Somehow David had always thought a nuclear attack would come at night or during a dark day. In the bright, cloudless sky, the mushroom clouds seemed obscene. The sun was the same, the sky was the same, but here were three mushroom clouds.
David needed to get them moving, the fallout was coming and he was very alarmed there were three mushroom clouds.
“The truck is a green pickup,” David said, “let’s get moving.”
Every house was destroyed. Smoke and a sickeningly sweet burning smell filled the air. There was no sound other than cracking of fires. They never saw any live humans or animals, nothing moved.
Cars were smashed with debris and rolled over. Some of the cars in the distance were still on fire.
David jumped, startled when he heard a faint car alarm in the distance. He realized he had never considered his truck could be burnt.
“This should be it,” David said, pointing to the driveway.
“Spread out and look for a green pickup truck with a large silver box in the truck bed. It was parked in the garage, so it may be under debris.”
David had decided to give it fifteen minutes. Then, if they didn’t find the truck, they would start sewer diving, prying up manhole covers looking for a shelter, or dig an expedient bunker and cover it with doors, wood, or debris with dirt piled on top.
“Here it is!” shouted Liu, using a short piece of metal bar to pry the rubble apart.
Somehow the truck was smashed upside down. But the cab had left about three feet of space between the truck box and the cement foundation.
“You think this is stable?” David asked Jorge, who hobbled behind on a makeshift splint Liu had made for him.
“Yes, just don’t jar the back of the truck,” Jorge replied, as he stacked cement rubble to stabilize the inverted truck bed. Liu immediately joined in,
David took his key from around his neck and inserted the key into the lock. The lock was jammed. He tried again and again.
“It’s stuck,” said David.
Zeke pulled out the jack pry bar from behind the seat. He inserted the pry bar, and David hammered it with a broken chunk of cement rebar. David wondered if they could pry the box open, it was a hardened, military spec, gun box. But Zeke was extremely motivated, and after a couple of minutes he had pried open the box. It flew open, since it was upside down, and the contents scattered .
“Thank you Wayne LaPierre, Charlton Heston, and the NRA!” Zeke screamed in delight.
Two AR-15s in soft black cases, ten loaded clips, two 12 gauge riot shotguns, four boxes of 12 gauge shells, and Two 9mm pistols with seven loaded clips fell out.
“Sorry,” Zeke said. He had already grabbed an AR-15 and a 9, pointing the barrels in the air. He backed off, realizing this was, after all, David’s property. There were two military backpacks, David grabbed one and handed the other to Zeke.
“Have any of you fired a gun before?” David asked.
Karen, Liu, Zeke, and Jorge signaled their hand.
“Good. You can help us carry the weapons and clips,” David said as he started to pass out the weapons. “If we are carrying guns openly, they need to be loaded, and ready to shoot,” Karen replied evenly.
David paused. She was right, but he didn’t have time to teach everyone now, the fallout was coming. Zeke was alarmingly giddy with excitement at the guns, and Dad always warned him to verify by watching people actually handle and fire guns at a shooting range, and never, ever, just by relying upon what they said.
David never forgot his Dad’s warning, “To stay alive, until proven otherwise, assume everyone is untrained and will accidentally shoot you with an “unloaded” gun. Then you can be grateful if you are proven wrong, and they are trained.”
“Once we get sheltered we will go over how to use them so everyone is proficient. In the meantime, keep a clip separate, and point the gun down,” David said. David would, however, keep his loaded. He loaded his AR-15 and the 9mm.
Karen looked him in the eye, reached over, took the other AR-15, checked the chamber, then popped in a clip, pulled back the hammer, and chambered a round.
“We used the same civilian version of the M-16, the Colt AR-15, on the ranch,” Karen explained.
Liu inserted the 12 gauge shells into the shot gun, pumped a round into the chamber, then pumped two more, and announced, “I went duck hunting with my father.” David suspected Liu knew a lot more about guns than she admitted.
