To make the book worthwhile, they had collected several pounds each of iron oxide red, sodium fluoride, calcium chloride, iron filings, powdered charcoal, aluminum powder, dextrin, calcium oxide, sulfuric acid, calcium oxide, barium peroxide, potassium permanganate, black antimony sulphide, potassium carbonate, potassium chlorate, and sodium peroxide. They also had quite a bit of potassium cyanide, powdered magnesium, and red phosphorous on hand.
The list, itself, was courtesy of Kurt Saxon’s book, The Poor Man’s James Bond. All of the mixing of chemicals was left to Perry, since he was a trained professional, and the others in the group never touched them for fear of hurting themselves or someone else. It was this reason that Perry’s lab was one of the few truly restricted areas within the entire Avalon complex.
Chapter 14 A World at War
The week was winding down, and everyone looked forward to the Saturday night dance and potluck because it provided an opportunity to see everyone together, catch up, and enjoy some fellowship. Several people played instruments, jamming when they had nothing else to do.
This week had been particularly busy.
The bear cub, which Dayna named “Buddy”, made it into the kitchen by following the great smells from the huge kettle of soup that was bubbling on the coal-fired stove. He managed to get up on one of the counters and knock everything off onto the floor, including a bag of flour that scattered all over the place.
He was just being a bear cub, and it was clear that he was having a great time… until Chad caught him and carried him back to Dayna for safekeeping. Chad said, as he turned away to return to his duties, “If you don’t want bear cub stew, keep Buddy out of my kitchen.”
But it didn’t end there.
Buddy got into the chicken pens and managed to break several dozen eggs before he was caught again. Shortly thereafter, he broke into the big barn and scattered the contents of a bin full of oats on the floor.
Something had to be done about the cub, and Dan asked Mike to talk to Dayna. Mike didn’t hesitate to refuse, and with a twinkle in his eye, said, “You do it. There’s no way on God’s green earth that I’m going to get between her and that little animal. She is the mama bear!”
As fate would have it, Dan was walking toward the small shop Dayna had put together to make candles when the bear cub flew out the door, lumbering past him. He and Dayna collided as she ran after the cub, and before he could say anything, she started to laugh. It was so infectious that he too burst into laughter, and they sat there cackling like children.
Later that same day, during the changing of the watch at the hidden bunker out by the locomotive sand traps, Buddy followed the men like a little puppy. While they were changing watch, they caught a glimpse of the little guy tumbling off the cliff. They heard him bawling as he fell.
That was the end of Buddy, and it was up to Dan to break the news to Dayna. He did it reluctantly and with a remorse that could only come from knowing the pain she would feel. As he broke the news to her, she slid into his arms and wept.
That night Dan and Dayna danced a few times and not long after, disappeared for the night. For a while now, they had tried to pretend nothing was going on between them, but one thing led to another and of course everyone knew they were a couple. It wasn’t long before people got used to it, and there were few times anyone mentioned it.
Sunday night Dan tuned on his Zenith shortwave, and they all sat around listening to the news. It had been awhile, and everyone wanted to know about the situation down below.
A man was talking,
War with China and Russia continues since the original attacks on the West Coast, when both countries launched nuclear bombs in addition to landing troops with the intent to invade. The Chinese landed on the Baja Peninsula with the expectation to come up the West Coast and attack California. Intel shows that they intended to drop troops further south and then swing north to come through Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.
Russia was in the process of landing troops East of Anchorage, Alaska, on Canadian soil per their agreement with China. The first Chinese invaders were bombed with tactical nuclear warheads after three days of troops being unloaded and countless warnings from the U.S. The bombs killed upwards of five hundred thousand troops.
A bit further south, Mexico City was hit with warheads as well, and the death toll was around ten million people. The same scenario befell the Russian troops, ending any further invasions. Mexico pleaded for peace three days after Mexico City went up in a column of ashes.
A woman spoke seamlessly,
The Middle East lies in ash and ruin and, for all intensive purposes, is practically glowing in the dark. Oil wells are on fire in every country in which they existed, and no one is making any attempt to put out the fires. Germany signed a cease-fire when they saw what was happening to the Middle East and that China, Russia, and Mexico were on the run; they wanted no part of it.
An unidentified submarine made it to within fifty miles of the East Coast and launched a series of missiles from somewhere near Cuba. Within an hour, Jacksonville, Norfolk, and Baltimore evaporated, with Philadelphia and New York City following. The island of Cuba was consequently melted to the water line of the Caribbean by several nuclear warheads that struck in quick succession.
In Asia, North Korea was nuked repeatedly over several days, essentially reducing the entire nation to a Stone Age culture, probably for the next two or three hundred years. Although China and Russia wanted to call a truce shortly after their troops were bombed, U.S. nuclear submarines launched all missiles in our inventory, and they joined North Korea in their manner of living. The U.S. Government then demanded and received unconditional surrender from China and Russia.
