Jon laughed, “no fire. A fire would be very bad. The heat comes from the engine. Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll have time to learn all about it. We’re going to be together for a long time. Ariden why don’t you show them how the video system works.”
Jackie hadn’t remembered ever seeing a cartoon before. She smiled for the first time in over two years which melted Ron’s heart. He held his sister and kissed her head. “Mr. Coats, thank you. I can’t remember the last time she laughed.”
Jon heard the convoy’s horn’s blow three times which meant they were preparing to leave. Jon prayed the Suburban hadn’t frozen to the road. When they started to move the Suburban thumped and thumped. Erin asked, “What’s wrong?”
“The tires flat spotted while we were sitting still for so long. I hope as we drive, and they warm up they’ll smooth out.”
Erin laughed, “If not, you better find me a place to pee. The constant thumping is making me want to go.”
Jon laughed, “Look around. Where do you expect me to find a rest stop that’s open?”
“That’s your problem, you’re driving.”
@@@@@
Panic had swept through the world shortly after ‘Robert’s Rock’ and the short nuclear exchange finished. A short time ago, people would have said, ‘when the dust settled,’ but the dust wasn’t going to settle for many years. Riots spread throughout the northern hemisphere. The remaining French cities were set on fire minutes after the French Vice President, had assumed the leadership since the President had been in Paris when five Russian nuclear warheads exploded over the City of Lights. The Acting President announced that only French citizens would be given transport to Northern Africa. The French Army and French Foreign Legion were already preparing a new country by conquering the existing countries. Massive tent cities were built as the French Air Force bombed the existing people. The French non-citizens, most of whom were Muslim, attacked the citizens and they fought with a blood lust. They set fire to any building in their path. They burned them with people still in them. The French government quickly lost control of their own country which fell into anarchy.
The German Prime Minister urged her people to have patience while her government developed a plan of action. The German right attacked the immigrants and anyone who stood in their way. The much-reduced German military quickly decided to join with the Right and they turned on their own government. They overthrew the German government and ended up killing their own Prime Minister.
The Spanish government watched what happened to the French and Germans, they studied the maps, and decided they had a good chance of surviving. They urged their people to remain calm and continue with their daily lives because they were below the freeze line. Most of the Spaniards didn’t believe their government. They demanded transport to Africa or South America. When the government refused, they began rioting. The Spanish military had to be called in to put the rioting down which led to over three hundred thousand killed in the riots or in buildings which had been set on fire, many with the tenants still in them.
The Northern Hemisphere was tearing itself apart, while the Southern Hemisphere wasn’t peaceful The people below the equator rioted and threatened to kill any Americans who illegally entered their countries. Mexico deployed their military along the border with America to block any American without a valid visa from entering the country. President Lanoha responded by ordering the US Military to open a corridor across the border and to destroy any Mexican troops which stood in their way. President Lanoha informed the Mexican President that for over a century Mexicans had been illegally entering America and now Americans needed to move into Mexico. He could either welcome them or he would start by destroying Mexico City and work down the list of Mexico’s ten largest cities. The Mexican President threatened Lanoha who ordered a nuclear cruise missile to explode over Mexico City. The explosion was high enough to only cause a massive EMP burst which burned out all of the city’s electronics. Moments after the burst Lanoha told the Mexican President, “Do you still want to play games or should the next one explode at ground level?”
“How many people do you want to send here?”
“As many as I need to. We’ll pay our way.”
“I expect nothing else. Shall we discuss the amount?”
“We’ll pay you the same amount your country has paid mine.”
“Wait…”
“The next missile can be in the air in minutes.”
“I will call you back in thirty minutes after I speak my allies.”
“You don’t have to. I’ve already called them.”
“Should I assume you have missiles targeted on them too?”
“Of course I do, and carrier strike groups and 200,000 troops waiting to cross the border. We’ve loaded every nuclear cruise missile we have on our ships, we’ve been swapping out the conventional warheads for nuclear ones. We’ve been installing small nukes on our SM-6 missiles.”
An agreement was quickly worked out whereby Americans could move into Mexico and then into central America. Colombia offered President Lanoha anything he wanted in exchange for destroying the Cartels. Lanoha quickly agreed and issued the orders to the US Marines, “Remove the cartels from Colombia. Use any means short of nuclear to complete the task in the shortest possible time.” Seventy-two hours after the President’s order, the Marine Assault Ship, the USS America, unloaded 1,900 Marines. Two additional Marine Assault ships left Norfolk with an ETA of five days, each ship carried 2,000 Marines and a total of 48 F-35 advanced fighters and 24 Cobra attack helicopters which were able to fly in the Southern Hemisphere since the air doesn’t exchange between the North and South. The Marines quickly moved into
