Nuclear War Club: Seven high school students are in detention when Nuclear War explodes.Game on, they are on their own.

by Triarii, Colt

  “You are not our parents,” Doron said.

  “Realize there is enough whiskey and marijuana around after attack day to last all of us,” said Doron, holding his hands out, palms up in reconciliation.

  “No,” said David, with an ominous, quiet, finality.

  Chloe panicked when she saw Karen casually put her finger above the trigger guard on her AR 15, and move next to David, back to back.

  “You either stop, or you leave,” David said calmly. Chloe noted Karen nodded sagely, like David had just pronounced the wisest judgment of all time.

  “Each of you are endangering the lives of everyone here. In combat there is no time off to get high. Everyone here is carrying automatic weapons, and you want to get high!” David exclaimed.

  “We are responsible for the kids,” David said, menacingly, in a vicious tone Chloe had never heard before. Chloe noticed K-Bar tensed, and crouched, looking at Karen.

  “You got high, and fell asleep on guard duty with your M16 pointed at the camp,” David said.

  “The whole country is there for you to smoke weed and drink. So get out, or stop,” David said.

  “Screw you!” Doron screamed at David, grabbing the duffle bags. K Bar began to growl, looking at Karen.

  “Notice that none of you even get to speak, David almighty has spoken!” Doron taunted. But Doron looked at Mike, Chloe, and Liu, and realized that they backed David, and it made him even more angry and bitter.

  Zeke reached past David, and got his duffle bag, avoiding David’s eye.

  “Zeke, this is no good. Stay!” David urged.

  “No,” said Zeke. “I am out of here, too.”

  “I am leaving with them,” said Ashley.

  Karen rushed up to Ashley, and touched her arm, “Don’t go with them, this is trouble!”

  “Back off,” Ashley said, jerking her arm away.

  “No K-Bar!” Karen yelled as K Bar growled and bared his teeth to bite Ashley.

  “You can take a truck and your guns. Take a bladder of water and food,” said David, lowering his voice and patting K-Bar.

  It was over in two minutes. Chloe was amazed there were no gunshots.

  Doron defiantly lit a joint, then blew the smoke at David and Karen.

  They fled east in a cloud of dust, with no recon.

  97.

  “There is an abandoned mining site at Rattlesnake Ridge. They had a water tunnel from the mountain spring, and they should have water and gas,” explained David, showing them the map and the tour book.

  They had learned that all trips should be based upon water supplies. Travelling from spring to spring was smart. But springs were also natural ambush sites, many were littered with bloated corpses of those who camped there. And the greens routinely poisoned the wells, so each had to be tested, and usually cleaned out. The trucks and the water bladders provided a huge security advantage since they could load up with water, then move to a deserted area to camp.

  “We are entering survivalist territory,” David said.

  “The Colorado Utah border has many areas where people built shelters and planned ahead for nuclear war. They will be armed, trained and ready to defend. Once we reach better water sources, the survivalist areas will increase.” said David.

  Mike nodded, and added wood to the campfire. The sun would rise soon. Chloe retrieved the coffee pot, and refilled everyone equally. Everyone unconsciously followed David’s lead, and sat facing away from the fire, always alert, scanning the desert.

  “Most survivalists will be defending their homes, not off ambushing and killing people. Some survivalists formed communities, and have medical professionals, and clinics,” continued David.

  “If the United States Government did not survive, it will be reborn with survivalist families setting up towns and then cities. Remember, in America the pioneers formed communities in the wilderness, then formed state Governments. Not the other way around,” David said.

  It was quiet, the fire crackled, then David continued.

  “My Dad told me that after the Roman Empire collapsed, the barbarians sacked the city. Romans who had been living off the free welfare dole corn ration still gathered for weeks at the place where they had received the corn. They could not accept the collapse, even though they were in the collapsed ruins,” David said.

  “They had become dependent on welfare. They had lost the ability to be self-sufficient. They thought the corn grew from where they lined up each day to get the corn dole.”

  “See, they were entitled, ” David paused.

