Down the Hole

by Sally Six

  “Margaret, I’m sorry but they will not. It’s just impossible. They can’t. This is country wide and were talking whole cities taken out with nukes. Do you hear me? Anyone in the country where no bombs dropped are the least of their worries. It could be years if ever before things are back to more normal.” Pete said to her.

  Margaret then started to get that glassy eyed look and he hated to do it but this time Pete gave her a good slap across the face. She exclaimed. “You hit me. You have never hit me before,”

  He yelled at her. “Margaret, you will not do that. We all need you and we don’t need you going into a trance every time you hear bad news.”

  Everyone else at this time including the kids continued down the tunnel. The O’Brien kids were in a bit of a shock themselves. Their dad had never hit their mom before. It was enough for them to really realize that they were now in a different world from 2 hours ago. Margaret started to cry again. Pete took her hand and they started off after the others. Margaret tried to lag as now she was feeling embarrassed at her own actions, but Pete just pulled her along. A couple of minutes later, they joined the others at the older Graham’s truck. Pete saw it was just a small utility trailer made from a pickup bed with higher sides built on from plywood that was hitched onto the 1975 Chevy pickup. He thought, “That shouldn’t make the truck too much harder to push.”

  Ed saw as he came out of the mine that his mom was standing in front of the pickup with her gun across the hood watching towards the closed gate. She heard them coming and glanced back at them. Then put her eyes forward again. They all walked up to her and she then turned around. They all said their hellos and the kids gave her a hug.

  Pete and Margaret walked up and Betty could see that Margaret had been crying, but didn’t say anything.

  She did say. “The truck just quit. Dead as a door nail. We almost made it in.”

  “I think it was an EMP Mom. That’s the only thing that it could have been. Let’s get your truck at least pushed into the mine out of site. If it’s not too bad to push, maybe we can get it in all the way, the sooner the better.”

  They all started a concerted effort to get the truck and trailer pushed inside the mine. They found that after they got it going, they could get it almost all the way to the where the other trucks were parked.

  Everyone started to hear brurruck, brurruck, cockadooledooooooo. Ed looked at his dad and mom. “What in the world Dad? You didn’t do what I think you did, did you?”

  Otis looked at his son with a big crap eating grin on his face.

  “Sure did son. The bed of the pickup has two layers of feed on it too. We put a cage of 11 chickens and 1 rooster in even before we started putting stuff on for us.”

  They were all tired and spent by the time they got it in as far as they could.

  Ed said. “Let’s take a break for a few minutes and talk about what we’re going to do.”

  They all went over to lean against a truck or pull out a camp chair. The kids had at least gotten to those earlier when they were taking stuff off the trailer.

  After about ten minutes, Otis started talking and got up. “Help me get to the chickens. They won’t last too much longer in that 3 by 4 cage we have them in.”

  So everyone pitched in unloading the pickup, the chickens and feed came first while stacking things along a wall. They also found four bales of straw behind the cage. Otis then turned to Ed and asked if there was a small room to keep the chickens in for now. They went down the bigger tunnel and found a small utility room that hadn’t been in use in months but had items in it. They called Ellen and Pete over and they helped take out things like toilet paper, paper towels, sacks of rags, bathroom cleaning supplies and a few other odds and ends, but they also knew this was a great find.

  Otis hauled a bale of straw over untied it and threw some down in the room. Pete helped Ed carry the chicken cage over to the now chicken room. Otis opened one of the grain bags and threw some grain down on the floor in the middle where he didn’t put any straw. As the chickens were taken out of the cage, they went straight for the feed.

  “We will have to build about three or four boxes or find something for them to use for nests.” Otis said. “Then they should lay their eggs in them without us having to hunt around the room for them. We need to get light in here for them. They need at least 13 hours of light a day for egg laying.”

  After they got back to where the trucks were parked, Otis looked down the mineshaft and could see daylight around the curve of the tunnel.

  Otis was thinking about something and Ed could tell the gears were grinding. “Okay Dad, out with it. What is it?”

  “One thing I have to say is that we need to get a good lock on the mine gates. Plus find some lumber to make a door for the front of the mine tunnel.”

  “Well I agree Dad with the good lock on the gate, but why a door on the tunnel opening.”

  Otis said. “As soon as it’s dark, any lights we have on in here are going to shine out that mine opening. We could be inviting trouble right to our door. It will stay warmer in here during the winter as well. That’s why a door. Oh, another right here at the beginning too.”

  “Speaking of lights,” said Ed. “Our batteries are going to go dead on these vehicles if we don’t do something.” He then got up and went over to the generator room and went inside.

  He shined the flashlight on the generator and saw that the tank was nearly full. He went over to start it up. He primed it and then pushed the starter. It ground a bit and he pushed it again. It made more noise. He primed it again and pushed the button and it started.

  The lights in the mine came on and he went out to claps from the enlarged family.

  He walked over and turned off his headlights as Pete was doing the same.

  “That really wasn’t smart,” said Ed. “We should have put on our Coleman lanterns right away instead of taking the chance of draining our batteries on the vehicles.”

  “I guess we are all going to have to think more ahead about things than we have.” Pete said.

