15 Miles From Home (Perilous Miles Book 2) Page 3

  "Why'd you shut the door, Dad? We could use the light," Carly asked as she pulled her wagon to a stop.

  Joel looked at her and replied, "Two reasons. One, it keeps some of that cold air out. Two, and more important, we don't want everybody out there seeing what we have in here."

  "I don't understand," Carly said, with a confused look on her face.

  Joel pulled a lantern from the box of camping supplies he had brought out and lit it with a match. As the lantern light filled the area and pushed the darkness back, he said, "If this thing lasts for a while, which I think it will, people are going to start running out of food and water. When they do, they're going to start knocking on doors trying to find someone to help them. It's going to be a problem, since we've always shared our bounty with our neighbors, especially in the summer when the garden is producing full bore." Joel set the lantern on his work bench and continued. "A lot of them know your mother cans vegetables; everybody around here knows we have the chickens. If they see us bringing in even more food, we could be in for some trouble."

  "But, they're your neighbors, Dad. You've known most of them for years. They wouldn't do anything bad … would they?"

  "No one knows what they or anyone else would do in this kind of situation because we haven't been in this kind of situation before. I just know that people who are used to three meals a day, snacks whenever they want, and water coming out of the faucet when they turn it on are going to struggle when all of that is gone." He turned to his wife. "Honey, did you fill the tubs with water while I was gone?"

  Lauri nodded. "Yes, I washed both tubs out with bleach and they're full. I went out to the shed and grabbed a bunch of those old milk jugs and filled them, too. I don't know how clean they were, but we could at least use that for washing up if we had to."

  Carly's confusion was getting worse. "What are you guys talking about? The water still works. Well, mine does."

  Lauri gave her daughter a sad smile. "Ours does too, honey … for now. According to your dad, if there's no power anywhere, it won't for long. What we're getting now is probably from holding tanks and water towers. When it's gone, there's no way to fill them back up."

  Carly threw her hands up, exasperated. "So, are you two telling me that everything is just going to go away? No electricity, no water, no gas; no electronics, no cars, no stores — it's all just gone, and we have no idea when it will be back?"

  Joel shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, that pretty much sums it up."

  "Well, that sucks!" she stated loudly.

  Her father sighed. "It will, indeed, suck."

  They spent the next thirty minutes unloading and organizing what they had brought in. Over a cup of coffee, they told Lauri about Will. Carly decided to share Will's visions with them. They both listened intently, Joel slowly nodding his head, Lauri with a shocked look on her face. She became very distraught. "Joel, what are we going to do? How will we find him?"

  He pulled her into his embrace. "I'm trying to work that out, darlin'. I'll come up with something. Right now, we need to get back to Carly's and get another load. If this is what Will was seeing, I was right about how bad it's going to get. We need to finish up and settle in until he gets here. It's a bit slick out there so we have to take our time. Are you good here? Do you need anything before I go?"

  She shook her head. "No, but I thought of something while you were gone. Did you try the lawn tractor to see if it would run?"

  Joel's eyes lit up. "Damn! I didn't even think of it. How did you come up with that?"

  "Well, I went out to check on the hens and gather eggs. Their water was frozen, and I needed something to break the ice. I went into the back shed to find something to use and spied it under the tarp. I didn't know for sure if it had any electronics in it or not."

  "I don't either, but we're about to find out!" Joel replied excitedly. He hurried out the back door. Carly was right behind him, with Lauri shrugging into a coat bringing up the rear. The chickens came running over in case anyone was bringing them treats. Joel rushed through them, scattering them across the yard, wings flapping, protesting loudly. Joel called out to them over his shoulder, "Not now, biddies! Git!"

  He pulled the doors open on the barn-shaped shed. By the time the women got there, he already had the tarp off. He climbed into the seat and looked at both of them. "Cross your fingers, girls." They both held up both hands with crossed fingers and closed their eyes. Joel reached down and turned the key. The motor turned over and the mower came to life. Joel was grinning from ear to ear as Carly and Lauri hugged each other and laughed. Joel pulled out of the shed and drove it around behind where he hitched a twelve-hundred-pound capacity trailer to it. He came back to where the women were standing. "Climb on, honey. We're riding now!"

  Carly got into the trailer and waved to her mother. "We'll be back soon, Mom. Keep the coffee hot!"

  "I will, honey, and I'll get a pot of soup cooking as well. Be careful." Lauri blew them a kiss and went back into the house.

  "Mmmm, Mom's homemade soup. Hurry, Dad!"

  Joel laughed and gave the mower a bit more gas.

  Chapter 4

  10:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

  The White House Bunker

  The senior officers were livid.

  "How are we supposed to respond in kind to this attack if all of our troops are here?" General Everley all but shouted. "And why in God's name would we pull the troops we have out of South Korea? We should be sending every available man and woman to that area, not pulling them out!"