  “We will see the same mindset in some survivors,” David said. “They are still waiting for Walmart’s to reopen and accept their EBT food stamp cards.”

  “How do you know all this?” asked Mike.

  “Country folks can survive, it was a country song by Hank Williams Jr.” David said , smiling.

  “Sweet home Alabama,” added David.

  “Were you born in Alabama?” asked Mike, who detected no accent.

  “No, I was born in New York. But we lived in Alabama two years,” said David.

  “You seem to have adapted to Alabama,” Mike added.

  “Coach told me not to worry about being from New York,” David explained.

  “True, you have to play the cards you are dealt, everyone has a past” Mike said drily.

  “There are, or maybe were, fifty states. But Alabama is more than just a state, it is a state of mind,” said David.

  Karen started laughing. “Alabama, a state of mind? No wonder I married you,” she said, hugging his arm.

  “Karen, just think of all the top songs about Alabama,” David prodded.

  “Sweet Home Alabama,” said David. “Somewhere, sometime, played in every NFL game.”

  “My Home’s in Alabama,” interjected Chloe.

  “By the top group, Alabama,” added David.

  “Then ask yourself how many top songs about Connecticut, or Oregon, or any of the other forty nine states?” asked David.

  “Texas,” Chloe said. “There are lots of songs about Texas.”

  “Granted,” said David. “If you can’t go to Alabama , Texas is close enough.”

  “We interrupt this Alabama love fest for a message from our sponsor, Get on the road!” said Mike, smiling.

  “We stay on the paved road until we cross the Midnight Canyon. Hopefully we can use one of the two bridges, if not, we will have to detour,” said Mike. He shoveled dirt over the fire, as David folded up his maps.

  Storm clouds darkened the sky as they sped southeast. David had never seen clouds cover the high desert sky from horizon to horizon.

  Diary of Liu Nguyen

  We had a showdown over drugs. Ashley, Doron and Zeke left.

  It is awkward now, Karen and David are married. Mike and Chloe are married. They are it now, besides the kids. I am the odd person out.

  I look at them laugh and talk around the campfire. They seem so happy, so comfortable, so complete with each other.

  I wonder where I will ever find a husband.

  98.

  Rattlesnake Ridge, Elevation 5,964 feet, the metal sign, riddled with bullet holes, proclaimed. A two lane road hugged the mountains, twisting to the top of the ridge.

  “The two story medical clinic is our objective,” David said, using the map on the hood of the truck, and pointing.

  David scanned the Shell gas station signs promising Rocky Mountain High Marijuana Longs, Tastee Fried Chicken, Marlboros, Coors Light, Lotto tickets, and Red Bull.

  There was another layer of businesses crammed behind the road front shops. The ridge only afforded a narrow strip of level ground. A rocky dirt road terraced down and out to another flat strip about thirty yards below. This second ridge was crammed with weathered mobile homes, satellite dishes, garbage cans, bricks of smashed aluminum cans, children’s swings, and worn trampolines.

  David parked his motorcycle behind the Winston County Sheriff’s Annex and walked down the street.

&nb
sp; “Once I am at the objective, meet me there,” David radioed. He heard the acknowledgement clicks.

  There was no sign of recent human. The road was dust free, but there was a downdraft from the top of the ridge. Windswept garbage littered the road and the sidewalks, but none of the windows were smashed.

  The road ended in a cul-de-sac and David saw vultures squatting outside a brick two story building.

  “Urgent Care Entrance–Medical Clinic” the florescent green letters proclaimed. The double front glass doors were propped open, and two ambulances were backed up to the adjacent loading dock. Clouds of black flies swarmed around the glass doors and the open ambulances.

  David saw a marked Sheriff’s car to the left of the building in a connecting alley. The doors to the police car were open, and a shotgun remained upright attached to a metal barricade between the driver and back seat. There were bullet holes in the back door of the car, and the front passenger seat right window was shattered. A bloody handprint was splattered on the black plastic back seat.

  David suddenly understood that every police officer in town had died protecting the kids in the clinic.

  “At Objective,” David radioed. Everyone drove up.

