Lariat Advance

[pbbrown0]

It is pretty normal for the prepared to develop a bit of resentment toward the unprepared. First it takes a lot of paddling upstream against "societal wisdom" to make your preps. Most of the people you talk to will discount and ridicule your perspective (a psychological thing for them to justify their not doing anything to prepare for something frightening), and there is that nagging "I told you so." implied by the unprepared for every day that passes before a balloon goes up. It takes real sacrifice today to be ready for tomorrow. Oh, and don't forget that the prepared know for certain that the unprepared, with their entitled perspectives, will stop at nothing to steal the hard work and sacrifice it took to have those preparations when they finally realize their predicament.

It is little wonder that most writers with a preparations mind set are hard nosed toward the unprepared. I am impressed, Bruce, with your twists and creativity.

[brucearmstrong65]

Lariat Advance – Chapter 11

Tuesday, November 27th – 0630 hours

Dave and Tom finished moving everything from Tom's Suburban into the hallway leading to the basement door. As he double-checked that the garage door was locked and nothing essential was left behind, Dave was still amazed at how well prepared Tom and Sarah were for people who had until somewhat recently laughed at the idea of prepping.

No wasted space in the Suburban, Dave thought. No silly electronic gadgets or other useless items, just basic, wise stuff. Food, water, clothing, first aid kit, tools, and the like. They didn't get on board right away, but I guess Tom was right – they heard and they remembered.

With a slight shrug and a smile, Dave re-secured the front door, picked up an armful of stuff and followed Tom down the stairs. "Tom, let's stack all your stuff inside the first blast door to the right and get that door secured. Then we can re-arrange things so you and Sarah can get what you need immediately, ok?"

"Sure thing, Dave. Man, I can't remember the last time I was down in The Hole. Just before I headed to basic training at Lackland back in 1985, I guess. That last big blow-up argument with the General." Dave and Tom's father, Stanley M. Schmidt, had been a career Army officer, retiring in 1970 as a lieutenant general. Stanley and his wife, Susan, had bought the Centennial land in 1967 and begun construction on the home (including the shelter) in 1970.

Tom and Stanley had not seen eye-to-eye on a lot of things, but the final straw had been an argument over "The Hole." Tom had used the shelter for a party the weekend before he graduated high school, when his folks had attended a unit reunion at his father's last command in Fort Carson, Colorado. General Schmidt had been more upset at the blatant violation of OPSEC (Operational Security), even more so than the violation of trust, which the General was willing to chalk up as a "youthful indiscretion."

Tom could remember the conversation as if it were yesterday.

"Dammit, Tom, this is serious! The party is bad enough, though forgivable. But the shelter? If the balloon goes up, we have to worry about people breaking in here as well as the nuclear attack. What were you thinking?"

"Dad, if we get nuked, I want to be standing at Ground Zero so it'll all be over in a flash. The Hole is a waste of time and money." Tom realized his mistake as soon as he used the slang term that he and his brother used privately to refer to the shelter. His dad's face turned about eight shades of red, rising up from his collar to his forehead.

"Tom, if you feel that way about my efforts to protect you and your brother and mother, maybe you shouldn't be here at all. You're 18, an adult, and able to enlist. I suggest you do so." The General walked into his study and closed the door.

Tom had packed a bag and walked out the door. He hitched a ride to Laramie and found the recruiters' offices in a small strip mall. He picked the Air Force because he admired his brother, who had just graduated the Air Force Academy, and also because the Marine recruiter's office was closed. The Army, for obvious reasons, was never a choice.

"Hey Tom, you taking a nap or what?" Dave's voice startled Tom out of his reverie.

"Sorry, just re-living The Fight." Tom picked up the two rolled sleeping bags and a plastic tote and headed for The Hole.

Dave followed with two heavily-loaded totes in his arms. "Yeah, Dad almost strangled you that time. He regretted it the next morning, but by then he didn't know where you were. If Mom had been there, she would've had him out the door within an hour tracking you down." Susan, their mother, had died two years before, while Tom was a sophomore in high school and Dave was in the Air Force Academy.

"But you know, Tom, he never stopped caring. I kept him up to date on how you were doing, when I saw you last and the like." Tom and the General had been out of contact until the General had been diagnosed with cancer in 1994. Without the General's knowledge, Dave had invited Tom home and had forced a reunion in the hospital. They remained in more-or-less regular contact until the General's death in 1997.

