"This is it, Paul, they're on to us now. Is this what you wanted? Now we'll both end up in the gulags with the others, all for what, some laptop?"
"The megabomb, it's real. Bryant and his people set it up. The plan was to have terrorists transport the bomb and then intercept it from them. The various nationalities of the terrorists would then be used to further wage war against a slew of countries around the world, decimating the American military force, thus rendering it a powerless country. It's part of their global order, and it's all on this laptop."
"I'm aware of their lofty ambitions, but even I have a hard time believing they could actually pull it off," Arthur said.
"They haven't yet. They lost control. The terrorist group is off the map, and they're going to use the bomb. They're going to detonate the megabomb. We have to stop them, I don't care how, but we've got to try," Paul pleaded.
"Reports of that missing bomb have the entire city in a frenzy. If we broadcast that officials in the U.S. government willingly armed terrorists with a nuclear bomb, I don't know what the people will do, but it's not going to be pretty."
"We don't have a choice," Paul said. "The people have to know."
"Do you know which terrorist group has the bomb? Do you know where and when they plan to deploy it?" Arthur asked.
"Senator Bryant has to know. If we get the word out and turn the heat up on him, then we can get closer to finding the bomb."
Only Paul had no clue that the good Senator was already dead.
"This is insane," Arthur said. "And coming from me, that's quite an overstatement."
"Just give me five minutes. Let me show you what's on this laptop. Please, Arthur, you're my only hope."
Paul followed Arthur into the radio studio in haste. He had little time to go into all the intricate details, so he simply opened the laptop and files and gave Arthur a glimpse into the vast conspiracy that Arthur, in all his years of railing against the government, couldn't have imagined if he tried.
"This says everything. If I didn't see it for myself, I would have never believed it."
Arthur took a minute to read through some of the files. There were correspondent emails between Senator Bryant and his contacts about specific times and locations for the nuclear strikes, one of the key locations involving Washington D.C. It was almost too much to take in, but the severity of the situation shook him the core. Either Senator Bryant had wild and deplorable fantasies that frighteningly mirrored real life or he was a part of the entire thing.
"Can you broadcast this on the air?" Paul asked straightforwardly.
"I might be able to if you would give me a minute," Arthur said with frustration.
He messed around with wires and connections for minutes as banging came from the front door, startling both of them.
"They're right outside the door now. Are we good to go yet or what?" Paul asked.
"Hold on a damn minute!" Arthur shouted. "I've been trying to go live for weeks now. It's not just going to happen in a flash."
The banging continued. The police had a door battering ram in their midst and used it to repeatedly club the front door of the studio while Paul and Arthur scrambled.
"Okay, I think I have it. They've been blocking frequencies for some time now, but we should be able to get this out there," Arthur said as sweat poured from his forehead.
The bashing upon the door grew louder. The police were close to storming the room and snatching Arthur and Paul like common criminals.
"Go. Speak, dammit, speak," Arthur said after pressing a mess of buttons on the control panel.
"Is this going out?" Paul asked. "I don't want to be talking to dead air."
Arthur ran from the mixing board into the studio, nearly at the point of a nervous breakdown.
"It's as good as it's going to get, just say your piece, quickly!"
Paul leaned into the microphone and spoke as the battering outside thundered within the studio.
"If anyone is listening to this, ignore the news broadcasts because I have the truth. Senator Bryant of Colorado is part of a massive conspiracy to destroy the United States with nuclear bombs in strategically selected areas. They're a group that call themselves The Masterminds. They had it all planned out. They stole a nuclear bomb, known as the megabomb, and lost track of it with a rogue terrorist group in New York City. The terrorist group is currently traveling with the bomb with the intent to use it. We can stop this. I don't know where they plan to detonate it, but if everyone looks for these people, we can stop them. They say that the megabomb will take up to five states out at once when they detonate it. We have to find it before it's too late."
Just then, the door to the studio burst open with an army of SWAT team members at the helm. They stormed down the hall with their weapons drawn, ready to capture Paul--the suspected terrorist--and take him in. As their hustling footsteps grew louder, Paul screamed into the microphone in one last gasp.
"Senator Bryant! He's the key to everything. His group is living in a bunker underneath the Denver airport. They know everything. This is the truth. It's the only thing we have left. My name is Paul Thompson, I'm nobody, but my wife came across this information because she was there. Her name is Samantha. The media have labeled us terrorists, but they're lying. They're lying to each and every one of you. The megabomb is in the hands of the real terrorists, and I suspect they're going to try to attack us very soon. The American people must stop this. We've suffered enough, but if this bomb goes off, there's no going back."
Arthur monitored the switchboard nervously as he heard the sounds of police barreling into the studio, shouting at them to get on the ground. Paul raised his hands in the air and moved to the floor. The show was over.
Ammon's "Brotherhood" had set up camp in Austin, Texas. If Sacha suspected anything, it was that Austin was their final stop. The mere mention of Texas by Ammon had Sacha thinking. Ammon claimed to not know more than a snippet of their plan, but the minute he mentioned Texas, Sacha knew they planned to deploy the bomb there. To take out the largest and one of the most populated states in the country made perfect sense. Who knew how many surrounding states would perish as well?
