Nuclear War Club: Seven high school students are in detention when Nuclear War explodes.Game on, they are on their own.

by Triarii, Colt

“Got it,” Karen shouted.

  Jorge then grabbed her ankle.

  “Good to go,” said Karen, “Jorge has my ankle.”

  The ceiling began creaking again, just as it sounded before it collapsed.

  “It’s coming down David, get out!” Zeke screamed.

  “We are getting you out now,” David said in the calmest voice he could project.

  “You will curve left, then right,” David said calmly.

  “There is a path, we just have to crawl around twice,” David said, calmer than he felt.

  David began to crawl to the open space underneath the steel beams at the back of the room, making sure he could feel the taunt belt pulling his ankle as he turned left, waited, then right.

  David reached the space sheltered under the steel beams. Zeke grabbed the belt and yanked Karen and Jorge to the sheltered space in one pull.

  Karen and Jorge were coughing hard and gasping for breath. Zeke shined his cell phone display light at Karen.

  “Karen’s head is bleeding and it looks like Jorge has a broken leg, its twisted,” Zeke was saying when the ceiling suddenly collapsed another two feet in the front of the class, precisely where Karen and Jorge had been.

  Karen and Jorge missed being entombed by about eleven seconds. As he wiped off his face, David was aggravated by Doron, who sat observing it all clinically, like this was an interesting science experiment involving rats in a maze.

  Jorge spoke up, “We should expect more ceiling pancaking and secondary crush. This building is four stories above ground and we are in the basement. We are all here. We have to get out now!”

  David said, “We need to make a rope as we probe for an exit, it’s easy to get disoriented. Thread the belts through the buckles to make a rope. Feel the walls and see if there is a fire hose. Look for anything, broken desks, steel bars, cement rebar, anything that can be used as a pick or a shovel. Dump any books out of your backpacks, and put them back on.”

  “Take one of the belts and see if we can fix a cell phone on my forehead, like a coal miner’s lamp,” Zeke said to Doron.

  Instead, Doron cleverly took one of the shoulder straps off his backpack and secured the cell phone on Zeke’s forehead, and cinched it tight.

  “Great idea, Doron,” David said. Maybe Doron had panicked before, David thought, remembering his incapacitating terror.

  “If you hear a low frequency creaking, that means load shift. Scream or jerk the rope and we will pull you out,” Jorge explained.

  Zeke nodded.

  “Ready to go. I can die here, or die there. At least I will be doing something,” Zeke said.

  “Zeke, take your t-shirt off and make a mask over your nose and mouth like the cowboys did for the dust,” David suggested.

  Zeke quickly made a mask and started crawling. David watched him crawl through the opening in the debris that was about fifteen inches high and reached another open area near a steel beam that was about five feet high. Apparently these steel beams had been placed between the new and old building and were the strongest points. The ceiling crush always radiated away from the ceiling beams.

  “A door is crushed, blocking the exit to the kitchen. I am going to kick it in,” Zeke yelled.

  “Is there any rubble around you that you can stack?” shouted Jorge.

  “Yes,” said Zeke. “Stack it up on both sides of you in case there is some minor shift of the debris over the door,” Jorge yelled.

  “OK,” Zeke said as he stacked cement slabs with twisted rebar metal rods sticking out. He kicked the door, but nothing happened. He kicked it again with both feet, hard. The remnants of the lower door splintered, and the top intact portion of the door fell onto the debris he had braced on either side. Zeke covered his head with both hands, and waited for further movement. It was still.

  “I am crawling under the door, about twelve inch clearance,” Zeke shouted.

  “Got it,” David shouted, feeding out his twisted football jersey he had taken out of his backpack to extend the rope.

  “I am in the kitchen. There is sunlight. We can escape through the smashed windows.”

  “There are four bodies! Burned!” Zeke screamed.

  David realized from the sound of his voice that the bodies had freaked Zeke. He was close to panic, like David had been. He needed a task to focus on, rather than staring at torched bodies. A checklist.