Dave and Tom put the gear down near the first blast door and went up for the last load. When they had it moved, Dave closed & locked the basement door and replaced the two 2×4s in their respective brackets. He turned to Tom and said, sighing, "Well, that's it for now. Let's get the blast doors locked up and see how the wives are doing. Then I want to show you around The Hole. I've made a few changes since your graduation party."

[brucearmstrong65]

Sorry for the slight delay in posting Chapter 11. I spent some time working on the backstory of the characters as well as a timeline from the family. What was supposed to be a few minutes' work to help with consistency turned out to be a two-page summary including a chronology from 1915 to 2018. Am I obsessed much?

[cutter]

Not really. I have been known to occasionally write more back story that I never publish than story that I do publish.

[pbbrown0]

Cutter is right. The background is how the character is built. The story you write is how you give the reader glimpses of the character.

[papaof2]

If characters in a story I write have a history, I find it easier to keep things straight if I write out the entire timeline. I have done family trees so the ages and connections (uncles, cousins, etc) stayed consistent for people who were in and out of the story line over time.

Surprises keep things interesting. Sometimes my characters seem to take on a life of their own and I'm just writing about what they do ;-)

Sent from my IdeaTabA2109A using proboards

[kaijafon]

notes and timelines are probably a good idea.


thanks so much for the moar!

[ydderf]

Thank you Bruce for a most enjoyable story.

[9idrr]

I'm likin' it so far. Thanks for posting more.

[brucearmstrong65]

Lariat Advance – Chapter 12

Tuesday, November 27th – 0650 hours

Dave secured both blast doors with Tom watching him closely – his re-introduction to The Hole starting already - and they walked over to the love seat where their wives were sitting, surprisingly calmly. Sarah had a ball of Kleenex in her hand and was quiet except for an occasional sniffle or sob. Rosa had her arm around Sarah's shoulders. She looked up at Dave and made a so-so motion with her hand.

Dave made a hand motion and directed Tom towards the far end of the shelter. "We'll let them be for now. Got a couple things to do down here anyway. This - " Dave motioned to a door with an "E" on it - "leads to our heavy equipment area – generator, battery banks, water pump, and the like." Dave unlocked the average-looking but surprisingly heavy door and directed Tom to enter.

"Damn, that door's heavy, Dave. What is it, solid steel?" Tom asked.

Dave smiled. "Close, Tom, close. That door is a heavy-duty fire door, as is the one ahead of us. God forbid a fire gets started back here, but if it does, the double fire doors will stop it, or at least give us time to grab our bug-out bags and get topside. By the way, the doors are specially designed so that you can't have them both open at the same time – just in case."

With the first door closed, Dave opened the second one and Tom followed. "Okay, Tom, here's the beating heart of The Hole. The generator room is on our right; let's step inside." Dave opened another heavy door and Tom followed.

The room was clean and seemed a bit on the small side, although with two large generators, it was deceptive. The generator was humming along smoothly. A control panel just inside the door was lit up; next to it was the automatic transfer switch. Dave reached for a binder on the table and showed it to Tom. "This is a complete guide to the generator setup. As a matter of fact, every room has a similar binder – either a manual for the equipment inside or an inventory of the room's contents."

"Why aren't both generators running now?" Tom asked, slightly confused.

"We only need the one for the shelter; the second one is in case the first one goes down, or we need to run the house and the shelter on generator power. The automatic transfer switch here turned on the first generator as soon as we lost commercial power. We can also run the shelter on just the backup generator. We’ll probably do that tomorrow, make sure the backup is A-OK.”

Dave and Tom stepped back into the hallway. "Across from the generator room" - Dave pointed to a door marked AF - "is the air filtration system. Neither heat nor cold is much of a problem down here, regardless of the weather topside, so we don't have a formal HVAC system. Down past the generator room is water pumping, filtration, and storage. We've got access via a deep well to all the water we could ever want. It's tested clean, and fallout shouldn't be a problem with the depth we're pumping from, but we run the water through a top-quality filtering system which also checks for radiation. We've got a good supply of bottled water as well if the pump ever malfunctions."

