The Last Stand (Book 3) (The Repentant Demon Trilogy)

by Samantha Johns

  “Christ, you're right,” he said, shamefully. “Time for me to get off the pity potty right now. I'll go fix us all some sandwiches or something, then bring them up to the lodge.”

  “You're going to be the best grandpa for little Jonah,” she smiled, giving him a hug.

  When Abigail called the number for the Greenfields, he came to the phone almost immediately. At first, he sounded happy to hear from the Abigail Fitzgerald who had both helped rescue his wife from embarrassment and their dog Lexy from certain death. She was now calling to rescue his whole family.

  “But we're fine here,” he argued. “Life is normal, except for the newscasts of all the devastation east of us and elsewhere. We still have power. Businesses are open. The stores are well-stocked. I see no reason to pick up and move.”

  “Things aren't going to stay like that, Mr. Greenfield,” she tried to tell him, “in a week or two there won't be food on the shelves. Rioting and looting will start. You may not be able to get out if you don't leave now.”

  “The local stores have assured me,” he said, “that they're shipments are going to arrive on schedule. The whole Midwest is nearly untouched, Ms. Fitzgerald.” as he called her since he didn't know about her marriage. “We had a close call there, with the attempt on Callaway, but those guys were caught. I'm sure our military is already on top of whatever hit us on Christmas day. The president spoke to the country with a televised message. He is fine. He can't come out yet because of the radioactive fallout, but in a few days the Washington crowd will get itself pulled back together, although it won't be in D.C. You are just panicking, my dear. Like he said, we simply need to stay calm and wait this out.”

  He ended by saying that he appreciated her concern, but that Wyoming was pretty far to go for no reason. Nathan and his father had very similar responses to their calls for urgency. The people in Saint Louis were utterly complacent about their situation. Abigail felt surprised that people did not accept warnings from Mike Edwards, at least. But even coming from him, the advisory fell on deaf ears. The group of them stared at each other in disbelief.

  “Even when I called Father Andrews,” said Mike, shaking his head, “he assured me that they had dodged the bullet. I didn't really expect him to leave his parish, but I thought he could at least spread the word to others. He used the same words, Abby—stay calm and wait this out. Do you think they've all been hypnotized or something?” Then Mike's phone rang.

  “It's Cal,” he said, looking at the caller id, “he must not have been able to get you while you were talking to Mr. Greenfield.” But he was calling Mike deliberately, and for good reason. He turned pale listening to Cal’s rather long explanation, then he said he would inform everyone of this information and hung up.

  “Cal has been surfing the government computer,” he said, “and he came up with some interesting facts. He's emailing them to Abby's laptop so she can print some files for us to see. Basically, what he did was compile a map of all the nuclear plants that were hit and overlaid it with a map of all the military installations—and they coincide very nicely. Half our military enforcements have been disabled. Cal thinks we're about to be invaded.”

  “They'd have to be crazy to try that,” said Nathan. “Once inside our borders, we still have enough missiles and jets to wipe them out.”

  “But would we fire missiles and drop bombs on heavily populated areas?” asked Abigail, “I wouldn't think so. Collateral damage is one thing, but that would kill hundreds of thousands of our own people. If they make it onto our soil, we have no alternative other than hand-to-hand combat. We've never been faced with war in our own back yard.”

  “That's right,” Nathan reconsidered, “we'd be fighting a ground war. I still see them as significantly outnumbered, unless they come across the southern border. They could come by the thousands that way, especially if they used the old drug cartel networks going through tunnels and across the deserts. That would be an environment with which they would be familiar. They could cover a lot of ground really fast if we aren't prepared, and it sounds like Cal doesn't think we are.”

  “There's more,” said Mike, sadly, “although I suspected this, I didn't really know until now that it is possible for the government to watch any of us from anywhere through the surveillance network set up across our cities. They do this in the name of police work or security or traffic control. Because of this network we are able to see the destruction practically first-hand. He looked at the computer screen over Abigail's shoulder and viewed the video files Cal sent showing the damages at twenty-five nuclear sites that suffered hydrogen bomb explosions. All you could see was a big dark crater at each of them. They were five miles across. As he panned out, you saw flattened buildings, monuments, and bridges; all just burned out and destroyed. It was destruction of immense proportions. He saw bodies burned to a crisp lying on the ground or thrown around in grotesque poses. Radioactive fallout would kill another ten million people at each explosion site within a month. Another fifteen million each would die after a year from various cancers.

  “Cal was upset, even angry,” said Mike, “about the people further inland that are lost between pockets of safety that are wandering, frightened, and helpless. He wants to know why our government isn't air-lifting supplies and food to these people, or transporting them to safety. He doesn't understand why they couldn't have prevented this when he gave them the information a long time ago. He's angry about them not grounding flights on Christmas day. And I don't think he likes our President very much.”