  “Zeke, we are coming through. Leave the rope and tie it to something that won’t shift. You see if you can find things to stack to climb out,” David said.

  “Sure,” said Zeke.

  “Zeke, great job,” David said.

  “Zeke found an escape route,” David said loudly so Zeke could hear him getting the credit.

  “We go through one at a time,” David explained.

  “The Instructor has not moved or said anything,” Ashley said.

  “I will pull her out last, if she is still in shock,” David explained.

  “Let’s go, Karen, Liu, Doron, Ashley, Jorge, then me and the Instructor,” David commanded.

  “Karen,” David whispered near her ear. “Check Zeke for shock. If his head is messed up, give him a useful simple task to do until I get there. I will need you to help bandage Liu when she gets through, and look for a splint for Jorge’s leg,” David explained.

  “Understood,” Karen said.

  Then David grabbed Karen’s arm, “If there is more pancake shifting do not come back to get us. Get outside, and away from anything that can fall on you. Look for a sewer or water manhole cover with no buildings or other debris above your head. Pry open the hatch and get in, there may be more explosions or fallout,” David explained.

  “What makes you think this is not just an earthquake?” Karen asked, also whispering.

  “It’s just a hunch, but the over pressure and the burned bodies in the kitchen fit the profile of a nuke,” David replied.

  “We will know if we see fallout, it looks like dirty snowflakes. And if it’s a nuke, there will be no rescue. We will be on our own for at least two weeks,” David said.

  David rinsed his eyes off with one of the water bottles in their backpacks, and checked Karen’s head with the cell phone light. Her hair was matted with dried blood, but the cut had clotted and was not bleeding.

  “I am claustrophobic,” Karen said nervously.

  “Just shut your eyes and follow the rope. You will be fine,” David said calmly, deciding not to mention he was also claustrophobic .

  David watched Karen crawl out into the tunnel, turning, with a thumbs up. He could see her enlarge the door space when she went through with a bent piece or metal rebar.

  Jorge followed, screaming in agony when the debris Zeke had stacked hit his compound leg fracture. David had to call for help to pull the instructor through with the rope tied around her armpits.

  It wasn’t pretty but they had all made it to the kitchen windows, David thought.

  14.

  “Good job, Zeke,” Karen said.

  Zeke didn’t respond, he just stared at the bodies.

  “How are the others coming?” Karen asked, to divert his attention. When he went back to the hole, she immediately tried to roll the smoldering bodies out of the way with her boot, but to her horror the arms broke off.

  “No!” she screamed, involuntarily.

  Zeke didn’t seem to notice. She quickly regained her composure, and just put shelves over the heads of the bodies. She already noticed bodies didn’t seem so human if the faces were covered.

  Zeke had pushed the freezer over, and jammed it against the wall. He tilted the heavy metal shelves to the windows, making a ladder. She could see everything was melted above ground level, it looked like a precise laser cut.

  “I’m going to climb up, take a look, Zeke,” she said.

  “OK,” Zeke replied. Mentioning his name probably works, Karen thought.

  Karen climbed up the freezer, then the shelves, and looked around. She was strangely disoriented, and felt a ty
pe of positional vertigo, as if she was not level, or had just stepped off a carousel. She reflexively grabbed the shelves, to steady herself until she could focus on the horizon. She was level. But her sense of balance seemed to rebel against the lack of direction in the barren landscape. Her inner ear, her sense of balance, seemed to reject what she saw, and the sensory conflict made her nauseous. Everywhere she looked, as far as the eye could see, was charred debris. There were no landmarks, no recognizable buildings. The horizon was not clearly defined. She was finally able to recognize the remains of the crumbled cement football bleachers, and the Interstate exit, and her nausea receded.

  The quiet was terrifying. There was absolute stillness, except for the smell of smoke, and the sound of fires crackling. It took her a moment to realize how horrific the absence of the expected, normal outside traffic and noise was to your senses. The silence echoed.