Dave and Tom returned to the main shelter, passing back through the double fire doors. "Down here to the right are the two small private bedrooms as well as a bunk area if we have extra guests. You and Sarah will be in room 2; Rosa and I are in room 1. Right now we're using the bunkroom for extra storage, stuff from the house and a couple last-minute Walmart trips. Beyond the sleeping quarter are our main storage areas. Let's walk down – there are a couple things I want to show you."

They walked through the door into a small hallway, not unlike the one in the equipment area. There were rooms on each side.

"Each type of stored item has its own room with a separate inventory. There's a master inventory in a binder by the door, and we have everything on computer as well. Each door is locked with a numbered key. Rosa and I each have a set of keys, and there is another set in the General's gun safe, which is back by the radio and radiation equipment. Let's head back there now; I want to do a radio scan and check the meter, see if we're getting any fallout yet."

As they left the storage area and made a left turn to the communications area, Tom asked quietly, "What kind of fallout are we likely to get here? How heavy?"

Dave shrugged his shoulder and said, "Who knows? An all-out exchange with everything Russia had, maybe China getting in on the game, most of the country would get fallout. We'll likely get a dusting if they hit anything in Idaho or Utah, even a light dusting from northern California, but not for a couple of days if they hit out there. Surprisingly, the missile fields shouldn't be a problem, with the prevailing winds blowing west to east."

Dave pointed to his left towards a desk with several items of equipment on it. "That's an old civil defense survey meter, hooked by a long cable to a sensor in front of the house. That'll give us an idea of what our local fallout is. Right now we're showing zero on the meter, and my dosimeter" - Dave unclipped the yellow pen-like object and, holding it up, peered through it - "is also zero. We've got several radios here" - Dave gestured to different items on the desk - "that'll give us a better picture of the region, and even nationally."

"Can you listen in to SAC or Global Strike or whatever it's called today?" Tom asked.

With a muted grin, Dave shook his head affirmatively. "I've got good equipment here, but not classified stuff. I know the frequencies we used to use, and if they haven't changed too much, we'll be able to get a pretty good idea of what's going on, or at least who's still broadcasting."

Putting a hand on his shoulder, Tom asked quietly, "Any chance of hearing from Bruce?"

Dave shook his head. "I doubt it – not for quite a while. Bruce and his deputy, Lieutenant Connor - we had them here for Thanksgiving - were on duty when the attack occurred. It depends on who attacked us and with how many warheads. In a limited strike, the Alert Facilities might not have gotten hit. Of course, that’s probably wishful thinking.

"I don't know how you handled being locked up in a guaranteed Ground Zero like that. I liked being stationed at Edwards before I got hurt – lots of open land, beautiful skies. That's why I settled back there after I medicaled out and got my degree and teaching credential." Tom hesitated. "Of course, I guess that's all gone now."

"Maybe, maybe not," Dave said. "I suspect some so-called ‘certain’ targets weren’t struck at all. EMP and radiation might've affected incoming warheads. And let’s face it – Russian technology was never all that and a bag of chips.”

"So what's the plan now?" Tom queried.

"Keep our heads down, monitor the radios and survey meter, and get used to living in The Hole – whether for a new days or a few weeks, we don’t know yet," Dave replied. "Let's go down to the kitchen and get a cup of coffee. I think we cleaned the Laramie Walmart out of Folgers over the weekend."

[kaijafon]

I use to live by Edwards. Seen lots of wide open skies, shuttle landings, even the Voyager take off and land.

Beautiful country and I miss it!

thanks for the moar!

[brucearmstrong65]

Lariat Advance – Chapter 13

Tuesday, November 27th – 0730 hours

The two families finally had a chance to sit down together for breakfast. Sarah had calmed down considerably and helped Rosa assemble a breakfast of sorts from the fresh food Rosa had brought down to the shelter a few hours before.

Dave poured coffee for everyone while Rosa and Sarah brought the plates over and everyone sat down. Rosa asked Dave to pray, and all four took hands.

"Our heavenly Father, in the midst of so much horror and death, we thank You for allowing us to be here together. Thank you for this food, when so many are suffering. Bless it to our nourishment in the difficult weeks and months to come. Guide our footsteps in this time of evil running rampant across the world. In your name we pray, Amen."

The four Schmidts sat quietly for a few moments, then raised their heads and ate the breakfast Rosa and Sarah had fixed – tentatively, at first, and then with more gusto. For a few minutes, at least, the loving embrace of good family and good food overcame thoughts of what was going on outside.