  All of the military members in the room were nodding in agreement and talking animatedly amongst themselves. All of the Joint Chiefs and a few senior officers were in attendance. The cacophony was getting louder by the second. President Olstein stood up and yelled, "Enough! Listen! With no power across the country, all services will soon stop. No gas for heat or cooking, no running water — we are about to be in the middle of the worst situation this country has ever been in, literally the Dark Ages. Can you even begin to imagine what Los Angeles, Chicago, or New York City is going to be like in just a matter of days? We'll need to set up FEMA shelters at all major metropolitan areas, and the supplies at those locations will have to be kept under constant guard. Our deployed troops may be the only ones we can locate at the moment! I've made my decision! And as far as responding in kind — that would mean sending a nuke over there. Is that what you are saying we should do?"

  The entire room responded at once. "Yes!"

  Olstein shook his head. "We cannot bomb that tiny country without affecting the countries around it. What about the innocent people who would be put in harm's way? What about —"

  "What about the innocent people here, Mr. President?" interrupted Admiral Stephens. "As you said, in a matter of days this country will be in complete turmoil. Why? Because that little asshole in that little piece of shit country caught us with our pants down! We need to address this attack immediately, or every other little dictatorial asshole in every other communist country is going to be up our sixes all over the world! Every base, every ship, as well as every man and woman in every branch of our military are vulnerable right now."

  "Which is why we need to bring them home, where we are all together," Olstein all but whined. "We need to regroup and get our country back on track."

  "With FEMA shelters and emergency supplies?" Stephens exclaimed. "We have nowhere near enough rations to feed the entire population at once, much less long-term," Stephens retorted. "What about the millions of people who don't live in a major metropolitan area? Do we just turn our backs on them and say, 'It sucks to be you?' And let's be realistic here. If we bring all of our troops home, most of them are going to go AWOL to get back to their families to ride this out and protect them. And I wouldn't blame them. This is the beginning of a very long, very bleak time for our country. It shouldn't start with us running home with our collective tails tucked between our legs. We need a strong response, Sir!"

  Olstein was still shaking
his head. "I just can't condone putting our troops into combat mode right now; nor have you made a case that would coerce me to change my mind about recalling them. We will need every man, woman, and child we have to rebuild our infrastructure from this disaster. You're right, we don't have enough emergency stores to take care of everyone. We'll need to set up policing teams to fan out into the rural areas and commandeer resources. Our farming communities will need to donate food and food sources like livestock. We need to take over food processing plants and warehouses; places like Costco, grocery stores, any place that might have large stockpiles of food and water. Plus, there are quite a few of those doomsday prepper types out there who have years’ worth of food hoarded up. Well, the day they've been waiting for is here. They'll need to donate most of their stores for the greater good." He turned to his chief of staff. "Vanessa, do we still have access to those records on the purchase history of specific individuals? The ones we flagged because they bought large quantities of bulk food, ammunition, that kind of thing?"

  She looked up from the notes she had been taking. "Yes, sir, we had backups stored down here. You should know that was a complete breach of privacy against those individuals, Mr. President. We had no reason to gather and keep that data. They posed no threat to national security, had no ties to terrorist organizations …"

  "And yet, we now find ourselves in a situation where that information is invaluable," he replied smugly. "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. We must all work together to get through this. Some will have to make major sacrifices."

  "I don't think they're going to see it that way, Sir," she said. "I'm pretty sure they're going to look at it from the standpoint of 'we prepared for something like this; you didn't. Now, you want us to feed you, to take away from our families? Yeah, no.' Just my opinion." There were murmurs of agreement around the room.

  "Which brings me right back to needing our troops back here. They'll go out and gather the extra resources we'll need in the coming weeks and months. Under the National Defense Resources Preparedness Executive Order, we can gather pretty much anything we think we need to sustain our government and military in this time of crisis, from anywhere we find it."

  General Everley spoke up. "You mean take, right? You want us to order our people to take the possessions of other Americans, who foresaw an event like this as a possibility, and spent their hard-earned income to buy supplies to take care of their families during a disaster? How is that right?"

  "It isn't right that those people should selfishly keep those supplies for themselves when others around them are starving. I won't sit by and watch that happen," Olstein replied petulantly.

  Everley shook his head. "Even if I could get mine to agree to that — which is highly unlikely — what about the ammunition you referenced? These citizens will probably be heavily armed and in no way agreeable to donating a damn thing. So now, our troops are in as much, if not more, danger at home than abroad. Then what? You're going to order our troops to fire on American citizens, in their own homes, defending their families and property?"

  Olstein smiled. "I already thought of that. The first thing we're doing is declaring martial law and repealing the Second Amendment."

  The room exploded into chaos. All in attendance were in an uproar except the president. He sat there calmly, waiting for the generals and admirals to get it out of their system. He gave them a minute, then stood and yelled, "Quiet! One at a time!"

  The Speaker of the House, Phil Roman, who had been sitting silently up to that point, spoke first. "Mr. President, you can't do that. You don't have the authority. It takes Congress to do something like that, and we can't contact most of the members. And even if we could, they would never do it. They'd all be voted out in the next election."

  "There won't be another election for a long time, Phil," Olstein said. "We're going to have a lot more to worry about than elections. We're going to have millions of sick, starving people on our hands. We have to figure out a way to help as many as we can. This plan is the way."