They parked--one semi-trailer and two vans--at a deserted rest stop outside the city limits and remained there for days, quiet and patient. The mood had changed as the days passed, but their new collective excitement led Sacha to believe that the plan was growing into fruition. They prayed constantly and seemed to be closer than ever to achieving some type of magnanimous goal. Ammon approached Sacha and inquired about his inevitable conversion.
"Now's the time, my friend."
"For what?" Sacha asked.
"For you to denounce your religious upbringing and join us in the afterlife. It won't take long. Just a simple ceremony."
"What are you planning to do?" Sacha asked. "Are you detonating the bomb?"
Ammon smiled in his familiar manner. "Maybe we are, maybe we aren't. I told you that our plan is only known to a few. We can't risk compromise at any level."
"I'm totally on board, Ammon," Sacha said. "I would just like to know what is going on."
"Only Rashad truly knows," Ammon responded.
Sacha looked past the semi-trailer to see Rashad talking intensely with the others. He had a small burlap sack over his shoulder. Sacha surmised it to be the detonator switch without a doubt. The mannerisms of the group told him they had come this far to finish the job. He had to get to Rashad and get the controller before they enacted their plan. He approached the group with sincere friendliness. Rashad took immediate notice of him. The Austin sun was just over the horizon, giving a mirage of pocketed heat slowly rising above the pavement. Ammon hadn't finished talking with Sacha and was taken aback by his abrupt departure.
Rashad was in the middle of a lively story told in his native Arabic tongue as Sacha approached him. The others took no real mind of him and listened intently as Rashad continued. He was in the middle of telling a story about a man trying to travel to
Mecca and enduring foolish hardship the entire way. The character was similar to Charlie Chaplin; a love-struck hobo trying to win a girl's affection. Only this time, the man had to choose between his supposed true love and completing the journey to Mecca. In the middle of the story, Sacha approached.
"Can I help you?" Rashad asked.
The others in the group stared down Sacha suspiciously. He had gotten uncomfortably close to their leader, but they never thought him to pose much of a threat.
"I would like to ask you a quick question," Sacha replied.
"What is it?" Rashad asked.
Sacha drew close, nearly touching him. "I just wanted to know how long we're staying here."
Rashad laughed wholeheartedly. His long beard shook with his laughter as he sank to the ground. He rose with a hand on Sacha's shoulder. "You really shouldn't worry about such things, but I can assure you that we're not going anywhere for a while. You might even say that this is our last stop."
With that, Sacha jerked forward and swiped the satchel off of Rashad's shoulder. The guerrillas and the others immediately circled Sacha in a fury. Sacha backed away from Rashad and fished out the controller device in the bag. Once he pulled it out, he held it up in a threatening manner.
"Back the fuck off, all of you! Was this your plan? Did you think that I was just going to let you do it?" Sacha yelled.
The group nearly charged Sacha when Rashad raised a hand in the air, signaling them to halt. "Now, Sacha, I don't know what kind of impression you've gotten from us, but I think you're terribly mistaken," Rashad said calmly.
"You've been driving this fucking bomb across America with the intent to use it. But I have the controller now and I'm going to destroy it." Sacha raised the controller into the air and flung it down on the ground violently with a series of kicks to the device that broke it into pieces. With heavy, panting breaths, Sacha looked to the shocked group before him. "I'm not going to let you do it. Do what you want to me, but I'm not going to let this happen," he said.
Rashad gave Sacha a curious look just as Ammon approached with a similar device in his hand.
"I apologize, I guess you were all right about Sacha after all," he said. He then looked to Sacha and spoke ominously. "They long suspected that when the test of true loyalty came, you would turn against us. They warned me, but I saw something in you from the first time we met. You looked scared and alone. My feelings got in the way. I wanted to help you. In the process, I failed my brothers."
Ammon looked Sacha squarely in the eyes with a wounded expression. "I must say, I'm hurt by your actions. Not surprised, but hurt. You were never one of us, and it was foolish of me to try to change that. My brothers were right. That's why we gave Rashad the decoy controller, to see who the true traitor was."
Sacha stared at the mess of plastic and wires below his feet as the Brotherhood encircled him. "You can't do this. Ammon, please, don't do this," Sacha pleaded.
Ammon approached him with astute assurance.
"Sacha, my friend, it's already done."
As he finished his words, Ammon pressed a red button on the controller module. Sacha heard the whirring mechanisms of the bomb in the trailer next to them. A flash of light followed and then there was nothing.
Paul's broadcast had ended. Three police stood overhead as he knelt on the ground with his hands behind his head. The lights on their rifles blinded him, but he did his best to comply.
"Now get on your stomach!" the officer shouted.
Arthur recoiled behind his switchboard, trying to stay out of sight, but the police had already seen him. Paul carefully moved his hands and slowly went to the ground. As soon as his face felt the tile, a boot pushed onto his back, holding him there. Paul looked across the floor and saw Arthur in the same position. He gave Arthur a saddened smile that said, "We tried."
"Put your arms behind your back," the officer continued.