Once breakfast was over and the dishes put into the sink, Dave refilled everyone's coffee and rejoined them at the table. "I think it'd be a good idea if we just basically lazed around today – I imagine we’re all running on empty about now. The perishables are all put away, so we can worry about getting the extra supplies organized tomorrow."

Dave stood and stretched, picked up his coffee mug, and walked towards the comm desk at the far end of the main shelter area.

For the next hour, Dave tested one radio system after another – standard AM/FM radio, shortwave transceiver, and a NOAA receiver, similar to the one that had been in Dave and Rosa's bedroom and now sat on the kitchen counter.

The conduit which contained the cable connecting the survey meter to the remote unit in front of the house also had an antenna wire which extended to the top of the front porch. The radios were connected to an EMP-resistant Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) unit and thus to generator power.

All the radios were silent. At first Dave thought there was an equipment problem, but each radio lit up when turned on. It's just that nobody was broadcasting at the moment, or the nuclear strikes were playing hell with the atmosphere, or both.

Sarah went into the kitchen area to do up the breakfast dishes; after a moment, Tom followed her, and they talked quietly as they worked. Rosa stood behind Dave at the radio desk and rubbed his shoulders.

Dave shut off all but the NOAA unit and sat back in his chair. "Mmm, that's nice." He glanced over towards Tom and Sarah at the sink before continuing in a low voice. "What did Sarah have to say? She seems okay now – well, at least better than when they got here."

"She seems pretty good. She wouldn't let go of the idea that Edwards was gone – all her friends, her co-workers, and especially her first grade class. All I could tell her was that they were either okay and being helped by the base, or" - Rosa's voice wavered a bit - "that they were in heaven, with no suffering or pain." Rosa cleared her throat. “So what do you think happened? Where did they hit?"

"Had to be the Russians, in whole or in part. We know they hit Warren and the other Global Strike Command bases – Louisiana, Texas, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, and New Mexico. The Capitol, obviously. NORAD and Offutt. But there weren’t that many explosions that we could hear or feel, so they probably didn’t hit the individual missile silos.”

Dave stood up, put his arms on Rosa's shoulders, and looked deep into her eyes. "I didn't want to get your hopes up, but I think there's a damn good chance Bruce and Chuck made it – even if Alpha-1 got hit."

The tender moments between the two couples at separate ends of the main shelter room were interrupted by the harsh sound of the EAS attention signal coming from the two NOAA radios.

[brucearmstrong65]

Jun 19, 2016 10:36:01 GMT -6 kaijafon said:

I use to live by Edwards. Seen lots of wide open skies, shuttle landings, even the Voyager take off and land.

Beautiful country and I miss it!

thanks for the moar!

Thanks, kaiijafon! I brought Edwards into the story deliberate, for the same reason I named Dave's brother Tom - just a little way of recognizing Gary Ott (aka T.O.M., aka Tired Old Man), who passed away at the beginning of 2016; so many of his stories were set in that region. I did that with other things in the story too - Dave is named for David Murphy (aka Fleataxi), another PAW fiction writer who passed away a few years ago.

If I hadn't read their stories, and those of Jerry D. Young, bretf, Culex, HH54r, MNN2300, Moldy, and the late Jerry Conrad (aka Patience), I'd never have tried my hand at the writing.

Family & friends have worked their way into Lariat Advance, too. Rosa is named after my mother's longtime hairdresser. Tom and Dave's father, Stanley, is named after my great uncle, LTC Stanley M. Holmes, who died as a POW in the Philippines in December 1944. Perhaps Stanley Schmidt's life is what my great uncle's life would or could have been. Age-wise, Stanley Schmidt is my dad - born in October 1915, and died in 1997 of cancer.

Lastly, the minor character of Chuck Connor is named after a character in Philip Wylie's very pro-civil defense novel, Tomorrow, which was made into a radio program in 1956, sponsored by the Federal Civil Defense Administration and co-starring character actor Marshall Thompson as Lieutenant Chuck Connor.

Sorry for rambling on so long - and again, thanks for your kind words! Moar to come!

[9idrr]

Thanks for the double dose today. I wonder how often the target list were updated by the other guys. Many years ago there was a Nike base a few miles over the hill from where I live now. Be nice to think that's no longer a target.