  "Sir, your term is all but over," Roman replied. "You have thirty days until the new president, David Tanner, is sworn in. All of these decisions you are making, these edicts you are handing out, are all but invalid at this point. You're on your way out of the White House. Is this how you want to be remembered?"

  "Oh, no, I'm not going anywhere. We can't have a changing of the guard, so to speak, in the middle of a crisis like this. I'll see it through to the end, whenever that may be. I'm thinking it will be years before we can get everything back on track. We'll talk about it then. For now, I want our troops home ASAP, and their first order of business will be to disarm the populace and start gathering resources. That's an order from your Commander in Chief. Get busy, gentlemen."

  As the president stood to leave, flanked by his Secret Service team, the occupants of the ready room were hurling threats and expletives in his direction. He smiled as he walked out the door.

  Rage all you want. There's nothing you can do about it. I wasn't ready to leave. I still have things to do, a legacy to fulfill. This catastrophe is like an early Christmas present to me. I may have to find a way to thank that little prick in North Korea for making it all happen.

  ~~~~~

  In the grand ballroom of the Ryongsong palace in Pyongyang, the celebration was still underway. For the past four hours, the top military and party leaders had indulged in food and drink, relishing the victory won with one properly placed nuclear explosion. There were television screens mounted around the enormous room broadcasting news from all over the world about the attack on the United States. Satellite images showed the area completely dark, with lights beginning in the northern half of Canada, and the southern part of Mexico. One could almost picture the range of the nuke by the image from above.

  The Chairman was being congratulated by a group of partygoers. One of them queried, "Have you announced to the world that the attack came from us, Excellency?"

  Another man in the group responded. "He doesn't have to. They had a glimpse of the missile before it detonated. They saw the trajectory. They know it came from us."

  Just as the Chairman was about to reply, an aide came up and touched his arm. The Chairman turned to the aide. "Yes? What is it? You can see we are talking here."

  The aide bowed. "Apologies, Your Excellency. There is an urgent call for you. It is waiting in your office."

  "From whom? Who would be calling at this time of night?" he replied indignantly.

  The aide leaned in to whisper, "The President of the United Nations. He said he must speak with you immediately."

  The Chairman dismissed the aide with a wave of his hand and turned back to his guests. "His urgency is not mine. Tell him I'll call him back in the morning."

  Chapter 5

  6:00 AM Central Standard Time

  It had been a little over an hour since Will left his car on foot, but he hadn't gotten as far as he would have liked by then. He received many curious glances from people sitting inside their cars, but the ones who slowed him down were those who got out to ask him questions.

  "Hey man, where you headed?"

  "Excuse me, sir, do you know what's happening?"

  "Hey, buddy, you got any water on ya?"

  Being an entertainer, it was ingrained in him to be polite and speak to people who spoke to him. He stopped each time he was addressed, but only for a moment. He had ten miles to travel on roads that were rapidly icing over since the traffic had come to a halt.

  "Headed home, hopefully. Take care now."

  "No, ma'am, I don't, sorry. Good luck to you."

  "I'm sorry, I can't spare any water. I'm trying to get home. I've got about a ten-mile walk. I hope you find some."

  However, the man who had asked about the water was not so easily dissuaded. Belligerently, he replied, "Well, I'd kinda like to get home, too, fella. Don't you think you should help a brotha out? Where'd you get yours anyway?"

  Will had tried to cont
inue walking, but the man's tone made him stop and turn around. He looked the rude man in the face and said calmly, "I had it with me, fella. I've been driving since last night. I always have water with me when I travel. I just want to get home to my family. Do you have a problem with that?"

  "Well, I'd like to get home to my family, too! I've got a lot further than ten miles to go. I live in Midtown. How am I supposed to get there with no food or water, much less any warm clothes like you have?" The man was raising his voice louder and louder, getting closer to Will with each word he spoke.

  Will knew enough about cornered animals to know the man was scared: scared of the unknown, that being what had happened; scared of not getting home to his family; and probably scared of dying here on the side of the road because he didn't have what he needed to head out on foot when it was apparent no help was coming in the foreseeable future. Will also knew there was nothing he could do to help the guy. He'd be lucky if he made it home himself. He decided to take a different tack and try to help him by offering suggestions.

  "Man, I wish I could help you, I really do, but I probably don't have what I need to make it either. I wasn't planning to hike the last few miles, you know? But I think we're only a mile or two from the next exit. If you can get there, you can probably buy some water, some food, at least enough to get you home. Maybe this doesn't go all the way to Midtown. I don't know. I don't even know if I'm just being stupid walking in this freezing cold ice rain because the lights are actually on a mile from here. I just can't sit and wait. Maybe you shouldn't either. Just start walking. If you get too cold, see if someone will let you rest and warm up a little in their car. I'm sorry, but I really have to get moving. Good luck to you."

  With that, Will turned resolutely and headed down the road. He didn't know if his even, unexcited tone had helped calm the man down or not, but he called after Will, "Yeah, I might just do that. Uh, good luck to you, too."