Zeke pointed eastward, “There is the school monkey bars and swings. And there is what’s left of the Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church and the Two Spot bar,” Zeke said. David knew the church was two doors down from Zeke’s house.
It was clear no one survived. Apparently one nuke’s ground zero was downtown, about fifteen blocks from Zeke’s house. All the debris was leveled and most of it was melted.
“Let’s get closer,” Zeke said.
Zeke seemed to have a road radar, and became more sure of the footprint the closer they got to his house, but he still had to drive slow due to the debris. Portions of the foundation and basement of the church were all that remained of the entire block.
“Zeke, heads up. That fallout is waist deep, the wind has blown it against the rubble,” Jorge said.
Zeke jumped out, and ran through fallout ranging from knee high, to waist deep, to where he guessed their home used to be. He walked slowly back.
“Maybe they were still at school,” Zeke said.
The monkey bars and the metal swing set frames were bent and twisted, but had survived in all the rubble of the school.
Zeke suddenly remembered the school had no basement. School buses lay twisted and crushed, and He could see the nuke went off just as the after school when classes were letting out and kids getting into the busses. He slammed his hand into the monkey bars, gashing his right arm.
“Zeke, now you know,” David said quietly.
Essie, Zeke thought suddenly.
Essie would have been with Monique and LeShawn in the school bus.
“See that bus, it had kid’s backpacks inside! They didn’t die alone, frightened, wondering where I was. Essie had picked them up and was with them,” Zeke told David and Jorge.
“Those other busses were in line for pick….” Jorge stopped mid word. Out of the corner of his eye, Zeke saw David quickly shoot Jorge a withering glance.
“You are right, Zeke,” David interrupted, patting him on the back.
“That’s exactly what happened. Essie was there with LeShawn and Monique. It’s good we came to see it with our own eyes,” David said.
“Yes, it’s clear that’s what happened, Zeke,” Jorge said quickly.
Zeke thought that was the truth, or what he wanted, what he had to believe.
“Yeah,” Zeke said, turning as he wiped his eyes.
“Now I know for sure.”
It was quite for a few moments. Zeke saw David and Jorge looking away, giving him time. Time he knew they didn’t have.
“Zeke, you went through a lot of fallout. Take off your clothes, shake them, then put them back on. We need to get all the dust off,” David said.
“Keep your bandana over your nose and mouth,” Jorge warned Zeke.
Zeke disrobed, shook the dust off his clothes down wind, and dressed quickly.
“Let’s go, David. You drive. Get a move on, we are getting microwaved,” Zeke said.
22.
Karen and Doron had left the manhole cover cracked so they could easily open it.
“Karen, we need to decontaminate Zeke first. He had to run through a lot of dust. It would be better for you to go back to the tent manhole, and wait for us so you don’t get any dust,” David said. Liu turned to walk down the tunnel, back to the tent.
“No,” Karen said through the bandana over her mouth. “We have studied the decontamination part of the survival book. The water is here and have rigged up a shower by making steps.”
“Dump your clothes in this plastic garbage bag,” Doron ordered. “They will be decontaminated in about two weeks.”
Karen and Liu made no move to leave.
When Liu shined the flashlight on Zeke, Karen and realized Zeke had serious, deep, radiation burns.
“Zeke has been severely burned,” Karen said raising her voice. She picked up a wet t-shirt rolled into a wad, and threw it at Zeke,“ Get to it, every second of radiation could be critical.”
“David is this the same women who threatened you if we didn’t change clothes somewhere else?” Zeke tried to joke, but no one was laughing.
Zeke turned his back to Karen and Liu, and took off all his clothes except his underwear. David and Jorge turned, undressed, and put on their gym clothes. They dumped their street clothes in Doron’s garbage bag. It was dead quiet.
Karen regretted raising her voice. Weren’t Doctors supposed to be calm and encouraging? It seemed that Zeke, David, and Jorge were now really scared.
“Wash your hands off first, then your feet,” Karen ordered, as she tilted the water backpack.