[brucearmstrong65]

Lariat Advance – Chapter 14

Tuesday, November 27th – 0900 hours

"This is the Emergency Alert System. Stand by for a message from the President of the United States. Circumstances permitting, this message will be rebroadcast at 3 PM Eastern Time and again at 7 PM Eastern time." The automated message repeated itself three times.

The Schmidts were frozen in place – Dave & Rosa in the comms area, Tom & Sarah in the kitchen area.

After the third repeat of the automated message, a new voice came on, a human voice. "Ladies and gentlemen, the next voice you hear will be that of the President of the United States.”

"My fellow Americans: I come to you in an hour of darkness for America and for the entire world. Today is a day of infamy far greater than that spoken of by FDR more than three-quarters of a century ago.

"Without warning or provocation, the United States was attacked with nuclear missiles launched by the Russian and Chinese governments.

"This attack devastated our nation’s leadership. I am the only senior member of the government that survived the attack on Washington and was eligible to serve as President.

“Thus a grave and unsought responsibility now rests on my shoulders. Yesterday, I served you as the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Today, I serve you as the President.

"I cannot provide specific details at this time as to what targets were hit, either at home or abroad. I can tell you that, generally speaking, the attack by America’s enemies affected many areas of the country, and was much less successful than the enemy nations intended.

"Immediately after being sworn in, I declared an unlimited state of national emergency throughout the United States and our territories.

“I have activated all military reserve units nationwide. These units will partner with surviving military forces to provide as much assistance to local communities as is possible, providing said assistance does not interfere with offensive or defensive activities against our nation’s attackers.

"All military personnel, active or reserve, are hereby ordered to report to the nearest military facility when it is safe to do so. If there is no military facility in your immediate area, or it is unsafe to travel, military personnel will report to their local law enforcement agency until able to return to a military unit.

"Let me briefly explain the events that led to this disaster.

"Approximately one moth ago, the Russian and Chinese governments informed the United States of a military alliance between those two nations, its purpose to resolve territorial disputes involving Taiwan and the Korean Peninsula.

“The Chinese government determined to resolve those disputes by military force, backed up by Chinese and Russian nuclear forces.

“The United States was informed, in no uncertain terms, that any military action by us would be considered an act of war, and would be responded to accordingly.

“The President rejected the Sino-Russian alliance and placed U.S. strategic forces on an unofficial level of increased alert and readiness, at the same time proposing diplomatic talks in a neutral nation. This proposal was rejected out of hand.

“As time went on, the intelligence agencies of Great Britain and the United States developed concrete evidence that both Russian and Chinese forces were making concrete preparations to carry out military actions as promised.

"The buildup of Russian and Chinese forces continued into Thanksgiving week. Forces north of the DMZ were seen maneuvering in preparation for crossing the 38th parallel. Russian and Chinese missile and attack submarines were seen leaving port.

"The President attempted repeatedly to negotiate with the Russian and Chinese governments, without success. On Tuesday, November 22nd the President ordered U.S. forces worldwide to DEFCON 3. Three days later, with no sign of Russian and Chinese efforts abating, the President increased our alert status to DEFCON 2.

"Yesterday evening, Monday, November 26th, the United States received a second joint communique from the Russian and Chinese governments. It announced that South Korea and Taiwan would be attacked within 48 hours unless those nations’ governments resigned, and puppet regimes were installed in power.

"The President immediately ordered all U.S. forces worldwide on DEFCON 1 alert. Bombers, tankers and command post aircraft were placed on continuous airborne alert.

"Early this morning, the Central and Defense Intelligence Agencies informed the President that Sino-Russian nuclear forces were in the final stages of preparing for a first strike against the United States. The President once against attempted to communicate with the Russian and Chinese leadership, to no avail.

"On the advice of senior military and civilian officials, the President reluctantly decided to order a preventive nuclear strike against Russia, China, and North Korea.

“While the President’s launch order was being coded and confirmed, NORAD informed the President that Russia and China had launched a nuclear attack against the United States.

“The President and his senior advisers remained at the White House, in the Situation Room, in order to prevent any interruptions in command and control during the launch process. Washington was struck with multiple warheads, and all persons at the Situation Room perished.

“I would like to speak directly to the governments of Russia and China, who should be able to hear this speech.

“Peace can be had even at this late moment, which may be our world's last chance for survival. I am prepared to accept a cease-fire in place of all forces worldwide, to take effect immediately upon your acceptance.

