THE DAY: A Novel of America in the Last Days (The End of America Series)

by John Price

  "And, Major General, what about the police forces in America after The Day?"

  "Oh, yes, sorry. Our information regarding America’s police forces is more sketchy, as we had no regular communication protocols with those officials. But, having said that, our intelligence services have gathered information from the short wave operators whom you mentioned at the top of the show. It appears that the police forces fled quite quickly in the large and medium sized cities, those not hit by nukes, of course. But we have a few scattered reports that in several small, actually very small, communities the local law enforcement officers continued to enforce the law and continued to do their jobs. Sadly, that didn’t last for a lengthy time. We understand from these scattered reports, which we get on occasion, that with no pay and no support from missing governmental structures, those police officers who stayed on the job eventually gave into the inevitable."

  "In this case, the inevitable was….?"

  "Rab….that’s the thing….You are well aware of Her Majesty’s government’s official estimate released just this week?"

  "Our viewers have heard the report, naturally, but, Major General, why don’t you cover the key points?"

  "The calculation as to the death toll in America over the last year was derived by Her Majesty’s government from a variety of sources. Our Royal Air Force planes were used, in part, for fly-overs. Relief agencies were understandably reluctant to send personnel into a radioactive environment. The airplanes were able to photograph metropolitan areas, largely. Counts were then made of dead bodies, those, that is, Rab, which were exposed and in the open. We were not able to count those who were deceased who were indoors, obviously. The persons who survived didn’t stay that way by being out in the open where they could be seen by others, including by airplanes. The report cites a U.S. Congressional study of a few years back that estimated that if the country were to be hit by multiple nukes, EMP or any other major attack, that the American population would be reduced by 90%. Within the first year. Her Majesty’s report concluded that the actual death rate in the last year has been between 92 to 93 percent. Very sad to say."

  "That would make the attack on America, one year ago today, would it not, Major General, the largest single loss of life in the history of the world?"

  "Let alone, Rab, the most significant single man-made event in world history - I should think."

  63

  Ambergris Caye, Belize

  "Jack, you realize, I assume, that only God could have freed you and your family from the U.S.?" The question was posed by John Madison, Jack's father, who had been living in Belize, along with his wife, Debbie, for almost three years. Jack and Allison, with their two children, had managed to flee through Canada, eventually arriving by boat in Belize. At the time of their departure Jack was the pastor of a large church in Dallas. His final message was one of warning to his congregation explaining why he was fleeing the 'Daughter of Babylon' and suggesting that they consider doing the same.

  "No question, Dad. We were definitely on the 'no fly list'. Our only way out was the back door through Canada. Your suggestion that we use gold coins to buy passage here was spot on. Nobody wanted dollars even then. Now that the U.S. has been destroyed, the dollar has about as much value as moldy Confederate money. I'm sorry you had to go through more federal agent harassment. At least they didn't arrest you or Mom when they were looking for us."

  "Jack, since we retired and fled by cruise boat to Belize I've tried to stay calm, keep the ticker from racing, you know. But when the two suits stood out on this porch and tried to intimidate me into giving you up, I lost it. I threatened to throw them off the porch."

  "I wish I could have seen that. They're normally used to cowed compliance. Now that Washington DC is history, do you think there's any chance at all that they'll be back?"

  "Not possible. Federal agents have to be paid, just like anybody else. There's no government left to pay them, so the likelihood of our ever hearing again from the feds is slim to none. However, Jack, even though that's no longer a concern, I do have what has become an emerging source of worry....oh wait....I'm talking to a pastor....a source of interest."

  "It's alright, Dad, as humans we all worry. The secret is knowing how to cast those worries on the Lord and let Him deal with them. What could you be worried about, though? You live in a tropical paradise? Health issues?"

  "No. Your Mom and I are both in pretty good shape, all things considered. It's about Belize. A lot of this little country's income is based on American tourism. That's over, of course. We don't travel around Belize much, we stay pretty close to this rented condo, the beach, the boat and a couple of stores down the road. But what I'm hearing from other expats is that Belizeans are increasingly hurting, financially. No tourism income equals a loss of money to pay bills, to buy food, to live."