  She suddenly realized the heavy smoke smell was the same as grilling a steak in the kitchen. It was the smell of burning flesh. But this fat was from human bodies. She knew intellectually everything had been destroyed, but it didn’t register emotionally. It was sensory overload.

  All the buildings had been there every day. They were all there an hour ago when she started detention. Now all the buildings were simply gone.

  Then came the realization that if steel and reinforced concrete were instantly pulverized and incinerated, imagine what happened to the flesh and blood people in those buildings. And the scale of destruction was mind numbing, it was as far as she could see in every direction.

  David was right, she thought.

  This was a nuke, and not too far away. It looked like the black and white photos in her history book of Japan after the atomic bomb was dropped in World War II. Except now all the buildings were flattened completely, and it was hard to tell where the paved highways were.

  She gulped some water, wiped off her face, tried to put herself back together, then climbed back inside to help Jorge and the others climb through.

  “Zeke, we may have to pull them out,” Karen said. She was pleased her voice was steady.

  Zeke nodded but kept prying open the large commercial size refrigerator doors with some piece of metal. The refrigerators that were below ground level had been sealed shut by the melted rubber door seals. The refrigerators above ground level were melted.

  Karen watched him methodically fill his backpack with small plastic water bottles, energy drinks, oranges, and large chocolate bars from the below ground level refrigerators.

  Finally she saw David crawl through the hole, the last one.

  “Everyone fill up these cloth laundry bags with bottled water, carry all you can,” David said, as they stood around, confused and dazed. Karen saw him pack a four pound blue box of Morton’s salt.

  Karen had almost filled her backpack, when she turned quickly, and vomited all over the wall. The smell of burning flesh, the corpses, the devastation, and shock overcame her. She felt weak and dizzy.

  Zeke moved away from the wall, unperturbed. He checked carefully to be sure she had not splattered his Snicker’s bar, then bit another piece.

  “Most of us vomit every day during football practice. You will get over it,” Zeke assured her

  Karen realized she had not eaten since the mid-morning snack. She had called her Dad during lunch to say she would need a ride home because she would miss the bus. She steadied herself, and forced herself to eat an orange while she opened a water bottle.

  “No service, not even one bar, ” Zeke said, looking at the smartphone.

  David climbed the makeshift ladder, looked around, then climbed back down. Karen wondered why neither David nor Zeke seemed to have any of the nausea and disorientation she had experienced. You are just as mentally tough as they are, she said to herself. It’s just that I had to skip lunch, and maybe men are just less sensitive, she thought. She noticed David had his backpack ready, and was obviously about to leave for somewhere.

  But where?

  Karen realized everyone was looking for him to determine the next step. David had become the leader by default, without thought, and that was not acceptable. She was always self-sufficient. She didn’t even know David, much less trust him.

  “I suspect this is a nuclear attack,” David started as they all gathered around.

  “My Dad talked about how to adapt, improvise, and overcome. Once you survive the initial blast, there is no reason you can’t survive the fallout.” David said encouragingly.

  Doron shook his head in agreement with David. The others just stared, absorbing the idea.

  “Wasn’t the only official Government response to civilians for a nuclear attack to bend over, put your head between your legs, and kiss yourself goodbye?” Karen thought. David was acting like they could actually survive.

  “We have at most a half an hour to get to some shelter before we get fallout. The fallout is radioactive and will kill you. It is radioactive debris that falls like dirty snowflakes,” David said.

  “We will not be getting any help as the rescuers could not face the fallout radiation for about two weeks.”

  “I drove my Dad’s truck to school today, its half a mile away . I am sure my Dad has survival gear in the truck box. We go hiking all the time, it has a Swiss water filter, a tent and sleeping bags. The backpacks are ready,” David said, pausing.

  Karen noticed David was looking each of them in the eye, assessing them. The same way her Dad did on a roundup.

  “You are all welcome to come, or you can stay here, and shelter under the debris” David said, evenly.