Zeke loaded the 9mm, explaining with a smile “My neighborhood was too rough for Police or 911. They said if you can’t get 911 to come, just press 9!” Jorge took the other 9mm and inserted then ejected both clips, checking the spring tension.
“Hello, people, carrying guns is a felony!” Doron cried.
No one answered him. They just looked at Doron, then turned, and started walking. Zeke laughed, making Doron even madder.
“Why do we need guns?” Doron asked as he watched them armor up. “This is like a Terminator movie.”
“My name ist Aw Nold......” Zeke deadpanned, putting the 9mm under his belt and flexing his muscles, as Doron shot him a bird. It was probably the stress, but for whatever reason everyone laughed, even Doron.
“Doron, in my neighborhood, you needed a gun before the attack. We are definitely going to need guns after the attack. 911 police help is closed,” Zeke said.
David was afraid Zeke was right.
No one laughed.
16.
“See if you can find a pry bar like Zeke is using. We need to go sewer diving,” David explained. “Dad said sewer systems can be great fallout shelters if you can find one in the first thirty minutes.”
“Look for manhole covers away from any debris that can cover the hole,” David shouted.
“We need more water. Look for any bottled water or soft drinks in the debris,” David said.
“David!” Karen suddenly screamed.
David ran up, his M-16 ready, as she was pointing.
An isolated dark gray cloud was beginning to shed what looked like dirty, sticky snow. It seemed eerie in the bright sunshine to see isolated dark fallout raining down. The clouds were deadly, menacing, and personally threatening.
“Fall out! Run!” David yelled as he began running up the hill.
The wind was gusting, the dark cloud seemed to chase them. He could now see an entire bank of dirty clouds in a circular pattern, lighter than the first one, they were more of a dirty gray color. They seemed lower than normal rain clouds.
Time was running out. The fallout clouds brought death. If they could not find a sewer manhole, they would have to shelter in a ditch or in the remains of some basement.
Zeke quickly sprinted past everyone.
“Karen, stay with Ashley,” David yelled, looking for Jorge, who could not run.
“Here, David!” Liu shouted, pointing to a sewer manhole.
“Zeke, can you go help Jorge?” David asked. Zeke nodded, sprinted back to Jorge, and picked him up in both arms.
Liu was already prying open the sewer manhole cover. David immediately inserted his pry bar into the opening she had started, and flipped the manhole cover out of the way. Metal steps embedded into the reinforced concrete led down about ten feet. It looked dry from the top.
“Watch out, step back! Some of these sewers have poison gas that builds up,” David said, remembering his Dad’s warnings.
“David, I am not good with going into another tomb,” Zeke said, shakily. He was carrying Jorge.
“Zeke, death is coming in this fallout. You get in a shelter or you die—it’s that simple,” David said calmly, pointing to the fallout clouds.
“And the clock is ticking, game on, the play has started,” David added.
“I am not so good with small spaces either,” joined in Jorge. David couldn’t believe it. This was not the time for a psychotherapy session. He knew fear and panic are contagious, and he had to deal with this immediately.
“Zeke, you have to go in the sewer for LeS
hawn and Monique,” David said softly, positioning himself directly in Zeke’s face.
“Yeah—right. No problem,” said Zeke suddenly, as if a light switched on.
“I am good to go,” Zeke said.
“I need two of you to stand by this opening, and two of you to go pry open the manhole cover up the hill,” David pointed. “Do not go in, unless we call you. Move !”
Karen and Doron grabbed the pry bars and ran up the hill. David and Zeke grabbed their cellphones. Zeke also put on his miner’s headband Doron made.
The steps led down about twelve feet to an equipment staging area with two intersecting sewage tunnels six feet below. The staging area seemed about fifteen feet by twenty feet.
David checked the slime water level mark stain on the tunnels, it looked like the highest level was about two feet deep.