  "Hunh. I guess I hadn't given that much thought. How bad is it? How will the Belizeans treat American expats?"

  "That, my son, is the source of my concern. I've already heard about some expats who live in the mountains whose houses have been broken into."

  "But isn't petty theft just a normal way of life? Even in the U.S. we...."

  "True, but I'm not talking about petty theft, say of a laptop or TV. I've been hearing that when the houses were broken into whoever did it cleaned them out. Totally. All the food, all the clothes. Everything in the kitchen drawers. Appliances. Everything that could be carried out."

  "Wow, Dad, that doesn't sound good."

  "No, Jack, it doesn't, but yesterday I heard that an American expat was driving his pickup and stopped at a bridge where a car blocked it. He started to get out to help and three guys jumped him, hit him in the head and slit his throat."

  "Slit his throat? OK, now I get why you're worried. What are you thinking?"

  "I'm thinking that it won't be too many days, or weeks, before the folks who are hungry decide to boat over to Ambergris Caye and hit us. Actually, there are numerous Belizeans who live here who have been affected negatively by Babylon, excuse me, America being destroyed. So....I'm thinking we need to boogie while we still can. I know it sounds weird to consider fleeing from the safe place we originally fled to, but things have changed. So we need to change, too. Wherever we go we have to avoid countries with a significant Muslim population. The little news we still get here confirms that the Jihadists are on the attack to take over the governments in Europe, Africa and Asia, that is, that aren’t already in Muslim hands."

  "Allison will do whatever you guys think is best. She's frankly still in shock. Shock from moving out of the U.S. Shock at living in a different culture, even though we haven't been here very long. But her biggest shock....our biggest shock....is trying to adjust to the fact that America, as we knew it, is gone. Terminated. Annihilated. How can we ever get used to that? So many dead. So many dying. It didn't have to happen. I can't get that verse out of my mind....you know, in Jeremiah 51:9 where God says 'We would have healed her, but she is not healed'. We didn't have to turn away from God. We didn't have to betray Israel."

  "I know....I know....but just thank God that He loved us enough to give us ten warnings to flee before the Daughter of Babylon would be destroyed. He didn't have to do that. But, He did. Now, we need to give prayerful thought to our next location. I did some research a couple months ago, once I realized how much the economy here is dependent on American tourism. What I concluded is that we need to either get to Australia or New Zealand or move far south in South America. Either Chile, Uruguay or Argentina. All three had very little U.S. tourism. Every nation's economy has been hit hard by the loss of the U.S. The Bible tells us in Revelation 18 that the merchants of the world look at the fall of Babylon and wail at their loss. But we need to move as far away as possible from folks who are enraged at Americans for their economic losses, their lack of food."

  "I get it. What about Australia or New Zealand? Or even China, or...."

  "China's out. It's guaranteed that they'll be in an economic d
epression. Not only won't we be shipping them billions of dollars from sales at China-Mart, excuse me, Wal-Mart, but the U.S. owed China 1.2 Trillion dollars. Nope. Forget China. Australia and New Zealand are possibilities. Very little U.S. tourism, but the question is how to get there. Almost every air flight from this part of the world to that part of the world went through the U.S. Or at least they used to. I could only find a flight or two out of Chile that used to fly direct. The other alternative is to fly from Panama to Europe and fly east across the globe to Australia or New Zealand. But, I’m not comfortable with even passing through a Muslimized Europe. We could drive from Belize to Panama, but we’d need to be armed, maybe even hire a couple guards to make sure we get to Panama."

  "South America is closer. Which country is easiest to get to?"

  "Either Chile or Uruguay. I ruled out Argentina."

