Into the Apocalypse

by William Dunaway

  After we had made several bowls of popcorn, we walked into the living room, and everyone was waiting with anticipation. That by itself would’ve been a great surprise, and when I brought out the Gatorade and Vodka, Wit said, “Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.”

  “Hold off a second Wit. I have a bigger surprise for everyone.” I stood in front of the group, “I want you all to know that I’m so proud of all of you and I love you guys.” Then I looked at the guys, “Well, part of you anyway.” That got everyone to laugh. “You know I was checking the bulk ammo the other day and I found something you guys might just like. Let's call it a distraction from reality. I think you’ve earned it.”

  As I left the room to get the laptop and I could hear Mia ask Kim, “What’s he up to?”

  Kim shrugged her shoulders, “I really don’t know,” which she didn’t.

  I walked out with the laptop, plugged it in and turned it on and soon it booted up. Everyone was amazed that it came on and I started getting a ton of questions why and how it was working.

  I told them the story, and then Wit commented, “This is a strangely mixed crowd to be watching internet porn isn’t it?”

  Everyone burst out laughing. No one had put together what I was doing yet. I told everyone to grab their drinks and popcorn, and everyone sat down waiting to see what I had planned. I already had the DVD in the player, so I touched the video button and “Together,” Mia’s show came on. After everyone's initial shock and amazement, they all cheered. Those that had watched the show when it was on got all excited, and the others that hadn’t were anxious to see it.

  Mia said, “Oh, my gosh,” but smiled from ear-to-ear.

  We then watched the first two episodes of the season. It was funny how the 12 of us were sitting around watching a 14-inch screen as though it was a wide-screen television.

  Mike, who had never watched it said, “Wow Mia, you were quite the wild child in the show weren’t you?”

  Brandy, who was sitting right next to him said, “Yeah but her character was so sweet at the same time.”

  I laughed, “Yeah, Mia, I have to admit what a great actress you are. You actually convinced people that you’re a sweet person.”

  Everyone howled and made comments and the next thing I knew a hand full of popcorn was dropped on top of my head. I looked up at Mia, who had been sitting next to Paul and she was standing right over me with her bowl of popcorn as though she was going to dump it on me.

  She asked with an evil grin, “So you don’t think I’m a sweetheart?”

  I started to make a sarcastic remark but her knowing me as well as she did, she knew I probably would and gestured as though the popcorn was about to be poured on me.

  “No Mia, you’re as sweet and innocent as the driven snow,” I said with a chuckle.

  “I think so too……Wait! What did you say?”

  She then laughed and went back and took her seat. I looked back at her, and she smiled and gave me a wink. I then started eating the popcorn that she dumped on me straight out of my lap.

  After a bathroom break, everyone wanted to watch a movie, so we put in “Grown Up’s” with Adam Sandler. I loved that movie, and you could tell the guys were basically thinking the same thing I was. Even though the movie didn’t have anything to do with the Army or even our lives, for some reason it reminded all of us of some of the good times we had when we were in the Army together.

  When the movie was over, Santiago, Mo, and Angela grabbed the girls, and we all said our goodnight’s, except for Mike and Brandy who had the night watch. Mike had conveniently scheduled them together.

  After everyone had left the room, I walked back to them and said in a nice but serious voice, “You two pulling duty together… that’s fine but don’t forget, you have a job to do.”

  Brandy turned red and gave me a sweet smile. Mike, on the other hand, gave me a bit of a look as though he was saying it was strictly business and that he was insulted that I’d question that. But he knew what I was talking about, so my point was made.

  I turned to walk back to our bedroom and said, “Have fun,” in a ribbing way.

  When I walked into the bedroom, Kim was already in bed reading a book using the oil lamp. In times past, the television would’ve been on as there was rarely a time it wasn’t.

  “You’re going to ruin your eyes trying to read with that light.”

  “Believe it or not I can see the words pretty well. I think I’ve gotten used to it.”