  “Why do you think the medical clinic was attacked, and why were the kids killed?” asked Mike.

  “It could be those were addicts running out of supply,” said David. “Realize addicts without a fix will die a horrible death. It’s like withdrawal is a self-fulfilling court sentence.”

  “Or?” asked Karen.

  “It could have been terrorists needing medicine for gunshot wounds and radiation after the nuke attack,” said David.

  “So everyone here survived the nuke, then had this shootout?” asked Karen.

  “We don’t know, it’s just a guess,” said David.

  “But there are plenty of mine shafts in this mountain that would be ideal fallout shelters,” David continued. “And the town doesn’t appear to have any blast damage, only fallout.”

  “Mike, can you and Chloe go to the hiking outfitter and see if they have any backpacks? Then get what medicines we need from the second floor. Maybe see if there are any medical books you need,” David asked. Chloe nodded.

  “Guns locked and loaded,” David added.

  David saluted Mike. They had decided he would be the salute commander, since he was old, over 30, and that’s what terrorists would expect. Mike and Chloe returned the salute.

  “Karen, can you and Liu and the kids fuel up the trucks and motorcycles at the Sheriff’s office? Be sure one of you is on guard the whole time,” said David.

  Liu nodded, “Sure.”

  “And Liu, if you can, load all the bullet proof vests you can find,” said David.

  “I will look for water,” said David.

  “Deploy Bravo and Charlie platoons outside the perimeter facing north,” said David loudly, to be overheard.

  “Yes, sir,” Liu replied, saluting crisply.

  David felt they were being watched.

  No, he knew, somehow, they were being watched. It wasn’t just a fear. It was the same as when someone behind you stares at you—you know it.

  It now began to rain steadily, drenching everything. David was more than ready to leave. Maybe it was the dead children, but this town spooked him.

  Karen and Liu had all the medicine loaded, and they had even found some bullet proof vests at the Sheriff’s office.

  “Mike, any ideas on a campsite?” David asked.

  “Yes, we should pass a flat mountain ridge twelve miles ahead that should be ideal, if the roads are okay,” Mike said. “It’s called Waffle Iron Butte”.

  “Fall back, Special Op soldiers, scrub the ambush!” a harsh, angry voice blasted in Karen’s ear over a police transceiver.

  Karen ran over to Mike and David told them, then hit the dirt, scanning with her sniper scope. The broadcast was close, line of sight within the mountains enveloping the town. But she could not find a target. David and Mike set up a perimeter, while Chloe and Karen grabbed the kids, and fled out of town on the two trucks.

  David remembered Sarge had always said when your gut says leave, leave.

  Find a reason later.

  99.

  David and Mike scouted ahead on the motorcycle and the four wheeler. Everyone else was in the two trucks. The rain poured steadily, but the wind had died down. Dark clouds passed just above the mountains.

  Mike followed about a quarter of a mile behind David. They passed several washouts of mud crossing the road, but the grade was so steep downward that the water had dissipated quickly. Mike moved rocks out of the road, then climbed back on his four wheeler.

  Mike looked through his binoculars and saw that at the bottom of Rattlesnake Ridge the road crossed a creek, then begin the ascent to Waffle Iron Butte. David stopped, motioning for Mike to halt.

  “The creek is at flood stage, the bridge is two feet under water,” David said. “It will probably be okay tomorrow.”

  Mike heard the sickening thud of bullets hitting Chloe’s truck, then the cab windshield shattered into small glass pellets. Chloe threw Samuel into the floorboard, and Brad and Cheryl jumped on top. Mike ducked as he heard bullets thump into the sandbags tied on the hood and behind the cab.

  “Gunfire from the creek!” Mike screamed.

  “I will cover, you get them out,” David shouted to Mike, as he unloaded a clip blindly at the ambush site.

  Gas, Mike smelled gas. Chloe’s truck tank was leaking. They were probably half a mile away from the bridge, and the road was elevated above the creek. Karen and Liu stopped, crouched behind their truck, and searched for the shooters.