Take it easy, he told himself, don’t panic to get out of the fallout and get trapped in a tunnel. The tunnels seemed about five feet in diameter, everyone had to stoop to walk in them, and less than five inches of liquid flowed. There was good airflow, no stale air.
David and Zeke started walking towards the manhole cover Karen and Doron were opening, and suddenly felt the air rush in as they opened the manhole.
“We can see your light,” Karen shouted into the hole. Her voice sounded anxious, but she had not panicked yet, David thought.
“We are almost there,” said David.
Zeke and David climbed six feet up and there was a smaller equipment staging area where apparently pumps would be repaired or installed. There were grease stains on the concrete, discarded pumping lines, and splattered cement. It was about six feet above the sewer tunnels, and about nine feet below the street.
“Hand us a pry bar,” David said. Karen hurriedly handed him one.
“Now, put the manhole cover back on and see if I can pry it open from the inside. If I tap three times on the cover you pry it open,” David said.
Doron and Karen replaced the manhole cover with an ominous thud. David was pleasantly surprised. It was much easier to open the cover from underneath as there were handgrips and a recessed pry bar slot.
David peeked his head out, “Ok, so it’s not home sweet home, deal with it.”
David climbed out to help get everyone inside the tunnel and Zeke helped from inside. David scanned around for buildings or anything nearby that could collapse and trap them in the sewer.
Doron climbed down, helped by Zeke, followed by Liu, Jorge, Karen, and finally, an out of breath, Ashley. They would shelter in the equipment staging areas above the sewer tunnels.
David was the last one above ground, making sure everyone climbed down. He noticed Karen had lingered behind, waiting to make sure he was safe.
As he shut the manhole cover, David saw masses of darker clouds closing in. He still could not adjust to the fact that away from the clouds, it was bright and sunny.
But there it was, dirty snow was falling in the California sunshine.
David didn’t even realize he was humming an old tune from a TV special on classic commercials, the California Raisin’s tune of Heard it Through the Grapevine from this morning, until Zeke started pointing his hand in the air like the raisins in the commercial, and singing. Doron banged his pry bar against the tunnel in rhythm. Everyone seemed to know the commercial, they started joining in, laughing and clapping. It did seem they were marching, just like those determined California raisins in the commercial.
“Those California Raisins, they did what had to be done,” Zeke explained.
“California Raisins- raised in the California sunshine,” Doron added.
Everyone’s singing died about the same time. It became quiet. Later you could hear muffled weeping in the darkness.
17.
“Stand back,” Doron said, motioning, as he carefully spread out both military ponchos on the cement floor. He carefully unpacked everything in both backpacks. He was in a hurry, because it would soon be totally dark. The fallout clouds were snuffing out the sunlight, although it was hours until sunset. The faint light from the manhole cover crack would soon disappear and he wanted to conserve the flashlight batteries.
“Impressive,” Doron said. He was extremely grateful for the thought and planning that had gone into packing these surplus Alice military backpacks. Doron recognized they were BOBs Bug out Bags.
Everything was there, including matches, food, potassium iodide, baking soda, and medical supplies.
“Problem is, this was packed for two people, not seven, and assumed a water supply,” Doron said.
“Jackpot!” Doron said.
“The most valuable item is this Swiss water filter!” Doron exclaimed.
He held up the filter, about the size of a large banana, weighing about a pound. The black pump canvas pump bag was also packed with coffee filters and rubber bands.
“That’s the type used by Marine Recon and Special Forces when they were in Afghanistan. Each will filter about thirteen thousand gallons of water, but only if the water is pre-filtered with coffee filter paper, or you skim the water where there is no debris,” David explained.
“Here is the intake hose,” David explained as he spread out the thin clear plastic hose. “It comes with an adjustable rubber stopper, like an adjustable cork on a fishing line, to keep the intake out of the dirt bottom when you get water from a stream.”
“You pump the handle, then water flows out of the hose you attach to the bottom,” David demonstrated.
