by Sally Six
“Hello this is Bill Zellers. We have a family emergency. I need Katherine Zellers ready to go as soon as I get to the office. Thank you. I will be there in eight minutes. Goodbye to you too.”
Bill didn’t speed really, but had the speedometer at four miles above the speed limit and pulled into the school parking lot seven minutes later. He jumped out and went over turned back to the back car door. He unstrapped Kyle and just kept him in his arms. He headed quickly to the school office where he saw Katherine standing inside the office door with coat in one hand and backpack laying on the floor beside her. Bill signed her out right away and said thank you to the office personnel. He helped Katherine put her coat on.
“Come on Kath, we need to go somewhere.”
She looked up at her dad. “Where we going Daddy.”
“Somewhere very special Kath. We are going to where your mommy works, to a special place there,” he told her.
He got the kids all strapped in and headed over to the Pentagon via the freeway. Thirty minutes later they were at the gate. He was showing his ID to the guard. Bill told the guard. “We’re on the GO list.”
The corporal flipped his clipboard and looked at the GO list. He looked back up and said. “You are good to go sir. Take your car over to the right driveway around the building and follow the orange line.”
Bill went right until he came upon an orange line and followed it right to another guard at the rear of the Pentagon. That’s if there is a rear. Bill showed his ID again and the soldier talked into his radio and the large door in front of him rolled up.
“Proceed to the blue level sir.” The guard told him and then he stepped back.
Bill nodded his head at the guard and drove into the opened door. After several feet inside, the ramp started going down like in a parking garage.
The first level down was yellow and the next was green. Then as he continued down eight more floors there were several other colors. The next level was blue level and there at this entrance was another guard. There had been one or two at all of them. This guard was standing in front of another large door. Bill drove up beside the guard and showed his ID. The guard pushed a red button and the door pulled into the wall. The door looked to be about five feet thick as he watched it pull into the wall.
“Precede sir. Park and leave your vehicle taking with you your belongings and go through the red striped door.”
Bill pulled through the huge doorway and found himself in a large parking garage. There were already a few cars and other vehicles in there. He saw three other families standing beside their cars. He saw they had dolly like carts by their cars and that they were putting their suitcases and other things on it.
He looked around and over by the wall to the left of him were more carts. He turned to the kids. “I am going over to get a cart kids. You can unstrap, but stay in the car. I will be right back.”
Both the kids excitedly said. “Okay Daddy.” They were so excited about being in a new place and where their mommy worked. Katherine didn’t know her mom worked at such a big building.
Bill was gone and back in about one minute with a cart. Not enough time for the kids to get in much trouble anyway. He unloaded all their things and had Katherine get out of the car and bring her school backpack with her. Bill took Kyle out of his car seat and sat him on top of their bags on the cart. He saw one of the families headed for the red striped door at the other end of the parking lot and he started on his way toward it also.
There was a guard standing beside the door. He was checking ID’s before letting people inside. Bill and the kids went through the same process and found themselves standing beside an elevator with two other families.
No one said anything except for a couple of children asking why they were there. The mother just said it was a new adventure and they would be meeting their dad soon.
The woman looked at Bill and he nodded his head at her. She did the same thing back. At that moment the elevator opened. It was an extra-large service elevator. It would take all of their carts and all with room to spare. Bill thought they had been far enough down as it was, but this was something else. They must have gone down another eight floors before the elevator stopped and the doors opened.
A young solider stood there waiting for them. As soon as everyone unloaded from the elevator, he told them to follow him and he would take them to their assigned rooms.
“I am Corporal King. If you need anything, I am your liaison.”
About 4 minutes later, they came to a set of rooms and the solider looked at his list.
“These rooms are for Lt. William Sim’s family. Number 30. There is a main room and two bedrooms.
They all continued on their way a few more feet and the solider said. “This is #31. This set of rooms is for Lt. Elizabeth Zellers family.”
“Thank you.” Bill said as he and the kids along with their cart went through the door.
Bill looked around. Well this is much better than he thought things were going to be.
He had visions of a small cramped room with bunk beds with a sink and toilet in the corner. But this wasn’t bad at all with a living room and two bedrooms. He went to look at the bedrooms. The first bedroom had a double bottom bunk and a single top bunk. Along the opposite side was a set of normal bunk beds. There was a small closet and four dressers.
He turned around and there were the kids standing right behind him. He almost bumped into them.
“Let’s go see the other bedroom. I think this one is supposed to be for your mommy and me.”
They followed him to the other small bedroom. It had 2 sets of regular bunk beds and four dressers. All the beds in both rooms were already made up with sheets, pillows and army blankets.
“Kids let’s get your blankets, other things and bring them in here. Okay.”
Katherine looked up at her dad. “Okay Daddy. Daddy is this where were having a vacation?”
Both kids were following their dad out to the main room.
He looked at Katherine. “Yes were having a small vacation here for now. Your mommy should be here soon.”