“Now use the wet t-shirt to rinse off from the head down,” Liu said. Zeke’s legs and arms were already inflamed, like a really bad sunburn.
There was no joking, they could now see the burns all over. It was all so quick, this was nasty, Karen thought. David had red streaks around his neck and shoulders. Jorge’s feet were blistered. The dirt filled backpacks had probably saved them, Karen observed, as the radiation burns stopped around the areas covered by the dirt shoes and backpacks.
“Scrub hard!” Karen commanded, urgently, and louder than she meant to project, “I still see some ash.”
Zeke suddenly erupted with both bloody diarrhea and vomiting. Blood oozed out of both orifices. Zeke seemed dazed, confused, uncomprehending, as he stared at the blood in his hands.
“Doron!” Karen yelled as she sprung and caught Zeke just before he hit the cement floor. They quickly wrapped Zeke in the green army wool blanket, as blood trickled out of his mouth.
“David and Jorge, put on those clothes and sit down until we get Zeke,” Karen said.
Karen knew intellectually about radiation exposure, but it was brutal to actually see a prime athlete helpless. And Karen realized David and Jorge had been out just as long as Zeke.
Karen quickly used the Velcro strips to tighten the blanket around Zeke.
“Fold the poncho lengthwise, we will use it as a litter to carry Zeke back,” Liu said. “Tie the parachute cord through the grommet holes as a handle,” she demonstrated.
David and Jorge were vomiting, although Doron did not see any blood. Neither one had diarrhea. Zeke seemed very cold, and was grateful for the blanket.
“I can walk,” Zeke said shakily.
“We need you to relax, and let us carry you,” Karen said calmly, shaking her head “No” at Doron, while checking Zeke’s forehead. He was burning up, she thought.
Doron and Liu rolled Zeke onto the poncho litter. Doron carried the front, Karen and Liu each took one side in the back. David wiped his mouth, then stood up to help Doron carry Zeke when Karen said softly, “David, we need you and Jorge to help us out by staying here until we get Zeke back to the tent. Can you do that for us?”
“Sure,” said David, as he sat down and leaned against the wall. Karen noticed he was also shaky and weak. He seemed confused and sluggish..
Karen thought the thirty yards to the home hole seemed to take forever. Zeke seemed to zone in and out mentally. He babbled incoherently about LeShawn and Monique, and someone named Essie, and vomited.
Karen’s hands ached from the cord handles, and she was surprised at Liu’s toughness. Zeke was skinny, but heavily muscled, and it seemed he weighed a lot.
They set Zeke down next to the tent. “He has a fever,” Karen said. “If he is conscious, get him to drink some water, and an energy drink with a pinch of baking soda, sugar, and salt sprinkled in,” Karen said.
“What can we do?” Doron asked.
“He should be okay, I think we got the dust off quick enough. He had dust on the areas burned. Having fallout dust on your skin is like having a hot iron Frying pan rammed against you. He is in great physical shape, and should recover. The survival book says rest and water are the treatment,” Karen said.
“Page 116 says,” Karen read from the green pocket notebook, “Aircrew Survival”:
(4)Radiation sickness (nausea, weakness, fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of hair, radiation b
urn)
(a) Takes time to overcome
(b) Rest
(c) Drink fluids
(d) Take anti vomiting agent
(e) Maintain food intake
(f) Prevent additional exposure
“We have to be sure he is not dehydrated from vomiting and diarrhea, but you can only give him liquids when he is conscious. He must be kept clean and however warm he wants. If he is in pain, David has ibuprofen and acetaminophen. If we run out, David has a small airplane bottle of whiskey,” Karen explained.
“He may be delirious, we have to keep him away from the guns,” Liu added.
Karen heard Jorge’s crutches scraping against the cement floor of the tunnel. David and Jorge had made it back to home sweet hole under their own power. Karen felt relieved, Zeke should be okay, the bleeding had stopped. David and Jorge were ambulatory, had bad burns, had puked all over everything, but never had diarrhea. Karen noticed Liu cleaned up the vomit without complaint.