Paul moved his arms uncomfortably to his back as the officer gave further instructions.
"Keep your fingers out and your palms showing."
Just as the handcuffs went over his wrist and clicked, a rumbling came like a small tremor of an earthquake. The building shook and bits of insulation fell from the ceiling. The police officers looked around in confusion as the vibration grew louder and louder to the then massive rumbling of a tidal wave. There was an intense heat followed by an avalanche of nuclear flare jettisoning throughout the studio in a violent, sweeping burst that reduced it to ash. Thousands of lives were erased in the blink of an eye.
Samantha and Julie felt a ground tremor from inside the cavern. Dust and pebbles fell from above, startling them. Samantha had a premonition, a sick premonition that something awful was happening.
"Move to the back of the cave," she told Julie as they stood up.
Julie looked at her like she was crazy. "Why would we go further into a cave that's falling apart? We'll be crushed."
Samantha was undeterred by Julie's concern and pulled her along. She knew. She could feel it in her insides. The rumbling was from the bomb. The bastards had detonated the bomb.
"Run!" she yelled to Julie while pulling her along deeper and deeper into the cavern. The light from her flashlight bounced violently along their path. The ground shook more forcefully as Samantha realized she was going to have to make a choice.
"We can die in here, or we can die out there," she thought.
The narrow path twisted and turned as the ceiling got lower and lower. They crouched with every hurried step as the air become more damp and restrictive. They came to a point where Samantha couldn't move any longer, so she sat against the wall, breathing heavily, holding Julie with one hand and her flickering flashlight in the other. The vibrations got heavier and it seemed as though the entire cavern was going to crash in on top of them. Samantha couldn't hold back the tears from squeezing out of her shut eyelids.
"Julie, close your eyes, baby," Samantha said, squeezing her hand tightly.
"What's happening?" Julie cried.
"It will all be over soon, I promise, it will be over soon."
One last violent shock and the cave rattled the flashlight out, leaving them in the pitch black.
Outside the cavern and below the mountain, a wave of thermal nuclear vehemence eradicated the forest and everything in its path like a thousand degree tsunami of death. It passed through the Rocky Mountains in the blink of an eye, leaving nothing but ash and embers in its wake. All was quiet and dead, though the mountains were still standing without rhyme or reason. It was a bit of the old world still remaining in the new.
The nuclear explosion spread in a vast circular radius from Texas, through New Mexico, Colorado, and part of Wyoming. The states above Texas - Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska - were obliterated, along with the surroundings states to the east - Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri. The culmination of the early nuclear strikes and the detonation of the megabomb had rendered America into something different, as planned. The surviving states and people would be among the residents of a once vibrant country reduced to a vast nuclear wasteland. For the survivors of the states hit--and there were many of them--they would face the unknown. They would be on an endless search for civilization, for some place that existed outside the darkened skies of a nuclear winter. Some would find home, some would find other states, but their own futures and that of the nation's was a cataclysmic uncertainty. Could there be such a thing as a post-nuclear world? Could they live in a post-apocalyptic era where half of the nation's population was wiped out? Only time would tell.
Samantha and Julie were the very survivors faced with those types of questions. After the tremors ended, Samantha opened her eyes only to find more darkness. They would have to feel their way out. Miraculously, the cave did not fall in on itself, and Samantha hoped and prayed that no obstruction had fallen in their path.
"Is it over?" Julie asked.
"I think so. Let's move," Samantha answered.
They crawled back the way they had come
with Samantha feeling along the path before them. As the space got bigger and they had room to stand and walk, Samantha felt an uncomfortable heat radiating in the air. They reached a point where they could see light. Samantha pulled Julie along, eager to see what awaited them outside. Perhaps it was only a light earthquake and nothing more. Her pace quickened and she could see the opening of the cave leading right out of the mountain.
"Almost there," Samantha said.
They reached the end of the cave and were met with a foul, almost toxic air. Samantha jumped back and hit the wall of the cave. Julie took a step back as well, holding a hand over her mouth.
"Julie, get back," Samantha ordered.
She took a few steps away from the opening of the cave and leaned against the wall with her mom. Samantha's mind raced. What had happened? She could smell the fire, the smoke, and the ash. Her worst horrors had been confirmed. The terrorists had detonated the bomb. And Oh my God, Paul! She had to get to Paul. Maybe he had survived as well. Maybe it wasn't that large of an explosion.
She told Julie to stay back as she ventured forward to look out into what was left of the Rocky Mountains. The first thing she noticed was the color. Everything was gray and black, even the sky. It looked as if a forest fire had vanquished the entire landscape in a matter of seconds. There was so much smoke in the air, it was hard to breathe. Whatever radiation in the air that existed was invisible. Samantha was sure that from the moment they emerged from the cavern, radiation would envelop them. Her knees grew weak and she started to shake uncontrollably. She leaned to the wall and fell, defeated and anguished. Julie rose and put her arms around Samantha as her mother wailed in silent sobs that soon grew into full-fledged outbursts of pain and sorrow. Julie rubbed her back as Samantha dropped closer to the ground. Her tears dripped into a small puddle in the blackened dirt.
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