  “There was an ambush waiting at the bridge!” David radioed Karen.

  “They have people on both sides of the bridge. Scan the mountain above us until the kids get out!” David yelled.

  Karen nodded, fired a couple of shots randomly across the bridge. Liu scanned with the binoculars at the mountain above them, looking for a target for Karen.

  Gas gushed from the truck leaving a wide slick rushing to the bridge.

  “Mike, light the gas, as soon as they are out. The gas is funneling right down to the ambush,” Karen radioed.

  As Mike was thinking about it, the truck burst into a huge fireball. He smelled his hair singe. The flames raced down to the bridge, following the gas.

  They heard screaming, then Karen sprayed an entire clip. Three men had been hiding in a ditch at the bridge, until the gas fire raced downstream. Karen shot all of them when they jumped up to escape the flames. Rapid, sporadic gunfire erupted, and David hit the pavement looking for a target. The sound came from Chloe’s truck, the spare ammo was cooking off randomly in the fireball.

  Mike, Chloe and the kids escaped the truck and were running away from the creek, and towards Karen’s truck, when the edge of the fireball outran them. Mike had jumped on top of Samuel and Cheryl.

  David heard screaming from beyond the creek. It sounded familiar, but he couldn’t place it.

  David saw Karen, Liu and K-Bar run from their truck towards the swollen creek ambush site.

  “That’s Ashley!” Karen screamed.

  100.

  David and Mike struggled to keep up with Karen, while Liu and Chloe set up a perimeter around the kids.

  Ashley was almost unrecognizable. She had been savagely beaten. Her face was swollen, cut and bruised. Both hands and feet were tied up, her hair was matted down with dried mud. Blood seeped from the cloth gagging her mouth. She was jumping away from the woods, into the road, as bullets ripped the water around her.

  “Get down Ashley!” Karen screamed.

  Ashley looked towards Karen and jumped onto a boulder sticking out of the water.

  Mike, David, and Karen opened up on full auto at the gun flashes, and the shooting stopped. Karen reached Ashley first, and cut off the ropes.

  “Where are they?” Karen screamed.

  Ashley just sobbed uncontrollably, but pointed,
as Karen motioned for Mike to stay with her.

  David caught up, and Mike, winded, tossed him two clips. Karen put in a new clip and motioned for David to stay on her far left as they climbed the ridge. Karen pulled two grenades out of her combat pack, as K-Bar cut around to the left on her signal.

  David saw Karen shoot the first one with a single burst. Karen lost the last two, who ran away in the firefight. She couldn’t find any tracks in the rain.

  But K-Bar tracked them to a slit trench. The dog crouched silently, waiting for Karen to catch up.

  Karen looked, then tossed in a grenade, and it was over.

  101.

  When Karen came back to their tent, she was seething with anger.

  “I will kill Doron and Zeke,” she told David, taking off her boots. He had never seen Karen this angry, let alone homicidal.

  “Doron, Ashley, and Zeke were stoned in their camp. They didn’t have any night watch set up, typical big bowl of stupid. A gang came up, and surrounded them. Zeke shot and killed a couple of them. They asked for a cease fire, said they only wanted Ashley. No need for anyone else to die.”

  “If Doron and Zeke betrayed and abandoned Ashley, they could leave,” Karen paused, disgusted.

  “So Doron and Zeke deserted Ashley and ran away!” Karen raged.

  “Ashley was repeatedly raped and beaten until we came.” Karen said shaking violently.

  “Tomorrow morning, I will track them down, and kill them both, Zeke and Doron,” she said calmly, as she climbed into the sleeping bag. David was chilled by the calm detachment and certainty in her voice. It would happen, he thought.

  “I saw their tracks, and K-Bar had their scent,” Karen explained confidently. “It shouldn’t take long.”

  David didn’t say anything, he just stared at the ceiling all night. Karen slept peacefully. Maybe she would calm down in the morning, David hoped.

  102.

  At sunrise the next morning, David searched the perimeter, and saw movement towards the ransacked BP gas station. The wind had picked up, clouds were rolling in, another storm was brewing.