  "Yeah, the government there seems hell-bent on destroying their own economy. What are flights like now to Chile or Uruguay? "

  64

  Colonel Jim Irwin Elementary School

  Death and Snake Head were happy, very happy. Not just because one year after The Day they were still alive. Not just because they uncovered that morning a cache of liquor hidden in an outbuilding behind a house in Pelham owned by a grocery store manager, who was long dead. Not just because they also found a large box of ammunition near the liquor stock. No, Death and Snake Head were overjoyed because they had been given the location of a small, supposedly well-provisioned gang hiding out a few miles to the east in Mountain Brook, formerly an upscale suburb of Birmingham. The expensive houses in the community had long ago either been looted or burnt. Prowling through the neighborhood streets during the year since The Day they had not seen anything to indicate that there was anything still left worth grabbing.

  However, Snake Head had just persuaded a captured emaciated, obviously on the edge of starvation teen-ager, who was on a solo trek looking for food, to disclose where he had been living in the last few months, after The Day and through the biting months of winter. The shaking, sobbing teen finally revealed that he had slipped out late at night from a hideaway located in Mountain Brook. Before Snake Head took the young man’s life, he forced the teen to draw a map of the location of the hideaway with enough detail for Snake Head to locate it without hauling along another hungry mouth to feed. The basement of Building Six at Bluemont Gardens in Mountain Brook. Bingo.

  Snake Head reported his findings to Death. Death smiled, his blackened teeth showing through his tattooed skull mouth. He smoothed his bald head, on which was tattooed YOU’RE DEAD, with both hands. Death was pleased, very pleased, saying to his fellow gang leader, "Snake. Ya’ done good. We be now up to eighty-six commandos, but we gotta’ grow. If we don’t add more shooters, the other gangs will, and then we be out-manned, out-gunned and we be dead."

  Snake Head, the tattooed snake on his forehead glistening with sweat, smiled back, "True that, Death. So far, our little hidey-hole here at this school has escaped the attention of the gangs out there. The Bible thumpers done picked a good spot. Without more men and arms, though, one day it’ll be discovered and they’ll over-run us. I keep hearing about a gang that’s well over a hundred and ten, at least that’s what I hear. Supposed to be holed up at the UAB Hospital in Birmingham on 6th Avenue. If we don’t add to our strength, that gang will head south down 280 and take us out. We’ve got to grow to at least as many shooters."

  "Snake, how many did your dead snitch tell you are hiding in Mountain Brook?"

  "He wasn’t positive, but when I twisted him a little, he estimated between 20 and 24 men."

  "Humh. But how many teen boys? They be our only possible new gang members, don’tcha know. Did he say how many women and teeny-bops?"

  "He was sure on that number, Death. Twenty eight. Eighteen women and ten teen-age girls. About the same number of teen age-boys and some younger kids. I got him to tell me that three or four of the women folk were real lookers. He got all weepy on me when I pushed him on whether any of the females were related to him. "

  "And?"

  "His Mom and Dad are alive, and his sixteen year old sister is there. Or at least she was there."

  "Meaning?"

  "The kid said his sister told him that she was thinking either of running away or maybe killing herself. Said she was tired of worrying every day, every minute, that some gang of killers, you know, like us, I guess, would find their hiding place and she would be passed around by the men. You know, Death, the kind of feminist clap-trap we’ve heard from some of our women. They just don’t get it."

  65

  BBC Studios – Broadcasting House

  Central London, England

  The co-host of WORLD IN REVIEW thanked Major General Archibald Raleigh for his contribution to the BBC’s special report, America – One Year After the Day. He turned towards his female co-host, in what journalists call ‘throwing’ the newscast to her, "More than a ninety percent casualty rate. So, Jala, what do we know about the causes of such a high death rate? What led to these astounding numbers of dead Americans?"