She smiled. “Okay Daddy great, we get to spend some time with Mommy.”
Kyle mimicked his sister and off they ran to the cart.
By the time Elizabeth got down to the shelter, they had all their belongings in the right rooms. The toy box already opened and the children playing.
Bill stood watching his children. He knew that they would be asking to eat a snack at any time now when his wife walked in the door. He walked toward her. She met him and wrapped her arms around him and gave him a big hug. It was now 2:05 PM Eastern Standard Time.
Bill asked. “Is there any way you can tell me what’s going on honey?”
“Ed, come over to the sofa and sit down. I will tell you what is going on.”
Bill sat there in silence as Elizabeth explained to him what was found from the satellite photos this morning. That the countries of Russia, China and North Korea had actually lunched missiles and they were heading their way. Ed knew it had to be something like that for her to call him and tell him to get to the shelter. He was just glad families were also allowed in here, but his mind also went out to their extended families.
Both the kids had heard their mother’s voice and came running in to give their mom a hug and ask for a snack. Elizabeth was very glad to see the kids and asked Bill if he had brought a quick snack for the kids. He said no worries in that department. He and Kyle had done just that. He took the kids over to the middle of the floor and put down a towel and had them sit there and eat their snack.
A siren went off and Elizabeth said she would be back later. She gave Bill a quick peck on the cheek and left in a hurry. Meanwhile, Bill had the kids snack on the things that they had brought and had them go back to their room to play.
A while later the ground shook. Bill knew that they would be down here for a while. He hoped and prayed for his and Elizabeth families to come through this. A few minutes later, El
izabeth came back to their quarters. She said that her work was done for the night and could be with the family until morning at 0600.
Bill asked her. “Do you know how many cities were hit?”
“Yes, a lot of the Capitals of all the states along with a few other larger towns. We were able to take out some of the missiles and that extra nukes had been set off at high levels to create EMP’s that took out the whole grid all across our country.”
She told him that it would be years before they could be back to any sort of normal again if that was even possible. She looked at her watch and the clock on the wall. She saw they were the same and told Bill what time their dinner rotation would be normally, 0630. Ten minutes later they got the kids gathered up. They all headed for the mess hall. When they got there, they saw they would be about one quarter of the way down the line, not too bad.
Bill looked around while they were eating and thought there must be about 200 people in the cafeteria. There was room for a few more, but not much even at this late hour. He was wondering how many people this shelter supported. Then thought, “Duh, ask Elizabeth she should know.”
Bill leaned over to Elizabeth. There was one child between them. Kyle and Katherine was on the right side of Elizabeth.
“Hey honey, how many people does this shelter support?”
Elizabeth looked over at Bill with a mouth full of Salisbury steak, chewed and swallowed. “Over 2000 plus dependents Bill. Why?”
“Oh no reason, I just wondered.”
To himself he thought, “WOW!”
After the meal was all finished including ice cream for dessert, they headed back to their room. On the way Elizabeth showed Bill where one of the recreation rooms was as well as the library and a gym.
The recreation room even had toys for the children to play on and with.
Bill said. “That will be a big help. I know playing with their same toys day after day will get old very quickly.”
Bill turned to Elizabeth. “How long are we going to have to stay down in this shelter?”
“From the estimates at least six months to a year. They have equipment checks up some of the shafts, but don’t count on us going out until then.”
By that time they were back to their rooms, they bathed, dressed the kids for bed, let them play for an hour and put them to bed. Elizabeth and Bill talked about their families and their dreams for the future and turned in also as Elizabeth had to be up around the normal time for work. It had been a long stressful day and they knew it was just the beginning.
Chapter 7
Unbelief
Lewiston, Idaho same day:
Man looking for a good women, hardworking, 6 foot ½ inch, 200 pounds, weight lifter, brown hair, blue eyes decent looking, Church goer and loves reenactment of mountain man era, having a hard time finding a women that wants to settle down with a man with two kids readymade.
He felt like he needed to put out an ad to find someone and maybe it would be something like that. It was so hard to work, take care of the kids and find the time to date. Those pickings seemed to be slim as it was.
He thought that he might find someone like himself that loves the old days at one of the rendezvous, but no. It never seemed to happen. He also had his own exercise equipment so there was no gym to go to. That was way too expensive for him with every penny either being saved or going into his new place.
“There you go thinking too much Tom.” He said to himself.
Thomas had swing shift and he didn’t have to leave for work until 2:00 PM. He was 20 minutes from work via his bicycle. He had taken to riding it when the gas price’s reached $3.50 a gallon. Thomas’s babysitter lived next door. She was a 58-year-old widow named Penny McElroy. It worked out really good for him. No lugging the kids to the sitter’s and back home late at night after work and so on. Mrs. McElroy just came over to his house when it was time for the kids to get off the bus. She could watch them walk to the house from the front door. This was the kid’s last two weeks here in Lewiston, Idaho in their school system.