  Ed walked back to his dad. “Dad you are right. We best get started making some kind of door for the opening and locating good locks for the gates.”

  “Ellen, Margaret and Mom can you start getting our camp set up? Find out which rooms can be used for bedrooms? I think for now that’s all the privacy we will have for a while.” Ed said.

  “Come on guys.” Ed said to his dad and Pete and then he turned. “The women may not like this, but some of the older boy’s childhood just stopped. Frank and Gary come with us.”

  “Ah dad, why?” He heard behind him. Ed turned and put a stop to Frank’s complaints immediately. Gary didn’t think about what he just saw and heard and started to complain to his dad. Pete put a stop to it right away with a hand on his son’s rump. “Enough, you are now starting into manhood whether you like it or not.”

  They all walked over to the equipment room and went in. Ed said. “Everyone look around in here. We need padlocks.”

  After about eight minutes of looking, Frank yelled. “I found them. I found them.” He picked the large locks up that had the keys attached to them out of the lock box. They were a heavy-duty locks but that would only hold someone a few more minutes. Then they could cut the fence or drive through it, but that would give them a bit more time.

  While Ed, Pete and Otis were out watching and having one of them put on the lock on the front gate, the two boys were to case the place outside first to see if they could come up with some wood and nails and so on to build a door first off. The boys went over to a couple of the outside buildings and low and behold building supplies were still there. There were nails, 2 by 10s, 2 by 4’s and some stacks of plywood, even some sheet metal. When they met back up at the mine entrance a few minutes later, the boys told them what they had found. The men and boys went over and brought the wood, metal, nails and other things that they would need into the entrance of the tunnel.

  Ed explained that we needed to
do this just in case any fallout reaches us by morning. We should be much safer working on the mine doors in here.

  Ellen came to Ed as they were finishing. She told Ed that they needed help with some of the heavy stuff and the men went in to help. The women and kids had done a lot of work in a short time.

  They had even decided who was sleeping where. Good thing there were so many rooms built for different things in here. The heavy lifting done, Ed set up the 3 burner Coleman stove in the lunchroom, fueled it up and helped make dinner. The kids had been so excited with the happenings that they had even forgotten they were hungry. That crock-pot of pork and potatoes sure came in handy.

  Everyone helped clear out a couple of the tool rooms. Two equipment rooms of the four were cleared and the one with mine carts in it was for the younger children. By 10:00 PM they were finally done, had the kids settled in and everyone was dead tired.

  Otis then asked before they headed off to bed. What was the news that they were listening to on the radio that had on when he came upon them?

  They told him. Otis suggested they needed to have a prayer for themselves and their country. They did and many an eye was wet as the prayer was finished. Then they all headed off to their sleeping rooms.

  They would get going on the mine doors in the morning. Tomorrow would be another busy day.

  Chapter 6

  Def Con 1

  Washington D.C. same day:

  Elizabeth sat in her office at Army headquarters at the Pentagon hardly believing the messages coming in for the top brass. Impending missile launches from China and North Korea. The activity could be seen in the photos from the satellites. Even the military was slow to take this all in. A treaty had just been signed again with North Korea. China as usual just sat around acting like the big dog on the block, but never really doing anything. The fax machine started up again. More activity but this time around silos in the Ukraine, unbelievable. “Well,” Elizabeth thought. “We wondered what all the buddy, buddy stuff was with China and Russia. Now we know.”

  She looked over the photos evaluating them. Not good, not good at all.

  She pushed the intercom button. “General Williamson, the photos are in and I have evaluated them. Are you ready for them?”

  The general answered back. “Yes, Lieutenant Zellers, come on in.”

  Elizabeth got up and went on into the general’s office bringing the photos with her.

  She then briefed the general on the different photos from North Korea, China and Russia.

  “CRAP IN A HAT.” Was the general’s reply and then he said. “I can’t believe they would actually be this stupid.”

  General Williamson picked up his phone. “Corporal Lester, get me the President right now. This is an emergency!”

  Elizabeth could hear the phone ringing from the phone from where she sat.

  The President’s Secretary must have picked up because the general told whomever it was who he was and that it was a national emergency. He needed to talk to the President immediately. As the general explained what was going on to the President, the general was also pushing a red button on the corner front of his desk. She heard a very loud. “WHAT?” Over the phone. “Yes Mr. President, I am telling you that China, Russia and North Korea are about to fire more of their nuclear missiles.”

  “I also think that we need to go to Def Con 1 immediately. Send the alert to every base here and overseas.”

  “Yes,” the general said. “I think it’s too late to go to the situation room. Time to get you to safety now Mr. President.”

  She heard the garble of words from the other end of the line and the general hung up.

  He then had his secretary put in another call and had generals from other branches of the service in on what was going on and that the President was calling the military to Def Con 1. He then had his secretary put in a call to his wife. As the call was going through, the general looked up at Elizabeth and said. “Go on Lieutenant Zellers, call your family and have them come here right now. You’re excused.”

  The button the general had pushed notified all the other generals immediately even before they were called and a situation was verified.