"Should you desire to continue hostilities, however, our land, sea, and air forces are prepared to do so indefinitely. The choice is yours.

"In closing, let me say this: Our country is bowed but not broken, bloodied but not dead. I ask you, the American people, to remain calm and to help your friends and neighbors wherever possible. Do not panic. Do not turn on one another. If you have adequate shelter, stay there. If you do not have adequate shelter, seek out such shelter immediately. Please assist your friends and neighbors to find shelter. In most areas, your local EAS stations will inform you of available public shelters.

"I will broadcast to you against over this national EAS network as soon as I have additional news and information to share with you. May God bless and keep you, and may God bless the United States of America."

The NOAA radios were silent for a few seconds, then the announcer's voice came back on. "You have been listening to an address by the newly sworn President of the United States, the former Secretary of Veterans Affairs. This message will be rebroadcast at 3 PM and 7 PM Eastern time today. Your local EAS broadcast station may follow this Presidential address with local instructions and information. This is the national Emergency Alert System."

[headlesshorseman]

Thank you for the new chapters.

[mnn2300]

Excellent chapters.
One small problem, the new President at the beginning of Chapter 14 was the former Secretary of Homeland Security and at the end of the chapter was the former Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
We've all done it, made changes on the fly and forgot to change everything.
I do like how this story is going - thanks.

[brucearmstrong65]

Jun 20, 2016 8:39:43 GMT -6 mnn2300 said:

Excellent chapters.
One small problem, the new President at the beginning of Chapter 14 was the former Secretary of Homeland Security and at the end of the chapter was the former Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
We've all done it, made changes on the fly and forgot to change everything.
I do like how this story is going - thanks.

Thanks for catching that - already corrected. I changed that detail in mid-speech and forgot to go back and double-check the beginning. I did the same thing earlier for a few new chapters - put Thursday instead of Tuesday, and then repeated the error for the next three chapters. That's one of the problems with stream of consciousness writing!

[kaijafon]

what a wonderful way to honor those amazing writers!!!

Thank you for the moar!

[pbbrown0]

Bruce,
Thank you for these chapters, and thank you for the tribute you are showing for heroes and fellow writers who have preceded you.

[ydderf]

Thank you Bruce, for the new chapters.

[jdavidboyd]

Uh oh, here comes the MORE monster!

[kaijafon]

I resemble that remark!

[brucearmstrong65]

Lariat Advance – Chapter 15

Tuesday, November 27th – 0915 hours

The radio went quiet. The two couples remained frozen in place – Dave & Rosa at the comms desk, Tom & Sarah in the kitchen. It was a minute before anyone spoke. It seemed like hours.

Rosa was the first to break the silence. "Do you believe it, Dave? All that about Russia and China?"

Dave stood up from the comms desk chair and put his arm around Rosa's shoulder. "I think I do, hon. China wanted the Taiwan and Korean situations resolved in her favor. Russia wanted to be Numero Uno, the big boy on the block. Neither nation had the power to achieve their goals unless they worked together. Maybe they thought with multiple areas of conflict, the U.S. would be stretched too thin, and the U.S. would back down. I'm surprised that the President was ready to launch first, though; I don't know that I'd have had that much confidence in the CIA & DIA."

Tom and Sarah had walked over as Dave spoke. "So what do we do now, Dave?" asked Tom. "Should we stay down here or go up topside or what?"

Dave thought for a moment. "We can probably go up topside, but we'll have to keep a close watch for any fallout. Anyone that goes out should have a dosimeter and an FRS radio, so we can get everyone back in ASAP.”

“How bad will the fallout be, Dave?” Sarah asked, surprising everyone; she had been very quiet since her arrival.

Dave thought for a moment. "It all depends on the wind, Sarah. If prevailing winds hold, we won't get any fallout from Colorado or anything to the east. If the enemy struck anything in Utah or Idaho, we’ll probably get a light dusting, but hopefully not TOO bad.”

"I'd like to go upstairs for a bit, maybe go outside for some fresh air,” Sarah said with a wan smile. “I mean, we might not be able to do that for a while.”

“Excellent idea, Sarah!” She smiled and Dave open a small cabinet next to his radio desk. “Okay, everyone gets a dosimeter and an FRS radio. We’re all on the same channel, so try not to talk over someone else when they’re transmitting. It’ll take me about five minutes to get ready.”