  “I’m in,” Zeke said steadily.

  “What’s not to like? If I have to be in a fallout shelter for two weeks, why not with three of the hottest girls in school? ” Doron asked. Zeke laughed, Liu just sighed. Karen did not laugh, her nerves were on edge.

  The instructor shook her head, and stayed at the kitchen.

  David and Zeke quickly climbed out and started hiking to the truck. Doron followed, Jorge hobbled behind.

  Karen moved behind the wall and put a kitchen knife in her boot, covering it with her sock. She caught Liu’s eyes and tossed her a knife, without saying anything. Liu nodded, then put the knife inside her belt.

  “The teacher’s not coming,” Karen said.

  “It’s her choice,” David said.

  Ashley followed David, but then hesitated, “I am sure my parents will send someone to pick me up,” she said.

  “Ashley, this is for real. No one is going to pick you up, this isn’t cheerleading practice . Stupidity has now become fatal,” Doron said, harshly.

  Karen saw David turn back, and shut Doron up with his glare.

  Ashley stared at Doron, uncomprehendingly, then burst into tears.

  “Ashley, no one is coming for at least two weeks,” David said gently.

  “Your parents would want you to be safe. Come with us, we will be fine until your parents can come. You carry Jorge’s backpack,” David said, handing it to her.

  “OK,” Ashley said distractedly, as her hand trembled below her nose. She looked at David, then following Karen.

  Karen was impressed with David. He seemed a natural leader. She knew that without him they would be entombed in the collapsed building. She couldn’t believe how he had calmed Ashley down, and given her a task to focus on. He exuded confidence and competence, and he had a plan.

  But she didn’t trust him. She checked to be sure her knife was still in her boot.

  15

  They walked silently, in single file, through the football practice field. Most of the upper level cement bleachers were crushed, but the pile of debris was still recognizable. The collapsed concrete bleachers oriented the boundary of the practice field, which was covered with debris blown horizontally.

  “Stay away from the small puddles, it’s molten metal,” David warned. The small pools had a hardened, crusted, layer but still glowed red hot, like lava.

  “Don’t breathe the smoke from the pu
ddles, it will burn your lungs. Use your shirt as a cowboy mask. Stay upwind, not downwind,” David said, pointing the wind direction blowing the concrete dust.

  “Focus, focus,” David screamed to himself. Intellectually, he knew no one could survive above ground, but, emotionally, he hoped he would find a survivor. Zeke seemed to freak out every time he recognized the tackling sleds, the goal post stumps, and other debris from football practice. David wondered if he looked that bad to the others.

  “I walked two blocks past this stadium, then turned left,” David said. He tried to forget that he would have burned to death on this very field, if he had not been in detention.

  Zeke just stared blankly at the field. David moved into his field of vision, and repeated what he said. Zeke nodded.

  Once they were on the road, the highway footprint became easier to follow. But the debris had covered everything almost uniformly, and David was worried he would miss the house location. It was impossible to tell where city blocks had been just an hour ago.

  “Zeke, Karen, I am having trouble finding the intersections. Each time you see a connecting road tell me,” David said.

  “Sure,” Zeke said, who motioned for Karen and Liu to spread out.

  “Here is an intersection” Karen said a minute later.

  “Next intersection we turn left. Let’s double up, one line on each side of the road,,” David said. He turned and looked, everyone was keeping within view, even Jorge. They could no longer follow single file, everyone was straggling out too far.

  When David turned left, his view to the northwest was no longer obscured by the mountains, and he saw it.

  The mushroom cloud was visible for miles. David was surprised it was not white, but dirty looking. Everyone just stopped, and stared.

  “How could this happen?” Ashley screamed. No one responded, or even acted like they heard her.

  Before this, David thought, the nuclear attack had been a theory. Now it was a hard, cold, fact.

  “Two more!” Doron said, pointing to a second and third mushroom cloud to the south. The white remnants of dissipating contrails, resembling those made by a jet, scarred the bright blue sky.