  “Does he even know about the defense spending cuts?” asked Nathan. “I don't want to be the one to tell him about the dozens of military bases that have been closed over the past few years. If his list is not up to date, we may not even have nearly the military force as he thinks.”

  “Cal was telling me that he wants to be in on the strategy,” said Abigail. “But he is needed for translating the chatter coming in. They aren't going to listen to what he thinks. He isn't one of them, literally and figuratively. That's why he wanted us to make these calls. At least we'd be doing something. Wait till we have to tell him what a failure that was.”

  “He’s already convinced we are sitting ducks,” said Mike. “And based on the information coming out of the printer, he’s right. He is convinced if we don’t come up with a plan and do something, no one else will. He believes our own President is the enemy.”

  * * *

  As mid-January approached, a routine developed among the group. They watched the news first thing in the morning. Only a few stations on the west coast could still operate, but they managed to provide coverage as well as some children’s programming on some six networks. It was almost like the early days of television, before the option included hundreds of choices. Cal went to the facility each day, worked for hours, then came home, ate a meal, grabbed some sleep after the late night news, then awoke to start the process all over again.

  As food shortages occurred in nearby regions, the government did send out truckloads of commodities including fresh water, fuel, and bedding to the areas of the Dakotas, Kansas, and Nebraska. In these places, as well as in the northwest, reporters covered the rescue efforts at temporary shelters which had been set up in much the same way as after natural disasters like earthquakes and tornadoes.

  It was even worse in the harshness of winter. Many lives were lost due to the affects of radiation from the hydrogen blasts, and many died from exposure to cold or starvation when they did not get help in time. Those tragedies did not receive network coverage. Certainly no reporters were able to venture into those areas. It was as if they were dead and forgotten almost from day one.

  Twenty-four hour news channels speculated as to how this had happened to America, but very little real news was ever reported. That's because no one really knew exactly what was happening. It seemed too much destruction for a few small bands of terrorists. Suspicion lurked in the minds of many that nations had to have been behind this, but it was all specula
tion. No one had access to officials with correct information. The President and the entire government stayed underground, both literally and figuratively.

  Congress had returned to having regular sessions, from within their underground haven, but the President was rarely seen. He and the Vice President were kept in a secret location from where they both occasionally assured the public and maintained an image of running the country. All diplomats and representatives to foreign nations including the United Nations were either dead or safe underground. They spoke occasionally from microphones that transmitted opinions to news networks that aired their views meaninglessly. A few voices protested our policies and our lack of retaliation, but they were ignored by the powers necessary to act. Those in the listening audience who agreed were powerless to do anything about their convictions.

  Of course it was quite clear to everyone that the United States was at war with Islamic terrorists. Arab world rejoiced on videos sent to news agencies. Abigail knew that not all were so glad that America the Devil had been chastised, but they would never say so in public, especially in view of the apparent victories of radical Islamists.

  The millions of dead lay unattended, if not forgotten because radiation and devastation and chaos prevented access to the bodies. Lack of physical resources would not allow for proper burials. Like when a plague attacks, the sick and dying overwhelmed hospitals, as did the victims of street violence. Eventually the caretakers themselves fell ill or left their posts to seek refuge farther west. Most of these were too far east to have any hope of reaching safety, especially since gas was in as short supply as was food. Soon there was none of either.

  As time passed, everyone acknowledged the somber reality of mass burials done by men in protective clothing. When the radiation danger passed, they would face the threat of disease from the decaying corpses. Most wondered if there would be anyone left to bury them when they themselves keeled over. People died in their homes and even on the streets. It was worse than a plague, because there were no vaccines for starvation, violence, and the cancers which came as the final blow.

  Abandoned vehicles blocked roadways, some bearing the dead bodies of their passengers who had exhausted all possibilities of escape. Shipments of government supplies barely reached any of the states past the Mississippi River as the dangers were too great and the chance of finding survivors diminished as time passed.

  The world east of the Mississippi within only months had become a vast wasteland. Whether they would rebuild parts or cover it all over to start anew, no one could know at this point. Society was collapsing for the most part, and most infrastructures had failed to function. Businesses could not operate. Utilities collapsed as repairs could not be maintained and a workforce with knowledge and skills to service them diminished and died.

  And yet, the little world of the ruling class survived in relative comfort underneath the barren land they sought to someday again govern. Most of them expected this day would come, and functioned with assurance that they indeed had a future. The innocently misled followed their leader's mesmerizing rhetoric to their graves. The complicit ones anticipated a day when planes would come, and they would arise from the earth victorious to rule a New World Order.

  On Easter Sunday, the day arrived which would see the next phase of the enemy's plan. It revealed itself to an already suffering nation, again too covertly for anyone except Cal to discover in time to stop it. As people who were able filed into their churches for religious services dressed in their finest holiday attire, dozens of nuclear bombs erupted in major cities along the Mississippi into the remaining strip of states between the Great Lakes down to the Gulf. They hit throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Eastern coastal states, finishing off all remaining survivors in eighty-six cities.