He had built a small three-bedroom cabin with a loft and a basement on the land that he had bought behind his parents’ property up by Anatone, Washington in the Blue Mountains. Tom had saved and bought the 30 acres next door to them. He was really looking forward to being up out of the city. He would be driving back and forth with his dad every day when he could. He was changing shifts to make sure that he could do that. Taking turns with whose car they used and then in the good weather they were both going to ride their motorcycles. He and the kids would be moving up there in two weeks. He had already found a jersey cow and his parents were milking it for him for now. He and the kids went up on weekends and got milk and eggs as they worked on the house and outbuildings.
He had also found a good dog, Luke. The dog was a mix breed and he was up there already. You had to have one up there to help keep away the cougars, coyotes and wolves. Also needed to scare off the time-to-time bear. He had been packing and hauling things up to the cabin everyday he had off. They were just living on the bare minimum down here right now. Last weekend he had hauled up the beds so they were now all sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags. The kids thought it was a grand adventure to be camping out in the house.
They had already put up the chicken coop, small barn and were working on the garage up on the new place. Other people most likely would have done the garage first, but he wanted the other buildings ready for the animals. They should be able to have the garage done by spring if it didn’t snow a ton. He was going to park the truck in the barn for the time being.
Thomas sat down to eat his lunch and switched on the TV and went to Fox news. There was the normal programing and then a special ALERT report came on. There were rumors of more trouble concerning nuclear missiles with North Korea and China, but they were unsubstantiated at this time. He finished his lunch and there was nothing new. He got up and took his paper plate into the kitchen. He threw it away then washed his silver ware and glass. He found that if he washed up the dirty dishes and things right away they didn’t pile up in the sink. It made life much easier.
He started to pack his dinner for tonight. He then went in and finished folding the load of towels that was waiting for him. He had left the TV on and glanced up from time to time as he listened to the news. Things on the news were still the same and he turned the TV off. He grabbed his jacket, gloves and lunch box and headed to the garage to get his bike to head off to work. He strapped his lunch box on his bike and off he went.
When Tom got to the Inland Port, he clocked in and headed out to his crane. Tom also did the grain transfer to the barges. That time was coming up soon within about a week or so now. When he was in the office clocking in, he noticed Pat had the radio on a news station. He normally listened to music so this was very unusual. Time passed as he worked and he was surprised to find Pat at the door to the crane cab. The door was being opened and Pat was yelling something.
Pat was red in the face from running and Tom couldn’t make out what Pat was saying. He was so out of breath and talking so fast.
Garble --ukes was the first thing he understood.
“What Pat?” Pat wasn’t making any sense.
Tom turned off the crane. “Nukes, Nukes are flying.” Pat was yelling. “The news a few minutes ago was that Russia, China and North Korea are sending nukes against us. I was listening to the news and they announced that we we’re going to be bombed.”
Pat turned to Tom. “I have to go tell the others and climbed down from the crane cab and took off on a run.
“Crap.” Tom said to himself and out and down off the crane. He ran to the office. As he came inside, he heard that what Pat was saying was right on the radio. He then ran to get his bike. There was no time to spare. He hopped onto his bike, his lunch box forgotten. Now he wished that he was still driving his truck to work. As he took off for home, he grabbed his cell phone off his belt and dialed his house.
Penny picked up on the third ring
.
“Penny this is Tom. Please just listen. If you don’t have the news on, turn it on immediately. The news is saying nukes are on the way to bomb the U.S. Can you start packing some of the things the kids will need for the trip up to our cabin? There are extra backpacks in their closets yet. I will be there as fast as I can peddle, about six more minutes, I think.”
Then he hung up and peddled as fast as he could. As he headed home, he could see others driving faster. The news must really be out.
Meanwhile Penny just stood there in a state of bewilderment. Then shook her head and told herself to snap out of it and get with it. It didn’t sound like they had much time.
She yelled for Bitty and Fred who were in the kitchen at the table doing their homework.
“Now kids,” she yelled. “I need your help with something,” she told them.
The kids came running. Anything to get them away from their homework sounded good to them. They ran to Penny and she told them that she wanted them to get their backpacks out of their closets and start packing clothes and shoes that they will need to start off with. It looked like their dad was coming home early and they were going up to the cabin tonight. Roll up your sleeping bags, your taking those too.
Both the kids yelled. “Yeaaaaaaaaaaaa.” They ran off to their rooms.
Five minutes later, Tom pushed his bike into the garage and loaded it into the back of the pickup. He did the same with the kid’s two bikes. Then he turned and threw on an extra 26 inch bike that he had been working on for Penny as a surprise. Never know now how few or far between gas fill ups would be available. Tom than ran into the house and saw the kids collecting things and stuffing it into backpacks. Penny he found in the kitchen putting food into boxes and plastic tubs.
“Hi Penny. Thanks so much for starting. Why don’t you run home and get some of what you think you will need. You’re coming with us.”
“But Tom, I should be safe in my home.”
