Desolation

Frank stepped over the debris, pulled Jeff out of it, and left him on top. Finally, he had let go of his beloved horn as it was nowhere to be seen. But, his wounds actually didn’t look as bad as he had expected; the blood flow had slowed to a trickle. So, he left him there, head propped up, and turned to run to the capacitor bank to see if it was functioning and throw the switch, assuming Melanie had been incapacitated and unable to do the job.

His left leg didn’t work very well. Looking at it, he realized it was probably broken from the falling debris.

“Don’t be a wussy,” he told himself, and hobbled forward as fast as he could: first a slow walk, then faster. A few more steps and he was running. He had to get there in time, or they were all dead.

~~~

Melanie was a block over from the capacitor bank when the earthquake hit, trying to get a glimpse of the troops coming from the west. When the northern gate fell, and they took out the tower with Frank and Jeff in it, she stopped getting reports. Unable to wait, she ran north up 3^rd Street and looked for the approaching men. That’s when the earthquake hit, knocking her and everyone around her to the ground.

When it stopped, she jumped up and ran back toward the capacitor bank, this time not caring so much about the advancing army’s location, but fearing the damage done by the earthquake. On the way she saw some townies pulling debris away from one of their own. She assisted. They were too late.

“I’m sorry,” she said, before she turned and ran the rest of the way to the capacitor bank. It looked fine, in fact it looked great. She turned to the street, the other crucial element of their weapon if it was to work, and was shocked at what she saw.

“We’re screwed.”

43. You Can See China From Here

Wright Ranch, Illinois

Although well shielded from CMEs—unlike coal-burning power stations—both the La Salle County and Dresden nuclear power plants were still ticking time bombs. Like all of the hundred-plus nuclear reactors in the US, they required power to maintain coolant pressure and flow. Without it, the radioactive fuel rods would eventually overheat and melt. Even with all their protective containment measures, at some point a total meltdown would occur. The results would be radioactive clouds, which would spread out and gradually kill every living thing in their path.

This was sure to happen to all nuclear plants without power, but a meltdown usually took longer than most people realized. The rare earthquake sped up this process by cracking the containment domes in both plants. Other flammable materials and the excessive heat released by the melting rods caused massive explosions, almost simultaneously. The billowing clouds of fire, smoke, and radioactive material exploded into the sky.

Wilber, shaken from his grief by two blasts in the distance, arose and trotted back toward his house. He passed a woman wearing an olive-green shirt and GA armband, who in her terror and confusion was barely aware of her sworn enemy running by her. Wilber paid no attention to her or the two or three others, who had been effectively stripped of their desire to fight. Unsure of why they were even there, they’d dropped their weapons or let them dangle like useless pieces of clothing or ornamentation.

He hopped over his pit of fire, now emitting just wisps of smoke, bounded over the barbed wire fence—a skill honed with much practice—and finally scaled the hill and rock wall in almost as much time as it took him to come down. This time he was not fueled by rage and the insatiable need for revenge. He was fueled by alarm and the insatiable need for knowledge. He stood on top of the rock wall, gasping for air, completely disassociated from the war that had been taking place around him mere moments ago. His face fell.

In the distance, he could see two thick black plumes of billowing smoke rising fast to the atmosphere. In that instant he knew where they were from, and what destruction they contained. Even though the fallout would mostly blow north-east, like bacteria its radioactivity would eventually seep their way. Their home was as good as gone.

He jumped off the wall, his lungs still craving air, and ran around his house toward the ridge. He dreaded what he knew he would find, but he had to confirm it with his own eyes. As he ran he scanned the grounds, not worrying about the defeated enemy, but searching for his wife, Olivia. As he approached the base of the ridge, he could see the tangled aluminum poles that had been the tower and the massive fiberglass blades of the wind turbine. Their scattered pieces littered the grounds of his family ranch. In the middle of a pile of the tower’s debris, he could see his wife, hunched over another form: their son, Buck. She heard Wilber, stepped away from their son’s broken body, and sought Wilber’s solace within his loving open arms. They wept together, for now, unconcerned about the next tribulation that approached.

~~~