  I climbed under the covers, and after pausing, I said, “ I lost it a bit earlier today while I was talking to Red.”

  She placed a bookmark in her book and closed it and said with a sympathetic smile, “I know, I heard you. Mo and I were in the kitchen and heard all the news, and then you going off a bit.”

  “Great!”

  “No, neither one of us thought that much about it. To be honest, I’m surprised you haven’t popped a bit before now. Once in a while, you have to blurt things out to get it off your chest, and lately, you haven’t done that. Your system just had to release a little steam.”

  “HMM! I would have thought my little episode with Orville would’ve done that.”

  “You said yourself that you felt a bit worried about what you felt when you did it. I’m sure that’s been bottled up inside of you as well. I know you babe, you worry about all of us but never about yourself. Even though you said you were going to try and let recent history go, that’s not going to happen overnight.

  Babe, just like what you did for everyone tonight. That meant the world to all of us. As you put it, a break from reality and it worked. My point is, you need to take a break from reality as well. You’re thinking about why everything is going on, you worry about what we have to do next, but at the same time, you constantly think about how to make everyone as happy as possible. You’re very good at that too but you just need to learn to give yourself a break. You can only carry so much on your shoulders.”

  “Yeah, as usual, you’re right. I have to admit; sometimes I feel like I’m just being squeezed.”

  She looked at me with compassion and love, “Let me ask you something. When is the last time you have said a prayer? I mean a real prayer?”

  I thought for a moment and the last time I could remember was before the Pine City confrontation.

  “Oh my gosh. I haven’t lately. I mean I’ve said some prayers, but they’ve usually been quick ones.”

  She smiled and grabbed my hand and pulled slightly, “Come on, let’s say one right now together.”

  So we got on our knees, and we both said a good twenty-minute prayer. When we got done, I did feel a lot better. It was like a ton of weight had been taken off of me and that night I slept better than I had in a long time.

  Chapter Ten

  Captain Bartholomew J. Hudson paced across the control room of the USS Kentucky SSBN 737 Ohio Class Ballistic Missile Submarine. It was 18,750 tons and carrying fourteen 13,000 pound UGM Missiles that carried nuclear warheads, and had a range of 6000 miles.

  Even though the American military had been ordered to withdraw from all foreign soil, our nuclear submarines had completely different directives. Unless they received specific orders directed to them, they were to stay on their current mission.

  The Kentucky’s last orders were to position themselves to the west of Japan and await further orders. It had been a week since hearing anything. The only contact they had with anyone since was from the USS Michigan SSGN 727 which was a cruise missile submarine. It had been assigned to the waters south of South Korea.

  “CC, I’m tired of this waiting. What are we doing here?” the Captain whispered out of frustration to his XO.

  Commander Craigton C Centers was the XO, which is second in command of the ship. The Captain and Centers had met while attending the academy together and soon became best friends. Later in their careers, when Captain Hudson received orders to take command of the Kentucky, he immediately requested that Centers be assigned as
his XO.

  “I know Sir.” Centers replied.

  He was surprised that the captain had said anything in operations where there was a chance the crew could overhear him but he was just as frustrated as the captain was. Centers main worry was about his wife Dorothy and his two daughters. Since everything had happened, he’d been in contact with his wife using his satellite phone. The only reason he could figure that her phone still worked was they kept their personal satellite phone in their safe. They only used it periodically when he was at sea, and those times could only happen when they were on the surface. It wasn’t necessary allowed by regulations, but they used it strictly for emergencies.

  A couple of hours had passed, and the captain was just leaving operations when over the comm they heard a radio officer announcing, “Conn, Radio, we’re receiving an emergency action message! Recommend alert one, recommend alert one!”

  Quickly, a voice came over the intercom of the ship, “Alert one, alert one. Incoming action message!”