Doron alone seemed to realize how important the water filter was, he knew that water borne disease was the major killer in third world countries without a solid infrastructure. America’s infrastructure would likely be destroyed or at a minimum inoperable for a long time. This Swiss water pump was literally worth its weight in gold.
There was one tent, about six pounds. He tossed the tent to Karen She read the attachments, “TCOP–Tent, Combat One Person” made in Binghamton NY by Eureka! The credit card receipt was wrapped in a self-sealing plastic bag and proved Maj. Steve Phelps had personally paid $333.90 for the military specifications (mil spec) tent, and not stolen it from the Air Force.
There was no need for a tent since they were underground, but Karen measured the space.
“This dome tent can be erected here,” Karen said.
“Why?” asked Ashley, “we are underground.”
“Privacy,” Karen said without elaboration. She had learned from the cattle roundup camps on the ranch that if they were all going to live here for a couple of weeks, having a private place to go for a while would become psychologically important.
Doron squeezed the backpack flat to be sure he had not missed anything, and felt a small rectangular bulge about five inches by three inches underneath the over flap. He turned the bag over and found a concealed compartment underneath the over flap sealed with sewn in Velcro. He pulled it open, and a green, waterproof, flip top checklist notebook ‘Air Crew Survival’ slid out.
“That call that the ‘Green Survival Bible’ for pilots who have been shot down,” David explained. “It’s a book of survival checklists. This is the most important part of the backpack. Everyone is going to have to read and understand this,” David said, as he tossed it to Doron.
18.
“I looked out the crack in the manhole cover, the fallout is heavy, its covering the ground as far as you can see,” Zeke said breathlessly, as he approached.
“Everything is covered with dirty snow, about three to four inches already. The sun is blocked out, it’s getting really dark,” he finished slowly.
It was quiet for a few moments. Everyone looked down, then at each other sitting against the wall. David lit one of the large candles, and everyone instinctively gathered closer around the small light.
“We have a military survival book that each of you will have to read,” David said, pointing to Doron who held the book up.
“It says we have to stay out of radioactive fallout for two weeks. We have at least
ten feet of dirt above our head and concrete which will shield us from the fallout,” David explained.
“What about our families?” Ashley asked with a strange calm. “How can we abandon them?” Zeke thought about LeShawn and Monique.
“If you go out in the fallout you will die a slow, painful, death from radiation sickness,” David explained. “You will get severe diarrhea, your hair will fall out, and you will bleed to death.”
“That’s a fact,” he said, looking each person in the eye.
“Hopefully our families are sheltered up also,” David said.
Zeke tried to relax. His Mom was pretty good about picking up the kids at three. Not much he could do anyway, he thought, he rode seventeen miles to school.
“None of your families would want you leave a safe shelter, and die trying to find them,” David said firmly.
“We have enough water for about two days,” David said. “We are going to ration it out. Then according to the survival book, we can go out for thirty minutes to get water if there are no more nuke blasts,” David explained.
“When we get back, we have to be sure we have no fallout dust on our shoes or clothes, before we get back into this room,” David said. “It’s called decontamination, and we have instructions in this book.”
“What do you mean, if there are no more blasts?” Ashley asked.
“We don’t know what is going on. We do know we saw three mushroom clouds. We could still be hit by more nukes,” David explained.
“We are all tired, in shock, and I am not thinking the best. We will set up a night watch, each person taking two hours. The night watch person carries a whistle, the flashlight, and if you want, a gun. The shotgun is the best for tunnel defense.”
“When you finish your watch, wake up the next person. You do not leave until they get up and walk on duty. The guns will be loaded and stacked against the wall. Be sure you know how to reach them in the dark,” David said.
“Do not fall asleep while on watch,” David said, pausing as he made individual eye contact. “Everyone is depending upon you. We have coffee and caffeine pills. Here is my watch,” he said. Zeke saw it was almost six pm.
Nuclear War Club: Seven high school students are in detention when Nuclear War explodes.Game on, they are on their own. Page 7