The man spoke again in an emotionless monotone,
Reports are coming in that many parts of what remains of the United States are being overrun by motorcycle gangs in the process of setting up Feudalistic Systems, particularly in California and Arizona. Other reports tell of similar gangs in Southern Florida, Western Georgia, and Western Virginia.
The Mid-West is the only area still functioning, albeit at a reduced rate, and what is now known as the “Mississippi Corridor” appears to be the primary vestige of American civilization. Armed citizen soldiers are on guard and patrolling all borders that connect with any state close to those who have, in effect, broken away from the United States proper.
Starvation runs rampant, and crime and looting continue unchecked by a law enforcement that no longer exists. People in prisons, nursing homes, and mental institutions are starving to death in their rooms and cells, abandoned by those in charge of their care.
In some areas, all non-whites are being hunted down and executed by hate groups, and Politicians are being lynched by mobs. It is, without a doubt, the lowest point in our country, the world, and humanity itself; might apparently makes right, and those in the minority are being killed in wholesale numbers everywhere. Many are fleeing for the borders but are being shot on sight; those who make it past the armed hoards are dying from radiation exposure…
Dan, stunned into speechlessness, clicked the radio off.
Everyone in the large room was quiet except for a few who were crying or blowing their noses. Claudia moaned and shook from the convulsions of her crying. They all had friends or family down there, loved ones who were probably dead by now. It was a moment of clarity, and the realization of what was happening came crashing down on them.
They were sheltered here at Avalon, and they hadn’t been forced to accept what was really happening down below their mountain; but on this night, it impacted each of them and they all felt it deeply and thoroughly to the bone. What they had known in the rest of the world was gone forever.
This was their world now!
Most of them had an idea all along that this was what it was going to be like, but the reality of it all was difficult to accept. They were being forced to recognize the certainty of it all now.
Mike came in with Caroline. They
had been standing at the entry to the big room, listening, and he recognized what they were feeling and what they feared. He felt it too. Stopping, he said in a booming voice,
“What’s the matter with you people?” he paused as they looked up. “Did you think while you were bringing all those items up here and preparing all these years that it was some kind of game? Did you think it would last a week, maybe a month? This is as serious as it gets, people, and it isn’t a game. You struggled, saved, and stockpiled. You did without so that you could live. This is our home now, and make no mistake… they will come up this mountain and do the same thing to us if we let our guard down, if we become complacent the way America did for years. Look what it cost them… what it cost us… what it cost our country.”
His voice rose in volume and the oil lamps fitted to the big wagon wheels above their heads rattled.
“This is our home, and I’ll be damned if they’re gonna come up here and do the same thing to me, to us, to our little town! I’ll die first defending it! God Bless Avalon!”
He raised a clenched fist over his head and yelled the SEAL battle cry, “Hooorahhhhh! Hooorahhhhh! Hooorahhhhh!”
Later that night, the Australian Cattle Dog, Pretty Girl, had puppies. Mike got drunk and Caroline washed his back again.
Well… sorta’.
Chapter 15 Fire from Below
Three months prior to the bombs…
Eric Bell stood shoulder-to-shoulder with his brother Chris as the minister said his offering about their mom, who was an orphan and the last of their family, except for the two of them. “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust…” he droned on in an effort to give some means of solace to the two brothers and a few of their Mother’s friends who stood there in the slight drizzle. Their dad had passed a decade ago, so they were alone in the world now.
They had no cousins or other family to speak of, and the only other people here were a few co-workers who came out of obligation or perhaps because it was an excuse to miss work.
Neither of the brothers were yet married or had children and both were military, choosing to follow the career path of their late father who was lost at sea when his jet flamed out over the Atlantic and crashed into the choppy waters that marked the beginning of a hurricane.
They were alone now.
Eric, the younger at age twenty-one, was a Force Recon Marine. He recently finished his SERE training and was attached to Twenty-Nine Palms in California. The Navy’s Survival, Escape, Resistance and Evasion course was brutal, and he was glad it was behind him. Now he was looking forward to getting on to his new detachment and getting to know his squad personnel.
As a unit, most of them had become very close. He was a Sergeant, and before SERE, he had attended a series of other courses, each one more deadly than the one before, beginning with sniper school. He had broken more than a few of the records there and had ranked out as one of the top five in the Marine Corps and top ten throughout the Department of Defense. His future as a respected and highly trained Marine was assured. He only had the opportunity to deploy on several surgical strikes thus far, but as a Marine, he knew long term deployments were inevitable.
It sure was great to see his brother again, even under these circumstances.
More than a year passed since their last get together and he missed Chris. Although they were separated by two years in age, they grew up together as best buds. Today was a happy and yet sad day for both of them. Mom was dead; the cancer she had stubbornly fought finally won. He suppressed the overwhelming urge to cry. It was tearing at his insides, but he wouldn’t allow it to spill forth. He fought it hard, but his Adam’s apple seemed to have a mind of its own as it moved involuntarily.