  The radio officer brought the printed emergency action message to the captain, “Sir request permission to authenticate.” Then the duty officer repeated the same request.

  “Permission granted. Authenticate.” the captain ordered.

  An officer went to the safe and took out a plastic sealed containers and broke it open. The radio officer then read, “Bravo, Echo, Charlie, Alpha, Foxtrot, Tango, Sierra.”

  The duty officer read from the E.A.M., “Bravo, Echo, Charlie, Alpha, Foxtrot, Tango, Sierra.”

  The radio officer stated, “Message is Authentic, Sir.”

  The duty officer followed, “I concur, Sir.”

  Both the captain and the XO were looking at the EAM which read:

  Authorization for Nuclear Missile Launch

  Launch 10 UGM-133 missiles

  Set Defcon One

  Target package: SLBM 65861/2

  Authentication: B E C A F T S

  “I concur, Sir.” The XO stated.

  The captain declared, “Message is authentic.”

  The crew had trained for this time and time again. They knew how to do it in their sleep, but this time, it wasn’t a drill. Ten nuclear warheads were about to be launched, and only the computer presently knew what the targets were.

  The captain got on the intercom and said to the ship, “This is the captain. Set condition 1 SQ for strategic missile launch. Spin up missiles one through five and nine through thirteen. The release of nuclear weapons has been authorized. This is not a drill.”

  The XO then immediately got on the comm and gave the exact same command but added to the end, “This is the XO.”

  Without the XO concurring on these commands, by regulations, they couldn’t be carried out. One of the many safeguards on the ship.

  Within ten seconds the weapons officer came over the comm, “Conn, weapons; Estimated time to 1 SQ for strategic launch is fourteen minutes.”

  In exactly fourteen minutes and nine seconds, ten nuclear missiles were being launched targeted for North Korea. The specific targets were the Capital Pyongyang, the cities of Kanggye, Chongjin, Wonsan, Hwangju, Koksan, Kaechon, Iwon, Kwall, Onchon, and Kaesong where Kim Jong-Un was having a meeting with his commanding Generals.

  The CIA had been stripped to the bone by President Prescott over the last eight years but not the British MI6 or ASIS, the Australian Intelligence Services.

  At the same time, the USS Michigan had orders to fire the complement of 154 Tomahawk Cruise Missiles at specific targets including remaining air base headquarters and remaining naval bases. North Korea and its leadership were decimated within minutes.

  NORAD Headquarters- Temporary Capital of the United States

  “Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. Without your help, we wouldn’t have found him. We may not be able to help the South Korean people that died and suffered by his hand, but at least we’ve stopped him and his country from ever doing anything like this again. I’m sure his next step would’ve led to Japan.” President Hatch said over the secure phone,………… “Hopefully we can confirm that information Prime Minister. We will act, but I need confirmation. I completely agree that Russia had the knowledge, but I will need complete verification. ………….. Yes, please do that and again, thank you for your assistance. Good day sir.”

  “General, now that this is completed, I believe your staff should work up a plan for a similar retaliation on Iran, but only implemented upon my direct order.” President Hatch instructed.

  “Yes, sir. We’re already gathering intelligence on such a mission, and we have our assets within range.”

  “Very good.”

  Within the last several days, the President had been working non-stop. Between being in contact with foreign leaders, arranging relief supplies, appointing a new Secretary of Energy and the Ambassador to the United Nations, his Chiefs of Staff trying to put together a new miniaturized Pentagon staff, he was in the process of trying to find a new Secretary of Health and Human Services.

  Due to the size of his limited staff, the workload was overwhelming, but it did keep his mind off of the death of his wife. He was the President of a broken United States, but he was human, and his grief for the loss of his wife and the destruction of the country was haunting, especially when he was trying to go to sleep.

  Johnson Farm

  I tried to sleep in a bit the next day as I woke with a killer headache and my shoulders were killing me but when I finally did get up, my pain pills at least helped the shoulders. As I walked into the living room, all three girls were sitting on the sofa, and I could tell they wanted something.