  This was accomplished using the oft-disputed suitcase nukes that the media had been speculating about since 1997. The Russian President said they did not exist. He said that to Barbara Walters on 20/20 in front of a viewing public in 2001. But the ex-defense minister of Russia told Sixty Minutes that over one hundred of the two-hundred and fifty that had been made were unaccounted for.

  He also claimed that any disgruntled Russian scientist, of which there were many, was open to devising dirty bombs for any buyers with a million dollars to spend. No proof had ever been offered as to the truth of the situation one way or another. And it was hard to say which weapon was worse, especially following the devastation already endured by the nation. Using them combined, it became a fatal blow.

  Most of the rumors about these ADM's (Atomic Demolition Munitions) had been discounted by experts—at least publicly. They pointed to the fact that it was impossible to detonate these bombs without killing the perpetrator. But this did not matter to extremists happy to die for their cause—destruction of the Great Satan. As the years passed, and such tactics had never been used, or even attempted to be used, or found anywhere, the public was convinced that all of this talk had been propaganda.

  The most force such devices could produce was a one kiloton explosion, but with unknown amounts of radiation. Only a few blocks of limited destruction to buildings and people in those buildings resulted from the explosions. However, the effects of radiation would kill nearly all the inhabitants of the city within a month. The fear factor was priceless to terrorists who took such joy in watching Americans suffer from a safe distance away over their televisions.

  The Callahans, Edwards, Deckers, and McFarlands attended Mass at the newly designed chapel where services were held in succession for Catholics, Protestants, and Jews. None of them were aware of what had happened at all until they returned to the McFarland lodge where they had planned to celebrate Easter with a large ham dinner and an Easter egg hunt for all the kids—including the new community in the subdivision at the lake. All were invited since Brady's chickens were good layers, and he had grown his flock to ten times its original size in anticipation of feeding the growing population of Willow Creek Ranch.

  Cal did not want to stay and did not want to eat once they saw the news broadcast. It would be hard to say which was worse—getting the news under these circumstances, or not hearing the reports at some ever-approaching future date when the stations would all be gone. He kissed Abigail good-bye over her bulging baby bump and headed for the door.

  “You need to eat, Cal,” she protested. “Everything is ready. How about I make you a ham sandwich at least. You can take it with you.”

  He agreed, and although his stomach felt sour, he thought he might be able to eat it later at his desk. Abigail put some potato salad in a paper cup and a few hard-boiled eggs along with the sandwich into an empty coffee can for him to take with him. They had long ago run out of paper and plastic from the stores which they hadn't frequented for over four months.

  Before Cal could get out the door with his lunch can, the latest bulletin came over the news. Israel had been hit with multiple nuclear missiles by Iranian and Russian forces. The counter-strikes were already in the air. Israeli forces had launched fighters armed with nuclear warheads into the heart of Iran as soon as their radar detected the incoming attacks. It was the mutually assured destruction once feared back in the days of the cold war with the old Soviet Union. History proved that neither nation wanted to risk its own destruction that badly and learned to co-exist, for the most part. The fanatical Muslims were not that rational. They believed in their zealous fanaticism that their nation would be the one to survive. They believed Allah assured their victory. Nothing else mattered to them. They would rebuild their country, or relocate it. Their population would revive itself. With the end of both the United States and Israel, with a weakened and controllable Europe, the Arabs could rule the world.

  Cal rushed to the facility where he hoped he could find out exactly what they were up against.

  “We've got ships over in the Gulf armed with nuclear missiles,” said Nathan. “So I'm sure we'll destroy Iran in no time. Didn't they know we'd retaliate? What did they think we'd do? Just let
Israel face this alone?

  “Or something close to it,” remarked Brady. “Maybe that's why they've attacked us first. Maybe we're so weakened we can't do much. I haven't heard a word about us helping Israel at all. And we won't. Not with this President as Commander in Chief. They won’t strike if they’re not given orders to strike. Can you imagine our guys out there in submarines and on battleships and at air bases, sitting and wondering why they aren't being ordered to fight?”

  “The prophet Ezekiel foretold of the destruction of Israel by an Iranian-Russian alliance,” said Abby, the only woman not outside helping with the Easter egg hunt. “It was always regarded as impossible. And it always disturbed me that the U.S. was not even mentioned in the Biblical interpretations of the conflict that resulted. I always wondered why we wouldn't have been in there fighting beside Israel. Whether we no longer cared, or whether we no longer existed.”

  “It's clear to me now,” said Mike, “that the city without walls may not have referred to Israel, but to us. What good is prophesy if you don't get the meaning of it until it happens?”

  “Such is the nature of prophesy,” said Abby, “You think you could change things if you understood it sooner? It won't happen. If it was something that could be changed, it wouldn't be prophesy, it would be a warning.”