  Elizabeth got up and saluted her boss, turned and left his office as quickly as possible. She wished she would have had permission and time to call her parents along with her brothers and sisters, but she knew that was out of the question. She was just lucky she had a great boss and he was allowing her to call her family and have them come over to the shelter here at the Pentagon. She quickly pushed the quick dial on her phone. It was 11 AM and Bill should still be home.

  11:01 AM.

  Bill worked second shift this month at IBM and should be getting ready to take young Kyle to the sitters. Katherine would already be at school. Bill picked up the phone finally on the fourth ring and saw on the caller ID that it had to be Elizabeth.

  “What’s up honey?”

  He wasn’t used to her calling at this time of day. So he knew something unusual must have been going on.

  Elizabeth told him. “Bill don’t talk just listen. We are under Def Con 1 as of five minutes ago. I had permission to call you and tell you and the children to get to the Pentagon immediately. All you need to do is present your driver’s license. You and the kids are already on the list for the bomb shelter. I need you to grab the metal case under the bed. It has all our birth certificates and other important documents in it plus some gold and silver. The kids BOB bags are in the closet with ours. Grab anything thing else you think we will need for an extended time in the shelter. The kids’ favorite blankets, a few toys and things you think you and I will want and or need. I love you. Make sure you tell the guard at the gate you’re on the GO list.”

  “Love you too.” Bill said. “And I understand. See you later.” They both hung up.

  First Bill looked in on Kyle. He had just finished an early lunch and was playing in his room for a few minutes until his dad came for him. Bill had to shake himself it was so unbelievable.

  Bill looked down at his son. “Hey Kyle, you want to play a gathering game. I want you to dump out the toys in the small toy box over there in the corner.” Bill was pointing to it.

  “Then pick out 4 of your favorite toys, your sleeping bear and put them in the toy box. Do you understand?”

  Kyle looked at his dad will a gleam in his eyes. “Yes daddy I do.”

  “Okay son go ahead and do that. When you’re done with yours, go into Katherine’s room and find four of her favorite toys. The ones you see her play with all the time. Also get her stuffed cat that she sleeps with. Alright.”

  “Yes daddy.” Kyle said and went over and started to dump out the plastic toy box with a large grin on his face. He loved being able to dump things out.

  Bill then headed quickly to his bedroom and bent down and pulled the silver case out from under the bed and put it on the bed. he then went over to the closet, opened the closet and there in the back were the four BOB bags.

  He hauled those out and two extra backpacks and went over to Elizabeth’s dresser and began putting in under clothes, socks, her jewelry and a couple extra blouses and jeans.

  He then thought, “Whoops.” Went back to the closet and pulled out two uniforms and a set of BDU’s, a pair of tennis shoes and a pair of her army boots. He went over to his dresser and did the same thing, but minus the army clothes. He quickly hauled the things to the car and went back in to get the toys and the kid’s pillows and blankets.

  He saw an extra school backpack that Elizabeth had from last year lying by her toy box. It was worn but serviceable. He went over and added some extra clothes, under clothes, socks, sweat pants and shoes.

  Bill came back out and Kyle was standing in the hallway with the stuffed animals and said. “Daddy, I all done.”

  “Wonderful Kyle, you head down to the kitchen with the stuffed animals and I will be right there. Ok.”

  “Okay Daddy.” Kyle headed on his way down the hallway.

&nb
sp; Bill ducked back into Kyle’s room to grab some more clothes for Kyle and stuff them in an old diaper bag that was now used for others things. He also opened the toy box to see trucks, army men, a couple other of Kyle’s toys plus Katherine’s Barbie doll case and some My Little Ponies and accessories. He was surprised at what a good job Kyle had done. He had figured that he would have to finish it off, but everything was there. He picked up the toy box and headed down to the kitchen to go into the garage. Kyle was waiting for him in the kitchen with a cookie in his hand.

  Bill smiled and didn’t say a thing about the cookie for now. “Come Kyle, let’s get these things into the car.” Kyle followed his dad out to the garage.

  After Bill had all that loaded, he told Kyle to go get the cookie box. He had permission to open the bottom cupboard and get out the package of drink boxes. He and Kyle headed back through the door and into the kitchen. Kyle went straight for the cupboard and Bill went back upstairs to grab the kids’ blankets and into his room to pull out his 12 inch bowie knife that Elizabeth had gotten it for him for Christmas last year. It came with scabbard that fit on his belt really well. It had a multi colored wooden handle and he loved it. He looked around and really couldn’t think of anything else. “Yikes,” he thought. “Yes I can.” He went over to the closet and behind a shoebox was the army container with bullets for their matching colt pistols which were in the BOB bags. You never knew when some extra ammo would come in handy, especially now. He grabbed up the photo albums while he was at it.

  Back down stairs he went. Low and behold Kyle had 2 boxes of cookies, a bag of pretzels and the box of drink boxes on the floor. He was trying to put them in a plastic bag.

  “Great thinking son. Those will really come in handy. Alright little man, let’s go pick up your sister. We’re going to a special place today.” He helped his son load up the goodies and get them and him into the car.

  With Kyle all strapped in his seat Bill pushed the button for the garage door, and picked up his cell phone and called Katherine’s school.