  Lulu ran up to me, “Can we watch cartoons, Vince?”

  “Well, I don’t know. I hear you guys haven’t been too good lately.”

  Sofia and Isabella didn’t know how to take that, but Lulu saw something in my eyes and gave me a big hug, “You know we’ve been good Vince. Quit kidding around.”

  “Ok, if you’ve been good.”

  Sofia and Isabella both got a big smile, and Lulu gave me a second hug. I set the laptop up and gave them the choices of the cartoons, and they picked, “The Little Mermaid.”

  After starting it, I walked into the kitchen where Kim had a cup of coffee waiting for me and I told her my symptoms.

  “Oh great, you know what that means? We’re about to have a big change in the weather.”

  We both laughed a bit because my body had turned into a weather predictor. Usually about two days before a major change in the weather, I’d wake up in some serious pain, more than usual. If it was just something like a little rain, it would usually just be a stronger pain in my shoulders and maybe my lower back. If it was a major change in the weather, then it would add a severe headache to the mix. This morning I had it all, and the pain was intense. One of those days that the Oxy and my headache pills would do very little good.

  Paul came over the radio with a bit of concern in his voice. He and Mia were patrolling the farm on horseback.

  “We’ve got people on foot on the property to our west. I can’t tell if they’re trying to steal whoever’s cattle that is or not.”

  The property next door was owned by Samuel Rowe, a man that I didn’t care for in the least. A few years before we got involved in the cash rent program, where soybeans and corn were planted on our property, we used our fields for grazing and hay fields. Sam approached us to see if he could harvest the seed from the hayfield using his Combine, for 50/50 shares and then he would bale the hay. I wasn’t that big on the idea because when you take the seeds and tops off the grass, to me, all you had left was basically straw, but I agreed to do it one year. The money turned out to be pretty good, though.

  Later that year, I needed the John Deere worked on, so he agreed to haul it to the mechanic for a price. When the tractor was done, he kept telling me that he’d pick it up but kept putting it off. Finally, I had to raise a little hell with him to get him to do so. The way it went down, I could see that he wasn’t a man of his word and his t
rue character was starting to show.

  Then the next year when it was time to bale our hay, we had our regular guy do the job. While it was being baled, he happened to be driving by and took offense that we were having it baled as he wanted to talk us into harvesting the seed again.

  He stopped at the house when I wasn’t there and approached Kim and asked, “Who the hell is baling your hay?”

  He talked to her like she was just some lowly woman and I didn’t allow anyone to disrespect Kim that way.

  I remember when we lived in Olathe KS. and a salesman was talking to Kim and I hadn’t made it home yet. I can’t remember what he was selling but it was something we were very interested in, and we were probably going to buy it. But then the salesman started talking to Kim like she was just the woman and maybe they should wait until I got home so I could make the decision. When I found out he talked to her that way, the second I walked in the door I told him to leave immediately, and I told him exactly why. I hate people who treat women like they don’t have a brain in their head and they’re only there to serve man, and I won’t be very polite when I see someone treat Kim that way.

  When I found out how Sam talked to Kim, I called him up and got his voicemail and cussed him out and told him that first of all, who was cutting our hay was none of his business and I reminded him that I told him we would only combine the seed for one year. Then, I said I didn’t know who he thought he was but he would never talk to my wife that way again, and I wasn’t real polite with the words I used.

  Later he came driving into our driveway in a very threatening manner as though he was the “he-bull” of the area and no one talked to him that way. I was still in shape back then, and I walked right up to him standing in the driveway.

  About halfway through his rant, I said, “Listen you, son of a bitch, I’m not one of your local drunk farmers down at the local bar. You come on my property and talk to me that way; I won’t hesitate to beat the living shit out of you and then on top of that, call the sheriff’s office and have you cuffed, stuffed and hauled away.”