trev and going to get Linda and Jim in hand, even though both already looked more than ready to leave. “So how do we do it?”
“The southwest corner of camp,” Lucas replied immediately. “It's about as far from the military camp and the entrance as possible, and most of the prisoners will also be heading west away from the entrance or south to escape the fallout, so we'll be part of the masses. Safety in numbers. As long as we move quickly we might be able to escape in the confusion before the soldiers try to get the camp under control. Assuming they don't all just drive away and leave their prisoners to get cooked by radiation.”
Jim made a frightened noise, and Clair held her son closer and shot her brother an irritated look. But she didn't waste time rebuking him, just nodded for him to lead the way. Lucas made a final check to be sure everyone was ready, then left the tent at a trot.
Trev caught up to run beside him in case they encountered any trouble, while his dad ran at the back of the group to watch out for any trouble from behind. That made Trev realize something he should've thought of sooner, and he gave his uncle a worried look. “What about Aunt Eva and Mary?”
Lucas grit his teeth. “They're going to give us three hours. If we don't reach them by then I told them to find a group and get out of here, or if the Gold Bloc starts evacuating the military camp sooner than that to go with them. I've got friends I can trust to look out for them if worse comes to worst.”
“How long ago did you leave them?”
“Twenty minutes, maybe a bit more.” His uncle sped up a bit. “I'm not sure how we're going to meet up with them, but for the moment we need to worry about our own escape.”
Trev could tell it was tearing Lucas apart to have to choose between family and family in a situation like this. “We'll get to them in time,” he promised. “Even if I have to carry someone on my back part of the way to keep up the pace.”
His uncle nodded but didn't respond, saving his breath for the run.
* * * * *
Time was of the essence, but at the same time Lucas didn't want to lead them into a dangerous situation. So when the family was forced to stop to catch their breath for a moment he ran ahead to scout the southwest edge of camp, leaving Trev and the others to follow at their best speed.
After living a relatively peaceful and prosperous life in Greenbush Trev's family didn't have the traveling experience or physical conditioning Trev had developed, and their inactive lifestyle in the prison camp hadn't helped much. What seemed like an easy run to Trev was clearly pushing them to their limits, especially his parents.
Trev looked impatiently along the tents around him, which seemed more deserted than they should. The air raid sirens had finally stopped blaring, replaced by screams, shouts, and the speakers repeating orders in Russian. He had a bad feeling that most of the prisoners had had the same idea about escaping in the confusion, and since he saw so few people around him that meant they'd responded quicker than his family.
Which wasn't a problem, as long as they could catch up to the larger press of prisoners ahead of them and weren't weren't forced to follow in a smaller group, losing them the safety in numbers his uncle had talked about.
He was torn between letting his family have the rest they clearly needed and pushing them to get going again, but before he thought to suggest they get up his mom pushed to her feet with a groan and started forward at a brisk walk. “It's the best I can do,” she said apologetically, “but it's better than collapsing after a mile or so of constant jogging. I'll let you know when I can run again.”
Trev nodded and led the way forward, senses hyper alert in the face of everything that was happening and the extreme danger they were in. Yet even so, any time there was an opening where he could see the slowly dispersing mushroom cloud behind them he couldn't help but tear his eyes from the path ahead and the possible dangers surrounding them to take a look.
At least until the speakers began blaring a sharp, terse order in Russian and he heard gunfire suddenly break out, not just ahead but off to the sides and even behind him. Soon after the gunfire was joined by screams. Trev slowed to a stop and turned to exchange worried looks with his family.
His dad had gone deathly pale at the obvious implications. “They're shooting at the prisoners!”
“Would they really try to keep us locked in here even now?” his mom asked, grabbing her husband's arm. “There's a nuke spreading fallout into the sky just north of us. We all have to get away from it!”
“Maybe they don't want us to get away,” Trev said through gritted teeth.
His dad nodded grimly.
“This is the nuclear cataclysm the world has been dreading since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and even more so after the Middle East Crisis. These soldiers probably just learned that all their loved ones back home will soon be dead, if they aren't already. Small wonder they want to punish whoever they can for it, whether their victims are guilty of anything or not.”
Trev peered ahead, mind racing for what to do. They were almost to a spot where he could see the 100 yard cleared section between the fences and the nearest tents up ahead, and he decided taking a look was a good first move. He motioned to his family and moved forward cautiously until he could see between the tents, then paused for a careful look.
Just like Lucas had predicted it was packed with people pressing up against the chain links and each other, struggling to escape. He also saw the towers farther along the southern section of fence opening fire where the press was thickest. At a few points the panicking refugees had even managed to push over the first fence and were shoving each other over the razor wire to get to the next fence and push it as well.
Unfortunately the press wasn't thick enough to knock the second fence down yet, and those people were the ones the machine gun emplacements on top of the aluminum guard towers were shooting at.
In the panic some people were trying to push back against the press, while others beat desperately at the fence as if hoping it would suddenly vanish. However a few people with nowhere else to go were running down the open space between the fences. Since the guard towers had been constructed in this space the desperate move had them running directly towards the guns shooting at them.
If they could've made it to those spindly aluminum frames it wouldn't have taken too many people to tip them over, far less than the fences themselves. Unfortunately under the hail of .50 caliber bullets none even got close.
The result wasn't pretty.
Trev looked away, feeling sick, and then froze as he caught sight of a lone guard in full riot gear less than ten feet away, standing slightly behind the cover of a tent staring at the mob of prisoners ahead.