Karen and David went in to check on Zeke, who was sleeping peacefully after taking the pain medicine. Karen noticed Liu had laid her Snicker’s Bar next to him.
Karen tried to hide it, but she was very relieved that both David and Jorge had regained their appetite after repeated vomiting. They ate their ration of a large chocolate bars, peanuts, and raisins, but were still shaking and weak.
“Doron, Ashley, Liu and I need to take guard duty tonight. And we have to watch the north manhole, they probably left tracks in the fallout dust to the manhole cover,” Karen whispered, thinking David and Jorge were asleep.
“Actually, we erased our tracks,” David said.
“Well, at least you guys did one thing right,” Karen thought, but did not say. She was so relieved David was recovering, she swallowed her snappy reply.
23.
“Bone dry by tomorrow,” David said.
Karen watched him count the remaining water bottles again. He seemed desperate. She noticed whenever David was under stress, he got up and moved around. David’s Dad had packed one duffle bag entirely full of one quart canteens of water, and Doron had found about 2 gallons in the kitchen at the school. But they used a lot, especially Zeke.
“Yes, tomorrow. After the lunch ration,” Liu confirmed, double counting the supplies.
“We are going to have to go out tomorrow on a search op,” David said.
“Well, it is Day 5,” Doron said. Every morning they watched him mark the days on the wall with scratches from his knife. That was appropriate, Karen said, after all, they were now cavemen. Or cave people, to be correct.
They still called it day, but it was dark all the time in the tunnel. The darkness had a gloomy, depressing effect on everyone. It was also monotonous. Karen had never thought about the fact that outside the weather was always changing. Here it was the same every day. If you added the lack of food, and the fact you had seven human beings stuck underground in a small space, you had the recipe for cabin fever on steroids. Tempers were short and they got on each other’s nerves.
“How is the skylight coming?” Karen asked.
Doron was working on a periscope device to mirror in light to the north tunnel from the air shaft. Jorge helped, saying it passed time.
“Making good progress, I think it will work,” Doron replied. Jorge nodded.
Karen noticed Zeke slowly seemed to recover, or at least not get worse. He was still weak and had not returned to guard duty. He continually squeezed the self-charging hand held flashlight, and read the Air Crew Survival book over and over. He was up to twenty pushups, seven sit-ups and two pull-ups using a bar placed across the metal steps up the shaft. Zeke updated everyone, out loud, about his progress. This was less than ten percent of what he used to do, but he could feel he was recovering.
Karen told Zeke not to worry about the hair loss, and he was relieved when he read for himself that prognosis on page 116.
David and Jorge had recovered and were taking guard duty. Ashley had withdrawn from the group. She wasn’t disagreeable, she just was not there mentally. She had not eaten her rations, and was unconcerned about her appearance, which was a flashing red warning sign for the normally narcissistic Ashley. David seemed very concerned. David asked her to go with him to talk to Ashley, who was staring down the dark tunnel.
“Ashley,” David said.
“Yes,” Ashley said, but not turning her head.
“Ashley, we need your help,” David said. Ashley didn’t say anything but turned her head towards David and Karen.
“We need you to study Chapter Three, the medical and hygiene section. Then we need you to give everyone a briefing each night before we eat on a small section,” David said, handing Ashley the book.
“The book doesn’t have any treatment for gunshot wounds, so I want you to keep an eye open for any medical books on gunshot wounds when we are outside later,” David said.
“I can do that,” Ashley said. “I will go up to the north end, so I can read by the air shaft light,” Ashley said positively, as she walked north with a new purpose. After Ashley left, David turned to Karen on the way back to the tent area.
“Karen, did you notice the very last section of the book?” David asked.
“No, I focused on decontamination,” Karen answered.
“There is a Spiritual Survival Checklist on page 120 of the Official Air Force survival guide,” David said.
“Think about that for a moment,” David continued.
“Space in the book is limited, the pilots actually carry this book while they are flying. The Air Force knew that the Spiritual Survival was key to physical survival,” David said. Karen remained quiet.