He regretted not having the time nor the opportunity to see her one more time, especially since the cancer struck. But the simple fact was that the military seized every minute of his time; it was just part of the job.
The rain continued as the coffin was lowered into the grave. Not really knowing what to do, he reached down to throw some dirt on it like he had often seen others do. But he only grabbed a handful of mud and immediately regretted it. Chris put an arm around his brother’s shoulder and squeezed him.
Chris was a Lieutenant Junior Grade and the Ordinance Officer aboard the USS CALIFORNIA, an OHIO Class Nuclear Submarine. Technically, he was the Assistant Weapons Officer, but his job was to keep in good order and account for the entire ordinance in his sub’s arsenal. He would be returning to his sub after the funeral was over because they were scheduled to deploy for a cruise in another week.
Thinking about the death of his mother, he felt relieved that she no longer suffered from the disease that had ravaged her body. It was amazing how quickly she degraded from normal and healthy to the empty shell of a woman that lay in that coffin; four months was all it had taken. He watched the lowering casket and felt his younger brother’s shoulders against his arm. He could sense that Eric was taking it extremely hard, especially since he hadn’t been able to be by her side.
This was a gloomy affair made worse by the constant rain. He knew he’d feel better once the service was over, especially since Mom could now rest in peace. Her worries were over, and she most certainly was having a wonderful reunion with Dad right about now. That brought a momentary smile to his lips because she had missed him terribly and said so many times. She would often hold Chris in front of her, look into his eyes, and tell him he could have been his father’s twin. She loved her husband, and he loved her too.
There were about a dozen people at the funeral and when the graveside service was over, they all walked toward their waiting cars. There would be a reception at Mom’s house so everyone could gather and talk and reminisce over food and drinks.
The brothers rode in silence during the short ride home.
In the modest living room, they all helped themselves to the food and refreshments. Eric went to the bathroom and washed the cemetery mud from his hands and when he came out, his brother offered him a sandwich. There was the usual small talk about things Margaret had done at such and such a time. The gathering lasted a couple of hours and then, one by one or two by two, they all left.
Eric and Chris were alone at last.
“It just won’t be the same without her, Chris,” Eric said in a soft voice. He was looking at his brother and, as hard as he tried not to let it happen, a tear slipped past his defenses followed by another until he was a little boy again. He put his head against his brother’s chest and Chris was there to comfort and protect him. His shoulders shook with the grief he was holding back and unknown to Eric, Chris was shedding a few of his own.
It took some time for both of them to let their grief subside. Chris finally asked Eric, “What are your plans, little brother?”
“Nothing much.” Eric composed himself enough to answer. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief and blew his nose. “I’ll just go back to the unit and continue doing what I’ve been trained to do. I haven’t made any plans… how ‘bout you?”
“We’re getting ready to deploy for six months on patrol,” Chris was glad to be talking about something normal for a change. “I suppose that’s all I have in terms of the future for right now.”
“I’ve missed you.” Eric said it with the strange sense of feeling that people get when they feel like a little kid again, not a six foot two Marine Sergeant Sniper from Force Recon. “Your letters have been good for the ego. I’ve wanted to thank you, but I don’t recall saying it before now.”
“You’re my little brother and I swear to you we will always stay in touch no matter what happens.” Chris said it with a determination that caused Eric to turn and look him in the eye and study him, knowing they were words of truth. “I will always be there for you, Shrimp,” which was the nickname Chris had used when Eric was younger. He stopped using it when he was ten, saving it only for times of close discussion or to make a sincere point.
Days later, both brothers returned to their duty stations
with plans to get together when Chris returned from deployment and Eric, hopefully, had Christmas stand-down.
They both knew it might be a long time before they saw each other again, and they wrapped their arms around each other for a moment and said good-bye.
“You be careful, little brother!” Chris yelled as Eric was getting into a taxi cab.
“See you later, alligator.” Eric yelled over his shoulder, just before shutting the door.
“After while, crocodile,” he said it softly to the back of the cab as it pulled away from the curb.
Soon they were both gone and, in a very short time, World War Three began when China launched nuclear tipped missiles at the West Coast. Reports surfaced that one of those had struck the Marine base at Twenty-Nine Palms, the training location his brother, Eric, was at. The base, like every city during the attack, was caught unaware and obliterated.
LTjg Chris Bell was at sea, on patrol, but the message traffic was clear; Twenty-Nine Palms no longer existed.
Present day…
The SONAR speaker was on, providing a myriad of background noises, including the sound of whales in the distance. Using Target Motion Analysis, or TMA, they had ruled out potential contact as an enemy submarine and were slowly coming DIW, or dead in the water.
Word had already spread throughout the entire crew and emotions ran high in Combat Information Center. Here the Captain could get a clear picture of everything he needed to know before executing his orders to launch their entire inventory of twenty-four Trident ballistic missiles.
Avalon: The Retreat Page 12