  "It’s not a simple answer, Rab, as we learned in putting together tonight’s special report. To help us understand what actually happened to our dearly departed cousins across the pond, we are joined by an American reporter who was not in the U.S. a year ago, as she was working here in London at the time as a foreign relations reporter for the New York Times. The newspaper is no longer published, thus Gretchen Rice is in studio with us as a private citizen. Thanks, Gretchen, for coming by to help us understand the result of the nuking of ten American cities. First, it is estimated that about fifty-five million died either on The Day or within a few days after as a direct result of the detonated nuclear devices. That’s only about 17% of what was then the total population of about three hundred and fifteen million. So, how did the percentage of deaths grow from under 20% to over 90%, according to the British government report about which we just heard?"

  Dressed modestly in a black business suit as befitted the occasion, Gretchen Rice looked down at the notes shaking slightly in her hands, then gazed into designated camera three, softly saying, "Jala, it was a combination of many factors. Let’s first examine the most vulnerable. Hospitals and medical care clinics and facilities in America were quickly overrun as soon as people realized what had happened to their country. Patients in hospitals and residents of American nursing homes did not….well, let me just say that….they were among the first to die, apart from those who were vaporized by the heat and blast of the devices themselves, of course. The next persons who died quite quickly were those who were exposed to radiation from the blasts, generally those within three to five miles of the point of detonation. They didn’t last much longer than a few hours or days, depending on how close they were to the nuclear detonations.

  "Gretchen, we’ve read that American hospitals in or near the cities which were struck directly by nuclear devices were overrun and unable to provide any meaningful level of medical care to those who were near the detonations?"

  "Yes. That’s our understanding, again with the disclaimer that much of what we know came from unverified sources, but are believed to be accurate. An average hospital with say 100 to 300 beds couldn’t even come close to treating the thousands of radiated persons knocking on their door. Pharmacies located in hospitals and general retail drug stores were quickly cleaned out, most by widespread looting. Pharmaceuticals available in the U.S. appear to have disappeared shortly after The Day. Before we leave that subject, Jala, many further deaths occurred over the next several weeks and months as those who had previously survived on manufactured pharmaceuticals didn’t make it, once they could no longer obtain their meds. That alone was a big factor in the exceedingly high death rate."

  "Is it the case, Gretchen, that almost every store, food markets, clothing, hardware, all types of retail establishments, were, to use your phrase, ‘cleaned out’ and looted? If so, how soon did that happen after The Day?"

&nb
sp; "Jala, my sources at the time, just under a year ago obviously, told me that the looting of retail stores in America was almost instantaneous. By that I understand that Americans who heard on the news that their country had been attacked with nuclear weapons wasted no time in rushing to the nearest mega-malls, strip malls and local stores. There were early scattered attempts by owners to ward off looters, but that apparently didn’t last long. Within twenty-four to thirty-six hours of the detonations, as I understand it, virtually all retail establishments in America had either been blown up in the cities nuked or looted by those who survived the blasts."

  "Gretchen, we mentioned at the top of the show that there do not appear to be any operating electric utilities in the U.S. Is that consistent with what you have been able to learn over the last year?"

  "Yes….sad to say. Those electric utilities which operated on coal shut down early on, as it took diesel fuel for the trains which hauled the coal from the mines to the generating stations. As you may know, American oil refineries did not survive The Day for a variety of reasons. With no electric power, water systems couldn’t function, which, of course, meant that sewage treatment systems ceased to function. Within hours of The Day, simply stated, America just ceased to function."

  "Can you tell us, Gretchen, what was the impact on everything you’ve just described to us of EMP weapons, those emitting an electro-magnetic pulse?"

  "Well, Jala, there’s not been a consensus on that subject. Normally a HEMP device, that is a High Altitude EMP device, is launched into the mid-stratosphere in order to have maximum effect over a wide area on the ground. Because the U.S. military was so hampered immediately after the attacks we were never able to confirm if any the cities hit by nuclear devices were by HEMP devices launched above the cities. It’s possible, of course, that some of the nuclear devices which appear to have been land-based, in offices, or condo buildings, or in motor vehicles, were constructed with EMP emitting capability. That would explain why so many motor vehicles were disabled on American highways, clogging those roads to transit, more than would have just run out of fuel, I would think."