“The checklist says, “If you can remember scripture verses or hymns, repeat them to yourself or God,” David recited.
“The checklist also says, “Thank God that He is bigger than your circumstances. And it says, “Encourage each other while waiting for rescue, God loves you, Praise the Lord.”
David paused a moment, looking at the Aircrew Survival book.
“Dad gave me this book. He said a senior officer kept it when the Christian Chaplains were purged from the Air Force, and these books were ordered to be retrieved, and destroyed, by the White House. That officer hid his, and gave it to my Dad when he retired,” David said.
Karen smiled, and took the book from his hand. She couldn’t help it. Despite her normal wariness, she was losing her skepticism about him.
24.
“Karen, we have to take a recon trip for water today. We also need to find food, but water is primary. I need your help planning, it’s a time critical mission due to the radiation. Maybe send out separate scouts,” David said, as they walked up to the tent.
“I think we need to go as a team, no telling what we run across. And you need to let us take this trip, sit this one out,” Karen said.
“The dose effect is cumulative. It’s all on page 116,” Karen explained.
“Doron and Liu, we are up, it’s our turn to ride the lightning,” Karen said, pointing.
“Our glow boys need to sit this one out,” Karen finished. David hesitated, then nodded, and pointed to Doron for the mission brief.
“The best sources are springs, wells or underground sources. Next is water in pipes or containers in abandoned buildings. Hot water heaters have about forty gallons. That’s a possible source. If we strike out there, we go to lakes or streams,” Doron summarized.
“David, Jorge and Zeke will build the radiation water filter on page 115, and then we will filter through David’s commercial ceramic water filter,” Doron said.
“I read somewhere that there is always a two day supply of food en route on trucks, so if you see any semitrailers that are not destroyed, lets open them up,” Doron added.
Everyone helped them suit up in dirt filled backpacks, stuffed socks, dirt filled overshoes, and improvised ponchos.
“If you see any binoculars or medical texts on gunshot wounds bring them back,” reminded David.
“Try to conceal your tracks back,” David said.
“The hatch will be open. Three whistles means you need help. Whistle three times and we will come,” David assured them.
“Thirty minutes there and back,” David said.
“No more,” David said as they climbed out. Karen fell behind less than thirty yards after they left the tunnel. Her legs ached from the added weight of the fallout vests. She was soaked with sweat, and it was hard to breathe.
To Karen’s annoyance, Liu and Doron seemed under no distress. Liu was a marathon runner, but Karen suspected the sedentary Doron had immediately dumped out most of his dirt.
“There, to the left,” pointed Doron. A Wal-Mart semi-truck was twisted around both sides of a crushed highway overpass. Doron pulled out his metal pry bar and tried to open the back door of the semi-trailer. It wouldn’t budge, the top was wedged sideways. He walked to the side, and punched a hole in the roof of the trailer, and Liu punched another cut nearby. He then used the military folding shovel like a can opener to pry open a hole large enough to reach Liu’s cut. He then crawled in the trailer.
“I am having to adjust to the dim light in the trailer,” Doron yelled.
Karen and Liu looked through the door cut in the trailer. Doron had trouble moving, the trailer was tipped sideways. He quickly threw aside boxes of all the junk Wal-Mart sold, including towels, dog food, motor oil, clocks, toys, children’s clothes, and office paper supplies.
“Water!” Doron shouted.
There were two entire pallets of distilled water in one gallon jugs, shrunk wrapped in plastic in plastic milk carton type crates tilted sideways. About half were smashed open, but the other half, about fifty gallons, were unopened.
“Karen and Liu, empty your backpacks, and stay outside the trailer. I will fill the packs and hand them to you, take off, and I will follow.”
Doron was only able to get about four gallons in each backpack, but Karen calculated the trailer was so close they could make three trips in their thirty minutes. She quickly checked David’s watch, they had eighteen minutes left when she reached David.
Nuclear War Club: Seven high school students are in detention when Nuclear War explodes.Game on, they are on their own. Page 9