Sarah and Rosa went into the kitchen area to finish cleaning up from breakfast. Tom helped Dave with getting the dosimeters and radios ready. While they were working, Tom asked quietly, "Do you believe what you told Sarah?"

Dave nodded, handing Tom a radio and dosimeter. "We're in a pretty good position here; that's why The General picked it. Close to cities like Laramie, Cheyenne & Denver – but not TOO close.”

“How bad will it be to the east of us?” Tom asked as he put the dosimeter in his shirt pocket and attached the radio to his belt, and took one of each for Sarah.

Dave looked straight at Tom. "You mean where Bruce is?" Tom nodded. "Worse, but survivable. If they survive the initial strike, the Launch Control Centers are well-protected against radiation.”

"Do you think Bruce made it?"

Dave shrugged, glancing to see if Rosa was within hearing range before answer. “There’s a pretty good chance he did. Russian and Chinese technology was nothing to write home about. If they didn’t drop a warhead damned close – within the fenced area of the Missile Alert Facility – the Launch Control Center would ride out the blast. If it was a direct hit, they’re gone. Either way, there's nothing we can do about that now. We have to keep ourselves alive and help our neighbors and friends where we can, like the President said."

"So how do we do that?" Tom asked. "I mean, there aren't a lot of neighbors around here."

"Well, Tom, for one thing, I'm going next door to check on Jerry & Patience Garner. You remember Old Man Garner?" Dave asked.

Tom laughed and unconsciously rubbed his right buttocks. "He did NOT appreciate my riding that old dirt bike on his land, did he?"

"Tom, just be happy that shotgun had rock salt and not buckshot. He could be a grump, but he and Patience were always around when something happened. They were right there when our folks died, too. Dad’s funeral was the only time I saw Jerry cry. Of course, he might still be bearing a grudge against you, so I’d appreciate it if you stayed several feet away from me when we walk over there.” Both men laughed as they took the gear over to their wives in the kitchen area.

"Okay, ladies, we’re ready. Here are your dosimeters and FRS radios. I'll have the survey meter, keeping an eye on radiation. If there's any sign of fallout, I'll get on the radio and say 'Recall.' If you hear that, drop whatever you're doing and get back to the house. We'll have to decontaminate on the porch before we go inside. Any questions?"

Rosa said, "I do not plan to get hosed down in my skivvies on the front porch, so let’s get get going and get back inside before the fallout gets here.”

"Excellent idea, mi esposa. Let’s look around the property first, make sure everything’s okay. After that, we can go over and check in with the Garners.”

Rosa stopped and smiled. "You're taking Tom over to Old Man Garner's? I'm staying well clear. That rock salt can hurt." Everyone laughed, including Tom, who blushed and touched his right buttock again.

"Oh, wait a second," Dave said, and stopped at the inner blast door with his hand on the mechanism. "I almost forgot the sidearms. Tom, when's the last time you shot?"

"Last week," Tom replied. "Sarah and I go shooting a couple of times a month."

"Really?" Dave said, surprised. "Do you own or rent from the range?"

Tom laughed at Dave's reaction. "Some of us still own guns in the People's Republic of California. Sarah and I each have a Smith & Wesson Model 15 .38 revolver. I used one in the Air Force, before they switch to that piece-of-junk Beretta. I bought a pair when Smith & Wesson re-released the Model 15 a few years ago."

"Good weapon," Dave nodded his head. "Rosa and I both have M1911 .45s. Did you bring your guns when you bugged out?"

"Of course, Dave. Wouldn't be much good sitting in an empty house or melted in the wreckage of Edwards, would them?" Tom abruptly stopped talking and turned to Sarah. "Sorry, hon, I shouldn't have said that."

Sarah kept a brave face. "I had a hunch we'd never be back to North Edwards when we bugged out. I've just been trying not to grind on it."

Dave spoke up. "I think that's the worst of it, right now – the not knowing. Did Edwards make it? Or Los Angeles? Or Bruce and Chick down in Alpha-1?" The group, formerly cheerful at the thought of sunlight and fresh air, was now quiet.

Dave spoke up. "I'll get our .45s out – Tom, you dig out the .38s for you and Sarah. Then let's go upstairs and see how forgiving Old Man Garner is. Or how good a shot."

[kaijafon]

He needs to wear the bullet proof vest on his butt!!! LOL!

Thanks for the MOAR!